Arise, My Love, My Fair One, And Come Away

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Song of Songs 2:10-13

Cainwen: Pretty please review! I try to be nice and update quickly!

After collecting the marines, medical personnel and equipment, which they were helped in carrying by several of the villagers, Iain led them through the woods to a place not ten minutes from the town center, where an enormous and clearly ancient tree stood tall, proud and some how alive.

"How can there be a 18,000 year old tree?" Sheppard wondered.

"Well, the oldest tree on earth was, um, about 10,000 years and there are certain kinds of plants that can go through endless cycles of regeneration," one of the nurses behind him popped up. When everyone turned to stare at her, she shrugged sheepishly. "I study plants in my spare time."

Ignoring the arborist nurse, Rodney was busily trying to figure out how to get into the tree.

"Don't suppose he told you how to get in?" he asked Iain, who shrugged.

"He said you would know."

"Great," muttered McKay sarcastically. Teyla ignored him and stepped down into a depression in the earth between two huge roots.

"Colonel Sheppard," she called. "I believe this is the opening."

Sheppard and Mckay followed her to see what seemed to be a cleverly concealed door, which proved itself as such by calmly swinging open as Sheppard and Teyla stood in front of it.

"You see?" asked Iain. "I knew you knew how," he motioned to the other villagers. "We will leave you now," he told the Atlanteans. "If you require anything else, please let us know."

The team descended in to a large chamber concealed beneath the tree. As they came fully in, the room began to glow with a soft, gentle light. The chamber was perhaps thirty feet in diameter, with a stone floor similar to the one in the meeting hall, but the walls were lined with wraith-esque consoles. Saying they were wraith-consoles would have been accurate, but not correct. Wraithian consoles they had encountered before were all, as Sheppard put it, creepy. These had almost a beauty to them. And in the center of the room was the stasis pod.

It was not like a Lantean stasis pod, which always somehow gave the impression of being an upright coffin. Nor was it like the present-day wraith pods, which always made John think of the room where Blue Beard kept his wives. Rather, it was something like a cross between a blue peapod and a cradle.

"Look at all this stuff!" cried Rodney excitedly, diving for the nearest console. Beckett reached out and pulled Rodney back by the collar of his jacket. "Hey hey, let go!" demanded the frustrated scientist.

Beckett held him by the collar like he would a naughty little boy. "No," he told Rodney firmly. "Ye may not touch those things. Wee're heare faer the babe."

"But—"

"No," the Scotsman repeated firmly. "Later."

"We can come back, Rodney," Sheppard told him before he and Beckett could start arguing. "For now, lets just get Mairghread and leave," he said before muttering, "Before you break something."

Rodney opened his mouth to protest, but Beckett shook him firmly before releasing him, and so closed his mouth.

"Doc, you set up your stuff," Sheppard ordered. "Let us know when you're ready."

"Aye," Carson agreed and began instructing his staff what and where to set up.

Several minutes later, the Scotsman declared everything ready. Blankets had been curled into a nest on the upper portion of the stretcher, and various tools had been laid out below, as well as diapers and cloths of various sizes, since the size of a three-month-old wraith was an unknown. While Cullough may have tried to communicate Mairghread's size to John, as far as the Colonel was concerned, there was preemie, baby, toddler sizes and no degrees within those categories. However, thanks to Babies 101: The Atlantis Expedition Guide to babies of all humanoid species, John was able to recognize diapers, onsies, footsies (which the Guide defined as onesie with feet and long sleeves) and hats, which he had learned were vital to keeping a baby warm.

"Alright," announced Beckett, who had donned a protective gown and gloves that covered his arms to the elbow. He came and stood by the stasis pod. "Ah'm ready."

Sheppard stood for a moment, his hand poised above the controls, Beckett and his team ready to pounce and leap into action, much as someone might before opening a grave or cutting a cake with a crowd of hungry party goers waiting.

"For God's sake, Sheppard, stop building dramatic tension and open the damn thing!" cried Rodney irritably.

Sheppard sneered at the physicist before deftly moving his fingers over the console in the correct pattern.

With a soft sucking sound, like lips parting, the stasis pod split open and pulled apart its top, revealing the interior, full of some liquid and suspended within—a tiny infant.

Carson quickly reached in and carefully lifted the baby out. Holding her in one arm, he used a suction bulb to clear her airways as she let loose a high, loud, indignant shriek.

For several minutes Mairghread was hidden from view (but not hearing) as Beckett et al. wiped her off, took her vitals and dressed her. After what seemed like an eternity (for their ears, if not for the excitement), the Scottish doctor turned around to face SGA-1 and accessory marines, holding in his arms, dressed in a pink footsie, skull cap(with SGA insignia) and wrapped in a blanket, a quiet wraith baby.

Mairghread gazed out at her new family with wide, green-gold eyes that seemed to try to soak in everything. She could not be mistaken for a human infant, for her skin was the pale blue of her people, and there was the slightest hint of facial slits hidden amongst her dimples. However, it was difficult for even the fiercest marine to keep his heart stone cold. Her toothless gums, the way she sucked her thumb, and the soft shock of black fuzz peeking out from under the cap was too familiar, too much like any other baby.

Sheppard was the first to go up to her.

"Hello there," he cooed softly as he offered his finger for her to grasp, which she did. "She's tiny doc," he asked/told Beckett.

"Aye lad, she is," the melting Scotsman replied as he bounced her lightly.

"She's a wraith," Ronon reminded them as he kept his eye on Rodney, who was rabidly examining the stasis pod.

"Shh, will ya?" asked John as Mairghread ecstatically shook his finger with her tiny hand, which could not even completely encompass the colonel's forefinger. "We ready to go, doc?"

"Aye, let me just put the wee lass doon," Carson muttered and tried to settle the "wee lass" in the blanket nest on the stretcher.

Mairghread was having none of it. As soon as she was out of Beckett's arms, she set up a new bout of screaming. A nurse quickly scooped her up, and instantly she was as docile as before. The nurse, thinking that she had simply been uncomfortable, tried to set her down again.

This process was repeated several times with identical results. Someone new would hold her, she would stop crying, but as soon as they tried to put her down, she would screech.

"Just hold her!" shouted Ronon at last, who appeared to be in pain.

Teyla serenely cradled the now hysterical Mairghread in her arms and re-swaddled her. Seemingly content that no one was going to try and put her down again, the tiny wraith-child snuggled into the Athosian's arms, sucked her thumb and dropped off to sleep.

"Alright kids," whispered Sheppard, so as not to wake the baby. "Pack it up! We'll come back later Rodney," he said, forestalling any arguments from the technophile.

"Ronon," he muttered to the Satedan as they walked back towards the village and the gate. "Chill. She's just a baby."

Ronon simply snorted disbelievingly and walked closer to Teyla.

TBC

Next: Bringing Home Baby