Into the Whirlwind - Chapter 10
Title: Into the Whirlwind - Chapter 10 / 11
Words: 6,189 this chapter (~63k total)
Previous parts / Summary: Master Post, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9
Chapter Note: The calm before the storm. Only, you know, not so much with the calm.
=== Chapter 10 -- Freefall ===
--- 10.1 ---
(June 1, 2010)
Inevitably, John and Evan ended up in the infirmary, with Evan sitting on the bed furthest from the entrance and John standing next to him. From the way the nurses kept looking over at them and giggling, it was obvious that word over what had transpired in the control room had already spread through the city. A few minutes after they arrived Keller came around the corner with a handful of medical gizmos and a broad grin.
"Good morning, gentlemen. I hear congratulations are in order," she said as she reached them. She sat her equipment down next to Evan. "Roll up your sleeve, please."
"He's finally decided to make me an honest man," John said.
"Someone had to," Evan said as Keller took a blood sample.
She smiled at him. "I couldn't think of a better person to do it. Now, if you'll just answer a few questions, I'll get out of your way before I'm tempted to ask you something embarrassing. Any headache, dizziness, pain?"
"Actually, doc, I'm feeling just fine," Evan replied with a smirk. "In fact, I'm feeling so great that I doubt you'll find anything interesting in my blood anymore."
John stared at him for a moment, eyes wide, then shouted, "You son of a bitch!"
Evan leaned closer to Keller and stage-whispered, "You know, people laughed at me when I took that drama elective, but between you and me I think it's turned out pretty damned useful."
"I can not believe this!"
"People always put down the arts," Keller said, ignoring John. "And if nothing comes up in your labs, well, I guess I'll just have to run them again. It could take weeks to figure out what they gave you."
"I should have known better than to believe you, you bastard!"
"I'm sure you'll find it if it turns out to be necessary, but I bet it won't."
"I am so going to kick your ass, Lorne!"
Keller looked between the two men and shook her head. "I'll just leave you two alone to work this out."
"I just hope that the mystery drug didn't do something awful like inhibit my libido," Evan told John with a mournful look. John glared back at him, before a smile finally started to force its way through his grumpy expression. Eventually, John shook his head and chuckled.
"I guess this is what I get for asking for a distraction."
"Pretty much. The chaos with the betting pool alone is going to keep everyone in a frenzy, and once Chuck and David get their ball rolling it's going to be great." Evan glanced at the door and nodded towards it. Carter and Woolsey were standing there, talking with Keller. "So, are we going try to deny everything, or what? Your call."
John considered it for a moment and replied, "I bet it'll more fun to tell them the truth and throw them for a loop."
"Sounds like a plan." Evan waved as Carter and Woolsey walked over to them and his expression slid back to slightly stoned. "Sam. Richard. Sorry if I made a mess of the departure, I wasn't really thinking straight."
"Yes. Well," Woolsey said, flustered and at a loss for words. "They left on schedule, although many of them seemed a bit... startled. We also had to rather forcefully encourage the reporters to go."
"They were like sharks smelling blood in the water," Carter said. She had a smile, but it quickly went away as she continued, "I bet we'll be getting orders to investigate this incident with the next databurst, so we're going to have to act fast and have an explanation ready to dispatch before then. Now, Jennifer's investigating the mind-altering alien substance Lorne was exposed to, which gives him an alibi. The way I see it, clearly John was just humoring him to make sure no one got hurt. Right, John." Carter grinned at them and winked.
John tilted his head to the side. "I suppose that would be a logical explanation, but what about the ring?"
"Um." Carter pursed her lips. "It's an heirloom, right? He's carrying it for good luck. Lorne, make sure you tell Pierson that when she manages to hunt you down, people will love that."
"Sounds good," Evan said, "although that runs into the problem of how to hide the wedding. Speaking of which, John, I'm thinking we can have Teyla officiate, Radek will be my best man, and yours can be McKay."
