FanFic100: #028 Children
“Shouldn’t someone… you know… stop them?” She looks from the unbelievable sight before her to the man standing beside her. The question he just asked… did have a dangerous undertone to it.
“Well… yeah, sir?” The Major gives her a somewhat disapproving look. Yeah, well, it’s not her fault he asked such an imprecise question. Then he gestures towards the… commotion.
“So what’s stopping you from going ahead, Lieutenant?” Oh please.
“Uh… the fact that you’re the senior ranking officer around here, sir?” Come on, say it, she thinks. Tell me you’re afraid of a bunch of Marines who are having the pillow fight of their lives.
“Yeah, well, but they’re Marines.” And that makes them her responsibility… how?
“Actually, they’re kids. Well, in their heads, that is. And, quite frankly, sir, I have no experience with babysitting whatsoever. I just happened to get stuck here.” But you should have that experience. Because by now everyone here knows you have two nephews. Don’t even think about passing this one on to me.
He takes a deep breath and wants to say something - no doubt something not exactly favorable for her - but gets hit by a pretty accurately aimed pillow coming from Lieutenant Branson. If he hadn’t just been about to give her piece of his mind, she’d have found his very stoic and somehow resigned face quite comical, most of all with the cheering and applauding from the Marines currently not quite themselves. Taking another deep breath, he obviously tries to get a grip on himself.
“Look, Lieutenant… I’m not happy about this current assignment either. But until the gee… scientists have figured out how to turn them back, someone has to take care of these men.” Of course. She knows that and she wants to tell him so, but he’s not finished. “We don’t know how much of their skills are repressed by whatever happened and as long as they aren’t able to judge their decisions appropriately, we need to have a very close eye on them. And we have to do that together.”
She sighs, partly because she already knew that and partly because Sergeant Rayne just managed to make one of the pillows burst by hitting Sergeant Dickson over the head with it. Whose brilliant idea was it to have all of them bunk together in one of the isolation rooms, huh? “Of course, sir. I know that. But as I said, I don’t have any babysitting experiences.” She gives him an apologetic shrug. “Sorry I can’t be of any help, sir.”
He rubs a hand over his eyes. Well, well… could it be true? Could that be where even Major Lorne, USAF, gives up and is at his wits’ end? Could it be that a bunch of Marines that got themselves turned back into kids because one of them was stupid enough to touch something he shouldn’t have touched manage to do what no Unas, Goa’uld, Wraith, Genii or other hostile alien race or entity could manage? “I really don’t get it… shouldn’t we have had that kind of thing already enough? I really thought that there were only so many mind-warping devices in this galaxy.”
Poor Major, she finds herself thinking. And indeed he does look a little pitiful. She can see that he really tries to keep up his usual façade, but somehow the Marines’ raucous behavior does get to him. Atlantis Marines already are an… interesting bunch when in their right minds - if such a thing exists, that is - but yeah, this is just a little bit tougher.
She looks back at the bunch. They’re still getting it on with the pillows, and they start to unnerve her as well. Which… serves to remind her of something. Of course. She turns back to the Major. “Know any good scary stories, sir?”
He looks at her as if he starts to suspect something happened to her mind as well. “I beg your pardon, Lieutenant?”
She lets a wicked grin flash. “You said we needed to do this together. And your part is the scary stories. Just leave the rest to me.”
“Lieutenant…” She rolls her eyes.
“It’s gonna work, trust me. So?” He sighs again and then nods.
“Yeah, I do know a few. And now?” She gives him another wicked grin and then puts her thumb and her index finger in her mouth to give a really piercing whistle. So piercing in fact that not only do the five Marines immediately stop their pillow battle but Major Lorne also jumps visibly.
“Alright, listen up, folks: You can either continue that pillow fight cr… stuff or you can get your spine chilled by Major Scary here. There’s even flash lights… and maybe I can find some marshmallows. If you all behave yourselves.” Silence and stunned looks. From all the resident males. Ha!
The Marines consider this for a moment, eyeing Major Lorne a little warily - hopefully none of them will remember this or she just got him a new nickname - and then looking back at her. Come on, she silently pleads, buy it. Don’t make me delegate this back to Major Scary. You’ll hate it. And he’ll hate it. Then Rayne steps forward. “He doesn’t look really scary.”
Is that indignation and a bit of injured male pride she can see in Major Lorne’s face? “Oh, believe me; he knows some pretty scary stories. You do, sir, right?”
He clears his throat, still not quite willing to play along. “Well… uh… yeah. Of course.” The five soldiers don’t look too convinced.
“He doesn’t look like scary stories, too.” Either, she wants to correct automatically, but that probably wouldn’t do much for her standing. Behind Major Lorne, Branson just started making funny faces and she has to take very great care not to break out laughing. In his usual self, the Lieutenant is a rather quiet, dutiful man… almost shy when he’s not on duty. In a corner of her mind she’s already plotting ways to get a private copy of the surveillance video, in case anyone here ever tried to act up against her.
Branson continues his grimacing, and she decides to step in, but Major Lorne surprises her, slowly turning around to Branson and staring the Lieutenant down. “Do I still lack scariness, young man?” Immediately, the Lieutenant stops and swallows.
“No… sir?” Ah, the Major’s world is right again, as the righteous satisfaction that just crossed his face tells her. And obviously that served to back up his credibility for scary stories, as well. The Marines do look at him with a whole new kind of respect… well, for guys with the mental age of about ten, that is. But then again, most guys don’t grow older than… Okay, concentrate on the job.
“Right, okay… now that we could clear that up… everyone sit down on the ground.” They turn back to her, a little skeptical and she finds herself rolling her eyes. “Shoo, guys or there won’t be any storytelling tonight.” And now her trump card. “And definitely no marshmallows.” Immediately, they scramble to sit down and while they all try to get sorted out, the Major turns back to her.
“Didn’t you tell me you had no babysitting experience?” he asks her in a voice a little lower. She can’t hold back a grin.
“And I really don’t. But I used to train the local elementary school’s baseball team when I was in college. One summer training camp and you’ll never be afraid of eight-year olds again.” He raises his eyebrow, as if he isn't quite sure if she isn't just joking.
“Baseball, huh?” Hey, is that really so hard to imagine? “Okay, I just won’t ask,” Oh, something of her indignation must have shown. And what is that sudden grin on the Major’s face supposed to mean? “… Coach Cadman.”
She can’t resist making a face herself. “I wouldn’t say that too loud… Major Scary.” He wants to give something back, but the Marines have finally finished settling down and she just gives him a hint by jerking her head towards the guys. With a slightly irritated rolling of his eyes, he turns around and settles down in front of the eagerly waiting Marines.
“Okay… any of you ever heard of the Wraith?” They all shake their heads, already excited about what might come now. Ah, she knew he was the right one for the stories. Smiling, she also settles down in her own corner. “Alright… let me tell you about them then…”