Sorry it's been so long since I updated, hope it was worth the wait!

Part fourteen

The game of Snakes and Stargates had finished, Major Lorne had left and Mya was spinning the miniature 'gate and moving her counter along the board while John finished typing a couple of e-mails. Just as he was about done, there was a knock on the door and he went to see who it was, standing back to give Rodney room to enter, limping along with the aid of his crutches.

'Shouldn't you have got the hang of those by now?' John asked curiously, observing how awkwardly Rodney moved.

'It's not as easy as it looks you know,' Rodney huffed, lowering himself on to a chair.

'I thought you were going to stop by and visit while Mya was in the infirmary?' John challenged, suspecting that Rodney was still feeling guilty over what had happened to her.

'Well, you know, busy busy. Had to make sure Zelenka hadn't blown anything up – leave him too long on his own and who knows what disasters I might have had to clean up.' He avoided looking at John and barely glanced at Mya at first, then did a double-take as he saw what she was playing with. 'That is so sick!'

Mya, realising that the two men were looking in her direction, glanced up and smiled. 'Hello Roddy. Play Snakes and Stargates?' She asked hopefully, picking up the board and pieces of the game to bring them over to Rodney.

'You let her play this?' Rodney's voice was incredulous as he studied the game closer, before grabbing the mini Stargate and studying it closely. 'This is pretty good. Who made it?'

'I have no idea – someone left a couple of games in a box outside earlier, and yes, Mya likes the game and I've been playing with her.' John's voice was a little cold at Rodney's reaction and for once, Rodney noticed the change in tone.

'Oh, well, I guess it can't do any harm, after all, she's never come across…'

'This type of snake before,' John interrupted, glaring a warning.

'Yes, well. Anyway, so how's Mya?'

'Why don't you ask her yourself?'

'How are you Mya?' He asked awkwardly.

'Much better, thank you,' Mya told him politely. 'How are you?'

'Fine, just fine,' he mumbled, looking around the room as he struggled to think of something else to say.

'We were just about to get something to eat, want to join us?' John took pity on Rodney and stood up, holding out his hand to Mya who grabbed hold of it eagerly. 'Hungry?' She nodded energetically.

'Well, now you mention it, it has been a while since I last ate,' Rodney responded, relieved that the initial awkwardness had now passed.

'Let's go then.' John let Rodney go ahead of him, hanging back to grab the second game on impulse, an evil smile spreading across his face before easily catching up.

They were the first ones to arrive in the mess hall for the evening meal and John quickly got the other two settled with their choices before bringing his own tray over and joining them. While Mya began eating her food with relish, Rodney glanced at John, then looked again, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

'You're up to something.'

'Who, me?' John looked at him with wide-eyed innocence as he began to shovel food into his mouth.

'Yes you,' Rodney tried not to sound exasperated. 'I've spent enough time around you to know when you're up to no good.'

'Rodney, I'm hurt,' John tried to feign surprise at Rodney's comment. 'When have you known me to be up to no good?'

'Well, last April 1st springs to mind.'

'Ok, there was that, but I wasn't the only one involved.'

'Maybe not, but you were the worst culprit. Then there was the time you decided it would be a good idea for the military personnel to play hide and seek throughout the city.'

'That wasn't hide and seek, it was an exercise to test the resourcefulness of my people,' John tried to defend himself, but couldn't stop grinning at the mayhem this had caused when the sensors had been taken off-line for routine maintenance and a large number of personnel had found themselves trapped in unexplored areas of the city when the automatic defences were triggered 'accidentally' by Rodney himself who claimed to know nothing of John's training exercise.

'Whatever,' Rodney continued to watch John carefully as he ate. 'The point is, I know when you're up to something, and you're up to something right now.'

'If you want to find out, why don't you join Mya and me in a game after we've eaten,' John proposed, fairly confident that Rodney would decline.

'If it's anything like that other game you've been playing, then I'll think I'll give it a miss, thanks,' Rodney told him coldly.

'I can assure you, it's nothing like the other game.'

Rodney eyed him suspiciously but still refused to participate, departing in a huff almost as soon as he'd finished eating.

'So, do you want to play?' John asked Mya once they'd both finished and he'd returned their trays.

'Yes please,' Mya was as eager as ever to go along with John's suggestion and he pulled the cards out of his pocket.

