As Teyla pushed John out of the building the Colonel turned to face the Athosian and said.
"We've already lost her once. I don't want her out of my sight and I definitely don't want her around strangers."
"She'll be fine with him." Ronon stated.
"Friend of yours is he?"
"He's Kiryk." Ronon shrugged, momentarily stunning John into silence, before the Colonel started his tirade once more.
"Kiryk? As in the runner who kidnapped her months ago? That is meant to make me feel better how?"
"He owes her his freedom. He wouldn't hurt her."
"You sure about that?" John asked, not believing Ronon's argument.
"He did save us all last time." Rodney pointed out.
"Jennifer appears to trust him." Teyla added.
"Who knows why. For all we know that's Stockholm syndrome in action."
"You are seriously suggesting that that Neanderthal masterminded what we saw on the planet? Planting a fake body with traces of her DNA?" Rodney asked. "He has already proven if he wants something he just takes it, not carefully planning out in minute detail a way of ensuring we don't come after him by making us think there is nothing to come after. Besides whoever left those bodies knew enough about how we identify bodies to leave just enough evidence to force us into the wrong conclusion." The physicist paused then asked a question he clearly didn't want to. "Are we sure the Jennifer we just saw really was Jennifer?"
"No." John said flatly. "We could be looking at another clone or a replicator. Hopefully Carson will give us answers." Before he could say anything further the door opened once more and Kiryk emerged.
When Kiryk left the building John walked up to him and punched him to the floor. As Kiryk tried to scramble to his feet John attempted to hit him once more only to be restrained by Ronon as Teyla tried to hold Kiryk back.
"John?" The Athosian questioned.
"What? First he kidnaps our doctor then he does it again, except this time he's clearly taken advantage of her."
"I think you should explain what has happened." Teyla said looking at Kiryk.
"I found her on a Wraith base." Kiryk said as he rubbed his jaw.
"A Wraith base?" Rodney asked incredulously. "What base and how did you find it?"
"I was looking for it. I wanted to find those responsible for destroying my people. My search led me to a planet, which the Wraith had populated. They ran experiments on it. I was scouting the area when a Wraith ship landed. I hid in some undergrowth and waited. After a while the Wraith emerged from the ship and walked towards the base. In the group they had several prisoners. One of them was Jennifer."
"And you rescued her?" John asked, clearly not believing Kiryk's story.
"I owe her my life." Kiryk pointed out. "I managed to get her away from the Wraith and we escaped the planet. We went to several more until I was sure we weren't being followed."
"When was this?" Teyla asked.
"Several months ago."
"And rather than bringing her home you'd thought you keep her?" John asked, trying to keep his temper under control.
"She said her home had been destroyed, that she had killed everyone. She said she had no one left."
"How could she have killed everyone and destroyed Atlantis?" Rodney asked.
"Coming from the man who blew a great big chunk out of a solar system that seems a little rich." John pointed out before looking back at Kiryk and asking. "So why did she think we were gone and how'd she end up with the Wraith?"
"She doesn't know how she ended up with them." Kiryk replied. "She said she woke up in a cell on a Hive. She didn't remember how she got there, what mission she had been on or even who'd she been with. Even now I don't think she has remembered those details." He paused before continuing. "She said the Wraith wanted her to research something. When she refused they tried to force her."
"By feeding?" Ronon asked, his anger obvious.
"Not directly. They fed on others and made her watch. After that she said she pretended to help hoping to fool them long enough for you to rescue her. When it became obvious that was her intention the Wraith dragged her to the bridge and forced her to watch as he destroyed Atlantis."
"But he didn't destroy Atlantis." Ronon pointed out.
"Thank you Captain State The Obvious." Rodney muttered.
"What did he destroy if not Atlantis?" Teyla asked.
"Perhaps nothing. If Jennifer watched it through a screen it could have just been faked." Rodney hypothesised.
"He faked blowing up Atlantis?" John asked.
"Let's hope so, pretending to blow it up is better than the alternatives such as using drugs to make her believe it." Rodney answered.
"Okay, but why? What did he hope to gain?"
"To break her. Remove her hope, make her think that serving him was her only choice." Ronon said.
"She didn't serve the Wraith." Kiryk interrupted. "Despite it she thought it cost her she refused."
"Of course she did." Rodney commented before John tried to take control of the conversation again.
"So what happened then, you freed her and what held her?" John asked.
"I freed her and when she was ready to move on we came here."
"And never once you thought it was worth dialling Atlantis?"
"I don't know the address. She was convinced her home was gone and did not want to see the destruction first hand." Kiryk answered before tightening his jaw and asking. "Why didn't you look for her? Why did you leave her for the Wraith?"
"We thought she was dead. We found bodies, including those who were on the team." John said, his voice betraying his guilt.
Before either man could throw any more accusations Carson emerged.
"Well?" John asked immediately focusing on the doctor.
"If you're asking how she is, well my first answer would be confused. She'll need time to get used to the fact we're not all gone. I've given her a mild sedative to calm her. If you're asking what she is, well that I can't tell you, apart from she's not a replicator. I've taken a blood sample that I'll take back to Atlantis. Until those results are in I wouldn't want to speculate. The good news is that based on what she said she most of her time has been spent here, not with the Wraith. It seems like she was rescued early on by Kiryk." He added sending a small smile in Kiryk's direction.
"Okay, go back and run the tests and get the isolation room ready." John ordered
"Of course." Carson nodded. "Anything else you want me to tell Mr Woolsey?"
"Just that we're bringing her home." John commented, leaving Kiryk to wonder where he'd fit into Jennifer's future life.
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Next chapter up on Wednesday.