Chapter 13: Leaving the Mountain

He really wasn't sure what to make of Alex once they were out from the depths of the mountain. Alex had remained remarkably calm and collected throughout everything – outrage that he had been sent to space notwithstanding – and had agreed far more readily than Byrne had ever indicated he would.

John hadn't even had to bring out the bigger incentives – the ones he knew tended to attract those that were engineering inclined. Not that John really knew much more about Alex's background – ex-spy, currently in college – so whether those incentives would've really worked... who knew.

Once they were set loose, things became a little more complicated.

Major Davis – Paul – was a saint. And very on top of things. General O'Neill had clearly planned things out, because there were two duffels with civilian clothes and casual identity cards that would stand up to limited scrutiny. Hence the no speeding comment. But they would both be able to move about without being outright tracked by the Trust.

Hopefully.

John had a feeling that O'Neill had his fingers on more than a few ultra-secure identities – aliens did visit the country occasionally, after all.

After changing into civilian clothes, Alex looked a lot more like the teenager that he was. Major Davis had even gone so far as to find him a hoodie. John was almost jealous.

The car was rather generic and nondescript. It would be good for getting in and out of towns relatively unnoticed.

John threw his duffel into the backseat and waited for Alex to do the same. Since Alex didn't yet have any of his own belongings, they at least didn't need to worry about the Trust tracking them that way. Alex's apartment would probably be a different story. Major Davis though had thought of everything and John had a handful of ancient scanners and debuggers to use.

In the car, John reached into the glove box and pulled out a phone and a watch. He handed the watch over to Alex. "It got a beaming locator in it." At Alex's puzzled look, he kept explaining. "The Daedalus is in orbit right now, so if something happens, they can beam us up to the ship."

Alex's skeptical expression didn't change a whit while he buckled the watch onto his wrist. "And yours?"

"Got a sub cue." He wasn't about to open that can of worms, but figured Beckett had his work cut out for him in convincing Alex that he really needed to get one once they were on Atlantis. It was a requirement if anyone was planning to go off city.

"Right." Alex shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. "And no one can hijack those?"

"Only Rodney. And he's in another galaxy. And one of the good guys." Most of the time. Really, the world would be in a lot of trouble if Rodney decided to defect to the dark side. Reality was though, his moral compass was pretty well established. He had little tolerance for idiocy, after all.

The car settled into an uncomfortable silence as John moved it into gear and pulled out of the base parking lot. Based on the little touches, someone had been kind enough to donate their own personal car to the cause – and probably got a brand new one in return. Major Davis thought of just about everything.

John received a brief nod from the private on duty at the gate, but their leaving was about as low-key as it could get. The drive down from the mountain was familiar – he had spent some time in Colorado Springs before leaving for Atlantis and then there were those awkward months that they had been all but punted out of Atlantis – so he knew turning north on to I-25 would be the best start to their route, but…

"You any good with maps?" He probably should've asked Major Davis for an itinerary. He supposed it made it even more difficult to track them when even they didn't know where they were going.

"Umm… sure?"

John chuckled to himself, then nodded toward the backseat. "No time like the present then, map is back there. Find us the best way to San Fran, while sticking to major roads. We're heading north to Denver, right now." It was a risk, of course, but it would also be the most efficient way to get there. O'Neill might've given them a week, but it would take at least two full days of driving. And it wasn't like he could let Alex drive.

Alex grabbed the map and John could see him tracing lines between cities, making adjustments and calculations.

The kid just needed a task.

He had made it as a spy for years, after all.

Yeah, it wouldn't be too bad.

They really needed to stop for the night.

John knew his limits and given everything that had happened in the past few days, he was far beyond those limits. He needed a full night of uninterrupted sleep – which he wasn't going to get, because sleeping in an unfamiliar place without any of his team was going to be nerve-wracking. Not to mention it was who knew what time in Atlantis currently. His internal clock was completely thrown off.

He cast a glance at Alex who, sometime in the past hour, had slumped against the window.

