The Return of Katie Brown
Part VIII - Disclosure
"Your brother was a hero. He used the Ancient's satellite weapon to take out one of three Wraith hiveships that were headed for Atlantis. The weapon malfunctioned and the other two destroyed it with him on board before we could return for him." Rodney kept his voice calm and reasonable not wanting to agitate Petra further.
She looked back with scorn. "It is still your fault. You are the reason he was in Pegasus in the first place. He took this assignment just so he could work with the 'great' Dr. Rodney McKay. He'd almost decided not to go but he admired and respected you so much that he went against his better judgment and the advice of his family. And died because of it."
"Really? Because he never said-"
"Enough talking! Stand up." When he hesitated she pointed the stunner at Jennifer. "Now, Doctor."
Hands above his head he came to his feet. She motioned him away from the table and he sat on the bench on his hands as directed.
"Petra, please, you don't want to do this. Peter-"
"Jennifer! No, she's right. It is my fault he's…dead. If I had known more about how the satellite worked I wouldn't have accidentally rerouted the power from the docking bay during the repairs and he would still be alive. Petra, Jennifer had nothing to do with it. I'm the one you want. Please, just let her go." The pleading note in his voice didn't faze her.
"Sorry, Dr. McKay. I can't do that."
* * * * *
They walked hand in hand through the halls of Atlantis. She was happier than she'd been in a long time and it felt good not to be hiding their relationship. She'd come to Atlantis to work and had fallen in love. It happened so quickly, so unexpectedly that she was still stunned.
She'd seen him on the ship but they hadn't really talked to each other until three nights ago. She'd gone to the level twelve west balcony that was almost never used to be alone and had started to cry. Not out of sadness but because she'd felt foolish. What could she have been thinking?
He'd startled her when he stepped out of the shadows, the lights of Atlantis shining off the lenses of his glasses so she couldn't see his eyes. Apparently, he'd had the same idea. He'd seen her tears and she had been touched by his offer to be a sounding board. Impulsively, she'd asked him just to hold her. He'd held her against his chest so gently, as though she was a fragile piece of china. The tenderness of the gesture had pleased and excited her at the same time. So much so that she'd slid her hand around his neck and brought his lips to hers. It hadn't taken long for the kiss to change from the gentle caress of gratitude she'd meant it to be to an intensely passionate exchange.
She was brought out of her reverie when they heard voices up ahead. First a woman's angry tones then the deeper timbre of a man. To their left they heard a moan and found an unconscious guard. He was just beginning to stir but was otherwise unharmed so they left him and crept silently toward the source of the voices.
When they got closer they could distinguish individual voices, Dr. McKay, Dr. Keller and one they didn't recognize.
* * * * *
Sheppard and Lorne were once again going over the personnel files. The Colonel clicked from file to file getting more and more frustrated. He knew Carter would have helped but she had gone back to the Daedalus for some reason she wouldn't or couldn't say and was unavailable until further notice.
"Wait!" Lorne exclaimed. "Go back. One more." Sheppard did as requested and Lorne pointed to the information on the screen that had caught his attention. Sheppard stared at the staff file displayed. He'd looked at the same file more times than he cared to remember in the last seventy-two hours and it hadn't clicked. Fatigue is a poor excuse for missing something so obvious.
"That's it! That's what's been making my Spidey-sense tingle. I remember Grodin showing off a picture of his family. That's why she looked so familiar." Displayed on the monitor screen was the personnel file for Dr. Petra Marie (née Grodin) Wakeford, 32. It listed her marital status as divorced and her family as mother Patricia Grodin-deceased, father Perry Grodin-electrical engineer, retired, brother Dr. Peter Grodin-deceased, sister Dr. Penelope Grodin-Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and English at Yale University in Connecticut, USA, brother Dr. Prescott Grodin-aerospace engineer, expert in fluid, structural and orbital mechanics and flight dynamics, currently with NASA and serving on the International Space Station.
Lorne nodded in agreement. "Now that you mention it, so did I. I'll send a detail to pick her up. She should be in the infirmary." He made a quick call and was informed that she'd gone off duty fifteen minutes earlier. He opened another connection. "Lorne to Fischer. Fischer, please respond."
The two men hurried from the room Sheppard issuing orders as they went. "This is Sheppard. All units to level fourteen north. Locate and apprehend Dr. Petra Wakeford. Stunners only!" They entered a transport and were gone.
* * * * *
Petra had ordered Jennifer to stand by the railing encircling the balcony. When she refused, the stunner was aimed at Rodney.
"No!" Jennifer shouted desperately. "In his weakened condition even stunning him could kill him." She moved to stand where Petra had indicated.
"Good. Then it will be easy to kill him after he's watched you die."
A noise diverted her attention for a moment but it was just the distraction Jennifer needed. She ran forward and began grappling with Petra. Her bruised ribs shrieked in agony but she ignored the pain and concentrated on trying to take the stunner from the enraged woman. They swayed back and forth a few times before Petra got the upper hand. With a surge of strength she pushed the injured doctor over the rail. Jennifer screamed when she felt herself falling. She was just barely able to grab the top rail of the balcony. Her feet flailed in the air with no way to pull herself up.
