Laura wandered into the mess; she had the day off and was looking forward to doing nothing. Unfortunately, Carson was off-world at the moment, so that killed the possibility of spending time with him meaning she’d have to find something else to do. After grabbing something to eat, Laura spotted Alisa sitting at a corner table. She was picking at one of the Athosian fruit roll, her feet up on the opposite seat while her laptop was open in front of her.
“Hey,” Laura grabbed the seat across from her young friend, “Busy?”
Alisa glanced up at her, “Freecell.”
“Really?” amusement filled Laura’s eyes, “I thought you studied constantly.”
Alisa let out a snort of annoyance, “Nice to know what you think of me.”
“I’m teasing,” Laura frowned; she took a drink of her coffee watching Alisa as she stabbed at the keys, “Is something wrong?”
“Why would something be wrong?” Alisa’s voice was filled with boredom as she kept her attention on the screen.
“Alisa,” Radek’s sharp voice stopped Laura’s next question, she turned to find the scientist walking over to them, annoyance and irritation covering his face.
“Yes, Dr Zelenka?” Alisa glanced up at him briefly.
“You are supposed to be in the lab,” he frowned at her, “The experiment you were working on is at an important stage.”
“Yeah well, what you going to do?” Alisa shrugged; she kept her eyes on her game.
“Alisa,” Radek snapped.
She rolled her eyes and closed her laptop down; she slipped it under her arm and walked away, leaving Radek standing. He dropped into the recently vacated seat.
“That was unexpected,” Laura murmured, “Wonder what’s wrong?”
Radek shook his head, “So do I.”
Elizabeth winced at the loud music coming from the balcony. She stepped out of the doors to talk to the teenager, currently staring out across the ocean.
“Alisa!!” she called over the music, “Alisa!!!”
Annoyed, Elizabeth crouched down at the computer and managed to turn off the music. Alisa spun at the sudden silence, “What the hell?”
“I wanted to talk to you,” Elizabeth said, standing to face the girl, “And it was hard with that on.”
“Tough,” Alisa retorted and hit the music back on, turning to lean on the railing again.
Elizabeth gritted her teeth and switched the music off again, “Alisa, I’m not in the mood for this.”
“Like I am,” Alisa retorted, she hit the music on once more but this time fixed it so Elizabeth couldn’t switch it off.
The leader of the expedition let out a long sigh and decided it would be better to wait for Rodney to get back. He could always get her to talk to him.
*********************************************
Rodney sat on one side of the room watching the Wraith-girl as she helped her ‘father’. It was strange how much it reminded him of his relationship with his own daughter, his daughter who had become increasingly more quiet and withdrawn over the past week or so.
“Rodney,” Teyla’s soft voice made him turn away from the scene before him, “Are you alright?”
He shrugged, “This is just bizarre.”
“Are you comparing this relationship to your own with Alisa?” Teyla asked with a smile.
Rodney rubbed the bridge of his nose, amazed at how intuitive she was, “It does mirror our lives quite a bit. It was just the two of us for several years, Teyla. He just reminds me of myself more than I would like.”
“We cannot compare Ellia to Alisa though,” Teyla reminded him, squeezing his arm in comfort.
“Lately,” Rodney sighed, “I’m not so sure.”
“Is something wrong with her?” Teyla probed, she didn’t spend much time around the teenager. In fact she never had, Alisa had always spent more time around the male members of the expedition, her friendship with Lieutenant Cadman an exception to this.
“I don’t know,” Rodney admitted, “Ever since Doranda, she’s been moody. Sometimes she seems to be fine but there are times when…” he trailed off and looked up at his team-mate, “I think I’m completely out of my depth with this one. I don’t know what’s wrong, I don’t know how to get her to tell me and I don’t have a clue how to help her.”
“Alisa loves you, Rodney and I know we shall all help,” Teyla gently took his hand in hers, squeezing it in comfort, “I’m sure between us all; we can deal with one teenager.”
*********************************************
“What?” Alisa snapped when she entered the Daedalus engine room.
Hermiod looked a little confused, “I am sorry?”
“What did you want me for?” she folded her arms across her chest, her eyes narrowed in annoyance.
The small alien tilted his head at her, “You told me last week that you had acquired the next episodes.”
“Oh,” a small smile touched her lips, “I’ll go get them. I’ll be back soon.”
Hermiod watched her leave; he had been surprised when Dr Weir had contacted him concerning the daughter of Dr McKay but could not refuse to help. He was intrigued by the young girl, had been since he met her. His race did not have youths, any more and this had been the only time in their entire alliance with the humans that any of the Asgard had met the offspring of any human. During the first journey back to Atlantis, she would spend time in the engine room, either helping her father or asking questions of the other members of the crew. Then one day he had seen her sitting in a corner focussing on her laptop. Curiosity prompted Hermiod to ask what she was doing and thus he discovered pop culture. Alisa returned not long after, carrying the DVD boxset she’d borrowed from one of the marines.
“Got it,” she grinned as she pulled out the first disc, “Buffy, Season Two.”
“There is a chair waiting for you,” Hermiod told her, taking the first disc from her and setting it in computer.
“Hermiod,” Alisa spoke up during the third episode, “Do you ever feel that you’re…”
“That I am what?” the Asgard asked, turning to her as she trailed off.
“Never mind,” Alisa sighed, “It doesn’t matter.”
“It obviously mattered enough for you to pose the question,” Hermiod replied concerned.
Alisa shook her head, “Let’s just watch Spike try to massacre everyone.”
Hermiod looked as though he was about to say something else but instead he returned back to watching the show. It had surprised him that he enjoyed watching the primitive entertainment the teenager had shown him but he found it an interesting insight into the human culture. When disc one finished, Alisa started to put on the next one but stopped.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Alisa suddenly whispered, “I can’t continue not being me.”
“That does not make sense,” Hermiod said, he turned so he could see her properly, “Why do you believe you are not you?”
“How can you be yourself,” Alisa posed, “If no one knows who you are?”
Before Hermiod could answer, he was called by Caldwell. Alisa put the discs away.
“I should go,” she told him, “You’re busy.”
“Alisa,” Hermiod called after her, “If you wish to talk, I am available.”
The teenager smiled at him slightly before disappearing. Hermiod watched her leave, agreeing with the worry the others had, there was a great deal worrying the youngest member of Atlantis.
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Winner of the Atlantis challenge for the December 2007 fic challenge contest.
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