Hey all. Time for a new update. This chapter is a little shorter than previous, just under 4000 words, but I hope you all like it. We're getting into the tags now, so I hope that you like this chapter.

Mail bag:

To BlueDragon007, thanks very much. I hate Kavanagh too and it just made sense for him to rub Sierra the wrong way. You'll be seeing a little more of Stackhouse and Markham I hope, because I liked them in the show. Hide and Seek is also my favourite of Season one, but it's also the last time you see Sheppard really enthusiastic and smiling. He seems to become quite reserved after that episode.

To jasminesmommy, thanks very much for you review.

To babygurl1944, thanks and I'm glad you liked it. I really enjoyed writing it, actually.

To baileylak, I'm glad you're liking this story. I thought it seemed like an O'Neill thing to try and bend thing his way, testing out the boundaries of his new found authority. I only brought Lorne in because I know he appears later, and that Sierra and his meeting in Pegasus will shake things up a bit. Don't worry, I won't be turning him into a jerk, or anything. I like him too. I actually enjoyed writing the part about Sierra and Mitchell's goodbye – I kind of felt it myself as I wrote it. But don't worry; I don't think that this will be the end of it. As for the thing with the jumpers, I thought that it seemed appropriate that since they were linked to the ships with their minds, that there'd be some kind of transfer back to their bodies.

To stargatesg1973, I would love to re-write all the episodes from Sierra's POV, but she's not really a part of John's team. She and him aren't conjoined twins, and they have their own lives and own adventures. The way that I'm writing it, is so that there is another side to the story, where we explore what happens in the wings. I think that I'd be crossing too many Copyright boundaries if I re-wrote the whole series. Plus, that's 100 episodes! That's a LOT of writing! Whew!

To EvilAngelsIceQueen, thanks very much. I really love hearing that people enjoy this story. It keeps me motivated to keep at it.

To Asugar, in this following chapter, we do take a bit of a side-long look at John's mishaps and adventures. I just hope that I've done it right!


-----Chapter 9 – Hide and Seek -----
Day 2 passed in a blurred frenzy as everyone tried to get settled and get as much of the equipment they had brought with them stored. At the end of the day, Sierra trundled back to her temporary quarters, exhausted, collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep immediately.

Day 3 dawned over the majestic city of Atlantis, finding the twins sitting on a balcony poring over personnel files. It was late morning and Sierra had met John for a late breakfast, confessing that she hadn't found the time to go over all the files. John, bragging that he had already submitted the names of his team to Dr. Weir, had offered to help. They had been at this for two hours now, comparing the soldiers and civilians and considering who Sierra wanted on her team. Since their first night on the expedition, when they had been charged by Elizabeth to choose three other members for their offworld teams, the captain had been fretting about who she would pick.

"What about DiNardo?" John asked. Sierra looked up from the file she was currently perusing. Between them were two piles of files; 'Possible' and 'Definitely No'. The 'Definitely No' pile was the larger of the two.

"What's so great about him?" Sierra asked, bored. It had been a long morning.

"Her," John corrected. "She's an Army sergeant from Italy... collage Major in Politics... loves spelunking. Hmm, she sounds like you'd get along with her alright." Sierra suppressed a shudder. Ever since collage Sierra had loved cave hiking. She had been a part of a club and everything. That was until a few years ago, when there was an accident. She and a few of her friends had been exploring a cave when there was a flash flood. Only two of the five had survived – and Sierra had been one of them. John had been in the Middle East at the time and she had never told him about it. The deaths of her friends, combined with her fear of drowning and being underwater had scarred her for life.

"...she also wants to be a politician some day," John was saying, oblivious to the fact that Sierra had zoned out momentarily.

"Put her on a diplomatic team, then," Sierra said quietly, turning her attention back to the file in her lap.

"Yeah..." he said absently. John was also going through the files, not only to help her, but to try and find a place for most the military personnel on offworld teams.

Sierra flipped back to the front of her current file. Harrison Cole was a British Air Force lieutenant who had no doubt been named by avid Star Wars fans. Cole was rated a damn good pilot and had seen two tours of Africa already. His resume was impressive and his previous CO's had nothing bad to say about him. She looked to her right, where she had set aside two other files; Sergeant Louis Stackhouse and Sergeant Jared Markham. Both those were marines, and very young. Markham was the only marine on the expedition who was a carrier of the Ancient gene, like Sierra and John. Setting Cole's file on top of those, Sierra suddenly felt old.

