A/N: Hello my lovelies! I'm so sorry about the delay in getting this next installment up and running. I don't know if any of you will care but I've been having some personal issues as of late that have prevented me from completely keeping my eye on the ball as far as my story is concerned. I apologize for that but would like to let you all know that most of those issues have been resolved so, hopefully, there won't be such large gaps in-between chapters for at least a little while. That having been said, I hope that you all find this latest update to have been worth the wait. If you do please let me know what you think of it by sending me a review at the end. I love hearing from all of you and shall await your kind words with baited breath. Until then, enjoy the read and be merry! Cheers!
Episode VI: Absolution
Despair.
Todd was no stranger to that word, to that feeling, or at least he had not thought he was. Now, however, as a new dawn washed over him, he realized that all that had happened thus far in his life, all the tragedy and the pain, was nothing compared to the utter, complete and all-consuming desolation that had taken a hold of him in the wake of Katherine's rejection. Todd had not been lying when he had shouted at Tanis that Katherine was his life. She was, and it would seem as though he had forgotten this. For now that she had taken herself out of it there was, simply put, nothing left.
He was done.
"Eldest?"
Todd looked up, his eyes locking onto Maliaka's as she stood near to him, a worried expression on her face. Todd did not care.
"Leave me," was his simple command and he fully expected it to be obeyed. It was not. "I said leave!" he screamed at her. "Get out, get out now or I shall make you suffer for your disobedience!"
The queen was not cowed. She was resolute and stood firm, unafraid of the Eldest's tantrum. She had seen him in such upsets before and, in cases such as those, it was best not to leave him alone. "Eldest, commander," she beseeched, coming to his side and reaching out a hand to touch him, "Confide in me, what is wrong? You have not left your chambers since your return to them last eve and the Matrons are beginning to show concern –"
As soon as he felt her hand touch his arm, Todd was pulled from his stupor and leapt angrily to his feet. "Do not touch me!" he exclaimed, finding the contact – however slight – to be almost painful. She had not wanted to touch him, even when he had offered - had all but begged her to. If he could not have her touch, then he wanted none from any other.
No matter how unassuming and innocent it might be.
Startled, the queen moved back and withdrew her hand. Something was wrong, desperately so. She had never seen the Eldest act this way. There was a wild light in his eyes much as though reason and logic had left him leaving not but chaos behind. She feared for his mind, his sanity and she had no idea what might have happened to have made him behave this way. "Eldest," she began again, her voice taking on a note of distress, "Please, tell me what –"
"Eldest, My Queen, forgive the interruption."
As one Maliaka and Todd turned towards the intruder, the Eldest's eyes widening when he beheld Varkan standing un-assumedly in the very entrance to his quarters.
"Commander," Maliaka hailed her son, "What do you here?"
Varkan let his eyes sweep about the room but briefly before he looked back at his queen. "There is a matter that deserves your attention regarding our feeding grounds," he explained. "Would you care to –"
"The governing of our territories can wait," Maliaka interrupted him. "My attentions are elsewhere as of present."
He frowned. "Are they?" he inquired. At his motem's nod, Varkan lifted his eyes from hers and passed them around the room once more. They settled on the disgruntled-looking Eldest who looked utterly the worse for wear, as though something catastrophic had happened to him.
Under the appraisal, Todd felt his back stiffen and his nostrils flare in anger.
Varkan did not notice and, instead, asked bluntly, "Whatever is the matter, Eldest?" he smirked, relishing the rare opportunity to bait the great commander. "Did you not have your way?"
It was the wrong thing to say as suddenly, all of Todd's anger and depression alighted choosing as their focal point the young wraith standing in front of him. Katherine had gone willingly to Varkan while she had refused, rebuffed and dismissed him. Jealousy such as he had never known began to pool in his belly, igniting and becoming a fiery mass that consumed him, poisoning him from the inside out.
Long years of serving side by side with the eldest of wraith had given Maliaka the ability to read and interpret his moods. As such, she moved to intervene before the elder wraith could take more than one threatening step towards her son. "No," she beseeched imploringly, "Do not. Whatever he has done to anger you can be lamented. It can be –"
"You cannot command me on your whim to grant forgiveness!" Todd screeched, his anger turning to rage and fury as his eyes slid from his target prey onto the female blocking his way. "I bow to one and only one and you, youngling queen, are not she!"
This avowal was both a revelation and a shock as neither motem nor son had thought that there was anyone to whom the Eldest would gladly, and with reverence, bow his head. "Pray tell us who, so that we might fetch her," Varkan said boldly, "I should very much like to see you, the Eldest, prostrate yourself before a fe-"
A deafening snarl drowned out the rest of his words and then, the next Varkan knew, his back was to the wall and the Eldest's feeding hand was pressed down over his heart. The other held him still so that he could not even hope to attempt an escape. Struggling was futile and for the first time in the entirety of his life, Varkan knew what it was like to be afraid for his life. Such was the fury in the Eldest's gaze that the young wraith did not doubt that he could be dead in less than the time it would take him to blink if someone, or something, did not abate the Eldest's anger quickly.
"No!" Maliaka wailed, fear for her son's life overriding her every thought. "Eldest, please, release him. He has done nothing to-"
"Nothing!" Todd hissed, pressing his feeding hand down still harder against Varkan's sternum. The terrified eyes of his victim looked up at him but it did nothing to subside his fury. "He took from me what was to be my last chance at retaining a connection to her. Now she is gone and I am left with nothing and it is your fault!"
Somewhere amidst the terror and the fear, Varkan was able to come onto the understanding that whatever the source of the Eldest's anger, it involved a female. He was jealous, horrendously so, but that did not matter at the moment. Varkan could think of no female with whom he had had even the slightest amount of contact that had the caliber to be of interest – and so much interest – to the Eldest.
He was at a loss.
"Eldest," he rasped, "Please, I do not –"
Todd growled and pulled Varkan away from the wall, flinging him across the room where he collapsed into a heap on the floor. In an instant, Maliaka stood between him and her commander who Todd's addled brain was able to remember, was also her son. It would seem as though her maternal instinct was greater than her fear of him for she was looking at him in such a way as to suggest that she would kill him if he thought to cause Varkan permanent harm.
With a hiss, the queen faced the Eldest of wraith. "Whatever wrong my son has done onto you, you will relinquish," she commanded, unconcerned with the consequences of issuing an order to the mighty Eldest. At this moment, she had no fear of him. Her child's life was at stake and so her motem's instincts overrode all else. She even added a compulsion, a push with her mind, in order to more readily make the Eldest obey.
It was not enough for in the next moment, his eyes reddened with fury. The Eldest turned his gaze onto her and growled.
With a speed that he had not practiced in a long while, Todd crossed the distance between himself and the interfering queen, reached out and grabbed her by her throat. From the floor, Varkan let out a noise of warning and of protest but it went ignored. Todd pulled Maliaka's face towards him and bore his gaze down into hers with an intensity enough to rival the brightest stars.
"You will not interfere in this matter again," he warned before releasing her and dropping her as though her weight were nothing. With her out of the way, he reached down and hauled Varkan up by his throat. "Now," he hissed sadistically, lowering his feeding hand back onto the youngling's chest, "Let us settle this dispute."
Varkan's eyes widened in terror and he closed his eyes, offering up a prayer to whoever would listen that he survive this.
"VALLORAN, ENOUGH!"
Shock stole about the chamber as the air stilled and then all the world stood motionless for but a moment while Varkan's eyes opened and Maliaka summoned what was left of her strength and looked up from the floor. When the moment ended, Todd let go of his quarry and turned angrily to the one that had dared to intervene.
"I will not stop!" Todd bellowed, his eyes blazing furiously as they matched Romulus' own intense stare of rebuke. "I will make him suffer for taking her way from me. I will –"
"You released her from her obligations, shattered the connection that you shared with her and left her to suffer for it. You are to blame for her loss, you and no one else. Do you not see it?" Romulus demanded, striding into the room and matching his friend's glare with one of his own. Now was the moment. Now Valloran would be made to understand the truth of what he had done and to face it. It was now or never and Romulus knew that he could not fail.
Katherine's life would be forfeit if he did not succeed.
Comprehension remained elusive and Todd countered with a snarl and a hiss. "I released her from the commitment of our union. I did not surrender my acquaintance with her," he argued. "With time, we could have built back our amity and re-forged the relationship that once was before I put myself to her if he…" Todd gestured at Varkan who was now standing beside his motem staring at both he and Romulus in shock, awe and more than their fair share of confusion and bewilderment, "…had not interfered!"
With that statement, the absurdity of which was outstanding, Romulus had had enough. "You were bound to her – something I do not think you understand – and you broke that bond, shattered it, all for the sake of your own fear and insecurities! What I do not understand is how you could possibly think that after having done that, she would want to have anything to do with you. You cannot offer her an eternity at your side and then snatch it away and expect that in time all will be forgiven. The world does not function in that manner Valloran and you are naive if you think that it does!"
