Authors Note: Short chapter but I'm going away or a few days and wanted to post something before I left. Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 10

Laura stood in the court room and watched as the judges found Cal guilty of all charges. He was sentenced to prison, fifteen years of it. He turned angry eyes on her, on Elizabeth, Jack and Ben who had all testified against him, who had all helped to ensure he'd gone to prison. The court officer stepped up behind him, waited for him to step down from the stand and took hold of his elbow as he did so. He was placed in handcuffs and led out of the court room. It was over.

She let out a deep breath, letting it go, letting it all go, it was done now and she could move on. She hugged Jack and Elizabeth, shook hands with Ben and could see the relief she felt was shared by them.

"We need to celebrate," Vala said with grin. "Dinner, tonight, it's mandatory."

"I'm in," Laura said and then turned to Ben. "You're welcome to join us if you want to; you've got as much reason to celebrate as we do."

Ben smiled. "Thanks, but I'd rather just pretend that none of this ever happened, I've got my final year of school to focus on now."

"Well, it was good to meet you, despite the circumstances," she said and once again shook his hand. "Let's get out of here; I've had enough of this place."

They made a quick stop at the restaurant they would usually eat at when they were all together, not many places could accommodate such a large group on short notice. Sam and Teyla ran in to make a reservation for them all before they headed back to school.

"You look happy," Carson commented as he walked along beside her through the forest.

Laura smiled and nodded. "I'm just relieved, really, really relieved," she told him, glancing up at him. She wasn't the kind of person who wore her heart on her sleeve; she didn't like admitting to needing people or to being vulnerable. It needed to be said though, and she'd tell Janet the same thing later, they'd both been amazing through it all and they deserved to know that. "You've been really great Carson, you and Janet have kind of been my rocks through this whole thing, I couldn't have gotten through it all without you."

"You would have done the same if it had been the other way around," Carson stated.

"Still, thank you," Laura said finding the blush creeping up his neck somewhat endearing.

"You're welcome."

Once they were back at school they went their separate ways to get ready for dinner. Laura put the suit she'd had to wear to one side so she could get it cleaned before she put it away again. She pulled black jeans and a nice shirt out of her wardrobe and smiled.

"Much more my style."

He was heading to the cafeteria when he heard her voice calling his name and he sighed inwardly, debating for a moment whether to keep walking and pretend he hadn't heard her. She called for him again though sounding closer and he knew he couldn't believably get away with it so he stopped and turned.

"Hello Chaya," he greeted, forcing a polite smile.

"John," she smiled as she reached him. "How are you?"

"I'm great, running late for meeting my friends though," he gestured toward the cafeteria doors.

"I won't keep you then," she told him. "My parents just asked me to say 'hello' to you in the letter I got from them yesterday. They said it was really nice to see you this summer. I think they really enjoyed visiting Caldera, I know I did, it was great to get to spend some time with you. We're both so busy during school it seems like we hardly have time for each other."

"Well, I'm glad you family enjoyed their visit, I'm sure my parents will be pleased to know," he said as diplomatically as possible. He had hated their visit, he's spent the majority of the week trying to avoid them and forced to make polite conversation when he'd been duty bound to be in the same room as them. Chaya still had her sights set firmly on him and she wasn't one to give up on something when she had decided she wanted it.

"You were heading into the cafeteria right?" Chaya questioned and John nodded. "Me too," she said started towards the door. "Well come on then you said you were going to be late."

He followed her, holding the door open for her and spotting his friends easily enough through the crowd. "Well, it was nice to catch up Chaya," he said. "I'll see you around."

"You definitely will, ah, there's Elsie," she gestured to a table not far from where his own friends were sitting and he held back a sigh as she fell in step beside him. "I'll be sure to tell my parents you said hello. They'll be happy to know you enjoyed our visit to you this summer as much as we did. We should make it a regular thing, spending the week at your place, it really was great, I'll see you later."

John watched her saunter off to her friend as he dropped down into the empty seat next to Elizabeth. He turned to her, finding her staring at him with a raised eyebrow. "Visiting with you this summer, spending a week at you place?" she questioned.

"Her family visited Caldera this summer, they were staying at the Governor's mansion with us," he told her but her expression didn't change. "Believe me; I'd rather have spent the week with a bunch of wraith than with her family."

Elizabeth nodded but didn't say anything as she turned her attention back to the rest of their friends who were discussing the latest sociology assignment. He probably should have told her he'd spent a week of his summer trapped in a house with Chaya but it just hadn't seemed like a big deal, it was just one of the things he had to endure because he was part of the governing family, something she would understand.

He leaned toward her. "You're not mad at me are you?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" she questioned without turning around.

"I don't know," he replied. "For not telling you and for spending time with Chaya."

Elizabeth turned back to him with an amused smile on her face. "Stop beating yourself up, I'm not actually mad you," she laughed.

