This is a short sequel to my story Burning Prideful Wraith.

Due to complications it has not been beta-edited yet. But I don't want to wait another month with posting, so here it is. You may hate me or offer constructive criticism. I'd prefer the latter.

That said, have fun reading :)

Trusting Prideful Wraith

John watched as Todd thawed. It looked less creepy than the down-powering of a hive ship's hibernation pod but it was creepy none the less. Much worse though was the tension in the air, because none of them knew how the hungry Wraith would react in the short moment of disorientation that follows waking up after stasis. Stunners at the ready, they waited with baited breath. The chamber finished its work and-... nothing happened. The Wraith did not move.

"Uhm, he should wake now," said Rodney, taking a step towards the pod and then back again, torn between the scientist's urge to poke and prod and the survival instinct that told him to keep away from the Wraith. But Todd remained still as a statue and left McKay as confused as the rest of them.

"You think he's dead?" John asked, sounding dumb in his confusion. This is not how he had expected things to go.

"If he was dead he would have fallen to the floor when the chamber was turned off, would he not?" Rodney looked at the doctors in the room for confirmation. Jennifer was about to answer him something when all soldiers in the room suddenly snapped into ready-to-battle mode.

The Wraith's back straightened and he lifted his chin from where it had dipped down a little. His fingers uncurled from the fists they built, one after another, splaying out, readying for fighting and feeding. Finally, yellow eyes opened to gaze at them with the same sharpness as ever. Todd stepped out of the chamber and grinned. "Ah, nice to be awake again."

"Don't get too exited," John grumbled. "You're awake 'cause we have a problem."

Todd cocked his head to the side questioningly while his face went blank in a manner that John by now knew means he's annoyed with them all and tries to keep calm while already plotting on how to get the best outcome for himself. "And why, pray tell, does your problem require for me to be awake?"

Oh, how John heated leaving the Wraith the upper hand. "You're the only one who might have a chance of solving it," he said and crossed his arms in front of his chest, daring the Wraith to get smug about this.

Todd "hmmed" thoughtfully. "John Sheppard, you of all humans should be most aware that I am not exactly in... working condition," he finally conceded and looked the colonel over, blatantly regarding the damage his feeding had caused.

"Yeah but we don't really have a choice." The colonel didn't really care anymore how obvious his distaste for the situation was.

"You might want to make haste with your explanation then." Crossing his arms in front of his chest as well, Todd leaned his back against the wall next to the stasis pod's entrance, looking casual to all of the world to see even though his words told another story.

Letting out a sigh, John recapped the story in as short a version as he could muster. "There's been some trouble, now we're stranded at the outer edges of Pegasus with barely enough juice left to activate the gate once. The planet we ditched on seems to be nothing but sand, sand and sand, no food to feed humans and no humans to feed Wraith. But luckily it has a breathable atmosphere or we'd all be dead by now because without power the shield is down as well." He looked to Rodney. "Did I forget anything that's life threatening?"

"It's fucking hot." Rodney dabbed a handkerchief at his sweat shining forehead for emphasis. "And we only have a limited supply of water, which means no showers despite the heat which is just dis-."

"Yeah we are rationing water, we all got it," the Colonel rolled his eyes and turned back to the still Wraith. "I think I recall you still have some ZPMs stashed away somewhere?"

"Maybe I do," Todd carefully admitted, waiting for John to elaborate.

"Well, I hate to start off this whole new era of our relationship thing like this," John began wryly, "but we really need a little favor, already."

"You need zero point modules," Todd got to the point for him, "and have nothing to give in return."

John shrugged. "We could threaten your life-"

"But killing me would effectively trap you here."

"That and I was hoping we were past such means."

Todd laughed. "We might indeed be past that but I cannot speak for everybody else."

The Colonel inwardly rolled his eyes. "Anyway, are you willing to help out or not?"

"Sheppard, if Atlantis is trapped here then so am I. Your concern about my cooperation is not necessary, it is in my best interest to... help you out." Todd seemed amused at their slowness.

"And you couldn't have said so from the beginning? I thought we were trying to safe time!" McKay complained. Todd ignored him.

"There is only one problem," the Wraith told them and John had the urge to punch him. Of course even now there had to be a catch with that green bastard. Old habits really die hard, he thought.

