DISCLAIMER – Stargate: Atlantis is the intellectual property of MGM/UA and associates. I am receiving no compensation or profit from the creation of this story. This is a work of fan fiction, created solely for personal enjoyment.

Shadow and Dr. Itzhak Perlman are my original characters. If you want to use them, ask me. I will most likely say yes.

RATING – This story is rated T

ARCHIVE – Feel free to archive this. Please let me know where you're archiving it, though. Thanks!

A/N – Thank you all so much for the wonderful responses to the last chapter. As always, I look forward to the comments and reviews, and I appreciate each and every one of them. You all encourage me very much. Thank you!

This is a note for flubber – in case you haven't been getting my PMs (I sent you 3 already), the answer to your question is YES. Please feel free to use the chess set in your McWeir fic. I would be honoured and pleased if you did! (I did dedicate it to you, after all!)

Alrighty then, here's Chapter 29 for you. We're getting close to the end of this story, now… only a few more chapters to go. I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. The next few updates might be a bit longer in coming, as Real Life is quite hectic at the moment, so please bear with me. Thanks!

Any blocks of text written in present tense and italicized are flashback scenes.

I have no beta. If you find any mistakes, blame them on me.


The Song Of Silent Rivers

29. Living And Learning

"This is incredible," Rodney McKay declared.

Rodney had been making similar statements periodically all morning, though it was with this last utterance he remembered that he was alone in the lab. Of course he'd known he was by himself all along, but sometimes he became so absorbed in his work that he tended to tune out his environment to the exclusion of everything but himself and his current project.

Rodney reflected that the person he most often shared the lab with also seemed to have the gift of being able to lose himself completely in what he was doing. Sometimes, Rodney and Radek could work in the same room together for hours and never say a word to each other, talking to themselves or the machines, and never really expecting a reply. The instances in which they were most likely to have a conversation in the lab were when somebody made a really fascinating breakthrough or if one of them ran into a problem. It was good to have a colleague around at times like that, because another person could be an excellent sounding-board for ideas and theories.

Rodney was not above wishing Radek was with him in the lab right now. He guessed the little Czech would have more than a few opinions about Rodney's latest discovery. Thanks to the information from the tablet device they'd found on M4X-382, Rodney was that much closer to truly understanding how the cloaking devices in the 'jumpers worked. He was curious to know the similarities and differences between the 'jumper cloak and the personal cloaking device in Shadow's necklace, though he was doubtful that Radek would agree to let him experiment with the girl's Ancient jewellery.

Rodney was so caught up that he failed to notice someone else entering the lab until the person was only a few metres from his work table. Rodney didn't look up to see who it was. Assuming it was Radek at long last, he said, "It's about time you got here."

A puzzled voice with a hint of an accent that was not Czech replied, "I didn't know you were expecting me, Dr. McKay."

Forced to identify the newcomer, Rodney pulled his gaze away from his laptop. He wasn't sure whether he should be disappointed or annoyed when he saw who it was. Dr. Itzhak Perlman had his own laptop tucked under his arm. The Israeli doctor looked as though he hadn't slept in a week and hadn't combed his hair in a month. It was irritating, how blithe the man seemed, despite his frazzled appearance.

"Oh, Perlman, it's you," Rodney said. "Decided to leave the witchdoctor's hut for a while, I see."

"Yeah, I got tired of sticking pins into all my dolls," Itzhak said archly. He placed his laptop on Rodney's work table. "Where's Radek?"

"How should I know? He hasn't bothered to drag his lazy butt in here, yet. He's probably haunting the Infirmary."

"I just came from there. I didn't see him."

"Why do you want him?"

"I need to ask him a question," Itzhak said.

"You can ask me. I'm more qualified to answer it than he is, anyway."

"I don't think so. It's a question only Radek can answer."

Rodney snorted derisively. "Oh, please! Nobody's more technically competent than I am."

"I'm not the least bit in doubt of your unparalleled genius, Dr. McKay," Itzhak said. "This just isn't a technical question."

"Oh," Rodney said. "Well, in that case, I can't help you. Now, go away and let me work."

"What are you working on?"

