Christmas in Summer
itle: Christmas in Summer
Author:
vecturist
Recipient:
linziday
Word Count: 3100
Rating: PG
Warnings: Um, fluff
Summary: It's Christmas Eve on Atlantis and it's the middle of Summer
Author Notes: Set after the events of EatG. I apologize this not as polished as I'd like. I'd like to find a beta and put up a more edited version later this week.
“Somehow Christmas in the middle of summer just seems so wrong,” Dr. McKay muttered as he stared out at the Pacific Ocean. “I know it’s the Southern hemisphere, but we’re in the middle of a heat wave to boot. I mean I almost don’t have to worry about reheating my coffee - I can just leave it sitting on my desk and cooled down to drinkable after 30 minutes. Also, I can’t take a laptop and work outside - it could easily overheat and burn out, not to mention giving me first degree burns in the process.”
“And yet here you are, outside. I don’t know Rodney, you had some pretty strong objections to the IOA’s proposal to relocate Atlantis to the Artic Circle,” Colonel Sheppard drawled as he joined McKay on the balcony. “I think you said something about ‘not wanting to freeze your ass off or worry about being polar bait.’ well maybe not those exact words. I don’t think there’s anywhere here on Earth where it’s a perfect climate controlled 72 degrees outdoors and convenient to hide a highly classified floating city that supposedly doesn’t exist. San Diego and Hawaii were not options - you know as well as I do that stories like extended military training or an environmental issue would only work for so long - the media theses days... We might be able to stay a couple days, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate the city-equivalent of couch surfing.”
You’re one to talk about surfing. Don’t think I don’t know how you’ve been out surfing almost every day since we had to move Atlantis here. Still palm trees instead of a spruce or a fir for a Christmas tree - sounds like a bad beach bum cliché.”
“Yes, but don’t think I haven’t noticed you cozying up to the botany department since we moved Atlantis here - and we’re not talking about finding some conifers. It hasn’t escaped my notice we’re currently floating in the middle of the prime coffee growing zone?”
“Hey, I consider coffee a research-necessary supply! And, might I add, a few of those Marines of yours do seem to appreciate the fancier blends and roasts over what generally gets supplied.”
“Are you politely referring to the ones you can’t bribe, threaten or con out of their personal supplies, McKay?”
“Yes, well point being I might as well make lemons out of lemonade, or more precisely exploit the one possible perk if you will of being marooned someplace that bears a striking resemblance to a blast furnace.”
“It’s only for a couple more weeks after the holidays, which I can confirm since I witnessed Mr. Woolsey turn down the geology and oceanography departments’ request for another month here. I guess the ‘stop plate techtonics’ jokes finally got old, despite all the data they’d been able to collect about the ocean floor, plates shifting, and possibly how to better predict tsunamis forming. Speaking of which, I thought you’d be in Canada with Jeannie and her family?”
“They’re spending it with Kaleb’s extended family. It was gently hinted I shouldn’t attend and we’d do something later,” McKay answered, than added, seeing his friend’s disbelieving look. “Ok, Jeannie told me that Kaleb’s family is a lot of artistic types, not a scientist in the bunch, unless you count political science, which I definitely do not. So we’re going to have a late Christmas before we head back to Pegasus. Still, despite the fact that I will get my fill of Canadian snow later, it still seems wrong to have Christmas in summer, particularly in the middle of a heat wave. I mean it’s Torren’s first Christmas - his first real Christmas when he gets to experience things and not just gurgle at the pretty lights. I thought I’d get to do a few things that I missed with Madison…”
“McKay, I never pictured you for a sentimentalist,” teased Sheppard, but McKay could see he suddenly had his own distant look on his face.
“Anyhow, I just came out here to try and figure out how to best search the Ancient database for a weather control device. I’ve heard of at least one they left on another planet. What’s a little snow in a small, isolated section of the Pacific? I know Australia is going through a drought, they could probably use the rain.”
