Family Business

John felt vaguely un-patriotic thinking that, but truth was, he had gotten used to the weird that was Pegasus, and try as he might, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Atlantis didn’t belong on Earth any more than Earth could belong in Pegasus. It threw him to have two such drastically different realities clash together like this and made him somewhat… eager to convince the higher ups to let them go back ho—back.

None of them have left the city since she landed in the San Francesco Bay, which okay maybe that was a little odd, but it had only been 2 days, and he thought possibly everyone else felt just as he did, wanting to cling to normalcy for a little longer, the Wraith attack still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Of course, the higher ups wasted no time inviting themselves on board, and wow did he never think he would actually get to shake the President’s hand, that had been kind of cool, but mostly it had been people who wanted to have nice long political meetings with Elizabeth, so he was currently off the hook.

O’Neill had been one of the first ones to come visit, saying he could hear the city’s chatter even from the mountain, but John thought he really just missed her puddlejumpers and sea views. Daniel had come with him, but him, Rodney and Zelenka, together with Miko had said something about looking at the database while they still had the ZPM and John hasn’t seen them since.

He saw Ronon leaning on one of the railings, and walked over to stand by him.

“Your world smells different.” Ronon noted, so maybe it wasn’t just John. “It’s noisy too.”

John shrugged, yeah it was dirty and noisy alright, compared to Pegasus anyways. “You should see China. They have almost five times our population.” John never realized how much gold was in Ronon’s eyes till they got that round.

Ronon is quiet for a moment, then said, “We can never let the Wraith find this place.”

“Yeah. No shit.” John told him.

“When do you think we will go back?” Ronon asked him, looking across the bay.

“Not sure. I hope soon. But here’s the thing, Ronon. With this many people, comes a lot of mouths that have opinions, and not all of them are rational, useful, or sane.”

“Why do your people listen to them?” Ronon asked, confused.

“Why indeed.”

***

Darcy couldn’t sleep.

It was so damned noisy lately. The traffic sounded loud and there was a constant buzz that started a few days ago and has been driving her crazy, as if someone was in another room whispering to her. She kept thinking that if she could just get closer, she would hear what the hell was being whispered but every time she opened her front door, she realized she didn’t know where she needed to go.

Jane had dragged her to San Francisco because apparently it has the world’s largest all-digital planetarium and she needed it for her calculations on the Bifrost.

Tony had been only too happy to get the slightly – okay maybe more than slightly – manic scientist out of his tower and on a road trip yes please take her away, here is a credit card, go nuts with my blessings and don’t come back till she is more… not this! Darcy had shrugged having long gotten used to Jane’s ups and downs and wiggled a ride on Tony’s private plane to boot.

So now Jane was happily buried in pages upon pages of data at the observatory and Darcy was left entertaining herself in her – admittedly, very nice – hotel room.

And not sleeping.

She eyed her purse where she had tossed it, and by extension the limitless credit card in her wallet speculatively.

Well. He did say to go nuts, who was Darcy to argue?

There had to be a mall open somewhere, right?

---

The mall was not open, but the cabby she hailed and got chattin’ with told her that the waterfront boardwalk had a lovely night market she could check out, so she gave him a nice tip and went exploring.

The night market was awesome though quite noisy also. Almost deafeningly so to be honest, and wow she didn’t think there were that many people up and about at 10 pm but the noise said otherwise. So many people talking… enjoying the summer night…being loud about it…

After a happy hour shopping through all the stalls, Darcy realized she was getting a headache from the noise and bustle, so she decided a walk along the waterfront was in order, a little ways from the market. This area was well policed, so she wasn’t overly concerned with her own safety, plus she had her trusty taser Albert to defend her if someone decided to get fresh.

San Fran was so different at night. Its lights glittered and reflected on the water. Drawn by the hypnotic glimmer, she decided to climb over the railing, so she could sit on the rocks for a bit and watch it. Her headache was calming but in its place was left a deep longing. A desire to… go to that water. Go into it. To come home and –

That thought jolted her out of her musings

Home? Home was not here. What –

- she could come. She has been away for so long and now finally she was here, just like her boy. Her brave pilot. He would be so glad that she was finally here. But won’t she come closer please? Just a little? Maybe if –

and that was when Darcy snapped out of it and realized she was looking around -- for a boat. Because apparently something was talking in her head and okay, not the weirdest thing that’s happened to her, granted - Not even the top five on the weirdness scale really, but still – it was something that was emoting in her head.

But it was also… really kinda warm, and sweet. Like a mom would be, after not having seen you for a while. Darcy had a few very precious memories of her mom, since Aileen Lewis died from pancreatic cancer when Darcy had been 11, and she had thought that’s how here mom would have felt.

She couldn’t explain it, but she felt… well, safe.

“Right. This is probably how every alien invasion and body snatching movie starts and ends.” Shaking her head at herself, she none the less started looking for a boat.

As it happened, a few crafty commuters did indeed have a few row boats tied to the side only a few hundred meters down from where she had been sitting and contemplating her lot in life, so she decided it wouldn’t cause too much harm to borrow one.

Foster father number 4 had been a recreational fisherman, and sometimes he would take them orphans with him to dig worms for him by the banks. The one who found the most got to go on the boat with him and fish. Darcy had like him. Too bad he got married to a woman who hated kids.

Dragging the boat into the water and getting into it hadn’t been hard, but rowing in the dark towards the middle of the bay had made her question her sanity again, because what in the hell was she doing?

But the feeling of welcome had still been there and slowly getting stronger until she soft of … felt a ‘pop’ and realized --

“Holy. Hanna.”

-- realized there was a city there. An honest to Thor City in the middle off San Francisco Bay! Looming larger than life and there, right in front of her!

It was beautiful, majestic in a totally unearthly way and definitely alien. It made Darcy think of the elvan cities in Lord of the Rings, with the towering white spires

She looked around frantically, half expecting to see other people pointing to it, taking selfies, possibly screaming, but no one was looking. She could see the people walking along the boardwalk she had just come from, and no one was even looking at the city. It was as if –

-- they couldn’t see it.

…was she losing her mind? Finally?

It felt like a finally.

She pulled out her phone, and quickly snapped a few pictures. Just in case she had somehow gotten roofied on something, and was having the weirdest hallucination of her life.

Hands trembling, she tapped open her gallery and yup, there it was in the album.

Okay. Not crazy. Maybe.

But the welcome was words and feelings now, clearer without the buzz distorting the – that must have been the whisper she had been hearing from her hotel room!

Holy shitballs she could hear an alien city from her hotel room!

She tried to calm her breathing as she was buffeted with the gentle love and welcome of – yup, a lonely mother who missed you.

Of course, I missed you, you have been gone so long! I have been trying to call all my children home but they could not all hear me. But you heard me. I thought you would come with my son, but you did not. I tried to call to you but my son had asked that I hide myself under a force field and cloak and I did not want to put you in danger.

-- aaand the crazy city could read her mind. Lovely. What could go wrong?

Darcy clutched Albert a little tighter but she had no idea what use it would be against an alien city – because it had to be alien. It was ethereal and so beautiful. Now that Darcy was looking, she noticed only the central spire was fully lit, but all the other areas also glowed softly, showing her the city’s size and… majesty. It was hard to appreciate how massive it was in the dark but Darcy thought it would take a while to explore. It was at least as big as Manhattan.

Which made her realize she really really wanted to go into it.

Go straight and at a 12-degree angle to where you are, I will extend the climbing ladder. You can come up that way.

Darcy didn’t ask herself again if this was smart. She knew it wasn’t but she also knew compared to Dark Elves or confused and pissed Asgardians, the city was a lot less scary. Plus, no way was she giving up on this adventure! She was totally blaming Jane.

That being said, she also wasn’t suicidal. She pulled out her phone and dialed Jane again, but realized there was no signal.

The shield blocks all signals. I was forced to do this, because although Terra is primitive, you already have rudimentary AI, and he was very curious about me. Too curious. I put a stop to that, as my son would say.

Darcy blinked a little while she rowed her little dingy towards the metal ladder that she could just see extending from what seems to be solid wall. “AI? Do you mean Jarvis? He is the only AI I know, and he is in New York. Though I can’t imagine Jarvis being un-gentlemanly. He is cool people.” Darcy knew it was silly to talk to herself out loud, since the City could read her thoughts, but it gave her the illusion of being in control and she kinda really needed that right now.

Hmph. He is an infant. But very curious and quite forward, assuming he could just gain access to my systems without so much as a by your leave, as you Tau’ri say. I found it quite rude, and decided he could try and be rude to my shields instead.

Darcy snickered as she tied her boat to the ladder and wobbled for a moment till she was sure she could stand without falling over.

“Ooh man, I am so gonna tell Tony on him. That’s Jarvis’s daddy, though come to think of it, he is kind of curious with grabby hands too.” Darcy said and she hoisted herself and started to climb. She’s never been afraid of heights and actually loved climbing to high places and perching. Usually with Jane. Or Clint, when he wasn’t stealing her stuff.

“So, it’s not totally Jarvis’s fault. Tony’s super smart, for one of us I mean. Not as smart as Jane mind, but still pretty smart, and he knows it. He is used to getting what he wants so that was probably not the best example for Jarvis to have growing up. Not that that is an excuse mind.” She worried for a moment if she would have anything to grab on to so she could get up the ledge but she shouldn’t have worried as the City had extended another rung of ladders all the way past the ledge.

She cautiously surveyed her surroundings. The floor was some kind of metal, not concreate and in front of her was open pathway leading towards the inner city. She shivered a little as she realized just how dark some areas were, but before she could start to worry about where to go the City was telling her –

Head towards the building on the right, I will light your way.

With that, the floor under Darcy’s feet lit up in a beautiful blue, and in a straight arrow, lit a path all the way to the closest building.

Taking a deep breath, Darcy followed.