Rodney heaved a sigh of frustration. "What part of 'go away' do you not understand? If you insist on asking, I'm learning everything I ever wanted to know about Ancient cloaking technology."

"Did you get the information from Morin's device?"

"It's not Morin's device," Rodney said. "He was just borrowing it."

"What?"

"It belonged to an Ancient named Danai."

"You know about her?" Itzhak said incredulously.

Rodney, equally incredulous, couldn't help staring at the doctor. "You know about her?"

"You didn't happen to read Morin's personal journal, did you?" Itzhak said.

"Maybe I did," Rodney said. "Why do you ask?"

"Look, I read some of it, too, so there's no point in being coy. That's how I know about Danai. Do you know for certain that she was an Ancient, or are you just speculating, like I was?"

"She was an Ancient," Rodney said. "Apparently she wasn't very popular with her Ascended peers. She broke more than a few rules in the Ascended Beings Handbook."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Ascended beings aren't supposed to interfere with the affairs of mere mortals, but evidently, Danai wasn't willing to hang around and let the Wraith have their way with this galaxy. According to what Morin wrote about her, she returned to this plane of existence and reassumed human form. Her big goal in life was to create new humans with the Ancient gene, presumably to help fight the Wraith."

"Let me guess. She didn't have the skills to do it herself, so that's where Morin fit into the plan."

"Good guess. Morin was already conducting human genetic research on his homeworld which, incidentally, was not M4X-382."

"I think I figured that much out for myself," Itzhak said.

"Right. Of course you did. Anyway, this might've been the ego talking, but apparently Morin was one of the leading geneticists on his world. The best in the entire galaxy, probably."

"Which would make him a natural choice from Danai's point of view," said Itzhak. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"No."

"Well, I think you should talk to Dr. Weir. This is the sort of thing she'd want to know."

"You read Morin's journal. Did you talk to Elizabeth about it?"

"No, because I didn't read enough of it to learn anything useful. I was more interested in Morin's lab notes. He was working on some kind of immune therapy. I found lots of references, but I wasn't able to find the actual notes on the formula itself. You didn't happen to see anything about an immune therapy, did you?"

Rodney pondered for a moment. He'd skipped over most of the medical references in Morin's writing because he hadn't been terribly interested in them and wouldn't have understood most of them anyway, but he did recall seeing something about immunity. He realized that fact only stuck in his mind because he'd been thinking about the annoying tickle in the back of his throat at the time, and he'd been worried his cold was relapsing.

He tapped at his keyboard, reopening the file in which he remembered seeing the reference. He could feel the Israeli doctor's gaze on him. It was disconcerting, being watched so closely.

"Do you mind?" he snapped.

"I'm trying to see what you're doing."

"You'll see in a second. Stop breathing down my neck," Rodney said. "You're more annoying than Kavanagh. Here, is this the file you're looking for?"

Itzhak leaned so far over Rodney's shoulder that he was practically touching him. Rodney shuddered at the invasion of his personal space, but didn't move because there was nowhere to go. Itzhak studied the file for a few minutes, during which Rodney tried not to scream at him for being too close.

At last, Itzhak straightened up. "My God…it's right there," he said. He sounded a little breathless. "I searched all night for that."

"If you want anything done, ask an expert," Rodney said.

"Right," said Itzhak. "We need to show this to Dr. Beckett."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Radek! You're the guy I've been looking for!"

Radek looked up in surprise at hearing his name. Itzhak was literally jogging down the corridor toward him, coming from the direction of Rodney's lab. The Israeli doctor had his laptop tucked in the crook of his arm. He waved at Radek with his free hand.

Radek had been on his way to the lab, himself, via the most circuitous route he could think of. It wasn't that he didn't wish to go to work. He only wanted to take some time to settle down after his run-in with Elizabeth. Feeling agitated and upset while occupying the same room as Rodney McKay never produced good results. Besides, if he looked the least bit out-of-sorts when he arrived, Rodney would ask him what was wrong. Radek really didn't care to explain his personal issues to Rodney McKay, of all people.

Glad for the presence of someone who didn't make him feel uneasy, Radek greeted his friend, "Good morning, Itzhak. What's going on?"

