Chapter 13

A/N's
#1 If you find any mistakes—please let me know.
#2 Also—I have lifted a few lines of dialogue from the transcript of 'Suspicion' as posted on It was transcribed by Callie Sullivan and written by Kerry Glover so anyway—those are my props – don't sue.
#3 In writing this, I have suddenly noticed how much testosterone flows through Atlantis—I would like to state- for the record- I have no intention of making this story anything other than Aiden/Willow—despite the fact Willow will interact with tons of cute or interesting men on a chapter by chapter basis.
#4 Also, the timelines are a little funny—I want the story to happen for Willow—after the Parker/Buffy fiasco and Thanksgiving—and after Oz left—so late fall of her freshman year. She will just have finished her fall exams. I want her to be choosing her spring classes—but not yet started the spring semester—SGA runs a summer start-date for the season—.. I am thinking one episode every two weeks (otherwise things are too stressful) 'Suspicion' is episode 5-- so things just don't quite match—please don't think too hard about this and try to accept my supposition that everything seamlessly meshes.

Did anyone notice how the Buffy season ended—Buffy and Willow never registered for the Spring semester—who taught Psychology after Prof. Walsh died? They never really went to class much after Adam became an issue… odd—but I guess it all makes sense if you don't think.

--------------

Willow tried to keep up with Dr. Zelenka. For such a small man he was very quick on his feet. As he strode speedily through the halls, he fired off observations. It had to be his way of giving a tour. He named far more science labs and stations than Willow ever cared to know. Zelenka would stop at the odd place and stick his head in the door and exchange a greeting.

Zelenka was sure to introduce Willow to each person he spoke to. He didn't exactly do it correctly. For example, he'd just fire off a quick, "Dr. Gall", he would then turn to Willow and say 'satellite research' then he would turn back to the Atlantis personnel, in this case, Dr. Gall—and say, "this is Miss Rosenberg- you know the 'intern'".

Willow could hear the emphasis he put on the word 'intern'. By the time they reached the medical bay she was unsure if she really knew what the word meant. Zelenka made the title sound so mysterious, she wasn't so sure she wanted to explore the job.

When they arrived at the infirmary, they were able to walk right in. The door seemed permanently open. Willow was sure that was because of the nature of the work. She was sure you sometimes couldn't even wait three seconds for the door to open. Willow entered right behind Dr. Zelenka. She had to stop hastily and practically rise up and grind her toes into the concrete. Dr. Zelenka stopped suddenly. He turned and gave her a small smile, "You know, you can call me Radek." Radek turned back around just as quick—as if he didn't want to see her face in case she looked uninterested in being slightly friendlier.

Willow felt a flash of joy. She reached for his elbow and found Radek turning back around. "I'm Willow." They both shared a smile. Willow knew she was really enjoying her time, so far, in Atlantis—it was like being in a grown up version of the Sunnydale Science Club. Together they continued to walk into the medical facility. The room was arranged like a typical hospital though--it was a little cramped. She saw two occupied hospital beds. One had a man, she had never seen before, speaking with a nurse. Dr. McKay lay on the other bed. He was having a mumbled conversation with Major Sheppard and the Doctor—Beckett, it had to be. Radek strode right up to Major Sheppard and bumped elbows. Willow noticed how Radek immediately matched Dr. Beckett's concerned look. She could tell Radek had to be concerned for his fellow scientist—there just was a slight extra sparkle of giddiness in his gaze. Willow took up position right beside Radek. She stood and listened to Dr. Beckett's explanation.

"Your body experienced a full overload to its sensory and motor nervous system". Dr. Beckett enlightened McKay in a calm voice. He spoke in a strong Scottish accent.

McKay answered with a high pitched, "Wha'?"

Willow had to stifle her urge to giggle. Radek didn't. She elbowed him a little in the side and out of 'respect' for McKay he dropped out of place standing over him. He removed his body from its position standing over his supervisor's bedside and went to visit with the other patient.

Sheppard continued the explanation. "You took one of those Wraith stunners right in the face." Sheppard explained the happening in a very matter of fact voice. For Willow, it was as if such a thing, 'a Wraith stunner in the face', were typical.

Dr. Beckett carried on his explanation. "It's really quite fascinating, actually. The Wraith weapon impedes the firing of neurons that enable the necessary…"

"A' I paraly'ed?" McKay's articulation was so ridiculous and unnecessary, Willow felt herself again struggling not to giggle. Lucky for her
Sheppard noticed her stance near Dr. Beckett.