"I don't know if Ronon will go for that, but I suppose the two of them can fight it out or something."
Woolsey coughed into his fist. "Ahem. Wedding?"
"We did just get engaged," John reminded him. "Usually a wedding follows that."
"A real wedding this time," Evan said, pointing an accusatory finger at John. "Not a fake alien one, and especially one that doesn't involve both our teams. Again."
"Yeah, yeah." John waved his hand. "I bet Teyla can annul all those other weird rituals at the same time or something."
"Oh, boy," Carter muttered under her breath.
"Colonel Sheppard," Woolsey said. "I can understand why you might be a bit distracted, so perhaps I should remind you how this works. You tell me some polite fiction to justify your insane actions, I pretend not to realize that you're lying to me, and then everything gets sorted out in a way that technically doesn't violate any rules. We've done this dozens of times."
"Oh, no," Evan said. "He's not wiggling out of this. I've had this planned for a while now, and he's going through with it even if I have to get Ronon to stun him and carry him to the altar for me."
Woolsey sighed and covered his face with his hand. "You know, I think it would be best to have this conversation once everyone involved is completely sober. Samantha, if you would be so kind as to try to talk some sense into them, I would appreciate it."
"Sure thing."
"If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my office not hearing things I shouldn't be hearing," Woolsey said before stalking off.
Carter watched him go and shook her head. "You're not going to play along, are you?"
"Nope," John said.
"And you realize they're going to toss you both out, right? There were enough reporters there that you'll be on every news channel on the planet. There is no way the SGC can't act on it without some kind of extenuating circumstance."
"I know, ma'am," Evan said. "Thanks anyways, though."
"Just checking." Carter leaned against the next bed over. "So -- how long?"
"It's been, uh..." John trailed off and glanced sideways.
Evan gave him a moment to figure it out, then rolled his eyes and supplied, "Two and a half years, more or less. Since when we were on Earth while the Ancients were here."
Carter's eyes lit up. "Oooh. That explains a few comments Daniel made. Damn, I must have been blind."
John shrugged. "We did our best to hide it."
"I mean, honestly, I though you... you and..." Sam started to chuckle uncontrollably, before managing to bite out, "You and McKay."
John's expression grew annoyed. "We're not sleeping together. We're just friends."
"Except when you do sleep together," Evan pointed out.
"Don't you even start."
"Or when we do, I should say," Evan went on. He grinned salaciously at Carter. "Let me tell you, when McKay sets his mind to something other than physics, he can be pretty damned awesome at other things. And his hands -- well, I don't know where to start."
"Evan, please stop talking now," John groaned.
"You know, maybe I should just let you to go back to your quarters and, ah, talk," Carter said, her face growing pink. Then, curious and the slightest bit regretful, she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, though -- do you think it's worth it?"
They looked at each other, and together said, "Absolutely."
--- 10.2 ---
(June 4, 2010)
For a few days, Sam had thought she and Woolsey had the situation under control. Only hours after the VIPs had departed Earth had dialed in and transmitted a databurst. It contained instructions placing her in command of the military and ordering Sheppard and Lorne to return to Earth for a board of inquiry. For obvious reason everyone in the city had found out within minutes. So far things had been stress-inducing, but not disastrous. McKay she had been prepared to deal with, but thus far he had been slightly less loud than she had anticipated and he had yet to threaten to resign. The rest of the scientists and the medical staff were obviously unhappy with the situation, Captain Barnes and First Sergeant Stackhouse had both quietly informed her that the men were angry and feeling betrayed - not by Sheppard, but by the SGC - and Teyla had already registered a formal protest as her people's representative in Atlantis.
All of that Sam had expected and braced herself for, but what hurt more was the increasing isolation she felt. More than once she had come across groups in the common areas and the mess talking, only for them to suddenly shut up before either beginning to furtively whisper to each other or loudly and pointedly changing the subject. It wasn't that they were excluding her or being unfriendly, and in fact many people had made sure to tell her they didn't blame her personally, but like Woolsey she was ultimately there as a representative of the SGC. She just hoped that they'd eventually forgive her for her part in things.