Having been mostly forgotten by the two arguing elders, Varkan and Maliaka felt their eyes widen in unison as, for the second time, the Eldest's second referred to him by the name of Valloran. It was not possible that that was the Eldest's true name. The great warrior Valloran was a legend, a mythical figure that had lived long before either of their times in a world that had died out and turned to dust long ago. Perhaps it was simply a name that he had adopted and, while not being his true name, was certainly fitting. Their attentions refocused on the argument and on what was being said in the exchange.
Todd snarled, angry at the severity of Romulus' accusations. "A binding takes conscious effort. We were not bound," he argued. "Therefore I –"
Any farther argument he might have made was cut off by the sound of another's arrival. Looking up, Todd was greeted with the sight of a harried, concerned and frustrated looking Teyla as she came quickly into his chamber. The false queen looked about for a moment, taking stock of the situation and of who was or was not present, before she turned the full brunt of her worried gaze onto Romulus.
"You," she said, a desperate tone filling her voice as she spoke, "You must come, quickly."
Romulus turned towards her. "What is it?" he queried, much afraid that he already knew the answer to that. Katherine. The final descent had begun.
Teyla proved his assumptions to be correct when in the next instant she replied, "It is Kate."
What part of him was still able to understand what was going on and had not been rendered inert by desolation and despair, flared to life at the mention of Katherine and the worry compounded in the Athosian's eyes. "What ill has befallen –"
In a flash of fury and rage, Teyla rounded on Todd the very stupid, foolish and ignorant wraith and screamed, "The matter is of no concern to you!"
The outburst, intended to quell him, instead made Todd bristle with indignation. "It is my right to –"
"You have no right to her at all after what you have done!" Teyla argued, impassioned by her need to defend her friend. "What part of that can you not understand!"
"I'm afraid that the great majority of the concept is lost on him," Romulus replied in Valloran's stead, casting the younger elder a reproachful look as if to say 'I told you so'. He blinked and then returned his gaze onto Teyla. "Now, what is wrong with Katherine?"
Teyla stilled the excited beating of her heart and forced calm into her features. She answered the wraith, "She will not wake and her temperature is high. It is almost uncomfortable to touch her skin, such is its warmth. There is no color at all to her face and her hands, despite the heat of her face and neck, are as ice. I…I fear…"
"Take me to her," Romulus instructed Teyla, interrupting her before she could voice the fear that he knew was not so far from the truth.
Katherine was dying.
With a nod, Teyla turned on her heel and swept from the room with the elder wraith following quickly at her heels. Todd made to also follow but was intercepted by an angry Varkan who stood squarely before him, successfully blocking his exit from the chamber.
Todd growled. "Move!"
Varkan shook his head. "I will not," he said defiantly, drawing himself up to the full extent of his height.
The Eldest seethed. Resentment for the one blocking his way seeped through him and poisoned the very blood in his veins. "I will not ask again!" he commanded, "Get out of my path so that I might –"
"I will not let you near her," Varkan insisted instead, refusing to bow to the demands of his elder.
"Will you not?" Todd echoed, fury coloring his vision and making it difficult to focus. "You seem to be suffering under the same ailment as my eldest. He, like you, has lost his fear of me and as I told him and shall now tell you, I suggest you locate it with the utmost haste."
Still not entirely sure that he understood precisely the situation at hand – at least not to its fullest detail – Varkan nevertheless had been able to deduce that the focal point around which the entire situation revolved was the Lady Katherine. The Eldest had been angry at him for his interaction with her and, through the conversation he and his motem had borne witness to, Varkan had been able to gather that the one that had caused Katherine pain, the one that the other elder had asked of him to help her erase if only for a short while, was the Eldest himself. This made Varkan inexcusably angry. Katherine had saved his life and he owed her, she had his respect and his admiration, she was strong and had a great fortitude of mind. He would not let anyone, the Eldest or otherwise, harm her or cause her any further pain if he himself could stop it. Therefore, when faced with the mighty Eldest's equally mighty temper, Varkan looked back at the older wraith unflinchingly and stood firm.
"You mistake me, eldest," he explained, the tenor of his voice wavering just slightly. "My fear of you is intact."
"Then why will you not get out of my way!" Todd screeched. "Remove yourself from my path at once or else I shall -"
"You assume that my fear of you is greater than the affinity I have for Katherine," Varkan watched as the Eldest's eyes widened and a look of dark displeasure came over his features. The young wraith allowed his own eyes to narrow into slits, a clear sign of his own anger and resolve. "It is not. I care for Katherine far more than I fear you."
Hearing Varkan confirm his affection for Katherine was finally too much for Todd to take. With a howl of fury, he reached out to forcefully remove the young wraith from his path but was stopped when both Teyla and Romulus returned, the latter with an unconscious Katherine held tightly in his arms. As soon as it had come, Todd's anger bled away and concern took its place, a part of him dying as he took in the utter wretchedness of his beloved's appearance.
"Katherine."
Maliaka felt a gasp escape her. "Stars," she whispered, her eyes wide as she gazed at the form of the woman held securely in the elder's embrace. "What illness had befallen –"
"It is no illness," Romulus said wearily, his voice tired sounding in its resolve. His grip on Katherine's unconscious body tightened. "She is dying."
Todd felt his heart come hammering to a stop, the blood in his veins freezing. "Dying?"
Rather than respond to Todd's echo, Teyla turned her eyes towards the Queen and her commander. "She must be taken back to Atlantis as quickly as possible," she explained and then turned to look upwards at the wraith in whose arms her friend was clutched. "He will take her while I remain and conclude our subterfuge. We have come too far now and it is of too great an importance to abandon."
Maliaka, with a great swell of gratitude and respect for the human playing queen, nodded. "So be it."
Todd was less inclined to agree to the plan. "But -"
Teyla rounded on him, her eyes shining with authority and command. "You and I will finish this charade before we return to Atlantis. I will not have this all have been for nothing," once more she cast her eyes upwards at Romulus, "I trust the wraith to look after her."
The elder inclined his head. "I shall not take myself from her company until she is well and whole once more," he locked his amber eyes with those of the false queen's. "I give you my word; on my life and on my name I do so swear it."
Teyla accepted the vow with a graceful incline of her head. "I will hold you to your word."
Romulus had every intention of keeping it and so, in resolution, turned towards Maliaka. "There is no gate on this world. Have you a means by which I may take my leave of this place?"
Maliaka nodded. "You may take my transport," she glanced fleetingly at the Eldest. "My party and I will rely on the Eldest to take us back to our hive."
Accepting her offer, Romulus wasted not another moment of time before sweeping from the room and turning his steps towards the hanger bay.
Varkan followed.
"What is wrong with her?" the younger asked the elder as they walked, worry etched into his every feature. "You said that she is dying, how? By what means?"
Romulus took in a deep breath. "Her spirit is broken and she has, quite simply, lost the will to live."
The younger wraith felt his steps come up short as they entered the hanger and made towards his queen's awaiting transport. "I do not understand."
The elder boarded the transport craft and gently set down his burden before taking up the pilot's chair and beginning the ignition process. "In time, perhaps, you will come to understand," he replied to the young one before he closed the back hatch and took up the flight controls. Lifting off, he steered the ship away from the Matron's stronghold and upwards into the black, star-speckled sky.
Below, left to ponder, Varkan watched the craft disappear before he returned himself to the Eldest's chamber to sort out what explanation they would use for the sudden absence of both the false queen's handmaiden and the Eldest's second. His worry for Katherine pushed to the back of his mind.
~xXx~
It was a typical day in Atlantis and actually, it was a Sunday. Not a Sunday like the actual day because the weeks on Atlantica had nine of them instead of seven, but a Sunday as in a day of rest. The whole base was off duty except for the very barest of skeleton crews which is why, when the gateroom received confirmation that a wraith transport was approaching the city with the IDC that they'd given to Todd's alliance, it took a full twenty minutes for a team of marines to find and assemble all of the required bodies out on the east pier. When the ship landed, John, Ronon, Rodney, Woolsey and Weir fully expected to see Todd or maybe even Kenny disembark. The wraith that they saw wasn't at all the one that they were expecting.
John squinted at him. "You look familiar, have we seen you before?"
Romulus stopped at the foot of the transport's ramp and looked at the human militant leader of Atlantis. "You have, we have collaborated several times not least of which was our attempt to locate Katherine whilst she ran."
John's face brightened. "Ah, yes, I remember you now," he gestured at the tattoo on one side of the wraith's face. "I think you need a name," he looked at Ronon and Rodney both of whom rolled their eyes. "Don't you think he needs a n-"
"My naming will have to wait as I have not come here to exchange pleasantries," Romulus interrupted the human's chatter.
