Rating: T

Disclaimer: Same as Part 1

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews for the first part. Max and the kids (except Maria) belong to Elizabeth Bartlett

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Max opened the door and saw a knife glinting in the light she swallowed in fear.

"Please don't hurt me I'm the school teacher, the children are hungry so we came looking for food, please don't hurt them they're just children..." she babbled, the knife clattered to the floor as she was enveloped in a hug.

"Max, oh thank God," said a trembling voice,

"Alex" she said in bewilderment "oh my God Alex, I'm so pleased to see you" Max replied as she returned the hug. Alex untangled herself

"Come in quick, they haven't found this place yet but it won't be long" she pulled Max, Fran and the children into the kitchen

"I don't like the dark anymore can we have the lights on" said a tearful Kelly. Alex picked her up and gave her a cuddle

"I'm afraid we can't sweetheart, the bad soldiers might see us" she turned to Max "lets go to the office, I've got a couple of torches and a camping light in there" she stopped "you got the mutant gene?" she asked Max who shook her head "Fran?" Fran shook her head

"Why?" asked Max

"To lock the door, if I remember rightly someone with the gene can override the door switch" Alex replied "What about Jason or Jamie, as Sheppard's kids they must have it".

"Jason, see if you can lock the door," said Max, he crept over to the door and ran his hand over the panel, the panel clicked and the door locked

"Good boy" said Max. Alex led them to her office and rummaged in her filing cabinet; she pulled out a plastic box and opened the lid. She pulled out a torch and switched it on, she slowly swept it across the room, seeing six tear stained faces looking expectantly at her,

"Stuart hold this for me," she said handing him the torch. Alex pulled out an old camping gas light and a box of matches, she lit the lamp and everyone breathed a sigh of relief,

"I'll never make fun of my mother for always being prepared for the worse again, the gave me this 'Emergency Box' to me before I left, 'you never know when you may need it' she said" Alex remarked

"What's in it?" asked Max

"Torches, batteries, gas light, bottles of water, matches, candles, energy bars, that kind of thing. Why do you ask?" Alex said

"I think I should make one for the school room" Max replied

"I'm hungry," said Jason

"Me too"

"I want something to eat"

"I'm thirsty". A chorus of voices started complaining

"Right, first things first eh" said Alex with a smile "you lot stay here and be good, we'll get you something to eat". The children nodded and the three women went out into the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?" asked Fran as Alex moved around getting sandwich gear together

"We can't stay here that's for certain, they'll start searching for food soon" said Alex

"Major Lorne told me once that down on the eastern side of the city, right in the bowels of Atlantis the sensors don't work," said Max

"We'll go there, if there are any of our guys still free that'll be the logical place for them to go," replied Alex

"It's a long trek, I'm not sure if the children can make it, they've been through so much already" said Fran.

"We'll go at their pace, they're my responsibility..." began Max

"Ours" said Fran as she put a hand on her shoulder

"All of ours, I not going to let anything happen to them" said Alex, "there's three of us to take care of them now", they found some milk and some cookies and made their way back to the office.

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After the sandwiches and cookies had been finished and the children were beginning to smile again Alex, Max and Fran were beginning to make plans on how to get to the east pier.

"I doubt we can use the transporters, we're going to have to walk there's no other way, walk avoiding the main corridors" said Alex, Max sighed

"It's not going to be easy for the kids," she said.

"We'll just have to take turns in carrying them, Patrick and Stuart, being the oldest can probably cope and Jason being stubborn like his father wouldn't let us carry him anyway, that just leaves Kelly, Jamie and Maria" said Fran

"We'll deal with it when it comes up," said Max.

"We'd better make a move then," said Alex, she picked up the rucksack she used to ferry her paperwork about, emptied into a draw and went out into the kitchen. She started to fill it with energy bars, cookies, fruit, bottles of water and MRE's, she also picked up her knife and put it in her bag with the handle sticking out of the top so she could grab it easily. As she was tying up the top, movement caught her eye outside the door,

"Max, Max bring the kids out quick, there's someone at the door" hissed Alex, Max and Fran ushered the children out of the office

"Now what?" said Fran

"There's a way out through the freezer, it used to be a small room so there's an unknown air con duct in there, it's big enough to crawl through, I have no idea where it goes but if we keep going east we should be ok" remarked Alex as she opened the freezer room and everyone followed her. Max and Alex got the grill off the vent and Alex crawled in first followed by Fran, then the children and Max bringing up the rear. Alex came to a crossroads in the ducts

"Now where" she muttered to Fran

"You said East" Fran replied

"Unfortunately I have no idea which direction we were heading in when we started" Alex admitted

"Why have we stopped?" asked Patrick

"I'm trying to decided which way is east" replied Alex.

"The sun rises in the east" said Kelly helpfully, Alex smiled to herself, Kelly obviously hadn't realised that they couldn't see the sun from where they were

"Thanks sweetie" said Alex

"This will help" said Max and told Maria to pass the object up through the line to Alex. When it got to Alex she saw it was a Swiss Army knife with a compass "your mother's not the only one who is prepared for any emergency", Alex lined up the compass

"This way" she said, as she turned right. They crawled in the duct for about an hour until they came up to a dead end, Alex and Fran managed to remove the grill and climbed out, as they started the lift the children out a figure stepped out of the shadows. The sound of a pistol being cocked froze the three women to the spot.

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AN: Yes my mum does have an Emergency Box with candles, matches, my camping gas light, batteries and such things in it, yes I have made fun of her and yes I have had to eat my words during a power cut.

I used to carry my biggest knife around with me when I was at college as there was a rapist loose in Ealing at the time, I never had to use it luckily.