Disclaimer: I do not own SGA.

A/N: As promised: Chapter 27. This is where I was going with it all that long ago. I'm kind of surprised I was able to just pick it back up after so long...Anywho, enjoy! And please review. I want to know what you thought after being gone for so long!

Chapter 27

Jessie eyed the device in her hands, unsure if she should put it down or continue to let it glow in her hands. Elizabeth and Dr. Zalenka rushed into the lab wearing varying degrees of curiosity and excitement on their faces.

"Rodney, what's going on?"

McKay looked up from his laptop. "I just found a way to greatly increase our chances of survival against the Wraith or anyone else who decides to attack the city."

Elizabeth looked ecstatic. "How did you manage that?"

Rodney stood and stepped towards Jess, pointing at the device she was still holding. "I had Mini Sheppard pick up this device that was found in the city while searching. When she picked it up, it started to glow. Radek radioed me and asked if I had turned on the shield. I ran a test and found out that the device activated the shield, but it didn't just do that. It also increased its power and it's currently running at 140% right now!"

Radek's eyes widened. He took a step closer to examine the device in her hand. "Neuvěřitelné."

Jess looked up with him curiously. "What did you say?"

Nikki chuckled. "He said incredible."

"Oh. You know, I'd like to learn Czech some time."

Radek looked up at her and smiled. "I'd be more than happy to teach you some time if you would like. I hear you are a quick learner like your father."

She nodded, "That's what I've been told too."

Rodney waved his hands around in the air. "Hello! We have more important matters at hand than learning Czech! Will you focus, people!"

Elizabeth smiled faintly at Rodney. "So you believe this will improve our chances against the Wraith. When she puts the device down, what happens?"

Rodney shifted. "I'm not sure. We hadn't gotten that far before I radioed for you. Jess, put it down and we'll see what it does."

She nodded and set the device on the table where it'd been before. Immediately, it stopped glowing. Rodney turned back to his laptop and clicked a few keys. "The shield is down and energy levels are back to normal. It seems that the shield is only effected when the device is held and activated."

Elizabeth nodded. "Is there any way to keep it activated without holding it?"

Rodney looked at the device and frowned. "I'm not sure. I'd have to run some tests on it."

"Okay, get on that. Keep me updated on what you find."

He nodded. "Of course."

Nikki looked down at her wrist. "I need to get going. I have an appointment with Jennifer. Jessie, are you coming with or staying here?"

Jess looked over at McKay. "Do you need me, Rodney?"

Rodney looked up from his laptop and waved her away. "I can find someone else to play light bulb. Plus, the longer you stay, the more chances something will happen to you resulting in my death when your father finds out it was all my fault."

Jess shrugs and follows Nikki out of the lab and towards the infirmary for the routine check-up.

SGA

John shifted uneasily in his seat. They were in the Attorney's office going over the trial.

"Colonel, I'm going to use you as my last witness. Since you are her ex-husband, the fiancée of the woman who almost died, the father of the children who were put into danger, and the brother-in-law of the other woman abducted, I believe your testimony will have more impact. No offence, Rebecca."

She smiled faintly. "None taken."

John nodded, arms crossed over his chest. "Sounds reasonable."

The Attorney nodded, flipping through some pages. "Do you have anything that might add to our case against her?"

John was about to shake his head when images of Jess popped into his mind. His first instinct was to keep his mouth shut, but Jess was in a completely different galaxy and safe from Nancy. There was absolutely no chance that Nancy could get to Jess. "Actually…I do."

Becca looked up at him curiously, as did the Attorney, Mr. Birch. "Oh? And what is it?"

John thought over his next words carefully. "I recently came across some information that might help you make the case of her being…emotionally lacking. If you choose to use it."

Mr. Birch's eyebrows furrowed. "Colonel, what are talking about?"

John took a breath and looked up at him. "When Nancy and I were in High School, she got pregnant."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Becca stiffen. "John, is this a good idea?"

He looked at her feeling slightly unsure. "She's completely safe where she is. There's no way for Nancy to go anywhere near her."

He turned back to Mr. Birch. "She moved out of the country with her parents. She had the baby in the States and then put her up for adoption. After that was over with, they moved back. I had already joined the Air Force by then. We started dating again when they came back, but she never told me she'd been pregnant and then had a child. I never knew I had a daughter until very recently when she showed up at the base I work at looking for me."

