1. Prologue

**AN**: This story is a part of the Wild West Atlantis AU. It inspired by Melyanna, whose ability to weave alternate universes continues to amaze me, and by Saché, who loves Jonas more than is strictly reasonable. I started writing it in the summer of 2007, and here we are.

There was an episode of Doctor Quinn that involved her getting kidnapped by the Dog Soldiers. It scared the crap out of me when I was little. This story is sort of the Wild West Atlantis version of those events, and according the Dog Soldiers are not portrayed in a historically accurate fashion. Mostly this is because I cannot resist temptation when something in the Stargate world has a convenient name. The bad guy _is_ Anubis, after all. That said, I am very well aware of the historical missteps, and I would like to assure you all that I mean NOTHING derogatory by them.

This story is also a very, very loose adaptation of "Redemption", the SG-1 episode, but only if you half close both eyes and turn your head to a certain angle.

After "The Seige", almost EVERYONE has bullet holes and Carson's office had burned down. I had TOTALLY FORGOTTEN that, and Miera saved me. For purposes of the story, Carson is working out a new office, and living in the apartment above the office next door (which belongs to Janet, who lives somewhere else) while he waits for his new house to be built. Stupid Wraith and their burning down buildings I need!

Working within the AU timeline, this takes places shortly after "The Seige", in June. Enough time has passed that Caldwell is back on his feet, if only just.

**Rating**: Teen (allusions to rape and torture)

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, not mine at all.

**Summary**: A refugee comes to Atlantis with a warning...and a secret.

* * *

**Prologue**

Jack sensed that something was amiss as soon as he and Jonas led their horses into the encampment.

This was the first time in months that the two Indian Agents had visited the Reservation. The past winter had been hard and long, as blizzard after blizzard buried the town, cutting it off from even its closest neighbours. The spring run-off had been torrential, and several of the rivers near the town had flooded. Between the weather and the Wraith siege early in June, Jack had been so busy being the Deputy Mayor that he had not had any time to wear his other hat. On this visit, Jack had resolved to apologize for this long absence and see how the Indians had fared through the spring.

But the Reservation was too quiet. The children that usually ran out to greet them never came. All around them, tent flaps were closed. The women usually brought their work outside so they could talk and help one another, but they were nowhere to be seen. A few young men stood around a tent that Jack knew belonged to the Medicine Man, but aside from that, it was as though the village had been deserted.

Jack looked over at his assistant. Jonas was new enough to the job that he still thought of every trip to the Reservation as an adventure. So far, Jonas hadn't dealt with anything too extreme, whereas Jack had seen his charges through malaria, bad rations and resentment about relocation. Jonas still thought the government were the good guys. Jack had an uncomfortable feeling that the young man's idealism would not survive the summer.

As Jack and Jonas reached the centre of the camp, a tent flap opened. Kasuf, the chief, and a young boy stepped out to greet them. Kasuf's face was lined by years of life outdoors and by grief for his wife, daughter, and a way of life he saw disappearing before his very eyes. Today, there was a more immediate strain around his eyes. Jack became even more concerned.

His thoughts ran first to Skaara, the chief's son and Daniel Jackson's brother by marriage, but the young warrior appeared at his father's shoulder a moment later, and though his eyes were tight as well, seeing him made Jack breathe a little easier. Even Jonas' face had darkened now, and tense lines ran down his shoulders.

"My friends!" Kasuf said by way of greeting, "It is good that you have come. There is something that you must see."

Newcomers were often surprised by the level of English speaking on the reservation. Even the oldest women and the youngest children had a good command of the language. Jack never commented on it in his reports, having long since learned when to leave things out of official documentation, even though he knew very well that it was Daniel Jackson's love for his wife that had inspired such excellent teaching. The first time Jonas heard a small child ask for something with perfect grammar, he had raised an eyebrow, but he too had remained silent on the matter. He was a quick study of human nature, and Jack was impressed at how quickly his partner was earning the trust of Kasuf and his people.

Kasuf gestured, and the Indian Agents turned their horses over to the young boy. They followed Kasuf towards the Medicine Man's tent. As they drew near, Jack smelled burning herbs and wood. Whoever was inside was receiving the Medicine Man's full attention, something not to be taken lightly. The young men moved out of the way, and Kasuf held the tent flap open for Jack and Jonas to enter.

At first, Jack saw nothing while his eyes adjusted from the bright sun to the darkened interior. He squinted through the heavy air, his eyes drawn automatically to the fire in the centre of the enclosure, and then made out the figure that lay beside it. He began to sweat in the heat.

The woman lay on a bedroll, a woven blanket covering her from neck to knees. Her arms laid bare by her sides, were covered in scrapes of blood and bruises. Her feet were uncovered, and Jack could see that they were worn raw and bleeding, with scratches making a mess of her legs. Jonas moved closer as his eyes cleared, and Jack followed him.

The fire flared as the Medicine Man threw a handful of sweet smelling herbs into the flames. Jonas gasped, seeing at last why the villagers were so nervous.

Jack's heart sank. The woman's hair was matted with dirt and blood, but even the meager light had irrevocably revealed its fiery colour.

This woman was no Indian.

* * *


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Jonas was reasonably sure that his horse sensed something was wrong with its master. The path between the Reservation and the main road from Colorado Springs to Atlantis had not fared well during the spring floods, and Jonas was forced to hold his mount to a walk. He'd left Jack back at the village making arrangements to move the woman into town, while he rode back to Atlantis to warn Dr. Beckett that there was an incoming patient.

Realistically, Jonas knew that there was only so much Carson could do to prepare. The doctor kept everything stocked and well organized, and needed only a moment to prepare himself even for something as complicated and dangerous as an amputation. Jonas hoped that no such measures were needed today, but the sheer number of injuries he had seen on his rather cursory examination of the woman made him anxious to do something helpful.

Finally, Jonas turned his horse on to the main road and set his heels to its flanks. Jack was well behind him, and moving slowly, so there was no need for haste, but Jonas couldn't help setting a quick pace. He urged his mount to a canter, and set off for Atlantis.

xxx

Shortly after meeting Skaara for the first time, Jack had accepted the young man's invitation to go on a canoe trek. Jack had thought that a little active field work would help him understand his new assignment. This somewhat uncharacteristically optimistic enthusiasm had lasted until approximately halfway through the first portage. He had never said anything to his young friend about the painful experience, by he always managed to concoct an excuse to get out of repeating it.

The injured woman was much lighter than a fully loaded canoe, but such care had to be taken in the bearing of her that she was more unwieldy. Jack's horse dragged a travois behind it, but the path was too uneven to utilize it.

"Skaara?" Jack said, as he took the woman from the younger man's arms for his turn to carry her, "What wouldn't your father tell me? Where did this woman come from?"

"We do not know exactly, O'Neill." Try as he might, Skaara could never fully master the name. Jack found it oddly endearing. "We found her two days ago at the bottom of Raven Gorge. I think she had fallen into it."

"That would explain a lot." Jack grunted as he navigated the wash.

"We know also that she had run for some time." Skaara continued. "She wore no shoes when we found her. You have seen her feet."

"Skaara, I know all of this." Jack caught his friend's eyes. "What had your people so scared? And how could someone be running so fast they don't see Raven Gorge until they fall into it?"

Skaara tore his eyes away and spoke quietly, "She must have escaped from the Dog Soldiers."

