Not much has changed since the last chapter, you all know who owns Stargate and The West Wing.

A special thanks to all my readers and reviewers....you guys are the best!

It had been more than a month since they had lost Olivia, and things in Atlantis got considerably worse after. They had spent the first week scouring the galaxy for any sign of her. They had called all their allies to see if anyone knew where Kolya had built his base but no one knew anything. There had been several leads that had looked hopeful but had not panned out in the end. They had even contacted the Genii themselves as the new leader declared himself an ally to the people of Atlantis, but Ladon Radim had no information either. The Daedalus arrived on schedule a week later and their main mission was to return Olivia Barrington to Washington D.C. Caldwell panicked himself when he found that the woman had been missing and they were no closer to finding her than they had been a week ago. Caldwell had tried to stall his return to Earth as long as possible to give them extra time to locate her, but after he had been there a week longer than he was supposed to be he knew that they could not put off telling Stargate Command any longer.

To say that General O'Neill was unhappy was the understatement of the century. He had sat there in the control room of the SGC as they told him that they had no luck in locating her anywhere nor that they were any close to doing so. He had not asked any questions, nor make any comments; rather he listened to them patiently and when they were done he disconnected the wormhole. Those in Atlantis were not in any better shape. They took the General's silence for what it was—anger. For as long as John had known the General (and that wasn't very long) he had known him as a man who always had something to say; it wasn't always something serious and most of the time the man was always cracking jokes. When the man didn't say anything to them, they knew that they were in trouble.

Two hours later the stargate began to activate unexpectedly. All the teams that were off world were not scheduled to check in for at least a few more hours. They all made their way into the gate room where Chuck was waiting orders to open the gate.

"Do we have an IDC?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes ma'am…it's the SGC."

"Open the shield," Elizabeth said as she awaited the message that would be sent through. They were all surprised however when instead of a message, people walked through the gate. General O'Neill walked through with a squadron of marines.

"General O'Neill, this is a surprise," Elizabeth said as she hurried down the stairs to meet him.

"Yes well, we have some things we need to discuss."

They made their way to the briefing room, all surprised when the marines followed the General into the room.

"I suppose you all guessed that after our little conversation, I had one of my own with the President," Jack started. "Needless to say he was not too happy. No one in the White House was too happy in fact. Josh Lyman was threatening to do some pretty nasty things to you Sheppard."

"I can only imagine," John said from his seat.

"My friends and I," Jack said pointing to the marines that he brought with him, "are here to get Olivia back. That is our soul mission here and will become your main priority, and you will assist us in any way we need."

"You're taking point on the search and rescue?" John asked.

"Primarily yes, and until further notice I am also in charge of Atlantis."

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"The President wanted me to give this to you," Jack said as he handed Elizabeth an envelope. It looked very official and when she opened it she found letterhead directly from President Bartlett's desk. The message was simple: You're out, O'Neill is charge. We'll talk later. And Elizabeth immediately knew that her future in both Atlantis as well as her career altogether were in danger.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Olivia had lost track of time but she knew that she had been there for quiet some time. She had been expecting harsh treatment from her captures but in reality she got the exact opposite. She had been removed from her cell within a day and moved to better quarters. She was given a suit of rooms and although they were not of high standards they were better than she had expected from them. Kolya treated her more like a guest than a prisoner, letting her have free range of the compound rather than keeping her locked in her room. Her meals were brought to her room unless she decided she wanted to eat elsewhere and on occasion Kolya had 'requested' her company at dinner. If it weren't for the facts that she was surrounded by soldiers and not allowed to go home she would have thought they were happy to have her there.

Although Kolya had said that he intended to use her to get even with everyone on Atlantis, he had yet to attempt to make contact with them. When she asked him about it he simply had said that the longer he waits than the easier it will be. The longer that the Atlantis was kept in the dark and looking for her (which Kolya assured her would never happen) than the more likely they would be to give into him. That point she argued very adamantly.

"They will never give into your demands. They are trained not to give into terrorists," Olivia said on one of the nights she had eaten dinner with him.

"And you think me a terrorist?" Kolya asked smugly.

"Of course; you are using terror and corrosion to obtain what you want. That in our book is a terrorist. And it is our policy never to deal with people like you."

"As I told you before Miss Barrington, we will see. I have a feeling that they will do everything possible to get you back."

"Why do I think I am so important?"

"I saw the way that Sheppard looked at you. When I stepped into the room his first action was to stand in front of you. He made sure that you were with him at all times as we headed to the gate and when he started his distraction, the first thing he did was push you to the ground. You might think that you are not important, but I know that it isn't true…at least where Sheppard is concerned; He cares for you."

"That was a lifetime ago. I mean nothing to John Sheppard, or he to me. Years ago you would have received a different answer, but now…I mean nothing to him."

"I beg to differ. If he didn't care he wouldn't be out there looking for you."

"He is looking for me because he was in charge of my safety. He only looks for me because if he doesn't find me then he is more trouble than he can imagine; more trouble than you could ever cause him."

"And that my dear is precisely why I am going to win."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Atlantis had undergone some changes in the past few weeks. With the arrival of General Jack O'Neill everyone knew that their being in Atlantis was perilous. They had known that Olivia had been in Atlantis for one reason and that was to evaluate the necessity of the expedition. Now the woman, who was one of the closest people to President Jed Bartlett, was missing. No one needed to speculate as to whether or not the President was angry; the mere fact that Jack O'Neill was here proved that. Rumors had also been passing along that Elizabeth Weir had been all but fired, rumor supported by the fact that the General now occupied her office and everything had to be run past him first. Many of the military personnel serving here had at one time or another been stationed at the SGC and they all knew that O'Neill was not the type of person to be so serious. Even when he was being held hostage by Gould system lords SG1 always said he had a sense of humor. Now there wasn't any laughter or sarcastic remarks; in fact when Sheppard had tried to make a joke the General had assigned him KP duty for the whole day. The new general rule around Atlantis was that everything revolved around getting Olivia Barrington back. The General had not approved any trips off world unless they thought that it might bring them any closer to finding Olivia.

This went on for weeks and before they knew it, it had been two months since Olivia was kidnapped. As much as Jack had wanted to stay there and find her he had other responsibilities back on Earth. General Hammond had been filling in for him while Jack was gone, but he too had things to do. So Jack was forced to return to Earth with out Olivia. His return was scheduled for later that day and he still had things he needed to work out, especially who would be running Atlantis. He knew that Elizabeth had been all but fired, but he knew that was because the President was angry and looking for someone to blame. However when all was said and done Elizabeth was the perfect person for the job, which was Jack had every intention of giving her command back when he left.

Jack was on his way to find Elizabeth (who had taken an office down the hall) when the klaxons began to sound. Jack knew that there were not any teams off world so he began to wonder what that was all about. Elizabeth and John had heard the sirens as well and were currently running into the gate room to join him.

"Who is it Chuck?" Jack asked.

"The IDC matches Ladon Radim," Chuck answered.

"Let him through, hopefully he has some new information."

They all ran down to the gate just as Ladon walked through.

"Dr. Weir, I have some good news. I think I may know where Kolya is keeping your Ms. Barrington."