The man wasn't all that intimidating if I was honest, or maybe that was because I felt fearless at that moment, like nothing could stop me. Ronon stood to the side of the door, leaning back against the wall with his arms and legs crossed, his eyes staring intently straight through the guy infront of us. I was sitting in the chair across from him, ignoring how cold the brig was and the goosebumps it brought out on my arms. The man before me was as tall as Ronon, built like a boxer but so ashen and pale from being stunned he looked more like a melting snowman to me, sagging in his chair as he tried to lift his head. He wasn't dressed in anything out of the ordinairy, which is why I hadn't suspected him when I spotted him in the airport car park; looking back I realised that was one of the worst mistakes I'd made and it intensified the guilt niggling at me. White cargo shorts, timberland boots,white tanktop underneath his white button down - he was dressed perfectly for the heat we'd previously been in but in the cold brig on the Daedalus he was shivering. Or maybe it was just an after effect of the zat blaster. He had shaggy black hair, falling messily over his face since it had dropped out of the fluffy quiff he'd had it in, and his beady brown eyes were struggling to focus on me. When he finally spotted Ronon, he struggled to straighten out and collect himself.

Swinging my legs up onto the table I leaned back in my chair, trying to relax even though my muscles were as taught and as tense as a bowstring, and boy was I ready to snap at him. Glancing up at Ronon, I saw the unspoken promise in his eyes that he would do whatever it took to get answers, we all would, because none of us could bear to think of what was happening to Tegan right now.
"I won't tell you anything." he promised darkly, and I was suprised to hear a very familiar accent. He sounded so much like Rodney, and it suddenly made sense that he'd been counting a brief case of Canadian dollars when we arrived, just a second too late to save our friend. Pushing away the dark thoughts I focused on the man infront of us.
"That's nice." I deadpanned, "But just because you won't answer, doesn't mean I won't talk." he ducked his head a bit and chuckled lowly,
"I'm bored of your voice already." he was going to make this hard, I could tell. Before I could even think of how to begin Caldwell opened the door, the cold look of anger on his face making me groan mentally. The man perked up a bit, looking interested, but Caldwell didn't give him the satisfaction,
"Colonel, I'd like to speak to you privately for a moment." his tone was clipped, authority rippling from him in waves and reluctantly, I followed him out.

Teyla and Rodney were still outside, Ronon had remained inside and I was silently grateful. Ronon was an intimidating man, his physical form filled a lot of the room and the bits it didn't were filled with his silence, he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time and it was enough to creep even me out at times. "What do you think you're doing?" Caldwell demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at me.
"I think I'm trying to find my missing teammate." I retorted stubbornly, unable to say her name.
"I told you, Colonel, that somebody else would interegate him, you and your team are too personally involved in this case and what we need-"
"Is answers!" Rodney exploded suddenly. We all jumped, not expecting it from him. Rodney was mostly placid, unless he was worked up about his own problems or his possible death, but never had he exploded like that at Caldwell, he was too intimidated by the man. Caldwell's grey brows rose, his whole expression suggesting he didn't like being cut off like that.
"I wasn't talking to you, Doctor Mckay." he said coldly.

Rodney looked infuriated by that and I could understand why. This woman was his sister, his friend, she meant so much to all of us but to him she was something more. Who was I kidding? To me she was something more too. She was in my arms, I had her, I was holding onto her and when she needed me to hold tight, I had let her go. The guilt niggled at me again and I struggled to clamp down on it, the anxiety was starting to wear at me too and the long flight was catching up to me, but I forced the exhaustion away, I needed answers more than sleep because my imagination was running wild and I hated every second of what my mind was thinking up.
"Well you are now." Mckay decided, shrugging off Teyla's restraining hand and ignoring my warning glance. "This is Tegan we're talking about! This is my sister! That-that-that bastard knows who took her and maybe where she is! We can't just stand by and-"
"Mckay!" I barked. Rodney turned to glare at me ferociously but I glared back just as heatedly. Teyla's brow furrowed, her kind brown eyes looking between us concernedly. I'd never snapped at Rodney like that before but I didn't feel bad about it, he could screw up the whole thing now if I didn't stop him. Rodney's gaze locked on mine and a flicker of understanding flashed through his tired blue orbs. He understood then we were more than brothers in arms, we were two men looking for the woman we loved, granted in different ways but we loved her regardless.

