They spent the rest of the morning discussing Talon's healing capabilities and how her bond with the symbiote could protect her from the Wraith. Mainly to try and keep him from worrying too much, Melony went into more detail about the technology behind the Goa'uld devices that she was going to bring to bear on the Wraith when the time came. She didn't know how much good it did, but he listened closely, and even asked a few questions that proved to her he was paying attention. And maybe even easing some of the concern, since the technology was formidable – and nothing the Wraith had seen before, as she frequently reminded him. That was definitely in her favor, because the Wraith couldn't defend against something they didn't know.

"But that goes both ways doesn't it?" He asked, running his fingers through her hair lightly as he held her. "We don't know all that much about them, either."

"Which is why I need to get hold of some of their technology – preferably without tipping my hand to them."

"Which is why you're looking for planets that have small populations…"

She nodded.

"I don't want them to think anything's going on. Of course, they might be so cocky that they wouldn't think I'm a threat, anyways, but I'm not going to count on it."

He nodded, and sighed. At least she had given it a lot of thought. And, he reminded himself, she'd already done this once before, with the Goa'uld.

"Too bad they're not still hibernating…"

She agreed, although if the Wraith were still hibernating, there was always the chance that they might have woken at an even worse time – like when the people on Atlantis had decided the area was secure and had let down their defenses a bit more. And had they overrun Atlantis, Earth was the next step. Which wasn't an option.

No

She could have stayed with Carson all day, except that she wanted to go see Sheppard and the others off, and stick around the area in case they ran into any trouble – even though the mission was supposed to be simply routine.

There's no such thing

True.

She kissed Carson softly and dragged herself out of his embrace, telling him that he was more than welcomed to just stay where he was if he didn't feel like trying to hobble back to his own quarters, and that if he was hungry she'd bring him something – or have someone else bring him something.

"I'm going to take you up on that," he told her, watching as she strapped on the holster that held her Beretta and the zat – although she left the backup weapon in the holster that was sitting beside her coffee pot and didn't even look at the P-90. "I'm just going to sleep, though… if you don't mind me doing it in your bed?"

"Not at all." She leaned over and stole another kiss. "I'll be back in a bit – unless something happens."

He nodded, and she left her room, almost running into Sheppard, who was coming out of his own.

"Hey, just the man I'm looking for."

He smiled.

"It must be my rugged good looks."

"Or your too-long hair." She said, reminding him that she wanted him to eventually get it cut back to military length. Off-world or not, they were still in the United States military, and she wanted the men and women to look like it.

"I'll get it cut," he promised, crossing his fingers over his heart.

"Good."

Since he was already in full gear for his mission, they turned and headed for the gate room, where they met up with the others. Noticing she was armed, Lieutenant Ford walked over and met her, followed by McKay and Teyla.

"Are you coming, too?"

"Nope. I'm going to be your back-up. So try not to get in any trouble, okay? I have a crick in my neck and I don't want to have to do anything strenuous if I can avoid it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"It's a fairly simply mission," Sheppard said as he checked McKay's gear to make sure he didn't have his vest on inside out or anything. "We shouldn't be gone long."

"We'll leave a light on for you," Mitchell told them as they headed down the stairs and Weir came over to stand beside her.

"And have a pot of coffee ready when we get back," Ford said. "It's raining there."

"All the more reason you guys need to be careful," she called down to them.

"Why's that?"

"I don't want to get wet."

Weir smiled and nodded for Grodin to start the gate dialing, and Mitchell and the others watched as it engaged and Sheppard led his team through. The minute they were gone and the gate shut down, Melony headed back down the stairs, calling to the various Marines that were standing there to provide cover in the event of something happening.

"Martinez, Coates, and Allias, you guys take flanking positions. Sanders and Barnes, you're with me."

They all moved into the positions she set them in, and waited. If something was going to go wrong it could happen at any time, but usually if Sheppard and the others were going to get chased back through the gate, it would happen as soon as the locals realized they were there – which shouldn't take long.

After half an hour, she allowed the men to stand down, but cautioned them to remain close by. She didn't really need to – they were professionals, after all – but it never hurt to remind them of that. They nodded, and Mitchell left for the commissary to make sure they had a pot of coffee going. Sheppard and his team weren't supposed to be gone more than a few hours – and since it was raining, they probably wouldn't even be gone that long. She poured herself a mug of the pot when it was brewed, and went back to the gate room, where she lounged against the one of the computer stands and chatted with Weir and Grodin as they waited.

Sure enough, the gate started dialing about twenty minutes sooner than they expected it to, and Mitchell trotted down the stairs once more, leaving her coffee cup with Weir and checking to make sure her Beretta was loose in its holster. The Marines, also, snapped to, all of them raising their weapons and waiting to hear if it was Sheppard's team coming through, or an enemy.

A moment later, Grodin let them know that it was.

"I have Major Sheppard's IDC, Doctor Weir."

"Lower the shield."

The lowering of the shield increased the vigilance of the Marines and Mitchell, though. Because now there was nothing to keep Atlantis safe but them if something – or someone – was following Sheppard's group (chasing them, in other words).

A moment later, Ford and Teyla came through, followed only a couple seconds later by Sheppard and McKay. None of them were in any hurry so it was obvious they weren't being chased, but they were drenched. The gate closed behind them and Mitchell motioned for the Marines to stand down, dismissing them.

"You're looking a little…"

"Wet?" Sheppard asked, sarcastically.

"Like something the cat dragged in," she agreed, grinning. Better him than her. "Did you find anything interesting?"

"Nope. A whole lot of nothing."

"We took a lot of pictures, though," McKay said, pulling off his hat and slapping it against his thigh. Water sprayed everywhere.

Weir smiled.

"Colonel Mitchell made sure there's coffee in the commissary. Go get dried off and warmed up, then head to the infirmary to get checked out."

They nodded, and left.

"I think I'll skip the debriefing," Melony told Weir. "If they tell you anything interesting, make Ford write it down, and I'll look at it later." Her tone of voice plainly said she didn't expect them to tell her anything interesting – and Weir didn't, either.

"Are you going to be in your quarters?"

Mitchell nodded.

"Just looking at them has managed to make me cold. I'm going to go warm up."

"With a cup of coffee."

"Yup."

She smiled and left, heading back to her quarters. A cup of coffee and a warm body to snuggle up against.