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[personal profile] erda
Title: Delicate Interlude
Author: [livejournal.com profile] keefaq
Word count: ~900
Category: Gen
Summary: On the surface, everything appears to be settled.
Episode tag for 5.02: The Seed
Written for the Season Five Tagathon at [livejournal.com profile] sga_episodefic





Teyla passed the baby to Kanaan reluctantly. When Kanaan stepped back she followed him, pulling the blanket back from the baby’s head and satisfying herself that he was sleeping comfortably.

“Now that the crisis has passed,” Kanaan said. “Our release should be soon.”

“It will be soon,” she assured him.

“Your friends do not trust us.”

“They are just being careful, Kanaan. Mr Woolsey is new, and he is a cautious man.” When he wasn’t reassured, she stiffened. “You know that the Atlanteans are my people, Kanaan, just as much as the Athosians. We have spoken of this before.”

“Yes, I know this, Teyla. I am concerned only with what happens if your two people oppose each other.” His expression softened as he peered down at their child. “Come, we will speak of this no further. For now, I will be content to wait.”

Teyla wondered how long his patience would last.

~*~


The doctor’s hands probed all along his sore neck gently, tracing over the bruising. Ronon held himself stiffly, not leaning into the touch. The young doctor smelled like the infirmary. Not for the first time he wondered how a place full of chemicals carried from a distant galaxy could smell so familiar, the smell of home, and loss, and loneliness.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked in her soft worried voice.

“No,” he tried to say, but the word wouldn’t come out of his bruised throat as anything more than a croak.

“I told you not to try to talk,” she admonished him. “You’ll be fine if you can keep quiet for a few days.” She was rubbing some type of salve across the bruise, and Ronon wondered what malicious fate had brought her here. He’d never felt any of this when Dr. Beckett was in charge, this stirring up of memories best left buried with the rest of his civilization.

He shrugged off her gentle hands and got up, brushing roughly past her. He had to get away. He left quickly, without a glance at her, not wanting to see the confusion on her face. It wasn’t fair to her, but even when he could speak he couldn’t explain how she made him feel.

~*~


“So? What's so urgent?” John asked. The crisis had passed, but Rodney still looked tense, and it wasn’t his fussing for the sake of fussing look. It was the “doom so eminent I’ve gone straight through panic into unnatural calm” look, and John could feel the relaxed slouch hiss out of his own body, making him stand up straighter. “Come on, spill it.”

Rodney gestured toward the computer screen and tapped on the keys a moment. The screen cleared to show the inside of Woolsey’s quarters. “I recorded this about an hour ago.”

“What the hell, Rodney,” John protested. “You can’t spy on people in their quarters.” He felt a chill at the thought of Rodney not just able but willing to intrude on people’s privacy to such a degree. Even for Rodney this was over the line.

“Trust me,” Rodney said. “There’s something very not right going on here that is more important than Woolsey’s privacy.”

“Turn that__” off, he’d been intending to say, but he was stopped by the sight of Woolsey speaking to someone through a Goa’uld communication ball. What the hell?

“Why did you fail to return Dr. Beckett to earth?” the man in the ball asked accusingly.

“It was impossible for me to do so without raising suspicion,” Woolsey replied stiffly. “Recall that I specifically argued against infecting people before dealing with Dr. Beckett.”

“You have fumbled our best chance to convince the SGC to close the base in Pegasus.”

Woolsey waved his hands dismissively. “I’m in position now. I’ve started building up a level of trust I can use later when we have a better opportunity. I tried to warn you these people would not be easy to defeat.”

“Very well,” the man in the ball said. “The committee will be meeting next week. I will have new orders for you then.”

The ball went dark, and Rodney stopped the recording.

John shook off the feeling of unreality. “We need to report this.”

“To whom?” Rodney asked. “Whoever is responsible for removing Carter and placing him here must be in a position of power. We don’t know who is on our side and who is working against us.”

Rodney was right, as usual. He rubbed his temples, which had begun throbbing. “What do you suggest, then?”

Rodney shrugged. “We know he can’t be trusted. So we watch him, try to gather more information about who is behind this.”

“Meantime he could get us all killed.”

Rodney nodded grimly.

~*~


Woolsey poured himself a drink, raising it in silent salute to himself before drinking it down. He’d managed to save everyone, even Dr. Keller, whom he’d been resigned to losing, without breaking his cover. The NID still believed he was loyal to them, and he was in the perfect position to thwart their plans to destroy the Pegasus mission while gathering evidence of just how far the organization had penetrated Stargate Command.

His only regret was that he couldn’t yet tell anyone what he was doing. Being a triple agent was going to be lonely, but he was used to being disliked. He would do what needed to be done, and when he finally exposed the NID he had no doubt he would win the loyalty of everyone on Atlantis, even the contentious Dr. McKay.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-22 05:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] neevebrody.livejournal.com
*blinks* You're... you're not going to stop there... are you?

Oh my, I really enjoyed this! I have to admit not being very familiar with SG-1, or the Goa'uld's motivations (but that didn't ruin this for me). I loved that you featured Kaanan and spoke of clearly what Ronon must feel (I've often thought of that connection).

But, there's more... right? (even if there isn't - I enjoyed this very, very much) Triple Agent - wonderful!

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-23 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keefaq.livejournal.com
Thanks. Ronon is a goldmine of angst waiting to be mined.

Wish I had more time for this, but the reason I signed up to write tags was to get out of the bogged down state of everything I try to write.

Posting for every episode is going to force me to be brief.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-23 03:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] neevebrody.livejournal.com
I agree about Ronon. I really enjoyed writing that one thing from his POV, there is a lot of prime material there to work with.

Oh, I know what you mean about the tags. I'm glad you signed up for that. I thought about it but just have too much on my plate right now. It was an intriguing little piece that made me stop and think of all kinds of scenarios, which I actually like fic to do - so I didn't really mind the briefness. Can't wait to see what you come up with for the rest of the season - though I must have missed the first one - I'll have to go back and look. ::hugs::

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-22 05:50 pm (UTC)
ext_1033: Mad Elizabeth (Default)
From: [identity profile] wordwitch.livejournal.com
*GASP*


*stares*


*waits*





*waits some more*








*taps fingers .....*

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-23 03:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keefaq.livejournal.com
LOL. Sorry about that.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-22 07:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jennytork.livejournal.com
Is there more yet?

*waits ten minutes*

How about now?

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-23 03:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keefaq.livejournal.com
It might be kind of interesting to run this idea across several episodes, though I'm not sure if that would technically meet the rules of the challenge. Let's see what the next episode brings.

Thanks for commenting.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-22 08:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skeddy-kat.livejournal.com
Very, very nice. Totally believable, too. I hope you decide to write more of this, I'd love to see where it goes.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-23 03:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keefaq.livejournal.com
Thanks you so much. Will have to wait and see what happens in the next episode.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-27 08:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ayumidah.livejournal.com
that... that is so Snape-ish of him! If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll understand that comment. If not, sorry ;)

You really should continue this, somehow. It'd be a great multichapter thing...

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-27 03:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keefaq.livejournal.com
I get the reference even though it's not my fandom.

I would have liked to spin this through the next few episodes, but without knowing what will happen in canon, it's hard to write any kind of story arc. Broken Ties has pretty much killed the idea cause I can't see how to tie this in. Maybe I can come back to it later in the season.

Anyway, thanks for the comment.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-07-27 05:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ayumidah.livejournal.com
Yeah I can understand that. Well, if you do, I'll definitely read it :D

You're welcome.