Jack's blood ran cold. The idea that Anubis' gang could be so close to town was very unpleasant. The Genii could be reasoned with and, in a pinch, bought off. The Wraith were still smarting from their losses during the Siege, and had fled into the mountains pursued by the army. But Anubis was another matter all together. He and his men, mostly runaway slaves blackmailed into service, roamed the wilderness like the pack of dogs they were named for. They were vicious and completely without mercy.

"How do you know?" Jack asked, certain that Skaara would not speak of Anubis without being certain.

Skaara came over and gently lifted the dirt and blood matted red hair from the woman's torn collar. Jack had to strain his neck to see, but there was no mistaking it. On the back of the woman's neck was a thin vertical white line, a scar given to her by Anubis himself.

"Only the highest ranking members of the gang wear this sign." Jack said, his voice dull with disbelief.

"Dog Soldiers do not initiate women into their ranks. She bears no mark upon her forehead." Skaara said, his voice full of certainty. "And she is one of your people. There must be another reason."

"You spend too much time with Daniel." Jack said, more out of habit than anything else.

"Father says it is better than spending too much time with you!"

Jack smiled for the first time in hours. Skaara led the horse over the final fallen log, and pulled the travois into line behind it. Jack set the woman down, and they carefully tucked the blanket along the sides of the sled. Skaara held the horse while Jack mounted, and reached up to clasp his friend's hand.

"We will fix the trail, O'Neill." Skaara said. "What happens next will be trouble for all of us."

"I think you're right."

"Father says we must heal first and then judge. Will you tell your doctor that?" Skaara said.

"You've met Carson, Skaara. Do you really think he will let her suffer?"

Skaara inclined his head. Jack squeezed his friend's hand tightly, nodded, and, with a light flick of the reigns, began the long walk home.

xxx

In almost every case when Dr. Carson Beckett treated a patient, he did so with very little warning. The few times he had advance knowledge were almost worse: instead of just reacting and practicing his craft, he had to wait, endlessly recataloguing his available materials and hoping desperately that what he had would be sufficient. The siege had been one of these times and, faced with another period of waiting, Carson was reminded of how much he hated it.

Jonas was not helping. The young agent had provided Carson with a somewhat fragmentary list of injuries to anticipate treating. His memory was never cause for debate, but his lack of medical expertise left a great deal of his descriptions wanting. He had then insisted on waiting in Carson's newly reconstructed office, and Jonas Quinn was not a peaceful waiter. He paced between the windows. He fiddled with equipment. That he did not pepper Carson with endless questions was a small mercy, but not enough to prevent the doctor from banishing him to the chairs out front that stood in place of a porch.

"And try not to alert the entire town to the fact that we're about to have a medical emergency!" Carson demanded of Jonas' retreating back.

Jonas paused for a moment on the threshold, realizing the importance of the doctor's words, and schooled his face into some semblance of its normal sunny expression. He took a seat on the bench, and looked out across the main street of the town. It was early enough that not too many people were abroad. He and Jack had left for the Reservation before dawn, and since he had returned almost immediately, it was not yet noon. Vala Mal Doran could be seen moving around her open air kitchen, but few customers sat at her tables. Weir's Mercantile stood open and a few people loitered on the steps.

A sudden burst of laugher and the crowd of children chasing a hoop down the street reminded Jonas that Daniel had let the school out for this week so his older students could help with the planting. For his youngest students, and for those who lived in town, this constituted a holiday and the sunny weather ensured that all of them were enjoying it. Jonas smiled in spite of himself. Daniel himself waved from where he sat lingering over his coffee at Miss Mal Doran's, then stood up and walked over.

"You're back early." Daniel said by way of greeting.

"Yes." Jonas said, wondering why Jack hadn't given him some sort of guidance about what to say in the face of inevitable questions.

"Problems?" Daniel's concern for the people on the Reservation was definitely something that Jack should have taken into account. Jonas paused for one moment too long. "Skaara? Kasuf? Why are you at Beckett's? Where is Jack?"

"Daniel, please!" Jonas finally snapped into action. "Not so loud. There's…a woman. She was injured. Skaara found her and Jack is bringing her into town. We don't know much more."

Daniel scuffed his boots in the dirt, and leaned on one of the posts that used to support the railing. "How long until Jack gets here?"

"He'll be using a travois, and they would have had to carry her to the road, the path's so bad." Jonas said. "But they didn't leave too long after I did, I think."

Daniel's eyes went to the road and followed it out of town towards Colorado Springs. The road was not visible for very long after it passed the last house, swallowed up almost immediately by trees and the rocks of the mountains.

"He's not coming on the road, Daniel." Jonas said softly. "He's not going to parade the poor woman through town."

"It's that bad?"

"I really think it is."

The two men waited in silence while Atlantis bustled on around them. Miss Mal Doran's café filled with patrons as men came for their lunches. The mercantile steps were now crowded with children playing with tops and eating penny candy. Next door, Janet Fraiser came on to her mildly scorched front porch and watched them, a puzzled look on her face. Jonas could not hold her gaze.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jack stepped out the door from inside Carson's office.

"Jack--?" Jonas began.

"I used the back door." Jack said shortly and gestured to Daniel. "What's he doing here?"

"Come on, Jack." Daniel said. "You're supposed to be at the Reservation, and instead I see Jonas at Beckett's all morning?"

"Stupid school holidays."

"How is she?" Jonas asked.

"Beckett is beginning his examination now." Jack fumbled in his pocket, and withdrew a necklace. "I should go put this with her things. It fell off on the road, and I put it in my pocket."

"Wait!" said Daniel.

"What?" Jack said.

"That's hers?" Daniel asked.

"Of course," Jack said. "Where else would I get a necklace?"

"Let me see it."

"Daniel—"

"Let me see it!" Daniel repeated with uncharacteristic vehemence.

Surprised, Jack handed the necklace over. It had a simple silver chain, finally broken by everything its wearer had endured, and the charm on it was a small book with a feather on top of it.

"Sarah." Daniel breathed.

"What?" Jack said.

"Her name is Sarah," Daniel explained. "Sarah Gardiner."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Carson looked up in surprise as Jack hustled Daniel and Jonas through the door and back into the doctor's office.

"Jack, I really think the lass deserves some privacy," he protested.

"Daniel knows who she is," Jack said.

"I don't bloody care," Carson declared. "Get out of my examination room."

"Fine," Jack said shortly. He opened the door to the back storage room, and gestured for the others to precede him.

Carson rolled his eyes and turned back to his patient as they left. She was a mess of blood and dirt and even tree litter. Her exposed skin was brown from exposure to the elements, but Carson could see pale skin where she would have typically been covered by a dress. He felt her head and detected no breaks in her skull. It was more likely that her unconsciousness was the result of exhaustion and fear rather than physical trauma. Forewarned as he was by Jack, Carson did not feel a lurch in his stomach when he discovered the mark on the woman's neck, but it did not make him any happier about it.

Having taken in all the immediately visible wounds, Carson paused. Though he was a medical professional, he was always uncomfortable cutting a woman out of her clothing, particularly in cases like this where he already had an inkling of what he would find, but he knew his duty and would not shirk it. As he reached for the scissors, he heard raised voices from the back. He shook his head, and returned to work.

xxx

"How do you know this woman?" Jack demanded, almost before he'd shut the door.

"We were at school together, in Chicago," Daniel said, making himself comfortable on one of the larger barrels in the storeroom. Jack and Jonas stayed standing. "We took our teaching certificates at the same time."