"You'd be amazed to know what's going on," Itzhak said, and somehow managed to gesture expansively while still hanging onto his computer. "I'll tell you all about it in a minute. You wouldn't happen to know where Dr. Weir is, would you?"

"No," Radek said.

"I know you often have breakfast with her, so I thought maybe you'd seen—"

"I did not have breakfast with Dr. Weir and I don't know where she is," Radek said. "She is last person I want to see right now."

"Okay…" Itzhak raised his eyebrows. "That can't be a good sign. What happened, dare I ask?"

"We have philosophical differences."

"You and Dr. Weir have philosophical differences. Why do I get the feeling that's a clever way of saying you had an argument?"

"Because we did have an argument," Radek said.

"About what?"

"I would rather not discuss it, Itzhak."

"Ah…I see. It was that kind of argument. Want some free advice?"

'No."

"Too bad for you," Itzhak said. "You know, the thing about free advice is that it's usually unsolicited, too. Whether you want it or not, here it is. If you have some kind of argument with your significant other, you need to get it resolved. Trust me, you don't want to let it go on too long, or things could get pretty awful. I can tell you that from personal experience."

"Thank you, but the advice is irrelevant, because Elizabeth is not my 'significant other'."

"Right. Of course not," Itzhak said. "I guess I've been out of circulation for too long. What exactly do people call their significant others these days?"

"I would not know," Radek said. "Please, I don't want to talk about this. You were going to tell me what's happening. Why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to ask you something, but it's not important, now. Dr. McKay had all the answers I needed."

That figures, Radek thought. Rodney always seemed to have all the answers everyone needed. Radek stuck his hands in his pockets and cast his gaze downward. "This does not surprise me."

"No, Radek, that's not what I meant," Itzhak said hastily. "I spent the whole night looking through Morin's lab notes from the tablet device, trying to find something about an immune therapy he'd been working on. I wanted to ask you if he'd said anything to you about it. Anyway, I went to the lab, looking for you. Dr. McKay was there, and when I told him what I was doing, he helped me find the file."

"Morin did tell me about the immune therapy," Radek said. A second later, the impact of what Itzhak had actually said began to sink in. "Wait…Rodney found it?"

"Yes, he did."

"Rodney found it."

"Yes," Itzhak said. He laughed. "You seem shocked."

"I did not realize Rodney even knew about it."

"Well, he didn't, really. He was studying about cloaking 'jumpers, or something like that. You know, all that technical stuff just flies right over my head. Anyway, he inadvertently discovered exactly what I'd been looking for."

"This is excellent," Radek said. All of a sudden, the hurt and resentment over his argument with Elizabeth faded into the background of his thoughts. His mind immediately turned to Shadow and the potential help Morin's treatment represented for her. "Itzhak, have you told Carson about this, yet?"

"I'm on my way back to the Infirmary, now," Itzhak said. "You can come with me, if you want to. I don't think Dr. McKay is going to miss you. He was pretty involved in all that invisibility stuff."

"This 'invisibility stuff' could be important to our survival some day. I'd like to study it, too," Radek said. "I think I will come with you right now, though. I want to see Shadow."

"She'll want to see you, too, I bet," Itzhak said. "I think she's getting annoyed with all of us medical types. Every time I went into her room last night and she was awake, she kept giving me the look."

"What look is that?" Radek asked, puzzled.

"You know, the look," said Itzhak. "The one that says, 'I don't want to see you. You're not my daddy'."

"Oh."

"Carson told me what happened last night with you and Morin," Itzhak said. "As far as I'm concerned, that only confirms what you and Shadow already knew. I think if she hadn't believed her real father was already lost to her, she would never have followed you through the the Stargate. She started thinking of you as her guardian long before last night."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Look at him, Radek. Isn't he amazing?"

Mirek flattens his palms against the glass and peers through the nursery window at his newborn son. Radek isn't looking at the baby. He's watching his brother-in-law, his curiosity undisguised. He's never seen Mirek with this sort of expression on his face before. In fact, he's never seen anyone so utterly enraptured by the sight of another human being.