At least someone was getting some sleep.

They had passed the Welcome to Utah sign nearly an hour earlier, but it had just felt too early to tap out. The sun had still been up.

Of course, there was practically nothing past the Utah border on their route – not until they reached Salt Lake City. Even that was still another couple of hours away and John doubted that whoever had lent them the car really wanted him dozing off behind the wheel.

And O'Neill would never let him live it down.

They just needed to implement puddle jumper technology into cars. Then they would have self-driving cars and John could snooze as much as he wanted.

He shook himself, before reaching over and turning up the air conditioning.

He was out of practice. Atlantis was making him crave the creature comforts of a reasonable sleep cycle in-between crises. And there the crises didn't usually tend to last much longer than 72 hours, or they would all be dead.

This was just another prolonged crisis.

There were nothing but hills around them – at least, he assumed so in the dark – but when a sign came up proclaiming the town of Green River, he took the exit. It looked like there was some hope of life there.

"Huh?" Alex shook himself awake, noting the slowing of the car as they came down the exit. "Wha—?"

John flicked on the blinker, turning in the direction the sign claimed there was a town. It was flat and the only clue that they were going in the right direction were the scattered signs that proclaimed gas and lodging. In a few miles…

"We've gone far enough for today," John said, turning on the high beams, now that there was no oncoming traffic to worry about.

No traffic at all.

If he were truly paranoid, he would be worried. But this was the middle of nowhere Utah. If the Trust had tracked them here, there wasn't much they could do anywhere.

"Oh…" Alex yawned, then looked around a little more earnestly. "Not sure I've ever been somewhere that classifies itself as small town America."

John quirked his lips. "Not much you're missing, honestly." They turned a long corner and there, almost right in front of them, a motel popped out of nowhere. "But the good news is, there's almost always a room available." And middle of October wasn't any sort of tourist season these days.

He pulled into the motel, noting the slightly dilapidated trim around the office. It wasn't the greatest, but then, he had definitely stayed in far worse accommodations on other planets. Threats of bedbugs and uncomfortable mattresses were the least of his concerns.

And it was right next to a gas station. Couldn't be better.

John turned the car off, then glanced over at Alex. "Let's grab the bags, they've got vacancy." And he wasn't about to add that he wasn't quite comfortable with letting Alex out of his sight for even a few minutes. Not paranoid, but paranoid.

Alex looked the perfect role of grumpy teenager – and god, did John hope that was mostly an act – as they went through the check in process. Dilapidated though it might be, the inside was in good enough repair that John didn't think they were immediately going to get ill, and the room doors opened into the building. Not good for an quick escape, but good for keeping any unwanted guests a little further away.

And they had all the Ancient devices.

After parting with over $100 – highway robbery for this part of the country – John took the key and led the way back to room 106. Two beds, even. It was practically high class living. He had shared more than one bed on missions, so there were some definite perks to traveling on the general's dime.

Alex took one of the beds without even asking and flopped down on it, shoes and all. "Dr. Lam is a sadist. She got me hooked on the good stuff."

John chuckled, then searched in his bag for the pill bottle she had shoved at him on his way out. He shook the bottle enticingly, then tossed it in Alex's direction. "Two, only. It's not actually addictive, but since we're estimating seven or eight shocks within a three-day period, your body isn't just going to get better overnight." And really, that was a very conservative estimate. The fact that Alex was missing so much more time, but there were no signs he had ever been drugged, was concerning.

"Had better wear off soon," Alex grumbled, but knocked back a couple of pills with no complaints.

John rummaged through his bag some more, pulling out a couple of the devices Major Davis had packed for him. Most, he was familiar with – life signs detector, field generator – whereas others were a little more unfamiliar. The Asgard anti-bug device was one he knew the general preferred, but personally John preferred the Ancient version. Which, of course, they didn't have in this galaxy.

He glanced over at Alex, who was watching him carefully.

Who also had the ATA gene and might as well get through a couple of ATA 101 sessions before getting to Atlantis.

