Dinner was steak and potatoes. It was served the same way the rest of the meals were served; buffet style, where everyone just served themselves once the cooks had put it in the warmers.

"Hey," Mitchell smiled when the three of them walked in. "I smell steak."

Carson nodded.

"Me, too."

"It smells good," Jinto said approvingly.

"That it does."

"Jinto!"

The boy groaned at the sound of his name, and turned to see his father coming over to them.

"Where have you been?" He looked at Mitchell. "Has he been bothering you?"

She shook her head.

"He came by to chat, that's all. I don't mind."

Jinto looked relieved at the answer, and Melony couldn't help but smile. Which made Halling relax a bit more. Obviously, he couldn't have been bothering her too much, or she wouldn't be so relaxed around the boy.

"If he bothers you, send him away."

She'd never send him away. Melony wasn't all that great with kids, but she liked them, and wouldn't send one away by telling him or her that he was a bother.

"He's fine, Halling."

Jinto's father nodded, and looked down at the boy.

"You need to go find Teyla."

"But father-"

"Now."

Grumbling, but not outright rebellious, Jinto said good-bye to Mitchell and Beckett, and headed for the door.

"He's not in trouble, is he?" Melony asked.

Halling smiled and shook his head.

'Teyla is handing out treats for the children. However, if he wants to believe he is trouble, who am I to control what he thinks?"

"He came to me and asked if he could come with me on my Wraith hunt tomorrow..."

"How did he find out about that?"

Carson wondered the same thing.

"He says he overheard it somewhere." Mitchell shrugged; she wasn't going to get the boy in trouble for eavesdropping. "I'd like you to keep an eye on him, though. He was insistent, and even though I told him no, I don't think he accepted my answer."

"You think he might try to come with you?" Halling asked.

"Stowaway on the Jumper?" Carson asked.

Mitchell shrugged.

"I don't know for sure that he would, but if I were young, and I thought I could be of help, I might try something – and he might, too. He might not, but I won't have him in danger, and if he tried to sneak aboard the ship, he'd be in a lot of danger."

"I will keep him with me until after you leave." Halling assured her, privately agreeing completely with her assessment of his son. Jinto might just very well try to do something like that, if he thought he could help. Add to it the fact that the children were all attracted to Mitchell because of her extra life-force – although they didn't understand what it was that drew them to her, and Jinto was the only one brave enough to actually come over and talk to her – and it could very well have been disaster in the making. Luckily, Mitchell seemed to think ahead – something Halling approved of.

"Thanks."

"Thank you, Colonel Mitchell."

Halling bowed slightly and left, following the same direction that his son went.

Melony turned to Beckett, and saw worry in his eyes. She frowned, and reached out and touched his hand for just a moment.

"Don't look so concerned."

"It's hard not to." Carson admitted. "What you're doing is dangerous."

"There's all sorts of dangers around here," she told him with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. "What if I didn't know how to swim?"

"What?"

"A city floating on the water?" Mitchell explained, heading for the buffet line. She was starving. "I'd never go near the windows or balconies."

"I never thought of that," Beckett admitted. He couldn't swim, but he'd always assumed the fall would have killed him long before landing in the water could have. "I should stay away from windows, then, huh?"

"You don't know how to swim?"

"I never had reason to learn."

Melony grinned.

"I'll teach you when I get back."

Beckett hesitated. He didn't really like the water all that much – another reason he'd never learned to swim.

"We'll see..."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Dinner was great, and the company was just as good. Beckett wasn't the only one who ate with Melony that evening. Ford came in only a short time after she and Carson had, and walked over and sat with them while Mitchell was still trying to convince the doctor that she could teach him how to swim. Ford had joined in on the conversation willingly, more than happy to offer his services to Beckett as well. He'd hold up one side while Melony held up the other.

"You wouldn't drown..."

"Who wouldn't drown?"

Weir had joined them, as well, and now there were three of them ganging up on Carson, who wished heartily he knew how to swim, or hadn't brought it up in the first place. Weir mentioned that she thought everyone should be compelled to learn to swim; "Hello, living in a city surrounded by water!" she'd said, smiling.

"I'll think about it..."

"Think about what?"

They looked up and saw McKay coming over, a plate filled with steak and potatoes and fresh veggies.

"Swimming." Ford said.

"What about it?"

"Dr. Beckett can't swim."

McKay shrugged.

"Nothing wrong with that. I can't swim, either."

That set them all off again, and the meal passed with all sort of arguments from Rodney as to why his brain being so big would allow him to float in the event of him falling into the water, and Weir mentioning something about his big ego dragging him under.

Mitchell enjoyed herself, but excused herself shortly after she'd finished eating. She had a few things she wanted to do, she told them, and then she wanted to get to bed early. She said her good-byes and headed for the hallway that led to her quarters, but she walked right past her door and stopped at Sheppard's.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Come in!" Was the immediate response to her gentle knock, and Mitchell palmed the door open and walked in.

His room looked exactly like hers. Not overly large, but not tiny, and dominated by a big bed and a 'dresser'. He'd been stretched out on the bed, reading, but he out his book aside when she entered.

"Colonel Mitchell, what can I do for you?"

"Actually, Major, I have a favor to ask of you, and since I didn't see you at dinner, I thought I'd come looking for you."

"I ate early," he explained. "What's up?"

Melony pulled the Beretta out of the holster that was hidden in the small of her back and handed it to him.

"If something goes wrong tomorrow and I don't make it back, I was wondering if you'd take that back to General O'Neill for me..."

Sheppard shook his head, and tried to hand her the gun back.

"You just make sure you make it back, and then you can take it to him yourself."

Melony moved her hand, refusing the weapon.

"I intend to come back, Major," she assured him. "But things happen and you and I both know it. It'd mean a lot to me if you'd do this for me. Please."

"You're going to come back."

She nodded.

"I'm going to do my damndest."

"I'll tell you what, Colonel." Sheppard said, looking down at the Beretta for a moment, and then back at her. "I know you're taking a lot of other weapons with you and you won't have enough room to take this one, too, so I'll hold onto it for you until you get back. But I expect you to come back and get it, because I have better things to do than gunsit for you – or even for General O'Neill. Understood?"

Mitchell smiled.

"I'll be back for it."

Sheppard put the gun in the top drawer of his dresser.

"Anything else I can do for you?"

"Nope. I'm going to go to bed."

"Good-night, Colonel."

"Good-night, Major. Thanks again."