A/N: Hello again! I've got a little bit of fluff and a little bit of peril. I hope you enjoy. Please read, review, and follow. Thanks!
"Well… it doesn't look like y'all burned the place down."
At the sound of her voice, Southern twang thickened by the week she had just spent with her family, Ronon smiled. He stepped inside from the rain-soaked balcony and into the main living area to lay eyes on his wife who stood at the threshold of the door, suitcases in both of her hands. Her gaze shifted from a critical surveillance of their quarters for visible signs of damage or neglect over to him. She dropped her suitcases and within the length of a breath, she was in his arms. They kissed briefly, then he held her close and for the first time in a week, felt whole again.
Eyes closed, he rested his forehead against hers. "Emma," he groaned, "never...leave...again."
She laughed quietly, the warmth of her breath wafting across his chest. "Why? What happened?" she asked with gentle amusement. They pulled apart and she stroked the birthmarks that dotted his cheekbone with her thumb.
Ronon gave a dismissive shake of the head.
"What?" Emma persisted. "What's wrong?"
"It's Eva," he revealed.
Her hand froze against his cheek and worry suddenly traced the lines of her face. "Is she okay?"
He nodded, blinking slowly. "You might wanna sit down for this one."
"Ronon, what happened?" she asked, ignoring his suggestion.
He scratched uncomfortably at the base of one of his dreads. "She stole a vial of the Ancient gene from the infirmary and injected herself with it," he took a deep breath, "and it took."
Emma's jaw dropped.
"Then, I confronted her about it and somehow we got into a fight about Allie."
"About Allie?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows.
He nodded and looked into his wife's eyes. "She knows, Emma."
She dug her hand into her forehead and looked fixedly at the floor.
"She's pissed. She feels betrayed, lied to…"
Emma glanced back up at him. "Where is she now?"
Ronon shrugged. "Probably blowing off steam somewhere."
Emma furrowed her brow in concern as she looked down at her watch. "Did she say when she would be back?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ronon replied with sarcasm. "She told me she'd be back around 10:30 in between the 'fuck off' and the 'I hate you.'"
"It's just…it's nearly her curfew," Emma observed.
"She'll be back," Ronon assured her as he ran his hand up and down the side of her torso, savoring the curve between her waist and hip.
She lightly traced the pattern of triangles along his left forearm with her fingernails. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that alone," she whispered as she stared intently at the tattoo.
He shrugged a shoulder and shook his head.
"I'll talk to her tonight."
"Wait till tomorrow. The yelling will keep up the neighbors," he smirked.
Emma peered up at him and allowed herself a reluctant smile.
"How was the graduation?" he asked in an effort to change the subject to something more light-hearted.
"It was nice," she answered. "She graduated with honors…top of her class."
"She must take after her mother," Ronon complimented.
"My sister must have raised her right," she countered.
He gave her a rueful smile. "You're too modest," he whispered. "You know she gets that from you."
"It's not modesty," she insisted and shook her head forcefully. "If I start to see myself in Allie, then I also start to see her father in her. And I don't want to see that." Her eyes were wide, lips pressed together in a tight line.
He sighed; the change in conversation hadn't quite gone where he intended. He started to brush a thick, errant lock of dark red hair from her face but as it caught the light, he took it between his thumb and index finger, narrowed his eyes and inspected it closely. "What did you do?" he murmured.
She pulled the strand from his grasp, then nervously tucked it back into her braid. "I didn't like the gray that was starting to come in," she quietly admitted. "So…I may have had my hair dyed while I was back in Texas."
"I thought we were supposed to grow old together," he teased.
Her expression finally lifted. "We both know you were always gonna get there first," she smirked. "And I plan on holding on to our five-year age gap for as long as possible. Now help me with my bags, old man. Unless you're afraid you'll break a hip." She smacked him swiftly on the backside, her green eyes glittering with mischief, before she headed toward their bedroom.
He picked up her luggage and followed. Though he was only a few paces behind her, Emma was already sitting on the edge of their bed, releasing her hair from its neat side plait. She raked her fingers through the long tresses, shaking out the kinks. "You sure we shouldn't go looking for Eva?" she asked.
"She's fine. She just needs some space." He took her hand in his, then pulled her up to her feet and into a tight embrace. He spoke quietly into her ear. "You get some rest and I'll wait up –"
The city-wide intercom crackled overhead. "General Carter, Doctor Keller, and Ronon Dex to the jumper bay. Carter, Keller, and Ronon Dex to the jumper bay. We have a situation."
Emma leaned back and raised her eyebrows at him. "And that's what? Coincidence?"
"Can we locate her by tracking her subcutaneous implant?" General Carter asked.
Dr. Keller was crouched down and tending to a slumped over scientist on the floor of the jumper bay. "I don't see why not," she answered, pulling her penlight from her pocket and shining it into the scientist's pupils.
"What happened in here?" Emma asked with alarm as she and Ronon arrived.
In addition to the scientist huddled in a heap next to Keller, another man stood silent in the corner with an ice pack pressed to his forehead. There were signs of a struggle and glass from a shattered tablet littered the ground.
Carter turned around to address them. "We're still putting some of the pieces together," she started, "but it looks like Eva got the drop on Finnegan and Kapur here, and stole one of the puddle jumpers."
"She what?" Emma hissed in disbelief.
"Are you tracking it?" Ronon urgently asked.
"That's what we're trying to figure out right now," Carter answered.
"Guess that answers our gene therapy inventory problem," Keller muttered as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the scientist's upper arm.
"Look, I'll go after her," Ronon offered. "Just get me a pilot."
Carter nodded in agreement but her radio activated with an incoming message before she could get her request out. "General Carter," a panicked voice said.
"I'm dealing with a bit of situation right now," she spoke into her earpiece. "Can this wait?"
"Ma'am, we've just detected a Wraith cruiser in orbit around one of our moons," the voice informed her.
As far as they knew, the location of Atlantis was a secret to the Wraith. Ronon's pulse began to rush and his stomach hardened to stone. If the Wraith could find the city, they could find his daughter out there, completely alone in an aircraft she had no idea how to operate.
"Cloak the city," Carter ordered.
"Already done, ma'am."
"Good. I'll be there in a minute," she said. "Get Sheppard in the chair. Ready the jumper defense teams and send them to the bay. Prepare the Hammond for launch. Everyone else to defense stations." She turned to Ronon and Emma. "I'm sorry, but I can only spare one team for you."
"That's all I need," Ronon nodded.
"If we do send the Hammond into orbit, I'll have them scan for Eva's implant and beam her aboard. Until then, and unless you hear otherwise from me, assume that you need to continue looking for her." Carter left in a sprint toward the direction of the control tower.
"Code orange. Jumper defense teams to primary jumper bay," the intercom overhead boomed. "Regular personnel to defense stations. Hammond personnel, prepare for launch. Repeat, code orange."
Emma turned to Ronon. "I'm going with you," she declared.
"Emma – "
"No," she interrupted. "I will not wait here worrying myself to death while you go out looking for her."
"If something happens to you…"
"Have I ever been a liability on a mission with you?" She stared up at him, her eyes alight with persistence.
"No," he admitted and shook his head. Emma was a quick thinker and a decent markswoman; she had watched his back and saved his life several times on expeditions when they were younger and he made sure to always return the favor. But that was in the past. Since Eva's birth, with the fear of loss always lingering in the back of their minds, they purposefully limited their joint missions. Ronon refused to let Eva be orphaned like he had been.
"I'm going with you," Emma repeated in a hushed voice, bringing her hand to his cheek.
He nodded. "Head to the armory and get ready. Meet me back here."