"You find the last one?" John said standing up and moving to sit down next to her to pick through her selections.

"Yep," she said, leaning back against the cool wall of the tower and closing her eyes. "Stackhouse, Markham and Cole. They're the ones I like."

John chuckled beside her. "That wouldn't have anything to do with their mug shots, would it?"

Sierra cracked an eye open and glanced at the files that John had arranged next to each other so the file photos were showing. Next to each other, the photos all looked like ones taken from a modeling magazine. All three men were young and very attractive.

"Aw," Sierra said playfully, "you know me too well." In truth, that hadn't been her intention. Sierra always picked personnel, students or baseball teammates based on their skills. It wasn't her fault that they always turned out being the hottest in their field. Besides, Sierra preferred older men, not teenagers, like so many of these recruits looked like.

"Anyway, like you can talk," Sierra continued, "you picked Ford and Teyla."

"And McKay," John interjected, "Don't forget him."

"Yeah, but that was an order from Weir – he doesn't count in this debate."

"Well, with those boys on your team, looks like you guys'll be winning the Pegasus Pageant this year."

Sierra laughed. "What're you talkin' about? You could win it on your own!" John made a fake outraged noise and Sierra only laughed harder. She roughly nudged his shoulder with hers as he chuckled with her. Soon the laughter died down, lapsing into comfortable silence.

Still, Sierra couldn't help but notice the slightly bitter taste to the relaxed atmosphere. Sierra had dreamed about this reunion for years, but she hadn't really wanted it under these circumstances. For starters, she wanted to be the one who told John about the Stargate and all the alien life out there in the galaxy. And she had wanted to share the joy of the 302s with him. Glancing at him now as he skimmed through the files of her new team, Sierra was just glad that she didn't have to keep any secrets from him anymore.

There was, however, something that she hadn't gotten around to telling him. Lieutenant Ford had brought up the subject of John's knowledge of her career at the SGC. Sierra had asked the young marine to keep it to himself until she had a chance to tell him. Obviously, none of the rumors from Earth had made it his ears yet, otherwise John would be grilling her about it right now… the hypocrite.

She glanced at him again and this time he caught her eye. "What?" he asked gently, clearly seeing there was something on her mind.

Sierra drew a deep breath as John's eyebrows pitched in the middle. "I –" Sierra tried to find the right words. She knew that there was no way that she could say it that wouldn't cause John to blow his top at her, so she figured it was best just to say it. "I… did something bad," she said softly. "I did something really bad."

John's expressive eyebrows conveyed his confusion perfectly. "What kind of bad?" he asked cautiously.

"Military bad," Sierra supplied. Then the words came, rushed and stumbling. "I had to do it; there was no way that I could just let it happen and not do something. I mean it was my fault, anyway, that he got shot down. If I had've been there with him, I might've been able to – but I wasn't so I did what I could –"

John cut her off with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Sierra – slow down, will ya. And take a breath." Sierra breathed. "Now, explain this to me slowly. And start at the beginning, for God's sake."

Sierra glanced at him nervously. "Promise you won't be too mad?"

John's frown was back. "What could you have possible done that would make me mad at you?"

She pursed her lips together. "You'll see." Sierra took another deep breath. "Well, it all kinda started when I got accepted into the 302 program…" Sierra gave him a quick run down of her missions with the Blue Phoenix squadron. She told him about her commanding officer, but omitted the bit about having an 'against-regulation exercise' with him, and then moved on to the incident in Antarctica. "He got shot down by a Death Glider and all I could do was watch. I felt so useless… so, I landed my plane, jumped out and ordered my co-pilot to leave me behind."

Sierra peeked at her brother cagily, waiting for the out burst. John, who had been silent and listening intently, suddenly tensed as the cogs and gears in his mind began to put together this information. The muscles in his neck tightened, his hands turning white as he balled them together into fists. He was suddenly on his feet, stalking to the opposite end of the balcony, where he grasped the balustrade tightly.

