"You have a habit of waking up here, lass."

Kait's eyes blearily opened, a cross look flitting across her features. Her head was pounding… and she had cotton mouth like no one's business. "Well, I keep you in business, so you should be more appreciative." She scowled, as she sat up and rubbed her temple. "I feel like I got hit with a house. The whole house. In a cyclone… as it fell into Oz."

Carson chuckled, and checked her vitals. "Aye, love, something close to that from what I understand."

She gave him a look as she rubbed her temple, her head throbbing.

"It's a side effect of the gemstone, from what I can tell. You're going to have one hell of a hangover today, although from all of the texts in the lab, I can't understand why it effected you so poorly. Rodney, Rush, and Daniel are all in the labs studying it's effects and the source of it's power."

She threw the blankets off and began looking for her clothes, as Carson gave her a glare. "Not this time. You're staying here for the night even if I have to sedate you. You had mild hypothermia from the cold water, some bruised ribs from what Sheppard said was a nasty fall into a well or lake or something of the sort, and a mild concussion from being thrown about like a rag doll. "

"But-"

"No buts, lass. You're not going anywhere."

With an annoyed grunt, she resigned herself to her fate... overnight in the hospital ward.

In the labs, the gem was proving to be more of a problem than they had initially thought it would be.

"It's emitting something... it's a faint energy signal that seems to be like a homing beacon... but we have no idea how to turn it off." Rush said with a frown, as Rodney shook his head.

"But the thing is, how do we know what it's doing? We don't, and if we could harness this thing we could power Atlantis AND off-world sites all over for years. This thing seems to have limitless power."

"It's unstable, using it as a power source could cause it to overload in some way and explode." Rush shot Rodney a look.

Daniel sighed. His head was pounding and his body was aching. "Look... we're not going to agree on this. Why don't we wait, think on this a bit, and come back in a few hours? I mean I can't see anything drastic happening in just a few hours."

Rodney sighed, but nodded. "Fine, fine. You guys go, get some rest. I'll keep working."

Rush nodded, getting up and leaving, but Daniel shot Rodney a look before getting up. "You know, an apology generally works well when you've been an ass." he said simply, and before Rodney could say a word, he was gone.

He sat, and put his head in his hands. To be honest, he had no idea what to say to Kait. I'm sorry wouldn't even be remotely enough for some of the things he had said... even though it wasn't fully him, it was still inexcusable.

Getting up, and putting the gem out of his mind for a moment, he decided to bite the bullet, and headed for the infirmary.

When he finally got there, Kait was asleep. He stood over her for a moment, as Carson looked over from his monitor.

"Rodney, what have you guys figured out?"

He let out a deep breath. "Not a damn thing. We know it can grant power, but we can't figure out why it's emitting energy. It ebbs, like an SOS, but I can't see it being strong enough to reach that damn planet... and there's nothing in the texts about why it drained Kait's energy like it did."

"Maybe it's because I'm not full blooded Ancient?" Kait muttered, as Rodney turned and looked down at her with a surprised look.

"We thought of that, but from what we can see, that shouldn't matter."

Silence after that... neither one was really looking the other in the eyes... and finally, Carson spoke.

"I'm going to step out for a moment..."

As soon as Carson left, Rodney moved next to Kait, and glanced at her. She was pointedly looking away from him, a frown on her face.

"How's your hand?"

"Oh, it's better. My whole arm is better... healing quickly, you know." he said, as she nodded. He sucked in a deep breath. "Look, Kait... I'm sorry, ok? It wasn't me... it was just-"

"Deep down... it was you. Whatever effect that power or fire had over you, it did not put words into your mouth that were not there. It just opened the floodgates for you." she said pointedly, still focusing on the wall. "I need a bit of time to think about that. Because some of the things said were wrong... and if I had said them, you'd feel the same."

He puffed up indignantly at that. "What about you saying you weren't sure how long before you changed your name back, hm? You don't think that was hurtful?"

Her head finally turned, and her narrowed eyes met his. "If it bothered you that much, you would have said something when I said it."

He stumbled over his next words for a moment.

"Well, I-I didn't think you meant it..."

"At the time... I didn't, really. Now?" she trailed off, before giving him a look.

"I need time."

Ok, he wasn't one to admit it, but those words stung. He nodded, before turning around to leave...and stopping at the door.

"You know..-"

At that moment, the alarm in the gateroom went off, and they both looked up. Frowning, he began to speak, radioing in to determine the status of the situation.

"McKay to Weir... what's going on?"

"Rodney, you need to - the labs are in- shut down all access to the labs! The Olym- they're here, in the city!"

Paling as his radio went to static, he looked at Kait, and pointed his finger at her.

"You, stay here. I'll be back, the medical ward has better protection than the labs." he said, before taking off without another word.

Frowning as the doors slammed shut to the medical ward, she swore and began to get out of bed as Carson came back in.

"Not a chance, lass."

