Reminder:
"This is spoken English."
"This is spoken Czech."
This is a thought.

Last time: After being told repeatedly that Anna was okay, Radek decided the best course of action would be to be to stick his foot in his mouth. Meanwhile… Anna has to deal with Kavanagh and Iskaan and dogs (since chapter 39) offworld (since chapter 37).

Chapter 41. Not Going.

"Anna. Anna…" Iskaan's sing-song voice pulled her from her dreams.

She opened her eyes to the pale blue of a pre-dawn sky. "Kolik je—" * Her throat was scratchy from the night air, her mind disoriented from her unusual location. It took her a moment to realize it was not Radek scolding her for sleeping in. "What time is it?" It smelled like grass and dew, not the sea-salt air. She looked toward Iskaan's voice.

"It's nearly dawn," he whispered, beckoning her to come closer. "Come, look."

Anna slowly sat up. Kavanagh was curled up in the corner, asleep. She crawled across the turret and sat next to Iskaan just as the sun was rising over the town. Bright yellow rays caught the early morning mist, and the world was silently asleep.

Anna peered down to the grass below them. "Do you know where the animals are?"

Iskaan shrugged. "Asleep inside, I imagine."

Anna glanced toward the hole leading into the ruins. They were probably going to be pretty upset when Major Rutherford and his team came to get them if that was true. "I wonder when Major Rutherford will be here."

Iskaan chuckled. "Had enough of offworld already?"

"No." Anna was quick to snap, but she suspected that Iskaan had already decided. Anna was too much of a homebody for this offworld stuff. "It's a little cramped up here, isn't it?"

"I guess." Iskaan looked around like he hadn't noticed it.

He grimaced when Kavanagh began to stir, and Anna got the feeling he remembered just how cramped it was.

Anna grinned. "Good morning." If for no other reason, Kavanagh would annoy Rutherford into launching their rescue mission. If anyone could do that, Kavanagh could.

"Oh. Right." Kavanagh grunted as he sat up and looked around. His hair was an absolute mess, as Anna assumed hers was, too. "That's what this is. A good morning." Kavanagh leaned his head into his radio. "Rutherford, this is Kavanagh. Where the hell are you?"

There was a moment of silence.

When Rutherford's voice came through loud and clear, there wasn't any doubt in Anna's mind that he'd been up for quite a long time, now. "The sun isn't even up yet, Kavanagh."

"Are you sure?" Kavanagh said. "Because I'm looking at it right now."

"I learned that in kindergarten. Don't look at the sun. Makes you go blind." Rutherford paused. "That explains it."

Kavanagh smirked as if Rutherford could see him, but didn't say anything else. Maybe he noticed Iskaan was motioning to over the tower's wall.

Down below and far away on the path from the village, three black figures trudged toward them. Iskaan stood and waved at them.

"Ah, is that you, Kavanagh?" Rutherford said as one of the black figured waved back. "We missed you, too."

Anna couldn't figure out if Kavanagh's smile was sincere or sarcastic, but she figured it didn't matter very much. Rutherford would probably assume the worst if he were here. But he wasn't, so it didn't much matter.

Anna sat back on the floor with her back to the wall and waited for any sounds of excitement. She heard rustling in the fortress beneath them, followed by the unquestionable echo of gunfire. The dogs yipped and howled in fright with automatic weapons' fire a backdrop. Anna told herself that Rutherford and his team were just trying to scare the animals…

"That was an adventure?" Iskaan said.

Kavanagh gathered his bags in anticipation of their rescue. "Adventure, yeah."

"This hasn't put you off going to other worlds, has it?" Iskaan looked to Anna.

Anna shook her head, hoping whatever than box was would be worth the night in the tower.

#

"I hope that's satisfied your desire to go to other planets," Radek said as he opened the door to their quarters.

Anna followed him inside. "I don't understand why you're acting like this. We were completely safe the whole time." It was good to be back in Atlantis, anyway. But she figured that if it was up to Radek, she wouldn't see anything more interesting than the endless ocean for the next ten years. So much for seeing the glowing rainbow pools.