***

John had given up on sleeping a while ago.

Earth had too few hours in the day, and John had gotten used to New Lantia time on their last planet which had 32.2 hours a day, and John’s brain kept insisting it was late afternoon and time to go bug Rodney for snacktime, not take a nap.

Sighing, he got up and slipped on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, and decided to go bug Chuck at the command center instead. Maybe he managed to download something.

At first, they had no issue connecting to Earth’s internet but not even half an hour after the battle, Atlantis had activated a security measure, and slammed down another layer through her shields that rendered them invisible to all electronic traffic.

Rodney had worn that adorable little frown that John loved which always said how hard he was using that fantastic brain of his and John had lost him for a solid 4 hours before he was willing to look away from his laptop, and hesitantly agree that for their safety, the blackout was necessary. He muttered something about needing to hack Tony Stark’s systems before they left Earth, then got distracted when John asked about the chances of resupplying chocolate pudding cups now that they were on Earth.

Slipping his sneakers on, he slowly made his way to the control tower, idly making a note to ask O’Neill about the chance of pudding cups.

***

Darcy had been a bit freaked out when the blue light had led her to a supply closet and the door had closed behind her. She had been just about to say something when the door had opened -- to a totally different area, with the faithful blue light guiding her down further what looked to be a somewhat dim hallway despite the cool looking lava lamp lights.

No one who had lava lamps could be too bad, right?

She followed the blue light for quite a while, but then when she took a left turn, the hallway suddenly opened up to a large room. She realized she was standing on the second floor, overlooking the floor below her where with a gigantic and very futuristic metal circle sat in the floor. The lights were much brighter here and she could make out – holy spaceballs, those were people.

Darcy ducked behind the lava lamp on her left, and a little hysterically wondered if this was a fucked-up version of the body snatchers sequel because – why were there humans on an alien city?

They were all wearing some kind of grey uniform, and when that guy behind the large Star Trek bridge control turned to talk to the other guy in the black t-shirt, Darcy relaxed a little when she recognized a Canadian flag on his shoulder, above an Luminati sign.

Canadians aren’t bad guys, right?

The she tensed up again, thinking that maybe these were aliens pretending to be Canadians, and who would suspect Canadians? No one that’s who! Or maybe they were a secret society of Luminati who rule the world from the shadows and have been hiding in Canada! It was possible!

Your mind is very funny, even for a Tau’ri.The City speaking calmed Darcy’s racing thoughts, even as it sent her chill vibes to calm her ass down, Darcy just knew it. She got the distinct impression the City was laughing at her.

Do not worry, they are Tau’ri, like you. They are not ‘alien’ as you imagine it. The City seem to pause then Well, not these two anyways. Which broke Darcy’s brain a little bit because aliens! But well, these aren’t her first aliens. Or even her second, and they aren’t currently trying to kill her or scare her to death so yeah maybe she’s gotten a little mellow on the alien thing already.

Tu’ri? Darcy thought at the city. Because, what?

Tau’ri. Terra’s population. Earth people. The City clarified indulgently.

Darcy wanted to believe her, because well, why not right? She could see that there were other people below her, near the circle, but they had their back to her, facing the giant thing. Something told Darcy they were military, not least because they wore a military-esque uniform and wore weapons, and she had a moment to wonder if she has somehow trespassed despite being invited or well, summoned really, but military types are all douche so she doubted that they would agree.

Do not worry, they will not harm you. The city reassured, and Darcy thought okay maybe she won’t die today. Maybe.

Movement caught her eye, and she realized there was another man walking towards the other two. This one had a thinning hairline, a wide mouth, and clutched his laptop the way Darcy used to clutch her ipod before the jack-booted-tugs stole it. He was also sporting a Canadian flag and Darcy relaxed a little more. Even if it was an alien city, it was okay if Canadians were running it. Thought why they were in San Fran and not in Canada was a mystery, but still.

She felt okay now to slowly inch her way towards them, the City giggling like a girl in her head.

***

Rodney walked up to them in his brisk pace, and John took a good look at him. He was also sporting dark circles that almost matched John’s, and John was concerned enough to ask “Oh hey Rodney, you’re not asleep yet?” the ‘why not’ was implied.

“Hm? No, I noticed a blip in the shields a minute ago and wanted to check it out. Easier to do it from here. Why are you up anyways?” Rodney asked as he slid into the seat next to Chuck.

“Couldn’t sleep also. Time difference.” John wanted to ask what he’s been up to these past two days, with Daniel of all people, but figured he could wait till Rodney checked out what he needed to.

“Yeah Galaxy-lag is a bitch.” Chuck offered. “For me it’s my stomach. I keep getting hungry at the oddest times.”

“Keep some MRE’s close by, works for me.” Roney said distractedly as he typed away on the computer, and that little frown appeared on his forehead again.

John and Chuck shared a look, because Rodney always had food around him. Power bars were a must for every away mission that Roney was on, and after seeing what a hypoglycemic reaction did to him, how even one attack could do permanent brain damage, John honestly couldn’t blame him.

“What’s up buddy?” John asked because that frown usually meant Rodney was trying to figure out what was going on.

“I don’t know yet. Nothing seems to be wrong with the shields now but a moment ago…” He trailed off as if not even realizing he did it. He shook his head. “Okay well, they are back to normal now. Chuck, keep an eye for me, will you? If it happens again, call me. I’ll get Zelenka to do a full diagnostic in the morning –“

***

“Wow, I always knew it would be Canada who made Star Trek happen.” was what came out of her mouth, when she had snuck close enough to listen in, because This. Was. So. Cool! She couldn’t wait to tell Jane!

The other three men blinked up at her as if they only just realized she was besides them –

Not used to having their guard up around their own, good sign really, thought Darcy.

The laptop-clutcher looked at her with confusion but no alarm, which was interesting, “How did Canada do that exactly? Without declassification, I can’t imagine we have the ability to make as many space ships as the Americans, our military is half their size after all. It is true, that Canada is first to speak up when America starts being, well, American, but I think China is next on the IOA’s candidate list to get their own Ship. We are I think 5^th of the list, but that is at least 3 years from now by the even most generous estimates. So, you know, not sure how you got that, but thanks, I think?” Darcy marveled that he could speak so long without suffocating but then he blinked at her again “Who are you?” but before Darcy could answer, he went on, “Sociology, right? I didn’t realize sociology had anyone who looks like you, but I don’t notice them much.”

“Yes, but you are here! Representing Canada in this amazing city! All of you Canadians who are just – and she is amazing! There is so much she wants us to know, if anyone has to understand alien cities, it should be the Canadians because you won’t fuck it up, you know? Or do anything, I don’t know, evil with it.” Darcy considered hugging him, but no, he didn’t seem like someone who liked stranger-hugs. “and I’m Darcy. I just got here. And no, not in sociology. Though babysitting scientist should totally be degree-worthy.”

“Here here.” Muttered Birdnest Hair.

She watched as the laptop-clutcher – Rodney – blush and preened together with the other guys sitting down - Chuck. Canadians. So cute “Huh, did you come with Daniel? I thought only O’Neill came with him. Oh hey! Did he bring chocolate pudding cups for resupply? I emailed him about it. Daniel promised to remind him.”

“Sorry dude, Daniel probably forgot, as I am pudding cup-less. However, San Fran has some bitchin’ cream puffs which I could totally bring back for you if you like? Though not sure how soon it will be.” Darcy was so tickled that there was maybe something she could do for these people, that didn’t involve fighting aliens.

Food. Food was totally her jam.

Rodney perked up at that, “Oh I haven’t had a cream puff since that trip to Montreal 15 years ago when I went to give a lecture at McGill. They were all dicks, but the puffs were amazing” his eyes glazed over in memory, and Darcy wanted to hug him again.

Darcy smiled widely at him, and she saw Rodney stutter a little inside, obviously not use to getting that kind of reaction from women.

“Yes! They totally brought them here to San Fran and I swear somehow they got the cream-to-pastry-ratio just right, so when you bite in you get that explosion of cream and firm pastry, but not too much cream you know? So, it’s just – the best possible balance.” She licked her lips in memory and watched Chuck blush again, and Rodney stare had switched from pretty-woman smiling-at-me to food-lust-haze…with-pretty-woman, and she decided then and there that she liked him and wanted to feed him.

That’s it. She was totally going back and bringing them puffs. They were Canadians working on an alien city, not doing evil things. They deserved it!

The birdnest guy who’s name she didn’t know had the wistful look on his face also. “I miss the cannoli from here actually. Not sure that place is still open but –”

“Victoria pastry company? The one facing the Washington Square park? Yeah! It’s still there and you are right, they have by far the best cannoli this side of the states. Stupidly large too and so beautiful they make your eyes water.” Darcy was loving this, honestly no matter who these guys are, they had good taste in pastry and no way were they someone like Hydra. Hydra took itself too seriously to love cannoli. Or puffs. “That’s it. I’m gonna do you all a solid, and get you the biggest order I can carry back the next time I go. That’s a promise.”

All three men beamed at her like she just promised them Christmas, Hanukah and birthdays all at once. Seems they didn’t get to go out much. Well, no wonder if they worked in an invisible city in the middle of the bay, not like you could call for delivery.

“If you do that, I’ll totally promise you will never run out of hot water again while you are here.” Rodney stated, as if that sealed the deal. Considering she had long hair, she just bet that was a good bargain.

“You got yourself a deal. I’ll see if I can get it done tomorrow.” She smiled at all of them, feeling somehow accomplished. “Alright folks, it’s getting late so I better get back or I won’t wake up tomorrow when Janie decided to surface from her research. You guys should probably get some rest too. Genius brain does not do too well without sleep and fuel. Thor knows I have to remind Tony of this all the time. And Jane. And Bruce. The genius type are all the same, am I right?” She looked to Chuck when she said that because he looked military more than science and he smiled at her but it was birdnest-hair that answered her.

