Disclaimer: I own nothing. sniff

Note: This is the sequal to "We're All Human" and takes place directly after it. If you haven't read that one, please do. It will be a big help in understanding this story better. You can find it on this site.

Birthright

By Rowana Farrin

Chapter One: Hidden Secrets

"And this is one of my favorite rooms...the puddle jumper bay!" Major Sheppard smiled proudly at the large room full of Ancient ships.

"Puddle jumpers?" Ree'an frowned. She had been too distracted by the amazing sights of Atlantis to pay much attention to him during the tour, but this statement had caught her attention. 'How could these large blocky things jump puddles? And why would you want them to?' Of all the strange things she had seen in the city, this was by far the strangest.

"Yup." the Major didn't seem to notice her bafflement. "We fly these babies through the Stargate." He patted one fondly and led her around to the back.

"They fly?" she asked quizzically.

"Of course," said Dr. McKay, coming up behind them. He started to explain something about "antigravity generators," but Ree'an had no idea what he was talking about. She did like the puddle jumper though. The small space inside was comfortable and felt somehow safe and warm. It was a startling difference from her experience in the Wraith dart less than a day ago. She smiled and sat in one of the cushioned chairs in front of a bank of crystal buttons.

"Are these what makes them fly?" she asked, reaching forward to try one.

"Yes," McKay started, "but they only work for..." Ree'an's hand touched the controls and the whole ship lit up in response. "...people with the Ancient gene," he finished softly. The two men stared at each other for a moment, then at her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked in concern. They had never looked at her like that before and it was making her nervous.

"Would you excuse us for a second?" Sheppard asked politely. "And please don't touch anything." He dragged McKay outside. "She has the gene."

"I can see that, but that doesn't explain how. No one else in this galaxy has had the it so far."

"Except Chaya."

"You don't think she could be..." he trailed off.

"I'm not sure. She doesn't seem to be, but I wouldn't rule it out." He thought for a second. "Stay with her, I'm gonna tell Weir what's going on." He turned and started to go.

"What am I supposed to do?" McKay asked in annoyance.

He shrugged. "Explain more about the jumper maybe. Just keep her occupied." Without waiting for more protests, he ran the short distance to the control room and was immediately greeted by Dr. Weir.

"Major Sheppard. How's our new guest?"

"Our 'guest' just activated one of the jumpers." He paused a moment to let that sink in. "She has the Ancient gene."

Before she could reply, Dr. Beckett rushed in, carrying a laptop and looking quite excited about something. "Dr. Weir! i found something interesting about Ree'an."

"She has the Ancient gene," Sheppard supplied for him. "We know."

Beckett was slightly taken aback, but he recovered quickly. "Well, yes. But it's more than that." He set the laptop on an empty table and pointed to the screen. Three spiraling DNA patterns were displayed, each with a slightly different sequence. "The top one is human, the next one down is our lass, Ree'an."

"They're different," Weir observed.

"What's the bottom one?" Sheppard asked.

"That's the DNA I took from Chaya. Her DNA shares a lot of commonalities with Ree'an's."

"So she is an Ancient," Weir concluded.

"Not quite. Her DNA is similar, but it also has a lot of human alleles as well. I'd say she's almost exactly fifty-fifty."

"Wait," Sheppard stopped him. "Are you saying she's half Ancient?"

"Well...yes. To have this many Ancient genes she would have do be a direct descendent of a true Ancient."

"How direct?" Weir asked.

"A parent; grandparent at the very least."

"How can that be possible? The Ancients left over 10,000 years ago. Could a group of them have survived that long?"

"I doubt it, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility."

"Why don't we just asked Ree'an?" Sheppard suggested reasonably.

Weir nodded. "Where is she?"

"In the jumper bay being lectured by McKay." He grinned. "We should probably intervene before she gets really tired of it."

Ree'an was indeed getting tired of it, but she had amused herself by seeing how many different diagrams she could bring up on the ship's screen. Though she had no idea what they were for, she found it fascinating that they popped up at a simple thought from her mind.

"I thought I asked you not to touch anything!"

Ree'an jumped and saw Major Sheppard staring at her sternly through the window. Dr. Weir and Dr. Beckett were with him and all three looked extremely thoughtful about something. It made her slightly nervous.

"You took your time," said a grumpy McKay. "I have better things to do besides baby sit you know."

Sheppard crossed his arms and frowned. "Well you didn't do a good job at that."

"She wasn't breaking anything!" he cried defensively.

"Alright you two," Weir interrupted. "Ree'an, I need to talk to you. Will you come with me?"

"Is something wrong?" she asked suspiciously.

Weir gave her a reassuring smile. "No, I just wanted to ask you a few things, alright?"

Ree'an nodded. She wasn't quite sure why they would suddenly want to ask her things, but she knew she was a guest. She did not want to ruin her relations with these people when she was only just getting to know them.

Leaving the others behind, Elizabeth took her to one of her favorite places: the balcony behind the control room. From here they could look out on the vast city of Atlantis and the endless ocean beyond. It was a beautiful sight and could give one peace even in the darkest hours.

Weir leaned casually on the railing, enjoying the cool breeze that came up off the water. "I wanted to talk to you to, because I want to get to know you a bit more," she told Ree'an kindly. "Why were you so eager to join us here? Don't you have family who'll be worried about you?"

Ree'an looked down. "I have no family. At least, not anymore." She hoped she wouldn't ask why; this was not a pleasant subject.

Elizabeth was surprised. "What happened?"

She sighed. She wished she didn't have to explain, but knew that she couldn't get out of it. "A few years ago, the Wraith attacked my village. They came in such great numbers...so suddenly...there was no chance for escape. I had snuck out early in the morning to play in the forest. I heard to Wraith coming and...I tried to get back...but the village was already surrounded. I could only watch...watch as my friends were taken...before my eyes. I can still...hear their screams...even now." She shocked her head and tried to drive away the memories. She had never had to explain this before and she discovered that the pain was still fresh even though it had been years since the event.

Elizabeth put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Were your parents taken too?"

"Yes. Though, my father had been taken years before when I was nine. He just left one day for a walk...and never came home. My mother...she always said he would be back someday. But now...I guess she'll never know." Ree'an stared out at the sea and wished her parents could see this wondrous place. "She would have loved it here."

Thinking of them brought up another distant memory that she had almost forgotten. A memory of cold nights when the snow piled up outside and the winds bit at the roof. She remembered sitting around a comforting fire, wrapped in soft blankets with both her parents by her side. It was on those nights that her father would tell stories. They were tales of far distant worlds and courageous battles with the Wraith. The heroes were driven back to one sanctuary and faced enormous odds, trying to push back the tide of war, but in the end forced to leave.

"They left behind their city," her father would say, "a great city of silver and steel. It sleeps far beneath the sea, even to this day. Its great towers are dark now, and no one walks its once bright halls. But we have hope, that one day it will rise again. And once more stand as a symbol of all the good people who have suffered against the enemy we know as Wraith. Someday it will be home again."

She wasn't sure why she had thought of that old story just now, but she suddenly realized that the city in the story seemed much like Atlantis. And yet, it couldn't be...could it?

"Ree'an?" Dr. Weir interrupted her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

"What? Oh...yes," she replied, clearly distracted. "Was there something else?"

"No," Weir said uncertainly. Something was clearly bothering her, but if she didn't want to talk about it further, she wasn't going to force the issue. "Do you want to get something to eat?" she asked instead, hoping a meal might help the girl relax.

"Yes," she answered absently. She turned reluctantly to follow her back inside. Then she shook her and forced herself to forget the matter for now. 'I really have to pay attention to the present,' she thought.