“Given that the storm would have to move west, I think that it would be one freak storm in every sense of the word, and at best everyone outside here would go nuts trying to explain it. At worst, you’d draw attention of one sort or another to us. Even if you did find something, knowing how the Ancients generally didn’t leave clear instruction manuals, how certain are you that you wouldn’t create some other weather disaster? Not that there haven’t been a few this past year from what I heard.
Deal with Christmas in summer, McKay, plenty of people do, and quite a few people wouldn’t mind being someplace warm right now. We’ll be back in Pegasus soon, most likely on a planet that resembles the Pacific Northwest again. You can give Torren his Christmas experience then.”
“But it won’t be Christmas,” snapped a frustrated McKay. “I would have thought after five years of Christmas in a completely different galaxy it would be nice to share a real Earth-style Christmas with Teyla, Ronon, and Torren complete with all the tradition and clichés while we’re here. Instead we’re drinking frappuccino-type drinks instead of hot cocoa and marshmallows. You just don’t understand,” he finished, feeling childish and just short of stamping his feet as he headed back inside. Sheppard stared at the horizon for a few moments before leaving the balcony.
Sheppard headed towards his office - Woolsey had finally worn him down on that point, stating he needed space to take care of paperwork and the like, and he had to admit the office he’d been assigned wasn’t too bad with it’s huge multi-paned picture window that actually opened along a few of the panes. However, there really wasn’t much to do with Atlantis situated where it was and the population down to a skeleton crew with the approaching holidays. Lorne had been positively gleeful as he’d handed in the last of his paperwork a few days before heading to his family in San Francisco - and sent pictures of him with a few of his younger relatives staring wide-eyed at the Macy’s windows in Union Square. Being able to give the majority of Atlantis’ inhabitants, especially members of the original expedition, extended leave to go see their families for the holidays was one of the few other perks of their current location - and Sheppard hadn’t seen so many huge grins in a long time. He and a few others were staying to ‘mind the fort,’ although he suspected any of his marines would have traded places with him, had he asked. His relations with his brother had improved, but spending Christmas with Dave and his family - he just wasn’t there yet. He’d sent presents and knew there were a few packages in return waiting for him - in fact they were sitting on his desk now. Sighing, Sheppard sat down at his desk and tried to concentrate on the few items requiring his attention, ignoring the box of gifts for a moment. Finally, having signed off on everything requiring his attention for the moment, Sheppard turned his attention to the large cardboard box sitting on a side table. Peering inside, he noted that one particular package was wrapped a little differently and was fairly heavy when he pulled it out. A small voice warned him to be careful as he began to peel the wrapping paper from a simple cardboard box. A small note was taped to the side: ‘John, I think this really belongs to you. Dave.’ Curiosity piqued, Sheppard opened the box to reveal a large snow globe cocooned in several layers of bubble wrap.
He let out a breath he didn’t know that he’d been holding. The snow globe contained a winter scene featuring a pair of dark haired figures on a sled with a few others looking on. Sheppard had bought it many years ago for his mother, since she had been the one in the family to grab a sled and seek out the largest, steepest hill each year after the first snowfall, laughing at her older son’s requests to go ‘again’ and ‘faster.’ It had probably catalyzed his love of speed and flying at a young age. Dave and his father had never been particularly excited about sledding, but they had at least come out to watch as the other two family members climbed the hill and slid down until they were too cold and rubbery-legged to go again, or more often than not, the sun had begun setting. The snow globe and battered sled had disappeared after his mother had died - Sheppard almost couldn’t believe his father and now Dave had kept the snow globe all these years with the memories it represented. Sighing, Sheppard put it down on his desk and stared out the window for a few moments before turning to his computer and accessing the Ancient database. After a bit of searching and pushing his connection to the city, he found a possible solution to his query. It wasn’t perfect and he was sure there would be a rant involved afterwards, but it would be worth it.