"Hello, Miss Rosenberg… I see you found your way to the in-fir-ma-ry." He spoke the last word with a rising inflection and with drawn out syllables. He also gave her a brief headshake. He really didn't want her to laugh out loud—even though McKay's voice was quite mirth inducing. Sheppard didn't have a clue how Beckett was able to be so sympathetic. He turned around and his gaze took in Radek Zelenka. They shared a nod of welcome, "Zelenka". Sheppard didn't miss much. He knew Zelenka had entered the infirmary with Willow at his side.

"The paralysis is only temporary. Don't worry, Rodney. You'll be up and about in no time." Dr. Beckett turned to address Sheppard, "Bloody good thing that Wraith weapon is only designed to incapacitate or he'd be dead."

Willow felt a little guilty for her quickly silenced giggles. She needed to redeem herself so she walked a little closer to McKay's bedside and put her hand on McKay's shoulder. "As soon as you can chew—I will bring you the Pringles!"

"Oh, you must be Willow Rosenberg." Dr. Beckett glanced at the young woman standing over McKay. He felt silly he hadn't noticed her right away. In his defense, she was dressed much the same way as every other member of the Atlantis expedition—though he had personally given each person their medical checkup. If there were anyone who should notice someone new—it should be him.

"Yep, that's me. I'm Willow." She gave him a friendly smile.

"Excuse me." Sheppard casually tapped Dr. Beckett on the shoulder and nodded a goodbye to Willow. Dr. Weir had walked into the room.

Dr. Weir glanced towards Willow. "I will be return after lunch and we can discuss your internship. Major? Could I see you for a second?"

With those words spoken, Sheppard and Weir exited the infirmary.

"Rodney, just rest—feeling should return to your body in a couple of hours." Beckett turned to address Willow.

"Welcome to Atlantis, lass." He smiled and started to walk towards a large metal table and stools. He gestured that she was to follow. Willow patted McKay's shoulder and trailed behind Beckett.

"Dr. Weir tells me I have a pre-med student from U.C. Sunnydale as a new lab assistant?" Beckett made his statement into a question. He wanted to see how she would respond. He honestly hoped things would work out. He had heard the rumors or rather the truth from the senior staff.

Apparently Willow was a witch or maybe she was just a young woman with her hands on some ancient technology. Dr. Weir had informed him that he was to see if he could make use of her probable lab assistant skills. He hoped she was self possessed enough to work efficiently in a lab setting. So far, so good. She hadn't burst out into incontrollable giggles when faced with Rodney's unlucky nature. She had even quieted him with the offer of Pringles. So far—very good.

"Yep. I am technically a freshman—but I have taken tons of classes and finished most of the science requirements for pre-med. Instead of the year long intro courses, I took the concentrated semester long courses—so biology, inorganic and organic chemistry and physics—I also took psychology. I am considering specializing in genetics. So for the spring, I have enrolled in two courses, a general genetics in depth overview course and a more specialized bacterial genetics course. And I am also enrolled in a few computer courses…"

"Breathe, lass breathe!"

"Sorry! I am just so nervous. What if you don't think I am qualified to help out? Hello—stranded in another galaxy—I need lots of stuff to do to keep my mind off this", she moved her hand about and took in the room, "being marooned."

"Oh don't worry. I am sure you are more than qualified to be a lab assistant." Beckett, was even more reassured. Willow had a very honest demeanor. She was obviously very intelligent—to have taken all those classes—and to have survived and registered for even more!

"Let me boot up my computer and find the standard Lab Assistant job description. We will go over the duties and see how you fit." Beckett opened his Dell laptop with the Atlantis sticker on the back of the screen. He plugged it up into the discreet cabling next to the small freestanding generator.

"Um. Can I plug up mine?" Willow really wanted to be able to show him that she was qualified and had the experience. "I have my syllabi saved and my papers. You can see what I did last semester—and I have my grades!" She gave him a very hopeful look.

"Sure" Beckett said with a quick grin. He really wanted to reassure her. He was sure once she felt confident her babbling would settle quite a bit. At the moment, she babbled as much as Rodney! He could tell she was a very earnest person—even with her freshman fall semester course load she didn't have an ounce of arrogance about her. This was a welcome change from Rodney's egotism.

For a few moments all that could be heard were the tell tale sounds of two laptops booting up. Apparently, Willow used aol and she had mail.