Mr. Birch's eyes widened significantly. "She has a child she put up for adoption? Where is she?"

John's chest tightened in worry. "She's somewhere safe, far away from here. She's not going anywhere near Nancy and vice versa."

Mr. Birch nodded. "That may be best given Nancy's history with your family. Is Nancy aware that you know of her existence?"

He shook his head. "As far as I know, she has no idea that I know about Jess. Jess hadn't even known she was adopted until the day before she met me."

He nodded again, thinking over what he'd just been told. "Okay, I'm sure I can work that in there somewhere. This could be used to our advantage. I'm not entirely sure how yet, but you never know what could happen. The trial is in the morning, at least the first part of it. We'll only be needing Rebecca's testimony tomorrow as long as things go the way I expect them to."

John nodded. "Okay. I'm still going to be there in case Nancy decides to do something Nancy-like. I'm not leaving Becca's side unless she's up on the stand."

"I understand, Colonel. If I were in your position, I would do that same thing. I'll come up with a way to throw in your daughter's role in all of this tonight, see if I can use it to our advantage in any way. Even if I can't, I'm confident that we will win this case. Now, Colonel, I have to ask what your hope the outcome is here. How far do you want me to push this?"

John leveled his gaze with Mr. Birch. "I want you to push it as far as you can. I don't want her to ever see the light of day again. I don't want her in any kind of position where she can hurt my family or hire someone else to hurt my family ever again. I don't care what happens to her as long as my family is safe from her or anyone under her influence. If that means that you have to involve any of my children or my fiancée without them actually being here, then that's fine with me. Whatever puts her away for good."

Mr. Birch nodded seriously, taking the Colonel in. "She's done a lot of damage to your family, hasn't she?"

John almost laughed. "She was part of the reason I was disowned from my father and hadn't been able to make things right before he died. She was part of the reason why I had no one in my life for years. She kidnapped my sister-in-law and my fiancée who is pregnant with my children. She almost ripped my brother and I apart when she kidnapped them. She almost killed Nikki and my unborn children. Because of her, I didn't get to see my daughter take her first steps, grow up, graduate from high school. I didn't know she existed until after all of her major milestones had already passed without me. Because of her, my relationship with my daughter is crumbling. So, yeah, you could say that she's done a significant amount of damage to my family."

Ronon looked over at John from where he was leaning against the wall behind him. He knew that Jessie loved John more than anything and that they would reconcile when they got back to Atlantis, but it was obvious that John was having his doubts. Ronon knew how much Jessie meant to him. It was obvious when he looked at her and spoke of her. She meant the world to him. That argument between them had turned his world upside down. Ronon knew John wouldn't be alright until they resolved their issues.

Mr. Birch nodded slowly. "Colonel, I'm going to do everything in my power to put her away for as long as possible. She has a lot riding against her and I feel that we have a very high chance of succeeding. I want to thank you and Rebecca for agreeing to come and testify. I know it can't be easy to be anywhere near her after everything she is done. I'll try to push it along as fast as I can so that you can get back home with your family quickly and safely."

John nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate that. The less time around her, the better. Is there anything else you need to know?"

"I need to know more about your daughter and her situation. The more I know, the more I can use against Nancy.

SGA

Jess sighed and set down her spray bottle. "Alex…why are you having me spray plants again?"

Alex appeared from behind a tall row of plants they had just received from an off-world planet. "I find it rather relaxing to come in here and just concentrate on the plants. It's soothing."

Jess looked back at the plant she'd been standing in front of for the past five minutes. She'd just been standing there staring into space. If anything, watering the plants was just making her mind drift back to things she'd rather not think about. "No offence, but I don't think it's for me."

He chuckled and motioned her to follow him back into his office. "Not a lot of people have the patience of state of mind to deal with plants all day every day. I don't blame you one bit. You're a lot like your father. He's always doing something, never sitting still. Even when he wants to just relax, he's usually still doing something because that's his job and he's used to it."

Jess nodded and sat down on one of the stools stationed around his desk. "Everyone keeps telling me that: that I'm a lot like my father. I already knew that. We have very similar backgrounds. I mean, I don't know what his home situation was like or if it was anything like mine, but we have the same intelligence, the same taste in books, the same looks, the same love for flying and helping people. We're both fighters and love what we do."

