Disclaimer: I do not own this series or it's characters etc etc
Author's note: Part two of Common Ground JI was going to pace this one but I just couldn't wait. I hope you guys can tell me what you think soon, reviews are really encouraging J
Back in the cells a weak John Sheppard sat against the wall of the neighbouring cell, whilst the Wraith stood over him at the barred window and G slowly paced, growing tired of being trapped in such a confined space. The feedings had clearly taken a toll on him.
"You know, I coulda sworn I was gonna wake up dead today," Sheppard quipped, his voice sounded so fatigued that G brushed up against the Wraith in an attempt to see him.
"You are strong," the Wraith said, and G was sure it was meant both as a compliment and as some sort of encouragement. She noticed that he gave her a lingering sideways glance. "Strongly than any human I have ever fed upon."
"You tried not to feed on her, and you stopped yourself, why?" Sheppard asked, his voice suspicious. The Wraith smiled subtly, and G couldn't help but think she liked that expression on him.
"Because the longer I feed, the weaker you humans become…and we will need what strength you both have left, to escape," he hissed, his voice and posture revealing that he had begun to hope again. G smiled widely beside him and let out a laugh when Sheppard responded sounding completely exasperated:
"Oh, now he wants to escape."
G could sense that he needed time to rest, so she again placed her hand on the alien's arm and gestured that they should move away from him and allow him to sleep. The Wraith felt her skin burn through his leather sleeve once again, hissing with confusion at the effect she had. He had not ever felt drawn to any worshippers or companions, why now would he find this insignificant human of any interest.
"I'm sorry that you had to feed off me," she said in a low voice, keeping quiet, he realised so that her friend could rest. He cocked his head to one side and gave her a dangerous look, why would she be sorry for giving him sustenance unless she mean that she was sorry to assist him.
"It's just that because of it you may have nanites in your system. I don't exactly understand how you feed, but there is blood involved. It's highly unlikely, but we may have a connection after this. If anything does happen to cause you irritation or discomfort let me know, I may be able to take them back or disable them when I have my equipment back." The Wraith snarled.
"You knew that they would have such an affect, but still you let me feed?" he demanded, concerned as the only other replicating nanites he had ever encountered had been Asuran and they did not agree with Wraith DNA.
"I had no choice, I couldn't let you feed on the Lieutenant any more," she replied impatiently. "Besides if they were going to negatively impact on your health they would have done so already." The Wraith had to admit this much was true, replicators worked extremely fast when it came to merging with organic matter. If they had intended to destroy him, he would have undoubtedly already died.
"And how could you have been sure this was the case?" he growled, closing the gap between them so that she was forced to stare up at him, her form only level with his shoulders. He was impressed to see that she would not shrink away from him, instead choosing to star him down.
"I knew because they are a part of me," she replied defiantly. "They and I are one and the same being. I would not choose to bring you harm so neither would they." Suddenly she dropped her eyes and her cheeks tinted an unusual colour, the Wraith was unsure of what this meant.
"You are unwell?" he asked in a low voice to avoid the other humans detection.
"No, I'm fine, I just need some quiet before we try to escape." With that she turned on her heel and stalked to the other side of the cell, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed in front of her.
Two hours later Kolya's men marched through the hall to their cells once more. The Captain immediately made a beeline for G, but she was surprised to see her cellmate step in front of her baring his sharp teeth at the man. The captain seemed to think twice and instead gestured towards the hallway. "Move." Two men moved to escort each prisoner from their cells. Sheppard and the wraith made eye contact and in the next instant John had pushed the men with him against the bars, stunning them and flipping on forward, whilst the Wraith had thrown his to the ground and pushed one up against the bars of his cell, wrapping one of the chains on his arms around his neck so that he could break off the iron casing around his feeding hand and use it. The soldier that had been leading G stopped and pulled out his gun and began to fire at the alien. G was by no means a warrior, but she knew enough to be helpful here. She kicked the gun out of the mans hand and used the momentum to spin around and kick him in the jaw with her other foot, sending him to the floor, unconscious. She grimaced as she saw the Wraith feed and wondered over to Sheppard who was now raiding the unconscious soldiers before him. He handed her a gun.
