InsaneJournal

"Are you looking for a demotion, my friend?" Todd asked Schorin, his voice full of amusement despite his words. Schorin had been gently teasing him all evening -- an act no other Wraith would dare, although the humans in his crew seemed happy to rib him endlessly. His host, Elizabeth Weir, the President of Neo Alterra, hadn't exactly refrained from the teasing either, nor had her family. He knew it was their way of celebrating yet another victory against the few remaining Wraith terrorists, though -- a celebration that he and his crew were still alive.

Belly full -- a sensation that he would never tire of -- Todd pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair. Smiling fondly, he twisted the object of his ridicule around his finger, again and again: a gold wedding band. It had been just a month since Merry had placed it on his hand, and he had slipped an identical one onto hers, in a human custom that baffled many of his Wraith brethren, and he still hadn't gotten used to the feel of it on his hand. He hoped he never would, that the strange little thrill it gave him would always be there.

Todd had met Merry's Uncle McKay and the Earthborn Atlantis expedition about twenty-five Earth-years past. At the time, most of the Wraith had been asleep, but some of the Earthers had gotten caught in a culling, and ended up waking up the rest of the Wraith sooner than the Wraith themselves had planned. There were three factions of Wraith at the time: those who gladly hunted humans, for sport as much as food; those who only ate when they had to, but who also only saw humans as animals all the same; and those who saw humans as allies and tried to give as much as they took, and who hoped to one day find a way to survive without taking life from them. Todd had been a leader amongst the third faction, having experienced what the Wraith called the "Moebius Effect" during a feeding.

The Moebius Effect couldn't happen with all humans, only ones that carried a pheromone that caused a reaction in a Wraith that tried to feed on them -- and different variants of the pheromone worked on different Wraith. When it did happen, though, giving a human lifeforce was then as exquisite an experience for the Wraith doing it as taking lifeforce was, and being fed upon was as pleasurable as reviving life for the human involved. When a Wraith encountered such a human, the pheromone engendered a protective instinct in that Wraith. The intimacy of the feeding also allowed the Wraith to come to know the human in a way they never would have otherwise; it generally became difficult for that Wraith to think of the humans as only food after that. Over the millennia, Wraith who had become bonded in that way had forged an alliance with humans, one that was half peaceful trade, half religion: humans would give up small portions of their lives voluntarily in exchange for protection from the more hostile Wraith, as well as technology, medicine, and food. Bonded humans would live on the hive ships, watching over their Wraith companions.

Todd had had such a human companion, until they were ambushed by the Genii during a trading mission. All that time, Todd had concentrated on threats from other Wraith, never suspecting betrayal from what he thought were peaceful farmers.

One of the Genii leaders, Kolya, had fatally shot Todd's companion with several bullets. Todd had poured much of his own lifeforce into his fallen comrade, trying to save him, but the man had been too near death at the start, and Todd hadn't had enough strength. He became a prisoner of Kolya, a captive for two long years.

Then the Earther John Sheppard was captured and put into a neighboring cell.

Todd explained to Sheppard that he was a friend to humans. Thankfully, Sheppard's friend Teyla, the leader of the Athosians, was a descendant of an experiment to join human and Wraith DNA, an effort by his own faction to make their human allies better able to defend themselves and withstand feedings; it helped Sheppard to trust him. Todd and Sheppard escaped together, and, with Teyla's help, he convinced the Atlantians to forge an alliance with his faction.

Sheppard, obviously unable to use the telepathic nuance that the Wraith used as identifiers, had given Todd his human name.

Todd and a number of his scientists worked with Dr Beckett, developing a retrovirus that boosted the effect their human DNA had on their bodies, and lessened the effects of their Iratus bug genetic code. They retained much of their strength, resilience, and their telepathy, albeit all to a lesser extent, but lost the need to feed. Granted, they could still feed -- and heal via the reverse-feeding as well. They looked a bit more human in appearance, their skin more "human-coloured" (peaches and browns, rather than greys and greens). Their eyes also became more human-coloured, losing the cat-like slits in the process.

The Earthers eventually also brought arms from Earth, as well as from a race known as the Asgard. The humanised Wraith fought alongside the humans, not just against the other Wraith, but against the Replicators as well. As the war waged, more and more "normal" Wraith joined their humanised brethren in taking the retrovirus -- a practical people, it made more sense to many of them to eliminate the need to feed on humans. Some even joined the fight against the human-killers; those that didn't at least stayed out of the way. Slowly, the Wraith that wanted to keep feeding on humans found themselves more and more outnumbered, until they were little more than a fanatical group of terrorists.

While the terrorists continued to cause problems now and then, overall a peace was established. With the humans help, the Wraith reshaped their culture to fit their new DNA. The transition wasn't entirely smooth, but the populace at large accepted Todd as their leader without too much of a fuss. Todd also retained his role as liaison between the Wraith and the humans, even as the two cultures slowly grew more and more integrated, thanks to the bonds established by the pheromones long before the war had even ended. He had become fast friends with Sheppard, Beckett, McKay, Teyla, even Ronon, and, through them, other people associated with the SGC. He'd even come to work with Jeannie Miller, McKay's sister -- and that was how he'd met Merry, when she was still a youngster (and still known as Madison).

He'd fought against the friendship at first, though, realising early on that she carried the pheromone. He'd also made sure that Jeannie and McKay knew about the pheromones, not wanting any subterfuge to endanger the alliance. But Jeannie had insisted that she knew damn well that Todd no longer needed to feed, and that he was an honorable man with a strong will; she couldn't think of a safer place for her daughter to be than in the presence of a being that felt an instinctual need to protect her. So Jeannie had no qualms about bringing Merry to the lab when Todd was there, or to political functions where he was present (like when Sheppard was made a general). Still, despite Jeannie's acceptance of him, he tried to maintain a distance. Merry didn't help -- she always seemed to seek him out. And he couldn't help but be enchanted by the precocious child.

