Chapter 31: Home Sweet Home

Liana...

"Father, why don't you ever ask about mother?" I asked once while I was in his study.

Father kept his gaze focused on his terminal. When he made no attempt to move, I did. He raised his head and blinked when my hand blocked his face.

"Hmm? What was that, Liana?" he asked.

I glanced at his terminal, but he turned it the other away. I looked down and cupped his necklace with both hands. "You never talk about her."

Father's expression saddened. "Your mother?"

I nodded.

"It's not something I want to remember."

"Why?"

I watched as he took the necklace from my hand and wound circles around it with his thumb. His finger gently tapped his bottom lip. "Some memories are better left forgotten. Your mother... she is one of those memories."

"I don't understand."

With a weak smile, he patted my shoulder. "It's better that you don't."

"But she's family, isn't she? This is her home-"

"Family is with people who care about you," he interrupted. "Home is somewhere you belong, where your family lives. Your mother isn't family and she doesn't belong here."

"But-"

"That's enough, Liana. I'm not going to talk about this anymore," he said and returned to his work.

Home. That was the term Archer used before he took the others and I to his Hive. It was odd how both he and my father had the same idea when it came to it.

Light, sharp footsteps brought me out of my thoughts and I was soon well aware of where I was.

"So, Commander. You have returned," the hive queen said as she moved from her throne.

I knew Archer well enough to know when he was nervous. There was a twitch in his fingers that he hoped no one noticed.

I wanted to look away, but the fear of the queen stilled my body.

Archer knelt down on one knee and bowed his head. "I have, my queen."

"And you have brought with you humans?"

"Lanteans, my queen. Those who kept Liana and I away for this long."

The queen bent down and raised Archer's head with her finger. "Liana?"

I gulped.

"I-I mean my worshipper. She has been kept safe, as were your orders," Archer corrected and lowered his gaze again.

The queen dropped his jaw and sauntered over to me. She leaned in and picked at a strand of my hair that had turned grey from when Archer fed on me.

"Kept her safe?" she spat and let it go. "She was fed upon. I told you specifically not to let anything happen to her. She is no good to us if she is dead."

"I understand."

"Tell me the truth, Commander. Who fed on her?"

"I-" Archer stopped.

The queen's eyes narrowed as she waited, her patience waned.

'Lie. She won't know it was you,' I thought to him. 'Say it was another wraith. Tell her that you defended me from a wraith the humans had captured that got loose. Say whatever you want, but don't say it was you!'

"It was another wraith, my queen," he began, much to my relief. "The Lanteans had another one of us captured. They conducted vile experiments on him to the point were he was barely recognisable. They were... curious to know if the feeding process worked on my worshipper, so they had the wraith feed on her."

"I see," she said. "And you weren't the one to do it?"

Archer shook his head. "No, my queen. I tried to stop them but-"

"You failed, and you allowed them to gather information about her," she hissed and looked back at me. "Be grateful that it was not her life, or yours would have been the consequence."

Archer remained silent.

"You will correct this once you return to your quarters, Commander. For now you will keep your position, but do not let this happen again."

"Yes, my queen."

The queen reguarded us both for a moment and then sat back on her throne. "You may leave."

My legs shook as I managed to stand. I had forgotten what it was like to be in the presence of the queen and honestly, I didn't want it to happen again.

As I followed Archer back to his quarters, a sense of familiarity as well as doubt filled me. The halls hadn't changed but the place was colder than I remembered.

Had the place always been so empty?

The Commander's quarters opened and inside it was like nothing had been touched. The smashed tablet screen was still on the table, as if it had only been yesterday.

The door closed behind Archer and I let out a sigh.

"So, we're back," I muttered. "Are you glad that your plan worked? That John, Teyla, Rodney, Lieutenant Dawson and, Gods even Ronon are prisoners? That I'm back to being your worshipper?"

Archer didn't answer.

"I can't believe this. Do you even realise what you've stopped? What the humans were helping me find out about my past?"

Archer tilted his head to the side, but did little else.

I leaned back against the table with my hand covering my eyes. "Why? Why did you chose now of all times to do this?"

Archer took a step forward. "The humans have deceived you. They do not care about you. They acted like they did and you believed them. Liana, they would have you killed if they didn't find you useful!"

"And your queen won't? Once she gets whatever information she wants from me, I'm ad good as dead. I can't believe it has taken me this long to figure that out."

"That won't happen," he said.

"Archer, do you even know what the humans were close to finding out?"

With another sigh, I turned my back to him. "My parents were wraith. My mother was the queen of that Hive. They were so close to figuring out what happened to my sister and I, and you've stopped that. Worst of all they're prisoners and I don't know what the queen will do to them!"

Archer remained silent. I looked up. There was no emotion. It was like the day I first met him. He was cold, barely responsive. It was like he didn't even care.

But then, he diverted his gaze to the floor. "You... you knew, didn't you?"

"I do not know what you are talking about."

"You knew my parents were wraith. You know that my mother was the hive queen."

"Liana, I-"

"How? How did you know?"

Unsuspectingly, he straightened his back and crossed his arms. "Really, Liana? You did not think that the humans were the first to read the scientist's logs, did you?" he asked, his tone low. "The tests we did only proved my assumptions about you."

"But you didn't destroy the data. You kept it on my father's terminal."

"Because I was watched most of the time by my brethren. If I did, they would have grown suspicious and told the queen."

