I open my eyes and see that it's still dark out. I glance at the clock and see that it's 3am. Something woke me up, what I don't know. I know what you're thinking and I'm a heavy sleeper; it takes a lot to wake me up. There's a flash of light from outside and I know that something's happening. But what? I get up and put on my terry-cloth robe and glasses. Making sure that I don't trip over the kids and wake them up I slowly and quietly make my way to the balcony.

Opening the sliding door, I step out into the cool night and look at the sky above. What I see makes me gasp in surprise; there's a battle being waged above Atlantis. There are streams of light and brilliant flashes everywhere. I can faintly hear the sounds of whatever's up there exploding. So this is what's happening. Is it the Wraith? Are they attacking Atlantis again? These questions and many more go through my mind as I watch the battle above.

Damn it, I wish I had brought along that telescope like Daniel suggested. If I had then I maybe could have seen what was going on. Suddenly the sky is filled with bright lights and I see that they're heading straight for the city. I flinch and brace myself for the bone-jarring explosions to rip through the city but they never come; only muffled thumps. I look up and see that they're being stopped by some kind of shield. There are so many explosions that I can see my hand, when before it was all I could do to see five inches in front of me.

The night is then filled with a bright light and I look up to see that millions of bright thingies (I know, really technical huh?) are pouring out of the main spire of Atlantis. My mouth opens in astonishment as I watch them fly up and into the night sky. I look back up to the sky and see the thingies have started attacking the ships up there. How do they know which ones to attack?

There are brilliant explosions as ships are destroyed. But there are still a number of ships firing and it looks like we're outnumbered. All of a sudden there's this massive pulse that comes shooting upwards and outwards and then more explosions. What the hell is going on? After the pulse, there's silence. Only the wind ruffling my hair.

Ok, what just happened? I stand there for who knows how long until I start to shiver. I then go back inside and see that everyone's still asleep. Wow, I've got to hand it to them; they can sleep through anything. I make my way back into bed and try to fall asleep, but can't. My mind's still reeling with what I saw. Only when the sky finally starts to lighten do I fall asleep.

-insert nifty divider thingie-

The kids wake up around 6am, which means that Jason and Patrick wake me up at 6:01am by jumping onto my bed and startling me awake. I inwardly groan, I'm gonna be running on a half charged battery. But I'll live; I've gotten less sleep than this when I was going for my Masters and I still managed to function. Barely, but still managed to function.

After making sure that everyone got cleaned up and dressed for the day we roll up the sleeping bags and restore order to my living room. By that time they're getting hungry so we head on down to the cafeteria. As we walk down the hallways I notice that people are less high-strung then they've been the past few months, they're more pleasant to each other and I notice that there is less of a military presence in the hallways and the ones that are walking around are considerably less armed than they have been.

When we arrive there's no line so we walk right up. I smile at Alex and she smiles back. "What's for breakfast?" I ask, trying to see what's under the metal covers.

"French Toast." She says, pulling off a cover. "Which is made from scratch."

"Really?" I ask. I didn't think that would be possible out here.

She nods her head and says, "Yup."

Yum, I love homemade French Toast but I stick with cereal just the same. Gotta watch what I eat, I've always been a little on the chubby side and am on a permanent diet. However that doesn't stop the kids from getting it. Once they're all settled I look around the room. People are once again talking with each other and there's less reading, writing, or typing going on from the science personnel and the military guys are less jumpy than they have been. It's almost like the last few months hadn't even happened. I start to wonder if I had just been imagining things and what I saw last night was just a dream. But it had felt so real; so real that I start to doubt my sanity and maybe I need to have a little chat with Katie Hightmeyer.

But then Elizabeth, John, Teyla, Marc, and a few other military guys walk in and I see that John is sporting a black eye, one of Marc's fingers is taped up and the other guys are sporting an assortment of cuts and bruises while Elizabeth only looks sleep-deprived.

