Authors Note: I was a little sad that I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter but here I am with another one anyway. Thanks to those who are still reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 5

Ronon walked into the library, he and Cameron lowering their voices immediately. The library was always relatively quiet no matter how many students were in there. They spotted Teal'c and Teyla at one of the tables at the far end and made their way to them. Books were spread out across the table, opened to various pages or book marked. Ronon sat beside Teyla, pulling his pen and paper from his bag before tucking it under the table.

"Where have you been?" Teyla questioned, she'd expected him to be here almost an hour ago. Cameron pulled over a chair from another table since some of there's had apprenty been taken somewhere else and the only empty chair at their table had Elizabeth's stuff in front of it.

"We were in town," Ronon told her.

"Yeah, I go into a store to buy a new jacket and Ronon wonders off and gets himself a job," Cameron laughed and Teyla turned a raised eyebrow on Ronon.

"A job?" she questioned.

"I was talking to a man, he owns that new club that's opening in a couple of weeks and he's still got a few vacancies on his staff. I couldn't exactly say no when he suggested it, the school has allowed me in on a scholarship and I still recieve some money from the orphange since I'm on the extended care programme whilst I'm in school. It's not much though and I don't want to have to keep taking their money, they have better things to be spending it on," Ronon explained with a shrug, not wanting to get into his financial situation or his upbringing any further than that.

"So you're going to be working in a club?" Teyla questioned.

"I'll be working with security, basically I'm a bouncer," he told her and then looked at Teal'c. "I know you were thinking about getting a job so I told him I had a friend who might be interested. He said if you want a job to go and see him at the club on Friday afternoon, he'll be there overseeing some deliveries."

"He knows you're students right?" Teyla asked him in a concerned tone. "He understands you have studies and classes to attend, you can't be up all night working in a club."

"He knows," Ronon assured her. "I'll only be working Tuesday and Friday nights, plus alternating Saturdays."

"I found it," Elizabeth said seeming to appear from nowhere and dropping several large books on the table with a thud that obviously made Teyla jump. "There's bit's of information in all of these but this one has the most," she added as she picked up the book from the top of the pile.

"We can finish this essay now then," Teyla replied as she grabbed one of the books.

It was strange that she had been so nervous the last time they had gone out to dinner but this time she was hardly nervous at all. She'd be lying if she said she was completely calm about it but the last time she had been so nervous she'd felt sick, this time she was just... anxious. The knock at the door was probably John and she went to answer it, glad that Teyla wasn't here to give her fashion advice this time.

"Hey, are you ready?" John questioned as she opened the door to find him stood there in his dark coloured jeans and smart black shirt, his hair as messy as always. It was really unfair how casually he could dress for their dates when she had to wear dresses she was fairly certain he'd never seen her in before and had to spend forever doing her hair and make up, twice as long when Teyla was there.

"Yes," she told him with a smile walking back into the room to pick up jacket. It might still be warm and sunny during the days but the nights were starting to drop cold now and she knew by the time they were heading back to the school later the little red dress she was wearing would not be enough to keep her warm.

"You look good," he told her and she smiled and nodded, avoiding his gaze as she tried to remember where she had put her purse. She quickly spotted it on the dresser and picked it up, going through a quick mental check list to be sure she hadn't fogotten anything.

"No Teyla?" John questioned and Elizabeth shook her head.

"She's gone to see Ronon," she told him and then headed for the door, locking it once they were both out of the room. They spent the walk to the restaurant talking unlike the last time when it had been filled with awkawrd silence and uncomfortable glances. They ordered their meals when they arrived at the resturant and for a few minutes they fell into an uncomfortable silence but quickly filled it with a conversation.

"I think she's starting to get used to it now," Elizabeth told him when John asked how her visit to Carlie's room had gone earlier that day. "She's managed to surround herself with all the same kinds of people she does back home. She has people to hang on her every word and people to run around doing stuff for her."

"So she hasn't adjusted to her environment, she's adjusted her environment to her," John said.

Elizabeth nodded. "Almost impressive really."

"It's really strange how different the two of you are, especially when you're so close in age, you're nothing alike at all, I would never guess you were even related," John told her as their food arrived and they both thanked the waiter.

"She's like our father, I'm like our mother," Elizabeth stated and John looked up from his plate to her. She realised then that she had never really mentioned her mother before, not to anyone at the school. "Before you ask, she died when I was eleven."

"I'm sorry," John said and she knew this was going to tun into a really unhappy conversation if she didn't cut it off quickly.

"She'd been sick for a long time, and it was a long time ago," she replied and he obviously sensed that she didn't want to talk about it because he carried on eating and changed the subject.

"Your food looks nicer than mine," he stated and she smiled without looking up from her plate, grateful. She pushed her plate towards him so he could try hers, deciding that she did indeed have the better and meal and then complaining that he should have ordered that instead. The rest of thier date went by quickly and it didn't seem like long before they were walking back onto campus just in time for curfew.