"Did you buy her the necklace?" Jonas asked, then blushed when Jack stared at him, "I mean, you recognized it, and I just wondered if you…"

"Yes, I bought it for her," Daniel said, his voice softening. "Just before we graduated. I liked her quite a bit, but she had plans to teach forever, and didn't want to get married before she'd even started."

"And then you both came west?" Jack asked.

"Yes, but to different places," Daniel said. "I was posted here, and she took a job in Oklahoma."

"Oklahoma? That's miles away!" Jonas said. "How did she get here?"

"You saw her feet, how do you think?" Jack asked sharply.

Jonas blinked several times, and then looked down at the floor. Daniel gave Jack a hard look, as though to remind him that everyone was young once, but before Jack could apologize, there was a loud scream from the adjoining room.

Instantly, Daniel threw the door open and ran back into the examination room. Sarah was awake and, quite understandably, terrified to find herself once again in new surroundings. Carson tried to calm her, but to no avail. Jack and Jonas tried to approach her, but Daniel held them back.

"Daniel, the woman needs help!" Jack exclaimed.

"She was in a Dog Soldier camp, Jack!" Daniel replied. "Surrounded by those men. All the time. And the mark on her neck means she was a favourite of Anubis. She doesn't want _our_ help. I am going to get Miss Fraiser."

Sick realization dawned in Jack's eyes, and even as Daniel left the office, he began speaking to Carson.

Daniel stormed out the door, more angry with himself for missing the obvious than anything, and paused to regroup on the porch. When he had marshaled his emotions somewhat, he continued next door to Miss Fraiser's office. She opened the door almost before he knocked.

"What is going on, Dr. Jackson?" she asked. "Is Carson doing surgery? Why was there a scream?"

"It's difficult to explain, I'm sorry," Daniel replied. "Could you come, please? And bring any herbs you might have that would be calming?"

"Just spare a moment," Janet said, already moving to action. "Let me get the spare kettle.

She moved quickly amongst her jars and containers, and had packed everything into a basket before she ducked outside to the back yard and returned carrying the beaten copper kettle.

The movement between the two doctors' offices and Sarah's screams had drawn the attention of more than a few of Miss Mal Doran's customers, and a group of them had assembled near the bottom of Janet's staircase.

"What is it, Dr. Jackson?"

"Is it Mrs. Lorne? Is she miscarrying?"

"Is Carson amputating something?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" came the sharp voice of Stephen Caldwell. "Please return to your lunches and give our good doctor some space in which to work!"

The crowd dispersed somewhat reluctantly, with many backwards glances and not a small amount of whispering. Caldwell turned to Miss Fraiser, his limping gait revealing infirmity his voice and bearing belied.

"Please, do not let me keep you," he said. "If Dr. Beckett has asked for you, it must be serious. Daniel, wait a moment with me, would you?"

Daniel nodded to Janet and smiled reassuringly, and she hastened into the office.

"Dr. Jackson, what is going on?" Caldwell asked. He leaned heavily on the cane Dr. Beckett insisted he still carry.

"Jack and Jonas went to the Reservation this morning," Daniel said quickly and quietly. "Kasuf and his people had rescued a woman, but she needed a doctor, so Jack brought her back to town. She was unconscious and when she woke up, she was frightened. I thought it would be better if she was examined by a woman."

"Rescued her from what?" Caldwell asked, looking hard at the school teacher.

"We don't know for sure," Daniel said shortly. "Apparently Skaara, Kasuf's son, thinks it was Dog Soldiers."

"Lord help us!" Caldwell exclaimed. "Last report had them in the south of the state and in Northern Oklahoma."

"That's where Sarah, where the woman, was." Caldwell looked sharply at Daniel's face. "Yes, I know her. From Chicago. I need to get back in there, if she recognizes me she might feel better."

"I'll be wanting to talk to Jack later," Caldwell said.

"I'll pass that along." Daniel replied.

The scene inside was much calmer now. Sarah had stopped struggling, and Janet was speaking to her softly while she boiled water and prepared the medications. Both women started a little when the door shut behind Daniel, but Sarah did not panic again. She looked right at Daniel with no glimmer of recognition in her eyes, and then back at Janet.

"Dr. Jackson, please join the others in the Beckett's temporary apartment," Janet said clinically. "I wish to examine my patient in privacy."

"Of-of course," Daniel stuttered.

As he moved to the stairway, he saw that Jonas was still sitting beside Sarah's bed. The young man had a strangely intent expression on his face, and Sarah's right hand tightly gripped his arm.

xxx

Daniel had just finished explaining to Jack about his encounter with Caldwell when Mrs. Beckett arrived home to find her kitchen full of people. Laura, who had entered the house from the street and not by way of Janet's office, was puzzled first by her husband being home in the middle of the day, and then by the presence of Daniel and Jack, but Carson quickly explained what was going on. She took the information in quickly, betraying only the smallest sign of fear when her husband told her about the mark on Sarah's neck.

"Will Janet need my help?" she asked when Carson was finished talking.

"Miss Fraiser had everything well in hand when she booted us out," Carson replied.

"And Jonas is with her," Jack added. "Just as Miss Fraiser arrived, Sarah grabbed on to his hand, and every time he tried to get loose she would panic again."

"Did you have lunch?" Laura asked practically, looking around the room. "I didn't think so. I'll just run to Vala's and see if she can make us up a basket."

"Wait a moment," said Daniel. "I hear someone on the stairs."

Janet came through the door, and closed it softly behind her. She was still drying her hands on her apron, and her face was lightly smudged with dirt. Carson kept a washbasin at the foot of the stairs that led from his office to his temporary home so he could wash up before coming home, but had never given consideration to keep a mirror.

"Miss Gardiner will recover," Janet began, all business. "Somehow, she hasn't broken anything. Her right hand and foot have been badly sprained, but with now that I have splinted them, they will heal. She lost a great deal of blood, but whatever the Medicine Man at the Reservation gave her seems to be restoring her."

"What about her feet?" Carson asked.

"I would like you to take a look at them before I wrap them up completely," Janet said hesitantly. "I am reasonably sure that once properly cleaned and dressed, she will not get an infection, but I am no surgeon."

"I'll do it whenever you think the time is best," Carson said.

"Thank you," Janet said.

"Anything else?" Jack asked.

Janet hesitated and looked across the room at Laura. The other woman's eyes widened, and she shook her head.

"I can't really say, Mr. O'Neill," Janet said firmly. "She fell asleep again before I had finished my examination, and even when she was awake she was really able to answer questions. Perhaps the next time she wakes up, we should see if she recognizes Dr. Jackson. She might be able to talk to someone she knows."

"And if that doesn't work, she seems to have taken to Jonas," Daniel added, not unkindly. Janet nodded.

There were a few moments of silence as everyone digested Janet's report.

"I think we should return to our normal duties now," Jack said. "The town is already starting to take note. If anyone asks, tell them that the Indians found an injured woman, and we brought her back to town. Say nothing of our suspicions regarding the mark on her neck. I will let the town council know."

"Mr. Kinsey is going to love this." Laura said.

"I think your Mrs. Sheppard will be a match for him," Jack replied. "Will you sit downstairs with Jonas and Miss Gardiner so that Miss Fraiser can go back to her own work?"

"Of course," Laura replied.

"Send someone for me as soon as she wakes up," Daniel said.

