Alisa wanted to scream, horrified as she watched the Wraith feed from John but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen. Her father had his arms wrapped around her shoulders, his grip tightening slightly as he watched his friend being fed upon.
“Enough,” Kolya called to his guards.
One of the guards jolted the Wraith with an electrified stick as the other two hauled it away from John and bundled it out of the room. John, a bloodied wound visible in his chest, gasped for breath. He slowly raised his head to glare at Kolya weakly. Kolya stared at him for a moment before turning back to the camera.
Elizabeth was shaking with anger, “You just crossed a line, Kolya.”
“We've found that a minimum of three hours between feeding sessions is crucial to ensure the body has sufficient time to recover from the trauma,” Kolya told her, “That's the time you have to decide. Three hours.”
The screen went blank and they stood staring at it, not one of them able to believe what they’d just seen.
-
“Lissa,” Rodney turned her to him, trying to get her to focus on him after what they’d just witnessed, “Lissa, look at me.”
“I can’t believe he did that,” Alisa whispered, shaking slightly.
“Lissa,” Rodney said again, gently stroking her hair, “I want you to do something for me.”
“What?”
Rodney squeezed her shoulder, “Go to the lab and access the file Genii 15. Go over everything and give me anything you think that could relate to where their holding John.”
Alisa took a deep breath and nodded, “I’ll call you if I find anything.”
“Good girl,” Rodney gave her a tight smile; he pulled her into a quick hug and dropped a kiss onto the top of her head.
Alisa slipped away from him and headed down to the lab. Rodney waited until she was out of the room and hit his radio.
“Cadman,” he called.
“What’s wrong, Rodney?” Laura demanded worriedly; he only ever called her when something was wrong.
“I need you to stick with Alisa in the lab,” he told her sharply, “We’ve got a situation, she’ll more than likely explain. Just keep her company and make sure she’s alright.”
“No problem,” Laura replied with absolutely no sarcasm letting Rodney know that she understood how important this was.
With that sorted, Rodney headed to join the meeting with the other senior staff.
*********************************************
Alisa was gripping Ronon’s arm, she’d now seen John fed on three times. She’d watched her friend, someone she thought of as an uncle, age before her eyes and she felt sick. They had to find him, they had to or they would lose him for good and that wasn’t something Alisa felt ready for.
Ronon silently moved in the briefing room with the others, bringing Alisa along without question and placing her in a seat beside her father. Rodney moved his chair closer to hers and rested his hand on her shoulder without a word before turning to the others.
“Kolya's late,” Rodney noted, feeling Alisa stiffen under his hand.
Teyla frowned, “That is not like him.”
Rodney snorted slightly, “We haven't heard anything from Ladon either.”
“We will,” Elizabeth told them, managing to sound more confident than she felt.
“Is it possible they were in on this from the beginning?” Teyla said as Ronon nodded his agreement.
“No,” Elizabeth said, “I don't think so. Why would Ladon come here in the first place?”
Ronon shrugged, “Throw us off the scent.”
“What kind of a plan would that be?” Rodney asked confused.
“Genii,” Ronon spat the word out as though it were poison.
Rodney nodded in agreement, “True.”
“Either way,” Teyla steered them back to the original topic, “There must be a reason why Kolya has not contacted us.”
“Perhaps he knew it would take Colonel Sheppard more time to recover,” Carson, the voice of hope spoke up.
“None of us are saying what we're all thinking here,” Rodney stated, he moved his hand to rest at the back of his daughter’s neck knowing how upsetting this whole conversation was for her.
“No, Rodney,” Elizabeth breathed sadly, “We're not.”
-
Elizabeth adjourned the meeting but as Rodney moved to leave he noticed Alisa was still in her seat. She was sitting staring at the table; Rodney recognised one of the pens John usually played with during a meeting held loosely in her fingers.
“Lissa?” Rodney moved to her side, he reached out and rested his hand on hers to stop her playing with the pen, “Lissa.”