The mess hall was deserted when he grabbed some of the supplies he needed. A few Christmas decorations had been hung up and there was a plastic-wrapped tray of Christmas cookies, but Rodney was right - it was hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it was the middle of summer, and most of the population was off celebrating in their own way elsewhere. The location he’d been given by the database was in one of the less explored sections of the city. Despite five years of exploring, they still hadn’t made that deep a dent in what exactly Atlantis contained beyond some generic descriptions. The section Sheppard was currently headed to was indexed as ‘military labs,’ which meant it hadn’t been thoroughly investigated. At least the area it was in appeared relatively intact - they’d spent the first couple weeks on Earth performing maintenance and repairs resulting from both the wormhole drive flight and landing as well as from postponed non-critical issues. There was still some debris, making the hallway a bit of an obstacle course and he could just picture McKay’s complaints when he came down here. Lights flicked on as he entered the lab. “That’s a good start,” Sheppard commented as he began to power up the main console in the room.
“Rodney, have you seen Colonel Sheppard lately? I was expecting to see him at lunch, but he has not been in here all afternoon” Teyla asked.
“I haven’t seen him since this morning when we were discussing the weather, or rather the lack of,” McKay responded. “He’s probably off sailboarding, kitesurfing or something while I’ve been getting real research done since I’m not constantly being interrupted by minions who need their hands held…oof,” McKay paused, looking up from his computer and then down at Torren who had crashed into him and was hanging onto his BDUs before giving him a triumphant grin and racing barefoot back to Ronon who was smiling indulgently. In the time they’d been on Earth, Torren had progressed from walking while holding onto things to racing around unaided - leading to at least one scientist commenting ‘if they could just harness that energy they wouldn’t need zpms.’ After the second time, McKay didn’t bother to correct just how inaccurate that was.
“I’ve had an incredible productive day except for the last hour or so because I keep getting alerts about some crazy power spikes in one of Atlantis’ labs and I can’t seem to shut it down.” McKay paused in his rant and looked at his two teammates.
“Sheppard” they all agreed in unison.
“Do you think we should alert the infirmary just be safe? What about Torren?” Rodney asked as his two teammates began heading out, Ronon scooping up Torren to carry on his back.
“Nah, not yet. Better grab a first aid kit just in case, though,” Ronon suggested to Teyla as she grabbed an extra one from off the wall of the armoury. “We can keep Torren out of the way.”
“At least we can trace the signal this time and there don’t appear to be any other alarms going off, but why does the location have to be so far from the transporters,” McKay complained as they headed toward the location his computer had indicated. “Oh, wait, this is Sheppard we’re talking about and I’d definitely bet he’s here and responsible,” he added with a grimace as they began maneuvering around the piles of debris. “Moth to a flame.”
After several more minutes, the team arrived at the lab the power spikes seemed to be emanating from. Ronon handed Torren to Rodney who was about to protest when the door suddenly slid open, releasing a blast of cold air and revealing Colonel Sheppard standing in foot of snow and grinning. “Don’t stand there forever, you’re letting all the cold air out,” he joked.
“Sheppard what is this?” McKay demanded, carefully stepping inside. The large room appeared to be some classic, almost cartoonish, winter scene of snow-covered hills and evergreens. Several cafeteria trays were scattered nearby and it appeared that Sheppard had taken at least one run down on one of the hills.
“I was thinking of what you said earlier, Rodney about Christmas and traditions,” he began as he handed coats to his teammates and helped Teyla bundle Torren into his jacket and shoes. “I think this lab was used for military training exercises to prepare for different climates, particularly some extreme ones, although it hadn’t been used for quite awhile and I had to do a little re-wiring,” he added with a shrug, indicating a couple singed fingers. “I think something’s been corrupted with the program, since it’s drawing more power than it should, but I thought we could leave it running for a few hours,” he finished sounding almost like an apologetic six year old.