The Wraith approached cautiously after he had finished eating, and there was an awkward moment shared between the two males before Sheppard threw him a key to unlock his chained arms and legs. Once he had stood up, G closed the distance between them and assisted in unlocking the weighted device around his waist. He was quietly surprised that the female was so willing to help him and be at such a close proximity to his person. The male human looked at him warily, sizing him up suspiciously before handing him a Genii gun.
"Which way?" Sheppard asked.
The Wraith looked at both of them before gesturing to his left. "This way."
The hallways were dark in the underground bunker, and Kolya's men were posted throughout most of the corridors. Sheppard, G and the Wraith hid behind one corner out of view of four of Kolya's men. The Wraith was peering at the Genii gun he had been given, as if trying to discover its workings. John pushed it away as the wraith accidentally took aim at his head. The alien glared at him indignantly before John pointed at a radio he had stolen from one of the soldiers before. Using the radio to create a distraction, John snuck up behind one of the Genii and stabbed him in the chest. I used that time to sneak behind another and jump on his back placing him in a tight headlock until he slowly passed out. The Wraith took a more direct approach, breaking the third soldier's neck. Unfortunately by then the last Genii had realised what was happening and opened fire on the alien. The Wraith cried out as blood began to pour from his wounds. He snarled and barred his teeth at the soldier who then opened fire on John who simply hauled the still alive Genii in his grasp before him as a human shield before firing a few rounds himself, quickly killing their attacker. Dropping the soldiers the three approached each other. G moved to look at the alien's wounds but he held up a hand to stop her.
"It will heal," he muttered, although to G at least his voice betrayed the pain he was in. "This way." He continued to move as G gave John a worried glance.
It was not long before they reached a ladder, which lead them up through a bunker door into the cold night. Climbed out of the bunker first, followed by the Wraith who groaned and winced upon stepping down from the bunker escape hatch. Then came John, slowly climbing out, looking extremely weary.
"How far's the stargate?" he asked, looking at the alien.
"It will be guarded," the Wraith responded, a familiar note of resignation seeping into his voice.
"We have guns," John stated as though that was the answer to solve all of their problems. G rolled her eyes.
"They will be waiting for us," the Wraith groaned in pain and fell back to sit on the hatch, G rushed forwards to inspect his wounds now that she had time to do so. The alien seemed to grow uncomfortable and unsure at her proximity, but she gave him a stubborn look conveying the fact that she was not going anywhere.
"You think you're gonna make it?" John spoke up with little concern. The Wraith nodded.
"If I feed," G placed a hand over the wounds, attempting to use the nanites in his body to at least stop the bleeding.
"Well don't look at me," Sheppard said quickly. The alien stirred and began to stand up, when John pointed his gun at him. The Wraith immediately raised the arm of his uninjured side to point his gun back at the human. Whilst she knew all Sheppard could see was a threat she could see the genuine fear in the alien's eyes. An expectation of death. It was then that she realised the Wraith didn't trust the humans either and feared their weapons as much as humans feared their feeding habits. G quickly stood between them, placing her small hands at the ends of their guns.
"Enough," she said quietly, but with a firm conviction. "When we get to the stargate and to our own people we can go our separate ways, but we need each other right now." The Wraith and the human were equally impressed by her calm manor in the face of their weapons. Sheppard nodded in agreement before looking at the alien.
"Deal?" He asked. The Wraith grunted and nodded, putting his weapon down once more to begin moving again into the forest.
A while later and G was beginning to question whether or not they were going in the correct direction or simply in circles.
"I don't remember it being this far from the bunker," Sheppard said doubtfully.
"If only I could walk faster," the Wraith forced out before crying out in pain and falling to his knees. G rushed forward in an attempt to help. The Wraith held out his arm to hold her at bay, though her quick attempt to come to his aid did not go unnoticed.
"You should go on without me," he stated simply in his multi toned voice. Sheppard stepped ahead of them and shook his head.
"Gate's guarded. We'd have a better chance at taking out the Genii in our cross fire… Still need you," he replied. "We'll rest here then keep moving. That is if we're even going in the right direction." The wraith sighed and looked up at the night sky, which did not go unnoticed by the two humans. "You have no idea where the gate is do you?" John asked sounding irritated.