When Merry was a teen and bonded with the weretiew Rakka, Todd relaxed a bit; he felt he could trust the weretiew to act as a buffer, and would never let him hurt Merry. He allowed himself to spend more time around the girl, and found he enjoyed her company.

He backed off when Merry started coming on to him, though. Well, he tried to, but like when she was a child, she always seemed to find him. It didn't help that he found himself pining for her presence when she wasn't around -- he wondered if, thanks to the change in his DNA, he wasn't somehow feeding off of her without even touching now. Their friendship became uneasy, as they had more and more heated arguments.

First, he'd insisted that her feelings were not under her control, that it was the pheromones talking. She hadn't takem too kindly to the insinuation that she was at the mercy of hormones, and Beckett had backed her up, saying that there were no pheromones the Wraith gave off to drive a human crazy. Todd said maybe it was his telepathy reacting to her pheromones, putting her under his thrall; she really hadn't appreciated that. Carson did scans, proving there was no such exchange of mental activity anyway. Todd thought she would be mad enough to forget about it at that point, but she still, inexplicably, insisted she loved him, despite his being an arse.

So then Todd had argued that she could never be sure it wasn't her pheromones making him want her -- ergo, she could never be sure that he really cared for her. To which she suggested that perhaps the intimacy of the Moebius Effect might answer that question. He flat out refused to find out, refused to risk their friendship over it. She retorted that at that point, their friendship would be ruined anyway.

So he tried a different tactic: while the retrovirus had made the Wraith more human, they were not able to breed together, and he did not want to deprive her of having a "proper" family. She insisted she had never really wanted a "family" anyway, thankyouverymuch. He then insisted that her genes shouldn't be wasted -- to which McKay had helpfully agreed. She retorted that some poor woman who actually wanted a baby and couldn't have one was welcome to her eggs. Or she could clone herself and "Uncle Mer and Auntie John" could raise it.

McKay had quickly backed out of that conversation.

Todd had then pointed out that, as a Wraith, he would live much longer than her. She, in turn, pointed out that he still had the ability to give lifeforce -- so long as he lived, so would she -- and anyone she cared about. Did he want her and all their friends and family to die unnecessarily because he wouldn't touch her?

And suddenly he wondered what he was arguing with her about it for, then? They couldn't go on with their relationship in their current state -- even if he didn't love her, she obviously loved him. Of course, there was the risk that he really was only attracted to her because of pheromones, in which case giving in to the Moebius Effect would just make things that much worse for him after, when she wanted nothing more to do with him. But at least she would know, then; for her sake, he would do it.

So they tried it. And they still didn't know.

So Beckett got an idea. He created a drug that would suppress the pheromone in Merry, and ordered them to stay apart for a month or so, to make sure any lingering effects had a chance to wear off.

By the time they were ready to try again, Todd already knew the answer. He missed Merry terribly. And of course, without the pheromone, giving her his lifeforce didn't feel so hot. And yet he still wanted to do it, as he saw the weariness of her late nights in the labs melt away from her. He wanted her to be healthy and happy. (Of course, she wasn't too happy when he refused to take the bit of lifeforce he'd given her back, but he countered that she'd said he could give it to her so that she'd live as long as he would, and that had, for the first time since he'd met her, effectively shut her up!)

Satisfied that his feelings were genuine, Todd found out all that he could about human courting rituals, despite Merry's protests that she wasn't "a typical girl" and didn't need "all that rubbish." He insisted he needed some sort of guidelines for his new human side, since the Wraith were wholly different in regards to interpersonal relationships; with a hive mentality, there wasn't much opportunity to form one-on-one bonds. And even with his previous bond, it hadn't been anything like this! Merry enjoyed the attention despite herself -- he could tell because she'd stopped taking Beckett's drug, allowing them to experience the full connection of the Moebius Effect. And, after five years of that courtship, he was the first Wraith ever to marry. The rings had been his own idea; understanding how much he needed to embrace some human customs to deal with that still-new side to himself, Merry had obliged without a fuss, even though he could tell that the custom hadn't held much meaning for her -- at least, not at first. Thanks to their bond, though, they came to mean as much to her. A promise of a peaceful life, one free of the struggles of hunger and survival that had plagued his species since the Ancients had first accidentally created them, and a joy they had never before known: love!

"I wonder just what she's doing now," Todd said softly, caressing the ring's shiny surface.

"Careful, Commander -- people will think you're going soft," Lieutenant Jinto Halling warned with a playful grin.

"At this rate, I won't have anything but ensigns left by the time we return to Atlantis," Todd mock-growled.

"Seriously, though, why don't you ... you know?" Jinto asked, waving his hand.

He did know. "I do not want to bother her," Todd sighed. With Wraith telepathy, he could touch his wife's mind, even from a bit of a distance, and, being on the mainland, in the Athosian city, they were still well within range, but ... "She's working on a delicate experiment, an I don't want to startle her." Besides, he'd been projecting his affection to her non-stop since their first joining, even if he wasn't always within range. Though she had no telepathy of her own, thanks to their bond he, in turn, felt her love as a constant warmth -- just like he was feeling it right now.

He remembered Schorin then, and felt a twinge of guilt, as well as annoyance at Jinto. Schorin had been a steadfast and loyal friend through it all, both the Wraith War and Todd's struggles with his attraction to Merry. Todd didn't like reminding Schorin of his lack of what was considered a Wraith birthright, even if Schorin himself seemed fine by it -- had even earned a great deal of respect for himself thanks to the edge it gave him as an assassin. Todd wondered absently what Schorin would do with himself when there were no terrorists left to fight ....