Do I really need to tell you who owns everything? Trust me if I owned Stargate or the West Wing neither show would have been cancelled.
It hadn't taken Ladon long to tell them everything that he knew. For the past few weeks since he was made aware of Kolya's actions he had his men doing recon work trying to gather any information. While he had never met Olivia Barrington she was a member of the Atlantis expedition and he owed them for the peace that his people were experiencing now. This morning one of his teams had reported that they had found some of Kolya's men and had followed them from the village to building that Kolya inhabited. Ladon had immediately taken that information to Atlantis, which is how John found himself here.
General O'Neill had ordered his marine contingent as well as many of the Atlantis teams to converge on the building, and in a surprising move, Jack joined them on the mission. The planet was rather quiet and other than the village that was near the gate, it looked like it had been deserted for some time. The building where Kolya was hiding out was old looked worn down. There didn't seem to be anyone on the outside save for to or three guards roaming the perimeter. They were not very good or well trained and were quickly taken out. They headed into the building where they received some resistance from the men stationed there. They did not wish to alert Kolya to their presence with gunfire so they used stunners to incapacitate the men. Before long they found themselves in the main room of the building and what was waiting for them caused them to immediately stop.
Kolya was standing in the center of the room with a terrified Olivia tied to a chair and gagged. It wasn't the sight of her tied to the chair that had them worried though, but rather the fact that Kolya was standing behind her with a knife pressed to her throat.
"Colonel Sheppard, so nice of you to finally join us," Kolya said.
"Let her go Kolya," John said his gun at the ready.
"I think not Sheppard. I believe I told you that I would take great pleasure in killing you. But it is quiet obvious that killing Ms. Barrington here would cause you much more pain. And it really is a shame since we have spent the last two months getting to know each other so well."
"I swear Kolya if you don't let her go I will kill you," John said. Kolya on the other hand continued as if he had not heard John's threat.
"She has told me that my little plan won't work, that she doesn't mean anything to you. I told her that I did not agree with her assessment. The way that you tried to protect her when we ambushed you tells me that she means something to you."
"You want me Kolya, then fine; here I am, just let Olivia go," John demanded.
"I've changed my mind. I keep her and let the rest of you go. She will be my…most welcomed guest."
"Oh, that isn't going to happen," Jack said from his spot.
"And you would be?" Kolya asked.
"General Jack O'Neill and I assure you that I will be taking her home with me."
"That is where we have a problem General. I have come to enjoy her company and think she will have a wonderful life here with me and my people."
"Over my dead body," John practically growled.
"If you insist."
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Kolya lifted a gun he had hidden in his jacket but John was faster. A shot echoed through the room and Kolya dropped to the ground. John and Jack rushed to Olivia's side ready to untie her. When he got close enough to her he saw that there was no doubt that Kolya was actually dead this time—his shot had gone straight through his head. O'Neill was working on untying her hands and John reached over to remove the gag from her mouth.
"You okay?" John asked.
Olivia was unable to respond verbally as she was in too much shock over what had just happened. Instead she shook her head indicating that she was fine. With her confirmation the two men carefully helped her up from the chair she was sitting in. She looked down at the man who had been holding her captive for the last two months and saw his face forever frozen with a look of shock thanks to John's bullet. Suddenly it became too much and her knees began to quake. If it had not been for the two men who were holding her steady, she surely would have collapsed to the ground.
"You okay to walk Olivia," Jack asked her.
"Yeah, can we go home now?" she asked.
"Oh yeah; there are a lot of people back home desperately waiting to see you kid."
"I can imagine. Josh is probably gone crazy the past couple of months."
"From what I know kid, the guy was crazy to begin with. Now he is probably certifiable."
"Funny Jack," she said with the first real smile she had given in more than two months.
"We are going to get you checked out back on Atlantis and then head on back to Earth."
"Sounds good," she said quietly while looking at John. It was hard to tell what he was thinking but everything that Kolya had been saying all these weeks hit her full force. Was it possible that he still cared for her? She knew that they had been young and foolish when they got married—everyone had told them that and it wasn't like they really tried to work things out after Sara died. She knew that she was still in love with him, she still held out hope that one day they would get back together but John had never given any indication that he felt the same way so she had tried to ignore her feelings for him.
* * * * * * * *
The journey back to Atlantis was quick which Olivia was glad for. No sooner had she stepped through the gate she was practically tackled to the ground by an overjoyed Laura Cadman. The woman had been insufferable after Olivia went missing (according to McKay who said she bugged him every waking moment) and when she was told that she would be sitting out on this mission due to sprained wrist she had received during a sparring match she had gone insane. She had been waiting in the control room since they left waiting for them to return. When she saw her friend emerge from the wormhole she ran down the stairs at full speed at enveloped Liv in a hug.
"Oh my god, I am so glad that you are back," Laura said.
"Me too Laura, but I still need to breath," Olivia said commenting on the strength in which her friend was hugging her.
"I hate to break this up Lt, but we need to get her to Carson for a check up," Jack said.
"Of course Sir. Permission to escort her to the infirmary?"
"Permission granted Lt," Jack said with a laugh.
* * * * * * *
An hour later the teams were debriefed and Carson had come from the infirmary with Olivia's report. Everyone sighed in relief when he announced that Olivia was fine, that she had not obtained any physical injuries while she was captive. Carson assured them that with some psychological counseling she would be perfectly fine. At the moment she was in her quarters packing her stuff—she was returning to Earth in another hour with Jack and the marines that he brought. Elizabeth was back in command and Jack assured her that once he spoke to the president everything would be fine.
Olivia had said her goodbyes to practically everyone on the base and was currently walking down the hall with Laura when they ran into John. Laura had taken a quick look between the two and then announced that she was heading to the gate room and would tell the General that Liv was on her way.
"Hey," Olivia said.
"Hey; you heading out?"
"Yeah, Jack is waiting for me."
"Look Liv, before you go I just wanted to say that I'm really glad that you're alright."
"Thanks. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"I'll try," John said with a smile.
"I'm going to say this before I lose my nerve. I'm glad that I got to work with you John, it really helped me gain some closure over our past. There is always going to be a part of me that will be in love with you Johnny, but at the same time there is that little part of me that hates you for everything you did."
"Liv…"
"No John, please let me say this. I know we were young and everybody tried to tell us that we were making a mistake, but I loved you with all my heart. Even when we were thousands of miles away from each other and our lives began to take different paths. I supported your decision to join the Air Force because I knew that you would never be happy taking over your dad's company.
"When we lost Sara…when we lost Sara I was crushed John. I knew that our marriage was in trouble but I never expected you to ask for a divorce the day after our daughter died. I hated you so much for leaving me alone after that and I hated myself for that. If it hadn't been for Josh or my aunt and uncle I don't know what I would have done."
"Liv, I don't think I can ever apologize for that. There hasn't been a day since then that I don't regret everything I did. I should have been there for you after Sara died. Part of me never thought that you would just agree to a divorce like you did; I wanted you to fight it, to fight me. But it backfired because I didn't take your feelings into account. You were grieving and I was being selfish."
"You were, but we were in trouble long before that happened."
"I still love you Olivia," John said.
"And you know that I love you John, I haven't loved anyone other than you."
"Would it be alright if I kept in contact?"
"I would love that. I have to go; the General is waiting for me."
John walked Olivia to the gate room and nobody failed to notice that they were holding hands. As the gate activated Olivia hugged all her friends goodbye with promises to keep in touch. Then in a matter of seconds she was gone, having walked through the open wormhole.