"It was many years ago," the alien admitted quietly, his voice sounding pained and frustrated. G moved closer to his side and opened her jacket to rip a few pieces of cloth from her singlet and press them to his wounds, keeping eye contact as she made the tentative movement. The other human let out a frustrated noise.
"Agh, way to go John, listen to a Wraith!" he ground out, sounding infuriated. The alien sat back and leaned into the human female as she attempted to clean his wounds and put enough pressure on them to stop the bleeding, which had begun to seep through his clothing once more.
"It was not my intention to deceive you, Sheppard," he spoke honestly, looking at the man before him.
The radio in John's hand began to buzz with static and the voices of Kolya and his underlings flitted over the device advising that they had the stargate surrounded and that whilst the humans were to be taken captive, the wraith was to be killed on sight. The Wraith felt the human woman beside him stiffen at this and he grew curious once more as to why a human would show his race any sort of compassion.
"Well," John started looking at them both. "We've learned two things. One, he likes us better than you," to this the wraith let out a breathy laugh. "And two, probably woulda never made it to the stargate anyway."
"Then it is over," the alien said, all hope leaving his eyes. G tried to help guide him down into a comfortable sitting position, careful not to jar his wounds further.
"No, my people don't leave each other behind, that's three things you've learned," John said determination and faith in his voice.
"You still believe that?" the Wraith spoke quietly, his voice conveying his surprise at the human's faith.
"Look, Kolya's wasting man power guarding that gate and searching for us. The odds of our people finding us are going up and up." He replied.
"I am attempting to send a distress signal, but these nanites were not truly designed for that purpose so I can't promise how effective it'll be," the woman spoke to Sheppard.
"You are both more like Wraith than you know," the alien stated, and G could tell by his infliction that it was meant as a compliment. John clearly didn't like the sound of that. "There is much about Wraith, that you do not know Sheppard," the alien said sincerely, sensing the humans dislike of his compliment.
The radio buzzed again and Kolya's men explained that there was no sign of them around the gate. John smirked.
"Looks like they were concentrating their search around the gate," he said.
"I suppose they thought we knew where we were going," G added with her own smirk. The Wraith let out another breathy laugh, which for some reason made G's heart feel a little lighter.
"It was worth it," the Wraith smiled. "If only to see the sky again." G looked to his face then in shock and admiration. The Wraith, who she had been told her little more than monsters, was appreciating the beauty and freedom of nature. Slowly she laid down beside him so that she could also look up at the stars.
Her movement surprised him, but he did not complain or object as the woman relaxed and gazed at the stars as well. John scoffed at them.
"Yeah sorry I have slightly higher expectations," he replied.
"John, if he doesn't feed soon…" G stated looking up at him carefully, before turning her attention back to the alien and once again trying to see to his wounds s he sat up.
"The female is right… I will die," the Wraith spoke slowly.
"Buck up," John gruffly retorted. "we're all getting home, alive."
"And if we were to meet again in the future?" the Wraith questioned.
"All bets would be off," Your commanding officer replied. G looked between the two before turning onto her side away from them both so that she could sleep.
As morning came G heard rustling in the distance and immediately woke up and began to search for the source of the noise. The Wraith also awoke with a start sensing that the common enemy were nearby.
G climbed one of the nearby trees as she watched the men approach. 10 of them. She looked back over her shoulder to see that the Wraith had fed on Sheppard, her heart cried out, she wanted to go to her friend, but she knew if she did they could all die. So instead, for the time being, she turned her attention back to Kolya's men. Just as she was about to fire at them, the Wraith appeared and began to attack them. There were 8 left, then 6, then 4, then 3… She watched as he fought with unimaginable strength and finesse. He was feeding on two of the men when a third snuck up behind him, ready to shoot him with what appeared to be an automatic shot gun. The sound of gun fire rang out.
Hearing a gun shot behind him, the wraith spun his head around only to see the last of Kolya's men drop dead before his eyes and in the distance, the human woman, still holding her gun and pointing where she had fired moments before. The Wraith nodded his thanks at her, but she did not respond. Instead she jumped from the tree she was in and rushed towards the human male. The Wraith felt nervous about what her thoughts of him would be after she saw what he had done to her companion. He grimaced at the knowledge that he cared what a human female thought of him at all.
