The cave was only the beginning. She struggled against her bonds, knowing that she couldn't break free. Still, she tried. The life of her closest friend depended on her. She tried to scream, but it never made it out of her mouth. How could they stop her from screaming? It wasn't right.

Marie had nothing to do with her work for the SGC. Nothing! No matter how hard she tried to tell them, they didn't listen. They pushed Marie into the room with her and bound her to a chair. Marie whimpered as the zip ties cut into her wrists, but they didn't care. No one cared anymore.

The questions began shortly after they bound Marie. What did she know about the Stargate? "The what?" Marie asked. When she didn't give them the answer they wanted, they hit her. No matter how many times Marie told them she didn't understand, they still found a way to torture her.

She watched as her closest friend sat in the chair, bleeding and unconscious. So close. She was so close to freeing her if she could only break out of the chains that kept her bound. If she could only escape from her tormentors, she could rescue her friend. Then, maybe they could disappear from this planet altogether.

But she didn't break free. They discovered what she was doing and made sure she was firmly in their control. Then, they tortured Marie until her weakened body could no longer handle the pain. As Marie died, she stared at her closest friend's broken body and wept. No one heard her.

Anna jerked awake, the slight breeze from Atlantis' cooling systems brushing across her face. She sat up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and stood. Marie had died too young.

Anna shook herself from the thought and checked her watch. Dawn was still four hours away, and she refused to wake anyone. She didn't need to talk anyway. She needed to run, to work, to escape from the agony that haunted her. She could always go to the lab, but that required a nighttime walk around the city. Atlantis was beautiful, but too many shadows lurked in her mind for her to be comfortable with the shadows around the city. Unhappy with every option, Anna sat in a chair near the window and pulled her knees to her chest. She stayed there until the sky began to lighten.

SGA SGA SGA SGA

The sunrise looked to be a beauty. Lorne stretched as he waited, hoping for company. He hadn't made the offer to Anna yesterday, but he wanted to see if she'd join him again. She was too withdrawn for his tastes, and he wondered if she suffered from severe shyness. No, that couldn't be the issue. Shy people didn't have that haunted look that crossed her face every so often.

Footsteps on the catwalk pulled him out of his thoughts, and he smiled as Anna walked toward him. Her face was haggard, and her eyes looked like she hadn't slept at all. He kept the smile in place as she stretched and prepared for the run. "Mornin'."

"Morning." Anna barely glanced at him, and he frowned. Her face was pale, making the circles under her eyes even darker.

Rather than leading the way like he had yesterday, Lorne let Anna set the pace. He'd been raised to be a gentleman, and he wanted to know if she was merely tired or running from memories. Based on her speed, the latter. She ran the track like a woman determined to put distance between whatever had caused those dark circles. When they finished, he offered to meet her at the same place the next morning. She said she'd think about it and left him alone. He stayed where he was, needing time to think.

Lorne's eyes went back to the horizon. He wasn't one to think too deeply on relationships. Most of his friendships here on Atlantis were with military personnel. As the second-in-command to John Sheppard, he had a surprising bit of freedom to go with the sometimes overwhelming responsibilities. He couldn't afford to let anything more than friendship and trust develop. It distracted him. So, why was he so enamored with Anna Travis? What was it about her that drew his attention like bees to honey?

The answer did not appear, and Lorne left the catwalk to shower and dress for the day. His team had been given two days of down-time, and he'd ordered them to catch up on their reports. He took his own orders to heart and settled at his desk, Anna and her past forgotten. He barely remembered to grab a sandwich for lunch as he plowed through the stacks of paper on his desk.

After work, he went to the gym for some time with the guys. His team normally met him there, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Colonel Sheppard just arriving. Ronin was nowhere around, so he grinned at the colonel. "Sir."

"Major." Sheppard watched as he stretched his shoulders and back. "You up for some competition?"

"If you like getting your butt handed to you." The banter was common among the men as they tried to talk the other into surrender.

"Oh, I think I'll be just fine." Sheppard bounced on the balls of his feet as they squared off. In truth, Lorne figured he'd wind up on the floor before the night was over. Sheppard routinely sparred with Teyla and Ronin, and those two members of Gate Team 1 were undefeated in the ring.

Sheppard lunged, and Lorne ducked. For the next hour, they circled each other, both taking and giving blows. Neither man minded the bruises this would cause. Lorne absently noted that Ronin had appeared and was watching from the corner. That moment of distraction cost him, and he landed in a heap as Sheppard took him down.