Sierra waited silently for him to calm himself. Unlike her, John didn't have an explosive and sensitive temper. But when he did get angry, there was nothing that could stop him and no where you could hide. Despite this, he didn't hold grudges for very long, so Sierra knew that once he had yelled at her then she didn't have to worry too much about him throttling her in her sleep.

Sierra waited for a long minute, watching as the muscles in his shoulders tensed, un-tensed and re-tensed. Biting her lip she suddenly realized that maybe this was something that would take a little longer for him to get over.

Finally he turned back toward her. "You –" He stopped his voice unable to shape the words. His eyes, however, conveyed everything he was thinking. Sierra cringed away from his intense glare. "You –" he tried again. He took a deep, steadying breath. "You… deserted?" He spat the word out with a hiss that stabbed Sierra through the heart.

She nodded stiffly. John abruptly turned away again, gazing out over the ocean. Sierra, who was beginning to remember the time when she had accidentally dented John's car and he had cracked up at her for it, tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. It was a reflex action, a defensive mechanism; a futile attempt to protect herself from the barrage of hate that was coming her way.

John turned back to her, his mouth open in readiness to dish it to her, and promptly snapped it shut when he noticed her position. As John shut his mouth, his face softened, Sierra couldn't stop the tears that brimmed in her eyes as she watched his expression change from anger to pity. Unable to handle the expression in his face, she dropped her eyes from her brother, focusing on a point on the floor. Self-loathing rose in her and a pain so fierce pierced her heart. The same pain she felt in the hospital.

She knew it was stupid and weak of her to cry, but she couldn't stop the tears that spilled over and ran down her cheeks. After a moment she heard John move away from the balustrade and walk over to her. He crouched down in front of her as she buried her face in her knees. Sierra didn't want him to see her crying.

"Sierra," he said softly. "I just… don't understand."

"You don't want to," Sierra mumbled to her knees, sniffling.

"Yeah, I do," John said, pulling her arms free from their grip on her knees. "Hey, I'm here, OK. I promise I won't get mad."

Sierra peeked up at him. "You did just a second ago," she said, sounding very much like a petulant child.

John smiled slightly at her tone. "I won't be mad anymore. Sierra, please…"

Sierra took a shaky breath and opened her mouth to tell him what had happened between her and Mitchell, but found she couldn't. An image of her CO, lying unconscious in the hospital, flashed before her eyes. She remembered with great clarity everything that had happened in the past year, and imagined what it would sound like to someone else's ears. 'I'm in love with my ex-CO, with whom I also slept with; who also put me up for promotion a month later,' was the first sentence that ran through her mind and she snapped her mouth shut. What more incriminating evidence had she left out? 'Oh, and I was drunk and mourning when I slept with him.' That made Mitchell sound like such a... bastard. And yet Sierra knew that he wasn't. Dashing her tears away, she cast a glance at John who watched her expectantly.

She knew immediately what he would think. That Mitchell had taken advantage of her, or coerced her, or something obtuse and untrue. That would be John's immediate reaction, his brotherly over-protective side raising its head. But Mitchell didn't deserve that; especially from someone who had never met him. Instead of telling John what had happened, Sierra lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"It's nothing," she said instead. "He just... he was a great guy. He was good to me, and I didn't want him to die." Sierra looked up at John sheepishly. "I mean, you went against orders to rescue two men you didn't even know..." Sierra petered out when she saw the ashamed look in John's eyes before he lowered them. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up, I just... I thought you might understand."

John raised his head again, looking at her for a long moment. Sierra knew he suspected that she was hiding something from him, and dropped her eyes. She shrugged as lightly as she could. "Doesn't matter anyway," she said softly, as the image of Mitchell in the hospital surfaced again. "He only just made it out of Antarctica alive, and there's a chance he won't ever walk again..."

"Did something happen between you two?" John asked, uncertainly. It took all of Sierra's self control not to finch as he said this, and shook her head. She didn't dare look at him in case he saw the lie there. John huffed, almost sounding disappointed.

"He's a good man, John," Sierra said, defending Mitchell. John looked at her for a moment.

"If he hurt you –"

"He didn't." That, at least, wasn't a lie. If anything, Sierra had hurt him more.

John set his lips into a slight scowl, turning down at the edges. "Fine," he said. He didn't say anything for a long moment. "He must have been a pretty great guy for you to desert for him."