For his part, Radek doesn't really think his brand-new nephew is particularly amazing. His fascination with the science of life is dimmed by the prosaic reality that it's his sister who's just given birth. The idea makes him a little squeamish. He wonders how Mirek was able to watch Milena going through all that. Radek feels uncomfortable just thinking about it.

To distract himself, he asks, "Have you decided on his name?"

"Zdeněk," Mirek says. "Milena wanted to name him Josef, but ever since our army training I can never hear that name without thinking about Captain Vojacek. Scary, isn't it?"

"You and the captain weren't exactly best friends."

Mirek laughs. "I wasn't exactly best friends with anybody in our company during basic training," he says. His expression sobers again as he adds, "Except you, that is. I never told you how grateful I was that you were there."

"The feeling was mutual. I don't think I would have survived alone."

"Sure you would have. You're a better man than you give yourself credit for. I mean, look at you. You've got a doctorate and you've been all over the world. You're a smart guy and everybody likes you. You've got everything going for you."

"You've got a lot going for you, too. It's just different stuff."

"Yeah," Mirek says.

"Earning a doctorate and going to America doesn't make anybody great, Mir," says Radek. "Uncle Jaromir always says greatness starts on the inside and works its way out. I believe that. Being a great person isn't about what you do, it's about who you are."

"Wise man, your uncle."

"Yes, he is," Radek agrees.

Mirek gazes at baby Zdeněk again. The same as before, his face softens into an expression of pleasure, but this time Radek notices something else in his brother-in-law's demeanour. There's another emotion underlying Mirek's delight in his new son.

"Radek," Mirek says. "Remember in basic training, when I told you I was scared? You didn't laugh at me like I thought you were going to. You told me it was okay."

"I remember."

"I'm scared now."

"Why?"

"This isn't the army. There are no rules and nobody's going to tell me what to do. How am I supposed to be a parent when I don't have a clue about what I'm doing?"

"I don't know," Radek tells him honestly.

"I can't even explain how I feel right now. I mean, I'm happy. I'm really happy, but I'm scared to death at the same time. Does that make any sense?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you think other people feel like this?"

"I don't know, Mir. Maybe you need to talk to somebody who already has children," Radek says, "Seriously, I'm the last person who can help you. The likelihood of me becoming a parent is pretty remote."

"You think?"

"I know."

"There are no absolutes, remember?" Mirek says. "Some day, you'll be a daddy."

Radek can't stifle the abrupt snort of laughter that escapes him. "Daddy," he repeats. "I can't picture that."

"I bet nobody pictured me as one, either. Career soldier, ace pilot, daredevil stuntman extraordinaire…but not 'daddy'. You know, you might be surprised what the future's got waiting for you."

"Maybe."

"Well, when it happens, I promise I'll be around. I might actually know what I'm talking about by then, and I'd be only too glad to help."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What are we going to do about Shadow?"

Carson sat up a little straighter in his desk chair and peered at Elizabeth who was seated in another chair nearby. She had come to his office a while ago, wanting to discuss the situation with Morin. Carson had just got finished explaining Dr. Biro would be performing an autopsy on the old scientist. Though they already knew the cause of his death, the opportunity to study the effect the stasis pod had on the body was one Carolyn Biro was not willing to pass over. Carson couldn't blame her. As morbid as it seemed, he was curious, too. He realized Elizabeth wasn't interested in the scientific details of the post-mortem. She only wanted to know about it for administrative reasons.

He supposed that was the same reason she was asking him about Shadow, now. He was certain Elizabeth cared about what happened to Shadow – she was not, after all, a heartless or callous person – but he suspected Elizabeth's need to know was doubtless based more on logistics than on her concern for the deaf woman's welfare.

"I should think it'd be obvious," he said. "Shadow is going to be in the Infirmary until she's well."

"And after that?"

"Well, I should think that'd be obvious, too," said Carson. "She's going to stay with us in Atlantis. Have you spoken with Radek since last night?"

Elizabeth's lips thinned as she pressed them together in a momentary frown. "Dr. Zelenka and I spoke this morning," she said.