'Ok, this one's called snap,' John explained, dealing the cards out. 'The cards are shared out between all the players and you take it in turns to place one card down on top of the other. If you see two cards with the same picture, you put your hand on the pile and yell snap. We'll take it slowly at first, just until you get the hang of it.'

Under John's watchful eye, Mya soon got the hang of the game but play was slowed down as each time either of them laid a new card down, Mya would study it closely, sometimes giggling as she saw what the pictures were. John, more than half his attention on watching Mya's reaction with an amused expression on his face, jumped when a voice speaking behind him interrupted his thoughts.

'Can anyone join in?' Elizabeth asked, smiling as she wondered what had amused the two of them so much.

'Sure, why not?' John replied, a sly grin on his face. 'How about it, Mya? Want to start again?'

Now she had seen the pictures on the cards, Mya was ready to play properly and handed the cards over to John to shuffle and deal out. Once the first couple of cards had been laid out, Elizabeth realised the source of the amusement. The pictures on the cards weren't the ordinary animals you would expect to see in a game of snap. Instead, each of the animals had a human face super-imposed on to it and the faces used were all of Atlantis crew-members.

'Where did these come from?' Elizabeth asked, suppressing a laugh as she laid down a card showing a picture of a donkey with Kavanagh's face on it and big ears growing out of his head.

'To be honest, I have no idea,' John told her. 'Someone left a box with a couple of games outside my quarters. For some reason Rodney didn't approve of the Snakes and Stargates game.'

'I see,' Elizabeth frowned as she placed her next card on the table. 'I think some of our people must have way too much spare time on their hands.'

'You know, I said the exact same thing to Major Lorne,' John agreed.

'How many other people know about this little project?'

'Probably just about everyone,' John said in an unconcerned voice. 'At least it's a harmless activity – look on it as team-building.'

'Hmm.' Elizabeth agreed doubtfully as the game came to a rapid finish, the adults too caught up in their conversation to be paying too much attention and Mya had won easily. 'Well, I guess I'd better leave you to it then. Good night.'

'Good night,' Mya piped up, then looked at John hopefully.

'Afraid not,' he told her. 'I think it's about time you went to bed. Come on.'

--------------

They were just finishing breakfast the following morning when Major Lorne approached them. Mya smiled at him happily, her face taking on a troubled expression when he spoke to John.

'Dr Weir has asked you to go to see her,' Lorne told him.

'What, now?' John looked at him in surprise.

'Yes sir,' Lorne turned his attention to Mya now. 'If it's alright with you, Dr Weir said I should stay with you until Colonel Sheppard returns.'

Studying his face closely, she nodded before watching John leave and turned back to Lorne, waiting for him to tell her what they were going to do.

'Ok,' Lorne smiled at her, forcing himself to remain cheerful. 'Is there anything you'd like to do?'

'Snap?' She asked, pleased when he accepted the suggestion and produced the cards she had brought, just in case an opportunity arose to play the game. Once Lorne got over the surprise at the pictures on the cards, the game proceeded noisily, serving to take his mind off the meeting that he knew was now taking place in Dr Weir's office.

------------

John was surprised to find Teyla, Ronon and a strange girl already in Dr Weir's office. Glancing curiously at the others, John took a seat and looked to Elizabeth for an explanation.

'John, this is Breda,' Elizabeth began, introducing the stranger. 'She turned up as Lt Mayhew's team were about to return here, when she heard they were from Atlantis, she told him that she knew Teyla. Her own people had been attacked by raiders, but herself and some others were taken to another planet and sold as slaves. She was able to get away and returned to her home world only to find everyone there was dead, so she went to one of the planets her people had traded with in the past.'

'Does this mean..?' John looked around, his eyes narrowing as he considered the implications.

'Yes,' Teyla told him gently. 'She is one of Mya's people, but perhaps it would be best if you heard what happened directly from her.' Nodding slowly, John sat and listened as the story unfolded.

'When the strangers arrived, they gathered all my people into the centre of the village,' Breda began, a little nervous to begin but becoming more confident as she continued to relate what had happened. 'They took those of us who were aged between 16 and 20 back to their own planet. We were treated well, but several days after arriving we discovered what our fate was to be. We were taken to a market place where traders had gathered from many planets to buy us as slaves. An old man bought me - he said I reminded him of his daughter who had died when she was a child. He took me to his home and I was treated well but I fear the others were not so fortunate. I took care of him when he became ill shortly afterwards but I was unable to help him and he died very quickly. I saw to it that he was buried, then I returned home only to find…' Her voice shook as she found herself unable to describe what she had found.

