Alisa looked up as the door to her room opened and smiled to find her father there.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” he asked.
“Let’s see,” Alisa laughed, “Following you around the bowels of Atlantis as you switch off all the useless things the Ancients left on whilst they were so briefly in charge while you bicker with Radek,” she gave him a wicked grin, “I’ll pass.”
“Are you sure?” Rodney smiled at her.
“Strange but true,” Alisa told him, “Besides it’s my day off and Dr Weir has offered to help with my translating skills.”
Rodney frowned, “What happened to day off meaning day off?”
Alisa waved his concern away, “It’s only an hour or two then I’m going to watch the movie that’s being shown this afternoon.”
“Okay,” Rodney nodded in agreement, “I’ll see you for dinner.”
Alisa nodded back and gave him a quick wave as he left.
Alisa let out a sigh of frustration when Elizabeth laughed at her translation of the text, “I’m not too good at this.”
“You’re doing fine,” Elizabeth assured her, “Even someone with your intelligence will find things they can’t automatically do.”
“But Dad’s good at it,” Alisa sighed, knowing she was sounding a little whiney and petulant.
Elizabeth squeezed the young woman’s shoulder, “Your father took quite a while to catch on to this too, Alisa. Just keep working on it and it’ll come.”
“I guess I’m just a little impatient,” Alisa noted, “Normally if I don’t get something fast then I...well...”
“You give up,” Elizabeth finished for her before she smiled understanding, “But considering your ambition is to take over your father’s position at some point then giving up is not an option.”
Alisa shrugged, “I guess not.”
Elizabeth chuckled as she brought up a new screen on her laptop, “Okay, let’s try this one.”
Rodney saw his daughter walking in beside John and Elizabeth as he sat on the infirmary bed waiting for Carson to finish his tests.
“Less than an hour,” Alisa said as she hopped onto the bed beside him, “And you’re already in Carson’s tender care.”
Rodney rolled his eyes at her, “It was a slight accident, nothing to worry about, Lissa.”
“Yeah,” Alisa laughed at him, “I’ll bet.”
“Go and enjoy the rest of your day,” he told her, “I’m fine and Carson will tell us that in a few minutes anyway.”
“Dad...”
“Lissa, it’s the weekend,” Rodney reminded her, “Enjoy your day and I’ll see you for dinner.”
Alisa hesitated for a few seconds before she gave him a quick hug and started out. As she passed Carson she gave him a questioning look, he gave a reassuring nod before she left before heading over to talk to Rodney who, now his daughter was out of the room, was freaking out.
*********************************************
“Lissa,” Rodney walked in to the lab where she was working, as she turned to him he shook his head, “You don’t have to think that. I’m fine.”
“Okay, the mind reading thing,” Alisa stated, folding her arms across her chest, “Is both creepy and evil.”
“Sorry,” Rodney apologised to his daughter, “I’ll try not to read your mind.”
“Appreciated,” his daughter replied sharply, she sighed, “I’m going to join Radek. And before you say anything, I just want to see what the machine is and what it was meant to do.”
Rodney grimaced, “Its best just to leave it alone. I’m fine, I’m better than fine, Lissa. I can see and understand things that yesterday were mere dreams.”
“Dad, this thing rewrote your DNA,” Alisa reminded him, “Excuse me for being just a little confused, worried, panicked and possibly terrified that there’s something we haven’t found out yet.”
“Alisa...”
“Dad,” she cut him off, “You can’t stop me. Even if you lock me in here, I’ll find a way out and sneak there. Isn’t it easier just to let me do what I’m going to do anyway?”
Rodney rolled his eyes, “Fine.”
“I’ll see you later, Dad,” Alisa smiled, kissing his cheek as she walked past him.
Alisa frowned as she read over the data in front of her; she really had to work on her Ancient language skills. Across the room Radek was working, both of them trying to find out what the machine in the room could do and if there was a way to reverse the effects.