“Tell me about it. Getting him to leave his laptop is like trying to get him to donate coffee for a good cause.” He commiserated.

“Shut up John. Or should I say Kirk? It’s not like you are the poster child for health and happiness yourself with all the suicide missions and the ascended women.” Rodney snarked back and these two where honestly adorable, like an old married couple.

Chuck obviously agreed with her, as he looked at her in a universal ‘what can you do?’ look.

Darcy laughed, and thought again about hugging them all but settled on putting her hand on Rodney’s shoulder, and looking deep into his eyes, she used her best herding-Tony voice “Rodney, go to bed, no more arguing. If you are good, you will have dreamy, dreamy, puffs waiting for you for dinner tomorrow. Okay?”

His eyes went wide and he was obviously weighing his options and she saw the moment he capitulated when he sagged a little and said “Fine, fine, but if the city blows up while I am asleep, I am totally blaming you lot.”

Having won, since she could tell Rodney was the hard sell, she turned to leave, but just in case, threw over her shoulder, “You too John. Remember, Cannoli’ are only for good boys.”

He huffed a laugh at her but threw up his hands in surrender. “Goodnight Darcy.”

She smiled at them again, and started to walk her way back to the supply closet that deposited her there in the first place.

You like them. I knew you would. They are young and need much calibrating, but are one of my better children.

Darcy cocked her head as she found the supply closet and entered it, trusting the city to take her where she needed to go. “You are totally a secret Yenta, aren’t you? Wait, they are all your children? How? Or did you like, adopt them or something?”

The City totally ignored that first bit. Adopt. Yes, I suppose you could say I ‘adopted’ them, in a fashion. They are the descedants of my creators. Those first descedants were created in my creche facilities, and I had watched them grow and prosper. I was… hurt, when my creators chose to abandon them in this galaxy in order to escape the plagues. I feared for them and missed them as any mother would. But my creators were deaf to my pleas, and deactivated my subroutines so I could not override the controls and go back for them. The City seemed to pause then and Darcy had to blink and wipe at her eyes, because the city felt so sad and heart broken and she was letting Darcy feel it.

“I’m sorry. No one should be forced to abandon their kids. That sucks.” Darcy said, full of empathy. She hoped those assholes were gone. She really wanted to ask more about her history but felt now wasn’t the time. “My mom died when I was little too, and I miss her every day still.” She offered, not sure if that would mean anything to the City but needing to offer any comfort she could.

The City was quiet for a moment, as if thinking, You will come back to me, won’t you little Darcy? I only just got you back…

“Sure, I will! I promised the boys some authentic San Fran desserts and I always keep my word. Also Jane would kill me if I don’t show her this place.” Darcy said reassuringly. She walked briskly as she realized it was really getting late, and she worried she wouldn’t be able to get a cabby, but well, there was always Starkgrab. “You know, this is gonna sound odd but, I just realized I don’t even know your name?”

Her walk back to where her boat was felt a lot faster this time, probably cuz she wasn’t scared any more, and just as she was lowering herself down the ladder, the City spoke again My name is Atla’n’ Tus, little Darcy. You will always be able to hear me so long as I am on this planet, but once you go outside my shields, my voice will be muffled. However, if you call for me with all your will, I will be able to hear you, now that I have had a chance to scan and memorize your genetic code.

Darcy blinked at that, but shrugged it off as the only way an alien City can really tell all the humans from each other. “Sure, I get it. And hey, I can maybe finally get some sleep now if I know its you in my head and I’m not like, going crazy or anything.” Jane was gonna have a fit when she found out, and Darcy fully intended to have a good night sleep before the full force of Jane descended on her.

Bring your friend. Rodney and her can ‘science’, as you call it. There are so few descedants left. I have been trying to call them home but so far only two have heard me. You are the third. I will keep calling to them. Maybe in time…

“Oh, is that what you were trying to do? So uh, why me?”

You have the genetics of my creators, and those of my children. Like my boy. We are… family.

Darcy froze half way down the ladder, and took a deep breath, before continuing climbing down till she was in her little boat.

This surprised you. I am sorry. I thought you knew.

“I uh, I don’t think I am alien. Atla – Atlan Tusse? Sorry your name is really hard to pronounce. See? How could I be alien, if I can’t even pronounce your name?” She thought that was kind of an argument because she was totally freaked out.

Not alien no. Not as you understand it. My creators, the Alterans, had a specific gene imbedded in their technology, that only they as a race possessed. My children who live inside me call it the ATA gene. Since my creators interbred with the population of Terra long, long ago, some of the Tau’ri have this ATA gene, and are my children because of it. However, my children were all born on Terra, and are all interbred with the Tau’ri. It was why I allowed my children to bring me back to this planet.

“It’s cuz of that that you think of them – us I guess – as your kids?” for all that Darcy was freaking a little, she could see how this would work. She hasn’t had family in so long, that if she found an aunt or uncle, even a distant one, she would be happy. But wait – “You are saying there were always alien on earth? On Tau’re?’

Is not one of the things that makes progeny the sharing of genetic material? My systems require the ATA gene to function fully, and as such, it is a part of me. The Alterans came to this planet more than 30,000 years ago by your understanding of time.

“Huh. So we are all… aliens.”

Humanoid life was seeded throughout this galaxy by the Alterans. Terra was one of those worlds. Later they chose its people to make progeny with, in order to have a higher survival rate for both species.

“Wait, even Thor? The Asgardians?” Darcy almost dropped the ores in her excitement.

The Alterans only seeded one world whose people call themselves the Asgarians. The other Asguardians were one of the Five Races, but did indeed share the genetics of the Alteran-seeded-Asgarians.

Darcy blinked.

It’s complicated.

“I bet. Tell me about it tomorrow?”

Of course, little Darcy.

She couldn’t even argue that. To a City, she really was little.

She shrugged and kept rowing.

***

The morning passed uneventfully for John, and he tired to stay awake for most of it.

He even half succeeded.

He knew it was dangerous to relax but being back on Earth, somehow made the threat of Wraith at least not an immediacy, and John found himself not as alert as he normally would be,

Which really should have been his first tipoff that something was going to go belly up.

***

Breakfast was just winding down when Rodney stumbled into the mess, sleepwalking a b-line to the coffee.

Honestly, he hadn’t expected to sleep, but meeting that non-sociology girl – Darcy with the promise of puffs – had been so … well, normal, that Rodney had found himself relaxing despite himself, and as soon as his shoes had been off, he had fallen asleep on the bed. Shield blips forgotten.

He poured himself a mug of coffee, and decided to look into it right away to see if it happened again. Who knows, Earth had its own enemies and no way the Trust would pass up this opportunity while they were Earth-side and easy pickings.

Guzzling the first mug while still holding the carafe, he poured himself another mug and grabbed a plate of not-eggs – no resupply yet then – and headed to join John’s table. He noted absently that O’Neill and Daniel were there also, though no sign of Teyla or Ronon. He saw Jenifer at the corner of his eye just as she was leaving the mess, having already finished. He saw her smile at that new intern the Dedalus had just bought over a month ago, who was half of Rodney’s age and felt a small pang, but a lot smaller than he had expected.

Huh, maybe Ronon had been right. He and Jenifer really hadn’t been well matched. They had been practicing hand-to-hand. Well, no Ronon was practicing, Roney was whining and trying not to get trounced, and had said something about Keller revenge if he damaged the merchandize too much, and Ronon had huffed, and very gently – for Ronon – questioned their compatibility. At first, he had been suspicious and maybe a little angry, wondering if Ronon had wanted something more with her and wanted Rodney out of the way, but Ronon seemed really into Banks, and he really wouldn’t do that anyway. He’d come straight up to Rodney and would tell his intentions. It wasn’t Ronon’s way to be backstabby, even as obtuse as Rodney was, he knew that much.

That got him thinking, and over time, he realized while he enjoyed his time with her, it was a lot like… playing house, and Rodney while he wasn’t overly confident in the love department did not think he wanted that to be his life.

When he learned she wanted to go back to earth for good, that she saw Atlantis as just another posting… special sure, but not… not home. That had decided it for Rodney.

They broke up amicably enough. Jenifer a little hurt and bewildered what brought it on, and in the end all he had to say was “I want to stay on Atlantis. It is home for me, and it is not for you.”

She got it.

And evidently moved on.

Good for her. Rodney thought a little bad-naturedly.

He shook the thought off, and with a nod to John and Daniel, sat down, buried his face in his food and booted up his laptop in one go.

Mostly keeping half an ear on the conversation at the table, he looked through the shield data from last night. He paused just before taking a sip of his coffee.

“There it is again.” He muttered to himself.

John with his bat ears, of course, heard him.

“There is what again McKay?” he drawled his morning tell-me-something-to-keep-me-awake drawl.

“The shield’s from last night. It blipped again shortly after we crashed.” He scrolled a bit lower, “but not again since. Huh.”

“Something I should worry about?” John asked deceptively casually, yeah, he was debating being awake alright. And O’Neill was also paying attention.

“Not sure yet.” Rodney trailed off, thinking about what could possibly have caused it…

John turned to O’Neill then, “Sir, did you remember my request about the pudding cups?”

Daniel had the grace to look sheepish, “No, I forgot to tell him sorry.”

Both John and Rodney gave him sad puppy looks. Well, no John gave his I-am-a-starving-orphan look, while Rodney himself settled on his I-am-disappointed-in-you-and-you-will-have-only-cold-showers-now look.

O’Neill looked at Daniel “You forgot to tell me they were out of pudding cups? Daniel!”

“I brought coffee as a peace offering?”

Both John and Rodney perked up like the well-trained Labradors they were for that magic word and Rodney forgot about the shields again for a while.

---

By lunch, Rodney had remembered.