He glared at her, "That was mean."

"You'll survive it," she replied turning back to the group's conversation again but this time leaning back into him.

Potions hadn't been so bad this year, Jack decided as he and Teyla walked out of the potions lab. He still sucked at it but without the monotone of Professor Trell's voice putting him to sleep every lesson it wasn't quite so unbearable. Teyla was fairly good at potions, partnering with her meant he usually got a good grade for the class, he just hoped he could maintain it, he had to at least obtain a level 3 in potions to be considered for the protectorates guild.

"My anniversary with Ronon is coming up, should I book dinner and surprise him or should I tell him I'm booking dinner?" Teyla questioned as they walked out of the main building.

"Anniversary?" Jack questioned.

"Yes, you know, one year since our first date," she told him.

"Ah, right, that," Jack replied distracted by the two teachers and a couple of nurses he'd spotted carrying a stretcher between them.

"What if he's trying to surprise me and I ruin it by talking to him about it, or making my own plans and..." Teyla questioned, trailing off when she too noticed the stretcher. A few other students had stopped to try and see what was going on. They passed right by Jack and Teyla, it was girl on the stretcher between them. She looked unconscious, her skin a pasty white colour. "I wonder what happened to her?"

"Could be anything?" Jack said. "Maybe she's sick, maybe she's passed out from stress, it happens."

Teyla nodded, "They don't seem to be in any rush, that's for sure."

"As for your anniversary, I'd say ask him, safest bet," Jack returned to their earlier conversation.

It was very evident when they arrived at the table that Vala was in a bad mood. She was sitting quietly to the side, an expression that sat somewhere between anger and sulking as she stared straight ahead of her. If he was curious as to what had put such a carefree person into such a bad mood, Jack wasn't dumb enough to ask her about it. Instead he took a seat at the table and sent a questioning look to Cameron who was sitting next to her. He just shrugged his shoulders and went back to highlighting the work he had in front of him.

"What's up with Vala?" Rodney questioned as he too took a seat at the table and Jack was Cameron grimace.

"It's none of your business," Vala snapped. "But I mean seriously, who does that, it's rude and completely uncalled for, just because I'm here and they're there, that doesn't make it okay."

"What are you talking about Vala?" Cameron questioned.

"Nikki," Vala said like that name was supposed to mean something to them; Cameron just raised a eyebrow at her and waited patiently. "My friend at home, former friend now, she sent me a letter telling me she was dating Jordon."

"And who is Jordon?" Jack asked.

"My ex," Vala said. "We broke up just before I came to Pegasus; it wasn't an amicable break up."

"Ah," Teyla nodded her head slowly as though that explained everything.

"But, he's your ex," Jack pointed out.

Vala glared at him, "That's not the point. She's my friend and she didn't even talk to me about it, didn't even consider how I might feel about the whole thing. She knows how bad the break up was, when I say it wasn't amicable, I mean it was downright ugly. He actually told me I shouldn't come here, that I shouldn't accept my place here because it would mean being away from him. When I told him I was coming here and that was that, he broke up with me!"

"Wow," Teyla shook her head. "He sounds like a jerk, you're better off without him Vala."

"I know I am," Vala agreed. "I just can't believe Nikki would start seeing him without talking to me. I mean, I don't care if she wants to see him, I'm not with him anymore but it would have been the decent thing to do to tell me about it. She's been seeing him for two months; that means she was seeing him while I was home, she could have come and talked to me then."

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Ronon questioned as he sat in the empty seat beside Teyla, his arm crossing the back of her chair.

"Trying to understand women," Jack replied. "Normally, I wouldn't even bother but we kind of got sucked into this one without realising it."

"More fool you."

It had been completely successful; he'd wanted to test the product he'd purchased before he sent it home to his father. He'd needed something to done and this had provided him with the perfect way to do it without leaving any of his fingerprints on it, so to speak. No-one would ever know it was him, there was no connection to him and even if they suspected foul play they'd never know he was the one behind it.

He was tempted to keep it, he could think of farm more uses for it than sitting in his father's vault at home. His father would be furious with him if he kept it though so he'd packaged it up with a brief letter explaining what it was and how it had come into his possession. It was sitting on his desk now, waiting to be posted tomorrow.

"I still can't believe it actually worked," Sora stated, eyeing the package warily. "It's pretty powerful stuff."

"Are you sure we shouldn't turn it in?" Laden questioned and Kolya glared at him. "I just mean, Sora's right, it's really dark and powerful, what if... never mind, you know what you're doing, don't pay any attention to me."

"I am right," Kolya said angrily, he really hated it when people questioned him and Laden had started making a habit out of it. "I'm always right; you'd do well to remember that in the future Laden."

"Of course," Laden nodded. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, you shouldn't have."

TBC