"And that problem might be?" McKay didn't take too well to being ignored, his voice sounding angry as he demanded answers from Todd.

"Humans cannot access the hiding place, you would die. So would I in my current state," came that demanded answer.

"Where the hell did you put those things?!" John asked, annoyed.

"A highly radioactive cave system which is too narrow to go in there wearing protective suits. If putting the ZPMs there nearly killed me, searching for them without any clue as to where they are will certainly kill everyone else, even a thoroughly fed Wraith." Todd looked positively gleeful at the thought of his enemies kicking the bucket in some dark cave.

"But why?" Rodney whined, wringing his hands. "You put the rest into a god damn normal cave as well!"

"One for the ship, two for friend or foe to find and the rest safe until needed." The Wraith shrugged ever so slightly.

"Yeah, it's just that they are needed now but we can't fucking get them anyway!" John threw his hands up in exasperation. Of course shit just had to hit the fan at full throttle, how could he have expected anything else?

"If you allowed for me to go to a planet where I could feed, then I could go onward from there on and return with the ZPMs when I've acquired them," Todd slowly suggested. The humans in the room looked at each other, contemplating. Letting the Wraith go free felt a bit like murdering someone.

"Yeah, but would you really return?" John couldn't help but ask as he tried to solve the issue on whether they could do that.

Todd drew himself up to his full height and firmly said "You have my word, John Sheppard, I will return to lend you my ZPM's."

John stared at Todd and the Wraith stared back, looking very much like he knew exactly that the colonel took his word but didn't yet give his permission for the operation because of what the Wraith would do to survive. He tapped his foot as he tried to make up his mind until Todd hissed impatiently and leaned against the wall a little heavier. "Sheppard, I will still need some energy to hunt and my reserve is not endless. Do decide now!"

And John gritted his teeth. "Fine!" he then said. He had sacrificed Wallace to safe Jeannie, he could stomach the loss of one more life if that meant Atlantis could return to Pegasus and serve the greater good, maybe even deal with the Wraith once and for all one day. It would gnaw at his soul for a while but he would pull through, he always did. Or so he hoped.

Todd's lips were pressed into a thin line that betrayed the confidence with which he moved as he dialed the gate. John knew very well how painful the hunger burned inside the Wraith's body and squirmed involuntarily. He really wished he'd never volunteered to test the machine back then. But, and he frowned at the thought, he very much doubted that Todd would still be alive had he not made the painful experience of being in the Wraith's head. The alien would have silently and suddenly breathed his last breath and they would have stared at the corpse in surprise as people wheeled it away to be taken apart in Area 51, never knowing how agonizing that seemingly peaceful death had actually been.

John knew that if he were Wraith then he too would feed without regret. He had come to terms with that as he lay awake, thinking about the whole experience with the mind reading machine for the third time. The Wraith grew up thinking it was normal to feed and their right to do so, compassion was counted as weakness. And then there was the fact that pain could make every living being do horrible things. John could understand their reluctance to change their ways.

Yet here was Todd, who seemed to be able to see past all of this and plan a different future for them all. As he watched the blue glow of the activating gate wash over the Wraith's face, Sheppard hoped he had placed his trust well with this one. He had accepted that this Wraith was a person, different from humans in many ways but still of the same worth, and he knew that if Todd screwed up he'd never be able to give another Wraith that same benefit of the doubt. Yet yellow eyes locked onto his gaze and he could see the knowledge there, knew that Todd understood very well that his only chance was also the only chance of his whole species. The perceptiveness of this millennia old creature never ceased to amaze John.

He gave Todd a firm nod and the Wraith returned it before he stepped through the blue of the gate and vanished.

One month. One whole fucking month and John was beginning to doubt. Another half a month and he definitely did so. Todd, himself, and his ability to make right decisions, he doubted all three of them. Their food supply was almost gone. There hadn't been much to begin with as the IOA only grudgingly allowed their return to Pegasus, barely funding the necessities in hopes of subtly black-mailing them back to earth. Even worse was how little water they had left.

