CHAPTER 52 – SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

He did manage to distract her for a short time and Teyla's cream was... therapeutic to say the least. But when he left her with a kiss to organise his security teams for an upcoming mission offworld, she escaped, tracking down Carson and combining her quick visit with him into a check up to make sure that there were no after effects from her head injury and to convince him to take a little trip that afternoon.

He saw the bruising on her body and winced. "It looks as though you have been on the wrong side of Ronon's hand to hand combat training... those look painful."

"Ah,not too bad Carson – really. They look worse than they feel..."

He tried to hide a smile. He had caught a whiff of the cream that Teyla used to help bruising and knew that many of the personnel had resorted to it's use, finding it did indeed manage to soothe bruising. He also suspected that someone other than herself had applied it as some of those bruises were in rather hard to reach places.

"Why do you want me to fly you to the mainland lass? Does the Colonel know about this little request of yours? I would imagine he doesn't otherwise he would be the one to fly you." Carson's eyes held a hint of humour. He knew how the Colonel could be and had been on the wrong side of his temper more than once and it took a brave person to stand up to him. Gina seemed to have more than just a hint of that necessary streak.

She filled him in a little on why she wanted to go – preferred that if he was going to get into trouble for taking her, at least he had more or less the facts and not some prefabricated story. He looked skeptical as she knew he would. He was a man of science also, and dealt in facts and proof – a theory about a little girl who may have slipped through a dimensional portal did not bear any weight with him, but he sensed in her the importance to find out this same thing for herself, so he agreed to take her. And possibly face the wrath of the Colonel. Fortunately he did have some supplies to take to the mainland and there were patients there whom he could check up on. It would certainly not be a wasted trip on his behalf.

"I have to admit lass, I'm concerned at your approach to this and Rodney's work and I have to agree with the Colonel. You'd be best to steer clear of the whole thing. Word is that Samantha Carter is taking over his research and she's due here in Atlantis early next week. Hand it over to her lass, she's had the experience in working with this airy fairy form of science. Leave her with the headache. I know there is plenty of proper science here in Atlantis that could certainly do with your tender touch. Right here in my lab in fact? I could find some research for you to do, things I have been putting off as I just don't have the time or resources to assign anyone to them."

Carson gave her a smile and without waiting for a reply he took her arm and ushered her out of the infirmary, heading down to the jumper bay.

She took Angel with her this time, knowing that the little dog needed a good run and the wide open fields around the Athosian settlement would provide a wonderful area for her to do just that. Carson flew, being a bearer of the ATA gene, he was one of the designated pilots in the city and she sat comfortably in the second chair, Angel on her lap. Carson cast slightly troubled glances at her from time to time. He was concerned for her, felt the pressure that she was putting on herself was too much and would likely come to a hard and perhaps somewhat nasty head later on.

Carson left her to attend to his own business and smiling at Angel's excited barking, feeling the more natural ground under her paws for the first time since leaving earth. She bounded off, all doggy excitement,nose to the ground, tail wagging and Gina followed along behind, heading in the direction where she had seen the little girl yesterday. There was no one else around, at least that she could see and for this she was grateful, free to do her own investigating without having to explain herself to someone else. She moved deeper into the wooded area that surrounded the fields, just as she had done yesterday and Angel ran on ahead, content to follow smells of animals her doggy sense seemed to recognise even though they would have been different to the squirrels and chipmunks that she had enjoyed chasing on earth. The woods were dark, and just a little eerie and she shivered in the cold, where the sun did not manage to penetrate. And wished that John were here with her.

What began as unease in her stomach rapidly escalated until spasms of pain began to clutch at her stomach and she had to stop and wrap her arms around it, as though to hold the pain in one place. She bent slightly, taking deep breaths, wondering if she had eaten something the night before that had upset it. The spasms were accompanied by sudden nausea and she dropped to her knees, now taking deep breaths and frantically thinking back to what she might have eaten to bring on this upset.

Reaching up a hand to wipe the sweat that had begun to dampen her forehead,she groaned,and saw the outline of something in front of her, something that shimmered then took solid form. A little girl. With long dark hair and impossibly blue eyes. She blinked and the form began to shimmer again,disappeared. Gina, attempting to push away the pain, reached out a hand and called.

"Please. I won't hurt you. Do you need help?"