Radek was intently focussed; every so often he would murmur in his native language before hitting his hand off something sharply. Alisa knew he was angry at her father for not being worried about what was happening to him, Alisa had to agree with Radek it was scaring her quite a bit too.
“Have you found anything?” Radek asked interrupting her musing.
Alisa sighed, “I swear they wrote these things in code. I can’t find anything.”
“How are you?” Radek turned to her, concern in his voice and face.
Alisa laughed at him, “Oh come on, Radek this is just a normal day in my life.”
“Hey,” he moved to her side and sat down beside her, “Alisa, this is not something you should get used to. It is not something you should have to get used to and I’m sorry you feel you do,” he gently brushed a stray lock of hair back from her face, “You are still so young, Alisa. You have so much in front of you and I fear sometimes you will be jaded for the wonders you have yet to see.”
“If I get jaded,” Alisa shrugged, “Then so what. I’m not leaving Atlantis, Radek. It’s my home; you guys are my family so trust me you don’t have to worry about me.”
Radek laughed, “It is unfortunate that I already do.”
They continued their work both looking up confused as the lights started to flicker. Suddenly the room was plunged into complete darkness for a few seconds before the emergency lights kicked in. Alisa grimaced as she heard Radek swearing in his native tongue, something that was never a good sign as he went marching out the room. Alisa followed on hoping she’d be able to keep the bloodshed to a minimum once Radek caught up with her father. As she jogged along the corridor to catch up with Radek’s long strides she was horrified as bolts of electricity started shooting along the walls.
“Radek,” she cried as the energy arced and slammed into his chest.
Running towards him Alisa didn’t feel anything as she was struck, only knowing that one minute she was running forward and the next she was on the ground unable to breath.
Rodney ran into the infirmary with John and Elizabeth, horror filling his eyes as he saw his daughter and good friend both lying on beds unmoving with massive burns on their chest. He could hear Carson shouting orders as teams surrounded the two beds as he moved towards Alisa. Rodney heard the heart monitor flat line and panic filled him, without thought he pushed past Carson stopping him using the defibrillator.
“Rodney, she’s dying,” Carson snapped.
“I know,” Rodney replied, “Just give me a second.”
They all stared as Rodney placed his hands gently on Alisa, a bright glow started to pulsate and the wound on her chest slowly healed. Alisa took in a shuddering breath as she opened her eyes. Rodney moved to Radek and repeated what he’d done for his daughter. As Radek opened his eyes Rodney stumbled back until he felt another bed in his path. After a few moments he turned and fled the infirmary hearing his daughter call to him but he didn’t turn back, he couldn’t.
*********************************************
Alisa was finally released from the infirmary after Carson did a whole load of test on both her and Radek. She was worried that her father hadn’t been by to visit her but after his astonishing display of healing abilities she didn’t blame him. She knew he was now trying to ascend so he could return to human form and be back to normal. Radek had returned to the room with the machine in it to study it some more but Alisa was in no hurry to get back there so had returned to her room. In fact she really wanted to see her father just now, she was worried about him.
The chime sounding brought her out of her musing and Alisa jumped up to answer it.
“Dad,” she sighed in relief to find her father standing there looking tired.
Without a word he stepped inside waiting until the door had closed before he pulled his daughter into a tight embrace. Rodney dropped his chin onto her head as he held her close to him.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered when he finally let her go.
Rodney shook his head, dropping to sit on the nearby chair, “Elizabeth thinks that the reason I can’t get myself into the proper state of mind to ascend is because I don’t feel worthy of it.”
“Dad,” Alisa squeezed his hand, “You know what I think of you.”
Rodney smiled and nodded, “Which is why I’m here,” he paused, “Other than to make sure you’re okay. Are you okay?”
Alisa smiled at him, “I’m fine, you should know since you healed me,” she shook her head at the absurdness of her statement, “You actually healed me.”
Rodney drew his finger along her hairline, pushing a few strands of blond hair back from her face, “My little Lissa.”
