Part Eleven

To his surprise, John actually fell asleep once he was left alone. When he woke, the lights had been dimmed but a glance at his watch revealed he'd only slept for a couple of hours. He could hear two familiar voices talking quietly a short distance away and was about to greet the owners when the subject of their discussion filtered through to him and instead he remained motionless and listened.

'…doesn't seem to be getting anywhere,' Elizabeth was saying, her voice full of frustration, showing the strain she had been under since this all started. 'He's still working on it, but he can't give us any kind of timescale.'

'What about the transporters on the Daedalus?' Beckett asked. 'I thought Hermiod was modifying them.' As he spoke, his voice began to move away and John was only able to catch the beginning of Elizabeth's next sentence before he heard a door closing, shutting off the rest of the discussion.

The day John had spent in enforced idleness had not been entirely wasted however, and on hearing these snippets of information he knew it was time to put the plan he had formulated into action. Ok, there were certainly a few risks involved, but it was getting to the stage where it was time to take those risks and he was going to be the one taking them.

Cracking his eyes open, he checked the infirmary to make sure there wasn't anyone around who would prevent him from leaving, then got out of bed and made his way towards the nearest transporter and headed for Ronon's quarters. The plan he had in mind needed a second person to ensure it's success and he knew Ronon would follow his lead without feeling the need to report his actions to either Beckett or Weir.

'Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?' Ronon leant against the door, staring fiercely at John.

'Maybe,' John shrugged. 'I need your help – Zelenka and Caldwell aren't making much progress with getting Lorne and Mya out of that lab, so I've come up with an alternative plan. You in?'

'You're not dressed,' Ronon pointed out, taking a good look at John to check whether he should risk helping him. Figuring that he looked in pretty good shape, Ronon stood to one side to allow John to enter.

'You got something I can wear?' John asked, peering around the untidy room. Clothes looked as though they had been dropped wherever the wearer had removed them and a number of items that could be used as weapons were scattered at various intervals, probably intentionally placed to make sure Ronon was never far from something he could use to defend himself.

'What's wrong with your own clothes?'

'They're in my quarters and that's the first place they'll look when they find I'm gone. So?'

Accepting the explanation, Ronon dug through some piles of clothing and threw a sweater and jacket at him.

'Great,' John nodded as he pulled them on before leading the way to their next destination, ignoring the lack of footwear as he could manage quite easily without shoes.

They arrived in McKay's lab without too much difficulty and found it unoccupied. Hurrying over to one of the laptops, John brought up the schematics of the City that he knew were there, and after confirming what he needed to know brought Ronon over and explained what he was planning and what he needed Ronon to do.

Ronon listened carefully, a frown on his face until John had finished talking.

'It might work,' Ronon finally said, which was the closest he was going to get in showing his approval. 'Now what?'

'Time we got out of here. This way.'

John shut the computer off and led the way to the armoury where he snagged a vest and loaded the pockets with the items he required while Ronon kept watch outside, lounging casually against the wall. John was just about ready when a low cough from Ronon alerted him to the presence of a third party. Remaining silent, John waited while Ronon spoke a few muffled words to whoever was there, and a few minutes later the door opened to reveal Ronon on his own.

'Dr Weir,' he told John briefly. 'Wanted to know if I'd seen you – she said Dr Beckett isn't happy with you.' Ronon grinned before heading back towards the central tower and their ultimate goal.

Moving more carefully now, John made full use of the life signs detector he had collected and breathed a sigh of relief that it was now getting late so there were fewer people around. Even so, they had a few close calls and John only narrowly missed being seen by some of his own men before they reached the safety of the deserted 'jumper bay and selected one of the ships.

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'Dr Weir?' Sergeant Read appeared at the door to her office. Elizabeth had been unable to relax and was trying to work, the unread report on her laptop, however, revealed how little work she was actually getting done. 'There's been an unauthorised departure from the 'jumper bay.'

'Do we know who it is?' Elizabeth frowned, not needing another problem on top of everything else.

'No ma'am,' Read shook his head. 'They're not responding to our hails.'