Laura nodded, and she and her husband headed back downstairs. Janet followed them to retrieve her basket, and departed. Jack and Daniel sat for a time on the porch, talking about the state of affairs on the Reservation, before they too went their separate ways.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Catherine Littlefield was known, on occasion, to wish that she was a young enough woman still to socialize with Mrs. Beckett, Lorne and Sheppard. It was not that the three younger matrons avoided Catherine, indeed they welcomed both her company and council. But Catherine had lived in Atlantis for longer than all three of them combined, and had established many ties during her girlhood that had not aged as well as she had herself.

The ladies she currently sat with, all members of the Atlantis quilting circle, were respectable members of the town. They had never fallen in love with a gunslinger, never kept secret their lives back East, and never climbed the old tree next to the church on Sunday to rescue an errant kite. To them, Catherine was respectable too: having travelled extensively with her father under his excellent supervision before settling down in marriage, she was deemed as cultured and worldly. She suspected that had they known even an eighth of the things she had witnessed in the streets of Cairo, she would not be held in such esteem.

"Such a morning, already!" said Mrs. Wittinger. "It makes me nervous to have the Indians so close to town, and now Mr. O'Neill has gone and brought a sick one home with him. Heaven only knows what we shall catch from her!"

"Come now," Catherine broke in, frustrated. "You saw her hair as clearly as I did. She's no more an Indian than you are."

"And Dr. Beckett is very good," Mrs. Parsons added. "My husband says that even though he is young still, he knows a lot about medicine. If the poor dear is catching, Dr. Beckett with put a stop to it."

Catherine was grateful for the unsolicited support, but it did not stop the chatter as to who the woman could be, where she was found, and how she was inevitably going to bring down ruin upon the town.

"I mean, we're still recovering from those dreadful Wraith!" Mrs. Wittinger said. "I am glad I have sent my girls back East for school. At least they are out of danger."

"There's risk in everything, my dear," Catherine said, not without some rancor. Mrs. Wittinger lost no opportunity to talk about her incipiently cultured offspring. "But there's good heads on our town council, and good hearts besides. Perhaps we should concentrate on helping the poor woman to heal and not passing judgment on her before she is awake enough to defend herself."

Catherine rarely asserted herself, as it inevitably caused more trouble than it solved, but she was finding her lunch somewhat marred by the constant speculation and suspicion of her companions. The conversation still for a moment, and then Mrs. Parsons, bless her heart, began it again, inquiring after the state of new dresses Mrs. Wittinger had ordered from Colorado Springs.

Catherine listened idly, nodded in agreement where required, and looked across the street at Dr. Beckett's office. In spite of herself, she wondered what the woman had seen out there in the wild mountains, and what, if anything, might pursue her.

xxx

Even after Sarah had fallen asleep, a healthy sleep which Janet deemed both curing and needed, she did not relinquish Jonas' hand. He sat quietly beside her, his mind going over and over what Janet had said during her examination. The midwife had not spoken to him directly, indeed at times it was almost like she had forgotten he was there, but had instead mused to herself. It was not Janet's words, however, that struck him the most deeply. Her face had often wrenched with pity as she examined Sarah's arms and legs, until pity had given way to anger.

After Janet had left and Carson had bound up Sarah's feet, Jonas had passed the time by filling the doctor in on the state of affairs on the Reservation. Although he had been there only a brief time, Carson had questions about how various former patients and children had fared over the winter, and Jack was never good with those sorts of details. Jonas was able to recall names and faces, and provide Carson with enough information to tide him over until he was free to ride out to the Reservation himself.

Still, Sarah slept. Through Carson treating a young boy with a rather large splinter in the other room, through all the bustle of work and reconstruction in the street outside, until at last the sun began to set. Laura brought Jonas some lunch, but before she had finished making dinner, the patient woke up.

She gasped, and pulled her hand away from Jonas' arm.

"Sh, it's all right!" Jonas said quietly. "It's all right. You're safe in town, in Atlantis, Colorado. You're at the doctor's house, he's taking care of you."

"Co-Colorado?" the woman rasped.

Jonas reached for the cup of water Dr. Beckett had set out for when Sarah woke up. He heard Carson stirring in the next room, and knew the doctor was on his way.

"Colorado," Jonas confirmed. "Don't talk too much yet, just drink some water. Can you sit?"

"I think so," Sarah said, and Jonas helped her up, bracing her on his arm.

Carson came in then, quietly suppressing his usual ebullience upon seeing a patient awake.

"Ah, lass, you gave us a bit of a fright," he said softly. "I've sent for someone for you to talk to. How are you feeling?"

"Better now that I've had some water," Sarah said, and indeed her voice sounded better. "What happened to me?"

Carson and Jonas exchanged a troubled look over Sarah's head.

"You had a nasty fall," Carson said. "Can you tell me you name?"

"Sarah Gardiner," she replied without hesitation. "I'm from…I don't remember where I am from."

A wild look came into her eyes as she tensed in fear, and Jonas unconsciously tightened his hold on her shoulders. She relaxed slightly, but still cast her eyes about the room.

"My name is Dr. Beckett," Carson said gently. "We're going to do everything we can to help you."

"Sarah?" came the voice of Daniel Jackson as he came through the door. "Sarah, I am so glad you're awake!"

"I am sorry, sir, but do I know you?" Sarah asked.

A stricken look came over Daniel's face, and Carson quickly moved to clasp his shoulder.

"It'll be all right, man," he said quietly. "She's going to need some time."

Daniel nodded. "I'm sorry Miss Gardiner. After you are feeling better, there will be time to explain."

"Miss Gardiner," said Jonas, "Could you tell anything that you remember?"

A haunted look came into Sarah's eyes. Jonas rearranged her pillows so that she could sit without leaning quite so heavily on his arm, but did not move from her side.

"There were curtains in the school room," Sarah said absently. "These great big pieces of fabric someone had brought all the way from Boston and decided they didn't like, so they gave them to the school house. They were so dusty, all the time, from the chalk and the dirt blowing in off the yard, so one day after I'd dismissed the children, I took them down, and carried them out behind the school to see if I could beat some of the dust out.

"I didn't hear the church bell, at first, not until I smelled smoke. Then I realized something was wrong, and I tried to run back to the street, but all of a sudden, there were horses everywhere and men on them, making the most terrifying noise. I was swept up into a saddle, and carried away like a sack. I fought him and he laughed and hit me, and then everything was black."

Sarah paused and took another drink of water. Carson became aware that his wife was listening on the staircase, but just as he was about to move and shut the door, Sarah looked into Laura's eyes, and Laura nodded at her to continue. Carson knew then that Sarah wasn't talking to him or Daniel, or even to Jonas whom she seemed to like, but to the women on the steps.

"I don't know how much time passed," Sarah continued. "They hobbled my feet and tied my wrists with rawhide, like a horse. I couldn't go more than three feet from the tent. There was a great stir in the camp and I heard a horse ride in. There was shouting in a language I didn't understand, and then a man came into the tent where they kept me.

"He was tall and broad, with dark hair and a mean face. He looked like a dog that had been kicked and starved all its life, until one day it broke its chain, killed its master and lived like a king eating hens from the chicken coop. He was cruel and dangerous, and when he looked at me, I was terrified.

"He took me out in front of all of his people. They were so different from him. If he was a savage, they were all of them bootlickers, eager to do anything to impress him, as if he would feed them scraps from his table. They were desperate men, completely cowed by him, and completely trapped within his thrall.

"He drew a knife, and pulled my hair to cut the back of my neck," she grimaced at the memory, and Daniel's jaw tightened. "I screamed, and they all laughed. Then he spoke to them: 'This woman bears my mark. Touch her at your own peril.' he said. And I was stupid enough to think that meant that I would be saved. But all it meant was that I was saved for him."