"They want those gems, we need to just hand them over, they'll leave."

Carson shook his head. "I doubt it, they're angry more than likely that the gems left that planet. They'll want retribution."

Retribution.

She shot Carson a look, then yanked the IV out of her arm, as Carson began cussing and bandaging her arm.

"I'll restrain you!"

"You can try." She growled. She'd be damned if these people attacked her home without her putting up a fight. As he got her arm fixed up, she stood straight, then bit back a wave on nausea...

"Carson, I need something for nausea... please? I'm no use here or elsewhere puking... it must be another side effect."

He nodded, shaking his head as he rummaged through the cabinets and grabbing zofran. Pulling it into a syringe, he pushed the needle into her arm and let the medicine flow into her body. She winced, but bit her lip.

"That should kick in momentarily love. Don't overexert yourself too much... I'm waiting on all of your bloodwork to come back."

She nodded, as she finished pulling her clothes on, and went out the only door that was still open. She grabbed her weapons off of the shelf where they had been placed, and was gone. Radios were down all over the city, like some kind of interference was going on.

Moments after she left the med labs, the last of her bloodwork beeped at Carson. As he looked it over, he blinked, then went to radio her to come back, now... swearing in annoyance as he was greeted with static.

"Damn it."

Rodney ran into the primary labs and sealed the doors behind him, frowning at the noise of stunner fire and other unfamiliar blasters were heard behind him.

"Motherf-"

He was cut short as the door to the lab began to glow slightly, like a torch was being used on it. Communications were cut off, and the only gem in this area right now was the stupid red one... they didn't even know what that would do, if it would do anything... it didn't even look active.

He glanced at the gem, which was suddenly emitting a reddish glow, then back to the door...

"Oh what the hell... it's better than dying..."

Rodney grabbed the gem, and felt a surge of heat, strength, and power rush through him. His eyes glowed red, and he felt heat in the palms of his hands... glancing down, he twitched his fingers, and watched as flames danced into his palms.

"Human Torch, eat my shorts." he said under his breath, as the door finally opened and the Olympians who had made it that far raised their hands and shot flames at him.

He put his hands up defensively, and felt the flames wash over him like a warm bath. He glanced up, and saw the heat flow around him, singing his clothing and burning it, but not burning him.

"Oh, that is cool."

He instinctively threw a hand out, and watched in awe as a shot of pure fire and what could only be described as molten magma hit the Olympians, watching as they hit the floor in pain.

"Greek fire." He said, understanding moving across his features. So, that's what these gems did... each one held the powers of an Olympian... different colors meant different gifts.

And this one... well... as more Olympians came into the room, he cracked his neck, and smirked a bit. This would be fun.

Kait's feet pattered on the floor, the gown she was wearing keeping her just covered enough. The gem she had used, it was in the secondary labs, she knew that... she wasn't sure, but it was almost like she could feel the gem calling to her. These people had powers that they simply didn't have... and they needed someone to even out the playing field. She had no issues being the person to do that.

As she came around the corner, she darted into the labs and locked it behind her, and turned. Spotting the gem in a case that was running tests on it, she quickly hit the emergency release buttons, dropping the sides of the case.

Man, she did and didn't want to do this again... She remembered how drained it made her feel, how unsteady and nauseated she was after, but... well, they couldn't hold their own against these invaders without it...

Slamming her eyes shut, she wrapped her hands back around the gem, and felt the initial chill of water and the power increase. She took a steadying breath, and balled her free hand into a fist, water from outside rushing in and encircling her waist and up her hands.

Well, the quicker the intruders were cleared, the quicker she could put this thing down... so, with the smallest of smirks, she opened the door and began heading for the halls, blasting any of the intruders she came across into unconsciousness.

The other three gems would be incredibly useful right now... but she wasn't sure if anyone else had guessed just what they could do. Or where they were, for that matter...

Ugh.

She stopped as she heard loud explosion sounds coming from the Gate room... ducking into a supply closet, she grabbed some clothes, and then she took off at full speed, her eyes a teal blue color, water dripping off her hands as she ran.

The only chance they had was to stop them from getting in reinforcements... and to do that, they would have likely opened the gate themselves, to stop the Olympians from dialing back in. That gave them a chance to send them back from where they came from.

As the Olympians bore down on the control room, Sheppard knelt, pulling Weir down. "They're going to shoot you, are you insane?"

"We have to think of a way to send them back!"

"And how do you plan on doing that, Elizabeth? We don't exactly have the time or the power to do that, they've got powers that our weapons can't touch!" Sheppard said, wincing as a set of fire flew past them.

"So what do you suggest? Surrender?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes widening.

Before he could say anything, the upper deck door opened, and McKay stepped in. As the fire shot out from the soldiers at him, Sheppard shouted.

"RODNEY, DUCK!"