'Very well.' Elizabeth got to her feet wearily and made her way to the control room, gratefully accepting the coffee one of the technicians thoughtfully placed in her hands. 'Weir to 'jumper 2, you are not authorised for this departure, please return immediately.'

'I'm afraid I can't do that.'

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly as she recognised the all-too familiar voice. 'John? What are you doing?'

'Mounting a rescue operation,' John told her. 'Have the Daedalus and infirmary standing by. Jumper 2 out.'

Remaining motionless for a moment, Elizabeth shook her head in frustration before contacting Beckett and Caldwell to bring them up to speed on events and waited impatiently for John to complete his plans.

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'How do you know we won't injure them?' Ronon, leaning through the open door of the now hovering 'jumper turned back to ask.

'Because Lorne's smart,' John assured him, remaining focussed on keeping the 'jumper in position against the exterior wall of the lab. 'He'll have figured out that the warmest place in there will be as far away from the exterior walls as possible, if we place the C4 right where we are now, we stand the best chance of being furthest away from them and it'll also cause the least amount of structural damage according to the schematics.'

'You sure about this?'

'Positive, just do it already,' John urged him. 'I don't know how much longer I can hold this thing steady.'

Wasting no more time, Ronon planted the blocks of C4 as directed. 'It's done,' he called as soon as he was finished, returning to the seat beside John who promptly took the 'jumper to a safe distance before nodding at Ronon to detonate the explosives.

'John? What the hell was that?' Elizabeth's voice sounded strained with tension as the explosion made itself felt in the control room.

'I've just made an emergency exit for the lab,' John informed her casually as he checked the success of his work before heading back to the 'jumper bay. 'It's ok, it didn't caused any serious structural damage. The Daedalus should be able to transport them now.'

'They've got them in the infirmary,' Elizabeth confirmed, her voice revealing her extreme annoyance with what he had just done. 'Report straight there.'

'Already on my way,' John assured her. He was slightly out of breath as he arrived, having raced down several flights of stairs the moment he landed in the 'jumper bay. He cautiously entered the infirmary where he stood just inside the doorway to watch the flurry of activity surrounding the partially covered bundle that had appeared in the middle of the floor which revealed itself to be Major Lorne, his head and shoulders sticking out from underneath a dust-sheet, his eyes open but staring unseeingly in front of him.

Immediately the medical staff set about their appointed tasks, carefully removing the layers of cloth to reveal a well-wrapped little girl held securely by Major Lorne.

'Major, you have to let go of her,' Dr Beckett spoke firmly to Lorne who was extremely reluctant to release his grip on Mya. 'You're in the infirmary and I need to make sure she's alright. Let her go.'

For the first time Lorne's eyes registered some level of understanding as they fell on Beckett and at last he loosened his arms enough to allow some of the nurses to take Mya.

'His temperature's 94,' one of the nurse's advised Beckett as she checked the reading on the thermometer. 'His breathing is slow and his skin pale and cold.' Lorne was rapidly transferred to one of the waiting beds where he was surrounded by medics intent on restoring his body temperature to normal as quickly and safely as they could.

Beckett, overseeing both patients at the same time, turned as he heard one of the nurses trying to convince Mya to allow herself to be examined.

'It's alright, I'll see to it,' Beckett waved the nurses away and was relieved but not surprised when he found her temperature to be only slightly below normal 'You're going to be fine,' Beckett smiled at Mya, but she refused to look at him although she allowed herself to be examined by someone she trusted. 'It looks like Major Lorne took pretty good care of you.'

Beckett looked up as a movement at the door caught his attention and he saw Elizabeth enter, stopping to say something to Colonel Sheppard before she headed over to them. Mya had noticed Beckett's momentary distraction and her own eyes fell on Sheppard.

With a gasp of shock, Mya slid down from the bed where she had been sitting and took a couple of faltering steps towards John before looking back at Beckett for confirmation of what she was seeing.

'Mya, there was a misunderstanding earlier,' Beckett hurried forward. 'When Rodney told you Colonel Sheppard had gone, he only meant gone from the infirmary – to return to his own quarters. As you can see, he is very much alive.' Mya stared at Beckett as though having difficulty understanding him, then raced towards John.