“Damnit Sheppard, you were the one lecturing me about not making it snow on Atlantis and you go ahead and get it to snow in Atlantis!” McKay snapped without thinking, then cringed, seeing Sheppard’s grin disappear. “Well, I don’t suppose a few hours could hurt. I mean they have this huge indoor ski place in Dubai. And it is Christmas Eve…” Rodney’s apology was cut short when a snowball lobbed by Ronon hit him squarely in the back. “Conan! You do realize that’s a dclaration of war to a Canadian,” he yelped turning only to find two more snowballs heading his way. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Sheppard, meanwhile had turned toward Teyla and Torren who had taken his first tentative steps in the snow, trying to figure out exactly how to react to the cold white substance surrounding him. “It’s ok, little man,” he said reassuringly. “Look at how silly Uncle Rodney and Uncle Ronon are,” he added, pointing to the two figures engaged in a fierce battle. It appeared Ronon had at least one snowball half-melting in his dreads. “If it’s all right with your mom, I’d like to take you sledding,” Sheppard asked, his tone softening. When Teyla nodded her approval he continued, “Now these trays aren’t quite as good as a real sled, but I think they’ll work.” Both Teyla and Sheppard scanned Torren’s face after the first run, who then signaled his approval with a loud ‘yay” and a wide grin when asked if he wanted to again. Torren and Sheppard made a few more runs down before Torren grew a little restless and Sheppard handed him back to Teyla who had found a several bottles of water and juice among the supplies in one area near the door.
“Thank you John. You seem very relaxed. I take it you are enjoying yourself?” Teyla asked as she took her son back and handed him a sippy cup.
“Yes Sheppard, what’s the story?” Rodney chimed in as he joined them, grimacing as Ronon appeared a moment later and shook the snow from his dreads. “Why the change of heart?”
“You told me about sharing traditions and all those things you never got to do with Madison. My mom used to take me sledding every year after the first snowfall and we’d go almost every day during the Christmas break. My dad and Dave never really cared to go, but they’d come along and bring the hot cocoa,” Sheppard held out a couple thermoses. “It was never quite the same after she died. I’m not even quite sure what happened to the sled, but my dad kept the snow globe of two sledders I gave her one year for Christmas. Dave must have found it when my dad died and he sent it with some other things. I had almost forgotten about it. I guess I’ve fought so many traditions, I didn’t remember there are some worth passing on.”
“This is a wonderful way to remember your mother, John,” Teyla said softly looking at both him and her now-sleepy son. “I am afraid Torren needs a nap, but I will spread the word about what is here. I am sure others would appreciate it, if not a break from the heat, at least a break from their attempts to work.
“Sheppard, maybe I can take a look at the programming later. I mean this set-up is just a big snowmaker, right? If we can get this up and running efficiently I can see how this would be useful for training under different conditions, and those emitters producing the trees are the closest I think we’re going to get to a holodeck here, I’d love to see how they work, must be similar to the jumpers’ cloaking technology…”
“McKay, quit talking and enjoy yourself,” Ronon ordered, thrusting a tray at him. “People really slide down hills with these?”
“All the time in college - I think the cafeteria just groaned every time we had a heavy snowfall. That is, if you went to a school with snow,” he glanced at Sheppard, who shrugged.
“We did have a couple ski trips to Tahoe and it wasn’t that far to the slopes,” Sheppard answered, picking up his tray. “Besides, my mom was an engineer, I always had the best sled.”
“It wasn’t named Rosebud, was it,” McKay snarked, nearly dodging the snowball flung at him.
Prompt: Christmas (or other winter holiday) on the calendar, but Atlantis (or a planet the team is on) in the midst of a heatwave
Other notes - Apparently all the world’s coffee is grown within 1500 miles of the equator
The store windows of the Macy’s in downtown San Francisco are pretty spectacular - every year the SPCA puts in displays with adoptable animals during the Christmas season.