"Jennifer!" Rodney shouted in alarm as he saw the woman he loved fall. They were so far up she would never survive impact with the water.
He'd started forward but was brought up short when Petra once again aimed the stunner at him. Panting hard she stalked toward him as he backed away from her. He kept darting anxious glances to where Jennifer had gone over the side and was crying out for help.
"Apparently you want to go first, Dr. McKay." Petra shrugged. "That works for me, as long as both of you end up dead." She thumbed the stunner up to its highest setting. "Even if it doesn't kill you the first time I'll just keep shooting until it does. Good-bye, Doctor."
The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. Katie Brown ran past Petra to reach over the rail and grab Jennifer's hand just as it began to slip. She lifted one foot and pushed against the wall trying to get leverage to pull the taller woman up.
At the same time, Peter Kavanagh gave a roar and tackled Petra to the ground. The stunner flew from her hand and sailed over the rail. "Noooooo!" She fought like a wildcat but he was stronger and eventually pinned her arms to her sides. She started kicking so he trapped both of her legs with his.
Rodney skirted around Kavanagh and Petra rolling around on the ground and ran to help Katie pull Jennifer back onto the balcony. As soon as Jennifer's feet hit the ground they embraced. He sat down in the nearest chair pulling her onto his lap holding her close while they both gasped for air. His eyes met first Katie's then Kavanagh's. He smiled, nodding once in gratitude. They both smiled back, returning the gesture.
* * * * *
Sheppard, Lorne and about a half dozen soldiers arrived at the scene moments later with weapons drawn and spoiling for a fight. Having heard the alarm, Teyla and Ronon arrived with them. The view that greeted them was not what they expected.
Rodney was sitting in a chair with Jennifer on his lap, her arms around his neck and his around her waist holding her like he'd never let her go. Peter Kavanagh was a few feet away sitting on the ground knees up, hands clasped between them. Petra had stopped struggling so he'd released her and she lay in front of him sobbing. He kept his eyes focused on her just in case. Katie Brown was sitting in the second chair, legs crossed at the knees, one foot swinging in time to an unheard rhythm and drinking from one of the glasses of cider.
"Colonel Sheppard, Major Lorne," Katie saluted them with her glass, "so glad you could join us. Cider?"
"It looks like they started the party without us." Lorne observed.
To which Sheppard replied, "No kidding. Sorry we're late. Traffic was murder coming through the downtown Mixmaster."
"So…who wants to play Charades?" Lorne added.
Rodney, Jennifer, Katie and Kavanagh exchanged glances, stared at the group of soldiers, Teyla and Ronon for a few moments, then they all burst into relieved laughter.
* * * * *
Petra was in the infirmary under sedation and under guard. Woolsey, Jennifer, Rodney, Ronon, Teyla, Sheppard and Carson were huddled nearby talking in low voices.
"We should have told the truth from the beginning." Carson was saying.
Sheppard sighed loudly, "For what it's worth, I agree with you. But it was Elizabeth's call."
"Aye, it was. Perhaps we can try to make amends."
Rodney growled in annoyance. "And why don't we just call up your mother in Scotland and tell her the truth?"
Carson rolled his eyes. "Its no' the same, Rodney, and you know it."
"I agree with Carson." Teyla said hoping to head off another of their "friendly" arguments.
"Did she take the assignment in Atlantis just to find out what happened to her brother or was that just a bonus?" Jennifer wanted to know.
Woolsey finally spoke up. "From what we could get out of her she didn't take this assignment for the adventure of living and working in another galaxy. Finding out what happened to her brother was her sole purpose."
"Okay. So how did she find out? I thought certain mission reports were classified."
"I had Radek look into that." Sheppard put in. "Apparently, like Grodin, she's a computer expert. First she hacked Dr. Keller's sign-on then she used it to get into the files and read the classified parts of the mission reports. It didn't really take long to figure out once we knew that we should be looking. She did it while you were on Earth, Doc. If she had also looked into the classified medical files then she would have known everything and this wouldn't have happened." He waved his arms at the universe in general. "And thanks to the grapevine she knew all about Drs. Kavanaugh and Brown and their past relationships with Rodney. The two of them arriving on the Daedalus gave her the opportunity to get her revenge while aiming suspicion in their direction and away from herself."
"She deserves to know the truth." Ronon observed.
"What truth?" The group turned to see Petra wide awake and watching them with alert eyes. They moved to stand at the foot of her bed exchanging a glance. Woolsey reluctantly nodded consent.
"Will someone please say something?" Her voice was strained and tense. Her dark brown eyes glistened and tears spilled down her cheeks. "I have to know. Please! Tell me what happened to my brother!"
It was heartbreaking to see and Jennifer placed a hand on her arm in an attempt to give some small amount of comfort even knowing that it wouldn't help. Petra was in the kind of pain that only someone who'd lost a loved one would comprehend.
"Please understand that, at the time, we did what we thought was best." She looked at her friends and colleagues who were silently giving her their support. Rodney reached out and squeezed her shoulder. She took a deep breath. "I know this will be difficult to hear, Petra but Peter…is alive."
TBC