"How did you escape?" Jonas asked, barely speaking above a whisper.

"All winter, I waited. I knew that if I ran, I would die of exposure. I had no shoes, no wrap and no idea where I was." Sarah's eyes were far away, locked in the memory of her ordeal. "In the spring, the snow melted and the new grass grew. He thought I had been broken, so he stopped checking the restraints every night. One day they broke, the hide had gone rotten in the winter. And I ran.

"I went north for the simple reason that it was uphill. I knew he would think I had gone downhill because the trek would have been easier. I found a stream and walked in it in the hopes that it would throw the dogs off my scent. I ran until I couldn't run anymore, and then I fell. And then I was here."

"That is amazing, lass," Carson said. "I think it would be best if you were to sleep again, now. I can give you something that will ensure you don't have dreams."

"Will you stay with me?" Sarah asked, looking at Jonas.

"I am afraid I can't, Miss Gardiner," Jonas replied. "Carson must stay with his patient, and I must report to the Mayor what you've said. If Anubis was close enough that you could run and find your way to the Reservation, he is close enough that we must worry for ourselves and the outlying settlements."

"Of course," Sarah said. "Anubis will come for me. He said he would, and I have no cause to doubt him. He holds onto a prize like a retriever holds a duck, except he will willingly relinquish it to no one. I've put your whole town in danger."

"Atlantis is no stranger to risk, Miss Gardiner," Daniel said. "And we would never turn our backs on someone who needed our help or our protection."

"I will sleep now," Sarah said, and Carson went to fetch another cup of water.

"I'll come back when I can," said Jonas.

"I'd like that," Sarah said, and for the first time there was the ghost of a small smile on her face.

Jonas picked up his hat, crossed the room and opened the door. Daniel held the door open for him, and the two men paused together before walking out into the dusk.

"I'm going to get Jack and Miss Carter,' Jonas said, setting his hat on his head. "Could you get Mrs. Sheppard and Mr. Kinsey? I think the sooner the council finds out about this, the safer we'll all be."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The silence in the council room when Jonas finished his report was thick. Fear and horror, tinged with pity filled the air. Jonas fidgeted with his hat while Mayor Hammond absorbed the information. Jack looked across the table at Miss Carter, whose blue eyes were full of emotion. Sheriff Caldwell, present even though not a member of the council, was looking at his hands, and Elizabeth seemed to look everywhere but at her compatriots. Robert Kinsey's eyes travelled from face to face, searching for something Jonas couldn't identify. He was not surprised when it was Kinsey who broke the tableau.

"How do we know she is telling the truth?" he demanded. "She's wearing Anubis' mark. For all we know, she's a spy!"

The responding tumult was equally predictable, as even the Sheriff lent his voice to criticism of Kinsey's accusations. It took Mayor Hammond a few tries to make his voice heard over the din.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" he roared, finally restoring order. "Please! If even a fraction of what Mr. Quinn has reported is true, there is no earthly way a person would suffer that kind of injury voluntarily. It's a miracle she isn't dead."

Kinsey began to protest, but Hammond kept talking.

"The town of Atlantis has never turned away a person in need, and we are not about to start now!"

"She's said herself that Anubis would come for her!" Kinsey yelled. "Do you really think that the town can withstand another attack so soon after defeating the Wraith?"

"You know as well as anyone that Anubis would not attack the same way the Wraith did." Stephen said. "If he does come to town, it will be my problem and not yours, as long as you stay in your precious bank with the door locked and keep away from the window!"

"We should send warnings to the farms around town," Samantha said. "And someone should ride out to let Teyla and her people know there might be danger."

"We don't have the man power!" Kinsey protested. "Even our Sheriff can barely stand."

"I will stand for as long as I am required to, Mr. Kinsey. And even in his current condition, Mr. Dex can ride with Mr. Sheppard." Stephen spoke very stiffly, and then paused before looking apologetically at Elizabeth for volunteering John.

"Sheriff, my husband is not likely to forget how to ride a horse." Elizabeth said the words lightly, but there was a hint of fear in her eyes. "I agree with you and Miss Carter."

"Very well," Hammond said. "It is the decision of the council that we will offer sanctuary to Miss Sarah Gardiner, and that we will send out warnings. Anything else?"

There was silence again.

"Let's go, then. We've got work to do people."

xxx

Laura Beckett was no stranger to injury. As a child, she had fallen victim to any number of mishaps that were not typical of young ladies, and the previous fall, she had been shot. Still, she was almost afraid to go into Sarah's room alone. She had seen something in the other woman's eyes that had frightened her, and she was not entirely sure she wanted to face it. When Carson asked her to step in while he went to Janet's to inquire about the best herbs for the foot wrappings, Laura and hesitated briefly before agreeing. As it turned out, she was only alone with Sarah for a moment before Kate arrived.

"I passed your husband on the street and he asked me to look in," Kate said.

"I'm glad you're here!" Laura replied, and quickly filled her friend in on the details she knew.

Kate blanched as Laura told the story, and neither woman realized that Sarah had woken up until she spoke:

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost nine o'clock," Kate replied, only slightly revealing her startlement. "My name is Katherine Lorne, though most people call me Kate."

"Sarah Gardiner, though I suppose you knew that." Sarah said. She paused, then asked carefully, "Is Dr. Beckett here?"

"He's just stepped out for a moment," Laura said. "I am sure he'll be right back."

"No," said Sarah. "No, there's something I have to tell you. I couldn't say it yesterday, not with all those…people about. Please, it's important."

Kate and Laura exchanged a brief look, and then Kate took a chair next to Laura's.

"Anubis will come for me," said Sarah. "Of that I am certain. But it's not for the reason I told your husband."

"Why then?" Laura asked.

"I am the prize he seeks to hold on to," Sarah explained. "I was not the only woman, willing or held captive, in his gang. But he is dreadfully strict with his men. His word is like the word of a god with them, and he decided that children would weaken the ties between the gang members. Any child born in his camp is killed."

Kate's hands went instinctively to her abdomen, and Laura gasped.

"Just before the snow melted, I realized that I was pregnant," Sarah continued. "I was terrified. But an old woman who did the cooking for Anubis gave me a plant and told me to eat it in secret. I knew what it would do. I've never been more ill in my life, but when it was done, I wasn't pregnant anymore. I escaped as soon as I could walk again, but I overheard two men talking about how I was expecting his child, and what it would mean if one of the rival gangs were to get a hold of the baby.

"That is why Anubis will come. He won't risk losing the baby, even though it's already gone." Sarah closed her eyes for a long moment. "Tell whomever you like. And please, beg pardon on my behalf. I didn't mean to keep secrets; I just couldn't…say the words."

"We'll tell Miss Fraiser," Laura said quietly. "She'll make sure you're all right, and then she'll tell Mr. O'Neill."

Kate rummaged in her pocket for a moment, and withdrew a comb.

"Could you fetch a basin of water, Laura?" she asked, her voice almost unnaturally bright. "I think we should see what we can do about Miss Gardiner's hair and face. She is likely to have quite a few visitors, and she is in no condition to carry water by herself."

When Laura had brought the water, Kate moved her chair around behind Sarah's head. With fingers long skilled at delicate work, she began to tease the knots and clumps of dirt and matted blood from Sarah's hair. Laura held her hands and spoke of hoop skirts and other inanities. When Sarah began to ask questions about the people she had met already, Laura took it as a good sign, and gave answers freely. Once Sarah was clean, they helped her into a fresh dress, and then Kate braided her hair.

