Chapter 16

A/N #1

Please let me know if you catch any spelling or grammar mistakes or any inconsistencies.

A/N #2 According to Aiden Ford—did a stint working on a sg team out of Stargate command. So I am not pulling these details out of my butt. The idea is—he went to the USNA, in Annapolis (united states naval academy,-- graduated with a ba in history… at some point he joined the marines… and was recruited for sgc—because he was so darn good at being a marine—maybe just because he looked good in the hat) thanks, Louis for the ideas.

A/N# 3 minor OC alert— Jonathon does not exist in the SGA universe-- but surely someone has to cook.

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

Aiden had to jog to catch up with McKay. McKay had shoved him the Jello bowl and spoon and he had dropped the dirty dishes off at the mess hall. They were again walking side by side and now a few yards from the briefing room. Aiden was completely lost in his thoughts. He didn't notice the sideways glances McKay kept tossing him. He also wasn't paying any attention to anything McKay said. He'd had a quick conversation with the mess hall chef, Jonathon, about getting a couple of egg yolks for his upcoming art project/date. Jonathon wouldn't let him have a thing until he had told him why he needed them. He had thought he would get off easy by just mentioning that he liked to paint and that he had brought along tempera pigments and needed to mix egg yolk to essentially turn the colored dust into paint. He hadn't got off so easy though. Of course Jonathon wanted to discuss the new addition to the expedition. Jonathon was smitten in brotherly way—and was concerned about how 'the new expedition member' got to Atlantis and how she would get home—where it was safe. It was always interesting how all walks of the military always looked for someone to protect. It seemed that Jonathon had ignored the ultra-powerful-witch rumors. All he saw was a young woman wearing cool converse shoes.

When he had originally set off for Atlantis he had concluded that the best case scenario would be that he would meet a whole race of Ancients—and perhaps be integrated into their peace loving society. Thinking back on his naiveté, he had to hold in a chuckle. He hadn't even considered life-sucking monsters as a worse case scenario. Who would have thought such things existed? Who would have thought vampires existed? As it had been doing since first seeing her destroying that nameless wraith on M94-086 His mind kept switching back to Willow. She occupied the forefront of his consciousness and he didn't mind. He welcomed having someone to care and think about.

Since day one of joining Stargate Command, his life had developed a singular focus. In the beginning, he had thought he would only live in small increments. He would have furlough or a day off and try to relax and fit in all the normal things his friends on the outside would do. When he started off he honestly didn't realize how hard it would be to just be normal around women or friends. How could you act normal when your day job required alien contact and fire fights with advanced and alien technology? How do you explain away all the bruises you sustained working deep within a mountain doing deep space radio telemetry? Life on the outside was tedious and taxing and all together unsatisfying. He had to monitor his speech—not say anything odd or oddly revealing. One of his friends on the outside had become convinced that he read Scientific American and Astronomy magazine on his toilet—how else did he metaphorically refer to wormhole travel, event horizons and such in a casual manner? He had been a history major!

Maybe things would change for him. Tonight he had the opportunity to relax away from it all, to be honest and real with someone. He didn't have to mention weapons, weapons systems, the ancient database, blah blah and etc. He could just loosen up and get to know someone without a 'classified' frame. He didn't have to censor and hide—and he didn't have to worry about slipping and revealing anything.

As time passed, it seemed that at every turn the unreal had the possibility to become real. He really hoped Willow wouldn't tell him leprechauns were evil and in existence tonight… if she did he would have to forever forgo eating lucky charms and making wishes when he saw rainbows. He had come up with a good plan, for the evening, and he couldn't wait to swing by her quarters and to start the night off. Everything McKay said completely bounced off him. He didn't hear a thing. McKay could have been insulting his mother or even his manhood and Aiden would have just continued to nod stupidly as he was doing. The one word that snapped him out of his reverie was Willow's name.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that."

McKay stopped walking to give Ford his patented 'you are as dumb as pond scum' look. After communicating his disgust he continued to walk. "I said it is awfully incongruous for Willow's surely Jewish parents to have named her after a tree and for Willow to practice wicca". Sometimes McKay didn't even know why he bothered trying to have conversations with some people. Either they tuned him out until he mentioned a key word—and then he would have to summarize and repeat his last statements. It was the same way with Major Sheppard. McKay knew he was virtually tuned out until he mentioned either--weapon, Teyla, or Z. P. M. Now that he thought about it… McKay realized that the only person that even attempted to pay attention to his rambles was Elizabeth. He wondered if there was something to it.

"What do you mean by incongruous?" Aiden manipulated his features into a slight frown. What was odd about Willow's logical heritage and name? Her name was just a name—she hadn't any power over what she had been named, and her magical abilities were completely separate from her name.

"What? You don't know what incongruous means? Out of place. Incompatible. Inconsistent. Absurd. Odd. Strange…" McKay let his synonyms trail off. He couldn't believe he was even sharing the hallway with such an idiot.