John watched as Mya stopped abruptly in front of him, reaching out a hand to touch him, gingerly at first and then harder, prodding him in the stomach and arm to make sure he was real.

'It really is me,' John assured her, waiting for her to make the next move.

'Mama? Papa?' She looked up at him, her face clearly revealing what she hoped to hear.

Glancing first at Beckett who nodded to him to go ahead and tell her, John knelt down in front of Mya. 'I'm sorry, we sent some people to see if anyone had survived but…'

Mya stared at him, her lower lip quivering and her eyes filling with tears as she began to understand for the first time what had happened to her parents. Holding her arms out in front of her as a younger child would, Mya waited until John picked her up then wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

'What do I do now?' John appealed to Beckett.

'She has a slightly low body temperature, but give her a warm drink and something to eat if she's hungry, make sure she's well wrapped up and she'll be fine physically. There isn't anything we can do for her here, she'll be better off in a quieter environment.'

'What – you mean take her back to my quarters?'

'Yes, I believe that's what I was saying.'

'What about some of the guest quarters, wouldn't that be more suitable?'

'She needs to be with someone she trusts, and right now that would be you,' Beckett told him bluntly as he saw Mya's shoulders shaking with silent sobs. 'I suggest you get going.'

John absently rubbed Mya's back, looking as though he would rather face up to the occupants of an entire hive-ship than deal with one distraught child, then turned around and headed towards his quarters with the greatest possible speed.

'Are you sure he's the right person for this?' Elizabeth asked Beckett after John's departure.

'He'll be fine,' Beckett assured her. 'I've seen him with her in the infirmary and he's a natural, whether he's willing to admit it or not. I'll check on them both as soon as we've got Major Lorne stabilised.' He glanced over to the other side of the room where the medics were still working on Lorne.

'How is he?'

'He didn't get off so lightly,' Beckett told her. 'He's hypothermic, but once we get his body temperature back to normal he should make a full recovery within a few days. From what I could see, he spent so much time making sure Mya was wrapped up against the cold, by the time he got round to seeing to himself he was too tired and confused to cover himself up properly.'

'I see, well, you'd better get back to your patient.' Elizabeth nodded at him and by the time she was out of the door, Beckett was already with Lorne.

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Keeping his head down and walking as fast as he could, John made it back to his quarters in record time, relieved when the door slid closed behind him shutting off the curious gazes of the personnel he had raced past.

Grabbing a blanket from the bed, he sat down on the couch and wrapped Mya up before settling her on his lap as comfortably as he could without putting pressure on the still healing wound in his side. Sensing that they had stopped moving, Mya looked up at John, her face tear-streaked and full of sorrow.

'I want mama and papa,' she sobbed, burying her face again in John's shoulder.

'I know you do,' John hugged the little girl, almost feeling the pain she was going through. 'And I know it really hurts right now.'

'It hurts here,' Mya patted her chest.

'I bet it feels like there's a lump in there instead of your heart, doesn't it?' Mya nodded solemnly. 'And it feels like you're about to break up into a million pieces and that you could never be happy again?' She nodded again, sobbing harder than ever as John described exactly how she was feeling. 'I lost my parents when I was a few years older than you are now,' John explained. 'And I know it hurt like hell and I felt that the world was ending. You know what got me through it all?'

Curious, Mya looked up at him, tears easing for a moment as she waited expectantly for him to continue.

'Having people around who understood what I was going through and were there for me when I needed them – if it weren't for that, I don't know what I would have done.' John paused so Mya had chance to take in some of what he was saying. 'You know, you're not on your own. There are people here who will help you, and I'm here for you too. Remember that, and in time things won't seem quite so bad.'

Clinging tightly to John, Mya began to cry again, but this time it wasn't the bitter tears of despair and loneliness, they were tears mourning the loss of her parents and her people, tears that would in time help ease her pain. John held her close, rocking her gently and allowing her to cry.

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To be continued…

The Stargate, Atlantis, the characters, stories and anything else that is seen in the show belong to the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author