Carson didn't miss the fact that Elizabeth did not refer to Radek by his given name. By the tone of Elizabeth's voice, Carson guessed Radek and Elizabeth hadn't shared their usual intimate chat over breakfast. He knew he'd never find out what really happened, because Elizabeth would certainly never tell him. She was doing her best to act as if nothing untoward was going on right now, though Carson was too good a judge of people's moods to know everything was not 'business as usual' between the expedition leader and the engineer.

Carson tried for an air of innocence, pretending not to have noticed Elizabeth's tight-lipped expression. "Did he mention anything to you about what happened with Morin?"

"He says Morin wanted him to take care of Shadow."

"That's right."

"That concerns me."

"Why should it?"

"I don't think Dr. Zelenka understands how much responsibility he'd be assuming. This isn't the sort of decision people should make lightly," Elizabeth said. "You told me yourself, Shadow is mentally and emotionally equivalent to a ten-year-old. Do you think it's wise for somebody with no practical parenting experience to take on the care of a disabled ten-year-old?"

"Experience has nothing to do with it," Carson said. "How many new parents do you know that have wisdom and experience? At any rate, we'll all be here to help out. It's not as if he'll be looking after her all on his own."

"None of us have parenting experience, either."

"You and I don't, but there are people in Atlantis who do," Carson said. He couldn't resist a smile at the thought that suddenly popped into his head. "I even know someone who's the parent of two deaf children, and I'm sure he'd be honoured to help in any way he can."

"Who has two deaf children?"

"Itzhak Perlman."

Elizabeth seemed frankly surprised. "Really? I never knew that."

'He doesn't like to discuss his personal life."

'He sounds like somebody else I know," Elizabeth said. "How do you cope with somebody who never gives you a straight answer when you ask him what he's thinking?"

"Stop asking," Carson said. He softened the words with a smile. "Some people don't like the direct approach. I'm sure you already know that, but it's easy to forget all your professional knowledge when you're dealing with a personal situation. Sometimes people are frightened by too much forthrightness. You need to let a person like that come to you on his own, when he's ready."

"And if he never comes to me on his own…?"

"Then, perhaps you're not the one he trusts," Carson said.

The instant the words left his mouth, Carson wished he could pull them back in. Elizabeth's carefully controlled features crumpled into something Carson could only describe as distress. Without meaning to, he was sure he'd stumbled upon the essence of the disagreement she'd obviously had with Radek. Carson couldn't guess the details of the argument, but he didn't need to. Now, he understood it had been very personal, and Elizabeth had been deeply hurt by it. Carson hadn't been aware Radek and Elizabeth's relationship was anything more than platonically friendly. You learn something new every day, he said to himself.

The silence that descended on Carson's office was almost oppressive in its heaviness. Elizabeth stared abjectly at her hands for several seconds, during which Carson tried to look anywhere but at Elizabeth. He was supremely uncomfortable and he didn't know what to do. He'd never seen Elizabeth like this before.

He was rescued from the awkward situation by the timely interruption of somebody flinging open the door. Elizabeth jumped at the noise, and Carson flinched, too. He glanced quickly at Elizabeth, and saw that the arrival of someone new caused her to school her expression back to impassivity.

When Carson turned his eyes toward the door, he didn't know whether to laugh or cringe. He and Elizabeth had just been discussing Itzhak and Radek and now here they were, one dark and one fair, looking like an untidy yin and yang.

The two most habitually tousled men in Atlantis made for an unusual sight, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the doorway. Itzhak was evidently immensely pleased with himself. Radek had seemed pleased too, but the moment he laid eyes on Elizabeth his expression shifted to something akin to dread. Carson was about to ask what was going on, but he didn't get a chance before his subordinate plunged right in with something that might've passed for an explanation.

"Carson!" Itzhak exclaimed. His keen gaze took in the entire room. "Dr. Weir. This is too convenient, discovering both of you in the same place. You're never going to believe what Dr. McKay found in—"

"Itzhak, weren't you supposed to have been going to your quarters when you left here?" Carson said.

"Probably, but I can't sleep now," said Itzhak, "On the way to my quarters, I stopped to talk to Dr. McKay. You have to see what he found."

TBC
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