He walked towards Sheppard slowly and was momentarily stunned when a blur of silver and violet knocked into him.
"How could you!?" she yelled angrily, pushing him in the chest, her eyes shining with betrayal.
"You do not understand, had I not fed, I would not have been capable of protecting you both," the alien replied, moving her to the side and approaching Sheppard's now decrepit body.
"Finish it," he said defiantly, but the Wraith knelt down over him with a curious look on his face. Looking up at G he motioned for her to come closer.
"As I said before, Sheppard, there are many things that you do not know, about the Wraith," with that he lowered his feeding hand onto Sheppard's chest once more, but to G's amazement he did not take life, he gave it back. John's face becoming full and healthy looking once more. She smiled at the alien before her, but was bought back to her thoughts when she heard familiar voices approaching. She stood up to see Ronan and the others approaching angrily. Before she could do or say anything Ronan had thrown the alien off Sheppard and stunned him so that he had to clamber to regain his footing. He pointed his gun at the Wraith and was about to shoot the now surrounded creature when to everyone's shock, G jumped in front of him, her arms outstretched, shielding him from the Satedan's aim.
"Stop!" she yelled, backing up so that she was almost touching the Wraith and wildly looking around at her companions. Ronan growled at her and took aim once more.
"Lower your weapons, that's an order!" a now very young and very healthy looking Sheppard yelled. Begrudgingly and with great confusion the soldier's around them lowered their weapons slightly.
"Bu' I don't understand, we saw what he did to you," said Beckett, giving G a stunned look.
"You don't know what you saw," she said, still positioned between the guns and the now stunned Wraith.
"He undid it," John explained. "Lower your weapons!" He said again, firmly.
"But I do not understand," said Teyla, her voice filled with apprehension.
"Don't ask me," John said, looking at the alien incredulously.
"The gift of life is reserved only for our most devout worshippers… and our brothers," the Wraith explained, his voice proud. G turned her head to see him meeting John's gaze with equal measures of respect and appreciation.
"Well I guess there's a lot about the Wraith we don't know," John said.
"These humans gave me back my life, I was merely repaying the debt," the Wraith replied.
"What! What do you mean debt!? He looks younger than he did before!" McKay spoke exasperatedly. John and Ronan began to talk about Kolya so G turned to speak to the alien.
"Your wounds are healed?" she asked, looking at his side and his additional bullet wounds with sincere concern, earning a confused look from the Wraith.
"I am unharmed." He replied slowly, watching with growing confusion as this answer made the woman smile. In the sunlight the Wraith had to admit that she was… quite lovely, for a human. With her silver eyes, her silvery violet hair and her pale almost translucent skin she hardly looked human and this thought disturbed him. There was a tugging in his chest towards this woman and he could only assume that her nanites were affecting him. He had to admit they had quickened the healing process for his wounds substantially even as he fed. His thoughts were interrupted when Sheppard and the large human male who had thrown him before approached them once more. Out of instinct the Wraith pushed G to stand behind him.
"What're we gonna do about him?" the large man spoke to Sheppard. John looked at the alien.
"Well we had a deal right?" He asked the alien. The Wraith scoffed.
"I did not truly expect you to honour it," he replied, holding a now apprehensive G behind him with one arm, unsure why it was that he felt the need to prevent her from intervening. G could feel his fear through their newly forming nanites connection and cried out when Sheppard took Ronan's gun and shot him. She fell to her knees with the Wraith, attempting to cradle his head as he fell. She could tell by the buzzing of her nanites around the point of stunner impact that John had never intended to kill him.
"Get him in the jumper, we're gonna drop him off somewhere," he commanded. Walking past McKay and Teyla he simply added; "Thanks for showing up."
G had not yet left the ground, and so Teyla approached her to assist her onto the jumper. Observing the bruise on her friends head, Teyla gave her friend a sceptical look. "Are you alright, G? Did the Wraith cause your injuries?" G looked slightly taken aback and touched the bruise on her temple.
"No, he didn't… he protected me from the man that did though… He acted with honour," she answered, surprised at how much admiration her response held for the alien in question. Allowing Teyla to help her up she looked after the Wraith being hauled into the jumper. "He was different than what I expected."