It was a very unsteady Ronon Dex who got out of bed the next day. He was still pale and it was obvious that it hurt to move, but he insisted that he was all right, and was unwilling to stay in bed any longer – especially since there were other things on his mind now that the tracking device had been removed from him and he was free to return home for the first time in seven years.

Beckett gave him a thorough check up before allowing him to get up, and had to admit he was impressed at the man's fortitude. The Jaffa – and of course Melony – healed quickly because of their symbiotes, but Dex was just bearing the pain and trying his best to ignore how much those barely healed gashes hurt, and he was going to get out of bed on pretty much sheer determination. If not for the fact that he seemed to have plenty of it and didn't look at all ready to fall on his face, Carson never would have allowed him out of bed that morning.

His clothing had been cleaned and repaired, so he was able to dress in his own gear after Beckett changed the bandages, and with a couple of muffled groans he slung his holster onto his hip, arming himself once more with his formidable handgun. Carson watched him intently, looking for any sign that he wouldn't be able to stay on his feet for any long period of time, but he had to nod when Dex looked over at him questioningly.

"We're having breakfast in the commissary," Carson told him as they headed for the door to the little room. "It's really just a cafeteria, but the military types call it the commissary, so it pretty much stuck. Doctor Weir and the others will be joining us."

Dex nodded.

"You're not military?"

"Oh, no."

"Mitchell is."

"Aye."

"And Weir?"

"No."

Dex fell silent, concentrating on the city around him as they walked slowly down the hallway. As they walked, they passed a window, and Ronon stopped to look out it, the amazement on his face almost comical – except that Carson was always impressed by the view out the windows as well.

"How high up are we?"

"Several hundred feet."

"Is it water all around?"

Beckett nodded.

"Aye. There is a continent over the horizon, but it's a long way out."

Dex shook his head, craning his neck for a better look at what little he could see of the other parts of the city from that window.

"How did you ever build this…?"

"We didn't," Carson said. He smiled when Ronon looked over at him, and gestured for them to continue walking. "It's a long story. One that you can hear another time. Right now, the others are waiting for us – and you need something to eat."

Dex didn't argue. He was hungry, and already wanted to get off his feet – even though he wasn't about to tell the doctor that.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was a fair sized group sitting around one of the large tables in the commissary when they walked in several minutes later. All of them looked up with varying degrees of welcome in their expressions as he sat down, taking the open spot beside Sheppard.

"How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked him as John poured him a cup of coffee.

"Fine, thank you."

He didn't exactly look fine, Weir decided as he carefully tried a sip of the drink Sheppard handed him. But he looked better than he had the day before, and Carson had allowed him out of bed, so he couldn't be doing too badly.

"Breakfast?" Mitchell asked, smiling a greeting to Carson when he sat down beside her. Melony looked as good as she was feeling. A good night's rest, coupled with a long shower, a pot of coffee and a huge breakfast had done wonders for her.

With a little help, Talon said.

Well, yeah.

"Yes."

They watched as Ronon tested the sugar; found it was what he thought it was, and poured a generous helping into his coffee, stirring it with his knife. While he was doing that – and Melony was hiding her repugnance to him ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee with sugar – one of the mess men brought over a plate filled with scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and toast.

"Here you are, sir," he said, handing it to Dex, who took it with a nod of thanks.

"I hope you don't mind talking while you eat," Elizabeth said as Dex fell into his meal with enthusiasm. "But there is a lot to discuss."

"No."

She smiled. He was far more interested in his meal just then than he was in chatting it up, obviously, but she didn't mind – and she decided he probably hadn't had a lot of fresh, hot meals recently.

"What are your plans, Ronon?" Melony asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

He looked over.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm going to do with that device we got from you…" she said. "And you showed an interest in it as well. But there is also the fact that you're free to do anything you want to now – without worrying about the Wraith following you."

"Like go home and let your family know you're alive and well," Sheppard said.

Dex hesitated, but then he nodded. While there were other things he wanted to do – including be in on the ambushes that Mitchell had mentioned before – he did want to go home and check on what little he had for family and friends. He didn't even know who had survived the Wraith attack, after all.

"I'd like to go home," he said. "Long enough to check on things there."

Weir smiled.

"We can arrange that as soon as you're feeling up to it."

Dex nodded his thanks, and looked at Mitchell.

"What are you going to do?" He asked. Fair was fair, after all, and she'd asked first.

"I'm going to take some people back to that forest and see if we can find more of those cats before I do anything else," she said.

"Why?"

"Because they're killing villagers."

"You're not there anymore. Why would you care?"

"We might want to go back some day," Sheppard said. "It'd be helpful if there were still people there."

"Besides," Carson said, "we know that the cats fed off at least one Wraith – and we want to study them."

"It sounds like a good way to get killed."

Look what had happened the last time, after all.

Melony shrugged.

"They won't sneak up on us next time," she assured him. "I plan on bringing in plenty of help."