First Outing

Cainwen: Hi everyone! Sorry not to have updated. 6 weeks of ironing caught up with me. This is where I will be really begin to stray from canon a bit (like I haven't already?) I am skipping over the events in "The Return" parts one and two. As far as I can see, it's just a blip on the radar screen, and an annoying one at that. It's referenced briefly in two following episodes, but if I need them, I'm sure I can concoct an explanation. Take that Lanteans! (can you tell I don't like them?)

"Why wont she stop crying?!" screamed Rodney in frustration.

It was six o'clock in the morning, and after a long night in the lab, the last thing that Rodney thought he needed was a screaming kid, a laughing Sheppard, growling Ronon and a sleeping Carson and Teyla. However, that's what he had.

Carson and Teyla had been up what seemed to be all night alternately trying to get Mairghread to sleep and to stop crying. It had become clear that her infancy would last a little longer than expected, but that her growth would soon after accelerate at a greater than expected pace.

This, unfortunately, meant a few more weeks of sleeplessness for the team.

"Did you try feeding her?" asked Sheppard between guffaws.

"I just did!" shrieked Rodney as he picked up the still-tiny wraith from her bouncy seat.

"Did you burp her?" asked Ronon, teeth clenched. Though over the past few days he had calmed down enough that he no longer kept his blaster charged at all times and had stopped looking like he was about to go on a murderous rampage, he was still clearly unhappy with the situation and, moreover, did not like the sound of a screaming child.

"What? No!"

"Oh, for Pete's sake, Mckay," cried John exasperatedly, taking the hysterical babe from the distraught physicist. "Didn't you read the handbook?"

"When have I had the time to read a stupid handbook?!" came Rodney's indignant rejoinder. "And since when are you the baby expert?" he turned on Ronon, who shrugged.

Sheppard draped one of the unfolded diapers over his shoulder and gently patted Atlantis's adopted daughter and most controversial resident on the back.

"McKay, go figure out if those quasi-ZPM's we found in the tree will work with Atlantis. Or go build your intergalactic bridge," he ordered as the baby burped and spit up some of her breakfast. "That's better, isn't it sweetheart?" he cooed to Mairghread before calling out the retreating back of McKay, "But not too fast! We don't need Caldwell coming by too soon!"

"Now that he's gone," said Sheppard to the wraithling. "What say we get you cleaned up and I show you Atlantis?"

oooooooooooooo

Clean, dressed in matching lavender footsie and cap (fashion conscienscious members of the expedition had carefully arranged Mairghread's clothes into matching outfits) and semi-sitting in the baby sling slung around Col. John Sheppard, Mairghread was given a tour of her new home.

Ronon followed close behind, a grim and threatening presence. He seemed to consider it his duty to protect Atlantis from whatever tiny threat she may pose. Unbeknownst to everyone but Teyla and two Marines, the Athosian leader had a plan to change the Satedan's mind about the wraithling.

First stop was, of course, the control room.

Reactions on the part of the control room team were mixed, but unsurprising. Some seemed unable to resist her tiny, azure charm, while others seemed unwilling to go near or look at the orphan.

"Can I hold her?" one of the linguists permanently on duty asked sheepishly. John nodded, and the young woman carefully lifted the baby from the sling, cradling her in her arms. "Aw, aren't you adorable?" she cooed to Mairghread, who stared back with her huge eyes and gently reached out to touch the pendent the scientist wore around her neck.

Ronon stepped forward, hand on blaster, but was stopped by the withering look given him by Elizabeth.

As Elizabeth turned from glaring down Ronon, she heard on the fringes of the circle the muttered protests of those displeased with the newest presence.

"Shouldn't have a wraith here. Murdering bastards."

"So what if she's a baby? She'll grow up like her parents."

"Bad blood."

Dr. Weir chose to ignore them, for now. Later, she would sit down and talk with the dissenting parties. Here and now was not the place. Besides not wanting to scream in front of the baby, she was aware of how sensitive John had become to the negative comments about Cullough.

"Alright, alright, everyone back to work," she called over the din as she claimed Mairghread from the Canadian technician. "There will be plenty of opportunities to play with this darling later."

As everyone returned to his or her stations, she had a whispered word with Sheppard.

"John, why don't you take her down to the mess for her midmorning bottle and then take her out on the balconies for a while? I'm sure she'd love to see the ocean."

oooooooooooooooooooo

As Mairghread steadily sucked at her bottle, cradled safely in John's arms, she seemed mesmerized by the flurry of activities around her and by the colorful, wiggling food which everyone seemed to be consuming in large quantities.

The longer they spent in the mess, the fewer protests there seemed to be. The more people who saw her and interacted with her, the more they realized that other than her skin color and the shape of her pupils, she was the same as a human baby. The feeding slit on her hand was no more than a dark patch of skin, and her lack of pointed teeth, or any teeth for that matter, made her a wholly unthreatening presence in an increasing number of minds.

Furthermore, those of a more accepting nature were now furiously trying to convince those of a less accepting one that Mairghread was both non-threatening and a brilliant stroke of luck/blessing in disguise.

A typical conversation went something like this:

"Sheppard shouldn't have brought that thing here."

"Mairghread isn't an 'it'. She's a she, and why shouldn't she be here?"

"She's a wraith!"

"So?"

"They're a race of murderers!"

"And she's three months old! She hasn't eaten a banana yet, let alone killed anyone!"

"But she will!"

"But she hasn't! Besides she might not. And how many people have you killed in your career?"

At this point, the first party would pause and consider this with the disturbed and terrified look of someone whose entire life-creed has just been conclusively disproven.

TBC

Next: Baby Games