"Anything?" John asked, peering over Rodney's shoulder as they stood in front of the computer connected to the city's sensors for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"No, I still can't scan the planet. I can't run diagnostics either so I don't know if the impact killed the sensors or if the hot sand fried them, or whatever. I can't even say if maybe something from outside disrupts the sensors' signals. So all info about what's underneath the planet's surface is inaccessible. Unless we go out and dig, we won't know if there is any water underneath all that damn sand," McKay said, unhappily raking a hand through his dirty hair as he spoke. The city ship was made to go down on water but there was none of that on this godforsaken planet. They'd plunged into tons of sand, leaving Atlantis tilting to the side to a degree where pens regularly rolled off desks and many things had to be secured at their position. Much worse was the damage to the lower sections. It was a miracle their hyperdrive was still functioning, apart from the obvious lack of power of course.

John sighed. He didn't want to send anyone out onto a not scanned planet, actually he didn't want to send anyone out into that desert hell at all, but now they really needed to find out if there was anything useful out there, most of all they needed water. Just when he was about to curse the damn ancients for not making their technology sand proof, McKay said "Oh" in a way that had him instantly alert.

"What is it?" he asked, quickly scanning the screen.

"This!" Rodney pointed at an anomaly halfway on the other side of the planet. "This just appeared."

"It has to be above-ground if we can see it, so what is it?" John repeated his question.

"Sandstorm. A god damn, giant sandstorm that is either going to blast clean this city like it's never been before or give us some more crippling damage. I can't tell with those stupid sensors not working as they should!" Panic had McKay go into snappy mode and he frantically typed commands into his computer, hoping those sensors would work after all.

There was silence in the room.

"So we're... doomed?" Woolsey finally asked. The man had been in the gate room often during the last few weeks, trying to show a calming presence to the more and more agitated crew and succeeding half way.

"I think we can get through it if we barricade the windows on the south side and use the rest of the ZPMs to put the shield up when the storm peaks. It won't hold for more than three minutes but that will still make enough of a difference. Hopefully," Rodney rubbed at his forehead as he calculated things in his head.

"But will we have enough energy left for keeping the city half way functioning after that?" Woolsey doubted.

"The Naquadah-generators will be able to sustain the infirmary and such things, I think we should head Rodney's plan," Zelenka gave his heavily accented input. "Not that we have much of a choice anyway, we can either put up the shield and hope to manage afterwards or we just give up now and let ourselves be blasted away," he added when Rodney looked smug.

Woolsey sighed, then clapped his hands together. "Well, gentleman, lets get this city as storm-safe as we can and hope for the best then."

Some said "Yessir," some, like John, just nodded and went to fulfill their task within the hour they'd been given.

When all was done they evacuated all personal down to the lower levels of the city ship, only a skeleton crew remained in the control room. John sat on the big staircase and stared at the useless gate as they waited for the storm's impact. It was useless because of him, because he'd allowed for Todd to use their one dial out left. As the lights flickered and the city groaned under the onslaught of tons of sand hitting it, he thought about the name Todd had given him before they put him in that stasis chamber.

He'd not yet told the others about it, not yet sure whether Todd hadn't spun some pretty lie for his benefit after all. Because if what had flashed up in his mind that day was true then Todd ought to have come over and plugged in the damn ZPMs long ago.

The first thing that knowing the Wraith's name had done was let a metaphorical light bulb pop up above John's head as he suddenly understood why the Wraith as a whole always seemed to refuse to give their names to the humans. They just couldn't be bothered to break down something very complicated and, most importantly, something very telepathic for the understanding of their dumb, not-telepathic food. For the Wraith words were a way to call things by, the way humans identified themselves with one or two mostly meaningless words didn't really add to making them see humans as equals. John wouldn't be surprised if Todd was the only Wraith who understood that humans didn't have much of a choice there. They just weren't telepathic. John actually suspected that the only reason Todd had been able to project his name into his head was because that damn machine had changed something there.

And what a projection that had been. Because the name of a Wraith is the Wraith itself.

It was a cocktail of information that left John confused at first, not sure on how to progress it. There was the feeling of Todd's mind itself, something calm and knowing and witty, something that made you want to follow because you knew this one would find a way. At the same time there was a certain aloofness, something that told you that while Todd lead the way didn't mean he'd drag you along. Todd walked ahead on his own and he'd only permit those to follow who could carry their own weight as well. And all was shaded with a good dose of rather black humor.

And this core essence was surrounded by more general things, like age, put out here with pride because age meant the power to survive and knowledge. There was a bloodline, there was a rank, there was scent and looks and a threat not to underestimate this individual. There was information John still couldn't place but was probably important for the receiving Wraith to understand who exactly they had in front of them. And there was a wall, keeping some things private and lies from being seen.

