No one in Atlantis had any idea that this extra person in the city didn't actually belong. The next morning, as John came into the gate room, he noticed that Jadin was sitting at the bottom of the great staircase. "You're late, Colonel Sheppard," he reported.

"And a pleasant good morning to you, too," John teased. "How late is late?"

"Five minutes."

John grinned. "That's early for me. I'll see you later, kiddo."

Up in the conference room, Elizabeth, Rodney, Beckett, and Teyla were waiting for him. "Nice of you to make time to join us," Elizabeth commented.

"I already heard it from your timekeeper at the bottom of the stairs," he replied. "So shall we get started?"

From his place down by the gate, Jadin watched as the conference room doors closed. He started to leave the room, but almost bumped into an officer that was coming in.

"Where are you off to?" he asked the little boy. He smiled.

"Just exploring."

By the time the senior staff meeting was ending, Elizabeth was almost finished with her second cup of coffee and had every intention of going to get a third. "Rough night?" John asked her after everyone else was gone.

"Nightmare," she replied.

"Yours or his?"

"His…How exactly is a twelve-year-old supposed to cope with moving to another galaxy?"

"I think he's been doing pretty well so far."

"Are you going over to the mainland anytime soon?"

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"At least that'll give him a chance to play with some other kids."

"Yeah, he can tag along if I go."

"Thank you." Having emptied her mug, Elizabeth headed back for her office to get more. "I'm not sure which of us is crazier," she told John as he followed her. "Me for wanting to bring Jadin here, or Simon for actually letting me. I mean, letting me take him along for a couple months in Africa is one thing. An indefinite amount of time in the Pegasus Galaxy is another."

"Yeah, he probably wins the crazier vote. But kids are resilient, and he's having a good time. It'll just take some adjustment."

Jadin's 'exploration' of the city had brought him down to Atlantis' recreation area, and he'd spent the last ten minutes standing in the doorway to one of the training rooms, watching as Ronon practiced.

"Where are you supposed to be?" the ex-runner asked at one point without even turning around to face his solitary audience member.

"N-nowhere. How did you know I was here?"

"Heard you coming halfway down the hall." The boy's eyebrows rose; he hadn't been aware that he'd been making noise. "Does your mother know where you are?"

"Sort of…" Jadin moved to sit by the window. When Ronon looked at him, though, there was no one there. The room was empty. "How long did it take you to learn all that?" a voice asked, and the little boy had suddenly reappeared again.

"M-many years."

"Could you teach me?" Ronon concentrated, trying to figure out what had caused the vanishing act, but Jadin had not disappeared again, and was waiting for an answer to his question.

"I'm not sure if I'm cut out for that," he noticed someone else in the doorway, "But I know who is."

"What is going on?" Teyla asked.

"You've got a new student," Ronon informed her.

"It was awesome!" Jadin told Elizabeth later that day as they had a late lunch together in the mess hall. "Teyla said I'm really good for having just started. Better than Colonel Sheppard was in the beginning."

She smiled. "You probably don't want to tell him that."

"I'm going to go practice more after lunch."

"Have you done your assignment for today yet?"

"I'll do it later."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "No, you'll do it first. Laptop and homework, then sticks and practicing. You promise?" He sighed.

"Promise."

" John said he would be able to fly you over to the mainland sometime soon. How's that sound?"

"Are you coming, too?"

"I don't know. Depends on when you wind up going."

"You have to come, too. We can have lunch outside, like we used to do with Dad in Washington, remember? Picnics on the Mall."

"We'll see, okay?"

"Okay."

TBC...

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