When Carson returned, he heard the sound of women's voices, and knew that his wife was healing wounds he couldn't touch. He smiled to himself, and left her to her work.

xxx

It was just before noon when Daniel Jackson returned. He knocked on the door as though it were the door to a house and not to a sickroom. Sarah was laughing when he entered, Laura had been telling a story from her own girlhood, and for a moment, he was reminded of the young lady he had known in Chicago all those years ago before life had changed them so. When she saw him, Sarah's face darkened slightly, but she said nothing when he entered the room.

"Have you remembered anything?" he asked gently. "From before your kidnapping, I mean?"

"I am afraid not," Sarah said. "Everything after is painfully clear, but before, there is nothing."

"Perhaps this will help," Daniel said, handing her an old photograph.

"You know me," she said.

"I do," he replied. "That's me in the back row, on the left."

Sarah looked at the photograph. Daniel had carried it with him all the way across the country, and through the years it had seen a lot of wear, but the faces were still clear. Three rows of new teachers, sitting proudly in front of a brick building that was mostly covered in moss. Sarah sat in the middle of the front row.

"Chicago," Sarah said quietly after a long moment had passed. "I was a teacher. And so were you."

"Yes," Daniel said.

"Daniel, Daniel Jackson. You gave me the necklace."

"I did," Daniel's voice was thick.

"I remember. I went to Oklahoma. You wrote me letters and you got married." Sarah looked at him directly for the first time. "I remember."

"If you want to talk to someone you knew then, tell Mrs. Beckett. She can come and find me. "

"Of course," said Laura.

"I should go," Daniel said, somewhat awkwardly. "I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you," Sarah said. "Thank you for remembering me."

Daniel nodded, twisting his hat in his hands, and then quit the room. Outside the door, he met Jonas Quinn.

"Is she awake?" the younger man asked.

"Yes," Daniel said, somewhat shortly. "She's awake."

Jonas watched him walk away curiously before continuing into Carson's office.

"Miss Gardiner, ladies," he said, nodding to each in turn. "I wondered if you might join me for lunch."

"Jonas Quinn, are you out of your mind?" Laura demanded. "You saw her feet. My husband will kill you if you have her walk out of here."

"It's only as far as Miss Mal Doran's," Jonas protested.

"As much as I would love to get out of here, I think I have to agree with Mrs. Beckett," Sarah said. "I am not even standing on my feet right now and they hurt. I can only imagine what walking will do."

"Then you won't walk," Jonas said. Without allowing anymore time for argument, he crossed the room and picked Sarah, blanket and all, up off the bed.

"Mr. Quinn!" Kate exclaimed, so shocked she couldn't finish the sentence. She looked to Laura for some support, but Laura was already beginning to laugh.

"Carson only said she had to stay off her feet," she pointed out. "And she is off her feet."

"I probably should have warned you about Laura," Kate said to Sarah. "She has the most impossible ideas."

Sarah was laughing too. "If even half the things you have told me about Miss Mal Doran are accurate, I simply must meet her."

"I am glad we are all in agreement," Jonas said. "Mrs. Lorne, would you get the door?"

Kate rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. As she and Laura divested themselves of their dirty aprons, and followed Jonas and Sarah out the door, she couldn't help but wonder what the quilting circle was going to make of this spectacle.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Where do you think you're going?"

Ronon Dex was not a small man, and even with his latest barely healed injuries, he was more than a match for most of the people in the immediate vicinity, but when he heard Miss Fraiser's voice behind him, he froze in his tracks. He sighed and turned around.

"John is going to warn the outlying settlements," he said. "I have to find Teyla."

She was now standing as close to him as social conventions allowed, though from what Ronon could tell, Anubis himself could walk into Vala's café right now and not divert any of the attention from Jonas and the Gardiner woman. Janet narrowed her eyes, and Ronon felt a sudden compulsion to explain himself further.

"I'll get them to safety and then I'll stay with them," he added sincerely. "No riding back to town this time."

"Just be careful," she said, looking up at him. "I would hate for Dr. Beckett to have to sew you up again."

He smirked at her.

"Get out of my town."

Vala came over and handed him a packet of food for his trek; there was no way of knowing where Teyla's band would be located. He tipped his hat to both ladies, and headed to the post where his horse was tied. As he rode out of town, he risked one look back. The people in the café had barely noticed his departure, but one face was still turned in his direction. She didn't raise her hand, and neither did he, but he knew that leaving Atlantis would never be quite so easy again.

xxx

Cameron Mitchell was still a new face in Atlantis, but John rather liked him. Cameron hadn't spent much time in the town before his ranch burned, but between their tentative plans to buy a ranch and the reconstruction work his healing body allowed him to do around town, John had come to appreciate Cameron as a kindred spirit.

Cameron was riding slowly. His wounds had been more extreme than Ronon's, which was why Ronon was riding further today. Any doubts John had about the other man's woodcraft were soon laid to rest. He wasn't the tracker that Ronon was, but he moved through the underbrush with a decent amount of stealth, considering he was mounted.

They moved cautiously, shadowing the road out from the town towards the Reservation. They had reasoned that this would be the direction Anubis would most likely take, but had agreed that should they go more than two miles without seeing anything, John would leave and go in the other direction. After the first mile, John noticed that the birds had all but stopped making noises. Cameron caught his eye, and pointed to the sky in the west. John looked up and saw four vultures circling.

He signaled Cameron and both men dismounted, Cameron with a hiss of pain when his feet hit the ground. The two men crept forward on foot through the threateningly silent woods, crouching low to the ground and with their holsters unclipped.

Cameron held up his hand and John stopped in his tracks. Cameron leaned forward and sniffed the air, a strange expression on his face. John followed suit, initially confused, until he caught the scent that his companion had. He nearly gagged when he did, for it was badly cooked meat and unwashed bodies and not a small amount of blood. They had found their quarry, and they were altogether too close to the town.

"We have to get a look at them," John whispered quietly. "We have to know how ready they are."

Cameron nodded, but his face was pained. John looked hard at him, and realized the toll that creeping through the forest had taken on him.

"Go back to the horses," he said, finally. "If I'm not there in twenty minutes, ride for Atlantis and tell them the worst is coming fast."

"As if I'd leave you here and face your wife alone!" Cameron replied, but his face was grateful.

They shook hands and parted ways. John crept on, even more silently now and with his pistol in his hand. He could hear them now. They weren't even trying to conceal their presence. He hoped devoutly that they were not so prideful because they had destroyed the Reservation village on the way to Atlantis.

John saw the first sentry when the other man was about a hundred yards away. He hid himself behind a tree and listened hard. He could hear men moving about, but they didn't sound like they were moving in a deliberate way. He glanced around and saw that the sentry was occupied sharpening a rather cruel looking knife, so he carefully darted closer, taking shelter behind another tree.

From here, his view of the camp was better. He saw immediately that 'camp' might be a generous word. The tents were ragged and torn, and then men were equally disarrayed. Their bearing, however, indicated that they were fighters all, and that they were spoiling for a squabble. They showed no signed of being ready to move out, however, and John breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He couldn't see Anubis, but he knew which tent the gang lord would occupy; it was the only one of the lot that looked like it might keep out some of the weather. He felt a surge of anger, that anyone should be forced to live like this, and then a swell of admiration for Miss Gardiner for having the courage to escape it.

