Fools Said I You do Not Know3
Moira stared. She would have laughed except for the serious expressions on the faces of the military men. Their firm hold of the P90s cradled in their arms. The bristling TAC vests. "Excuse me?" she asked, pulling the stroller closer as the baby began to fuss and whine.
"Come again?" John asked, his tone light but a dangerous glint shone in his brilliant green eyes. The little boys stood near their mother, silent. Staring. Looking at their father because he would make it right. He always made things right.
"Doctor Sheppard is under arrest for being an imposter, sir. I have my orders, colonel, to take Doctor Sheppard into custody, pending all further inquiries and–"
"Whose orders?" John asked, his voice falling low. He stepped in front of his wife, in front of his children. "Last I checked you are only to follow my orders. To the letter."
"He's acting on my orders." Richard Woolsey stepped to them. "Lieutenant." He gestured past John, to Moira.
"Sir, respectfully I must ask you to–"
"Don't." One word. The implied threat obvious. John glowered. Met Richard's gaze. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"I can assure you, John, it's no joke. We have reasons to believe that the woman behind you is not your wife at all but an imposter."
"John?" Moira asked, becoming worried. Richard was the last person to be involved in any sort of practical joke. And he was utterly sincere. As were the men holding the guns on them.
John would have laughed, but for the absolute gravity on their faces. The utter conviction. "And what reasons do you have? What evidence?"
"I will show you once the imposter is secured. Lieutenant." Richard gestured again.
The man moved but John blocked him. "Don't. Don't touch her. Fine. I'll play along with this. I will secure my wife and my children in our quarters. Then you will show me this–"
"You can't leave her with the children, John."
"Mommy?" Johnny asked, stepping closer to her.
Seamus took her arm. "Mommy, mommy, I have to pee!"
"I can and I will because she is their mother." He paused, added dryly, "and Seamus has to pee." He turned to his family. Emily was starting to cry, little hand at her ear again. Johnny was staring at the men, worry on his face. Seamus was clinging to his mother, biting his lower lip. Moira appeared concerned, confused. Much as John felt. "Let's go, Moira. I'll clear this up, don't you worry."
"John...this, this is our Atlantis, right?" She glanced round nervously.
"Yes. We're home. It's not that," he assured. "Let's go." He turned. Waited. The marines stepped aside, suddenly uncomfortable. John led his family out of the Jumper bay. The two marines and Richard followed.
"John, what the hell is–"
"I'll find out, Moira, I promise. Don't you worry."
Johnny ran ahead to walk next to his father, taking his hand. "Daddy, daddy, what is wrong? Daddy, the city isn't happy."
"Neither am I, junior. It's all right." John stepped aside, ushered his family into his quarters. Turned to glare at the men before he followed them, closing the door. The dog ran to them, barking with joy, tail wagging. He had to smile as Seamus all but ran towards the bathroom. But his mirth was short-lived. "Stay with the children, Moira. I'm going to initiate lock down until I get this cleared up and kick someone's ass. Hard. Or just shoot them. I'll be back ASAP." He kissed her. Eyed his older son. "Code purple, junior."
"Okay, daddy," the little boy gravely agreed, nodding.
The dog was still barking. "Down, Meredith! Stand guard."
Instantly the dog became silent. Stood still, almost rigid as the animal looked at the door.
"Mommy!" Seamus called. "Mommy, I need help!"
"Go to him." He touched Emily's head as the baby cried, then stepped out of his room. Ignoring the men he touched the panel. Closed his eyes and activated the force fields around the rooms. Isolating them. Protecting them. He stepped away as a blue light flared, then was gone. Turned to the waiting men. "This had better be damn good, Woolsey! I won't tolerate this!"
"I can assure you, colonel, I won't tolerate it either. We have irrefutable proof. Please." Richard gestured, began to walk. John strode alongside him. The marines fell into step behind them.
Moira was sitting, rocking the unhappy baby, trying to console her worried sons as they sat close, playing a game. She tried to stem her own anxiety, showing the children a calm front. Trusting in John to set things right like he always did. The accusation was ridiculous. Insane. An imposter? Moira knew she was herself. And if she didn't John certainly did. Her children did. Even the dog did as the animal sat near them, eyes on the doorway. Calm, but alert. Ears perking up at every sound when someone walked along the hallway.
She wondered at the reasons, the supposed evidence. Couldn't imagine what it could be. She felt a shiver, looked at the walls where a faint bluish glow indicated the security of the force field. A force field that only John could disable. She felt a headache forming, and rubbed her temple. "Easy, Emily, easy, it's all right..." She kissed the baby, stroked her dark curls. But the little girl was still crying. Moira sighed, stood and moved to the nursery. Instantly the boys rose, followed after her.
"Mommy, mommy what wrong?"
"Why is Emily crying like that?" Johnny asked.
"I think she has an earache. I need to give her some drops. She'll be fine."
"I had those. They hurt," Seamus agreed, touching his ear in memory.
"You cried like that too," Johnny added.
"I did not!"
"You did!"
"Did not!"
"Did!"
"Did not!"
"Did!"
"Boys!" Moira scolded. "That's enough. Go and play your game while I take care of your little sister. Go on now. Stay with Meredith. He must be hungry. Why don't you feed him and then we can take him for a walk later, all right?"
