When the Stargate activated and Elizabeth Weir heard Xander say that they had injuries, she just knew, John was one of them. He never let anyone fly his jumper unless he was too injured to do it himself. She immediately called Carson to the jumper bay and hurried to get there herself.

Cordelia had been in the infirmary getting her arm examined by Dr. Beckett, who was amazed at how quickly it was healing, when the call came in that the jumper was returning and that there were injuries. She followed Dr. Beckett to the jumper bay, praying it wasn't too serious.

"McKay, I swear, if you don't stop asking, I'm going to knock you on your ass. You do not have the clearance to know. Stop asking!" Jesse said.

"Humans can't do what you did. Which means you're using alien technology. I have clearance to know about alien technology. It's part of my job to know, therefore, you have to tell me."

"Alien technology has nothing to do with I did, McKay. You aren't cleared to know. Even if you did have the clearance, you probably wouldn't believe it anyway. Stop asking!"

"McKay, you're ruining our happy. Can't we just bask in the glory of our victory?" Xander asked.

"Glory of our victory. What the Hell is that supposed to mean?" McKay demanded.

"So sue me, I like Star Trek."

"Boss, permission to knock his block off if he doesn't stop?" Kyle asked.

"I'd like to say yes, but Jack would get stuck with the paperwork. Since we like Jack, we shouldn't do that to him. But, let's hold it as a reserve option."

The conversation Elizabeth heard as she entered the jumper bay was odd to say the least. Then Rodney spotted her.

"Elizabeth, make them tell me about the alien technology they're hiding!"

"What alien technology?"

"The one McNally here used to shoot fire out of his hands and make a shield around me."

Elizabeth blinked when she heard that. "How -"

"Don't, Dr. Weir. I'm sorry, but you really do not have the clearance to know. It's not alien tech. Leave it at that, okay?" Xander said. "Now, we could use a little attention here. We tangled with a pack of velociraptors. Sheppard got knocked out, he's still out, so you should probably check him first. It's been about fifteen minutes since he got knocked out. The rest of us got clawed up on our arms and legs. It's a good thing we had on our heavy armor. Those things were as tough as the Wraith. Oh, and we found four ZPM's. McKay's got them in his bag there." Xander added, pointing.

"Did you say velociraptors? And four ZPM's?" Elizabeth asked, astonished.

"Yes ma'am." Xander told her. "And Rhonda and I made the life signs detector do new tricks, which is contributing to McKay's bad mood, because it won't do those things for him."

"What kind of things?" She asked, curious, as Dr. Beckett arrived.

"Rhonda made it color code and differentiate between us and I made it show us where the ZPM's were."

"That sounds very helpful. Why couldn't Rodney do those things, though?"

"We're speculating that they're security features. Since Atlantis seems to recognize Protectors as being able to make decisions for Atlantis."

"Can you get the detector to do those things for others?"

"I don't know, we didn't have a chance to try. McKay challenged Murphy and we ran into the velociraptors."

"It is not my fault!"

Carson arrived during the discussion, but quickly tuned it out. Rodney fussing was nothing new. He sent Major Sheppard for a scan and began checking the others injuries. Clawed by velociraptors, he was told.

"Given how quickly you lot seem to heal, how do you prefer these be treated?" He asked Jesse.

"Clean them out and bandage them. No suturing, they'll just irritate the injuries." Jesse told. "I can help, I wasn't injured."

Cordelia ran up to Xander. "You messed with velociraptors?"

"Yep, and played dodgeem with a T. Rex. All in all, a good day."

"I married a crazy man."

"Yep, but you love me anyway, my Queen."

"Gods, help me, I do."

They all headed to the infirmary to get patched up, while McKay went to check over the ZPM's and Cordelia collected their weapons and took them to hers and Xander's quarters and cleaned them. Blood and guts, not so much fun.

After Sheppard woke up and was cleared to return to active duty, the Pack, Faith and Jesse returned to Earth. Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard going along so the IOA could do a review of the last year. Three ZPM's went with them. Atlantis seemed satisfied with two.

Once back on Earth, Xander and Cordelia promised to return if needed, and decided they needed a vacation. So they collected Abigail and headed to Baja for some beach time. After a week away they came home refreshed and sent Tor and Heidi off for their own vacation. Eventually everyone had had a little time off. They might have wished they'd stayed on vacation though, considering what happened next.