"I got it the first time. I just don't see your point." Aiden really didn't.

"You don't think it is strange for Willow to be a Jewish wicca practitioner?" McKay upgraded his look of disgust. Now he gave Ford a look that clearly communicated his belief that Ford was 'dumber than pond scum'.

"No. It would be incongruous--if you believed her—in your mind she is supposedly just some woman with her hands on some sort of technology." Aiden started walking again. There was really no point in stopping to argue with McKay. "Of course, I'd have to agree with you—about it being a little out-of-place--- if you actually believed she was a witch… and you obviously do…"

"Lieutenant, please. Ha. Where did you get your deduction abilities? Matlock? Agatha Christie? Columbo? Law and Order?" McKay scoffed. They were only a few steps from the briefing room, but he could surely spare a moment to set Ford straight.

"Hey. You're the man that started this line of conversation." Aiden paused to allow McKay to sputter disgustedly. "And you're the man who asked the question, 'You don't think it is strange for Willow to be a Jewish wicca practitioner?'" Aiden raised his eyebrows and stared at McKay. He knew he had him. There was no way he could weasel out of this.

"Oh look. We are here." McKay quickly shuffled into the briefing room. He couldn't believe he had let it slip that he even slightly believed Willow was a witch. He further couldn't believe Ford had picked up on his weakness and made a point of it. The universe was becoming even stranger than usual. People weren't behaving as they were supposed to. There was some pretty girl who could make fire and send extra galactic emails. Ford was paying attention and making mention of how his verbal inconsistencies hinted at his actual belief systems. He needed to sit down.

Aiden watched as McKay dragged his feet into the briefing room. McKay immediately found a seat beside a frowning Major Sheppard and busied himself by removing a shoe and massaging his toes. This was yet another thing Aiden could do without seeing. He stood by the door waiting for Teyla to enter. He wanted to tell her about his upcoming date. He was sure she would offer some motherly advice. He didn't exactly need any advice but he was curious as to what she would say. Dr. Weir entered the room closely followed by Sergeant Bates. Both Bates and Weir quickly found their seats, they were more than ready to begin the briefing. Aiden had a seat at the table. They were ready to begin—without Teyla. He had to ask the obvious, "Shouldn't we wait for Teyla?"

He couldn't believe what he heard from Dr. Weir. Dr. Weir actually said Teyla wasn't invited. Less than one minute into the meeting and Aiden found himself struggling to hold his tongue. Bates actually believed Teyla was a spy. Dr. Weir actually allowed Bates to spew venom without respect or regard to the Athosian people. What was Bates' qualification for even speaking? A skeptical nature? This was ridiculous. The way Bates spoke about the Athosian people it was obvious he didn't respect them and he didn't trust them. The Athosian's were the 'them' in the standard dichotomy of us versus them. It was obvious that there had to be a spy or a technology leak and on the surface it was logical that it would have to be an Athosian person.

Of course that logic was far from sensible and it seemed that in her zeal to confine and resolve this problem, that Dr. Weir had said good bye to common sense. The Athosian people—or rather 'all non-base personnel' were to be confined to their quarters. It was his job to relay this message and organize the marines to stand watch. Dr. Weir and Sergeant Bates had decided to set up individual interviews with each Athosian to 'feel out' their loyalties. Bates got to play bad cop and Weir would be good cop. Aiden had to bite the inside of his jaw to keep the snort hidden. Hopefully Weir and Bates would find a singular suspect soon before relations with the Athosian people were irrevocably damaged.

Aiden was surprised Bates hadn't mentioned Willow. She seemed to just slip right past classification as 'non-base personnel' because of her new job. For a moment it looked like the meeting would adjourn without Aiden getting too angry. Aiden should have known he wouldn't be that lucky.

"What about our guest, Willow Rosenberg?" Dr. Weir addressed her question to everyone at the briefing table.

"Yes! About Willow… she seems to be a half-way decent lab assistant—and her technology," McKay paused to give Ford a glance that was surely meant to communicate, 'don't you dare blow my cover.' "…allows her to send and receive emails from her friends."

"That is what Dr. Beckett said in a memo. What do you make of all that?" Weir looked around at each member. She found herself slightly baffled that Sheppard and Bates didn't appear to care if Willow could or couldn't communicate with her friends. And the truth was, Bates really didn't have a clear understanding of most of much of anything science or technology related. Elizabeth realized she was being slightly uncharitable but it was true. Bates had no clue why they had to use the Stargate. He didn't really understand that just because they occupied the city of the Ancients—this didn't instantly mean they could successfully defend it. They needed science and Z. P. M.'s to have the shields at full strength. An unlimited supply of P-90's and C-4 would not save them.