Caldwell looked just as furious as Rodney had been, and I struggled to think of a way to calm him down...before an idea sprung to mind. It was perhaps a low blow, but I had to do something to keep him out of the way. Nobody on this ship knew what we were doing, why we were doing it, and it was going to stay that way because it wasn't our story to tell. But, that didn't mean we couldn't use other stories to get a little bit of leeway and leverage.
"Sir...you know what it's like to find a teammate to late-" he visibly flinched, eyes turning cold and his face going red, "-this mission we're on...if we find...Tegan, too late...there won't be anything to find." I had to force her name past my lips, past the pain in my chest. "How is somebody who doesn't understand the situation going to interrogate this man? We know what's happening, what we need to ask, you just need to let us." I insisted.
"Colonel you are way out of line!" Caldwell bellowed.
"Then court-martial me later!" I yelled back, "Every second we waste arguing is one step furthur away from finding her! We need to use all the time we have left and regardless of whether you give your permission or not, we're finding out what he knows and we're doing it tonight." I said firmly, bored of playing the hierarchy game.

Caldwell scoffed as I turned on my heel and placed my hand on the doorhandle, grabbing my shoulder and turning me around to face him,
"You know what the rules say Colonel." he spat. My eyebrows furrowed,
"Yeah, sure." I answered lamely. Caldwell shook his head,
"The frat rules." he amended, making me freeze. Closing off my expression I desperately tried to bury my feelings as far down and away from him as I could. Caldwell just huffed, frustration rippling from him in waves and a glimmer of triumph in his eyes, "I thought so." he shook his head, "Go ahead Sheppard, do what you need to do to find her. But remember that even when you do, you'll never truly get her back." turning his back on us, he strode back down the corridor and I faced Rodney's pale face next,
"What did he mean by that?" he sounded like he didn't really want to know and I ran my hand through my hair. I knew exactly what he meant: you can find her, you can touch her, you can help her recover, but you can never have her. Fraternization rules prevented military personnel from being involved with each other, so even if I did find Tegan, there was no way that I could get the girl. But I wasn't quite ready to tell Rodney how I'd fallen head over heels for his adopted sister, so instead I replied,
"No idea." and headed back into the interregation room.

Ronon gave me a look that spoke volumes and I ignored it pointedly, trying to ignore the smirk on the mans face too.
"His names Pierce Mathers, from that place Mckay's from." Ronon grunted, still not taking his eyes from the man. A small smile tugged at my lips, I knew Ronon could do it. Rodney would most likely be finding a laptop to do some research on by now, our job was to get as much information to go on as we could. Pierce Mathers stared at me,
"So you're willing to risk your career for her huh? You're whipped, man." he chuckled, shaking his head amusedly. Flopping down in the chair I narrowed my eyes at him,
"I'll risk my life for her." I corrected, "She's my friend, one of my team, we don't leave anyone behind." Ronon grunted in akcnowledgement and Pierce just scoffed,
"You won't find her anyway, he's too smart for you, I'll tell you one thing, scariest guy I ever did work for." he had settled back in his chair, apparently the effects of the stunner had worn off. Gary Murdale sounded it too, but I didn't need him to tell me something I already knew, we'd already wasted six hours of her time. Inclining my head I motioned for him to say more, settling in for the long haul with a man who wanted to be here about as much as I did.

Tegan's Point of View:

Something wet was being poured on me, I could feel it. Struggling to lift my heavy head I blinked open my eyes, suprised when both actually open. I was met with pale skin and startling red eyes, causing me to flinch backward and moan softly when my elbow throbbed again.
Shhh, sh sh sh sh, hush now Tegan." Gary cooed, stroking my wet hair gently and dipping a cloth into a bowl of red water. He scrubbed at my eye and I winced, struggling to hold still while my heart began to pound in fear. "I need you to have both eyes open Tegan, I need to be able to look you in both eyes, you understand?" he questioned, holding my chin gently in his hand. My whole body was throbbing, aching, hurting. I didn't have the strength to glare at him so I just watched him warily. All of the emotions I tried to hold back were crashing in on me again. Chest constricted with grief and fear, I struggled to take a shaky breath. Gary just chuckled at me, "You know I don't plan on killing you yet. I want to savour this moment." he sat on the table before me and I stared determinedly at the ground. How long had I been here now? Hours? Days? Where even was I? Was anybody looking for me? Had they recovered the bodies? Feeling deflated again I clenched the fist on my good hand to try and relieve some of the pain in my chest, then remembered that I didn't have a good hand anymore and clenched my jaw to keep from crying out.