All in all John would summarize it with declaring that the Wraith didn't even have the question "What is your name?". No, the Wraith ask "Who are you?"

And they answer that with their whole being.

John wondered how Teyla had managed to get away with being a Wraith queen. But then there had been this wall, or rather mental blockade, within Todd's transmission so John guessed it was entirely possible for the Wraith to lie bout their identity to a certain degree or keep certain aspects hidden.

This was why he still doubted Todd's true name a little. Because one more impression he'd gotten from Todd was that the Wraith always kept his word. How he did so was sometimes a little questionable, but when it came down to it he delivered what he promised to the best of his abilities. So where were Todd and the ZPMs? How come they were sitting here, helpless, as the city shook from the impact of the probably strongest storm this universe would ever know while McKay yelled to not activate the shield because this was not yet the worst of it.

At the point when they finally did activate the shield John resolved to drink that one last beer he'd hidden away should they survive this.

They did survive. With a sigh of relief John clapped McKay on the back while the city stopped groaning from the onslaught of sand. Wiping the sweat off their foreheads the humans wished for a shower more than ever but there wouldn't be one. So they concentrated on the feeling of having earned a few more days to live, even if life was sweat-soaked and smelled. John dug out that last beer and offered to share with Ronon and Rodney as they walked out onto one of the balconies to see what damage the city had taken.

In a very detached part of his brain he felt glad he hadn't opened the bottle before stepping out of the door, because what they saw quickly quenched their thirst for alcoholic beverage.

Though, on second thought, the hive ships now no more covered by the damn sand were a good reason to get drunk after all. If there were Wraith on them Atlantis was lost and John really didn't want to see that downfall sober.

They must have been there before Atlantis and her crew arrived, laying low underneath the sand, hidden away from the universe. Six of them, having landed in a star shaped formation and, as their luck dictated, Atlantis had come down right in the middle. Each ship was a good three kilometers away but they were so big, it looked like they were barely a step away.

"Hive ships!" Rodney whispered incredulously, attracting the attention of everyone present. "How the hell can there be six hive ships here?!"

"I've never heard of hives sharing a planet to hibernate on," Zelenka spoke up, coming out onto the balcony from behind them.

"Maybe it is an old faction, from before they started to fight each other over food, and the alert we activated when we killed that first queen didn't reach them out here?" Teyla mused as she had accompanied Radek.

"It doesn't really matter, if there are Wraith still in there then they're gonna be hungry and we're just sitting here, not able to defend ourselves for long," Ronon finally grumbled, coming closer to glower at the ships. "If we can defend ourselves at all," he added, looking over the sand blasted city that gleamed in the burning sunlight, looking treacherously beautiful when she was quite damaged.

"And we can't evacuate, our one chance of gate activation is lost because I trusted Todd. How could I have been so stupid, the green ass is probably out there, upgrading his precious alliance with the ZPMs he promised me and laughing his damn head off, if he remembers us at all!" And as John ranted he discovered that it hurt. Todd's betrayal hurt and John cursed himself double.

He looked down at his aged hands. This was a price he could learn to live with permanently. But he could not learn to live with people dying because they could not evacuate due to his stupid decision to let Todd dial some end of the universe planet. Atlantis was more or less defenseless, the people on her thirsty and stressed and there were six hive ships surrounding them. There was nothing left but to pray that the hives were dead and without a crew to notice the crippled vessel of their arch enemies right in their middle.

There was a loud, almost growling engine sound and John decided their luck had truly and entirely run out. Sand began to fall off the hives like water running down leaves as they vibrated with the sheer force of their engines powering up. John could feel the balcony shake ever so slightly underneath his feet as the sound of Wraith machines became even louder.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Rodney yelled. "Their cover is blown and there is an ancient city ship right in their middle, they'll get ready for battle!"

Teyla tried to keep her hair out of her eyes as the first hive ship rose towards the sky, the blast from its thrusters causing a mini version of the storm that had cost them the last of their shield energy reserves. "They don't know we can't harm them, they will load weapons and destroy us without hesitation," she said.