"You're also both very passionate and very loyal. It may not seem like it from the first look, but when you really pay attention to him, you'll notice how passionate he is about most things. He's very passionate about his love for flying, for the military, for Nikki and his adopted family here. For you."

Jess looked up at him, but didn't say anything.

"You just got here, what? Two months now?"

Jess nodded, but stayed silent.

"You haven't been here that long at all or in our lives, but already it's like you've always been in his life. Yeah, there's sadness and disappointment that's obvious when he talks about not getting to see you grow up or be there for you your entire life, but he acknowledges that he has you now and that it's better than nothing. He's determined not to waste any time with you. He's getting to know who you are and trying to figure out how you get to where you are. He wants to know everything. You're his little girl, like it or not, and he's quickly adapted to being a father to a teenager. It's actually quite impressive how quickly he's adapted and adjusting to you."

Jess looked down at her fingers. "I know that he's angry with my mother for not telling him about me, for just leaving to give birth to me instead of staying and owning up to it like she should have. I know that Dad would have done the right thing and taken care of me if he could have. He deserved to know about me back then."

Alex nodded. "I agree. It was wrong of Nancy to take the decision completely out of his hands and give him no say, let alone not even tell him at all. He had every right to know about you. He is angry with her, very angry. I'm sure he'll probably say something to her while he's on Earth for the trial, let her know just how much more she screwed up in his eyes."

Jess looked out over at all of the plants. "I still can't believe that my biological mother is a psychotic lunatic that tried to kill two innocent little unborn babies and one of the sweetest women I know. Let alone do it all just to get back at Dad. What was her argument again for getting back at him?"

Alex tried to hide a smile. "It was because he didn't give her children like they wanted."

Jess couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped her throat. "That's just wrong on so many levels."

Alex chuckled, "Yeah, it is. She was one sick and twisted lady. I hope they finally manage to put her away for good. No offence."

Jess shook her head, staring off into space. "None taken, believe me. I want her put away too. I wasn't around when any of that happened, but I want them to be safe. I never knew her and I never will. Dad's kind of making sure of that."

"Is that really a bad thing though? I mean, I know that she's always going to be your biological mother and all, but look at all the terrible things she's done. Do you really want to endanger yourself for her?"

She sighed and looked back down at her hands. "It's not for her. And I don't want to get to know her, I just want to meet her. I want to ask her some questions, find out why she did things the way she did. Why she didn't want me, why she gave me up, why she didn't tell Dad I even existed. Was she ashamed to have me? Was she afraid Dad would leave her if she told him? I just want to know before I lose my chance to ever find out."

Alex nodded, a thought coming to mind. "Maybe you should go talk to Kira sometime."

Jess looked up at him and popped an eyebrow in the signature Sheppard way. "Why?"

"Because she was adopted too. She didn't know she was adopted until just a few months ago when her adopted parents died and left her birth certificate in their will. That's how she found us. She might be able to help you come to terms with the things that you're conflicted with. You never know."

Jess nodded, thinking it over. "That's actually a really good idea. I didn't even think of that. If she'd be willing, that is…"

"I can talk to her if you want. See if she'd be okay with talking about it with you."

She nodded, "Yeah, I'd appreciate that."

Alex smiled kindly at her. "Okay, I'll talk to her later and see what I can do. For now, though, we might want to get going. It's supper time and I'm guessing everyone is already in the mess hall waiting for us."

They walked together to the mess hall, talking about how the rest of their weeks seemed to look. She was still trying to find a way to sneak onto a team to go off-world. She was dying to explore an alien world. They got in line to get their food and then sat down at the table after making it through the line. The rest of Jess's day was uneventful. She spent a couple of hours with her cousins before going to her room, slipping in her earbuds and falling asleep to the sounds of Johnny Cash.

Day Three

Ever since he woke up that morning, John's mind had been running a marathon with itself. He'd woken early to find Ronon sitting on the couch in their suite waiting for him so they could go on their morning run. After they returned to the room, he showered and get dressed. They went to breakfast, Cam tried to make small talk with Becca. Ronon and John were as silent as statues the entire time. The only time either of them spoke all morning until they got to the courthouse was to order their food.