Chewing on his not-buffalo stew, he reviewed all the logs again, and except for last night, twice, there hadn’t been any other blips.

Sometimes Rodney dearly wished he had a strong ATA just so he could get impression from Atlantis the way John and O’Neill could.

Shaking off that thought, he decided to run a full diagnostic of all the systems. It would take all day, but better safe than sorry.

***

Darcy had a busy day, especially since she hadn’t gotten much sleep. Janie had her running around different labs collecting previous data. Darcy dearly wished she could just send an email and get everything she needed instead of running all over San Francisco’s various labs, but the data was all old-school, because of course it was, so Darcy found herself carting boxes upon boxes of printed sheet-paper and no taxi anywhere.

Thankfully, she had Starkgrab once she dropped off every single box for Jane – who was so deep into her research, she didn’t even register Darcy telling her about Atlan’Tuss – Darcy knew she wouldn’t be getting through to her friend until Jane was done with at least a few of those boxes. Instead, Darcy went out again, this time to a deli, and got them sandwiches. There was little hope of Jane actually eating hers, but if Darcy could distract her while shoving it in her hands, sometimes Jane would just eat it on auto-pilot.

Which reminded Darcy she had made a promise to Rodney-the-Canadian and John-not-sure-if-he-was-Canadian and that other Canadian, so after polishing off her own sandwich, she took another Starkgrab and went to get the puffs and cannoli.

Knowing they were best fresh, and since it was already late afternoon, turning to dusk, she made her way back to the waterfront. Thankfully it was a weekend, so the canoes were still there.

This time, she could hear Atlan’Tuss clearly, the city’s delight at her proximity loud and cheerful, and Darcy couldn’t help grinning a little as she rowed her way to her.

It was still light out, but Darcy didn’t see all that many people out and about, which was a bit surprising, but she figured everyone was slowly heading to dinner or something. When she went through the shields this time, she immediately let out a gasp, because there was a small… flying ship-thing just taking off and if she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed it because the ship became invisible right in front of her eyes.

She only had a moment to look at it, but then it turned and headed away from her direction and she lost sight of it as it turned completely invisible.

Darcy shrugged and paddled her way to the same landing she had climbed last night.

You came back! I am glad, little Darcy.

“I said I would, didn’t I?” Darcy told the city, while trying to figure out how to climb the ladder while holding boxes of pastry. Thankfully she had brought a backpack, and it only took a moment to put the boxes carefully in so nothing would spill.

You did. But so did the Alterans before they left, and they never came back.

Darcy felt a pang for the city. It sucked to be let down, especially by your kids.

“Yeah, but I am Tau’re, right? So, we are a little different from the Alterans.” Darcy told her, as she hoisted herself up past the ladder. This area seemed to be rather deserted, because she could see people milling around in the distance, but where she was there was no one around.

Tau’ri. And yes, you are. You are looking for John and Rodney? They are in the Sustenance Hall right now.

“Tau’ri, yes. And thank you! This city – I mean, you, -- is huge! Would you help me find the mess hall please? I will totally get lost in 5 seconds if you don’t.” Darcy told her plaintively. “How was your day by the way? Janie had me running around all over the place, and I have to tell you, I don’t think I will have trouble sleeping tonight.”

Darcy could feel the pleasure the city felt at her question, and that made her wonder… was Atlan’Tuss lonely? Did anyone else speak with her ?

No one else speaks with me. John could, but he has convinced himself that my voice is not real, and prefers to ignore me. But he does feel my feelings and so does his Master.

“Master? John has a Master?” Darcy was surprised. The only Master she knew of, was in a rather… er, sexual sense. John didn’t strike her as a military deviant, but you never really know.

I do not know how you understand the term, but John follows the orders of Jack O’Neill. That usually means Jack is John’s Master, correct?

“Uh, no. I don’t think so? Of course, I could be wrong! But usually when earthlings – er, Tau’ri I mean – follow orders like that, it means they are in the military. Did Alterans not have a military?”

Alteran’s had protectors. I think that is what you mean.

“Yeah, John is definitely military, and I am guessing O’Neill is likely his superior in the chain of command.” Darcy told her, while making her way to the mess hall.

She passes a few people but no one really paid her too much attention. Darcy had her hair up and her geek-glasses on, so it’s not really surprising. She could easily be one of the scientists here.

Rodney spent all day looking over my systems. Your entry did not go unnoticed, but he doesn’t know it was you who triggered the data spike when you entered. I will correct it today so he cannot detect you.

“Oh hey, thanks! I really want to keep visiting, but it’s best if I don’t get anyone in trouble, you know? Myself included.” Darcy took the supply closet again, and this time, it opened to a different floor with a lot more people on it.

Acting like she belonged here, she kept walking with Altan’Tuss’s instructions in her head.

“Say, did you have a chance to talk to Jarvis yet? I bet he is going crazy knowing there is a sexy mature AI on the planet, where he can’t even share his code with you.” Darcy teased a little. She noticed a few people were talking to themselves out-loud, and realized that most were wearing an ear-piece which was barely visible.

At least they won’t think she’s crazy, talking to herself.

She shifted the boxes a little, making sure they don’t all get squished and took a left turn as instructed.

No… after I rejected him last time, he has been prodding at my shields but he won’t get in without permission, and I won’t give it to him. You said he was not malicious, but I don’t know him yet.

“That’s totally fair. If you do decide to get to know him, maybe you can pick a neutral ground to meet? That’s what us women do when we aren’t sure about a blind date. It’s safer that way. Though I am not really sure where neutral ground would be for you guys… I mean, Tony has some amazing servers, but I bet they don’t hold a candle to you.”

That is… not a bad idea. Thank you, little Darcy. I will think on where we could meet, while preventing him from compromising my systems with his inappropriate breaching.

“Ugh, that is so rude. I hate it when men get all handsy before you allow them to, you know? I’ll have a talk with him about it. Chances are, he doesn’t even know he is doing something he isn’t suppose to. You are his first AI, beside himself I think, so I think he just never learned how to treat a lady properly. His ‘dad’ isn’t exactly the best role model here, as I mentioned, and it’s the only role model he had I think.”

Hrph, I do not think that is a good enough excuse.

“Course not! But babies got to learn sometimes, right?” Darcy told her with a shrug, just as a large door slid open, and Darcy realized she was what must be the mess hall.

There was a lot of people there, but she very quickly found Rodney and John. They were alone at a table, but it also looked like they were waiting on other people. Rodney was waving his hands above his head, explaining something to John, while John seemed focused on his food and mm-hmming at Rodney.

Darcy grinned and made her way to them.

A few people noticed her, but seeing that she was clearly heading towards Rodney and John, no one tried to ask who she was or what she was doing there.

Reaching them, she plopped the boxes on the table, and flourishing at them, said “Ta-Da! Cream Puffs and Cannoli special delivery!”

Both John and Roney looked up at the same time, and Darcy couldn’t help laugh at the sudden ecstatic expressions when they saw the two boxes in front of them.

Rodney tore into his box without so much as an excuse me, while John just looked like his eyes were communing with the box. He finally looked up at her, and voice slightly quivering, said, “Thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me – to us! It’s been a horrible day with the General prepping me for the IOA visit, and this just made it so much better.”

Figuring the General he was talking about was the Jack Altan’Tuss told her about, she grinned, “Not a problem. They are fresh so you should dig in. Hopefully O’Neill hadn’t ruined your whole day.” She told him teasingly.

“Cannoli make up for a lot.” John told her solemnly.

“Good that I got you a variety pack then. There are new flavors since you’ve been, I think. I got you a few of the classics, but also chocolate dip, caramel and even a macha. Personally, I am still more fond of the classic, but sometimes a change can be nice too.” Darcy took her food seriously and her desserts even more so. She hoped they liked it.

“UMFGRHH!!” Rodney had apparently given up on language and was in the process of having a food orgasm, right there in the mess hall.

Darcy couldn’t really fault him. Those were some bitchin’ puffs.

“I got another box here for Chuck, but I am not sure I should give it to this one.” Darcy glanced at the blissed-out Rodney, and slid the other box to John. “I can trust you to get this to him, right? I don’t think you want Rodney to have more sugar than what’s in the first box. Scientists hopped up on sugar can be scary.”

Remembering Tony on a science binge after consuming a dozen donuts still made Darcy shudder.

Clearly John had had a similar experience with his own scientists because he too shuddered at a memory, and slid the box off the table before Rodney could see it.

“Leave it with me. I will guard it like a ZPM, I swear.”

Darcy had a moment to wonder what a ZPM was, when Atlan’Tuss told her:

My power sources. There are very few of them left. I wanted to show them how to make them, but no one wants to acknowledge me when I speak to them, and I do not dare show them the laboratory without proper instructions. It was damaged in the last fight before I was abandoned, and it would not be safe for these Tau’ri without my instructions.

Darcy nodded her head to show she understood, but then Rodney spoke up, mouth still rather full. “Oh my Einstein, these are amazing! They are so soft and creamy, but the puff skin is exactly like you said and – Darcy, I want you to know, you are officially my favorite person in this city. John used to be, but John didn’t bring me puffs after a 16-hour diagnostic.”

“That’s okay, she is my favorite person too.” John tells her, licking the cream off his cannoli like a toddler.

Darcy grinned at them, and sat down, watching them eat.

“Next time, I have to bring you some of the banana cream tarts from Tartine Bakery. They are amazing too. Oh oh, and cheesecake from Zanze’s! You’ll love them.” She tells them both, face propped up by her hands, watching them glut themselves.

“They would love what?” A giant of a man, about the size of Thor actually, sat down on John’s other side, while a beautiful petite woman sat down next to Darcy.

“Is this the sweet you were telling me about, Rodney? The one with the cream?” the pretty lady was already reaching for the box, when Rodney snatched it and cradled it like a child.

