CHAPTER 16 – A CLUE IN THE PHOTOS

Hats off to his team. When they arrived back at the conference room with her camera, flashdrive and full memory card, Rodney had set up the screen as asked and they deliberately avoided staring too hard at her face, where the obvious signs of a melt down were showing. Teyla had simply laid a hand on her arm and tipped her face close to Nicole's murmuring her support should she ever need it. John had waited proudly as the team had rallied around, each had known that somehow she had become a part of their small group and would take her under their wing as they would any other injured bird.

"Pass the drives and cards over here Nicole... I'll get it set up for you. Happy to run it and you can talk us through the photos, tell us the when and where. That work for you Colonel Sheppard? Hey, Sam... glad you could join us..." Rodney's patter was welcome, filling the quiet and giving Nicole time to gather her thoughts and her emotions together. Sam stood in the door looking quietly around at those gathered in the conference room, took in the dried tears on Nicole's face and sent raised eyebrows in John's direction. His responding look quite clearly told her to back off for now and she gave a small nod before replying to Rodney.

"Rodney. I thought I had better come along check out these photos myself. Nicole? Carson wants you back for a check up later on today. Ok?" She watched for Nicole's reaction, attempting to read between the emotions to see what was really going on inside her. She needed to have a chat with John, in private to make sure that Nicole had the necessary support. As base commander, all personnel were under her jurisdiction, and that included drop in guests such as Nicole.

The first series of photos began running across the screen. The colours and definition of each photo were stunning, exceptionally so. They had asked her to go back several days prior to her arrival in the Triangle and she did as asked, and the photos included mostly scenery as this was her particular specialty, however there were many with various people and it was these in particular that both Sam and John were the most interested in.

A group dinner on the night prior to her departure to the Triangle caught John's eye first. Letting a few more shots go by he spoke up. "Rodney. Pause that one for a moment... yeah, that last one with that group of people standing on that wharf. Nicole? Where did you take that one?"

She peered closer and a small smile came to her face. "We were loading gear onto the boat and one of the crew had slipped and fallen into the water. I wanted to capture some of the expressions on the people that were around at the time. I had thought about working on a photo essay that dealt exclusively with a range of emotions, and for some reason, this particular incident appealed to me. That man over there? The one in the jeans and white tshirt? He wasn't a part of the crew, at least he didn't appear to be. He followed them around as though he knew them, but a few things that he did and said made me think that he was just along for the ride. To be honest, I didn't give it a lot of thought. At least, until I looked at this picture."

John stood up and went to stand behind her chair, a hand resting gently on one shoulder. "Do you remember his name, Nicole? Were you ever introduced to him?"

She took her focus away from the screen and gave him a slight look over her shoulder. "No... not that I can recall. But that was not so unusual. I didn't get to meet all the crew, just the captain and several of the deck hands who I had the most contact with. Let's see if he comes up in any of the other pictures. Rodney?"

"Onto it..." The photo changed and John flicked his glance down to Nicole's face, noting the intensity of the expression. She was back in her element. Her photos, her world. This had been the right thing to do and John felt a brief moment of satisfaction.

Several photos later and he did not appear again. The others in the room appeared spellbound by the quality and beauty of the photos, especially Teyla who had longed to visit earth, having heard so many stories about the beauty of the landscape.

Nicole pushed out of her chair and paused thoughtfully in front of the screen, cocking her head sideways as though in thought. "Rodney? Go ahead a few more shots... I'm starting to remember something. Something that may be important."

Rodney did as instructed and once again, the man in the jeans and white tshirt appeared in one of the photos. It was a glorious sunset, taken the following day after the boat had set course for the Triangle and she had wanted to capture both the colour, but also the reaction of those who had been watching that same sunset with her. But what stood out in far more brilliant relief was the fact that the mystery man was not watching the sunset. He was watching the photographer. And because her focus had not been on the man, she had not noticed. Until now.

"John? That man. Look at his eyes. He doesn't know I'm including him in the photo, look at the way he is looking at me... hell." She flicked a hand through her hair and turned to look at John, surprise and a little anguish on her face. "Is that him? The one who pushed me overboard?"

He didn't answer her right away. "Rodney, can you enhance the photo, so that we can get more definition on the man, and less on the scenery."

"I'll have to upload the photo into another programme Colonel. Give me a few minutes, but it might be quicker if Nicole plays around with it perhaps? More her department I would imagine."

"Nic?" John wanted to give her the chance to either accept or decline, knowing that her own natural curiousity would likely ensure that she accepted the request.

