FroggTales

"I told you," Sheppard muttered, exasperated.  "We landed, we walked in, we looked around the ruined village, we followed the energy signature, we found Todd sitting neat as you please in what was left of the town bar.  We went over this."

"And then Major Lorne and his team staged a jailbreak," Carter said flatly.

"Can't call it that.  We didn't get him down to the brig," Ronon answered, shrugging.

"No, of course not, but is this mutiny, or insubordination or what?"

"Rodney."  Teyla heaved a sigh.  "Perhaps it is simply a case of Lorne's team having worked with Todd enough to come to trust him.  I do not see the brig as an option if he is to remain here long-term."

"Better than letting him run around free."

Col. Carter glanced at Ronon, then at Sheppard across the table.  "Do we even know where Todd is right now?"

"My guess would be Lorne's quarters.  I didn't think twice about it when Lorne claimed the suite after that mission to P3X-5J2, but--"

Rodney snapped his fingers.  "Yes, and that would explain why he asked me to jury rig the door locks!"

Silence descended.

"Um.  Oops.  Was I not supposed to mention that?"

"What'd you do to the locks?"  Sheppard glared.

"Um.  I fixed them so only his team and the Chief Medical Officer could override it?"

"Wait," John started, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"John," Teyla cut him off.  "Before we start arguing about what could happen, perhaps we should look at this from another perspective."

"And what's that?" Carter asked.

"I am not that familiar with the laws and customs of your people, but among those we of Athos trade with, it is against the law to blame an entire group for the actions of a single member.  Likewise, if a group commits a crime, a single individual has the right to seek asylum, provided they can prove they were not involved."

"He's a Wraith, they eat humans," Ronon said bluntly.

"I am aware of that.  However, we know that he was imprisoned for many years before Kolya captured John.   Therefore he could not have been involved with any of the attacks on Atlantis, or on Athos.  You may wish to ask Ladon about it when next we speak with him, but I doubt he was free even when Sateda fell.  We have no right to blame him for our personal losses, particularly when he has fought so hard to earn our regard."

"You know, I did kind of think it odd that we found him like that," Rodney added, rubbing his fingers together.  "I mean, seriously.  Who would want to go back to being penned up in the brig?  He's not like Michael, he has some kind of standing or rank among the Wraith.  He was responsible for getting the Wraith to help against the Replicators, after all.  He helped save Jeannie.  And correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but he didn't look half-starved."

"He looks like that damned super-Wraith that killed Abrams and Gaul," Sheppard muttered.

"Perhaps he made certain he would not need to feed, at least for a good while, before coming here."

Ronon raised an eyebrow at Teyla's suggestion.  "So what, or who, did he eat?"

Rodney shrugged.  "They apparently have no qualms about draining each other, particularly if the drainee isn't of their own Hive.  Lorne's report on the mission to P3X-5J2 was pretty thin, but it seems unlikely that whatever Hive took Todd was one he was allied with."

"Lorne's mission report was too thin," Carter said.

Sheppard nodded.

"I would suggest we find out what really happened."

Sheppard glanced at Teyla and grit his teeth.  "You can count on that."

"In the mean time," Carter said, "I am not asking you to trust Todd.  I am, however, asking you to trust Major Lorne.  If circumstances change--"

"You mean if Todd stabs us in the back."  Ronon's words were more growl than speech.

"Why?" Rodney asked.  "He has no incentive whatsoever to do that.  He finally has someone willing to listen to him when he insists he's not a threat to us, and he knows what you'll do to him if he sets one toe out of line.  It's not like you haven't threatened him at all."

"If circumstances change," Carter repeated more firmly, "we'll review the situation.  Right now, I'm willing to give Todd the chance to prove himself.  Without threats and imprisonment," she added, glancing between Sheppard and Ronon.

