Author Notes: Thanks for all the great feedback guys, I love reading them. Just a warning for this chapter, there are allusions to adult themes of rape and suicide, but nothing explicit or graphic, just thought I'd let you know beforehand in case that sort of thing bothers you. Hope you like the chapter!

Chapter 7: Rain

Rodney sat on the pier. It had been three days since Laura's unexpected reappearance, three days in which he had barely stopped. He knew he should have talked to her, tried to find out what had happened back on that other Earth, with his other life, but he just couldn't. Instead, he had done the only thing he could think of doing – he had thrown himself into his work. God knew how many times Carson and Jeannie had been to see him since she had arrived. They seemed to be taking it in turns; one staying with Laura, the other trying to get through to him. Radek, too, was practically a second shadow, seemingly worried that Rodney might make a mistake in his labs. In the end, he had had enough, simply walking out on a particularly strong argument with one of the newest additions to the science team.

Rodney closed his eyes, trying to make the ocean calm him, but it didn't work. Every time he let his vision turn inward, all he saw was images from those fifteen years of hell. Even if technically he hadn't lived them in real time, it had been real enough – Laura proved that. On the floor next to him, McKay's discarded ear piece bleeped. Silently, he took it up in his hand, weighing it. As he focused on the inanimate object, he felt all his emotions build up in his throat, the ones that had been trying to ignore. For a moment, his whole body felt suffocated, and then he made a fist around it, and threw it as far as he could out to the water. Breathing hard, he tried to get his mind off the completely overwhelming subject of Laura, and well, everything. Science, science was safe; science was…who was he kidding? It was science that had caused this screw up in the first place!

Rodney found his mind slip unbidden to Hannah, the only child he had ever loved. Dead, undoubtedly, after those words Laura had spoken to him the first day. Hannah would know what to do right now, more than anyone here or on the alternate Earth, she would know how to cope. He, on the other hand, was a complete mess – he wasn't going to deny it. Rodney shook his head – nowhere was quiet enough to make him calm, his brain was too loud. It would be easier to simply just face it all, and ignore it at the same time. He gave to ocean one last look, and then headed back to the labs.

John listened silently as he sat across from Elizabeth for lunch. God knew where Rodney was, probably in his labs. Teyla and Ronon were still offworld, but due back the next morning. Everything was going well on their mission, but they had yet to be told the news of Atlantis' guest. Everyone else on the other hand…well, to say the least, the mess hall was damned chatty. Conversation was at a lower level than normal, as said subject of discussion was eating in the corner by a window with Jeannie and Carson. They seemed happy enough, but John could see even at this distance how everything was still surreal to the woman. She seemed pleasant enough, and John could tell she was older than her years. He knew there was more behind what had happened between her and Rodney than anyone was letting on, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

A scrapping of chairs caught the corner of John's eye. Elizabeth subtly looked up too. The three were depositing the remains of their food and leaving. Their movements were especially tracked by a group of Marines, who were still antsy at how the woman someone keeps managing to sneak out, away from her guards at night. As soon as they three were through the transporter, the mess burst into a flurry of conversations far louder than before. Elizabeth sighed, "Have you talked to Rodney recently?"

"No. He doesn't wanna talk to anyone. I heard Zelenka rant about it earlier to Carson. He's still trying to get his head around it. We all are."

Elizabeth gave him a crooked smile, "I know. Of all the people on this base to have a daughter, with a woman such as Laura, McKay would have been the last person I would have bet on."

"It's just…"

"Insane?"

John grinned, "Completely."

"Come again?"

John suppressed a grin at Ronon's sceptical remark. He nodded, "Yep, welcome to the weirdness."

"When did she arrive?" Teyla had a bewildered look on her face that far surpassed Ronon's.

Elizabeth sighed, "Four days ago. To say the least it's been…tense. But she finally seems to be settling in."

"With some of us anyway." John muttered. Teyla raised an eyebrow.

Elizabeth elaborated, "Her and Rodney's history is...beyond complicated."

"I do not understand." Teyla frowned, "She is the mother of his child, is she not?"

John shrugged, "Yeah, but this is McKay we're talking about. The guy doesn't have one simple relationship."

"Where is McKay?" Ronon asked.