Sierra narrowed her eyes, slightly. He was baiting her, she knew. John suspected there was more too it; he knew her too well. "Nothing happened, John," Sierra insisted, refusing to lower her eyes this time. "Stop jumping to conclusions, will you?"

It was John's turn to act like a petulant child. "Alright, alright. Sorry." John crossed his legs in front of him. "So, I take it you appeared before the J.A.G. after that?"

Sierra nodded and recalled the hearing for him. She told him about the President and O'Neill practically bailing her out.

"So that's how you got the Antarctica job?" John assumed.

"Yep. Part of my punishment." John understood that. Like she said before, John knew her too well. For a while they sat and talked about what happened during the Blue Phoenix missions and about Sierra's old squadron. She also tried to describe the 302s to John, explaining the handling and its capabilities. By the end of it, Sierra was almost sure that her brother was salivating.

Eventually, John's stomach growled and he insisted they grab lunch before he died from starvation. They dropped the remainder of the files off at Elizabeth's office and John waited patiently outside while Sierra gave the commander the names of her new team.

By the time they had finished eating in the makeshift Mess Hall, Dr. McKay managed to track them down. He was excited, out of breath and had a slight rash on his forearm. In the process of inhaling a power bar he explained to them that he had agreed to participate in Carson's experimental gene therapy and explained that the rash was a slight side-affect. Sierra tried not to roll her eyes. Anything to get the ATA gene.

The astrophysicist then dragged both of them off to his lab where he demonstrated some Ancient device he had found in some lab. Sierra didn't really pay a great deal of attention until McKay activated the device and began hitting himself on the head with a length of pipe. Both she and John were surprised when there was no blood once they got the pipe off him.

"See," he said, spreading his arms out. "No harm done. It's great, isn't it? It's a personal shield, I think. The Ancients made it. Pretty cool, huh? I'm untouchable! Hey, hey, hey!" McKay said backing away as John pulled his gun from his holster.

"I'm not gonna aim for anything vital," John said, flicking the safety off and pulling the trigger. The thundering bang echoed around the lab, followed promptly by a ricochet. Sierra watched as the shield around McKay's leg flashed green for a second and then flinched as a wall sconce on the other side of the lab exploded.

Sierra, suddenly feeling like she was in the presence of 5-year-olds, folded her arms across her chest while McKay yelled, "What, are you insane? You could have killed me!"

John was gazing at him somewhat in awe, and replied, "I was aiming for your leg. Relax, McKay; geez." McKay then seemed to realize what had just happened, and looked down at his legs.

"Huh," the scientist said. "Cool." He looked over at the sparking hole that once was a lighting fixture before looking back at John. "Neat."

Sierra saw a smirk spread over John's face. Oh, no, Sierra though.

"I've got an idea." Sierra winced.

-----XXX-----

When John started talking about throwing people off of balconies, Sierra cleared out of there, quick-smart. She wanted no part in it. Apparently it had all gone without a hitch and McKay had come out unscathed. It was a different matter for Grodan, however, who had ended up with a broken hand. Sierra didn't want to know how that had happened.

For the rest of that day, Sierra attended a few security meetings, had her first briefing with her team, who were all enthusiastic about being under her command, and had dinner with John, Ford and Teyla.

After dinner, Teyla asked both John and Sierra if they would mind telling some stories to the Athosian children. She said that Jinto, especially, was very interested in their world. John eagerly agreed; much too quickly, Sierra decided. She hung back a little as John walked beside Teyla back to the living quarters. She noticed that John orientated himself towards the Athosian leader slightly, paying her lots of attention. Sierra had seen this enough to know that John was flirting with her. Sierra snorted softly; typical. John's in another galaxy less than a week, and already he's turning into Casanova.

Sierra currently sat on a stool next to Teyla, watching as John told the story of Friday 13th to the entrapped youngsters. John had always had a gift with kids and Sierra thought that it was such a shame that he had never had any of his own.

"And when they finally thought he was dead," John said, in his best ghost-story voice, and flicking his flashlight on under his chin. "His cold dead eyes opened beneath his Hockey mask, and he rose up with his giant, bloody knife." John stood and held the flashlight like he was about to stab someone with it. And then, Jinto interrupted, the curious kid that he was.