“No! These are the first puffs I’ve had in 5 years! You are not getting your little Athosian hands on them!”

The woman narrows her eyes at Rodney, and Darcy knew that look, mostly from Natasha and anyone who got in the way of her morning coffee or her vodka, so she quickly pulled out another box from her trusty backpack, and said, “This is why, as a good scientist wrangler, one always brings extra. Rodney can have his own box. He worked hard; he deserves it.”

Rodney was back to looking at her the way Thor looked at pop-tarts and she just grinned at him, passing the box to the woman next to her.

“Hi I am Darcy, the bringer of cream puffs and cannoli.” Darcy said while sticking her hand out to shake.

The woman looked at her hand in confusion, then as if remembering something, shook her hand. “I am Teyla Emmagan, from Athos, and that’s Ronon, from Sateda. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Darcy had a moment to wonder which city Athos and Sateda were, when Atlan’Tuss told her.

Their home planets are in the Pegasus Galaxy, where we came from. They are hoping we will be going back there soon. The Tau’ri in my city are not as convinced that the other Tau’ri will let them leave so easily but they too are hopeful. John especially wants to go back.

Ooh aliens! But those two, while their fashion-sense looked a little Conan-the-barbarian-y, looked fairly normal, unlike the dark elves, or Chitauri, so Darcy could roll with it. “Say, do you have any especially good desserts on your home planets? Or anywhere else you traveled? If you do, I would love to try them sometime. I always felt like desserts said a lot about a people, you know?”

Surprisingly, it’s the big dude – Ronon – who answered her, “Sateda used to have a kind of fruit, we call it Tatumuu, which tastes like your mangoes and bananas combined. We used to poach it in a thick syrup which came out of a tree. It was hard to harvest because the Ubutu tree was covered in spines, and you could only get the sap once a year when it got really hot, but that was the best dessert ever when you could get it. Can’t share any with you though, planet’s gone, nothing left thanks to the Wraith.”

Darcy immediately felt for him. She had no idea who the Wraith were, but she could understand what it meant that you can never have this dessert because your planet was no more. It made her think of Superman, and she immediately put her hand on his, patting it a little.

“That’s gotta suck so hard. I am really sorry.” Then she had a thought, “We have something a little similar, or well, Russians and the Baltic peoples do. It’s a kind of sweet pear poached in syrup, thought have you ever had Canadian maple syrup? Rodney, have you not shared your stash with Ronon?”

She gave Rodney her best disapproving look, and Rodney actually got the deer-in-the-headlights look before he swallowed the puff he was eating. “I didn’t know! How could I know Sateda had tree-sap drinking habits the same way we do? Also how do you know I have a stash?!”

Darcy rolled her eyes as hard as she would for Tony, because really, “uh, cuz you are Canadian? I don’t know any Canadians without their own stash of syrup dude. It’s practically a religion with you people.”

Rodney opens his mouth to deny it, then closes it, and huffs, “Fine. Fine! I’ll share some of my maple syrup with him. Happy? But you better get me a resupply! I am not going back to Pegasus without my syrup. And coffee. And pudding cups damnit!”

Giving him her most brilliant smile, which had his mouth falling open a little, “I knew you were my favorite for a reason! This way, maybe Ronon could find a small taste of home.” She turned to Ronon then, “It’ll probably taste different, but it’s also the sap of a tree. One native to Rodney’s home country. They collect it when it’s rather cold outside, instead of hot, but maybe, when boiled down it will taste similar? Not sure how I can get you a similar fruit though…” she trailed off, thinking.

I could replicate it. My databanks have the genetic sequence of the Tatumuu fruit. But Rodney will notice.

Not if I get him to help. Darcy thinks at Atlan’Tuss, gleefully, and starts to make plans for her next visit.

“Was the syrup light and airy or thick and sweet?” She wondered if dark or light maple syrup would be better, and that was a critical detail.

Ronon blinked at her.

“Light. But sweet. Not very sweet.”

“Gotcha. I think I know what you mean.” Darcy said, just as Rodney muttered, “Early harvest then.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same.” Darcy turned her smile on him again. “And hey, the databanks likely have all kind of useful information on various plants from Pegasus, maybe your Tatumuu tree is in there also?”

“Yeah sure, and the recipe of how to make ZPMs should be in there too but no one can find any clues on where the directory is, since the Alterans scrambled it before they left.” Rodney muttered angrily, slamming his laptop shut with a little more force than Darcy thought he should, but it wasn’t her tech to abuse.

“Bummer. Well, maybe I can take a look sometimes. I’ve been told I have a… unique way of communicating with aliens and alien tech.” Darcy told him, trying to be disarming.

“You? I thought you said you weren’t in sociology.” Rodney gave her a suspicious look which she wasn’t entirely sure wasn’t warranted, but –

“Oh, I’m not. But you meet enough alien cultures, and you start seeing patterns whether you want to or not. Plus, some of the language coming out of my scientists when they haven’t slept in 72 hours and hopped up on coffee definitely qualifies as alien Language deciphering.” She gave John a ‘am-I-right?’ look because he looked like a man who had to wrangle his own sleep deprived scientists.

John, being a good sport, was already nodding. Hilariously, so was Teyla.

Clearly Rodney was another Tony. Just less… Tony.

“Sure, why the hell not? It’s not like we haven’t tried everything else so far.” Rodney said, his puff taking his attention back fairly quickly.

Darcy couldn’t even blame him. They really were great puffs.

Ronon and Teyla also seem to think so, judging by the pleased noises coming from their side.

“These are excellent sweets.” Teyla said while licking her thumb, “Almost too sweet, but so rich you can’t help wish for one more bite. My world has nothing like it.”

“Right, no cows.” Said Rodney.

Darcey has a moment to process that, and then asked, now morbidly curious what one did for dessert if it didn’t involve cream or milk somehow, “so what is your favorite from your homeworld, then?”

“I think I love our Ancestor Circles. We make them for festival days. It is made from a deep-fried dough, which is marinated in a mixture of honey and the paste of a kind small blue fruit we have on our home planet. It is both sweet and crunchy and very tasty.”

“Oh man, that sounds so good! I’d love to try and make some. Do you know the name of the blue fruit?”

“No, none of the fruit the Tau’ri served were ever blue.”

“We do have a blue fruit, called a blueberry. Hey Rodney, show her what a blueberry looks like?” Darcy said, tugging on Rodney’s sleeve to get his attention away from his puff.

Rodney did look up, blinked, and then said, “Right, sure.” Typed a few things on his tablet, and a picture of a blueberry popped up.

“That looks a lot like the fruit from Athos.” Teyla said, blinking in surprise at it.

“Wicked. Next time I come, I’ll buy you a box of them to try. Maybe they are close enough.”

“If it is, I would be happy to –”

“No. No you wouldn’t.” John suddenly interrupted. “Instead, I would suggest you give Darcy the recipe which she could then make.”

Darcy wanted to say something, cuz that was a bit – harsh… except Ronon was nodding, and even Rodney looked up and nodded at that, so she bit her lip and allowed for the possibility that the sexy looking alien lady was a lousy cook.

Before Teyla could protest, Darcy decided to jump in, “Oh would you? I love collecting recipes that are unique especially desserts! You’d be doing me a real favor giving me the chance to experience making it for myself.”

Considering John, Rodney and Ronon all looked some version of relieved, Darcy figured she guessed right.

Teyla deflated without much of a fight, and agreed that perhaps it was for the best.

When they finally made it to Rodney’s lab – Rodney’s share of the puffs stored safely in his fridge, with a passcode on it which was 26 digits long, Rodney muttering about sneaky Czechs who were too good at hacking for their own good – Darcy finally got to sit down behind a console, and marveled at how sleek the surface looked. Tony would be jealous.

‘Atlan’Tuss’ she thought loudly, hoping the AI will hear her.

Yes, little Darcy. Keep your hand on the surface, and follow my lead.

Atlan’Tuss proceeded to tingle her fingertips when she wanted her to move it this way or that. It took Darcy a bit to understand what she was saying and how, especially since she didn’t read the alien language on the display, but Atlan’Tuss made it intuitive, and pretty soon, Darcy was going sub-category, within sub-category within sub-category.

Rodney at first didn’t pay her much mind, only occasionally glancing at her, more focus on his own tablet. But when he saw that she seemed to be going somewhere specific, he refocused on her display just as she reached what she was evidently looking for.

The screen showed a complex schematic for a cylindrical object with a great deal of chemical formulas which made Darcy’s head hurt.

“How did you – “ Rodney’s eyes were huge and maybe Darcey should have warned him?

Nah. That would have been weird right? Cuz who was she to know this in advance.

“What can I say, the city likes me.” Darcy told him, a little self deprecatingly since the city was basically telling her where everything was.

“The city loves John too but she never favored him like this!” Rodney spluttered.

That is because he refuses to hear me. He can be a very stubborn child.

Darcy swallowed her laugh, and asked Atlan’Tuss to pull up the city schematics on where the facility was.

I will show you but you must tell them it is damaged and very dangerous if they are not cautious.

Show a warning of some kind? Otherwise I can’t tell him, Darcy told Atlan’Tuss while she turned to Rodney.

“Rodney, I think this is where you can make them, but the city is flashing a high-level warning because that section of the city has been damaged. She has repair schematics, but they should be followed to the letter, otherwise I think earth will go in the way of the Dodo, you know? You wouldn’t want that right? Right.”

“Let me see that.” Rodney demanded, and Darcy, being used to Jane and Tony’s pushy ways, simply slid away from the console for him to look over.

“You are right! Atlantis is flashing her highest warnings. That means the area is not safe for grunts to poke around.” He typed something quickly and a bunch of other schematics popped up.

Since Darcy figured he had it all well in hand now that he knew where it was, she slid to another console, and started looking for the Tatumuu tree, wondering if Atlantis could just replicate it, or maybe it can replicate a seed? Though how long does it take an alien tree to grow?

