Telling Gen. Landry
Cainwen: For heaven's sake people, I work myself to the bones of my fingers, turning out the best I can from my coffee-deprived mind, and you can't review? Pretty please review! I promise to make the next chapter longer!
Elizabeth Weir stood in the control room before the screen as the technician dialed earth for her check in with General Landry, bracing herself. She could put it off no longer—she had to tell the general of the wraithling in their midst.
Admittedly, an irresistibly adorable wraithling. Now bordering on toddler-dom at roughly 1 ½, she was terribly active, and had a remarkably vocabulary, speaking nearly twenty words in a variety of languages, which the resident speech pathologist found fascinating. However, none of SGA-1 seemed surprised. Ronon and Teyla were simply the proud parents, and Sheppard and Rodney reasoned that there was an adult in there somewhere—why shouldn't she be a little quicker on the uptake?
She was a welcome visitor everywhere in Atlantis. The few who didn't like her were silent, and some, though voicing their displeasure in the mess at night, would smile and tickle her when she dropped by. This alone would support her in the IOA fight.
"You have the security footage and the baby pictures?" the doctor asked the Canadian technician, who nodded and smiled.
"Elizabeth, nice to see you," Gen. Landry's voice and image on the screen startled the diplomat.
"General Landry, likewise," she replied cautiously.
"Col. Caldwell reported you had a close call when he was there."
"Yes…"
"You're hiding something. Out with it."
Elizabeth pursed her lips. "What Col. Caldwell didn't tell you, because he didn't know, is that we have adopted an infant wraith."
General Landry smiled calmly. "I'm sorry, I think we have a bad connection. It sounded like you said y'all had adopted a wraith."
"Au'ie 'Li'beh'!"
Before Weir could answer the dumbfounded general in another galaxy, a tiny blue ball of energy wobbled over and latched itself to her leg. She smiled and picked up the toddler, who was clutching her teddy bear with one arm and beaming, said, "Hi Au'ie 'Li'beh'!"
"Hello Mairghread," replied the leader, who recognized this for the golden opportunity it was to introduce the general to the wraithling. "Can you say hi to General Landry?"
"Lau'ry?" asked Mairghread as she signed 'laundry'.
"No," laughed Elizabeth. "Not 'laundry'. Landry."
"Hi Ge'ral gampa lau'ry!" shouted the toddler, signed simultaneously 'hi general grandpa laundry'.
General Landry looked off screen and smiled. Someone in the other gateroom must had translated her babble and sign for him.
"Hello Mairghread," he said. "How are you today?"
Mairghread seemed to consider this for a moment with great seriousness before smiling the ecstatic smile of the very young and proclaiming, "'kay!"
The military man seemed to have melted, even from a million light years away, in the little girl's hand.
Having handed the toddler off to Zelenka, who had chased her into the control room, Weir and Landry moved on to discuss other business until their time was almost up.
"Elizabeth, you know the IOA's gonna send Woolsey out there," he warned. "He's not going to be kind."
"I know," she replied, with a slight bow of her head. "We're prepared for the worst he can do."
The general smiled. "Good. I'd hate to see anything happen to her. A smile like that is priceless."
Mairghread was, of course, blissfully unaware that her happy family life had now been placed in jeopardy because of the absurdity of earth politics.