Still, she hadn't thought things could get worse, which was possibly her biggest mistake. Definitely her biggest mistake, she concluded as she walked into the control room the morning of the scheduled Earth dial-out. She had arrived in the control room early, intending to make sure things went smoothly, and quickly found that she had been right to do so.
"Chuck," she asked slowly, looking down from the balcony at the gateroom floor. "What's going on?"
From behind her the technician said, "Don't look at me, I only just got here myself."
Sam didn't believe that for a second, because nothing happened in the control room without him knowing - certainly nothing like this. There was a crowd of at least three dozen people assembled on the gateroom floor. They were all civilians, and at a glance they seemed to be pretty evenly spread across the different departments and nationalities. Some were standing, some were sitting, a few were eating breakfast, but all of them appeared to have at least one hand-made sign near them. To add insult to injury, they had somehow managed to haul one of the large displays directly in front of the gate and hooked up several game systems, and even as she watched a nurse and an archaeologist were busy playing Dance Dance Revolution.
It took them a few moments to notice her, but as soon as they did they all picked up their signs. While the artistic abilities of their makers varied wildly from "scribbled block letters" to "carefully drawn rainbows, flowers, and puddle jumpers", most of them had more or less the same general message: DOWN WITH BIGOTRY! FREE LOVE! ATLANTIS FOR ATLANTIS! SHEP IS OUR HERO! Then the chants started.
"Who do we want? Sheppard and Lorne! Where do we want them? Here!"
Sam spotted Doctor Parrish making his way through the crowd and she met him at the top of the stairs. "Dr. Parrish, what's going on here?"
"It's a protest." He dug into one of his pockets and pulled out several folded sheets of paper, which he handed to Sam. "This is a petition against the removal of Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Lorne, signed by everyone in the civilian portion of the expedition."
"A protest," Sam repeated in a dubious tone. She unfolded the paper and quickly skimmed over the contents, spotting McKay's signature at the top of a long list of names, followed by Jennifer Keller's.
"Yep," he said with a broad grin. "It's also a sit-in and gate blockade, too. Oh, and a strike, but this part here's mostly the protest."
Sam had a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach as she processed that statement. "A strike? You can't go on strike."
Parrish shrugged. "Well, we have."
"Who's we?"
"Everyone. Well, everyone except the military, obviously, but other than essential maintenance and the medical duty staff the entire civilian contingent isn't doing any work until the situation is resolved."
"I... you..." Sam was rendered speechless by the shear audacity of the idea. The situation was extraordinarily insane even by Atlantis standards. Knowing the answer already, she asked, "I don't suppose ordering you to move would do any good?"
"Nope. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back down there. I'm up next for the game." With that, he turned and loped back down the stairs.
As Sam watched him go, she wondered if she was starting to slip, having failed to even consider something like this. To be fair, most military officers never had to deal with fully two-thirds of their base's residents deciding to strike, of all things, so maybe she shouldn't be blaming herself for not seeing it coming. On the other hand, she should have realized that the civilians wouldn't see things as being a simple matter of regulations and would have their own unique ways of expressing their displeasure. The speed with which they'd put it together was astonishing, which suggested a considerable amount of planning on their part. Now that she thought about it, it was entirely likely they'd had something like this planned ever since the first rumors of the ZPM withdraw had started, and the suspicious quiet of the last few days had been the scientists' equivalent of laying in wait to spring a trap. If so, it was definitely a very effective trap.
Sam sighed and returned to the main control console, where Chuck was looking on with amusement. She gave him a suspicious look, glanced between him and where Parrish was standing now a few times, and considered asking him again if he really didn't have any idea that this had been coming. Not being one for completely useless gestures, she instead ordered, "Chuck, get Mr. Woolsey up here."