Elizabeth's eyes widened as the flames washed over him, and she pulled herself up, straining to see him. As the flames stopped, she stared, as he straightened without a single singe or burn. He raised his hand, and shot flames at them in return, his eyes glowing cherry red, like two red hot nickle balls. He glanced down, then headed down the stairs.

"Rodney..."

"I figured we'd have literally no chance with their powers... and I saw what that other gem did on their homeworld... so...even out the playing field."

Elizabeth was about to protest, as he had no idea if it would work or not, when the doors on the ground level opened and Kait walked in, guns blazing. She raised her unused hand, and in a rush of water, the ocean came in through the windows. Again, it encircled her, and she chuckled, before blasting two of the Olympians, sending them straight through the gate.

Rodney came down to her, and she nodded at him. the faintest hint of a smile playing at her lips. He let out a breath, as the remaining soldiers from Olympus, the ones they had left unconscious, began to rush into the gate room.

"Give us the gems!" one said, holding his hand out.

Rodney gave him a look. "How about no."

With that, the people in the gate room looked in astonishment as the two science officers McKay went back to back, using their gems' respective gifts to send the soldiers through one by one. Kait threw up a shield around the control area, protecting the others.

"Elizabeth, how extensively damaged is the city?" Rodney shouted up to her, as Elizabeth shook her head and checked.

"Not bad, the other two gems aren't here, so it seems they followed those two... and we sent them far enough away where they won't be able to trace them..." she called down, making Rodney nod. That meant they had sent Rush and Daniel to Earth to figure out more about these gems.

Suddenly, Kait laughed a bit from behind him.

"What could possibly be funny right now?" he asked her, incredulous.

"I feel like Sonic the Hedgehog with the Chaos Emeralds." she said simply, a broad grin on her face. At that, even he snorted.

She ducked as a fire blast almost hit her, and Rodney turned and sent return fire at them swiftly. She stood, and surveyed the remaining soldier count...

"Let's pool our power... I'll bet if we worked together we could make a wall that would push them all out, like a funnel... I'll use the ocean to make the funnel-wall, to get them in the gate.…"

"I can push them through with the flames." he said, turning and facing the same direction as her. She backed up against him and pushed herself against him, before closing her eyes and focusing, as the ocean again came in and large water walls shot up, blocking in all access anywhere except to the gate. As she finished, Rodney raised his hand and created a large fire wall, and pushed them towards the gate. The soldiers, getting burned, began to flee the only way they could... through the gate.

"This is not the end of this, Lanteans... we will come back." the head soldier growled, as Rodney narrowed his eyes. With that, he jumped into the Stargate, as they shut it down behind them.

Smirking, Rodney tossed the red gem into the air, and caught it, the red leaving his eyes as soon as he dropped the gem. He tilted his head... no residual effects for him, odd...

At that, Beckett's voice came through the radio.

"GOOD, I can get through! Do NOT let Kaitlyn let go of that gem until a medical team is there!" he said, before the line went dead.

Kait looked to Rodney, and sighed. "I guess... Look, I understand, ok..." she said, before he could speak. He shook his head.

"Kait, I've told you... I didn't mean it. It wasn't me... well it was, but believe me... the last thing I want is to end this. And I think I know why... this gem... it's the same fire and greek fire that I was hit with... that's the power in here. And when I grabbed this, I learned... war, basically. I think that the flames cause irrational anger, like an infection." he said, as she laughed a bit. "What?"

"You just can't NOT get infected with something when on a mission, can you?"

He pushed her shoulder lightly, then pulled her to him in a tight hug. As he did, he felt the tightness of her waistline in those pants. He looked at her, confused. "Hey, you grabbed pants too small I'm guessing..." he said, as she shook her head.

"No, I grabbed my size..." she said, as he glanced at her. Her freaking shirt was too small too... a shipment of clothes must have been labeled badly.

As Elizabeth and Sheppard finally came down, he kissed Kait's lips softly, as she sighed against him. After a moment, Beckett ran in, and they came apart.

"I feel better this time, Carson... can I just let go now?" she asked, as he nodded. As soon as she dropped the gem, she swooned, a wave of dizziness hitting her. Her knees buckled and she hit the deck, Rodney catching her.

"The hell?! Carson, what's going on? I didn't have any issues when I used the red one!"

"Maybe the control of the ocean is more taxing than the flames?" Elizabeth suggested, as Carson shook his head. He began checking her blood pressure, his face frowning.

"No...it's because her body is already overtaxed... the gem is fueling it and putting undue strain on it." he said, as Rodney gave him a look.

"Well what's overtaxing her?"

Carson sighed, sitting upright. "The gems were only meant to be used by someone who's body is only supporting themselves. Not someone supporting a second life..."

Rodney's face shifted, and went unreadable, before he looked down at her pale face. Her swollen chest, her widening hips, her nausea...

"Carson, do you mean to tell me..."

"Yes, Sheppard... Kait's pregnant. And the worst part, I think these gems and their power may have been making the bairn grow faster than it should even be possible..."