"At least now we know there really must have been something interfering with our sensors. It was probably them trying to stay unnoticed," Zelenka added with the dry tone of someone who thinks they're all going to die anyway as he watched the second hive rise. It hoovered for a moment before it joined its companion a few kilometers above them and both ships turned to show them their broadside.

"So we're doomed," John said numbly. And to think he'd been so happy to return to Pegasus.

The humans watched as six hive ships floated in a circle high above the city, each one tilting to the side to present the full range of their guns. Thirsty, sweaty and helpless as they were it wasn't hard for them to give up. There was nothing to do but stare up at their doom and wait for the fire to rain down upon them.

Oddly enough, it didn't.

Instead, a giant shadow fell over the city of Atlantis, brought by a seventh ship sinking down from they skies, thrusters working at full throttle to keep it from dropping onto the city right beneath it like a stone. Finally it came to float right in the middle of the wide ring the other six ships formed. This one seemed in a better shape than the fleet of which some ships now reversed the tilt they had adopted to aim at Atlantis and instead now aimed at the new ship.

"Another hive?" Rodney sounded as confused as John felt as they stared up at the new arrival that hung above their heads like an ominous guard.

"It doesn't seem to belong to the fleet..." They all flinched for no one had realized that Woolsey had come out onto the balcony as well.

"But why place themselves in such a vulnerable position? Wraith are arrogant but even I will admit they're not that stupid," Ronon grumbled.

"Look they're deploying darts!" Rodney pointed towards one of the fleet's ships that had released a good dozen of darts.

"The new guy does too... but it's only one..." John pointed out, a little confused by those tactics. His earpiece came to life and he heard Chuck's voice.

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission. The last one to arrive asks us not to fire on any of the hives. They got the ID code we gave to that Wraith."

"Wait, that's Todd?!" John burst out but rapidly calmed himself. He grinned. "Well, would explain why that ship seems to do crazy things, the bastard is sure to have a backup plan!" He wasn't sure whether to curse the Wraith or be happy he finally moved his green ass here. Seeing as all of this might still end in a shootout that would bury Atlantis underneath falling hive parts he decided to wait and be cautious.

"I think they're going to land on the south pier!" Lorne pointed out while the rest of them wondered who wasn't on the balcony by now. Their gazes followed the single dart that moved downwards in slow circles, giving the humans, who had forgotten abut their tasks and accumulated to watch the spectacle, enough time to get down to the spot he had chosen for landing. They grabbed their weapons and moved as quick as they could.

There was no fire from the other darts in the air. Instead, a good ten of them dived down to each beam down a unit of six drones, along with a few officers to handle them. They faced the humans in a fan shaped arrangement while the darts that send them down made room for a single dart moving in and landing behind the lines. The other single dart finally decided to come down behind the lines of the Atlantis crew, which made John decidedly uncomfortable. But he had no time to ponder if this was a trap. There was the hissing sound of two canopies pulling back to allow the pilots to exit their darts.

Todd made his way through the crowd of humans like a ship glides through water, people parting to the left and right of him without resistance, clearing his way, gaping. He pulled a backpack off the shoulder he'd slung it over and slapped it against McKay's chest as he walked past him, barely caring if McKay caught it. The physicist made to snap at him but Todd marched on without a look at him, only coming to a stop in front of another Wraith who had made his way through the formation of drones in a similar fashion.

Knifes dropped from their sleeves into their hands as the two regarded one another, circling around each other once until they were back at their initial position, Todd with his back to the humans, the other Wraith with his drones and officers behind him. "You are back," the other one hissed.

"You do not call me by my rank anymore," Todd assessed, not impressed.

"You are no longer commander of this alliance, you turned your back on it!"

"I did not. The hive that was to be our biggest hope did. They successfully connected the ZPM to the ship," the eyes of the other Wraith widened ever so slightly in surprise, "then they turned their back at us without another word to go where they believed they'd found the humans' planet, Earth. Should I have let them get away with such treachery? I saw fit to dispose of them and hitching a ride with the humans seemed the quicker way at the moment, it also wouldn't endanger another one of my ships." He bared his teeth at the thought of the super hive and the underling on it who betrayed him.

"Maybe they would have send for us once Earth was secured?! You aided the humans!" came the angry accusation.

"If they had any intentions to contact us then why would they leave without a single attempt at communication, why would they just steal ship and zero point module?! Help the humans? As a side effect, yes. But I do not think that is so bad... they do have worth..."