"That was much less awkard than our previous date," John laughed as they came to a stop near the girls dorms.

"It was," Elizabeth agreed, it was like they'd finaly fallen back into the almost comfortable rhythm they'd started to develop before the summer holidays had begun and they'd been seperated for weeks. "It was good though."

It seemed then that John had spoken too soon as a moment of awkwardness descended on them as they both internally tried to decide how to end the night. Teyla was going to laugh so much when she told her about this. She made the decision for them both then, he'd made all the moves so far, he'd been the one to keep taking all the risks and he deserved the same back from her. She stepped forward and kissed him. She could tell he was as surprised as she was by the move but his hands settled on her hips as he kissed her back.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she told him as she stepped back and then headed for the dorms.

She was quickly getting used to being away from home, she was accustomed to the large house the governing family lived in and now she had only her bedroom. She was used to having people to do things for her, an entire staff to take care of everything she needed and wanted. It had taken some doing but she'd managed to adapt, she was certain her father would be proud. This school could build up connections for her, she could gain friends who would one day be in high places, who had family in high places, it would serve her well later in life. Her father hadn't said anything yet but he'd implied to her several times that he was considering naming her as the next governor instead of Elizabeth. It was a break from tradition and he'd have to go through several people to make it happen but that wouldn't be an issue.

She arrived at the cafeteria, the food here wasn't as good as it was at home, she missed the meals that were prepared for her there. She didn't really like eating in this crowded room either, it was full of people knocking into each other as they ran around, full of noise and people goofing off on their breaks from lessons. It was bearable though and she had little choice but to deal with it.

"Carlie," she heard Sasha greet her and saw her freind sitting at a nearby table. She smiled and nodded to acknowledge that she'd seen her and made her way over there. She heard Elizabeth's voice and turned to find out where she was. She was at a table not far from where Sasha was sitting, she was with some of her 'friends' and it looked like they were laughing at one of the other people in the group. She sighed, when would Elizabeth learn? These people were not her friends, they were using her, she'd never had that many friends growing up, what made her think it was different here, everyone wanted something, these people were no different.

"Hello Sasha," she greeted as she reached the table. She realised then that the people around the table, Sasha included, were giving her a strange look, like they knew something and were trying to decide who should be the unfortunate one to tell her. "What is it?"

"We heard a rumour today," Sasha told her cautiously. They'd only been here a few weeks but they already knew not to get on her bad side. "But it's probably just that, just a rumour."

"For goodness sake Sasha, just tell me," Carlie demanded as she took a seat at the table.

"Well, it was about your sister, Elizabeth," Sasha continued and Carlie found herself sighing, what had Elizabeth done? "We heard someone talking about that drug that went into circulation last year, I'm sure you know they've had problems with it here."

"Everyone knows that, what does this have to do with Elizabeth?" Carlie questioned.

"Well the rumour is that she was taking the drug, that her and a couple of her friends were taking it and then when they got caught they claimed someone had been folowing them around spiking their food and drinks with it for months," Sasha finally explained and Carlie froze, she was certain if she could see her face she would have paled.

"Elizabeth took drugs?" Carlie questioned, it didn't seem plausible. Elizabeth might be difficult and stubborn and she caused no end of headaches for their father but she wasn't the type to take drugs. She supposed there was a lot about her sister she didn't know, a lot that had changed about her since coming here, she would never have expected her sister to be going out clubbing late into the night in short revealing dresses either but she apparently did that. Still, there was a world of difference between going out at night drinking and taking illegal drugs. She would have to look into the matter further, if Elizabeth was doing anything to affect their family reputation then she needed to find out.

"That's what we heard, but like we said, I'm sure it's just a rumour, probably not true," Sasha stated and Carlie could tell from her face, from all the faces around the table that they didn't really believe that. It seemed Elizabeth was already affecting her reputation whether she'd been doing drugs or not.

"I doubt it's true," Carlie stated and Sasha gave her a quick smile and changed the conversation. Carlie looked over at Elizabeth. She'd always been a trouble maker, could never simply do as she was told, maybe this 'rebellion' or whatever it was she was doing was just the logical next step. It didn't matter, Carlie wasn't going to stand for it, she would make sure her older sister did not affect her time here at Pegasus, or her time after that.

The notes on his paper had gotten messier and messier as the lesson had progressed. They'd started out neat and he'd even used a colored pen to highlight some important bits. Then he'd missed some information and started writing quickly to try and catch up and it had all gone down hill from there. The last couple of lines were almost illegible, he had to bring his face to within a few inches of it and squint to be able to figure out what he'd written.