Woolsey turned steely eyes onto the newly arrived wraith. "Then why are you here?" he asked, a feeling of dread working its way, unbidden, into the depths of his stomach.
Something was wrong.
Instead of an answer, Romulus turned and retreated back into his ship. He had taken great care with Katherine thus far in their journey and he took an even greater care as he lifted her once more into his arms. Cradling her as securely and as gently as he could, he returned himself to the presence of the gathered humans.
All five of them gasped.
John managed to remember how to speak first. "What…what happened?" he demanded, an accusatory gaze falling over his eyes as he glared up at the wraith carrying his sister.
Romulus met the human's eyes and did not allow himself to look away. As infuriating as the male was at times, he was Katherine's blood brother and he was therefore owed as much of an honest answer as could be given him. "She is dying."
John's heart dropped from his chest down to his toes in a matter of seconds. "She's…" disbelief choked him and made it difficult to speak. "H-how – what?" he looked at the wraith imploringly, "Why?"
Romulus pitied him. Just as Valloran did not yet understand what ill had befallen his beloved, neither did John Sheppard understand the situation either and the wraith was not so foolish as to try and explain all that was happening to the colonel. A time would come when the human was enlightened as to the bond between Katherine and Valloran but today was not that day. Romulus held his tongue and instead turned towards the one called Woolsey. "I do not know why," he lied, his grip tightening around Katherine almost as though she were his anchor. "All of the situation that I am aware of is that on the morning today she would not wake. She is hot to the touch and her breathing is shallow; her pulse erratic. I have brought her here to be treated."
Looking into the wraith's gaze, Woolsey realized that the creature was lying through his teeth about not knowing why Kate was in the state she was in. The director let it pass however and simply inclined his head towards the alien before gesturing for him to follow him. "We thank you for your consideration," he said diplomatically, "The infirmary's this way. Colonel," he turned to Kate's brother and eyed him steady, "Why don't you and the remainder of your team go ahead and try and locate Jennifer and some of her nurses? Let them know who we've got coming."
With a nod, John was off at a dead run, Ronon following close behind while Rodney huffed and puffed quite a ways back. When the three of them had disappeared and Woolsey, Dr. Weir and the wraith had entered the city proper, the balding director turned towards the alien and delivered a quelling look that dared the wraith to lie to him.
"Now," Woolsey began, his voice calm but grave, "Why don't you tell me exactly what's going on here? What is wrong with Major Sheppard and how did she come to be this way?"
Romulus sighed, a newfound respect blossoming within him for the human currently walking at his side. "I was not lying when I said that she is dying. She is. Her life force is fading quickly and will soon extinguish itself completely if nothing is done."
Woolsey approached the nearest transporter and ushered Elizabeth and the wraith inside before he waved the doors closed and touched the appropriate area of the screen. "I see," he replied, his tone flat. When the doors reopened and they'd all begun walking again, he took a deep breath and asked, "Does her condition have anything to do with her break-up with Todd?"
Romulus took to eyeing the human deferentially. "It does," he conceded as they entered the infirmary and, under Dr. Weir's instruction, he laid Katherine out on the nearest bed. No sooner had he relinquished her from his arms then Colonel Sheppard, the former Runner, the one called McKay and his mate along with several other individuals all crowded into the room. Romulus was pushed out of the way as the female who was apparently the head medical officer of the city bent eagerly over Katherine. She began to examine her all while yelling out for various assistants to begin taking samples of blood that would then be tested. Romulus knew that they would find nothing, no trace of a virus or an infection. There would be no medical reasoning for Katherine's deterioration — Ganos had told him this. The human's confusion would only add to the state of hysteria that would erupt once they realize that nothing they could do could save her.
"You must let them try," a voice came to him in his mind and Romulus felt himself nod his head but fractionally in response.
"I will not stop them."
He had not meant to speak his response out loud and he doubted very much if any of the humans had actually heard the words that he had spoken but nevertheless, his utterance reminded them all of his presence. He blinked as John Sheppard turned to him and pressed his lips into a dark sneer.
"Thanks for bringing her here," John scowled at the wraith whose presence in the background was now too overwhelming to ignore. "You can go now. Go back to your hive or to Todd or whatever. We've got it from here."
Romulus bristled. "I will not," he said clearly and, in the wake of his announcement, all activity in the room ceased and the very air itself stilled.
John fumed. Todd always hanging around he could handle. Hell, he'd gotten used to it. But Atlantis was not a hotel for wraith and he'd be damned if he let this one stay just because he wanted to. Unless he had a very good reason for staying, the colonel fully intended to kick him out on his ass the first chance he got. "Oh really?" he challenged, approaching the wraith and glaring upwards at him. "Well I say you are so you are," he turned and gestured for the marines stationed at the infirmary doors to come forwards. "Escort him back to his – ACK!"
Fury at being asked to leave Katherine's side clouded Romulus' vision as he reached forwards and grabbed the insufferable male by the throat. Lifting the human upwards so that only the very tips of his toes remained touching the ground, the wraith pulled Sheppard's face in towards his and hissed, "There is not a force in your command potent enough to remove me from Katherine's side." His words spoken, he dropped the militant commander and moved through the crowd of gathered humans until he stood at attention by Katherine's bedside. Looking down on her, he let his eyes sweep once over her features before lifting to lock with those belonging to the one called Woolsey's. "I will remain with her until I am satisfied that she is out of harm's way."
With Colonel Sheppard sputtering in the background, Richard Woolsey gave the wraith one, minute nod of his head. "So be it."
John wailed in protest. "What the…why does he get to stay?" he argued hotly. "It's not like he's Todd! Todd I'd understand, but he's new. Why the hell is he so protective of my sister?"
Woolsey pursed his mouth into a thin line and turned to the wraith. "I don't know," he admitted before asking, "Why are you so committed to seeing to Major Sheppard's welfare?"
Romulus squared his shoulders, straightened to his full height and answered with a candor that he never thought he would employ when speaking to these humans, "Because regardless of the fact that she is human, she possesses a power that makes her both great and terrible at once. Were the situation to ever come into being, it would be both a pleasure and an honor to kneel before her and call her my Queen."
Around the room about twenty mouths hit the floor; the eyes that accompanied those mouth's growing wide and round in disbelief, shock, awe and absolute wonder.
Woolsey recovered first. "The wraith stays," he announced, his voice set in a tone that told everyone present that there'd be no arguing with him.
Still suffering from a mild case of shock, John relented and allowed Elizabeth to steer him, Ronon and Rodney out of the infirmary so that Jennifer and her nurses could get back to work. John made a beeline for his office to begin work on anything that would keep his mind occupied until Jennifer called him with the first results.
The image of the wraith standing vigil over his sister's bedside never once leaving his mind.
~xXx~
"What do you mean there's nothing wrong with her!"
Jennifer sighed and forced herself to look back into John's eyes. Medicine had failed her once before and had nearly cost Rodney his life. She had vowed when it'd been all over that she'd never let her medical training fail her again, but it had. Kate was dying, and medically there was no tangible reason as to why.
"I'm sorry, John," Jennifer said again as she desperately tried to hold back her own tears. Laura Cadman was already openly crying and Lorne was getting pretty close. Jennifer honestly didn't know how much longer she was going to last before her own walls came crumbling down and she'd lose her ability to act like a professional.
Fear pulsed in John's veins and made him act irrationally. "But there's got to be something," he argued desperately, "There has to be," coming forwards. He grabbed the doc by the shoulders and shook her. "Tell me you missed something! Run the tests again!""
Jennifer cringed under the assault and backed out of the colonel's grasp. Staring him resolutely in the face she repeated her findings to him as if he hadn't heard her when she's said them the first time. "Kate's suffering from multiple organ failure," she began, her voice wavering, her conviction as a physician being the only thing keeping her steady at the moment. "Her body's shutting itself down and I don't know why. There's nothing medically wrong with her. It's like she's lost the will to live."
Turning from the doctor, John let out a scream and slammed his hand into a nearby wall. Ignoring the pain that began to radiate up his wrist from the attack, he spun back around and screamed, "Why is this happening!"
Lorne, unable to hold back his anguish any longer, felt the first tear slide down his face. He looked at the floor. "I don't know, Sir," he offered knowing that it was a poor thing to say but he had nothing else. Maybe if Sheppard knew that he wasn't the only one confounded by what was happening then he'd feel better. It was a long shot but Lorne had to try. His commanding officer was owed that much.
Cadman, through her tears, added to Lorne's statement. "N-nobody does," she whispered forlornly, her whole body shaking. At least when Kate had been in a coma, they'd known why. This not knowing was torture.