John paused and stared up at the courthouse in front of them. This was it. He was about to come face-to-face with his psycho ex-wife. It made him feel loads better that Nikki and Jess weren't there for him to worry about. He missed them like crazy, but this way he didn't have to almost have a panic attack every time Nancy looked their way. He could defend himself and he wasn't too worried about Becca. She had him, Cam, and Ronon watching her back along with three other marines who followed them everywhere they went.

Ronon stepped up next to John. "Ready?"

John took a breath and nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

He started up the stairs towards the courthouse, aware that their group was taking all their leads from him. Whatever he did, they followed. They were allowing him time to process everything that was happening before they did anything, never pushing him.

He walked through the doors and over to the station where the sign in. He handed over his sidearm and signed for it, showed proper identification, and did everything else you were supposed to do before walking into a courthouse. Ronon was always right behind him, never leaving his side. It meant the world to him that Ronon was there with him. He knew that Ronon cared about him like a brother and didn't want anything happening to him.

They met with the Attorney, went over the last minute details of what would be happening and then enter the courthouse, prepared for whatever was going to happen.

SGA

Jess walked into the infirmary after breakfast and headed straight for Carson's office. He was sitting behind his desk finishing up some paperwork. When she walked in, he looked up and smiled. "Ah, Jessie, just in time. I was just finishing up the last of my paperwork. I'll only be a minute and then we can start. You can have a seat or walk around if you like."

Jess smiled at him and took a seat across from his desk. They had made plans for he and Jennifer to show her around the infirmary and help out with the patients. He'd mentioned that he was in need of more nurses, but was shorthanded until the latest recruits could get there so she had volunteered to help out a bit if she could.

It only took a few more minutes before he slid the last file off to the side and stood up. "We have a couple of patients who arrived last night. It's nothing too serious or anything to worry about, I assure you. I can almost guarantee that we'll be getting some walk-ins from scientists who had an accident of some kind or some military personnel who took sparing too far. That's what the typical day looks like. We do have some routine check-ups scheduled for the day as well, so your time shouldn't be too boring, I'm sure."

She smiled at him and nodded. "I'm sure it won't be. I love helping people if I can."

Carson smiled. "Aye, you're just like your father. He's always helping people if he can. Hell, that's essentially his job in a way. He's helping the entire galaxy and he loves it."

Jess nodded. She wasn't sure if she was getting tired of hearing she was just like her father all the time or secretly thrilled that they had more and more in common. "So, what's first on the agenda for the day?"

Carson walked out into the infirmary followed by Jess. He picked up a clipboard and flipped through a couple of pages. "I have to take a couple blood samples and get them to Jennifer to analyze. Grab that packaged syringe, a sterile wipe, a cotton ball, and a vial from the tray."

She did as she was told as he snapped on a pair of gloves and then followed him through the infirmary to their first patient. "Good morning, Ellen. How are you feeling this morning?"

The woman, Ellen, looked up at Carson and smiled faintly. "A little better than last night, but not much."

Beckett nodded. "I didn't figure it would be a quick recovery. Now, I'm going to take another sample of blood to be analyzed. Then we'll see what we can do for you once we get the results back."

"Okay, sounds good."

"Give me your arm and we'll get started. Jessie, hand me the sterile wipe." She handed it over and watched him tear open the package and wipe the area of her arm he was going to stick the needle in. He handed her back the wipe and held his hand out for the syringe which she placed in his hand, knowing what he was asking for. He pulled the package open and set up the needle.

He took a sample of her blood and then asked for the cotton ball. She handed it to him and he placed it over the needle before slowly pulling it out. "Now, you know what to do. Just keep it there for a couple of minutes until it stops bleeding. I'll be back when the results are in."

"Thank you, Dr. Beckett."

"My pleasure, lass."

He handed the vial of blood off to a nurse and gave her instructions on what to do with it. She got the items for the next blood sample and they repeated what they'd just done.

Walking away from the second patient, Jess threw away the wrappers from the syringe and wipe. She wasn't exactly doing much help, but at least it was something she supposed.

Jess followed him around for the next couple of hours, handing him things and assisting when he asked. They had some downtime when it was getting closer to lunch so they went back to his office.

"You know, Jessie, I'm surprised you're not in here that often."

She looked up at him confused. "What do you mean?"