Author:
vecturist
Recipient:
linziday
Word Count: 3100
Rating: PG
Warnings: Um, fluff
Summary: It's Christmas Eve on Atlantis and it's the middle of Summer
Author Notes: Set after the events of EatG. I apologize this not as polished as I'd like. I'd like to find a beta and put up a more edited version later this week.
“Somehow Christmas in the middle of summer just seems so wrong,” Dr. McKay muttered as he stared out at the Pacific Ocean. “I know it’s the Southern hemisphere, but we’re in the middle of a heat wave to boot. I mean I almost don’t have to worry about reheating my coffee - I can just leave it sitting on my desk and cooled down to drinkable after 30 minutes. Also, I can’t take a laptop and work outside - it could easily overheat and burn out, not to mention giving me first degree burns in the process.”
“And yet here you are, outside. I don’t know Rodney, you had some pretty strong objections to the IOA’s proposal to relocate Atlantis to the Artic Circle,” Colonel Sheppard drawled as he joined McKay on the balcony. “I think you said something about ‘not wanting to freeze your ass off or worry about being polar bait.’ well maybe not those exact words. I don’t think there’s anywhere here on Earth where it’s a perfect climate controlled 72 degrees outdoors and convenient to hide a highly classified floating city that supposedly doesn’t exist. San Diego and Hawaii were not options - you know as well as I do that stories like extended military training or an environmental issue would only work for so long - the media theses days... We might be able to stay a couple days, but I don’t think anyone would appreciate the city-equivalent of couch surfing.”
You’re one to talk about surfing. Don’t think I don’t know how you’ve been out surfing almost every day since we had to move Atlantis here. Still palm trees instead of a spruce or a fir for a Christmas tree - sounds like a bad beach bum cliché.”
“Yes, but don’t think I haven’t noticed you cozying up to the botany department since we moved Atlantis here - and we’re not talking about finding some conifers. It hasn’t escaped my notice we’re currently floating in the middle of the prime coffee growing zone?”
“Hey, I consider coffee a research-necessary supply! And, might I add, a few of those Marines of yours do seem to appreciate the fancier blends and roasts over what generally gets supplied.”
“Are you politely referring to the ones you can’t bribe, threaten or con out of their personal supplies, McKay?”
“Yes, well point being I might as well make lemons out of lemonade, or more precisely exploit the one possible perk if you will of being marooned someplace that bears a striking resemblance to a blast furnace.”
“It’s only for a couple more weeks after the holidays, which I can confirm since I witnessed Mr. Woolsey turn down the geology and oceanography departments’ request for another month here. I guess the ‘stop plate techtonics’ jokes finally got old, despite all the data they’d been able to collect about the ocean floor, plates shifting, and possibly how to better predict tsunamis forming. Speaking of which, I thought you’d be in Canada with Jeannie and her family?”
“They’re spending it with Kaleb’s extended family. It was gently hinted I shouldn’t attend and we’d do something later,” McKay answered, than added, seeing his friend’s disbelieving look. “Ok, Jeannie told me that Kaleb’s family is a lot of artistic types, not a scientist in the bunch, unless you count political science, which I definitely do not. So we’re going to have a late Christmas before we head back to Pegasus. Still, despite the fact that I will get my fill of Canadian snow later, it still seems wrong to have Christmas in summer, particularly in the middle of a heat wave. I mean it’s Torren’s first Christmas - his first real Christmas when he gets to experience things and not just gurgle at the pretty lights. I thought I’d get to do a few things that I missed with Madison…”
“McKay, I never pictured you for a sentimentalist,” teased Sheppard, but McKay could see he suddenly had his own distant look on his face.
“Anyhow, I just came out here to try and figure out how to best search the Ancient database for a weather control device. I’ve heard of at least one they left on another planet. What’s a little snow in a small, isolated section of the Pacific? I know Australia is going through a drought, they could probably use the rain.”