I frowned. "You never told her."

He feigned a faint grin. "You know that my allegiance is no longer to the queen. I have long been wary of her. A discovery such as yourself and your sibling is rare and I had to take advantage of the oppurtunity while I had the chance. The less she knew, the better."

"What of me, then? We both know what is going to happen. I'll be subjected to more experiments, won't I?"

"There is no point in more experiments, seeing as all the analysis I needed was done before the humans captured us."

My mouth fell open. "They were?"

"If the queen knew that I had all the information she needed, you would be dead, like you said. The experiments, though useless after a certain point, were there to keep you alive and will continue to do so."

"So, I won't be experimented on anymore?"

His grin widened. "No, you will not. You will have to return to the laboratory every so often, but no tests will take place."

"And my sister?"

His features softened. "The queen has not mentioned her. I do not know what has happened, but I will find out soon. Give it time."

"Give it time?" I repeated, slightly shocked. "Kayla has been on this hive longer than I have and neither of us know what happened to her. Do you even know if she's still alive?"

"My second in command has looked after her. Trust me. Everything will sort itself out."

"You really still think that I trust you?"

Archer sighed. "You have no other choice."

He was right. Damn it. I didn't have a choice. With the humans captured and Kayla nowhere to be seen, I was, again, left to leave my fate with him.

"Now, I am going to have to ask for that trust," he whispered as he took a step forward with his hand stretched out. "For this is not something I would do if I had a choice."

My attention quickly focused on his feeding slit. Each step he took got me to take another in the opposite direction, until my back was firmly pressed against the wall.

"What are you doing? Keep your hand away from me," I warned, though deep down I knew it was useless.

Archer stopped. For a moment I was sure that I could see a flicker of regret. "I have to do what the queen commands me, for now. Besides, I promise you, this is a benefit. I will be giving you back the years I took."

"What do you mean? That's not possible. Your kind take life. They can't bring it back, can they?" I asked, interested enough to forget the possible threat.

"We take to calling it the gift of life. It is usually only for my brothers or devout worshippers, though sometimes it can be used for... other means." Archer's hand took hold of mine and set it by my side. "Though, I will not do it if you do not wish me to."

"You're serious? It's my decision whether to have ten years of my life back or not?" The answer was pretty simple, though I was still afraid of what might happen. "I would like to be my original age again."

"Hah, that is what I thought."

Before he could place his hand I grabbed his wrist. "Is this going to be anything like what happened before?"

Archer shook his head. "No. It will not be painful. I assure you."

I let out a shaky breath and placed his hand on my lower neck. Memories of the first time that happened and the pain that came with it flashed through my mind, but I tried to ignore them.

I inhaled sharply at the strange sensation that jolted through my bones. It made me feel more alive, alert, and at the same time put me in a dream-like state, unable to move, or even want to. It was difficult to focus on what was happening, instead my mind drifted off to many different things. A familiar sensation, a feeling of being cold, almost frozen and also spine tingling, swept over me. When it first happened it was when I had entered a wraith's mind and it was painful. This time, there was barely any pain at all.

When I opened my eyes my breath fell short. My lips, slightly parted, were pressed against Archer's. I didn't even remembering doing it.

I pulled back, but only after I lingered there for a few more brief seconds.

"Was I... um supposed to do that?" I asked in a barely a whisper. His eyes were heavy lidded, pupils dilated, and there seemed to be some sort of hunger to them. I gulped and tried to cool the heat I felt across my cheeks. "No, no I don't think I was. Um..."

"Unexpected," Archer smirked and dipped his head so that our lips were barely apart. "But not unwelcome." He brought my lips to his once more.

His arms wrapped around the small of my back and the closeness was welcomed. The feelings I felt were new and maybe I would think on them later, but for that moment, I was content to feel his breath come and go with mine.

We parted after sometime. I leaned back and sighed.

"This doesn't change anything, you know."

"Oh?" he uttered in slight surprise and rested his forehead against mine.

I opened an eye and gave a smirk of my own. "I still need to find out what happened to Kayla, and John and the others-"

"Let me worry about that."

"I don't know if I can."

"I thought you trusted me."

My smirk fell and I looked away. "I do, but you cannot expect me to stay in this room while they're somewhere on this Hive." My fingers gently tangled themselves in his hair as I spoke. "I know this Hive well enough to not get lost, and if any of the other wraith ask why I'm wandering around then I can lie, say some excuse. You have to trust me."

He hesitated but nodded nonetheless. "Perhaps that is the best decision."

I smiled. "I thought so."

I was about the draw him in for another kiss, but something changed. His hold slightly tightened around my sleeve and I realised that the queen had summoned him.

"You better go before something happens."

"I will be back soon."

He squeezed my hand and left his quarters in a hurried pace. It was strange seeing my hand without the wrinkles or paled complexion. It proved that I had returned to my normal self and he hadn't somehow taken more of my life away.

My eye caught the data tablet on the table. If I remembered correctly, data tablets connected to the main system of a hive, but there were many codes I would have to crack in order to get access to that information. Luckily though, I had a lot of time.

I took the data tablet and scanned the many logs and access points there were. I was going to get both the humans, my sister and Archer away from the hive, though I wasn't quite sure that Archer was willing to leave, especially when he looked more comfortable there than he did back in Atlantis. I just hoped when the time came, if it ever came, that he would come with us.