"Yes, ma'am."  Sheppard's displeasure flashed in his eyes, echoed by the hand Ronon had on his blaster.

~~~

Lorne followed at a distance as Todd slowly explored their quarters, a shared sense of curiosity-uncertainty-pleasure strung between them.  "Can I ask you something?" he finally asked, watching the Wraith open and close the kitchen cabinets.

"Hmmm.  Yes."  Todd barely glanced up, instead running gloved fingers over the Farberware logo on the pots and pans.

"Why'd you do it?"  Lorne's voice was laced with fond exasperation, frustration and confusion.  "I mean, you got away, obviously, but to trade your freedom for the dubious safety of the brig?  You never did say, exactly."

One hand still hidden in a cabinet, Todd paused.

Lorne could all but see the memory as Todd relived it.

//"Colonel Samantha Carter, this is Todd."  The disembodied voice sounded amused.

There had been a pause as Carter and Lorne, and some of the on-duty gateroom staff, had exchanged glances of incredulity and disbelief.

"You have a lot of nerve calling on us, Todd," Carter finally answered.

"Hmmm.  Perhaps.  I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?"

"I happen to have a fully functional, undamaged Wraith Dart.  I believe it may prove useful to your scientists in finding a weakness; if not, it would certainly be useful in effecting rapid evacuations."

"And what do you want in exchange?"

"Asylum."

"You can not be serious," Carter snarled.  "You are a security risk at best, and a direct threat otherwise."

"Colonel Samantha Carter, had I wanted to betray you and your people, I could have done so any number of ways already."  The patience in Todd's voice was stretched tired and thin.  "The least of which would be to advertise your new Gate address, which, I might inform you, is not easy to keep from being broadcast as part of a Hivemind."

"That's exactly my point, Todd, you put us at risk--"

"I did as you asked, Colonel Samantha Carter.  You asked for my cooperation, I gave it to the spirit of our agreement, including protecting your people.  None of your people are that generous when it comes to my side of a bargain."  Words edged with anger dissolved into a faint hiss before continuing.  "After helping John Sheppard blow up the cloning facility, I have a target painted on my back."

"That is not our doing."

"I am not asking much.  Keep me in the brig if you must.  I will help in whatever fashion I am able, or allowed; it is an asset you cannot afford to be without, and would lose permanently if the others catch me."

Lorne cut the microphone.  "Sir?  He's right.  He's proved himself too valuable to just throw away like this."

"He could be lying."

"I don't think so.  Sir."

Sam stared, lips thin and white.  "You're in charge of his security.  And," she added, "you get to explain this to Colonel Sheppard."//

Todd shook himself free of the memories, cabinet door closing with a quiet thud.  "The answer to that question - the answer I can give you," Todd amended quickly, "is quite complicated."

"You promised I could pick your brain if you got back in one piece."

"Hmm.  Yes.  So I did."  Drawers slid open and shut as Todd inspected the contents.  "I was held by the Genii for years.  John Sheppard...You must understand.  The Genii were the first humans I ever had contact with, on more than a momentary basis.  The way they treated me, I learned to equate sarcasm with cruelty."

"But you used it, when we found you."

"Only in self defense," Todd sighed.  "The Genii had stripped me of everything, pride and dignity included.  I could not afford to pass up John's offer of escape, even though I truly did not expect him to keep his side of the bargain."

"The way he did probably didn't earn him any points, either," Lorne said softly.

"No.  He stunned me, and left me, Hiveless and alone and helpless; if the Wraith where he'd dropped me  hadn't been allied with my Hive, they would have..."  Todd flinched, breath rasping in his throat.  "I was isolated in that cell so long that being part of a Hive was foreign to me, alien.  It is...still difficult, to integrate that much."

Admission of that kind of vulnerability stunned Lorne.  "But that doesn't explain why."

"I tagged you as part of my Hive," Todd answered.  Simple, and yet no explanation at all.  "When I escaped from the cloning facility, and you and Teyla were on the Hive ship."

"Tagged me?"

"You...treated me with respect.  You said what you meant, you meant what you said.  You were understandably angry about your friends, but you didn't blame me for what I could not have helped."

"You came back because I treated you with respect?"  Lorne shook his head.

"I came back because I had a choice."  Todd's fingers curled on the countertop; his nails would have dug into the surface, but for the gloves.  "I came back because being held prisoner, with even one person who actually felt comfortable in my head, was better than being on the run, alone."  He made a sound, clenched teeth and suppressed despair.  

Lorne could find nothing to say to that.

~~~

"Hey, Teyla, wait," John called, jogging to catch up with her on the way to the mess.  "Why are you so pro-Todd all of a sudden?"

She tilted her head and frowned at him, as if he should know the answer.  "I am not, but he wears the face of our enemy.  He is the only constant example of the Wraith available to us, but as an individual, he has accomplished much to our benefit.  I would not have him suffer because we can not see past the circumstances of his birth," she explained.

"And?" John lengthened his stride, bumping her shoulder gently.

Teyla sighed.  "And because Major Lorne's team trusts Todd.  You and Ronon, especially, do not.  I would not like to see a rift grow between you.  Having factions here in Atlantis, and because of an ally we have not given the chance to earn our trust, would be disastrous."

John had to wonder if Teyla ever gave herself permission to be undiplomatic.