"We found her in the lower levels, wounded," Richard began to explain, his words coming as fast as his footsteps as he led John through the city. "Battered and bruised, a deep cut on her arm that has somewhat healed. I had Carson do a full biological scan, a full panel of blood and DNA, everything and anything that could either prove or disprove it. But there is no doubt."
"No doubt of what?" John asked. The men entered the control room. The marines stopped as Richard led him to a console. John eyed Rodney who was staring at a monitor, disbelief on his face. "Rodney, what the hell is going on here?"
Rodney McKay shrugged, shook his head. "I don't know, John. But something's going on."
"See for yourself, colonel," Richard invited. Gestured to the monitor as Rodney stepped aside. "We've kept her isolated in a holding cell until all of our tests confirmed it."
John stepped to the monitor. Froze. Stared, jaw almost dropping open as the figure pacing back and forth in the cell was a dead ringer for his wife. He leaned closer, touched the buttons to zoom in on her form. "What the..." he muttered. The physical resemblance was uncanny. Identical. Shocking. Even the clothes were the same. The green t-shirt. The khaki pants. A long ponytail of brown hair. The same figure, same height, same weight, same mannerisms as she paced and paced, chewing on her lower lip. The same facial expressions as worry and annoyance flitted. "It...it can't be..."
"Genetically she's Moira Sheppard. Physically she's Moira Sheppard. Yes, even down to her scarred foot and the changes wrought by having three children. Intellectually she is Moira Sheppard. Major Lorne quizzed her on several things, both professional and personal, both from the past and the present and she knew every answer. Passed every test. She's fully human. John," Richard put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I think, somehow, a Wraith hybrid switched places with your wife in the last week or so."
John tensed. Still staring, incredulous. "Impossible," he muttered. Yet his mind was already reviewing the past week. Moira's absences. Her forgetfulness. Her weariness. Little things that by themselves were harmless, innocuous, but added all together and now confronted with this evidence John had to wonder.
"Are you sure? Absolutely sure? Look at her, John," Richard urged.
"Didn't you say that Moira was acting oddly?" Rodney asked.
John glanced at his friend. "Yeah, well, nothing to make me think she wasn't Moira. My wife! Just little things now and then. From being so busy and the stress of our jobs and having three little children to raise." But he recalled the lapse in Pleistocene Park. Recalled other lapses. Missing pieces of memories. Forgetting the names of things. Being unable to sleep every night and leaving their bed, going he knew not where for hours before returning to him. "How can that," he paused, pointed at the screen, "be identical to my wife? I mean, the other Wraith hybrids weren't!"
"I can't explain that either, John. I only know that one of them is an imposter. It must have been in the city for weeks. Just biding its time, I guess."
John felt a chill. "Why couldn't we detect it?"
"That's the thing, John, we should have! At least the city would have! Any kind of Wraith genome and the city would have gone off like the Fourth of July," Rodney agreed. "But it didn't. Not so much as a whimper. Nothing! Nothing at all!"
"It must have been hibernating." Carson Beckett joined the men, glanced at the screen. Troubled expression on his face. Hands in the pockets of his white lab coat. "That is the only explanation. It was hibernating until recently when it had absorbed enough DNA to complete its...its transformation."
"Is that even possible?" John asked.
"Aye, apparently. I've theorized that these Wraith have much stronger regenerative powers than ours. And being a female, possibly a queen or a keeper, their powers could be unimaginable. Quite frankly we have no idea of the extent of their powers. And the Wraith from that alternate reality were much more advanced, much more evolved, and they have the ATA gene, those that survived the genocide, that is. And who knows what their scientists did to alter the retro-virus and God knows what else?"
"I thought the objective was to steal Moira away...but what better way then to replace her," Rodney mused. "As if you'd never notice the difference. Except, except you haven't...or have you?" He looked at his friend.
John stared at the screen again, disbelief on his handsome face. "There's no ring." He zoomed on the woman's left hand as she paced, paced. Zoomed out before he could see her face. So like his wife's it rattled him.
"She said the imposter stole it," Richard supplied. "Which makes perfect sense."
"This is impossible!" John slammed his palm on the console. Lights and power flared. The monitor jiggled slightly. An alarm beeped, fell silent. The city reacting to his anger, his confusion until he drew his hand off the panel. "I know my own wife, damn it! My children know their mother! There's no way an imposter could have gotten past all of us! There's no way an imposter could have gotten past me!" He considered, brow furrowing, mind racing. "There's only one way to find out!" He strode out of the control room.
"John! John, don't do something rash!" Richard hastened after him, hand moving to his tie. Except he wasn't wearing one, clad in his Atlantis uniform as he always was. He missed the assurance the garment gave him, especially at times like this.
Rodney and Carson exchanged a worried glance. Eyed the monitor where the woman was still pacing, pacing. Like a caged feline she repeatedly made the square circuit of the cell. The blue force field glimmered around it, trapping her.
"Do you really think that John wouldn't notice if his wife had been switched? Do you think that Johnny of all people wouldn't notice?" Rodney asked.
Carson shook his head. "I'd say it was impossible, but look for yourself, Rodney. Every test has proven that the woman there is Moira Sheppard."
"If that's true then who is the woman in his quarters with the kids?"
"I wish to God I knew," Carson sighed.