John's head came up and he turned towards Jennifer with desperate hope in his eyes. "Maybe there's something they can do for her back at the SGC?" he proclaimed. "They've got all sorts of different alien technologies stockpiled: Asgard, Ancient, Ori. They've got to have something! I can't just accept the fact that…that…"
He couldn't finish his sentence and, as equally desperate as the colonel was to find a way to help Kate, Jennifer latched onto his idea and ran with it. "I'll prep her for transfer," she said and then disappeared back into the infirmary. Shouting orders to her nurses, she paused only once in order to tell the wraith and Woolsey what was going on.
"You are taking her to Earth?' the wraith exclaimed, panicked. If Katherine was on Earth then how would Valloran reach her? When he came, which should be soon now if Ganos' projected timeline was to be followed, it was doubtful that whoever remained behind in the city would simply allow him to walk through their portal to their homeworld. No, they would require an explanation and by then it would be too late.
For the first time during this entire charade, Romulus felt and knew true fear.
Jennifer missed the concern in his voice and went on with her explanation. "The SGC has access to more advanced forms of Ancient technology than we do," she reasoned, "They might be able to do something that we can't," she turned and called out to Marie, her second in command, "Come help me move her onto the gurney."
Romulus stood back knowing that he could not protest against her leaving without having to offer up more of an explanation than he had already given them previously. The time to know all was not yet here and yet, he knew not what to do to stop this.
"All will be well, it is of no concern," Ganos' voice erupted inside of his head, calming him. "No matter where she is, I will bring Valloran to her when the time is right."
His worry abated, Romulus' next concern was in whether or not he would be permitted to travel with her to her homeworld. Turning towards Woolsey, he locked eyes with the human and opened his mouth to speak.
"I am going with her."
Woolsey jerked his head downwards once and then turned towards Jennifer. "Perhaps it would be best to have the wraith move her rather than to bother with all of…" he waved his hand over the various monitors and other machines that had been gathered around Major Sheppard, "…this."
Jennifer began to protest. "But how else will we monitor her condition if we don't -"
"I'm prepared to go with faith on this one, doctor," Woolsey silenced her, his voice soothing despite the abruptness of his words. "Besides, arriving on Earth in such a fashion with Kate being carried by a wraith might help convey the seriousness of the situation to the folks at the SGC a bit better than her arriving on a gurney would."
Not for the first time, Romulus found himself grateful for the one called Woolsey's logic. The man had a shrewd grasp of the situation that so far had managed to escape just about everyone else's grasp. The wraith applauded him for it.
Jennifer found that she couldn't argue with Woolsey's logic either. Nodding grimly, she gestured for the wraith to pick Kate up and, once he'd done so, stood back and indicated that he should start walking.
Their exit from the infirmary set those who were waiting outside on edge as soon as they saw them.
"What is he doing – he's not going with her!" John exclaimed as he began to scurry after Woolsey who had taken up the back end of the whole procession. "He's a wraith! We can't just let him waltz through the stargate to Earth. What will General Carter s- "
"Let me worry about that, Colonel," Woolsey rebuked smoothly. "The wraith has already made it quite clear that he's going to stay with her until the end and if you would like to have him removed then you have my leave to try. I can tell you though, that you won't be successful."
By this time they'd reached the gateroom and Elizabeth had given the order to dial Earth. Woolsey turned towards Lorne. "Major, I know how much you want to come with us but I must ask that you remain here. I will be accompanying Kate to Earth as will Colonel Sheppard. The city is in your keeping until we get back."
Feeling the weight of the responsibility settle on his shoulders, Major Evan Lorne nodded once and then saluted both his commanding officer and the balding director of Atlantis before turning on his heel and running up the stairs to join Dr. Weir in the control room.
Cadman approached the group and cleared her throat. "Colonel Sheppard, Mr. Woolsey, if you have no objection could I maybe –"
"Kate would want you with her if she were conscious," John interrupted her before glancing sideways at Woolsey. "Do you have any –"
"I don't," Woolsey preempted him, nodding towards Cadman as above them Elizabeth sent their IDC through to Earth. Shouting down to them that the SGC was ready for them and that a medical team had been called, the group of five stepped through the gate.
~xXx~
The meetings concluded and the conclave dissolved, Todd was in no better mood than he had been before the day's discussions had commenced. They had achieved what they had set out to do and by all accounts their mission could be counted a success. But even the knowledge of such a victory could not take Todd's mind away from its present location. Thoughts of Katherine plagued his mind and drove it quite to distraction. It was only due to careful manipulation of circumstance on Teyla's part that his internal disturbance was not noted by the gathered queens. In some small part of his mind, Todd felt gratitude towards the Athosian for her abilities but could not be bothered to comment upon it.
At present he, his false queen, Maliaka and Varkan were all aboard the transport that Todd's second had sent down for them. The journey from the Matron's assembly world to his hive was made in silence and, once the ship had docked, Todd took off without uttering so much as a word, leaving the others to stare off after him in his retreat. Coming into his command quarters, the once great leader of wraith shut his door and then finally allowed himself to succumb to the despair that had been building in him since Katherine's rejection of him the previous night.
With a deafening roar, Todd grabbed the nearest thing that came to hand and hurled it as hard as he could against the opposite wall. As it was, the recording orb shattered upon impact and burst into thousands of tiny pieces. The destruction of that single object did nothing to appease him nor to curb his pain. Grabbing another and then another series of objects and possessions, Todd proceeded to utterly disembowel his room until there was nothing left in it that was whole.
Just like him.
As a sudden weariness washed over him, Todd sunk down to the floor in the very center of his decimated chamber and quickly dropped his head into his hands. He was broken, like the many items and other worldly belongings that he had just obliterated. He was standing at the very edge of his own impending annihilation.
Romulus had been right: he had not understood or perhaps he had simply not wished to. In letting Katherine go he had damned himself no matter how honorable his intentions may have been at the time. He had been trying to protect her true, but her wellbeing had not been his only motivation. Again, Romulus proved to have more of an insight into his mind than he did at times, for his oldest friend had been able to see clearly the truth that Todd had tried so very hard to hide.
He was afraid.
Never in his life had Todd known the affection from a female that Katherine had offered him so freely. In his past, all of his pervious entanglements had been born out of greed for something that he possessed, whether it be the promise of power or the elevation of status that could be gained from accepting him as a mate. Any care or affection had been secondary and no female in his past had ever cared more for him than for whatever they had hoped to gain from him. Indeed he had met with such circumstances so often and with such frequency that Todd had grown to assume that his inability to find even a single female to want him for who he was rather than for what, was because he was undeserving of such a deep and meaningful type of regard. In the end, he had hardened his heart so that none could enter it and tear it apart once more by offering him one thing while truly wanting another. He would not be used and had quickly resigned himself to forever remaining alone, the thought that he would remain detached and aloof from any and all persuasions of affection a permanent resolve entrenched within his mind.
That had changed on the very first day that he had met Katherine.
His first encounter with her was one that he never could forget. The way she had opened their association with a wry inquiry as to whether or not he intended to consume her had struck him in such a way as to immediately intrigue him of her. The following mission they had embarked on had peaked his interest further and, when she had asked to know of the wraith in their entirety, he had been lost. She had, in a matter of hours, altered a great many of his standing opinions concerning humans. The more he learned of her, the more he saw of her and the more he had interacted with her, had only ensnared him more until, by the time of their rescue from Romulus' prison world, he could not break free.
He had tried, most certainly he had tried, but it had been of little use. Even then he had been hers, willing to submit himself to her if only she would have him. For the first time in the entirety of his life he had found a female who wanted him for no other reason than he was who he was. For himself. Katherine's desire for him was pure and it was honest and it was everything that he was afraid of. For so long he had not thought himself deserving of such a powerful affection that, when he found himself receiving it, the intensity of the emotion had scared him. It had taken his near loss of her during her run to override his fears and make him realize that he had her heart and all of the concerns within it whether he deserved them or not.
And now he had nothing.
His fear had returned the moment he discovered that she had been made to run as a punishment to him. He did not deserve her, would never deserve her and he had acted upon that belief by forcing her away from him. His mistake had cost him dear, for now that she was gone from him, Todd realized just how much Katherine had meant to him. He had told Tanis that she was his life and meant it. But there was more to it than that, much more.
Without Katherine, Todd had no reason to want to live. He would swear on his name until the day he ceased to breathe that he did not deserve her but, by the stars, he did need her. It was no longer a question of want or desire, Todd knew without question that he would die if he did not correct the error in judgment that he had made and re-forge the connection that had been broken when he had so foolishly walked away from her.
The only question now remained: did he want to? Was his continued existence worth more to him than the chance that Katherine would have at finding one that deserved her if he were no longer there to keep her from finding him? The answer was no, Todd cared more for Katherine's life and happiness than he did for his own. He would die and in so doing, she would be free. The exchange was more than fair.