For his own safety.

John waggled the field generator in Alex's direction. "Want to learn how to use this?"

That got a response out of him.

John passed the object over. It was safe enough that it wouldn't actually do anything bad if Alex hit too many virtual buttons. "First rule of dealing with Ancient artifacts, only think on if you know it's safe. That means someone else with more experience tells you it's okay to touch. We've had a few… incidents from unregulated turning on."

Alex turned it over, peering at the oblong object. Surprisingly, he somehow managed to rein in the initialization urge, because it stayed dead in his hands. If there hadn't been such a strong response to him at the SGC, John would've thought he had no gene. So, maybe it wasn't that strong…

"Once you've got the okay, think on and the sort of… feel out with your mind the purpose of the object."

There was almost an instantaneous hum present in the back of John's mind. Familiar. Warm. He had gotten used to it on Atlantis, but the SGC frowned on personnel keeping artifacts in their visitor quarters. It was a constant companion in the Pegasus galaxy though, even off world because they always had some Ancient technology with them.

It wasn't until he was so far away from it that he was reminded of how familiar it had become.

"Do you feel the hum?"

Alex nodded.

"That's normal. It means it's in a powered on mode, but not necessarily completely active. In Atlantis, you get used to the background hum of the city – it's all Ancient, after all." John pressed his hand to the device, thinking a few commands at it. Expand. Block. Filter.

"Whoa," Alex nearly dropped it, but caught it at the last moment. "What did you just do?"

John smirked, then settled down onto the bed. "Tell me what it's supposed to do, first."

That earned him a small scowl. It was no surprise when Alex closed his eyes to think about it – a common technique used by those first learning the technology. Over time, he would no doubt learn that cutting out visual input did absolutely nothing to help with filtering through the strange commands coming from the devices.

"It… protects? Like a… uh… holey shield? That doesn't—"

"More or less. It lets sound in, but not out. Doesn't do too much against physical attacks, but does create a barrier around us." It was a relatively new find on Atlantis and Rodney had bemoaned the number of times it would have come in handy previously. "What are the limits?"

Alex's brow scrunched up again, before he turned to look at John. "Fifteen… uh?"

"Ancient unit of measure. Roughly the size of the room." He took and traded it out for the life signs detector. "Try this one." He placed the field generator to the side of his bed. He would keep a mental eye on it overnight.

Alex turned the detector over in his hands, before seemingly cautiously poking it awake with his mind.

So hesitant.

It reminded John of Carson. So worried he would make a wrong move and set things off. "Don't worry, I'm not giving you anything dangerous." Not like the prototype Jackson had inadvertently rolled across the floor to Alex. It was a good thing John had been there to convince it to go back to its inert state. "Just turn it on and let it do its thing." Life signs detectors didn't do any good against cautious startups. It needed full power to do anything.

After a moment, it hummed to life, settling into the background noise. John couldn't help the fizzle of satisfaction at watching Alex explore the device. Usually by the time he saw people work with artifacts, they had had months of dealing with them and had lost that initial wonder at being able to control things with their mind. They were also usually at least ten years Alex's senior…

"Whoa," Alex peered closer, poking at the screen. "It shows... people?"

John glanced over his shoulder and saw that Alex had zoomed in on their location. The device didn't know where the walls were, but it was clear that there wasn't anyone in their immediate vicinity. "Life signs, actually. Very useful for, uh, alien planets where not everyone is quite as friendly as they seem."

Alex nodded, "Could've used this a couple of times."

And with that one simple sentence, the facade of a normal teenager disappeared. Because Alex had been in situations where his life had been on the line. And not because he had wanted to, but rather because he had been forced to.

Maybe Atlantis would be a quieter life for him, after all.

"And you've got these kinds of things all over… Atlantis?"

John nodded, though he figured he shouldn't go about talking about too much classified information in an insecure location. Even if they had killed all potential bugs in the room. "It's why people have to be careful about what they touch. The Ancients left behind a lot of gadgets and devices, but they also weren't the most careful in their research. Some of it has become corrupted over years of misuse, while others have just always been dangerous. The first year or so, we… definitely touched a few things we regretted."

