"Wow…"

Cassie smiled at her friend's reaction as they walked away from the Stargate, and wondered why they hadn't invited her to come for a visit sooner.

"Impressive, huh?"

"Amazing."

She'd seen all the pictures, of course, and Shawn had described it to her, but he'd never told her how beautiful it was. Unimpressed, Dotty let go of her hand and smiled happily at the man who was walking toward them.

"John!"

Colonel Sheppard grinned down at her before swooping her up into his arms.

"Hey, Little Girl. What are you doing invading my floating city?"

"I came to see where the twins live."

"And me, too," Sheppard said, smiling over at Gina. "Welcome to Atlantis, Gina. It's about time you came to visit."

"Thank you, John."

He gave her his best smile.

"We set you up in a VIP room as close to Cassie as we could find. Ian told me what was going on and said he'd have it figured out as soon as possible, but it'll be nice to have a little girl hanging around instead of just boys…"

"Stinky boys!" Dotty added.

Sheppard nodded his agreement.

"Sometimes." He set her down and gestured to a couple of Marines who had followed him over. "The twins are with Radek, Cass. He said to let you know they would be on the east pier. Ian's at the mainland right now, but he asked me to let you know he'd be back in time for dinner."

"Thanks, John."

He handed her bags over to the Marines, who would carry them for her and Gina.

"Where is Zander?"

The twins had returned from Earth with their father, but he'd expected the baby to come back with her.

Cassie rolled her eyes.

"You know Ian doesn't like that name."

"He's not here – and I outrank him."

"Maggie wanted to keep them all, but since Dotty was coming here, and the boys wanted to come home – obviously – she settled for keeping Alexander instead."

"Ah. And McKay?"

"He and River will be back tonight, Rodney wanted to stay and make sure the Mini Guardian program is working right." She rolled her eyes. "Ever the perfectionist, after all."

Of course, in this instance it was just as well that he was, since it made Gina less nervous about leaving Shawn back home this way.

Sheppard grinned.

"That comes in handy sometimes, though."

"True."

He smiled down at Dotty again, and tapped her nose cheerfully.

"I need to get back to work. If you need anything, Gina, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks, John."

They watched as he walked off, and then Cassie turned to her friend.

"Let's get your stuff put away and then I'll give you a tour."

"Sounds great."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"What are you doing?"

Ian looked up, blocking the sun with his hand, and saw Ronon looming over him.

"Thinking…"

"About the Ashrak?"

"Yeah."

"You should just kill the Goa'uld."

Not surprising, considering who it was coming from. Of course, Ian's first thought had been to do just that, too – and even River had thought the same thing – so it wasn't just Ronon thinking it.

"I can't. I've been ordered away from him. Which means I need to go after the Ashrak, somehow."

"And sitting on the beach staring at the water…? What kind of ideas has that given you?"

It might have sounded like a challenge, but Ian didn't take it as such. He shrugged.

"The Ashrak aren't like us," he said, more to himself. He'd come back before Cassie because he'd needed a chance to think – by himself – and had known that he could leave the twins with one of the scientists while he did just that. The idea of taking a trip to the mainland had been Elizabeth's, and Teyla had mentioned she'd like to go talk to some of those who were settled there, so Ian had willingly taken her with him. Ronon was simply bored and always eager to leave the confines of the city, so he'd invited himself – which was fine with Ian, too. It wasn't like the Satedan was a chatterbox or anything, and he'd seemed to understand that Ian wanted to be alone, but Ian was also good at bouncing things off of others, and Ronon was intelligent enough to be used for that purpose as well. "They're physically different, psychologically different, and physiologically different."

"So?"

"So that's what I need to use against them."

"How?"

"I'm not sure." He scowled. "It has to be doable, though." He suddenly remembered something he'd heard, and the scowl turned into a thoughtful frown. "It's been done…" he murmured, suddenly standing up and brushing sand off his pants.

"What do you mean?" Ronon asked.

"Someone used the Ashrak's differences against them before – as a warning sign if they got too close. I need to find out how they did it."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure. I need to ask Jack, I think." He looked over at the Gateship that he'd flown them in. "Are you ready to head back?"

"I am. Teyla isn't." He could see that Ian was itching to go, though, and shrugged. "I'll stay here with her – just in case she needs anything. You go ahead."

Ian nodded, understanding what he was doing and giving him an appreciative smile.

"Thanks."

"Just don't forget to send someone back for us," Ronon called to him as he turned toward the ship.

Ian just waved his arm in acknowledgement and trotted over to the Gateship.