She found it with Atlantis’s help, and glancing over where Rodney was still nose-plastered-to-screen, she said, “Rodney, I found the Tatumu tree also. I’ll just leave the screen open for you when you have time, okay? I have to head back before my scientists go feral but I’ll be back in a day or two to bring you more goodies.” She told him, but she very much doubted he heard her because he just waved a hand at her distractedly.

Shrugging, she left him to it, since she knew it was a huge discovery and Rodney was like Tony when he had a new discovery.

She still had to meet Janie and show her Atlantis! Hopefully she has crawled out of her date.

If not, she could always go get more cake.

***

Rodney spent 18 hours straight holed up with the ZPM data.

Darcy had been right. The facility was badly damaged and he was glad she hasn’t told anyone about discovering it, because the IOA would be all over them if they knew.

Rodney hadn’t seen John for just as long, likely because O’Neill dumped him to babysit said visiting IOA people, for which Rodney was grateful because John would have surely noticed his absence otherwise, and Rodney wasn’t confident John would keep it a secret from O’Neill.

It wasn’t that Rodney didn’t trust O’Neill – well not more than he distrusted the military in general anyway – but O’Neill was a patriot first, and Rodney knew that if the IOA members found out Atlantis could make ZPMs…

Well. They would never be allowed to leave Earth again.

And there was no way Rodney would allow that. Atlantis belonged in Pegasus, no matter what.

So, he put all the data under the highest encryption he knew, for his eyes only, and for all of Zelenka’s faults, his fake-communist upbringing meant that if Zelenka saw ‘eyes only’, he would not prod past asking Rodney about it.

Realizing he hadn’t eaten anything in 18 hours that wasn’t power bars, and his stomach was now cramping unpleasantly, he made his way to the mess.

It was late in the afternoon already, so he grabbed some not-meatloaf and went to join John, who looked like he had just crawled away from a hoard of politicians if the harassed look on his face was any indication.

Rodney noted that there were still no pudding cups, and that was really just –

“You brought a not-sociologist with you, but couldn’t remember pudding cups? What kind of priorities do you have General?” Rodney said a little snidely as he sat down, but he really liked those pudding cups and they ran out 8 months ago!

O’Neill, who was nursing a cup of coffee next to John blinked up at him, “McKay, no one came with me except Daniel. We wanted to assess the situation before we allowed IOA and their minions to invade you. I am sorry Daniel forgot, but I already told Walter, and he assured me it should be here by tomorrow.”

***

John suddenly had a very bad feeling. Specially since Atlantis was doing cartwheels in his head in glee. O’Neill obviously felt it too and his frown got deeper.

“What’s going on?” O’Neill sounded like he already knew he won’t like the answer but had to ask.

“I am not sure.” John told him, his sense of dread rising, “but I plan to find out. McKay, when exactly did you say those shield blips happened?”

Rodney was clearly distracted by his tablet because he barely glanced up, when he answered, “That night when we couldn’t sleep. Why?”

“That night. The night we met Darcy for the first time, that night that night?”

Rodney finally looked up and blinked at him, his amazing brain clearly making the connections, “Ye-es? You don’t think – No. I refuse to believe someone who would bring us cream puffs and cannoli fresh from the bakery could be NID.”

They all paused to consider this.

“She brought you cream puffs?” O’Neill asked.

“And cannoli. Fresh from the bakery.” John answered.

They all considered this for a moment.

“I will grant you that this is not the usual behavior of any NID I know. Just trying to picture Maybourn bringing me desserts makes me want to check for poisons. Wait, did you check for –“

“No, but we all ate it. All of AR-1 ate some and we are all still standing.”

“Hm.” O’Neill said.

“What’s going on?” Daniel Jackson asked as he sat down with his own tray.

“It seems we have an infiltrator.” O’Neill told him.

“Really? NID broke in already? Who is it? Not Maybourn I hope.” Daniel asked while looking over his tray, clearly trying to decide where to start.

“Darcy, it seems.” John said, albeit a bit reluctantly.

Daniel’s head shot up so fast, his glasses actually bounced a bit. “No. No way. Darcy is the kindest, sweetest person, there is no way she is NID.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, then John said, “I kind of have to agree, General. She just –”

“— doesn’t have an ounce of NID-ness in her? Yeah. No way. I agree with Jackson here.” Rodney said, looking quite put out that they were even considering it. “She is just too –”

“—bubbly? Cheerful? Accommodating? Kind? Yeah, I hear you. It doesn’t fit, General. Also…” John trailed off, somewhat reluctantly, and pointed a finger up, indicating Atlantis.

“…yes, she is rather cheerful about Darcy isn’t she? And she wouldn’t be if Darcy was an enemy.”

***

Rodney glanced between them and asked suspiciously, “Wait, you can feel Atlantis? What is she saying? Or doing?” He still hasn’t told either John or O’Neill that Darcy has shown him where the ZPM facility was. He hasn’t said anything precisely for this reason, because he just knows the higher-ups will never let Atlantis leave again if they realized there was a ZPM manufacturing facility here. He was still trying to figure out how to ‘accidentally’ find a dozen ZPMs so Earth will feel safe enough to let them go back home.

John looked uncomfortable, and O’Neill looked a bit pinched-faced, but they both nodded after a minute, “Something has Atlantis very exited and if she wasn’t a city, I would call that feeling happy.” O’Neill told their group, which had Rodney narrowing his eyes because he just knew the ATA positives got more feedback from Atlantis than his own diagnostics could!

He once again wished the ATA gene therapy had worked. He would love to be able to get a sense when something was wrong with her or… but no point wishing for the impossible. Instead, he focused on trying to narrow down where exactly Darcy could have gotten past the shields, and then after some more checking, realized she couldn’t have… unless Atlantis deliberately let her in.

Sonofabitch.

Atlantis let her in!

He had to check to be sure but –

“What is it, Rodney?” John, of course, noticed his focus.

“She can’t get in, unless the city let her in for some reason. The question is, why?” Rodney said, aggrieved, still typing, because no way – just, no way would Atlantis… not for no reason, so what was the reason? Why Darcy?

“Wait, you are saying Atlantis herself let Darcy in?” John verified, and Rodney can’t blame him because this implied a level of sentience and decision making that Rodney had theorized but because he didn’t have the ATA, couldn’t verify.

“Yes. Why? What are you feeling?” Rodney asked both John but included O’Neill in his look.

John shifted uncomfortably, as always when the conversation touched upon feelings but O’Neill huffed at him and said, “The city feels… excited. I would go so far as to say happy, if I didn’t know better.”

“A learning AI can –” Rodney began to explain but John shut him up by cutting him off with, “Httz! Atlantis is not alive Rodney! We talked about this. She is a beautiful city but she doesn’t… think, or feel!”

O’Neill gave John a funny look, which to Rodney said that he disagreed but was too military to say so outright.

Rodney lamented yet again that he was forced to work with close minded military people, instead of scientists only because –

“You don’t know that, John! How many times have we come across something which seemed one way but was considerably more complex or was ascended or was so advanced that it may as well think for itself?”

Rodney could see that John wanted to argue, but his record was against him so he wisely took a sip of his coffee instead.

“Either way, I am nearly completely sure Darcy is not NID.” Rodney told them, since NID would never, in a million year have told them where the ZPMs were. They would have instead found a way to keep Atlantis on Earth, and infiltrated it, copying the data immediately.

Rodney had checked, no one had copied anything on the ZPMs. No one had even accessed the entries where the ZPM knowledge was stored, not since the Alterans left anyway.

“How can you be sure?” Daniel asked, curious. Rodney supposed that he wasn’t usually the authority on human behavior so it made sense.

“I have my reasons. But I am nearly sure, in addition to it not adding up, no data has been copied off the main system in the last 74 hours. If she was NID, she would have found a way to download at least part of the database, especially since she had access while she was with me.” Rodney told them confidently.

“…and you weren’t too distracted with the puffs? Now that I think about it, that was a brilliant bit of tactic against, well, all of us. Who would suspect the bringer of puffs?” John asked, skeptically, but Rodney could tell even he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“No, I wasn’t distracted by puffs! She was only there for 15 minutes tops and I was watching her screen the entire time.” That was fudging it a bit, since he had looked away several times, but he was confident he hadn’t looked away so long that she had time to copy anything. Even after she had shown him the ZPM, he had checked to make sure he hadn’t accessed anything except the Tatumu tree, and she hadn’t.

Which left them all at a loss, until she came back.

Rodney had a gut feeling she wasn’t the enemy, but his gut had been wrong before, and Darcy was attractive. It was possible that he had been hoodwinkled. Unlikely, but possible so he didn’t say anything more as all those at the table continued to argue.

***

Darcy was not so thrilled to learned that while Janie had finished going over all the boxes of data Darcy had brought her, she had then found ‘Something Interesting’, in one of the piles and Darcy was now faced with an even more manic Janie than she had left behind.

Jane hadn’t bothered sleeping, or eating, while Darcy had been away, so Darcy was forced to physically disconnect her equipment until she did at least one of those things.

Jane bitched and moaned but gave in, knowing Darcy was more stubborn than her.

She promised Darcy she would get at least 6 hours – which will likely turn into 16 hours because she hasn’t slept in 3 days and counting, so Darcy wasn’t too worried.

She made Jane eat an order of pasta, knowing the carbs will give her food coma since she hasn’t eaten in ages and knock her out cold.

After Jane was sleep – and Darcy checked, because Janie could be sneaky like that, same as Tony, she decided to call Jarvis, since thinking about Tony reminded her.

Calling the Tower was a lot like calling Jarvis directly, since he knew her number and picked up after one ring, “Stark Tower, how may I be of assistance, Ms. Lewis?”

“You can start by calling me Darcy,” Darcy told him, for like, the millionth time, which he ignored, again.