“Not so little anymore,” she reminded him as he continued to study her.
“You’ll always be my baby,” Rodney told her, he sighed wistfully, “There’s times when I wish I could go back to when you were that little girl but then I look at you and see just how incredible you are...I wish your mother could see you.”
Tears filled Alisa’s eyes, “Dad...”
“I don’t want to leave you,” Rodney told her, his voice coming close to cracking, “But if I can’t...if I don’t...” he trailed off, “You have a family here and Jeannie back on Earth. You’re not alone, Lissa.”
Alisa felt a few tears slide out her eyes as she moved to hug him tightly, “I love you, Daddy.”
Rodney took in a deep breath as he held his baby girl close to him, “I love you too, Lissa, never forget that.”
Alisa ran through the corridors, John hadn’t said what was wrong, only that she had to get to the infirmary. As she ran in Ronon caught her, stopping her from running into the bed where her father was laying looking, in Alisa’s opinion, slightly drugged.
“Dad,” she whispered moving closer to the bed and taking his hand, “I’m here.”
Rodney squeezed her hand, “Good.”
Alisa sniffed as Rodney let go of her hand and she turned to Ronon, he wrapped his arm around her hugging the young woman close trying to comfort her as the others discussed Rodney’s possibility of ascending now.
“Clear blue skies,” Rodney breathed as he lay, “All my troubles, just drifting away. Okay,” he closed his eyes, “Stop talking now.”
At this John smiled at this before sobering as he glanced over at Rodney’s daughter.
“Rodney,” Elizabeth told him gently, “You’re a good person. Know that we love you.”
“You love me?” Rodney asked in surprise, “Really? All of you?”
“In a way a friend feels about another friend,” John replied, shifting awkwardly as Alisa, Teyla and Elizabeth rolled their eyes at him.
“You’re just saying that because I’m gonna die,” Rodney murmured before his voice filled with melancholy, “Oh, God. I can’t believe I’m gonna die,” he winced, “Lissa?”
“It’s okay,” Alisa sniffed, trying to hold back her tears, “I’m here. I’m right, we all are.”
“Alright,” John said his voice soft and smooth, “Just go back to the blue skies. Let your thoughts go. Concentrate on your breathing.”
Rodney seemed to relax again and they all stood watching as the numbers on the screen slowly crept down. Alisa turned into Ronon tears spilling down her cheeks. Carson moved to turn off the equipment shocked when Rodney surged up and grabbed him. Alisa watched in confusion as her father stared into Carson’s eyes for several moments before he dropped back onto the bed unmoving.
Carson turned to the nurse standing nearby, “He’s not breathing. Quick, bag him. We need to get him on a ventilator.”
“Carson,” Elizabeth said softly, trying not to upset Alisa any more than she already was, “He gave us strict orders.”
“You don’t understand,” Carson glanced at her as he continued keeping his friend alive, “He just told me how to save him.”
*********************************************
Rodney found Alisa sitting on her favourite balcony watching the stars; he sat down beside her and smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked his daughter.
“It was a hell of a few days,” Alisa whispered, sniffing back a few tears, “I’m just glad somewhere in your mind you knew the answer to save yourself.”
“Me too,” Rodney laughed slightly.
“Plus, you’ve got a load of new things to work on,” Alisa reminded him with a grin, “Some of which looks out of everyone’s league.”
Rodney sighed, “It’s annoying because it seemed so clear at the time. Maybe it won’t become clear until you’ve got my job and you’re working on it.”
“So, two three years top,” Alisa teased, laughing as her father playfully shoved her.
“Brat.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she laughed, she hugged his arm as they stared off into the horizon.
Rodney looked down at his daughter and closed his eyes in relief, another near miss.
How many more could she take?
Alisa von LE McMurray
Kapitel Bemerkung: Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.
Sorry this has taken so long, originally I had a different idea for this episode but it didn’t work the way I wanted so I went back to the start.
Anyway, I am working on the next part.
Enjoy
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