She sniffed suddenly and moved so that he would hug her. Rodney did as she wanted, holding onto her taking as much comfort from her as she was from him.
“If we get him back,” Alisa whispered after a few minutes, “He’s never going to be the same. He probably won’t be able to stay with us.”
“Lissa,” Rodney pulled back so he could look in his daughter’s eyes, “Let’s concentrate on getting him home first. Okay?”
She nodded, wiping her eyes of the tears that were threatening her. She took a deep breath and composed herself.
“I’ll head back and see if I can come up with anything else,” she told her father.
Rodney nodded proudly, “Tell me the moment you have anything.”
Alisa gave a sharp nod and left the room; Rodney watched and saw Laura Cadman follow on behind the teenager. Laura turned to where he stood and gave him a quick wink letting him know Alisa wouldn’t be alone.
Rodney smiled relieved at least one thing was taken care of, now they had to find John before the Wraith drained him completely.
*********************************************
Elizabeth let out an audible sigh as the Gate dialled and Rodney’s IDC was received. She headed down to the Jumper Bay, joined on her way there by Alisa who looked as nervous as she was to see John after his encounter with the Wraith.
The stood side by side waiting as the hatch opened and they both stared in astonishment as John walked out looking exactly as he had when he left.
“What happened?” Elizabeth demanded, trying to get over the incredible shock and relief that he was standing there completely fine.
“He gave me my life back,” John noted, he smirked as though it was an everyday occurrence.
“You’re okay?” Alisa asked softly, her voice shaking as she looked at the others leaving the Jumper.
John nodded and walked over to her, the one person he was allowed to hug without getting into any messy territory and wrapped his arms around her.
“Just fine,” he whispered to her, “I promise.”
Alisa squeezed him tightly before she pulled back, “You better get to the infirmary before Carson sends out a search party for you.”
John pulled off a smart sarcastic salute before he left the Bay, his team behind him not letting him out of their sight for the moment. Rodney wrapped his arm around his daughter’s shoulders and moved her with them.
-
John sat on the balcony near the mess, he’d had something to eat and chatted with those who knew what had happened and wanted to see him as though nothing had happened. But now alone and with nothing else to do, John let himself relax. He’d been drained of almost every part of his life and he remembered just lying there unable to do anything until the Wraith had given him his life back. He closed his eyes as the night breeze touched his face and John let out a relieved sigh.
“Wow, it’s cold,” Rodney stated as dropped to sit at John’s side, he handed him a mug, “Careful, I’m not precisely sure what it is.”
John took a sip and winced, if this wasn’t evidence that there was someone with a still in the city then nothing would be.
“Any reason you’re sitting out here freezing to death?” Rodney asked, wrinkling his nose as he took a swig from his own mug.
John shrugged.
“Of course, you just felt like it,” Rodney sighed disgustedly.
They sat in silence for several minutes; every so often one of them would start to take a drink before the smell of the alcohol made them stop.
“Thanks,” John spoke up after a while, “For coming after me.”
Rodney smirked slightly, “We kinda need you around here.”
At John’s grin, Rodney continued, “Carson doesn’t enjoy turning on devices as much as you do.”
“Thanks,” John shot at him sarcastically.
Rodney chuckled, leaning back against the wall. The two men sat staring out across the horizon not speaking; the relief that John was home and safe wasn’t spoken but was palpable as they both sat there.
“Hey,” Alisa’s voice made them look up to where she was standing her head poking out through the door, “Are you guys coming? New movies tonight.”
Rodney glanced at his friend who nodded.
“Great idea,” John said, pulling himself off the ground, “It’s freezing out here.”
Alisa grinned and the three of them headed through the corridors to join the crowds for the first showing of the new movies that had arrived recently on the Daedalus. John smiled as he entered the room and they were waved over to join Teyla and Ronon. Alisa grabbed a seat only to be moved by Rodney, rolling her eyes she grabbed a cushion and settled on the floor against the couch where her father and his team sat.
John smiled again – he was home.
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