Letting out a final trembling breath, Todd felt all but the very barest trace of his strength leave him as he lay down on the ground and waited for his end to come.
~xXx~
"This is creepy."
Daniel couldn't help but agree with Mitchell as he, the colonel, and Vala looked into the observation room at the wraith that had, under threat of death, pointedly refused to be removed from Kate's side. The three of them had been recalled to the base from their respective homes by Sam about an hour ago who had told them all over the phone what was going on. When they'd arrived, it was to find a team of marines attempting to remove said wraith from the infirmary. The scuffle had lasted only long enough for Woolsey to suddenly appear and make the announcement that he himself would shoot the next person that tried to make the wraith leave. The thought of Richard Woolsey aiming a gun at someone was scary enough to get the marines to go away and so here Daniel, Cam and Vala stood, watching the alien as he stood vigil over their dying friend.
"Is there truly a wraith present here?" Tanis' voice called out from behind them and the three of them turned to see the Ancient leader, his children and the no longer snake-headed Mathis coming towards them. Tanis sneered. "No doubt the wraith present is your Todd."
Vala shook her head. "Nope, not Todd. It's another wraith."
Tanis frowned as he and the other Lanteans joined the members of SG-1. "Not Todd?" he queried, before he turned to look down into the observation room himself. "What other wraith would…stars!"
Hearing her father's exclamation prompted Andromeda to push her way to the front of the group. Coming before her brother and her husband, she peered down into the medical stay room and felt her mouth drop open in shock and horror. Kate occupied the single bed in the room below them and was at present, connected to a great many monitors and other medical devices. Her face was devoid of color, her breathing shallow and if not for the fact that she was breathing, Andromeda would have sworn that she was dead. As if feeling her eyes on him, the wraith that stood by Kate's bedside turned his head and looked up.
Their eyes locked. Romulus.
Andromeda felt her heart clench in her chest as her beloved's eyes dropped away from hers in a record amount of time and returned themselves to Kate's face. It was then that Andromeda knew that something was desperately wrong. Turning to the humans gathered near her, she sought Daniel's gaze and asked, "What is wrong with her?"
Daniel let out a sigh. "They don't know."
Tobias frowned. "What do you mean that they do not know?" he inquired. "How can her ailment be a mystery to –"
"Because there's nothing physically wrong with her," Cameron quipped, drowning out the ancient's voice with his own. "We've run all sorts of tests with every kind of medical technology available and we keep getting the same answer: squat. There's no reason for her to be this sick but she is."
Vala's lips thinned and she shuddered through a grimace. "Sheppard thinks she's dying of a broken heart."
Mathis scoffed. "It is not possible to die of such a thing. There must be some other re – Andromeda!"
Having heard the hypothesis proposed by Kate's brother, an idea had formulated inside of Andromeda's head so that, without waiting for her husband by law to finish speaking, she took her leave of the group and made her way down to the room below them. Waving her access card over the sensor by the door, she strode inwards and come up to Kate's bed on the side at which Romulus was not standing. Lifting her gaze up from her friend, she locked eyes with her husband by fate. "They were bound, were they not?" she demanded knowing that her wraith needed no prompting to know of whom she spoke. "They were bound and now that bond is broken. He has killed her. She is dying."
"They both are and yes," Romulus replied to her, feeling sorrow fill his heart at the anguished look on his beloved's face. He had come to know that his Andromeda cared a great deal for Valloran's Katherine almost as much as if the human were a sister to her. The thought that Katherine might soon expire was bound to be a grievous one for her to bear.
And he could not assuage her grief without revealing the hand that was being played before the opportune time. Still, he wished that he could, for as Andromeda's heart began to break, so too did his.
With resolute eyes, Andromeda blinked her tears away and looked once more straight into the eyes of her true mate. "I hope by the stars that he suffers as much as she for this."
Romulus was spared the need to come up with a reply, for at that moment the door opened and Jennifer returned this time with both the female General called Carter and Dr. Lam in her company. Romulus' eyes narrowed. "What is going on?"
Sam looked up at the wraith that had caused more trouble today than Todd ever had in all of his visits to Earth combined. Still, as much of a pain in the ass as the alien had been, she had to give him props for being so loyal to Kate. Whatever the girl had done to make an ally out of this particular individual, she now had a champion for life. "Kate's being moved to a secure off-base medical facility where, God willing, they have a treatment that might work."
There was nothing that the humans could do to save Kate and yet, despite continual failure, they continued to try. For that Andromeda and Romulus both had to commend them. It could never be said that the humans of Earth did not give up without a fight, exhausting all avenues before they conceded defeat and then, they did not always even do that.
"What treatment?" Andromeda found herself asking.
Sam took a deep breath. "She's deteriorating quickly. The treatment isn't so much designed to cure her as it is to slow down her decline enough so that we have more time to try and come up with a solution."
Romulus, like his mate, was intrigued. "Oh?"
Sam nodded. "We're planning on administering another dose of the NC26 serum into her blood. Hopefully that will give her enough strength to hang in there just a little bit longer."
As interesting a proposition as it was, Romulus already knew that it would not work. But, as Ganos had instructed, he had to let them try. He gave his consent to have her moved, "Very well."
Having gained permission from the wraith – they'd all learned the hard way that trying to take Kate anywhere without asking him first was a bad idea – Sam nodded towards Jennifer and Lam who moved forwards and began prepping Kate to be transferred. Returning to the wraith she said, "I suppose you'll be joining us?" she asked although she was pretty damned sure that she already knew the answer.
Romulus nodded. "I will be."
Sam sighed and bowed to the inevitable. Whoever this wraith was he was one stubborn son of a bitch. "Okay then," she looked at Andromeda, "Daniel's in charge until I get back. Jack, Woolsey, Weir, Jennifer McKay and Dr. Lam will be accompanying us."
The Ancient nodded. "And what of Colonel Sheppard?" she asked. "Surely he will wish to travel with his sister?"
Sam shook her head. "He's too involved in this, so I sent him with Mitchell and Cadman to go and pick up the NC26 serum from a lab in DC. The Daedalus will beam them to the hospital as soon as they have the serum secured."
As the bed Kate was on began to move, Sam turned back towards the wraith and held out a hand indicating that he should go first. "After you," she said resignedly and then, in the next moment, followed the wraith from the room leaving Andromeda behind to explain what was going on to the other Ancients and members of SG-1.
~xXx~
Thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp-thmp…
The steady sound of air being beat into submissions was, at the moment, the only thing keeping John sane. Above him, the helicopter blades roared as the aircraft carried him, Mitchell and Cadman farther and further out to sea; their direction indeterminable. Sometime after they'd changed course for the eleventh time or so, John had stopped trying to keep track of which way they were flying and had just taken to listening to the sounds of the blades as they cut through the wind. He did know that they were somewhere over the Pacific but that, inconclusive as it was, was the extent of his knowledge.
"Where are we going again?" Cadman asked, broaching the silence as the copter took another turn and proceeded to fly off in yet another direction. Honestly, they didn't have time for this; Kate didn't have time for this. It was half in her mind to tell the damned pilot to fly in a straight line or she'd shoot him. "And why in the name of Christ do we keep changing direction every five fucking minutes!"
Major Davis, who was accompanying them to see to the safe transfer of the NC26 serum, sighed. He understood their need to hurry, he really did, but some procedures just had to be followed. "The serum is being kept at a secure location aboard a US research vessel, the USS Kraken. The Kraken isn't listed on any manifests and it's imperative that no one knows where she is at any given time."
Mitchell made a face. "So how's the pilot…" he jerked his thumb at the cockpit behind him, "…know where to turn? He certainly seems to know where we're going."
Davis shook his head. "The pilot's receiving instructions from the Kraken's bridge. Not even Lieutenant James knows the exact coordinates. He just turns when he's told to."
"So they know where we are but we don't know where they are?" Cadman concluded, the expression on her face matching the one on Mitchell's. Colonel Sheppard was still staring out the window into space. "Don't know if I like the sound of that."
Mitchell was quick to agree. "Yeah really. We're flying circles in a copter on our way to a ship that isn't really real to get a serum made to improve the performance of an elite group of soldiers that aren't really real either," he eyed Major Davis. "Tell me you get the irony in this?"
Davis cracked a grin and nodded. "Yeah, just a bit, Sir. It's kind of hard not to."
With the conversation over, the back of the chopper fell silent again until, about ten minutes later. John perked up and sat up just a bit straighter. Cadman and Mitchell looked at him. "What is it, Sir?" the former asked, curious. The colonel had pretty much been zoned out for the entirety of their flight so the fact that he now seemed to be awake and aware must mean something. Maybe he saw something from the window?"