"Are you sure, ma'am? I mean, he really doesn't like having his morning routine interrupted. He gets a bit cranky."
Sam closed her eyes. "Fine. I'll wait for him in my office. His office. Just tell him I'm waiting for him." She started to turn, then said, "And you may as well tell Sheppard and Lorne they're not leaving today, assuming they don't already know."
To a background chorus of, "Hell, no, they won't go!", Sam retired to the office to start figuring how to salvage the situation. It only took a few radio calls to confirm that the strike was indeed city-wide, with most of the scientists gathered in the recreational areas. By all appearances, the only people who were working were food services, the infirmary emergency team, and a few people monitoring key systems. Even McKay wasn't in his lab, although apparently he was down in the hangar with Zelenka and a few other engineers whose idea of 'day off' apparently meant 'putting the final touches on our hobbyist starship.' The military staff, of course, was still operating as usual, although Sam suspected that most of those who were off-duty could be found with the civilians in the rec rooms even if they weren't officially joining the protests. Sam decided against trying to stop that, because the last thing she needed were a bunch of sullen and bored marines. That was just a recipe for disaster. The real wildcard of the situation was Woolsey, of course. Sam couldn't imagine he'd react well. He had stretched regulations from time to time over the course of his tenure, but afterwards he had always been careful to document the reasons for the exceptions he made and to change the rules when they failed to adequately match practical reality. This was an entirely different matter entirely, however, and Sam suspected he'd see this all as a direct affront to his leadership of the base.
Sam settled into one of the spare chairs and pulled out her PDA in the hopes of getting something useful done while she waited. About an hour later, Woolsey arrived, sneaking in through the back door. He looked startled to see her there, which probably meant that Chuck had suddenly started to become forgetful and failed to inform him she was there.
"Colonel Carter! I hope you haven't been waiting long. Breakfast took longer than expected, for some reason the cooks seemed... they seemed a bit... what's going on out there?"
Sam looked over her shoulder through the window. At some point, even more game consoles and screens had been hauled up, while the act of actually waving signs about and chanting had been delegated to a trio of MALPs with signs attached to their claws and small speakers plugged into them. The gate was quite thoroughly blocked by the mess of equipment, stands, boxes, and wiring. Sam stood, shrugged, and said, "It's a strike."
Woolsey came over to stand next to her and stared down in shock. "A strike? Who's on strike?"
"The civilians, Richard. All of them."
"They can't strike!"
Sam forced down a sigh as she realized just how tiring explaining this was probably going to get. "That's what I said, but apparently they disagree."
"That's insane!"
"That's Atlantis for you." Sam pointed at the gate, or rather what portion of it that they could see. "You'll notice they've made the gate impassable, and I'm sure you can guess why."
His eyes narrowed. "So that we can't send Colonel Sheppard through. I should have known he'd try something like this."
"Actually, as far as I can tell this is a purely civilian operation," Sam replied, handing over the petition. Woolsey angrily snatched it from her hands and began to read it.
"This entire thing is absurd. I have no more desire to see them leave than anyone else, but there are proper channels for making these sort of protests. If they think I'm going to let this stop a legitimate investigation, they're wrong. I want that equipment moved, now."
Sam looked at him in disbelief. "How do you propose to do that?"
"I'm sure the military isn't participating," Woolsey said. "Have a few soldiers go down there and clear a hole."
"That won't work. The civilians won't let them through. Unless you're suggesting I have the marines remove them by force, I don't see what I can do."
Woolsey looked like he'd bitten into a lemon, but he nodded. "If that's what you need to do to deal with this, this mutiny, then I want you do to it. I doubt it would take much effort to get them to leave, just aim a few stunners at them to get the point across and physically carry away any stragglers."
Sam shook her head angrily and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, there's no way I'm ordering the men to go up against our own people. It would completely tear the expedition apart, and I'm not doing anything of the sort without a direct order from General O'Neill or the president. If you or the IOA have a problem with that, tough."