Beckett couldn't stave off his curiosity—he stood up and moved to the side of the table and stood behind Willow. She had opened the message.

From: 01:23 AM
To: Are you okay?

Willow,

Please respond. We (Giles, Buffy, Xander, Tara, & Anya) waited for you to show up last night. Are you okay? We went by the Espresso Pump and all your normal haunts—nothing. We even went to that new Starbucks—even though their vanilla latte isn't half as good as the one at the Pump. There was a residue of your unique magical signature at Shreveport Cemetery—We are very worried.

Please let us know you are okay. After doing a locator spell designed to find you in any dimension we came up with your magical signature in the Pegasus Galaxy. Giles knows of no known way to open a portal to that place. Tara came up with the idea to send you an email. We had to say a spell and send this as energy.

You need to respond and do the same (Send this through space and time—reaching hands--reaching those bonded—to me and mine—and repeat)

NOW!

Seriously—NOW!

-the Scoobies (minus you, of course)

"Interesting." Willow heard the word come from Dr. Beckett.

'Yeah, my friends." She stared at the screen a few moments longer. She read it again. She needed to write them back as soon as possible. She didn't know how much she would be allowed to say. The Stargate program was surely classified—after all she hadn't known a thing. She decided to just respond with the truth—the minimal truth.

"Lass?"

"Hmm…"
Willow looked up to see Beckett standing over her. He looked very concerned.

"Most anything you could tell them would be classified." He didn't mention the fact that he didn't really believe she would be able to send this message through—what was it?—'space and time'.

"Hmm… okay- let me know if this is okay?" Willow raised her eyebrows and gave Beckett a hopeful look.

From: 09:01 AM
To: All is peachy-keen!

Hi Everyone,

I am okay. I was attacked by this swirling portal in the Cemetery and, YES transported to The Pegasus Galaxy. Somewhat stranded but I have found friendly Americans- Canadians- Scots—lots of Earth people. Some top-secret project that I can't tell you much about. I am as safe as I would be in Sunnydale! They have Wraith Demons! Maybe Giles can look them up? Anyway—I will write and tell you more as soon as I get clearance.

How is Sunnydale? Is everyone okay?

-Willow

"How is that?" Willow glanced at Dr. Beckett.
"I see nothing wrong." Beckett, really didn't. Her friends already knew she was in The Pegasus Galaxy. There was no point in denying it. The wraith demon thing didn't seem consequential—neither did the fact that there were earthlings where she was. "Do you think your Giles will find anything helpful about the wraith? Well that is assuming you will be able to get this message to your friends."

As Beckett spoke, Willow was putting finishing touches on her message. She clicked a box requesting a read receipt. Her mind was going a mile a minute. How did that spell work? She was to say—'Send this through space and time—reaching hands--reaching those bonded-- me and mine'. How much power did such a spell take? Did she need any herbs for the spell? She knew a basic spell to transport energy took hyssop. She concluded that the easiest way to ensure the spell would work would be to coat her hands with a bit of the crushed hyssop and then to say the spell.

"Hmmm—what did you say—Giles?" Beckett nodded.

"Giles is book man in our crew—he has tons of research materials about demons and other bad things—there is a good chance he will be able to find something. Anyway, it definitely can't hurt."

Willow reached into her bag and pulled out her herb organizer. She located the hyssop and crushed a small amount between her fingertips. Compressing the herb released a tiny amount of oil. She rubbed her hands with the oil.

"What are you doing?" Beckett found himself a little nervous. He had heard from Sheppard all about Miss Rosenberg's exploits—something about tossing two self directed fire balls through the chests of two wraith… hiding herself in plain sight… and warming and making Rodney's coffee disappear and reappear. Beckett knew he was no chicken little but he still found himself a little nervous. What was she about to do? The message said she was to send the message, right?

"I am about to send the message." Willow closed her eyes and whispered the spell in her head. She heard Dr. Beckett step away from her. She didn't want him afraid or apprehensive of her so she reassured him. "Don't worry. I won't cause any harm"

She hovered the palms of her hands above the keyboard of the laptop and spoke the words of the spell out loud, "Send this through space and time—reaching hands--reaching those bonded—to me and mine… send this through space and time—reaching hands—reaching those bonded—to me and mine…." As Willow repeated the words her hands and the keyboard began to glow with a shimmering light. The message was sent and Willow heard the telling, 'You've got mail…' as she received the read receipt.