"I see the ship," John said slowly, his eyes focusing and refocusing as they tried to look at something that his brain kept telling him wasn't really there. "I think."
Mitchell leaned towards him. "You think? What do you mean…holy!"
"What?" Cadman asked, likewise leaning towards the window as the chopper suddenly began to descend. Her eyed widened. Before them, on their portside, was the massive outline of a ship sailing on a parallel with them through the black waters of the ocean. "Fuck me," she whispered, "The damned thing's cloaked. It's invisible!"
"Nice to see that the SGC is putting the technology we bring through the gate to good use," Mitchell commented dryly as the chopper came around again and began to angle in for a landing. To the untrained observer, it looked like they were trying to land on the water and Cameron felt a pang of sympathy for the pilot who was probably way weirded out by this. What was really weird was the way their vision completely shifted when they at last passed through the invisible barrier and then landed on the deck. In unison he, Sheppard, Cadman, Davis and both the pilot and copilot's were all blinking spots out of their eyes for about two minutes after they touched down.
And then the doors opened.
"Which one of you is Colonel John Sheppard?"
John raised his hand as he unclipped himself from the harness seat of the helicopter and hopped out. Facing front, he came face to face with an angry looking man that was obviously the ship's commander. John glared at him. "That'd be me," he replied tersely before adding, "You got what we came for?"
The commander nodded and looked about the group. They looked anxious and for what wasn't any of his business. All that mattered to him was the safe transfer of what was perhaps one of the most dangerous injections known to man. Standing back, he indicated the squad of men behind him who were standing guard over a locked trunk. "It's here."
John smiled but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Great," he said tonelessly. "Fork it over so that we can go. We don't have much time here."
The colonel's expression annoyed the Commander who was almost positive that these folks had no idea what that little serum was capable of doing. He did. He'd been inoculated with it and it had ruined his life. Now he was in charge of protecting it and it irked him that these people didn't seem to fear it the way he did. "You do know what that does to people don't you?" he asked, turning back to them even as he gave the gesture to his men to remove the serum from its container and bring it over to the new arrivals. "I hope you've at least told whoever you're giving it to what's going to happen to them. Waking up suddenly different ain't a lot of fun."
Cadman looked at him. "Voice of experience there?" she asked and, when he nodded, she proceeded to say, "The person we're giving that to has already had the shot once. She's dying and this is our last chance to buy her some time so that we can save her. So, if you'll forgo the safe speech and just give it to us we'll be on our merry little way."
The commander stared at her and John, who was secretly very proud of Cadman at that moment, nonetheless shot her a look of rebuke. "Cadman, stand down," he told her, returning his gaze to the commander's as Davis and Mitchell helped his men secure the case with the serum in it into the chopper. "I'm sure the good commander is just trying to do his job. Not all of the NC26's had as much fun in the program as Kate."
As the colonel spoke, their eyes locked and the commander was the first to look away. With the serum safely loaded, Mitchell, Davis and Cadman all climbed back into the chopper first before John finally went to follow them. The commander's voice stopped him.
"When I was in the program, there was talk about one of the women who made it in. Her number was seventy-four but every one she knew called her Kate. She was one of the best, one of the nine soldiers that didn't get inoculated with the counter serum after they were decommissioned."
John paused and turned back, an unreadable expression on his face. The commander straightened up and looked him dead in the eye. "I hope you save her," he said suddenly, his voice tight with respect, "She's one of the best we've got. It'd be a shame to lose her."
With a nod of gratitude, John offered the commander a salute before hoisting himself into the chopper just as the blades began to spin and the craft started to gain air. Strapping himself back into his seat, he closed the chopper doors and shut out the rest of the world in preparation for the long ride back.
"Maybe this time we'll get there in a straight line," Mitchell commented wryly, looking down as he did while tapping the case now strapped to the floor with his foot.
John felt himself respond automatically. "Yeah, maybe."
Above him, the blades of the helicopter spun round, and round and John tuned out everything else to listen and to pray that they made it to Kate in time.
~xXx~
Awareness seeped back into him and he felt his entire body grow warm quite expectantly. Grunting with the effort that it took to sit up, Todd opened his eyes and looked curiously around his room for the source of the strange warmth. He found it floating a few feet away from him. His eyes narrowed into slits, the wraith proceeded to glare at the offending white orb that he'd come to instantly know was some ascended Lantean or another.
"What do you here?" he demanded, not at all pleased to have been called back from the very edge of death by one such as this for reasons that were as of yet unknown.
The orb pulsed more brightly for a moment and then flared as it expanded. Todd turned his head away from the sudden onslaught of light and lifted his hand to shield his face. When at last the flash dimmed and blotches of color stopped appearing before his eyes, Todd lowered his hand and looked upwards at the now fully appeared Lantean that stood there.
"Ganos," he greeted his tone flat, no note of inflection in it at all. It was dead, much he wished himself to be.
She looked down upon him. The wraith at her feet had been brought down to his lowest form and had all but given up the will to live. He had been waiting to die when she had come to him and infused him with the strength he would need if he was to save both himself and his Katherine. Now was the time for all to be made clear.
"Valloran."
The wraith hissed and again asked, "What do you here?" he did not wait for an answer before he went on, "Can you not leave me? Go, I am done. Let me die in piece."
The ascended Lantean tilted her head to one side and continued to study the broken wraith. "Is that the outcome you wish?" she asked before she shook her head. "Valloran, I have never known you to give up so easily. You would end your life now before you learn what reason has brought me to you?"
He dropped his head. "Your reason does not matter. Nothing does any longer. Not to me. I am done."
The defeat in his voice let her know that now was the time to show her hand. "If you allow yourself to die," she began, "Then you must know that Katherine will follow you."
A spark of life returned to Todd's eye as he head turned quickly so that his eyes could lock onto those of the Lantean's, "What!" he demanded before summoning whatever strength he had left to him so that he could stand. Now, as he looked down on Ganos' innocently upturned face, he felt an unquenchable anger beat at his breast. "Explain your meaning Lantean!"
Ganos turned her face upwards so that she could once more look into his. "I mean exactly what I say, Valloran. Your continued existence is the only thing that is keeping Katherine tethered to this world. Should she lose you, then as you crease to breathe, so too shall she."
Todd felt his heart all but cease its beating inside of his chest. "How do you mean?" he asked, desperate to understand why his life was the determining factor in whether or not Katherine got to keep hers. "Why should she follow me into the abyss as though I were her only reason to live?"
Ganos looked at him plaintively. "Because you are."
Todd felt his mouth go slack, his eyes widening until they hurt. "I –"
Ganos took a step towards him and bore her eyes into his. "You have come to realize just how much Katherine means to you. You know that without her you will cease to be. The connection goes both ways, Valloran. As you cannot continue to survive without her, so can Katherine not survive without you."
The wraith blinked and the ascended Lantean continued. "You asked me once why I interfered and spared both you and Katherine your lives and why I have helped you save her on more than one occasion. I have declined to give you an answer until now because you had not yet reached the point where you would understand. That point has been reached, at least in your own understanding of your dependence on her, and so I will tell you the rest."
Knowing that he was to be enlightened so soon before his demise made Todd angry in a way that he had never before been in all of his life. "Has it?" he demanded, glaring reproachfully down upon the transparent being that he could not – unfortunately – cause any harm. "Then tell me. Tell me why you wasted your energy sparing us when we were always meant to end?" he snarled and peered at her darkly, his hands clenching into fists at his side. "Have you and yours not punished me enough? You torture me by allowing me to think that because you intervened then I was meant to have her but no, she is gone from my life while I am near the end of mine and yet you are still here. Yes! Tell me! Explain to me why!"
Ganos opened her mouth and uttered the words that she had waited so very patiently to tell him, "Because she has always been meant for you."
His immediate reaction to this revelation was to sputter in shock before he finally managed to remember how to speak. "She…but then why –"
Ganos continued. "There are some, perfect pairs, that are meant, each from the moment of their creation, to be the other half of another. Neither is truly happy without the other as their mate and so they drift, always constant until such a time comes when they meet. At that meeting a connection begins to form, one that grows and strengthens over time. The wraith call such a happening a natural binding and, once it is complete, the two souls are bound together for all of eternity."
She paused in her speech and made certain that Valloran was understanding her. When she saw that he was, she continued, "But, should one of the pair break this bond, shatter it and throw it away, then both souls begin to slowly wither and wane until, finally, they both die. This is what has happened with you and Katherine. You broke the connection that bound her to you and so, she is dying and you with her. Neither of you can live without the other at your side."
Comprehension dawned on Todd in a flood of understanding as the wraith came to realize that all that Romulus had said to him in the most recent past was right. "I have killed her," he looked up, horror and anguish playing across his features as he looked unto Ganos' eyes. "In trying to save her…because of my own fears…I have…" his eyes betrayed all of his pain as, in one last breath, he whispered, "It is over."