She heard Angel barking and the little dog came crashing through the undergrowth,alerted to the sound of her mistress' voice, and the unease she heard in it. Pushing her wet nose into Gina's hand she turned and caught the scent of something that obviously scared her because she began growling and moved forward towards something that Gina could not see.

"Angel, come back. Be careful." She clutched her stomach, painful spasms giving little relief and tried to push herself to her feet, to follow Angel. She heard barking, then yelping and terrified now for her dog, she pushed faster through the bushes. The little girl stood there, close to the dog and was bending, holding her paw in her hand. Angel had gotten her paw caught in something and trying to tug it out had caught it further, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Who are you?" The girl continued to hold the dog's paw and looked up and the woman.

"Mummy? I've been waiting for you to come back. Where have you been?" The girl was older than she first thought. Small for her age, Gina put her at around five years old, possibly six.

"Are you lost? Do you want me to show you how to get home?" Curious now, and trying to control the pain in her stomach, she reached out to the little girl, gently touching the long dark hair that felt like silk beneath her fingers.

"I am home - I live just over there..." she turned and pointed beyond the trees at something that Gina could not see. "But you had gone and I was getting scared. I came to see when you were coming back."

"Sweetheart, I think you're confused. I am not your mother. I may look like her, but she is... someone else. When did you last see her?"

Tears began to form in the girls eyes. "A long time ago. Something happened and she left and never came back. I saw you yesterday - you look like her. I wanted you to be her."

"Oh baby..." pushing her pain aside, she took a deep breath and reached out for the little girl, folding her into her arms and holding her tight. She felt the little girl begin to sob and stood there for a long time letting her cry and rocking her gently. It had been a long time since this little girl had felt the touch of a mother and it felt right. Standing here with her in her arms, offering comfort and something more. Love.

Gina's stomach spasmed again and this time she could not stand with the pain. Keeping hold of the girl, she sank to her knees and bent so that her head nearly touched her knees and the little girl disentangled herself from Gina in alarm.

"Please, I think I need help. Can you go into the village and find the man who came with me. Find Carson. Please. Take Angel with you, she'll guide you there and back."

The girl backed away, afraid now, wanting to help this woman who looked so much like her mother. She turned and ran, Angel following behind and Gina rolled into a small ball holding her stomach tightly, listening to the sounds of their running growing fainter and fainter.

She must have passed out briefly. The sounds were back, louder this time, sounding as thought something significantly larger moved through the undergrowth. "Gina? Where are you, love?"

Carson. She breathed a sigh of relief. The little girl had found him and managed to bring him back.

"Here, Carson.." Speaking was a struggle but Angel heard her and bounded up immediately pushing her wet nose into Gina's face, then licking her all over bringing a smile to her face. Carson was on the ground beside her immediately, gently pushing the dog aside and rolling Gina onto her back.

"Where does it hurt, love?" His eyes dropped immediately to her stomach and the way she cradled it and saw the sheen of sweat on her forehead. Gently he removed her hands and replaced them with his own, pushing and palpating, causing her to cry out.

"I'm sorry, but I need to do this. Is there nausea, or just pain?"

"Both, but mainly the sharp pains. I think it was the mess food..."

He found a smile for her and pushed her damp hair back from her forehead. He looked around then,for the little girl who had led him here and looked back at Gina puzzled. "She's gone. Do you know where she came from?"

"I have a suspicion Carson..." her breathing changed as another spasm shook her and Carson cradled her against him now, waiting for it to pass. When it did, he rummaged in his medical bag that he had brought with him and brought out a hypodermic needle.

"I'm going to give you something for the pain lass, otherwise we'll never get you back to the jumper. This will work fairly quickly and you'll get drowsy so you'll have to put up with me carrying you I'm afraid. You were telling me about the girl?" He attempted to distract her while he readied the injection and rolled her to enable him to place it in her upper thigh.

"Those dimensial portals that Rodney was so cagey about. I'm thinking she's from another dimension Carson. The Athosians don't know who she is, and she told me I look exactly like her mother... the one who has been missing for a long time..." Her voice already had taken on a drowsy edge and Carson packed his things away and balancing both her and his bag, he lifted her into his arms and headed back to the jumper with Angel following. And churning over the concept that there was a little girl running lost around this forest looking for her mother. From another dimension.