So something did happen last night, I'm not slowly going mad. Whew, that's a relief. Elizabeth, John, Teyla, and Marc make their way towards us, and are half-way towards our table just as Jamie looks up from her French Toast and spots them. The biggest grin appears on her face and she jumps out of her chair and makes a bee-line towards John.

"Daddy!" she shouts, enveloping his legs in a sticky embrace. The hug is so forceful that it nearly knocks John over.

He laughs and ruffles her hair. "Miss me, kiddo?" he asks, picking her up.

"Yes, I was 'fraid that you weren't gonna come back." She says, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hey, you know that I wouldn't let that happen." He says. "I've got you and your brother to come home every night to."

"You didn't last night." She says in a matter-of-fact voice. "You an' mommy didn't pick us up like you always do."

"That's true, because mommy and I had some important things to take care of." John says. "But we left you with Max didn't we? We knew that you'd be safe with her."

I open my mouth to comment on what John had just said, but am stopped from replying because at that moment Patrick decided to reach for the syrup, which he isn't quite able to get at, and ends up tipping it over. The syrup spills onto the table and over the edge, right onto my lap before I can stop the flow or jump away. So now syrup is all over my jeans, which are slightly brand new (I've only worn them twice). I grab a handful of napkins and start to press them onto my jeans, hoping to soak up the majority of the syrup before it sets in.

"Patrick McKay, what do you say to Max?" Elizabeth says, giving him 'the look'.

"Sorry."

I look at him and see that he's near tears. "It's ok, these things happen." I say. "I just have to soak them so they won't stain."

"Then why don't you go do that?" Elizabeth says. "Since we're here we can help them finish breakfast and can come by later to pick their stuff up."

"What about Stuart? I haven't seen Carson or Laura yet." I say, my gaze drifting over the sea of people.

"That's ok, we'll watch him." John says, having set Jamie back down in her seat.

"If you're sure…"

"Yes. Now go while there's still a chance of saving your jeans." Elizabeth says.

"Ok. I'll see you guys later." I say, getting up. I rush out of the cafeteria and along the hallways. I want to take the quickest way to my room so that means I'll have to take a transporter. I've gotten used to using them, but I still don't like it. But this time I have no choice. I head to the nearest one and press the crystal to open it. Entering I'm about to press the area where my room is when I hear a "Hold it!"

I pause and turn around to see who called out. It's Logan. And here I was having such a nice day. I could pretend I didn't hear him and press the spot. I move my hand closer to the spot but before I can press anything Logan enters the transporter. Damn, I hesitated to long. Oh well, I just won't talk to him.

"Where you going?" he asks me.

Damn, now I actually have to speak. "My quarters." I say in a polite voice.

"In which part of the city?" he asks.

"The southwest part, why?"

"Good. I'm heading there as well." I scowl and he smiles, "You're not rid of me yet." He says.

It's like the man was reading my mind, creepy. I just roll my eyes and say, "Whatever." I then press the spot where my finger had been hovering over. The trip will be over in a second and then he and I can go our separate ways. There's a flash of light and then we're in the other chamber. Only there's a problem; the door won't open.

A/N: -Cue dramatic music- (dundundun) Here's where things get intersting. Hang onto you keyboards, it's going to be a bumpy (yet oh so thrilling) ride.

Why are Max and Logan trapped?

What went on during the night?

Was it really Wraith? Or something more sinister?

Will Max and Logan make up?

Will Max confront Elizabeth about being left out of the loop?

All this and more shall apear in chapters to come. I'm currently doing my happy dance because nwfairy is putting Max in her own OC story 'A Different McCay'. I can't wait for her to update and read it. If you haven't done so already, you should go and read it. Alex and Maria belong to Reefgirl, the rest belong to either MGM/ Cooper-Wright or me (you should know who belongs to whom by now. If not then we need to have a serious talk). Review and tell me your thoughts on the chapter. Right now I have to go bug nwfairy to update her story so I don't burst from the waiting -scampers off to poke nwfairy until she updates-