Alex made a face at that, then handed the device back over. "So, it's never boring, then."

"Never." John activated the Asgard bugging device and placed it on the bedside table. Their transmitters would be the only thing the Daedalus could pick up from their location. "But there have been a lot of improvements made in the past few years, to make it safer. One of which is ATA 101 upon arrival."

"ATA 101?"

"What to do, what not to do, who do call in case you get yourself in trouble. There's at least a couple with every batch of newbies that end up where they shouldn't. They also tend to be the ones that ignore their gut feeling, so…"

Alex flopped back down on the bed and gave John a lazy grin. "I could probably teach a class on gut feeling 101." He studied John closely, before seeming to relax into the bed. "So, what's the catch?"

John raised a careful eyebrow. "Catch?"

"There's a reason Atlantis isn't a utopia. Those… ancient dudes were run out by someone, so…?"

Well.

Maybe in fast forwarding he had accidentally skipped some of the important bits… "The big ones? Space vampires."

"Space vampires?" Alex deadpanned.

"Wraith, if we're getting technical. They do this…" He held out a hand in front of himself. "Sucky thing with their hand. Feed off of human life force. Not a fun way to die. Don't recommend it." Though to be fair, they hadn't had too many run ins with the Wraith in the past year. Losing three-quarters of their population on a suicide run to earth had put a bit of a dent in their quest for galactic domination.

Also the reason the Trust thought Atlantis was even more of a target now.

Alex just blinked at him, before settling back against the pillow and staring at the ceiling. "So body-snatching aliens and space vampires. Sounds like a poorly thought out plot from Wormhole X-treme."

John grimaced. "Yeah, maybe don't mention that around O'Neill. He's got a bit of a grudge against Colonel Danning. Also, plausible deniability."

That earned a sharp snort from Alex, before he rolled off the bed and headed toward the small bathroom. "What even is my life…" He muttered, just loud enough for John to hear, before disappearing through the door.

What even indeed.

After an all too unhealthy breakfast at the local McDonald's, it was back on the road. By last count they still had over 14 hours to drive and well… John doubted they would do it all on one day. Not if he had anything to say about it.

He had taken a look at the upcoming route – up through Salt Lake City and then down to Reno – but something just wasn't sitting right. There had only been a mile or so before the route split off the current road and John decided to follow his gut that they needed to go a different direction.

It would mean more cross country, but…

"Scenic route today?" Alex asked as they drove past the exit. Not even phased.

"Had enough of cities yesterday." They would pretty much avoid any cities until they got to Reno. And whether they would make it there or not… was going to depend on a lot of factors. "We'll take US 50 across, it'll be a little slower, but…" He shrugged, not quite ready to put into words the unease he felt.

The motel had been absolutely fine.

He had slept well, even.

But the moment they had stepped outside the safety of the room, the niggling sense that they needed to get a move on had come to him.

Maybe it was just the arbitrary deadline O'Neill had imposed. Six days left, after all.

"If we can make it to Ely by noon, should be a good place to stop for lunch." Alex was studying the map closely, once again, nose almost pressed to the map.

John changed lanes smoothly, before sending another glance in Alex's direction. "You ever driven?"

Alex snorted. "Legally? No. Have I quasi illegally driven a vehicle though? Once or twice."

John squinted at him. "Just how old are you, actually?" Because that hadn't actually come up.

"Sixteen." There was a distinct tone of impetuousness.

Just like Rodney.

Well, a little older, definitely a little more mature than Rodney had likely been in university. But still… some of the imposter syndrome no doubt rubbed off on him.

"So, how'd you end up in San Francisco?"

"California has really good emancipation laws. No, really." He crossed his arms and stared out the window. "The Pleasures – they took me in after Jack died. But they didn't know what do with a teenage ex-spy."