"As food!"

"As allies." Todd took a step forwards, towering over his slightly smaller opponent. "The Wraith must change if we want to survive..." he said gravely. The old commander stared at the floor as he spoke and John knew he still struggled with that notion. "Strong we might be, but being arrogant about it won't do us any good in the future. Either we accept that our cattle is more than just that or it will trample us one day. I choose cooperation with an equal species over the disgrace of being defeated by one we considered lowly. Because that will happen, the small numbers that will survive our civil war won't stand against humans that bring forth things like the Hoffan Disease. Unless, we change."

"So we should not take Atlantis now when we have the very real chance?" For the asking Wraith it seemed to be a ridiculous idea to stop now. Sheppard found that to be understandable. He'd thought Todd would jump at the chance as well.

"And then we'd have a useless city? Because she would not respond to us, if we had a city left at all. Did you not plan to destroy her?" he asked McKay, who nodded slowly.

"Better take her with us," the man said, pulling a device from his pants pocket and putting a thumb on one of the buttons.

Todd turned back to his concurrence. "I will make use of all that I can make use of. And with that I will ensure our continued survival. I have plans for this city and her humans and I have plans for the Wraith. Will you follow me?" he stretched out his arms in as welcoming a way as a Wraith could muster, "or will you stand in my way?"

And within the same moment his body was ready for battle, his knife gleaming in the cold light. The other Wraith seemed to consider it. "I have been loyal to you for many years..." he said, his back straightening as he stared Todd in the eye and in the following pause all humans had the feeling that there was a battle raging that they couldn't hear, a loud clash of minds as the two Wraith tried to assess the others' motive. Then, finally, the one who had wanted to conquer Atlantis inclined his head.

"And I shall remain so for more to come," he said, holding out the hand with the knife, handle first for Todd to take it. The reinstated commander grabbed it and stepped past the yielding one, coming to a stand in front of the small army still there. He raised his hand, showing the knife for all to see, and the drones that had stood around laxly while their handlers watched the happenings unfurl snapped to attention in one fluid movement, raising their stun weapons in salute as the officers bowed their head, accepting the change in command. Todd nodded and turned back to the humans and the Wraith the knife once belonged to. He regarded the blade, then tossed it back to the one he took it from, seemingly amused at how the other, stunned by surprise, fumbled to catch it.

"You will need it," he then said, regarding the others' confused features. "We have no weapons to waste for ritual when there is a long way of fighting ahead of us. You will remain Second for you showed enough brains to hide the hives and the crews away when you had no other way of keeping them safe until there was a new plan. I appreciate my men caring for their ships. Now ready them, we have places to go."

The Wraith who would remain second in command bowed, grateful for his life and gracefully accepting the compliment at the same time. He threw John a cautious glance and John stared back, equally mistrusting, but eventually the Wraith looked at Todd and, receiving a nod from his commander, stalked off.

John stepped up to Todd, coming to a halt next to him. Crossing his arms in front of his chest he nodded to the general direction the other Wraith went off to. "You sure he won't make trouble in the future? I always thought you guys don't take chances and just kill your concurrence."

"He has indeed been a good officer to me for years, he did not act out of treachery but concern for this fleet. I will keep an eye on him, but as I told you: I picked my officers with care. It's the scientists I should have paid more attention to," he added with a wry expression.

"Okay, I'll remember to tell you you said that, the next time we collect you and your smoking wreck of a transport at some ass of the world planet."

Todd huffed a laugh. Then he turned serious. "I do not have much time. Now that the hives are awake they are detectable. I need to move them."

"So you wanna pay your debt quickly, huh?" John asked, scratching at his chest with a grimace. Getting his life-force back didn't hurt but he felt guilty knowing that Todd had collected the strength to do so from other people.

"I am guessing you would want some privacy?" Todd cocked his head to the side in question.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. Some soldier still high on adrenaline might shoot you if you lay a hand on me here." John turned to walk towards the buildings. He knew Todd wasn't buying his explanation but he didn't really care. He was pretty sure Todd didn't want his crew to see that he wasted this precious gift on some random human as much as John didn't want his people to see him writhe in ecstasy when pure life flooded him.