Finally, he remembered what he had told Cameron, and with a final look around the squalid campsite, he went back as quietly as he had come.

xxx

Elizabeth Sheppard paced back and forth on the steps of her mercantile. She looked out over the town and felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. So recently they had begun to recover, rebuild, and now they were being forced to board the windows and run for cover again. It infuriated her, this feeling of powerlessness. Inside, the sheriff and the deputy mayor wrangled back and forth about assignments for the coming battle, while the last few townspeople made fast their houses and left the street.

Elizabeth heard horses, and looked down the street. Her husband and Mr. Mitchell were galloping hard, the latter's face so tied up with pain she marveled that he could stay atop his horse. That too was something Elizabeth hated: the people of Atlantis were no more recovered than their buildings, and again they would be coming under fire. The men took their horses directly to the stable beside Lorne's smithy, and then crossed the street to join her. Both men carried a pair of rifles in their hands.

"They're close." John said, reading the anxiety in her face. "They're not close to moving yet, but they're close."

"Go inside and try to talk some sense into Jack," Elizabeth said. "And you, Mr. Mitchell, should go to Beckett's."

Cameron started to protest, but Elizabeth overrode him.

"It's a good vantage point for a gunman in the window," she said with brutal practicality. "And you're no good in a stand up fire fight right now."

Knowing he was out matched, Cameron glanced ruefully at John and tipped his hat to Elizabeth before turning back the way he'd come.

"What are they fighting about?" John asked.

"Who gets to stand in the street." Elizabeth replied. "Jack thinks Caldwell is too hurt and Caldwell thinks not having the sheriff present will make us look weak."

"Teal'c will be there?"

"Yes, and Jack too."

"Then Caldwell will be fine." John said. "Besides, who else is left?"

"They'd have asked Ronon, but Janet told us he was staying to help Teyla until the danger's past." Elizabeth looked down at her feet. "Jack said no husbands on the street."

"Jack is right about that, at least." John said. "We'd better get inside."

They went inside together. As he reasoned with Jack and Caldwell, he could not stop glancing at her. His face hardened with resolve: today they would establish such a reputation for Atlantis that it would never be attacked again.

xxx

Cameron had done his best to conceal his discomfort from the Sheppards, but there was no hiding it from the Becketts. He wasn't even entirely sure whose scolding was worse, the doctor's or his quick tempered wife's. He had barely crossed the threshold when he'd found himself forced into a chair for examination, while Mrs. Beckett fetched him some water and a piece of dried pork. Between mouthfuls and remonstrations, he recounted what he and John had seen on the road.

Carson, content for now with his patched up patient, returned his attention to his stores. Laura had gone to the well to replace the water Cameron had drunk and used to wash, and when she returned, she tried to get her husband to sit down. Cameron watched with no small amount of amusement as she listened serenely to his concerns, while deftly maneuvering him away from the table at the same time.

"What if there aren't enough bandages?" the doctor asked as his wife finally all but pushed him into a chair.

"I saved my entire trousseau when the house burned," Laura said calmly, sitting and taking out an embroidery hoop from under a chair. "We can use the linens my mother sent."

"But – " Carson spluttered.

"It won't come to that," Laura assured him. "You've enough there to swaddle a regiment."

"How can you stitch at a time like this?" her husband demanded.

"It fairly beats pointless worrying." Laura said, and that was the end of that.

Cameron hid his smile by turning to his guns. He slid the window open and discovered that Elizabeth was quite right: he could see the south road well from here. He hoped it would not come to firing, though. There would enough guns on the street for that, and Carson didn't strike him as the sort of man who would appreciate gunfighting in his practice unless it was a dire emergency.

xxx

In the end, the plan was this: Jack, Caldwell and Teal'c would meet Anubis on the street. The Dog Soldiers typically sent in their gang leader and one or two lieutenants, while the rest of them circled the town. That way, if the sheriff fell, they could swoop in and if their own leader fell, they could melt away into the woods. It was, as Teal'c said with disdain, a coward's tactic, but John had heard stories of how it had worked with deadly efficiency in other towns.

John himself would be riding out with Daniel to cover the road to the north, while Jonas, Lorne and the deputy sheriffs would circle back from the south after Anubis entered the town. They would cover Anubis's retreat, should all go well, and both teams would be in place should things end badly. A rider from the Reservation had arrived earlier to say that Skaara and his age-mates would be in the woods as well, attempting to outflank the Dog Soldiers that surrounded the town.

Sarah had taken shelter with Kate, who was under strict instructions from Carson not to go into labour, in the storm shelter that Lorne had just finished constructing. It was not particularly attractive, but it was easily hidden because it was under the stables which boasted a lot of hay. Even if the stable burned, they would be safe. Elizabeth had gone with them, much to her husband's protestations, and had taken with her one of the rifles.

The town was ready. All they could do was wait.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

It was quiet. Too quiet.

Stephen Caldwell found it hard to believe that only this morning his biggest concern had been keeping idle school children from trying to skip rocks in the water trough in front of the jail. Now, he stood in the centre of the street, flanked by a man who never showed fear and the town's somewhat crotchety but still dependable deputy mayor. The town looked completely deserted, but Caldwell's trained eye easily found the glinting rifle barrels that emerged from the windows of the doctor's, the mercantile, and the second story of the stable. He had been a bit surprised when Miss Mal Doran and Miss Carter showed up to volunteer to cover the street, but frankly he was grateful for the help. He knew both women to be decent shots, even though he was usually against womenfolk being armed, and today they needed everything they could get.

Jack shifted tensely on Caldwell's left, while Teal'c remained as still as a stone on his right. The sheriff knew that neither man was showing complacency; they merely had differing ways of remaining sharp. He caught himself shifting weight more than was his custom, and for the first time, missed his cane. He was not, it seemed, so well healed as he had thought, though it galled him to admit to the weakness.

Finally, there was a noise. He could hear three horses on the road, though they were not yet in view. Jack stopped moving and Teal'c became, if possible, even more still. Caldwell slowly unclipped his holster, and flexed his hands. He was not as fast as he once had been but his shots were true.

The horses came into view, rounding the last outbuilding, and they stopped. Three riders dismounted, passing their reins to a fourth. They began to walk slowly forward, keeping their hands in clear view. Stephen took a deep breath and willed himself to look intimidating and immovable.

Two of the men who approached were dark skinned. They had tattoos on their foreheads, the black ink barely showing on their faces, but still marked, and both were shaved bald. They wore a curious piece of metal across their shoulders, almost like something a knight from Mr. Jackson's book of fairy tales would wear, but it was ill-fitting and clearly only designed to protect them from shots to the upper chest and back. They each carried a pair of pistols in plain sight, but had the look of men who carried any number of knives.

Between them, head held high, walked Anubis. Though it was summer, he wore a dark hood that was drawn so far forward it covered his face. Caldwell thought this even less practical than the poor attempt at armour worn by his sycophants, for it all but eliminated his peripheral vision. Then he realized that Anubis was a man without fear. He did not fear Caldwell and he did not fear death. This was the worst kind of enemy, for he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

Anubis came to a halt about thirty feet from where Caldwell stood. Caldwell waited. It was, after all, only polite to let your guests speak first. Jack was fairly radiating with suppressed energy, and Caldwell could well imagine the expression on Teal'c's face. He had an ill opinion of slavers and in his mind, anyone who forced runaways to cooperate were just as bad.