At least Radek hadn't discovered the throwing knives… Wouldn't that be difficult to explain? On more than one count...

"You haven't been in the Pegasus galaxy long enough to think being trapped in the tower of ancient ruins and surrounded by a pack of wolves is 'completely safe.'" Radek turned to her. His eyes were still red and he sniffed every now and again, but otherwise he seemed mostly recovered from his illness. Besides the fact that she hadn't been "completely safe."

"Iskaan and Kavanagh were with me and the only thing they were concerned about was having to sleep on the stone floor," Anna pointed out.

"That isn't the point." Radek rubbed his eyes as though trying to ward off a headache. "It was a mistake to let you go in the first place."

"What?" She hadn't meant to squeal like that—absolutely juvenile. That was the last impression she wanted to give. "What do you mean? Ask Rutherford! We were completely fine!"

"I talked to Rutherford and he said those were the biggest dogs he'd ever seen in his life."

Anna hadn't actually seen the dogs, since they were all run off by the time she'd descended the stone ladder. In fact, from Anna's perspective, the trip had been mostly uneventful. "But Iskaan and his father are going to Arkos and he told me—"

"No," Radek interrupted.

"No?" She watched him idly go about cleaning a couple of mugs. "Iskaan says it's safe! Everyone says it's safe. Why can't I go? Please, let me go."

"I just want you to be safe," Radek said. "I'd rather you… If you go offworld again, you're not leaving your escorts, for one thing."

"I am perfectly safe, especially with Iskaan. He wouldn't let anything happen to me, I promise." It seemed like a big promise to make for someone else, but she knew he would approve if he were here.

It didn't matter, because Radek didn't approve. "Iskaan is just a child."

"No, he isn't," Anna snapped. "He's almost seventeen and he's almost ready to take on his own trading missions. By himself. Without his dad or anyone else." Except for an SG team, but that was more the requirement of the people from Earth. The people from another galaxy who didn't understand how this one worked. "Iskaan is basically an adult," she finished. "And they treat him like one." Anna would have liked a similar courtesy.

Anna felt like she understood, at least a little. Living on Atlantis was already starting to feel less like a very weird vacation and more like… like home. The Pegasus galaxy was just like any other place. Stick together, and don't be dumb. It was perfectly simple to keep safe.

"He might be," Radek said. He turned toward Anna and said with finality, "But you aren't."

"You're being strangely protective for having ignored my existence for eight years."

She regretted that as soon as she said it. She tried to figure out if Radek had something to say to that or not—and couldn't figure it out. Maybe he did. He just looked like he'd been hit in the nose. Or maybe like he was confused. Blinked once or twice.

"Maybe I'm trying to make up for it." He went back to his mugs. "You aren't going."

"But it's not fair!"

She spoke too quickly. She didn't know what she meant by that. Didn't know what was particularly unfair about it.

Radek glanced at her to ask, "What do you mean? What's unfair?"

"I already told Iskaan I would go." It was a lame answer, as evidenced by his immediate interest in washing the mugs again. But it was all she had. It was all she wanted—why did he have to lay down the law about this right now? "I have to go. I'm going to go."

Did he just laugh at her? It was a short sniff, but she could have sworn he wanted to laugh.

Outraged tears brimmed in her eyes.

"No, you're not going. There will be other offworld trips. Later."

Anna took in a quick breath. She knew that if she left the room, Radek would just tell Elizabeth she wasn't allowed to go anywhere and that would almost be worse. She stood there stupidly for—she didn't know how long. She was too angry for words, too angry for these tears threatening to spill over.

She hurried to her room before she did something even more stupid and tried to speak.

She knew one thing, though. She didn't regret that bit about his not being around for eight years. Didn't regret it one bit.

Czech Things

* "Kolik je hodin?" basically means "What time is it?" (It might be something along the lines of "How many hours is it?" or something like that. I have no idea. It's obviously not direct. I'm spending too much time on this…)

Next time: If only I weren't so much like you…