"Not yet."
Still reeling under the understanding of what he had done, what destruction his foolish actions had brought, Todd's mind fought through its torment and latched onto Ganos' words for all that they were. A hope, however dim, that there was still time to right the terrible wrong that he had made.
"What must I do?" he whispered brokenly. "Tell me. I will do anything that you ask of me."
Ganos, with an incline of her head, took one step backwards and held out her hand towards the wraith. Without hesitation, Todd grasped it and then, in a blinding flash of light, they were both gone.
~xXx~
Eerie silence drenched the control room of the SGC as all of its occupants held their own councils and prayed to whichever God they claimed as theirs for Major Sheppard's recovery. Daniel, Vala, Andromeda and Tobias were the only four people willing to talk about what was happening and even then, it was mostly Daniel relaying the change or lack thereof, of Kate every time Sam called him on his cell phone to give him an update. After her husband would hang up, Vala would inevitably ask, "Well?" and Daniel would shake his head to convey that nothing had happened yet before the silence would return and they'd all go back to staring off into space.
That all changed when, out of nowhere, the gateroom exploded in a blinding flash of white light.
"What on earth was that?" Vala asked as, standing, she and the others all looked down into the room below them. The light had dissipated and was now centered on the ramp in front of the stargate. Pulsing twice, the orb grew until it was about the size of a person before it finally went out.
As one, Daniel, Vala, Andromeda and Tobias' mouths all dropped open at the figure that the light had brought with it and dropped off in the middle of their gateroom.
Todd the wraith.
Tobias recovered first. "What is he doing –"
The rest of his words were cut off by the appearance of another orb of light that appeared, just as had the other one, out of thin air. The orb hovered close to the suddenly there wraith for a few seconds before it sped towards the assembled persons in the control room. Everyone backed up as the orb came towards them and, once it had passed through the glass, transformed into another individual with whom at least Daniel was all too familiar.
"Ganos Lal."
The ascended Ancient inclined her head towards the bespectacled human. "Daniel Jackson," her eyes swept the room and landed briefly on her grandson and granddaughter before returning to the human's. "Where is Katherine?"
Daniel blinked. "She…she's, ah, wait," he trailed off, squinting up at the glowing Ancient in curiosity. "Why do you need…and why is Todd –"
"Todd is now the only one that can save Katherine," Ganos explained plainly. "Tell me where she is."
Daniel felt his mouth fall open. This whole thing reeked of interference and for the life of him the archeologist couldn't figure out why the Ancients would be trying to save Kate's life.
"She's at Bethesda," Andromeda answered when it became clear that Daniel would not be able to. Coming out from behind her brother, she looked her grandmother in the eyes and beseeched her imploringly. "Hurry."
Ganos nodded and then retreated into her orb where she returned to Todd the bewildered looking wraith and then, in another flash of light, was gone.
Vala made a face. "I thought that the Ancients weren't allowed to interfere?"
Finally remembering what his tongue was there for, Daniel swallowed and answered. "Apparently there is an exemption clause in there somewhere about Kate."
"And Todd," Vala reminded him.
Daniel nodded slowly. "Yes," he said his tone rueful, "And Todd."
~xXx~
Samantha Carter was good at great many things. She was a General in the United States Air Force, she had a doctorate in astrophysics and another one in engineering, she could blow up a sun and rewrite Ancient programing in a matter of minutes – but she wasn't good at waiting. Waiting was her Achilles heel, especially when she was waiting around for the chance to either save her friend or to watch her die. It was torture, it was agony and it just wasn't fair.
"Carter sit down, you're going to give yourself a heart attack."
Sam stopped pacing and turned to look down at Jack who was eyeing her from his chair a little ways off. Complying with the order, she went back to her seat and sat down. "Yes Sir."
Jack shook his head. "You know we've been married for four years now and you still call me Sir nearly every chance you get," he folded his hands across his stomach and took to observing his wife. "Don't you find that a bit odd?"
Woolsey looked up. "The two of you are married?"
Elizabeth turned towards her co-director. "You didn't know that?" she asked.
Woolsey lifted an eyebrow. "You did?"
Jack sighed. "It's not exactly public knowledge but all of the important people know. Daniel was my best man and Vala and Kate were…" he trailed off, suddenly overcome with emotion.
Sam took a deep shuddering breath. "Kate and Vala were my bride's maids."
Reaching out a comforting hand, Elizabeth soothingly stroked General Carter's arm. "You didn't have a maid of Honor?"
Again, Sam shook her head. "I would've asked Cassie but she's still overseeing the research mission on M4X -781 and couldn't get leave. That left Kate and Vala and I…I just couldn't choose between them."
Silence fell back over the group of four as they returned to waiting. After a few minutes, Sam stood up to go call Daniel again but stopped as the sounds of footsteps approached them. Turning, they all looked expectantly upwards at both Jennifer and Dr. Lam.
"Well?" they collectively asked.
Jennifer, who had long ago given up trying not to cry, shook her head and looked down at the floor. "There's nothing else we can do," she said forlornly before sinking into a chair between Woolsey and Weir. "Until Colonel Sheppard gets back with the serum, if he makes it in time, all we can do now is wait."
The news brought a sobering sense of finality to the party who realized that this could very well be the end unless, by some miracle, some higher power took pity on them and decided to intervene. It was pointless though, to hold onto that kind of hope. They'd all been around long enough to know that if there was really a true God out there, he or she was most likely not listening.
Jennifer sniffed. "You know," she said softly, her voice trembling. "Rodney and I talked about it and we decided that, if our baby's a girl, we were going to name her Katherine and ask Kate to be her Godmother," the pregnant doctor lifted her head and whipped her eyes with the back of her hand as she turned to look through the window into Kate's room. "I guess that won't happen now."
Elizabeth, who was closest, reached out and took one of Jennifer's hands. "Shhhh," she cooed, trying to keep the trimmer out of her own voice. "Don't give up yet. John may still get here in time."
Eager to not give up on hope just yet, Woolsey nodded. "Yes, there is still the Colonel and, as we all know, he doesn't know how to fail. He'll get here."
Jennifer shook her head, her eyes clenching themselves shut. "But there's no guarantee that the serum will work, that it'll save her," she stood up and spun away from those that were trying to comfort her. Hugging her arms around herself she walked up to the glass that separated them from Kate and pressed her forehead against it. The wraith was still there by her bedside, still keeping watch and the sight only made the whole scene that much worse.
She took a breath. "We need –"
A sudden bright, blinding flash of light engulfed whatever words Jennifer had been about to speak and drowned them out. Shielding their eyes from the flash Jack, Woolsey and Weir all leaped to their feet and went to crowd around the window into Kate's stay room as the light began to dim. In its center there appeared a figure who, after the light had all but completely fades away, proved to be the absolute last person any one of them had expected to see.
Todd.
Elizabeth felt her heart leap to her throat as she reflexively reached out and grabbed a hold of Jennifer's arm. "There's your miracle," she breathed as the six of them all took in a collective breath and waited to see what would happen next.
Inside of the infirmary room, Romulus, like the humans, had shielded his eyes against the sudden flare of light. Now that it had dissipated, the wraith looked up and found Valloran standing some paces away, his eyes trained on Katherine.
The disorientation of having travelled first across a galaxy and then to another location on a distant planet left Todd as soon as his eyes focused and fell onto his Katherine's face. She was pale and gaunt and looked to be standing on the very edge of death, ready to cross its threshold at any time. The thought terrified him and bade him force his feet to move. He took first one step and then another and then another until he was finally by her side, her slow, shallow breathing echoing in his ears and making them want to bleed.
This was his fault, he understood that now. Her condition, his own rapid decline – they were one in the same. In trying to distance himself from her in order to assuage his own fears and feelings of inadequacy and to save her from the danger her association with him put her in, he had all but killed them both. Whether or not he felt he was worthy enough for her was no longer an issue. Katherine could not live without him and he could not and would not live without her.
Reaching out his feeding hand, Todd touched it gently to her cheek and felt how cold she was; her skin held neither warmth nor life. It was now or never. "I am an idiot."
"At least now you admit it."
Todd's head jerked up and his eyes locked with Romulus', narrowing slightly. "What do you here?" he asked, surprised rather than angry to see him.
Romulus' back stiffened. "I said that I would not leave her. I have kept my word."
Todd snorted. "No doubt to the great annoyance of the humans," he commented, lowering his gaze back down to his beloved.
The elder wraith snickered. "I believe they are all in agreement that I am more troublesome than even you," he cocked his head to one side. "I do not think they know how difficult you can truly be when you have your mind set on something."