Carson sat down behind his desk with an amused look on his face. "Well, your father has a knack for getting hurt and landing himself in one of my beds. I can't count the number of times he's been in here for some kind of injury. You're so much like him, I figured you'd have his knack for trouble as well."

She pursed her lips. "I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually. That is, as soon as he starts letting me do anything."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed, feeling her frustration bubble up. "He won't let me go off-world. He says that he wants to go with me and make sure I'm alright. The only thing I've been allowed to do is get sparing lessons from Teyla that he actually doesn't know about…"

Carson nodded. "He is quite protective. I understand his wanting to be there when you go off-world for the first time. You never know what could happen when you step through the gate. Many good people have been killed during missions. I'm sure he just wants to ensure your safety. He did just find you, after all."

Jess nodded, looking away from him. "I know. I get that, I really do. But I'm also a fighter, a pilot. I'm in the Air Force just like he is. I've been stationed here, but I haven't been put on duty once since I've been here."

"I can't begin to fully understand his reasoning behind the things he does, but I assure you he does everything for a reason. I'm sure he's just trying to allow you to get to know your new home before making you defend it and giving you duties. Have you tried talking to him about getting more responsibility?"

"A couple of times, but it didn't really go anywhere. He would be called off somewhere or was late for a meeting. He's a really busy guy."

Carson chuckled, "That he is. He is always busy doing something or on the go. I'm sure if you asked him to sit down and have a conversation with you about it, he would try his best. He loves you. Just try talking to him again."

"I will when he gets back some time. So, he's in here a lot?"

Carson sighed, nodding his head. "Aye. I wouldn't be surprised if that man started giving me premature gray hairs. I don't know how many times he's been rushed in here after a mission gone badly or a sparring session turned bloody."

"Has it ever looked so bad that you thought he may not recover or come back from it?"

Carson nodded slowly, keeping his eyes level with hers. "Aye, lass. There have been several times where I thought we may lose the Colonel. I can guarantee the last time won't be the last. That's a hazard of his job. He puts his life on the line every time he gets up in the morning. He has the responsibility of protecting this entire city and everyone in it, including you, Nikki, the twins, his family. His team has his back, but sometimes things happen and they're not always able to stop it. But you have to remember that he is a strong fighter. He doesn't give up. I have only ever seen that man give up twice and it was a very long time ago. That was only because the first time he believed both Teyla and Rodney to be dead and he blamed himself for both. The second time, he believed Teyla and Ronon to be dead and blamed himself for that as well. Those were back in a time when he only had his team to fall back on for anything. He wasn't particularly close to anyone else, but them. Now he has a daughter and two more children on the way, a fiancée who loves him more than I've ever seen someone love another person. He has his brother back in his life as well as the rest of his family. His family is expanding every day it seems. He has a lot more to fight for and not give up on. If something happens to him, I will do my very best to keep him here and so will he. He and Nikki are two of the strongest fighters I have ever seen. I have full confidence in their abilities to survive just about anything thrown their way. And you should too."

Jess could feel the tears pricking at the back of her eyes. A part of her was terrified that something would happen to her father, but she knew that he would try his best not to let that happen. "Thanks, Carson."

Carson smiled at her. "No problem. Why don't you go on ahead to lunch? I'm sure everyone's gonna be there shortly. There's nothing left to do here."

She smiled at him and nodded, standing and walking over to the door. She paused and turned back to look at him. "If you're in on everyone's plan to help me understand my father and his decision better…thank you."

She didn't wait for an answer. She left the infirmary and started down the hallway towards the mess hall. She was getting the layout of the city down pretty quickly. It'd been a while since she'd gotten lost, so that was definitely an improvement.

She thought back to everything people had been telling her since her father left for Earth. Every time she spent time with someone, they had some kind of "lesson" about her father. She learned more about her father than she had while he was in the city. She knew that they were trying to get her to forgive him. They hadn't quite succeeded yet, but she had a better understanding of who her father was, what he did, and why he did the things he did. She had a better understanding of what he dealt with and how he responded to things. She felt like she knew him a lot better than she did. The last thing she'd said to him was that she wouldn't miss him, but she'd been lying. As soon as she'd run out of his office, a part of her had stayed with him. She wanted him back. She couldn't wait until the end of the week when he got back.

Until next time.