John wasn't about to ask who Jack was or how they had died. It was obviously something that still affected Alex. Possibly to do with Egypt.

"Byrne stepped up, helped me settle into San Francisco and forced me into therapy. Then, he helped get the emancipation ball rolling. Once I finished high school, it was only a few short steps to convince the local community college that keeping me involved in the community was for the best."

"And engineering?"

"I like to know how things work."

John snorted. Of course. "Any plans once you get that?"

"Just… survive."

Right.

Because his survival was the entire reason they were dragging him all the way out to Atlantis.

On one hand, the Trust couldn't exist forever. But people trying to exploit him because of his background and ATA gene… that was certainly a possibility. If O'Neill weren't in charge, John wouldn't have put it past whoever was high up in Homeworld Security to see Alex as just another possible pawn.

Especially as a dual citizen.

There was no reason to leave him be when he could be serving his country.

So, perhaps, there were multiple reasons he was being sent to Atlantis. Safe from anyone that had any plans to make Alex do anything he didn't want to.

John shot another quick glance in Alex's direction, noting the sudden downturn of the conversation. He wasn't good with emotions and stuff, but even he knew the thought of having his entire world pulled out from underneath him was horrible.

Antarctica had been his own banishment, after all.

"Hey, I think Major Davis included some of the early history of the Stargate for you to read up on." John jerked his chin toward the back, where they had stashed their duffels.

"Not worried about it falling into the wrong hands?"

John just grinned. "Early documents are already declassified – and you can read about Jackson's wild theories in all their glory. There's a reason he lost most of his standing in the archaeological community." It had been one of Rodney's few rants against the soft sciences that had painted Dr. Daniel Jackson in a positive light. Probably the only positive rant for Jackson.

"Huh."

It only took a few minutes for Alex to be thoroughly engrossed in the reading and John reached over and turned on the radio. If he was back stateside, might as well enjoy the few stations that still bothered to play some Johnny Cash…

The problem with driving in late October was that it was still hot enough outside to need the air conditioning, but the sun set early enough that even pulling in late to Reno meant they arrived well after dark. And then, bright and early the next morning, Alex had thrown a wrench in John's carefully laid plans for driving the last stretch.

"We should stop and see the Pleasures. They'll be worried if I drop off the face of the earth."

Which had immediately prompted the question of where, exactly, they were living. Luckily, Modesto was still more or less on their route, though it was a detour.

Hopefully it wasn't a place that someone might be watching for Alex. He apparently hadn't seen them in almost six months, though occasionally checked in every few months or so by phone. Failed foster placement, or whatever it had been, apparently hadn't meant severed ties.

Probably a good thing.

"What are you planning on telling them?"

It had seemed like a reasonable question at the time, but Alex's vague answer that seemed to suggest he would figure it out when they got there didn't go any length to reassuring John.

Before he knew it, they were pulling up into the driveway of a modest townhouse that looked almost picture perfect. Like a showroom.

John repressed the shudder from memories of his own visits to houses like these with his brothers. Not a fun place as a young teenager.

Alex seemed a lot more reserved as they had gotten closer, becoming almost mute when they pulled in. But, the car turning off seemed to do the trick, because Alex took a deep breath and all but bolted out of the car.

John followed at a much more leisurely pace, still not quite sure what his role here was going to be. He suspected that if he told the truth – or even hinted that the military was interested in Alex – there would be a lot more questions.

Alex's hand hovered over the doorbell and John paced up the steps onto the porch.

"Might as well. We're here," John said softly.

"What if they're not—" Alex shook his head, interrupting himself. Then, he pressed the button.

To be honest, John still wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting. Certainly, a shrieking teenage girl coming flying out of the house and all but tackling Alex had not been in the cards. It was only at the last minute that John kept himself from pulling his gun.

His gun that was most definitely not supposed to be seen by any civilians. Ever.

"Alex! What are you doing here!" She kept going, not even giving Alex a chance to get a word in. "Byrne said something had happened. But then that you were okay. Are you okay? What happened?"