John sighed, "I'm going down to the labs in a minute. Zelenka told me he was in there most of the night, so we're going for some lunch, whether he agrees to it or not."

Teyla nodded, "We have already been cleared by Dr Beckett, so we will probably see you down there."

Ronon stood up and made to leave, "Yeah, natives make me hungry."

Elizabeth smiled, "I have some paperwork to be getting on with. You'll probably see Laura down there. John? I want to see Rodney up here at some point today, and he'll probably listen to you more than me at the moment."

"Sure."

Jeannie looked up as the doors to the transporter slid open and Ronon and Teyla entered the mess hall. Laura had her back to them and was still absently drinking her water before she wandered off to see Radek in the labs; she had found that with this routine, she could effectively avoid Rodney. She still hadn't seen him since the first day, now sharing quarters with Jeannie, a far more tolerable McKay, surprisingly alike in some ways to her daughter. Laura's stomach gave a wrench as her thoughts turned to the past few years since Anubis' attack and Rodney's disappearance. It was funny, all the time she had spent trying to get to him, and now they were in the same city…

Jeannie waved Teyla over as Ronon grabbed them some food. Laura looked up suspiciously. How many smiley, happy people did this damn place have? The woman smiled warmly, "Greetings. I am Teyla Emmaugan, leader of the Athosian peoples and friend of your husband. You are Laura I believe?"

Laura almost choked, before replying flatly, "No, it's Hathor the Almighty. And that man is not, never has been, never in his wildest nightmares will be my husband, spouse, partner, or any other turn of phrase that would mean I like him."

Teyla frowned slightly, "I apologise, I thought..." She trailed off, seeing Jeannie's look of warning, "How are you finding Atlantis?"

"Shiny. Perfect. Happy."

Teyla completely misunderstood the words, missing the sarcasm and cold tone that laced the words, "I remember when I first came to the city of the Ancestors. It is humbling to walk these halls for my people."

"Well then no offence lady, you've been living in a bubble. All you damn Athosians are the same. Ancestors this, Ancients that, who gives a fuck? All they did was make loads of crappy technology and get themselves extinct from what I can gather. You lot need to stop living in the past – your 'ancestors' are not gonna help you, they'll quite happily watch you die for being too slow. Damn, you sound like the Crazies."

Teyla looked like she had been plunged into a bucket of cold water, "Excuse me?"

"Whatever. Give me a bell when you wake up out of dream land."

"Laura!" Jeannie tried.

Two food trays were set down on the table next to the blunt woman, and a man sat down. Everything else happened in a blink of the eye. One second Laura was sitting there, and then the next, she was on her feet, knife in hand, kicking Ronon with all her might before scrambling backwards. Jeannie and Teyla both shot to their feet. The once calm woman was breathing hard, eyes wide with a distinct look about her that screamed a cornered animal. The mess hall had gone completely silent. Ronon, recovering from the initial shock, picked himself up off the floor to face the woman, shock registering on his face, "What did you do that for?" He saw the knife that had formerly been attached to his belt, and took a step forwards, "Give me that."

Jeannie swallowed, not wanting to provoke anything further, "Laura …"

Ronon made a lunge for the knife, but Laura had already ducked, using her slight weight and form to dodge him and skid behind him, lashing out with blade, kicks, nails and teeth. Ronon's natural reflexes were the only thing that kept his throat from being cut. The woman was going psycho, and besides that point, he was being attacked by McKay's ex. Under normal circumstances, he would have just snapped the neck of his attacker, but instead he tried to disarm her. Unfortunately, she was really damned fast, and she was fighting in no actual discipline, more in some unexplained panic, making it twenty times more difficult.

Teyla ran forwards, but was thrown back with a punch from Ronon that had completely missed its mark. "Laura! Stop!" Jeannie desperately yelled, but everything was moving too fast. Someone was going to get badly hurt.

John dragged Rodney into the transporter, and punched in the mess hall. McKay was sulking, wishing he was back in the safety of his private lab, no doubt. They exited the transporter to utter chaos, just in time to see Teyla fly backwards from Ronon and a sliver of a woman who was fighting like a wildcat. No one in the hall seemed to know what to do. Many were calling for security, but none of them seemed to think it was wise or at all safe to get anywhere near a Satedan on the defensive and an insane violent woman from a parallel universe.