"Fine. Then we'll contact Earth and get you those orders."
"All right." Sam didn't think it'd be nearly that easy, but she led the way out into the control room. "Chuck, raise the shield and dial Earth."
"Ma'am?" He cupped his hand over his ear. "Sorry, couldn't quite hear that."
The noise from the floor wasn't that loud, but she raised her voice anyways. "I said, raise the shield and dial Earth!"
"Oh. You do know it'd be a bit difficult to get anyone through, right?"
"I know that. Just do it."
Chuck shrugged and began dialing, but he hit the wrong key for the sixth symbol and the gate died with a whir. Cheerfully, he said, "Whoops. Curse my clumsy Canadian fingers. Sometimes I think all that horseback riding damaged my nerves somehow."
"You've never been on a horse in your life!" Sam protested.
"Don't be silly, ma'am. How else would we Mounties get around? We don't even have cars yet." It took him two more tries, but finally the gate connected and the kawhoosh splashed across the shield. For their part, the protesters and gamers below didn't so much as flinch. A few seconds later a video link with the SGC was established and put on the main screen.
"Stargate Command, this is Atlantis," Sam said. "We have a situation. Is General O'Neill available?"
"Just a second, ma'am," Walter replied. In the background, Sam saw Jack coming down the stairs. She was not surprised under the circumstances, and was glad that she could deal with him instead of Landry. Somehow she suspected that Landry would take things even worse than Woolsey had once he heard about the situation.
Jack reached the camera and crossed his arms. "Carter. What's up?"
Sam glanced at Woolsey, but he was silently fuming. "Sir, we've got a bit of a problem here. I don't think we're going to be sending Sheppard and Lorne through to you anytime soon."
"Let me guess -- Sheppard and his team disappeared through the gate," Jack said peevishly. "Again."
"Actually, no," Sam replied. Surprisingly, John had promised to do nothing of the sort, and the last she had heard after being told their dial-out was canceled he and Lorne had returned to Lorne's quarters to... well, she didn't want to think too hard about what they were doing while talking with a general who might wonder why she was blushing. Especially not while talking with Jack, who would ask about it. "It's a bit more complicated then that."
"Which means?"
"The civilians are on strike," she said, and to make the point clear she made a few keystrokes to send them footage from the gateroom surveillance cameras.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack muttered. "Of course they are.
Sam was thankful that he hadn't even tried to pretend it wasn't happening. "They've blocked physical access to the gate, so I don't think we're getting anyone in or out until this is resolved."
Woolsey chose that moment to cut in. "It could be resolved quickly if you would instruct Colonel Carter to simply have the marines move the civilians aside. Surely it could be done without hurting anyone."
"And as I already told you, that's just a sure-fire way to turn this into a complete catastrophe," Sam retorted.
Jack leaned closer to the camera with a scowl. "You're right about that, Carter. Do your best to keep the situation from escalating and try to figure out what they want."
"They want Sheppard and Lorne to remain here, sir. If we could get a guarantee that they won't be removed from the city, even without command, I think we can keep this under control."
Jack snorted, and under his breath muttered, "I knew this was going to bite me in the ass." Louder, he went on, "I'll see what I can do. In the mean time, try your best and don't do anything stupid. SGC, out. Walter, tell Hank I need to use his phone to -"
The transmission cut off and Sam signaled for Chuck to kill the gate.
"Well. Looks like we'll do this your way," Woolsey said, actually looking a bit relieved. "Given that you're the closest thing to a neutral party here, perhaps you should speak with the ringleaders and see if they'll at least resume work when not... protesting. With any luck we can get this all sorted out before the IOA or anyone else needs to get involved."
