Away From Home - TSLJS
Title: Away From Home
Series: The Secret Life (Family) of John Sheppard
Word Count: 341
They were lying in bunks that were surprisingly more uncomfortable than not having bunks - something John felt the Air Force should be ‘congratulated’ on - and discussing all the things they missed from life away for the wall. They started light, it had been a hard day, and Ferris Wheels, cold beer, cheese burgers, and porn were the first things to be mentioned. Eventually as the night descended more serious longings arose and John found himself listening to his bunkmates talk about wives and newborns and girlfriends, some of them getting fairly graphic in their descriptions causing a round of catcalls and wolf whistles to echo through the night.
“What about you, Shep?” Mitch asked from the bottom bunk.
John knew that he could take this moment to talk about Rodney - carefully deflecting from his gender because no one wanted to be stuck in the middle of a war zone with only a handful of men to watch his back when they were gunning for him for not following regulations and having enough balls to go after what he wanted even though what he wanted had a cock. He could even just talk about Meredith, about how he had missed her third birthday party, about how she was growing up so fast and he hated being away from her. He didn’t. Instead all that came out was, “you know me, always the bachelor,” and the guys laugh before settling down to go to sleep.
When John’s sure that no one else is awake, he reaches into the picket of his BDU’s and finds a dog-eared photograph. In the dim light he can barely make out the faces, but she’s looked at it so many times before the image is imprinted on his brain. It’s of Meredith, sitting at Rodney’s kitchen table. She’s wearing a red party had and smiling widely into the picture, a cake sat in front of her, the icing proclaiming ‘happy third birthday’ in pink frosting. On the back Rodney had written ‘we missed you. Come home alive. RM’.
Series: The Secret Life (Family) of John Sheppard
Word Count: 341
They were lying in bunks that were surprisingly more uncomfortable than not having bunks - something John felt the Air Force should be ‘congratulated’ on - and discussing all the things they missed from life away for the wall. They started light, it had been a hard day, and Ferris Wheels, cold beer, cheese burgers, and porn were the first things to be mentioned. Eventually as the night descended more serious longings arose and John found himself listening to his bunkmates talk about wives and newborns and girlfriends, some of them getting fairly graphic in their descriptions causing a round of catcalls and wolf whistles to echo through the night.
“What about you, Shep?” Mitch asked from the bottom bunk.
John knew that he could take this moment to talk about Rodney - carefully deflecting from his gender because no one wanted to be stuck in the middle of a war zone with only a handful of men to watch his back when they were gunning for him for not following regulations and having enough balls to go after what he wanted even though what he wanted had a cock. He could even just talk about Meredith, about how he had missed her third birthday party, about how she was growing up so fast and he hated being away from her. He didn’t. Instead all that came out was, “you know me, always the bachelor,” and the guys laugh before settling down to go to sleep.
When John’s sure that no one else is awake, he reaches into the picket of his BDU’s and finds a dog-eared photograph. In the dim light he can barely make out the faces, but she’s looked at it so many times before the image is imprinted on his brain. It’s of Meredith, sitting at Rodney’s kitchen table. She’s wearing a red party had and smiling widely into the picture, a cake sat in front of her, the icing proclaiming ‘happy third birthday’ in pink frosting. On the back Rodney had written ‘we missed you. Come home alive. RM’.