He coughed as his breath left him on impact. Sheppard stood over him, holding out a hand. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No problem, Sir." Lorne let the colonel pull him to his feet. "I should have seen it coming."

After catching his breath, he left the two men alone and headed for his quarters. His path took him down a hall out of the ordinary, though not unfamiliar. As he walked, he heard piano music. Lorne cocked his head, following the sound. It led him to a closed door not far from most of his team's quarters. He stood and listened. The music was loud, and the person obviously needed to drown out sound. Why else turn the CD player up so high?

The music stopped in the middle of the song, and Lorne frowned. A moment later, it started back up again, this time with missed notes. He blinked. Someone on Atlantis played piano? With new appreciation, he listened for a few more minutes, noticing that others did the same. The haunting melody reminded him of something he'd heard, and he had reached his quarters before he remembered the song. His sister had played the same song, albeit not as well, when she was learning piano years ago. It was by Beethoven. . . "Moonlight Sonata."

When he couldn't get the song out of his head after a hot shower, Lorne opened his computer and connected to the city's version of the Internet. Most of the information there was scientific or military in nature, but someone had taken hours to painstakingly upload a plethora of entertainment. He easily found the "Moonlight Sonata" and set it to play again. As he listened, he stood beside the window.

There was something peaceful about the way the moonlight glinted off the water behind several small spires of Atlantis. Lorne stared out the window, his artist's eye seeing the beauty before him. Rather than climbing into bed, which he knew he should do, he found the canvas he'd prepared for the next day. His easel and paints took very little time to set up, and he lit a lamp and darkened the rest of the room. Once the atmosphere had been set, he picked up a charcoal pencil and began to sketch.

SGA SGA SGA SGA

Anna let her hands fall from the keyboard of the electronic piano and sat back. She was so tired. Her eyes burned, and she wanted to fall asleep where she sat. But she couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Marie's face and felt the helplessness and pain again.

She jumped up from the piano, nervous energy replacing the exhaustion. Hadn't she come to Atlantis to escape from these memories? Why were they coming up now? She knew the answer to that. The cave had stirred them, and Major Lorne had inadvertently added to them. The last friend she'd ever had was killed before her eyes. That messed with a person's mind.

"I need to talk to someone," she muttered as she dressed again. Her civilian clothes, as she liked to call them, were easy to find, and she left her quarters for the halls of Atlantis. As she walked, she felt the stares of men and women on her. What was she thinking? Who in this great city so far away from any semblance of home would understand what she went through every night when she went to bed? While they lived and worked in a different galaxy, she'd been held hostage and tortured in ways that broke even the strongest men. She could still hear their voices in her mind. You're nothing, cattle, a piece of property. Those words brought tears to her eyes, and she found a chair next to a wall.

Dropping into the chair, Anna leaned her head back and sighed. She couldn't go on like this. She needed sleep. She needed someone to talk to. She needed peace.

"Hey." The abrupt greeting had a soft edge to it.

Anna opened her eyes, struggling with how they tried to roll back into her head, and stared at Ronon. "Hi."

He sat on the edge of the chair next to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." The lie slipped out too easily. Anna looked at him and realized he saw right through it. "Sorry. Habit."

He accepted her apology with a nod before bracing his elbows on his knees. "Look, I don't know you, but I know that expression. You're not the only one around here with a past."

But how many have a past like mine? She wanted to ask the question, but something else came out of her mouth. "Like you?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Like me."

For the first time, Anna realized what the other women of Atlantis saw in Ronon. He came across as a dangerous barbarian, but his eyes softened when he allowed them. She quickly came to understand that this man adopted family, and then he protected that family with his life. She smiled. "I'm sorry. I'm tired, and I had no right to snap at you like that."

Ronon shrugged. "I'm fine. You're not."

She hated that he pointed out the obvious. "I know."

"Look, let's get you back to your quarters. If you can't sleep, you can call me. I'll be up for a while." He stood and touched her shoulder as she rose. Then, he walked beside her all the way to her quarters. Anna tried not to smile as she realized that the women around Atlantis would likely be buzzing about the two of them within twenty-four hours. She didn't care. His gruff way of showing that he cared was what she'd needed. In her room, she slipped back into her night clothes and crawled under the covers. Rather than seeing Marie's face, she drifted to sleep with Ronin's green eyes smiling at her.

Author's Note: Okay, so I decided to make things interesting with this scene. At this point in time, the story could go one of two ways. Which one will it be? Review and let me know what you think.