"By all means... load it in Rodney, and I''ll play around with it." She moved over to where Rodney worked, standing close beside him and watching his fingers as they flew over the keyboard. Once he had uploaded the photo to a special programme he stepped back and let her take over, his own admiration coming out as he stood near and watched her work. Her deft fingers quickly brought up his image, increasing the pixels and taking out some of the background with rapid efficiency, so that within minutes that had a clear face on the computer screen, and punching a few more buttons, she managed to get the image transferred to the large projection screen so that the others could see clearly, the face of the man who had likely been responsible for her arrival in Atlantis.

John hissed in a breath and Sam flicked a sharp glance at him. "John? You know this man?"

"Know him? Hell, Sam... I served with him. In Afghansitan. And I'm guessing that he's not out on that boat for the scenery... He lost it over there. Had a melt down and had to be sent home. Rumour has it that once he was released from the military pysch ward he went darkside. Independent contractor, freelance soldier of fortune."

"I need a name John, then I'll get Jack onto it. We need to find out what he is up to and who he is affiliated to. Freelancer, or association. But I'm guessing he's just a small rung on a rather long ladder and we are going to have to do some serious climbing if we want to find out who resides at the top. But it's a start and if we can start following the inevitable trail... and there will be one – then we can start reeling them in. Good work team." Sam tossed a smile in Nicole's direction and went to leave the room, noting that Nicole had once again become engrossed in her photos and had continued running them through the projection screen, head tilted slightly to the side as she flicked through them one by one.

"Those photographs are beautiful, Nicole. We do not have the ability to capture true life in such a way on my world, and this is like participating in a little part of earth's history. Of earth's present. How gifted you are to be able to portray true life in such a wonderful way." Teyla stood beside Nicole, and John watched the two woman, both so very different as they bonded over something was was a way of life for one, and something entirely alien for the other.

"Thank you Teyla – these are my passion. They are who I am and any photographer worth their salt always leave a little piece of themselves in every picture. Or so they say..."

"I think that is indeed the case, Nicole. I can sense your personality in some of these photos, your sense of humour, your outlook on life. It is reflected in the way that some of the scenery and subjects have been portrayed and I can see the passion you have for this skill. We can be very fortunate if our life's work is an extension of who we are, as yours seems to be."

John saw Nicole's body momentarily still, and the face of a dark haired man, head tipped back in happy laughter, filled the screen. Nicole was mesmerised for a brief moment, and then suddenly galvanised into action, she leapt from her chair and stopped the show of photos with an impatient flick of her hand. She didn't stop, continuing her momentum so that she pushed past him with a distracted look on her face and moved quickly out of the conference room and into the hallway without a backward glance.

With a flick of his eyes at Teyla who simply shrugged her shoulders, he swore briefly and turned to follow her, determined to get to the bottom of what had upset her.

"Nicole. Nic... wait! Damn it. That photo... who is he?" He caught up with her and reached out for her good arm, insistently pulling on it to make her stop. She did, but refused to turn and meet his eyes, looking resolutely ahead for a moment, then dropping her chin so that she looked down at the ground. His hand slid down her arm and linked with her fingers, tugging gently so that she moved backwards slightly and came up against his body. He allowed his hand to band gently around her hip, dragging her closer and felt her sigh as though she had decided something.

"What is it Nic. Tell me who he is..."

"Was, John. He's gone... fate stepped in and made sure that the one person who brought any light into my sometimes dark world was taken away from me..." Her voice was calm, but he felt the tremor in her body and tightened his grip knowing that she wanted to run. He wasn't going to let her. Not this time.

"How, Nicole... how did it happen. Tell me, talk to me... let me in."

He felt her body sag slightly and kept his touch on her firm. "Short story, John. We were out on assignment, investigating the diamond mines in South Africa. There was an accident. An explosion. Our jeep flipped and I'm alive and he isn't. End of story."

A warmth stole throught him, unbidden and knew that the story was not a short one, but a lengthy chapter in a long and wonderful story, the story that was her life. But she had categorised it for now, compartmentatised it to a shortened version that she could deal with And he would leave it at that for now. For now. One day, she would tell him the details and take on some of that pain that filled a good portion of her soul.

"Aahh Nicole, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I can only imagine what your life has been like since that happened. But I need you to know... there are others who would be happy to try and bring light into your darkness, if you'd give them a chance."

She looked at him then, really looked at him – and he saw the spark that lit those beautiful chocolate eyes and knew without a doubt that she'd let him be the one. Soon. When the time was right.