"As do I now," Todd murmured before he quickly lifted up his head and made eye contact with Romulus. "What must I do?" he inquired, a desperate, needy tone seeping into his voice. "Ganos said that have been acting in her stead since the beginning; that you would know what it is I must do. Tell me," he dropped his gaze back down onto Katherine. "She has little time left."
"As do you," Romulus reminded him before he brought forth his hands from behind his back and gestured with them to show Valloran what he must do. "Place your feeding hand upon her chest, as if to give her the gift."
Todd did as he was instructed and felt a small jolt of something unnamable travel up his arm upon contact. He splayed his fingers out, digging them just slightly into Katherine's skin and felt it warm under his touch. He looked back up at Romulus. "What must I do now?"
Romulus placed his hands behind his back and took a step backwards. "As with the gift, you must pull forwards your own life's energy and focus on channeling it into her while simultaneously summoning her energy upwards as if to feed from it."
Todd frowned. "But I cannot feed from Katherine. I have given her the gift numerous times and cannot no longer draw subsistence fr –"
"Your energies must meet so that they can fuse back together as one," Romulus interrupted him. "Concentrate. You can do this. You must do it. If you do not then you both will die."
In the absence of further instruction, Todd closed his eyes and did as he was bid. Calling up his own well of energy from deep inside himself, he pushed it forwards through his feeding hand while also attempting to feed from Katherine. His energy stalled and then there was a struggle within him over which action to take. His body did not know whether to take or give life and the feeling of this eternal war was most uncomfortable. Todd poured all of his energy into making both happen at once and then, suddenly, the eternal conflict ended and he felt a rush of euphoria engulf him and he knew everything.
"Katherine…"
Standing back out of the way, Romulus smiled the moment he knew the connection had been made while outside of the room, the humans all gasped.
Suddenly a light appeared and, within the next moment had transformed into the shape and appearance of Ganos Lal. She was standing to Todd's left and, after standing still for a few moments, she reached forwards and placed her hand over the wraith's as it lay planted on Kate's chest. There was another, smaller eruption of light and then the visage of another ascended Ancient appeared and then another and another. Shock and awe stole through every single one of the witnesses, wraith and human alike, as the room suddenly glowed brilliantly with a golden light that pulsed and ebbed as more and more ascended beings, all of them non-corporeal, appeared and filled the room.
They remained, all of them, until the task was done and then, as suddenly and unexpectantly as they had appeared, they all faded away into the place between dimensions were they dwelled. Only Ganos lingered and, as Todd felt a feeling of wholeness and completeness surge through him as he lifted his hand from Katherine's chest, he turned towards the Lantean and bowed his head towards her.
"Thank you."
Ganos dipped her head. "It is done," she explained, her voice echoing in the silence of the room. "Your bond with Katherine has been remade. I would suggest you not break it this time no matter what your reasoning."
Todd shook his head. "You have my word that I will not. She is mine."
The Lantean smiled. "As you are hers, now and forever until the stars fade from the sky," she began to fade, her form becoming more and more transparent. "Honor her and treat her well."
"With all that I am, I shall do so," Todd replied, finishing the vow that Ganos had first started. In the next instant, the Lantean faded completely away and he was left alone in the room with only his mate, his closest and best kept friend. Outside of the room he could feel the eyes of six very astonished and bewildered humans watching him.
He turned towards them. "Perhaps it would be best to call for Sheppard now," he told them, his eyes seeking out Mr. Woolsey and Dr. Weir. "I am sure he will be happy to know that Katherine is out of danger."
Thunderstruck, all Woolsey could do was nod. "I-I'll call him," he stammered and then sped off to do as the wraith suggested.
Pressing his lips together, Todd turned back to his mate. Looking down onto her, he held his breath as her eyes fluttered open and immediately locked onto his face.
"My Katherine," he whispered, the multi-tonal cords in his voice caressing her name.
Kate blinked and smiled upwards at the wraith who, with an understanding that she didn't quite know the origin of, was now wholly, and completely hers. "Valloran."
Todd smiled.
~xXx~
They'd been on the ground for less than a minute before Mitchell found himself asking, "So what's the plan now Sheppard?"
John barely heard him. The chopper had landed in the Navy Yard in Washington a fact that the colonel was none too pleased about because it meant another chopper ride over to the hospital. Davis was trying to arrange it now but John's whole attention was focused on getting to Kate. He'd just opened his mouth to tell Mitchell that the plan to possible commandeer a F-22 and fly there when he was suddenly beamed up by the Daedalus and beamed back down again into the very hospital he was so eager to get to.
Bewildered and confused he spun around on the spot and came face to face with Generals Carter and O'Neill. He opened his mouth, "What –"
Cutting the disoriented colonel off with a look, Jack nodded and indicated with his eyes that Sheppard should turn around. John did and immediately realized two things. One: Kate was sitting up, awake, in her bed and, Two: Todd was there. How Todd had managed to get into her room escaped him but at this particular moment in time, John didn't really care. He whirled back around to face the Generals.
"How?"
Sam and Jack looked at one another uneasily. John frowned.
"What?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What happened? What's going –"
"The Ancients brought your wraith here where he did something and now Kate's fine," Sam tried to explain realizing as she did that her explanation was severely lacking in just about every category.
John's mouth dropped open. "The Ancients did what?" he asked, shocked. "What happened to non-interference!"
Jack glared at him. "Why can't you just be happy that Katie's not dying and go with it?" he wanted to know.
John battled with himself over what to tell them. "Don't get me wrong," he started out, honestly written all over his face, "I'm thrilled that my sister's not dead and doesn't appear to be dying any more but," he jerked his thumb backwards, "Todd's the one that did this to her so forgive me if I'm just a little bit miffed that he's also the one that got to fix it."
Sam took a deep breath. "You don't know that he had anything to do with Kate's illness," she reminded him although she, like him, believed that the wraith did have something to do with why Kate got so sick so fast.
John growled and crossed his arms. "I've got a damned good idea that it does!"
Sam and Jack shot each other another look that conveyed the idea that it was pointless to argue with Sheppard at this time. Turning back to him, Sam suggested that he let it go for now since now wasn't really the time or place anyways to be looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Backing down because the General was right, John knew that he could figure out how Todd was involved later, after they all got back to Atlantis. Right now, he needed to go make sure for himself that Kate wasn't going to drop dead any time soon. Leaving the two general's in the hallway; John padded over to the door and then knocked. Waiting to hear Kate's voice calling for him to come in, he opened the door and shuffled inside.
Immediately he locked eyes with not just the one wraith but Todd as well. He hissed, the other wraith really did need a name because John had this funny feeling they'd be seeing a lot more of him after this and he really didn't want to keep referring to him as the 'other' wraith. Taking a moment to think about it, he studied the alien and noticed that if he squinted, the tattoo on one side of his face looked sort of like the number seven.
"John."
Sapping out of his ponderings, John pulled his gaze away from the two wraith and looked eagerly into the bright, no longer dull eyes of his baby sister. "Katie Beth," he whispered, his voice coming out just a bit cracked. Crossing over to her, he engulfed her into a hug in seconds and held onto her tightly as though his life depended on it.
"I love you," he breathed into her hair as he felt her arms lift up and wrap around him in return. "God, I love you so much," he pulled away from her just enough so that he could kiss her forehead and then look down on her. "Don't ever fucking do that to me again!"
Kate smiled. "No promises big brother," she teased softly.
John pulled the rest of the way away from her and dropped his hands to her shoulders. Locking at her with a serious expression on his face he held her grey eyes firmly with his hazel ones. "No, I'm serious Katherine Elizabeth," he told her, "Don't you ever, ever do that to me again."
Sobered, Kate felt herself nod. "I promise John," she vowed, "I won't."
With a nod of acceptance, John pulled her into another hug, wrapping his arms all the ways around her he tucked her head under his chin and held her.
The wraith watched him and, after a few minutes of silence, Todd felt a pair of eyes on him. Blinking, he found himself pinned under the resentful gaze of one Colonel John Sheppard. The human might not understand the true complexity of what had transpired but Todd knew that he did understand that he was at least partially responsible for Katherine's near death and that he would not be soon letting it go. The battle was not yet over and Todd would do anything in his power to win. He would do everything in his power, move the stars themselves if he had to, in order to show Sheppard and the whole of the universe that he would not now nor would he ever again let her go. Katherine was his.
And he was hers.
A/N: Hello again! I apologize for this one being a little on the short side but in order to keep the tension from breaking before it was time, I kind of had to go fast in some places. Anyway, I do so hope that you enjoyed it all regardless and I'm looking forwards to receiving a review from each and every one of you since, as you know; reviews are the only way that fanfiction authors get paid and I think that after all of this I deserve at least a few coins in my cup. Push the button and make my day. Until next time, cheers!