'That's ok,' John told her quietly. 'We know. Do you know where any of the others were taken?'

'No, but if any are able to get away they will return to our home and then go to the Dinas as I did.'

'Teyla's told you about Mya?'

'Yes. It is hard to believe that another of my people is alive.'

'So…' John took a deep breath and looked expectantly at Elizabeth. 'What happens now?'

'My people will happily provide a home for Breda, Mya and any others that find their way to safety. They too have lost their home and know what it is like,' Teyla told him.

'Ok, well that's good,' John considered this, surprised at the emotions that were fighting within him: a gut-wrenching sorrow at the prospect of Mya going elsewhere mingled with relief that she wouldn't be going too far. 'But that's not entirely what I meant. We should do something to about this slave trade – isn't it enough that these people have to fear the Wraith without coming under attack from others of their own kind? We should put a stop to it.'

'Could you do that?' Breda had looked up at this statement, a fierce look on her face that made John wonder that any one would ever dare try to cross her.

'I think we should discuss this another time,' Elizabeth broke in, considering other priorities right now. 'How do you think Mya will take the news?'

'I'm not sure,' John frowned. He'd been trying to put the thought of what this would mean to the back of his mind, but he knew that ultimately all that mattered was ensuring Mya had a secure future. 'She seems to be recovering rapidly and doesn't get tired so easily. I think she suspects something's going on though, she's a smart kid.'

Elizabeth and Teyla hid their smiles – he sounded just like a proud father. 'Ok,' Elizabeth nodded. 'How do you want to do this?'

'Well, perhaps it would be best if I…' John's voice trailed off as he saw Mya heading towards the office, Major Lorne following closely behind her.

'I'm sorry sir,' Lorne looked apologetically at John. 'She seemed to know something was going on and insisted on coming.' He fell silent as all eyes in the room turned to Mya as she noticed the visitor for the first time.

She went very white and John was on his feet and at her side, kneeling beside her as she turned to him, her face filled with both hope and dread, her mouth opening and closing as she found herself unable to speak.

'Breda and some of the young adults were taken away to another planet. Breda was able to get away and found her way to a planet where some of our people were, they brought her here when they heard her story,' John told her as gently as he could, wrapping an arm around her waist and hugging her reassuringly. She looked at him, a wordless appeal in her eyes and he instinctively knew what she was asking and he shook his head slowly, her own sadness mirrored in his expression.

Mya's lower lip was quivering as she stood still for a moment before looking at Breda again and moving towards her, holding out her arms to her kinswoman and found herself wrapped in her embrace, both with tears running down their faces.

John, vaguely aware of movement behind him, only realised that Elizabeth, Ronon and Lorne had left when he felt Elizabeth's hand on his arm as she silently nodded her support. Teyla stood up and moved over to where John was now standing, saying nothing but he was relieved at her continued presence, knowing she understood what he was going through.

A few minutes later, Mya pulled away from Breda and returned to John, grabbed hold of his hand and tugged him towards the older girl, pointing at the seat beside Breda on the couch and climbed onto his lap, Teyla moving to sit on the other side of Breda.

Teyla and John watched as Breda and Mya sat in silence, each studying the other's face with their hands clasped tightly. After a few minutes, Mya broke her gaze and smiled tearfully at John and Teyla, looking as though she were about to burst into tears again.

Teyla, sensing that they all needed chance to gather their thoughts and come to terms with what had just happened, spoke up.

'Breda, I expect you would like to come with me to freshen up,' she suggested. 'And then perhaps we can meet up with John and Mya for lunch, in one hour?'

Mya, her face falling at the thought of being separated from her newly returned friend, brightened up as soon as she realised it would only be for be a short time and consented to return with John to his quarters so she could wash her face and sit quietly until it was time for lunch. She opted to sit on his lap again and with her head resting against his chest, they remained peacefully silent, each with their own thoughts.

Over the next two days, Breda and Mya spent most of their waking hours together, enabling John to enter into discussions with Dr Weir, Rodney, Ronon and others of the senior military personnel on their options for dealing with the slavers who had ruined so many lives. Elizabeth, in spite of her strong feelings on the subject, found it necessary to reign in some of the more violent suggestions put forward, but they at last formulated a plan that met the approval of all and preparations were begun.

-------------

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