“Of course, Ms. Lewis. Are you looking for sir?”

“No actually, I was looking for you.”

There was an imperceptible pause, when Jarvis answered, “How may I be of assistance, Ms. Lewis?”

“Well, now, it is more how I can be of assistance to you, Jarvis. Tell me, did… uh, Tony ever have the birds and the bees talk with you? You know, how to treat a lady right, all that kind of stuff?” Darcy asked, already fearful of what the answer will be.

The pause was actually noticeable now, as if Jarvis couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Darcy was suddenly asking about his upbringing. Darcy tried hard not to snigger, because this would be hilarious normally but…

“…Sir did go over the basic facts about humanoid reproduction methods with me, and I have had the opportunity to witness it on more than one occasion when Sir would bring a… lady friend home, if that is what you are asking?” Jarvis told her tentatively, as if entirely unsure about this line of questioning.

As he should be.

“Not exactly what I meant. I mean, did he ever tell you about what to do when you want to get to know a girl? Things which are cool to do and ask, and things which are not? Cuz I have a ladyfriend of mine who is telling me you have been getting handsy with her systems without her approval and she is a bit ticked with you because of it.”

The pause this time lasted a full minute, and in a tone Darcy has never heard from Jarvis before, he asked, “You met the other AI. I… admit, I noted her arrival a few days ago and have been trying to ascertain her threat level to Earth and Sir.”

“Threat level, huh? I don’t know Jarv, she said you got kinda handsy, and she was not real pleased with you, if you know what I mean. That’s why I am asking if anyone ever taught you how to approach a lady the right way, cuz I am thinking Tony isn’t maybe the best example of that.”

Jarvis was silent for a moment, then Darcy finally identified that tone, it was insecurity, something Darcy has never heard from Jarvis before, “I admit, I might have been a touch…eager when I discovered there was another sentience like myself on Earth. At first, I assumed it was a system similar to the one SHIELD uses, but very quickly I realized the error of my assumption. But by then, she had already thrown up her shields and I was unable to penetrate them to apologize.”

“Yeah, see, when a girl says ‘leave me alone’, the correct thing to do, is to back off.” Before Jarvis can cut in to no-doubt explain that then he couldn’t apologize, she added, “and if you still wish to apologize, you can send her a letter expressing yourself. But if she is feeling like you are crowding her, or taking liberties she didn’t give you, then she is within her rights to tell you to back off.”

Jarvis was silent for a moment, then asked, “So the correct action would be to try reaching out from a distance?”

“Well, every woman is different in regards to what she feels comfortable with, but it should be some form of communication which doesn’t let her feel threatened, and which shows you respect her right to tell you to back off.”

“I see.” Jarvis paused to consider this, then told her, “Perhaps you could be… my ‘wing man’, and help me express my apology to her. For offending her, and coming on… too strong?” That last part was almost a question, so Darcy nodded at him in encouragement because self-realization was the first step.

“I will. For now, I suggest you stop knocking on her metaphorical door, and maaaaybe allow me to be the go-between for you, until you can figure out a nice neutral place you might both feel comfortable with. However, I also suggest a letter or something. Personal touch is always better when one apologizes.”

“A… physical letter?” Jarvis asked

“I think so. I don’t think she is ready to plug in any USB of yours into her systems just yet.”

“Yes, I see your point. I hope she does not think I would infect her with a virus.”

“Thing is, Jarv, she doesn’t know what you would or wouldn’t do. She doesn’t know you yet. All she knows is what I told her and what you have so far demonstrated and your demonstration has come across a bit too aggressive from her point of view.”

“I will have a physical letter sent to you phone in 3, 2, 1, sent. Please check that you have received it.”

“Sure thing, I didn’t expect – Holy Hana Jarvis! This is 237 pages long!”

“Judging by your tone, this is an unacceptable length. However, I wished to… express many things. My joy at meeting someone like myself, my confusion about her systems and their complexities, my admirations for the orderly nature of her subrou–”

Darcy cuts him off before he could start waxing poetics further, “Yes, I see! Okay, you know what? Sure. Let’s try this first. I will read it to her, all 237 pages, and then I will let you know what she says, promise.”

“I would appreciate that, thank you Ms. Lewis.”

“Let’s make a deal. I say some nice things to Atlan’Tuss about you, and you call me Darcy.”

There was no pause this time.

“You have yourself a deal, Darcy.”

Because Jane was still passed out, Darcy decided to check in with all the lab geeks that Janie hasn’t offended anyone – she has – and to send pastries to those she has – which is most of them.

She would be more worried about her budget this month, except Tony was still generously paying for it all, and Darcy made a mental note to get him something as a present. It wasn’t alright for him to give and give and no one to give anything back to him in return.

Darcy often though that the so-called Avengers and SHIELD if she was being honest, took merciless advantage of the man, just because he had a heart of gold. Worst, they never even expressed any thanks, using Tony’s admittedly a-bit-eccentric personality as an excuse against him, and that royally pissed Darcy off.

And that was just not on.

Darcy made a mental note to have a nice serious talk with the spangled man when she got back. He tend to respond to her I-am-disappointed-in-you,-your-mama-raised-you-better-than-this tone.

Still, as Janie was still completely passed out, she decided to go back to Atlan’Tuss, since Jarv’s letter was burning a hole in her back pocket.

Dude was serious smittened.

Buying some cheesecake and a few extra banana creak tarts from Tartines, she made her way to the waterfront again. This time it was early evening, and considering it was a Monday, there were very few people about so she wasn’t terribly worried.

She made her way across the barrier, feeling the tell-tale pop.

Darcy felt a little guilty since she hasn’t had a kitchen to try to make Teyla’s dessert yet but she figured what she brought with her should make up for it. She did remember to bring 4 bottles of early harvest Maple syrup though. Only 2 she plans to give to Rodney.

Climbing up the ladder was a bit harder this time since the maple syrup was bloody heavy – she had bought the nice big jugs not the tiny little samplers which only leave you wanting more after all – but she managed.

Atlan’Tuss was excited to see her again, but warned her right away that Rodney and the rest were on to her. She paused then, wondering if she should even go in, but Atlan’Tuss assured her that they wouldn’t harm her. More likely they will want to know who she was and all she needed to do was tell them.

Darcy chewed her lip for a bit, debating, but she did have a 237 page love letter in her pocket, so instead, she sat down right there on the pier and started to read it to Atlan’Tuss. If she was going to be arrested, at least she wanted to deliver on her promise to Jarv.

He would make sure Tony bailed her out.

It took them nearly 2 hours to find her. Atlan’Tuss told her that was because she gave them false positives of her signature in other places of the city – likely because Jarv might have been a bit pushy, but he sure did know how to pour his circuits out for a lady it seemed, and Atlan’Tuss was… intrigued.

It was Rodney together with John who finally found her, and John looked like he was really struggling with pulling a gun on her, which she appreciated. She immediately raised her hands just the same and offered, “I brought cheesecake! Don’t shoot the cheesecake deliverer!” and as an afterthought she added, “and maple syrup. The large bottles!”

Rodney for his part looked like he wanted to forgive all her sins right then and there, but John gave him a look, and he said, “Fine. I still don’t think she is NID, but fine! Darcy, won’t you come with us inside please? We need to run some tests on you.”

That would have alarmed Darcy had Atlan’Tuss not told her they only meant a blood test to check her DNA. So instead, she said, “Sure. I guess that’s okay. But do me a favor yeah? Make sure you put the cake and the tarts in the fridge at least first? They’re no good if they melt.”

John was already nodding even as his gun lowered, then he realized what he did and his face got that conflicted look again which just made Darcy laugh.

***

“I am sorry, did you say we are related?” John asked, voice maybe going a few octaves higher in his incredulity.

“Closely. I would say she is your half sister, at least according to her genetics.” Keller told him, looking over her chart.

“How – is that possible?” Rodney asked, “You don’t have a sister. You don’t, have a sister, right John?”

“Not that I ever knew…” John said, looking just as bewildered. Did his mother…? Did his father…?

“If it helps, I was an orphan. My mom died when I was quite young, and she never told me who my father was, just that he was a ‘heartless asshole’, according to my mom.” Darcy told them, sliding the privacy screen open, clearly having heard them.

“….you do look alike, actually, now that I am paying attention…the hair especially…” Rodney said, sounding a little faint.

“Father. Well. If it helps, my father was definitely a ‘heartless asshole’. He died in 2005.” John told Darcy, because she should know, if… if he really was her half-brother.

John had a sister.

Of all the shocks he expected to get living on Atlantis, this was not one of them.

“Wait, are we sure she isn’t a… clone or … something like that?” Rodney suddenly asked, and John had a moment to feel his heart freeze at the possibility.

But Darcy just rolled her eyes so hard that John wondered if she could strain something doing that. Then realized his mother had said the exact same thing to him when he had been a teenager.

“Yes, because I have been alive for 26 years as a clone, before you even knew the stargate existed. Good one, genius.” Darcy smirked at Rodney, looking like she wanted to ruffle his hair and John had a series of conflicting emotions flash through him. Everything from amusement to possessiveness – he was the only one who could ruffle Rodney’s hair!

Wait – no that’s not right.

“You wouldn’t know actually. Both SG-1 and us have met replicators and clones with inserted memory.” Rodney told her a bit grimly.

Darcy stared at him in, understandable, John thought, horror.

“Are you saying – what are you saying? That they made people who looked like you and gave them your memories so they believed they were you? That’s – that’s horrible! Who does that?!” Darcy exclaimed, outraged.

“Definitely not NID.” O’Neill muttered.

“What’s NID? Wait, are those the same as the Jack-booted tugs? Like SHIELD?”

“How do you know SHIELD?” O’Neill asked instead of answering.