"I hope so." The president was a reasonable man, and with any luck he would steamroll past any opposition from the Pentagon or elsewhere and find a way to guarantee Sheppard and Lorne would get honorable discharges that would allow them to stay. Otherwise, while those on Earth might not realize it yet, Sam knew that the scientists definitely had the fortitude and dedication to make this a very long and very ugly affair. The only bright point was that the press had no idea anything was happening yet, but the longer things dragged on the more likely it was they would realize that the duo should have been returned to Earth by now. Even worse was the possibility of the civilians managing to sneak a databurst out to friends. If that happened, it would probably be the biggest PR disaster and media feeding frenzy since disclosure.
--- 10.3 ---
(June 6, 2010)
Jennifer paced back and forth in the infirmary, going over her checklist a fourth time that night. Everything seemed to be in place, just like it had for the last few days, but tomorrow was The Day, capital letters and all, and she had to be sure everything was ready. There wasn't supposed to be anyone hurt, not worse than maybe a stunner hangover or two, but when had anything every gone as planned in this galaxy?
"Hey," someone said behind her, and Jennifer nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around to see Ronon leaning against the door frame and put her hand over her pounding heart.
"Hey there," she managed to say after a few seconds. "What's up?"
"Nothin' much. You busy?"
"Yeah, I'm," Jennifer started, then stopped. She shrugged, spread her hands, and admitted, "Actually, not really. I was just double-checking everything for tomorrow, again."
"Worried?"
"Aren't you? I mean, this is pretty big, and it's not like we're gonna be fighting Wraith this time."
"Naw. Sheppard's got a plan; he'll get us through fine."
"That doesn't mean no one's going to get hurt."
"And you'll fix them."
"I wish I was as confident as you." Jennifer felt a smile creep onto her face. "Did you need something?"
Ronon jerked his thumb towards the hall. "Want to get dinner?"
She hesitated, then set her list aside. "That'd be great."
=====
The door chimed, and Teyla smiled to herself. She had been expecting a visitor about that time and had just taken her evening tea off the heating element to let it cool. She finished setting out a pair of cups and went to the door, opening it to find Rodney.
"Good evening, Rodney."
Rodney gave her a little wave and fidgeted nervously, glancing up and down the hall several times. "Hey. I just thought I'd drop by, see what you were up to."
"I was about to have some tea. Would you care to join me?"
"Oh, sure, thanks."
Rodney bustled inside and sat down at the table. Teyla brought over the kettle and cups, along with a plate of mint cookies the mess made that she had found went well with the tea. As she poured them each a cup, she commented, "I am surprised to see you here, Rodney. I had assumed you would be busy."
"I figured I should do a few rounds, make sure everyone was ready for the big day tomorrow."
"That is very kind of you." Teyla sat down across from him and sipped of her tea. "Your work in the lab is done, then?"
"Not quite, but it never is, and Zelenka threw me out because my pacing and muttering was 'distracting' him." Rodney rolled his eyes and dismissed the complaint with a waggle of his hand. "But, since all the preparations are finished and I could tell he was nervous, I thought I'd take it easy on him and go for a walk."
Rodney himself was tense and practically shaking, but Teyla refrained from pointing that out. "I'm sure it will do you well also. You should relax and rest while you have a chance. You may not have another for some time."
"You're right, of course, but when aren't you?" Rodney shrugged. "Anyways, I went to see if Sheppard was doing anything, but apparently he's got something planned with Lorne. He said he'd be cool with hanging out anyways, but I decided not to."
"I see," was Teyla's only comment. She had been aware of what John had been planning for this night for some time, but was also sure he would have set it aside in an instant if Rodney truly needed his companionship.
"Not that I have anything against hanging out with those two. Lorne's a pretty nice guy, when you get right down to it. I mean, he puts up with me, doesn't he? So I could have, but I didn't because I'm not quite that clueless. They deserve a bit of time alone. So here I am instead." Rodney stopped, his eyes bugged out slightly, and he hurried to add, "Not that you're my second choice or something."
"Rodney," Teyla said, "I know what you mean. That was quite considerate of you."