“Given that the storm would have to move west, I think that it would be one freak storm in every sense of the word, and at best everyone outside here would go nuts trying to explain it. At worst, you’d draw attention of one sort or another to us. Even if you did find something, knowing how the Ancients generally didn’t leave clear instruction manuals, how certain are you that you wouldn’t create some other weather disaster? Not that there haven’t been a few this past year from what I heard.
Deal with Christmas in summer, McKay, plenty of people do, and quite a few people wouldn’t mind being someplace warm right now. We’ll be back in Pegasus soon, most likely on a planet that resembles the Pacific Northwest again. You can give Torren his Christmas experience then.”
“But it won’t be Christmas,” snapped a frustrated McKay. “I would have thought after five years of Christmas in a completely different galaxy it would be nice to share a real Earth-style Christmas with Teyla, Ronon, and Torren complete with all the tradition and clichés while we’re here. Instead we’re drinking frappuccino-type drinks instead of hot cocoa and marshmallows. You just don’t understand,” he finished, feeling childish and just short of stamping his feet as he headed back inside. Sheppard stared at the horizon for a few moments before leaving the balcony.
Sheppard headed towards his office - Woolsey had finally worn him down on that point, stating he needed space to take care of paperwork and the like, and he had to admit the office he’d been assigned wasn’t too bad with it’s huge multi-paned picture window that actually opened along a few of the panes. However, there really wasn’t much to do with Atlantis situated where it was and the population down to a skeleton crew with the approaching holidays. Lorne had been positively gleeful as he’d handed in the last of his paperwork a few days before heading to his family in San Francisco - and sent pictures of him with a few of his younger relatives staring wide-eyed at the Macy’s windows in Union Square. Being able to give the majority of Atlantis’ inhabitants, especially members of the original expedition, extended leave to go see their families for the holidays was one of the few other perks of their current location - and Sheppard hadn’t seen so many huge grins in a long time. He and a few others were staying to ‘mind the fort,’ although he suspected any of his marines would have traded places with him, had he asked. His relations with his brother had improved, but spending Christmas with Dave and his family - he just wasn’t there yet. He’d sent presents and knew there were a few packages in return waiting for him - in fact they were sitting on his desk now. Sighing, Sheppard sat down at his desk and tried to concentrate on the few items requiring his attention, ignoring the box of gifts for a moment. Finally, having signed off on everything requiring his attention for the moment, Sheppard turned his attention to the large cardboard box sitting on a side table. Peering inside, he noted that one particular package was wrapped a little differently and was fairly heavy when he pulled it out. A small voice warned him to be careful as he began to peel the wrapping paper from a simple cardboard box. A small note was taped to the side: ‘John, I think this really belongs to you. Dave.’ Curiosity piqued, Sheppard opened the box to reveal a large snow globe cocooned in several layers of bubble wrap.
He let out a breath he didn’t know that he’d been holding. The snow globe contained a winter scene featuring a pair of dark haired figures on a sled with a few others looking on. Sheppard had bought it many years ago for his mother, since she had been the one in the family to grab a sled and seek out the largest, steepest hill each year after the first snowfall, laughing at her older son’s requests to go ‘again’ and ‘faster.’ It had probably catalyzed his love of speed and flying at a young age. Dave and his father had never been particularly excited about sledding, but they had at least come out to watch as the other two family members climbed the hill and slid down until they were too cold and rubbery-legged to go again, or more often than not, the sun had begun setting. The snow globe and battered sled had disappeared after his mother had died - Sheppard almost couldn’t believe his father and now Dave had kept the snow globe all these years with the memories it represented. Sighing, Sheppard put it down on his desk and stared out the window for a few moments before turning to his computer and accessing the Ancient database. After a bit of searching and pushing his connection to the city, he found a possible solution to his query. It wasn’t perfect and he was sure there would be a rant involved afterwards, but it would be worth it.