Layers of my skin had peeled away and left my skin red raw; Keller would have had a hell of a job working on me. Something cold was wrapped around my ankle, soothing the burning I had felt there before and cooling me down a bit, but my elbow was still dislocated though, a major source of pain and discomfort that I knew Gary wouldn't fix for me, he was too cruel for that. "I heard that you had some friends with you on your way here." he said casually, trying to start conversation. The pain in my chest flared and I blinked back the tears threatening to form, "Infact, when you stopped off to ask for directions from that lovely older couple, you seemed quite close to one man in particular. Poor boy, it must be a struggle, loving you." he chuckled. Gary remained silent, humming thoughtfully when I refused to answer him. John. I missed him already, so so much, and the ache in my chest intensified when I thought of all I had lost. My parents, my grandmother, my friends, it was all too much. Gary sighed at me, clearly disappointed that I didn't want to talk. "Wait...are you, crying?" he asked, sounding amused. His booming laughter echoed throughout my tiny prison cell and made my head throb even worse than it had before. Jerking my chin up, Gary looked down at me through unforgiving red eyes and to my horror I couldn't stop the tears that flowed down my cheeks. I wanted to hit myself, I wanted to scream, I wanted to do something other than cry infront of my enemy.

Gary's crazy laughter carried on for what seemed like years, reboudning back to me off of the walls so I couldn't escape it. He was laughing, he had the audacity to laugh at me when he had taken away everything I loved? Anger began to boil up inside me and my tears turned to ugly cries of rage. I threw my head forward straight into his nose, still screaming like a banshee as I rattled about in my chair only to be stopped by the fiery throb in my elbow and the deep ache that run through my body; that eventually gave way to a strong wave of nausea I couldn't fight. I was so thirsty, my throat so scratchy and now I stank of vomit and my throat was burning from the acid that had ran up it. Great. My cries finally ebbed away and Gary was staring at me, pure fury in his eyes as the blood dripped from his wonky nose, I'd broken it and never had I felt somebody deserved it more than he did.
"That wasn't nice Tegan."his voice was thick, but I could still make out his words at least. "Now I'm going to have to punish you." he cracked his knuckles menacingly, and I cried out when his fist connected with my jaw, my head whipping sideways. Blow after blow his fists ploughed into my body, and I felt the bone in my cheek crack, sending another wave of agony rippling through me. My scratchy throat screamed for all I was worth, begging for somebody to hear me, for somebody to relieve me of this pain I was in but I knew it was futile. "I was trying to be nice Tegan!" he spat, "I was caring for you, looking after you! But fine, if you want to suffer, I can make you suffer."

He delivered another blow to my possibly fractured cheek bone but by now I was drifting in and out of conciousness again. Gary tipped the bowl of water onto the floor, the shattering of the clay bowl seeming like a deafening canon in my prison. He disappeared through the hole in the ceiling and I was once more left alone, his last words echoing back to me, "Suffer on your own!". I wanted to break free and bust my way out of here more than anything, but my energy was being sapped slowly by this torture and I was still handcuffed to the chair. Swallowing thickly I let the tears come again, knowing I was alone. I cried bitterly for what felt like hours, I cried because I was in pain, I cried because I was grieving, I cried because I was afraid to die here on my own. I cried and cried until my tears ran dry and I was left feeling numb, but despite the numbness there was the tiniest flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe somebody would still find me. If General O'Neill hadn't heard from me, he'd send someone to investigate right? If he could find me, I'd be able to rest up and heal. Once I was healed, I could come back and finish what I started. Desperately, I clung to that flicker of hope for all I was worth, knowing that if the flame died then I would die with it.