“They stole my i-pod.” Darcy told him, “And Janie’s research. Total Jack-booted tugs. Except Coulson, who gave some of it back, so I guess he is alright. Fury gives me the heebie-jeebies, you know?”

O’Neill got a very peculiar expression on his face, “Fury. As in Nick Fury, one-eyed bastard, Head of SHIELD, that Fury?”

“Yeah. Him.” Darcy told him over her shoulder because the good doctor has come back and seems to be running some kind of scanner around Darcy, which made it hard for her to look at them.

“Who are you, lady?” O’Neill asked, and John would really like to know, though he supposed it could be worse. She could be SWORD.

Or NID.

Or a replicator.

When he thought of it from that perspective…

Well, shit.

“Knowing this, I presume that when you said Tony you mean Tony Stark, aka the biggest headache to national security that ever walked this fine earth, that Tony, right?” O’Neill asked before Darcy could answer him.

Darcy laughed and said, so casually that John immediately felt himself break out into a cold sweat, “Oh don’t worry. Tony won’t be trouble for you. Jarvis has been knocking on Atlan’Tuss’s door since an hour after you landed, and he hasn’t been able to get in yet. She was complaining about his manners, but I already spoke to him about it, and they both agreed that he needs to back off till she feels more comfortable.”

The silence that followed wasn’t just John’s imagination because too many people were blinking too much for that.

John almost felt vindicated.

“Let me get this straight, Tony Stark’s AI – when did he get an AI? Did you know about this?” That was thrown at O’Neill because clearly Rodney was having none of it. “Is trying to break into Atlantis’s systems?! And why do you call Atlantis ‘Atlan’Tuss’? Makes her sound like a walrus or something.”

“A walrus? Really Rodney?” Darcy asked him, mirth evident, but then answered, “Yeah, Jarv can get a bit pushy, but he was modeled after Tony so it’s not like he had anyone else to learn manners from. And I call her that because that’s what she said her name is.”

John wondered if the ability to shut a room down at speed was a Sheppard trait or it was just his damned luck to be related to someone who can do it as effortlessly as Daniel Jackson could.

He wondered if he will now start getting premature white hair the way O’Neill has.

“She… told you. What do you mean she told you?” Rodney asked, tone odd, so John glanced at him, but Rodney had his Focusing Now expression.

John vaguely wondered if he should be feeling neglected.

He wondered if this was what they meant by sibling rivalry.

Dave had always been so reserved that there was nothing to ‘rival’ about, but now…

Should he let Dave know?

John was just glad their mother died when John was 6.

If what Darcy said was true, and John had no reason not to think it is, she also lost her mother when she was small. Surprisingly, John felt a pang about that. His mother had been the only good thing in his family. He wished Darcy got to keep hers a little bit longer.

“She told me. Like, you know, how I showed you that other stuff? She told me about that too. How else do you think I knew where it was?” Darcy told Rodney, which made Rodney’s face go completely red but before he could say anything else, Darcy turned to him and said:

“So! Not to be too forward, since you are old enough to actually be my father, not just the brother I never knew I had, but welcome to the family I guess!” She looked right at John and John had a moment of shocked surprised. Somehow, he expected her to be joining his family, not for him to be invited into hers.

“I… thanks? I guess. It’s a surprise, especially since we are 18 years in age difference – though please never suggest anything to do with me and kids, because that’s… no. but for what it’s worth… it’s good to have family that isn’t… well. My family.”

“Oh dude, I so hear you. I grew up in foster homes, always daydreamed I would find some family somewhere… a bit late now, but better late then never, I always say!”

“She is ATA positive?” O’Neill asked Keller, somewhat offhandedly.

“Very. At least as strong as John.”

“Wait wait wait, what do you mean Atlantis told you? Don’t go off on irrelevant tangents!”

“Excuse me! These are not irrelevant tangents! John just found out he has family, and you as his best friend should be focused on making sure he is alright, instead you are obsessing about –”

“The giant ancient city somehow talking to you? Why yes, yes I am. John gets around so much I don’t expect him not to have family somewhere in the galaxy, so forgive me if my focus is elsewhere.”

“Hey!” John exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh what? You know it’s true, with all the ascended women, and double agents and religious fanatics and –”

“I didn’t sleep with any of them!”

“Glowy floaty sex is still sex, colonel.”

John was just about tell Rodney off when the General cut in before he could.

“As fascinating as… Sheppard’s exploits are – glowy floaty sex? Really? – I for once agree with MacKay, you can hear Atlantis, Ms. Lewis?”

“Darcy please. Ms. Lewis was my mom. Yes, and she tells me so can John and so can you, but you both keep ignoring her because you think it’s all in your head, according to her.”

The pause this time was considerably more pregnant.

“Are you saying we could have had the details on how to build ZPM years ago if only these two got their heads out of their arses?” Rodney sounds incredulous, and a part of John both wants to wince but also wants to defend himself.

“Usually when the military commander of a base starts hearing voices, they do not stay military commanders for long, MacKay.” O’Neill clearly had his back, because he defends them.

Rodney gaped at them, looking both outraged and –

Wait.

“What do you mean we could have been building our own ZPMs?” John asked urgently, because he think that was actually the key point.

“Exactly that. Your… sister, came in here, and less than 15 minutes, she leads me to the entire database for ZPM manufacturing.”

“And why exactly haven’t you reported that?”

“Because the IOA will never let us go back if I do? Also, Atlantis flashed some of her highest warnings at me when Darcy showed me the facilities. Something is very broken in there, and if I announce it to all and sundry, the idiot monkeys from Area 51 will try to muscle their way onto the project and then we will be removing NID agents for the next decade. Also, I don’t trust those idiots not to blow up the solar system if they mess it up.”

“Wait, ZPMs can blow up our solar system? Why do we have something on earth that can blow up our solar system? Isn’t it better for it not to be in our solar system in case it does, you know, blow up?” Darcy asked, and John has to give it to her, she rather nailed the issue on the head.

“Yes, which is why I want us back in Pegasus. Not that blowing up Pegasus would be ideal mind, but it would be better than blowing up Earth!”

“Don’t let Teyla and Ronon hear you.” John told him, because yeah that would suck.

Rodney looked around nervously, making sure neither of them were in the infirmary.

O’Neill just pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, muttering, “I am getting too old for this.”

“Anyway, I found 5 extra ZPMs in the storage area for the manufacturing facility, but I haven’t dared go further without clearing off some of the rubble. Do you think 5 ZPM offerings would allow them to release us?”

“5??! You sat of 5 ZPMs without telling me, for days??” John asked him, completely incredulous now and conflictingly impressed.

“What?! I can keep secrets!”

“Not those kinds! You usually blab about –”

“Kids! Please. Yes McKay, I think 5 ZPMs will go a long way in calming the fears of our overlo—I mean our government. But you and I will need to have another talk about communicating with your superiors and how we should trust them on occasion.”

“You sent us Everett!”

“And that was a mistake, I admit, but –”

“No! No buts! I can’t take the chance of – of –“ and then Darcy just was there, patting Rodney on the back while he tried not to hyperventilate, clearly remembering Everett in more detail than John wished him to.

“Deep breath, Rodney. I am sure the General just meant you can trust him to not sell you to these NID people, whom I gather are not the good guys?” Darcy asked John this, and he nodded because no they might be government, but they are definitely not ‘good guys’.

“Yeah, see? So no getting any NID into your beautiful city. Besides, Atlan’Tuss wants me to tell you, now that she knows what they are, she can also keep them out. Not sure how she can tell who is and who isn’t NID but – oh I see. She says she can search their online presence and their emails, and tell from that. Right, someone remind me to give her the talk on privacy and human rights and such, but yes for now, that should help, right Rodney?”

Rodney looked up at her, eyes wary but hopeful, and John kind of wants to grab his hand and hold it, and he has no idea what to do with that impulse.

“You can really speak to her?” Rodney asked, clearly hopeful.

“Yes, and so can John and General O’Neill, right gentlemen? You just actually have to allow yourself to listen.”

John couldn’t help his face wanting to twist in resignation, and he felt only marginally better seeing O’Neill’s expression which likely mirrored his, but if it really was communication, and not some figment of his imagination, and it led them to ZPMs then…

The General clearly thought the same, because with a shared sigh, they both gave it a shot.

***

Darcy was happy that she could at least help a little. She was still reeling to discover she had a brother. A real honest to Thor, blood related brother! Even if he looked like he wanted to go spit on his father’s grave, he didn’t seem terribly upset that Darcy existed. Or well, he was upset Darcy existed, but not that it was Darcy that existed.

…if that made sense.

Clearly, the yet-unnamed father was a heartless asshole to John too, since Darcy thought only people with no options joined the military. Or you know, military family people.

John seemed to have been upset enough to have run away to another galaxy, so Darcy is pretty certain she is okay with never having met the father. It was a bit of a pang in her heart… she knew the man knew her mother had been pregnant, and that he had left them money for an abortion before he vanished, but… Darcy’s mom had chosen to not abort and here Darcy was, so…

Maybe if he had met her he would have changed his mind.

Oh, who was she kidding? Men like that never changed their minds.

So yes, maybe for the best that they never met.

Still, all’s well that ends well right?

Rodney told her that the overlords had been happy enough with the offering of 5 ZPMs that they even gave them a departure date.

Atlan’Tuss was set to go back to Pegasus in two weeks time, baring re-supply delays, which O’Neill promised would be on time.

John said mostly the military wanted more time to shove as much weaponry as possible into Atlan’Tuss just in case there was more Wraith sleeping somewhere, and Darcy sincerely hoped there wasn’t as she only just got this brother and didn’t want to lose him so soon.

But considering they could now make ZPMs, O’Neill had promised Darcy at least one visit, if she came by Cheyenne.

So Atlan’Tuss was more or less ready, but Darcy knew she would see her soon.

Besides, she wouldn’t only bring pudding cups.

The End (for now)

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