The mess hall was deserted when he grabbed some of the supplies he needed. A few Christmas decorations had been hung up and there was a plastic-wrapped tray of Christmas cookies, but Rodney was right - it was hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it was the middle of summer, and most of the population was off celebrating in their own way elsewhere. The location he’d been given by the database was in one of the less explored sections of the city. Despite five years of exploring, they still hadn’t made that deep a dent in what exactly Atlantis contained beyond some generic descriptions. The section Sheppard was currently headed to was indexed as ‘military labs,’ which meant it hadn’t been thoroughly investigated. At least the area it was in appeared relatively intact - they’d spent the first couple weeks on Earth performing maintenance and repairs resulting from both the wormhole drive flight and landing as well as from postponed non-critical issues. There was still some debris, making the hallway a bit of an obstacle course and he could just picture McKay’s complaints when he came down here. Lights flicked on as he entered the lab. “That’s a good start,” Sheppard commented as he began to power up the main console in the room.
“Rodney, have you seen Colonel Sheppard lately? I was expecting to see him at lunch, but he has not been in here all afternoon” Teyla asked.
“I haven’t seen him since this morning when we were discussing the weather, or rather the lack of,” McKay responded. “He’s probably off sailboarding, kitesurfing or something while I’ve been getting real research done since I’m not constantly being interrupted by minions who need their hands held…oof,” McKay paused, looking up from his computer and then down at Torren who had crashed into him and was hanging onto his BDUs before giving him a triumphant grin and racing barefoot back to Ronon who was smiling indulgently. In the time they’d been on Earth, Torren had progressed from walking while holding onto things to racing around unaided - leading to at least one scientist commenting ‘if they could just harness that energy they wouldn’t need zpms.’ After the second time, McKay didn’t bother to correct just how inaccurate that was.
“I’ve had an incredible productive day except for the last hour or so because I keep getting alerts about some crazy power spikes in one of Atlantis’ labs and I can’t seem to shut it down.” McKay paused in his rant and looked at his two teammates.
“Sheppard” they all agreed in unison.
“Do you think we should alert the infirmary just be safe? What about Torren?” Rodney asked as his two teammates began heading out, Ronon scooping up Torren to carry on his back.
“Nah, not yet. Better grab a first aid kit just in case, though,” Ronon suggested to Teyla as she grabbed an extra one from off the wall of the armoury. “We can keep Torren out of the way.”
“At least we can trace the signal this time and there don’t appear to be any other alarms going off, but why does the location have to be so far from the transporters,” McKay complained as they headed toward the location his computer had indicated. “Oh, wait, this is Sheppard we’re talking about and I’d definitely bet he’s here and responsible,” he added with a grimace as they began maneuvering around the piles of debris. “Moth to a flame.”
After several more minutes, the team arrived at the lab the power spikes seemed to be emanating from. Ronon handed Torren to Rodney who was about to protest when the door suddenly slid open, releasing a blast of cold air and revealing Colonel Sheppard standing in foot of snow and grinning. “Don’t stand there forever, you’re letting all the cold air out,” he joked.
“Sheppard what is this?” McKay demanded, carefully stepping inside. The large room appeared to be some classic, almost cartoonish, winter scene of snow-covered hills and evergreens. Several cafeteria trays were scattered nearby and it appeared that Sheppard had taken at least one run down on one of the hills.
“I was thinking of what you said earlier, Rodney about Christmas and traditions,” he began as he handed coats to his teammates and helped Teyla bundle Torren into his jacket and shoes. “I think this lab was used for military training exercises to prepare for different climates, particularly some extreme ones, although it hadn’t been used for quite awhile and I had to do a little re-wiring,” he added with a shrug, indicating a couple singed fingers. “I think something’s been corrupted with the program, since it’s drawing more power than it should, but I thought we could leave it running for a few hours,” he finished sounding almost like an apologetic six year old.