Watching Alex extricate himself from the jungle gym of arms was almost amusing, but John suppressed his grin.

Her eyes snapped to him almost immediately. "Who is he?" She stepped in front of Alex, as if trying to protect him. "Are you safe?" She hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

Alex pushed her arms down, before placing himself between John and the girl. "He's with me."

Ah, not even a name given. Something told John that Alex was going to come up with a cover story on the fly – and whether or not the girl believed him depended on how naturally suspicious she was. And given the initial reaction, he suspected she was highly suspicious of anything relating to Alex.

She punched him in the shoulder, none too gently. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, same old, same old." Alex rubbed at his shoulder, sending her a light glare. "Went… into hiding for a couple of days. Sorry for the false alarm, but Byrne wanted to make sure anyone watching you all wouldn't bother you."

Oh, he was good.

He was very good.

John could almost see the wheels turning in her head, accepting his word at face value.

"Watching…?" The girl took a quick glance up and down her neighborhood, then all but pulled Alex into the house. John just barely made it across the threshold before the door shut.

"There's been a few incidents in the past few months," Alex rubbed at the back of his head, looking the part of contrite teenager. "So… I figured maybe it's time to get out of the city for a while."

"What about your classes?"

Alex shrugged, casually. "I was going to have to retake calc anyway. The other classes are pretty generic and can transfer. Besides, there are plenty of engineering schools on the east coast."

"You're going east?" There was a note if skepticism in her voice. "That would be closer to—"

Alex shook his head quickly. "No, no. Not there. Maine, Vermont, that area though." The small amount of tension in his frame seemed to be draining away, clearly more comfortable with the direction of the conversation. "It'll probably be a couple of months before you hear from me again. Trying to keep a low profile."

She pouted at him. "You're not allowed to drop off the face of the earth."

Alex let out a strangled laugh at that. "No, nope. Just trying to keep living… my life."

She side eyed him closely, but seemed to accept what he said. She glanced back at John. "So, who's your friend?"

There was a brief moment of panic in Alex's eye, almost unnoticeable. "Uhh… He's John. He's a, uhh, friend of Byrne's. Not like, work friend. But, uh—"

And that's where the story would crash and burn. But not if John had anything to say about it. He put on his best meet the local's smile. "Nice to meet you." It worked with aliens, might as well work on teenage earth girls. "Somebody's got to chauffeur him across the country. First order of business on arrival is some driving lessons though."

"Hmm…"

Alex shot him a grateful look, before turning back to the girl. "Hey, are your parents home?"

She shook her head. "Dad's at work, mum's at gardening club. But hey, I'll tell them you stopped by and that you're doing okay."

The last of the tension drained out of Alex's shoulders. "Thanks, Sab." It seemed that Alex had little interest in seeing the parents.

The girl, Sab, gave him an exasperated look, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Don't be a stranger. Just because you had to find a new way of living doesn't mean that you've lost everyone that cares about you."

John had full intention to tease Alex for how red his face went, but was also not completely blind. Alex wanted out. He casually looked at his watch, then over at Sab. "Sorry, but we've got an appointment at two at the school." There was no appointment, but she didn't need to know that.

"Sorry," Alex mumbled, shoving his hands into the hoodie pocket. "I'll message you when I can."

It was a rather subdued walk back to the car, with Sab very clearly watching them from the porch. Alex only glanced up once as they pulled out of the driveway, just long enough to send her one last wave.

John wasn't entirely sure what he had just witnessed. There was subtext and backstory that he just didn't know – and likely wouldn't ever know.

As they pulled out of the side streets and back toward the major highways, Alex let out a long breath. "That could've gone worse."

John chewed on his lip for a long moment. "Think she believed you?"

There was a long pause, while Alex just stared out the window. "She will. Maybe not now, but… It's better this way."

"You two were… close?"

"She wanted something I couldn't give her anymore. It's only fair that she finally gets a chance to move on."

A/N: Let me know what you think! Your comments are always appreciated.