"What's a 'Hockey mask'?" he asked. John froze, and then lowered his arm.

"Hockey's… a game…" he said, glancing at Sierra and then back at the small crowd of children at his feet. Sierra smiled. He really had no experience with dealing with aliens. The children were gazing at him with a mixture of confusion and wonder. "Players skate around on the ice and try and put a puck into a net?" More confused faces. John was getting a little frustrated now. "The Goalies' wear masks – it's really… scary…" John trailed off, realizing he had lost his audience.

"Tell us more about this game," Jinto's friend, Wex, pleaded.

"Can we play it?" asked Jinto.

John pulled a face. "I don't really see the fascination," he said, sitting on the end of the bed again. "Now football – that's a real man's sport." Sierra rolled her eyes at him. He smiled sheepishly at her before looking back at the kids. "But that's for another night."

Halling, Jinto's father, smiled and said, "Yes, bedtime." The kids all groaned and began to stand.

"And don't forget folks," John said to them, continuing in a slightly mystical voice, "tomorrow night, Sierra's telling a new story, called Nightmare… on Elms Street." Sierra blinked as all the kids turned to her in awe. She didn't remember volunteering for that. She took in the eager looks on the young faces turned toward her, and nodded. Soon the children were ushered out the door and back to their respective quarters where their families were waiting.

Sierra hung back a little, when she saw John stop Teyla in the hall. She watched them for a moment, the way that John touched the alien woman's elbow lightly, and brushing his shoulder against hers as they walked slowly along the hall. Sierra cocked her head, curious. She heard Teyla ask John about football and John led her away towards his quarters.

Sierra contemplated what this meant for a moment. She had definitely noticed an attraction between her brother and the alien leader, but she wasn't sure what to make of it. John could be very charming when he wanted to be, something that hadn't changed since high school, and could sway any woman with a well-placed smirk or gesture. Sierra didn't know Teyla that well, but had already surmised that she was made of tough stuff. She was a strong woman, a fighter, and a leader. Sierra guessed that she would be a tough cookie for John to crack.

Sierra wandered back to her own quarters, ready for bed after a long day and an emotionally tiresome morning. Thinking of this morning, made all sorts of unwanted images pop into her head and she tried to push them aside. As the door slid closed on her room, it suddenly seemed impossible. It was almost as though those memories lived in the dark corners of her room, waiting to pounce. They haunted her dreams, tormenting her with a happiness she could never have, and waking her with a pain that ripped her heart into a million pieces.

Sierra leant against the wall and sunk down to the floor. What she would give to turn back the clock and change it all. She'd make sure that none of it had ever happened, that she never slept with Mitchell, that she never even took this damn job; that she stayed in her classroom and never found out that this world existed.

The worst part of it all was that she knew she wouldn't. Given the chance to go back and fix it, Sierra knew that she wouldn't change a thing. She was glad she had taken the job that Kerrigan had offered her, and that she had been paired with Mitchell for the Blue Phoenix mission, and that she had landed her plane and saved his life. If she hadn't then she never would have been sent to the Antarctic Base, where she reunited with John, and came to be here, in this magnificent city. Sierra could feel Atlantis thrumming beneath her hands, filling her with a sense of security and safety.

Despite the fact that she wished that things were different, she was fairly content with the way things were now. Some day they'd be able to return home, and maybe then she'd be able to set things right. They probably wouldn't be better. But they'd be OK. For now, Sierra was content with that.

Some day.

-----XXX-----

A/N: As I said before, this chapter was written as an episode tag. A sort of behind-the-scenes thing. I had a bit of trouble with this chapter; I got a bit carried away to begin with. In the first draft, I had Sierra telling John all about what happened between her and Mitchell. This was OK with me at first, until I remembered Pegasus Project, the Season 10 episode, and that John and Mitchell get along quite well. So, in order to stick to my current mantra of not changing anything, I had to change it. I think it kind of works out a little better this way. It's truly a Sheppard thing to hide their emotions and try and bury them until they can deal with them in their own way. Plus it adds a bit of an edge to her character.

Also, thanks to Asugar, who gave me the idea of Sierra's notation of John and Teyla's attraction. Thanks heaps.

Any way, please stay tuned for more!