Her friends now knew she was just fine. They had received and read the message. Now the day was firmly weighted with good moments.

"Well, hmm…" Beckett, didn't have much to say. Willow had just obviously sent her message. He believed her—she was a witch—with some friends who had witchlike powers—and a friend who researched demons and? He would be sure to speak to Dr. Weir about Willow's abilities later that day. The senior staff definitely needed to meet and discuss Willow's powers. Since she was able to send the message—there was a good chance they would be able to have contact with Earth on a semi-regular basis. Of course her friends would have to be given security clearance—now that was a wrinkle. He doubted they would be given anything. Beckett decided to stop thinking about it all and get back to his job.

What was it she had rubbed between her fingers? Hyssop? Now that was a question worth asking.

"Was that hyssop oil you rubbed on your hands?" Beckett asked the question as he moved back to his seat.

"Yeah. That herb makes it easier to transport energy. How did you know?" Willow gave Dr. Beckett a curious glance. Willow hadn't expected to find herself impressed by a doctor's ability to recognize an obscure herb.

"It has a slightly minty smell—and I studied a good deal of botany and herbology in preparation for this trek." Beckett opened the file for the lab assistant.

"Okay. I've got the job description. Let's see if this interests you. Washes and sterilizes glassware and equipment, distributes and stocks glassware and supplies, sets up, operates and maintains standard laboratory equipment, may prepare routine chemical solutions used in cleaning and sterilizing glassware, prepares solutions from provided instructions as needed and requested, and performs additional functions incidental to laboratory activities. Humph."

Beckett looked to the side and took in Willow's profile. She looked quite satisfied. He had a feeling she would be able to perform any of these tasks. The problem would be that she wouldn't be maximizing her knowledge or potential. They could try her out on these simple tasks and then work something out.

"How about we give you a trial run on these tasks and if all goes well we then exploit the last two duties". Beckett pointed to the laptop screen.

Willow got up to read from the laptop screen. "Prepares solutions from provided instructions as needed and requested and performs additional functions incidental to laboratory activities."

'Sounds good to me!" Willow liked the way things were working out. The way Dr. Beckett had set things up she could get her feet wet and then 'go swimming' if she didn't find the water too dangerous.

Willow spent an uneventful three hours in the infirmary and in the connected laboratory. Dr. Beckett was very thorough. He first walked her through the infirmary and lab and gave her a mini-tour and pointed out her general duties. He made sure to let her know that each duty would provide an immense amount of help to him and the rest of his staff. Her work would free them up to devote more time to research and medical duties. Beckett even found extra cording and hooked Willow's MacBook to the intranet system.

Willow quickly found herself inserted into the Atlantis message board system. She now had her own thread and two messages. One was from Dr. Beckett. She quickly opened it to find a quick to do list. She silently thanked Beckett in her mind. She wanted to make sure she met his expectations and she wasn't completely sure she had remembered to do each thing. The second message came an hour later. It was from Aiden. Willow was a little too nervous to open this one too quickly—but she did. She immediately wished she had opened it forty-five minutes earlier.

Willow,

I trust the good doctor will release you for lunch… I will be by at 12:30. I hope McKay hasn't given you too much stress.

-Aiden

It was 12:20!

Earlier that morning, Aiden had been on his way to the mess hall when he had come across Major Sheppard. He hadn't seen him since helping him carry McKay to the infirmary. Their early morning mission hadn't gone well. The team had found themselves under wraith fire. Major Sheppard was walking in the opposite direction from Dr. Weir. Aiden waited until Sheppard had come directly into his path. He interrupted him with a, "Sir".

"Oh, Ford. How is it going?"
"Good- good. I was on my way to the infirmary to check on McKay. I got all our kits and rations from our earlier travel catalogued and put away." Aiden fell into step with Sheppard. He had to jog a little because Sheppard was an inch or so taller and definitely on the move.

"Uh huh. I think you need another mission—first—don't check on McKay. Leave that until 12:20pm. Check with Zelenka and see if you can set Willow up on the message board system and see if it is working. Send her a note—how about lunch at 12:30pm?" Sheppard raised one eyebrow as if to say, 'why not' or 'it is a perfect ruse'

"Uh. Sure." Aiden wasn't sure what else to say. His commanding officer was giving him dating advice. Colonel Sumner would have never done such a thing.

"Dismissed". Sheppard raised the other eyebrow and stood still and waited for Ford to leave.