"You have something of mine." Anubis finally broke the silence. His voice was as odd as his clothing, deep and rough and strangely musical. Caldwell wondered if he wore the hood to hide some sort of scarring that had also damaged his throat.

"We have nothing of yours." Caldwell answered, his voice completely even.

"You have a woman," the strangely hypnotic voice replied.

"Colorado is a free state," Caldwell said, feeling Teal'c bristle for the first time. "You can't own people here."

"The woman in question is bearing my child." Anubis said, his tone almost reasonable. "She has stolen my son from me."

"Sarah Gardiner bears no child," Teal'c rumbled. Caldwell knew his deputy well enough to know that he was almost incandescent with rage by now, and that he kept that rage under iron control. "You have no claim upon her."

Anubis' eyes slid from Caldwell to Teal'c, or at least so Stephen guessed from the movement of his head. A low laugh emerged from the hood.

"You must be Teal'c," he said, pronouncing the name gutturally. "I have heard of you."

The two men who accompanied Anubis looked at Teal'c as well, their eyes full of fear and awe. Caldwell had heard few details of Teal'c's escape and journey to freedom, but he knew enough to know that his deputy was something of a legend in certain circles.

"I hope what you have heard has not unsettled you." Teal'c replied calmly.

"It has only made me curious to see you for myself." The words were laced with potential violence.

"Indeed."

"Sheriff," Anubis said abruptly, turning back to Caldwell, "Let us not play games. You have her. I know it. My men have completely surrounded your town. Even now they wait with lit torches. You have barely recovered from attack by the Wraith. You are no match for me, and you know it."

"We have plenty of match," growled Jack who, Caldwell noted, had shown remarkable restraint so far.

Caldwell was barely blinking now. All six men were wound as tight as lute strings, waiting for the one tell-tale flinch that would herald the end of this, once and for all. Anubis' covered face was frustrating him, because he could not tell where the man was looking, nor guess what he was thinking.

Just as the tension became intolerable, the setting sun sent one errant ray through the trees to glint off the rifle held by Samantha Carter in the upper window of the mercantile. The man across from Jack made the fatal mistake of moving his head to look at it, and in that instant, all hell broke loose.

Caldwell had his pistol in his hand before he even thought about it, moving with a speed he hadn't matched in years. He shot twice, into the heart of the man who had moved, before turning his gun back on Anubis. The gang leader had already fallen back, his gun held limply in a useless hand. Jack had winged him in the arm, and he was bleeding profusely. On Caldwell's left, Teal'c was down, having marked his man in the thigh before taking a bullet from Anubis himself, but the sheriff couldn't pay him more than a quick look. Rifle shots rang out from the street above, and Anubis and his remaining foot soldier fled back to their horses. They came under fire from Vala, then, as she crouched in the hayloft above the stable, and their horses reared so violently that they could scarcely keep their seats once they gained them.

"Get him out of here!" Caldwell yelled at Jack, who did his best to drag Teal'c towards the nearest shelter until the big man stopped him to take to his feet. Even then, Jack bore most of Teal'c's weight, and their progress was slow. Fortunately Anubis and his men were so occupied with their horses that they barely had time to harry anyone on the street.

Caldwell heard the war cries of their Indian allies singing out from all around him, and knew that Anubis' gang members in the forest had been outflanked. John and Daniel came riding hard down the street, following Anubis' retreat. They met Jonas and Lorne at the other end of town and set off in thundering pursuit.

Caldwell stood in the centre of town, feeling the hurt of his old wounds, but he was not afraid. He saw no smoke, and the only cries he heard were those of the warriors who battled their way through the underbrush, clearing out the vermin.

Atlantis was safe again.

xxx

Teal'c's recovery progressed nicely. Dr. Beckett said that his wound was clean, and that he would regain use of his arm in time. With the sheriff in recovery again, Mayor Hammond was debating whether or not to appoint another deputy. His first two choices, Cameron Mitchell and Ronon Dex, were likewise out of commission. Jack was too busy already, and both Jonas and Daniel were temperamentally unsuited to the task. Jack was heard to murmur something about how it was a pity they couldn't ask Teyla to fill in for a time, and Kinsey turned such an alarming shade of purple that Hammond thought they would be looking for a new council member as well as a temporary sheriff. In the end, Elizabeth suggested her husband, and the council had backed her immediately, deciding to approach him about it when he returned to town.

John finally rode into town two days later. He had sent the other men back while he tracked Anubis' retreat. Elizabeth was most displeased with her husband's decision, and though she understood the necessity for it, that did not make her wait any more pleasant. She knew when she married him that he would always have a restless spirit, but tracking a gang of thugs, even wounded ones, without any help was not exactly what she'd had in mind.

Ronon was with him, having met him on the road, and that alone was enough to make Elizabeth feel marginally better. The two men came straight to the mercantile, where Caldwell had stopped to replenish his tobacco, and John agreed to his appointment with no prodding at all, exacting only repeated promises that the position be short-lived.

After that was settled, and Jack had been sent for, John gave his report. Anubis had still been moving south at a good pace when John had left off following him. Though they had never been able to get an accurate number of the men who had attacked them, John had seen less than a dozen men fleeing with the group. He did add, somewhat regretfully, that Anubis was riding under his own power and did not seem to be suffering very much, but his hood made it difficult to determine his state of mind.

Jack and Caldwell quit the store together to talk to Mayor Hammond and some of the more vocal townspeople, leaving John Sheppard alone with his wife. She stood behind the counter, fiddling with jars, until he reached across and stilled her hands with his.

"I will never, ever do that again" he said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, John" she replied, meeting his eyes.

"I will keep this one." he said. "I might ride off again, but I will never leave without saying good-bye."

He leaned across the counter, and pulled her into a kiss that seared his promise into both their memories, never to be forgotten.

xxx

"Are you ready?" Jonas asked

"I think so." Sarah replied.

She set her teeth and lowered herself off of the examination table. She winced as her damaged feet came in contact with the clapboard floor, but she stayed steady. Jonas held out his arm, and she took it gratefully, leaning on him for support. Slowly, one foot at a time, they walked around the room.

"Make sure you don't overdo it," said Carson. "But you can go out on to the street, if you mind not to step on anything harder than dirt."

Sarah nodded, and she and Jonas set out for the door. He opened it for her, and reached out to pull his hat down off the hook where it hung. She smiled up at him, and they went out into the street together again, albeit this time in a more traditional manner.

They crossed to Miss Mal Doran's café, and took seats there. Miss Mal Doran brought them coffee and smiled in her friendly way, before moving off to yell at the boy she'd hired to wash dishes. Sarah laughed, and Jonas smiled to hear her.

"Thank you for all of your help, Mr. Quinn" she said.

"Not a problem, ma'am" he said, teasingly tipping his hat to her, before taking it off and setting it on the table.

She laughed again, and reached for her coffee.

"Is the town always like this?" Sarah asked. "So welcoming to strangers?"

"As long as those strangers have good intentions, yes, it mostly is." he replied.

"I like that," she said.

"What will you do now?" Jonas asked.

"I think I'll stay," Sarah replied. "Daniel said the school is big enough now that we can split the children by age. He'll teach the older ones and I'll teach the younger ones. I'll rent the rooms Mrs. Lorne used to live in."

"That sounds like a good plan to me."

* * *

**fin**

Gravity_Not_Included, September 30, 2009

Notes: Thank you SO MUCH to miera_c, who caught most of my initial timeline discrepancies, and convinced me to remove an entire character as well as several buildings. I never, ever want to do that again!


End file.