“Damnit Sheppard, you were the one lecturing me about not making it snow on Atlantis and you go ahead and get it to snow in Atlantis!” McKay snapped without thinking, then cringed, seeing Sheppard’s grin disappear. “Well, I don’t suppose a few hours could hurt. I mean they have this huge indoor ski place in Dubai. And it is Christmas Eve…” Rodney’s apology was cut short when a snowball lobbed by Ronon hit him squarely in the back. “Conan! You do realize that’s a dclaration of war to a Canadian,” he yelped turning only to find two more snowballs heading his way. “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Sheppard, meanwhile had turned toward Teyla and Torren who had taken his first tentative steps in the snow, trying to figure out exactly how to react to the cold white substance surrounding him. “It’s ok, little man,” he said reassuringly. “Look at how silly Uncle Rodney and Uncle Ronon are,” he added, pointing to the two figures engaged in a fierce battle. It appeared Ronon had at least one snowball half-melting in his dreads. “If it’s all right with your mom, I’d like to take you sledding,” Sheppard asked, his tone softening. When Teyla nodded her approval he continued, “Now these trays aren’t quite as good as a real sled, but I think they’ll work.” Both Teyla and Sheppard scanned Torren’s face after the first run, who then signaled his approval with a loud ‘yay” and a wide grin when asked if he wanted to again. Torren and Sheppard made a few more runs down before Torren grew a little restless and Sheppard handed him back to Teyla who had found a several bottles of water and juice among the supplies in one area near the door.
“Thank you John. You seem very relaxed. I take it you are enjoying yourself?” Teyla asked as she took her son back and handed him a sippy cup.
“Yes Sheppard, what’s the story?” Rodney chimed in as he joined them, grimacing as Ronon appeared a moment later and shook the snow from his dreads. “Why the change of heart?”
“You told me about sharing traditions and all those things you never got to do with Madison. My mom used to take me sledding every year after the first snowfall and we’d go almost every day during the Christmas break. My dad and Dave never really cared to go, but they’d come along and bring the hot cocoa,” Sheppard held out a couple thermoses. “It was never quite the same after she died. I’m not even quite sure what happened to the sled, but my dad kept the snow globe of two sledders I gave her one year for Christmas. Dave must have found it when my dad died and he sent it with some other things. I had almost forgotten about it. I guess I’ve fought so many traditions, I didn’t remember there are some worth passing on.”
“This is a wonderful way to remember your mother, John,” Teyla said softly looking at both him and her now-sleepy son. “I am afraid Torren needs a nap, but I will spread the word about what is here. I am sure others would appreciate it, if not a break from the heat, at least a break from their attempts to work.
“Sheppard, maybe I can take a look at the programming later. I mean this set-up is just a big snowmaker, right? If we can get this up and running efficiently I can see how this would be useful for training under different conditions, and those emitters producing the trees are the closest I think we’re going to get to a holodeck here, I’d love to see how they work, must be similar to the jumpers’ cloaking technology…”
“McKay, quit talking and enjoy yourself,” Ronon ordered, thrusting a tray at him. “People really slide down hills with these?”
“All the time in college - I think the cafeteria just groaned every time we had a heavy snowfall. That is, if you went to a school with snow,” he glanced at Sheppard, who shrugged.
“We did have a couple ski trips to Tahoe and it wasn’t that far to the slopes,” Sheppard answered, picking up his tray. “Besides, my mom was an engineer, I always had the best sled.”
“It wasn’t named Rosebud, was it,” McKay snarked, nearly dodging the snowball flung at him.
Prompt: Christmas (or other winter holiday) on the calendar, but Atlantis (or a planet the team is on) in the midst of a heatwave
Other notes - Apparently all the world’s coffee is grown within 1500 miles of the equator
The store windows of the Macy’s in downtown San Francisco are pretty spectacular - every year the SPCA puts in displays with adoptable animals during the Christmas season.