Of course Sheppard was surely occupied with his disgust with Bates and the fact that he would have to tell Teyla that she was essentially confined to the Athosian side of the base until they figured this all out. Weir turned her attention toward Rodney. He seemed to be the man most likely to 'think outside of the box' on this issue.

"What do you think, Rodney?" In Elizabeth's mind the best case scenario would be that Willow would be able to send a message to her friends and her friends could relay the message to Stargate Command.

"Uh uh. It just doesn't work. There are just too many unknowns. 1—We don't know if we can trust her friends. Would we be exposing the Stargate Program? I don't think we are ready to take that risk. 2—When Willow received a message, in my presence, it was decrypted—it only decrypted when she read it aloud. So, there is a chance whatever message we send won't be recognizable as an actual message. 3—the other possibilities are truly odd. McKay paused. He wasn't so sure he wanted to tell everyone at the table what he was thinking but he couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

"The question is… is her reality even, 'Our Earth'?" McKay finished his statement and then sat back. He was waiting for the outburst. He didn't have long to wait.

"McKay. Are you suffering some aftereffects of that Wraith stunner? 'cause that is by far the single stupidest thing I have ever heard you say." Sheppard didn't care if he had offended McKay. It could do the genius some good to be called stupid every once in a while. Surely it would keep him on his toes.

"Hm. You asked me what I thought, and I told you what I thought. Suppositions aside—I don't recommend having Willow try to relay a message to the SGC." McKay directed his explanation fully at Dr. Weir. It really didn't seem as if he had anyone else in the room that truly cared for his opinion on the matter.

"I agree with McKay. I am pretty sure Willow will be able to earn our trust—but we cannot pass classified information through unclassified waters—though to be honest with you—she will have to show me she can send anything." Sheppard believed Willow could make fire and herself invisible but somehow mixing technology with magic screamed of impossibility. Sure countless cultures would mistake technology for magic, but at heart it was the idea that a person could clap their hands and make the lights turn on. Was this magic or a machine? On earth this was a machine. In pre-technological societies it would have to be magic—unless someone from had similar technology.

The fact was—he wasn't sure what to believe but in this instance, belief didn't really matter. The point was—they couldn't expose the SGC to a group of people who could likely expose it to the larger world. Sheppard ignored McKay's supposition that perhaps Willow's reality wasn't even the same reality. How much science fiction had Rodney watched in his youth to even come up with such an idea?

"Okay, then it is settled. We won't ask Willow to attempt to relay any messages to Stargate Command. Ford, make sure she understands the classified nature of this expedition. Provide her with information, when she asks questions or if there are things you believe she needs to know. Just make sure she understands she is not to provide her friends with any sensitive information." Elizabeth knew she should probably have given McKay this task but she wanted to set up scenarios for Ford and Willow to have to communicate. You never knew with young marines—there was a good chance Ford would have already set up personal boundaries and wouldn't be able to let his guard down enough to establish a friendship or a relationship.

"Okay". Weir looked around at each person at the briefing table. She wanted to dismiss the meeting and let each get to their assigned tasks but she also wanted to make sure each person was satisfied with their responsibilities and the decisions made. And she had to start on individual interviews with each Athosian. "Dismissed."

Aiden filed out behind Sheppard and Dr. Weir. He wanted to speak to either McKay or Sheppard about what their thoughts but they were moving too fast. It was probably just best that he got the marines organized to manage or control the Athosians. He grimaced. He really didn't like this part of the job. After all, it was their fault that the Athosian homeworld had been destroyed. As he walked from the briefing room he noticed Sheppard taking a detour to Teyla. Thank goodness the Major had his priorities straight.

Aiden knew he was lucky to have such efficient men. It didn't take long to set up teams of two and establish rotations to manage the traffic flow in the cordoned areas. Everything was soon arranged and in order. He had an hour to spare or rather an hour that he had set aside to waste and it was a perfect opportunity to get together the things he needed for his date. His idea was to take Willow to one of the balconies overlooking the city. They could share a night picnic and look at the stars. It was always good to have something to actually do on a date so the silences wouldn't get too long and to ease the other person into feeling comfortable. Painting was one of his hobbies—his thought was they could paint something together.

Aiden had to gather something to serve as a canvas, he had to talk Jonathon into making a cake for dessert and he had to make sure his laptop had full battery power. He had a quite a few PowerPoint's of his favorite paintings. They could browse through them and find some inspiration. Painting for him was all about recording beautiful or important memories. Since joining the SGC, he had often tried to recapture scenes from off-world missions—interesting places he had visited. Of course he was less than successful because his style made any depiction into a modern interpretation instead of a direct pictorial representation. He was quite lucky, if he painted in the realist style his work would become classified.

His goal for tonight was to get to know Willow Rosenberg and introduce her to one aspect of his personality. All he needed was to find a large slab of thin wood or thick fabric. Of course they could always paint a mural on the balcony but he wasn't so sure Dr. Weir would approve.