John stood in shock at the sight. Rodney blinked, a look of complete fear crossing his face before it was replaced by a blank resolve. He broke into a run, straight at the pair. Ducking Ronon's attempt at a disarming in time with Laura, Rodney grabbed both her wrists from behind, purposely falling backwards, dragging her with him, making the struggling form fall on his chest. In one smooth movement, he flipped them both onto their sides, holding her wrists behind her with one hand and harshly grabbing her throat with the other, effectively pinning her legs with his own. She fought violently, but in that position, her size and weight left her at a disadvantage. Rodney loosened his grip slightly, hissing through his teeth, "Laura, it's me, I need you to stop this shit now or we are both gonna get shot. Nod if you agree."

The mess hall was in utter silence, everyone in shock at not only the way Laura had suddenly gone crazy, but in the way that Rodney had handled it. Slowly, Laura could be seen nodding, her jaw set. John cautiously came forwards, helping Ronon to his feet, "What the hell McKay?" Both soldiers were clearly in shock at how Rodney had dealt with the situation.

Ronon groaned, "What Sheppard said."

Rodney kept his eyes on the back of Laura's head, "I'm going to let you up, okay?" Gently, he released his hold, and pulled the woman to her feet. Adrenaline was fast leaving her system, and now, surrounded by all the outwardly unfriendly faces, her body began shaking of its own accord. Rodney glared at Laura in bewilderment and anger, his emotions overriding any previous desire he had of avoiding her, "What the fuck, Laura? What did Ronon ever do to you?"

Laura looked at her Rodney with a mixture of hatred and shock as Ronon and John came to stand either side of him. Anger built in her chest, anger born of three tears of utter hell, a life of surviving, and of trying to protect an abandoned daughter when she could barely look after herself, "Fuck you!" She spat, backing away slightly, "You've forgotten, you've forgotten everything! All the shit we went through and you've just written it off. Here you are in your fucking perfect world, oblivious to hells and pains. And now you stand next to him!" She gestured wildly at Ronon.

Rodney glared right back, all fear of her gone, "What about him? Ronon's a member of my team – a friend! There was no reason to attack him!"

Laura shook her head, her cold tone frosting her words, "Anubis should've taken you. You should've had to deal with all the shit! Hannah deserved this place. You just ran like the coward you are, and now stand next to him. I don't care what name you give him – he is the same man. Even I would never have thought you would stoop that low McKay."

Rodney looked like he had been punched in the face. He made to step towards Laura, anger clouding his features, "You think I wanted to leave her there with that shit? Hell, any of you? It's not like I had a great idea of how the damn thing worked! It was my only chance to get home – if I'd stayed any longer, my presence would have torn your fucking universe apart – just like you're doing here!"

John blinked, "What did you say?"

Rodney ignored him, continuing to yell, "I would never have left Hannah there by choice!" A small sob escaped his throat, "You have to believe that Laura."

A flicker of something John could not identify glanced across Laura's face, before her eyes turned to stone, "I was captured. Tortured for information. Sent to the registration camps. I was comparatively lucky. Most of them were killed in the attack, the luckiest. But not Hannah, and not him." She jerked her head towards Ronon.

Ronon looked blankly at John, who shrugged. Rodney, however, suddenly seemed to realise what Laura was talking about, "No." He shook his head, trying to dispel whatever truth he had worked out.

Laura's face twisted into a bitter smile, "Congratulations Rodney, we are grandparents to Yarek's first born son." Laura spat out the word, "He broke her, and I couldn't fix her; I got there too late. She committed suicide. Not that I blame her; as long as it finally made her happy."

The mess hall had gone deathly silent. Rodney looked like he was torn between sitting down, screaming, or being sick. Somehow, he formed words, "Why did you even come here Laura?"

Laura shrugged, feigning indifference that was not reflected in her eyes, "Because you deserved to know. We loved her the same. Or I thought we did."

Any denial by Rodney was cut short as the whole mess hall, and Atlantis, was plunged into darkness.

To Be Continued…

Author Notes: So what did you think? Bit of background there, and a bit of action :) I'll try and update as soon as possible for you guys!