"You'll be breaking up into groups of three or four for this project," Professor Colbrun stated as he continued to tell them about their Magical Ethics assignment. "This project will be worth fourty precent of your final grade for the year so don't take it lightly and don't think you can get away with slacking off and letting the rest of your group do the work. I'll be monitoring each group closely and at the end of the assignment you'll all be asked to fill out a report of what each member of the group did."

"Well, that's that plan ruined," John whispered and both Elizabeth and Teyla rolled their eyes while Jack smirked.

"You can choose your own groups if you wish, anyone who wants to be put into a group come to me at the front, everyone esle you've got two minutes to get into groups, three or four people to a group, no more, no less," Colbrun instructed them. The class erupted in noise as people began moving around and discussing with friends which group they wanted to work in.

"Are we a four?" Jack questioned. "Unless somone has an objection to us working together."

"It's fine with me," Teyla said and Elizabeth nodded her agreement.

"Well that was easy," John said as he rewrote the last few lines of his notes so that he could read them without straining his eyes.

"Alright," Colbrun called over the nosie two minutes later. "Each group is going to be given a list of problems, magical issues that society faces. Your assignment is to research these issues and potential solutions to them and prepare a presentation on your findings. You have plenty of time to do the work, you won't be making the presentations until after the christmas break."

"Who are we doing the presetnations in front of?" one of the guys near the front of the class questioned as Colbrun picked up a stack of papers from his desk and began handing them out.

"You'll be doing them in front of the class and several people who I will be asking to sit in on them with me. These assignment briefs I'm giving to you now explain in more detail what you need to do as well as giving you the list of problems you must work on," Colbrun informed them. "The point of this assignment is not just to get a grade. It gives you the opportunity to devlop your skills in working with others, in researching information and standing in front of both peers and strangers to deliver information."

John accepted the assignment brief on behalf of his group and quickly skimmed over the first page. It sounded like it was going to be a lot of work but that wouldn't be a problem in this group and they had Elizabeth on their team, this was easily her best subject. He handed the paper to her and she held it where Teyla could see it, the two of them taking more time to go over it in more detail than he had.

"I'm going to finish the class there for the day but I suggest ou take this opportunity to speak to the other members of your group and decide when and how you will work on your assignments. You may have plenty of time but I assure you it will fly by. I'm at your disposal if you should require any help at any point," Colbrun finished the class and then went to sit behind his desk, shuffling through some paper work as the class once again erupted in noise and most students headed straight out the door.

"We can make a start on this over the weekend if you want," Jack stated. Elizabeth and Teyla hummed their agreement as they read through the papers.

"So we can go then?" John said but got no response. "So we can go then?" he tried again a little louder.

"Yes," Teyla said as she started to put her things away. Elizabeth handed the assignment breif to Jack who had already put his things away.

"This sounds complicated," Jack stated.

Kolya was beyond bored at the school, his skills were far beyond this, his father had taught him some of the basics as soon as he'd presented magical ability. It was ridiculous that he was now expected to sit through classes that taught him those things again. He would admit that he'd definitely learned more since coming here, that there were still some things he needed to work on but he was definitely above the level of the rest of the students in his year.

He wasn't learning anything he was interested in either, not that he'd expected the school to teach him those things. He'd been learning about them himself since he'd first come here last year but he had to be careful and that meant he sometimes let opprotunities slip by. He had wondered, at first, if his interest in dark magic was a bad thing, everyone else seemed to think it was. It was who he was though, dark magic was a part of his family history, his father used it, quietly of course but he used it all the same.

That was why he was standing here in this mimly lit pub, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the stale smell in the air. He was almost used to it now, he'd been coming here since he'd first started at the school, it hadn't taken him long to find this place. He'd met several useful contacts here, the kind of people that were selling black market ingredients. He had been buying whatever he knew his father was running low on, sending them back home, brownie points with his parents could only ever work in his favour.

"Are you sure you really want to be messing around with that?" Laden questioned. "It sounds really dangerous."

"Of course it sounds dangerous," Kolya snapped, sometimes Laden's lack of a spine got really annoying. He put the small vial that he'd just purchased into his pocket, "I know what I'm doing, I've been buying stuff and sending it back home for over a year and it's not like I wasn't around this stuff before I came here."

"Is that the guy?" Sora questioned from her seat next to him and he looked toward the door to see the man he had really come here to see. Jared had been his most useful contact over the past year, there didn't seem to be anything the man couldn't get his hands on, for a price. He'd even had a few things for sale that Kolya had never heard of but a bit of research later had told him they were valuable and rare ingredients, his father had been pleased. Jared took a seat opposite him and handed him a small brown package.

"Everything is in there?" Kolya questioned.

"Everything you asked for," Jared replied and Kolya smiled and handed over the payment.

"A pleasure doing business with you, as always," Kolya stated as he stood up and took the package.

"I have one more thing you might be interested in," Jared told him, Kolya sat back down.

TBC