He found them an empty room and locked the door behind him. Turning around he looked at Todd, waiting for what was to happen now. Todd stalked slowly closer, casually lifting his feeding hand. John knew he was being given time to get over the bone deep instinct to flee from the Wraith as he came closer. With stubborn determination he opened the front of his shirt. Finally, Todd was right in font of him, feeding hand hovering a mere centimeter above his skin.

"You doubted my return, did you not, John Sheppard?" the Wraith asked, smirking a little.

"Well, it did take you damn long!" John huffed.

"I ran into some trouble while retrieving the Zero Point Modules and it took me some time to acquire a transport. I did not think my fleet was lying low right under our noses," he chuckled, amused. But then his grin turned predator and he slowly pressed his hand to John's chest as he spoke. "But here I am. You would do well to remember that I keep my word, Sheppard, and you'd do even better to keep yours should we meet again. Which we will, because as much fun as calling off all bets is... I have plans. And you and Atlantis are part of it."

And before John could answer anything the gift of life rushed through him, making him feel higher than every plane he'd ever flown could go. He felt warm, he felt weightless and yet he was falling, tumbling through the vortex like a defect puddle jumper rushing through a wormhole. It was like lying down when drunk, you know your body is motionless but still everything is spinning and moving about. And then it was over and for a moment he felt like he'd gained two-hundred pounds, the sudden awareness of gravity's existence pulling him down.

At least he hadn't screamed in surprise again, he was pretty sure that Todd had been quite amused about that the first time he'd given John the gift.

"Could've warned a man!" he glowered at Todd. The Wraith just grinned. Then he turned back to the door.

"As I said, haste is in order," he reminded John.

"Yeah," and John waved the door open.

People stared at him as he and Todd walked by but John didn't pay them much of a mind, he was too busy relishing the renewed youth of his body. He was pretty sure Todd had given a few more years than he'd taken but Sheppard was not about to complain. Because while he still wasn't sure if he would want to live forever he didn't think a little extra strength was so bad.

He very carefully avoided thinking about where it came from.

"God damn it!" McKay called when they reached him on the south pier. "Again he gets the Kirk looks not only restored but boosted! I'm the genius here, I should get some more time, to make great discoveries! I think next time I'll volunteer to feed Todd!"

Todd showed his teeth in what might be a grin but could be a snarl. "That would be worth shutting up your repetitive bragging for a few minutes."

"WHAT?!" Rodney huffed. "I'm not bragging, I'm just saying how it is!"

"Commander."

Rodney jumped as a Wraith spoke up two steps behind him and even John couldn't help twitching a little.

"Are we ready for hyperdrive?" Todd asked the other without missing a beat. It was the one he had faced off earlier. Only now did John notice that there were still two darts sitting on their pier.

"We are." The answer had Todd grin a dark little grin.

"Very good. Transfer a skeleton crew to the new ship I got us," he said. "We shall not lose it when it has some of the finest weaponry I've seen until now. A shame I had to get rid of most of the engineers." Both Wraith grinned, then the second inclined his head and turned on his heels to stalk back to his own dart.

"You left us here to slowly die of thirst because you were off stealing a ship?!" Revelation hit Rodney and with wide eyes he pointed up at hive number seven that still provided some much needed shadow for the overheated city of Atlantis. "This ship?! How would you even manage that all on your own?!" Rodney demanded to know.

"Mainly stealth and poison." Todd shrugged. Rodney looked floored. John sighed.

"Okay, you got a new ship, we got some ZPMs. I'm guessing we should all go our ways for now," the colonel said, "before another Wraith armada shows up here and we all have a problem."

"We should leave indeed," Todd agreed and inclined his head.

They stood there in silence for a moment, then John said "I'll remember you gave us the ZPMs."

Todd smirked. "I'll remember you owe me one." He turned serious when John held out his hand.

"Until the next time. Don't plan us in too much though, I hate your plans, they involve us fighting for our lives far too often!" the colonel complained.

Giving John's hand a good shake while several people gasped in shock, Todd laughed. "I will try, John Sheppard. I will try."

And still laughing he climbed into his dart and flew up towards the hives who vanished into hyperspace once he boarded, each flash of blue light a beacon of hope for humanity that not all was lost when it came to the Wraith.

John grinned to himself.

Then he yelled for Rodney to plug those damn ZPMs in a little faster so he could finally get somewhere where he could drink and shower.