"Me? Considerate? That'd be the day." Teyla suppressed a sigh at that remark, as she often did when Rodney said such things about himself. "No, that was just a tiny bit of common decency. It's not like Sheppard belongs to me or something. Getting married isn't going to make him forget I'm his best friend, right? Of course not. It's just a little ceremony, not nearly as life-altering as some sappy morons would tell you. Nothing's going to change."
Rodney gulped down most of his tea and Teyla silently refilled it in silence, letting Rodney continue to vent.
"It's been, what, two, three years now? If something was going to really be different it would already be different. Sure, they're probably going to move in together or something, and they won't have to hide anymore, which will probably mean they'll spend even more time outside of work with each other and thus John will have proportionately less time with me, and since they'll be married they probably won't be having me around for, well, you know anymore...." Rodney seemed to deflate and slumped backwards. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'll be left alone, just like every other time one of my friends has fallen in love. I'm just surprised it's taken this long this time."
"Rodney!" Teyla said sharply, causing him to jerk his head up. "You are a bright man, but sometimes I despair at your inability to judge how others feel about you. Do you truly think that John Sheppard cares so little for you? Has he ever given you reason to think that?"
"Well, no. He was a bit pissed after Doranda, but even then it was more sulking than anything else."
"Surely you must also admit that he is close to Ronon and me, and that his relationships with us do not threaten his with you?"
"No, but that's different, we're," Rodney waved his hands vaguely, "you know, a team."
"And yet you deny that he could be part of a different sort of team and still value you as much. Is that logical?" Hesitantly, Rodney shook his head, and Teyla finished, "You are one of the few people John is close to, Rodney, and I know he holds you dearer than even Evan. You have nothing to fear from what is coming. Things may change, yes, but he will not leave you alone."
"I... okay, I guess I might be a bit more pessimistic than I need to be."
"If you are truly so concerned, then perhaps you should discuss your feelings with John," Teyla suggested.
Rodney looked utterly aghast at the idea. "Discuss my feelings? With Sheppard?"
They looked at each other for a moment, before even Teyla could not maintain her composure and had to laugh aloud. "I can see the flaw in that idea, so perhaps you should talk with Evan instead. I am sure he would listen."
Grudgingly, Rodney said, "I'll think about it."
That was all Teyla could hope for, at least for a time. Perhaps she could arrange for it to happen that Evan would broach the subject instead, with both men, as he was far more reasonable about such things than either of them would ever be. For now, though, she simply asked, "In any case, there will be time enough for that once the coming fight is over. How is your work progressing?"
"Oh, it's going great, and it's only going to get better. There's all sorts of research we haven't been able to do because of IOA regulations, and there's also the cruiser project that we've got going...." As Rodney babbled on, Teyla was happy to note that he had finally begun to relax. There was little else that she herself could do, not until things were in motion, but that was of no matter. She could still comfort her friends, and that was of far greater assistance than any purely physical aid she could supply.
=====
"Okay, John, I give in," Evan said, as they rounded yet another corner and started down yet another corridor. "Why are you dragging me way out here?"
"Like I said, I've got something to show you," John said, grinning over his shoulder. "What, are you the only one allowed to surprise people?"
"No, but I don't make people walk halfway across the city to do it?" Evan watched suspiciously as John hesitated at the next intersection. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"Sure I do," John said. He sounded confident, but then he almost always did and it was entirely possible that they were never going to find their way back to civilization. A short time later they did reach a nondescript door and John led Evan inside. "Here we go."
Evan looked around the room, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly interesting, just some consoles and a series of hatches set the walls. "This is, uh, nice?"
John turned to Evan, his hands planted on his hips. "So, um. I've been thinking for a while, about what might be next for you and me. Relationship-wise, that is. Obviously you've been thinking about it too, what with the proposal and all, which makes me pretty happy because it means we're on the same page. Right?"
Evan cautiously nodded. "Right."
"See, few months ago I was talking with the computer, about long-term plans for after secession, how we'd expand the population, genetics, families, that sort of thing, and it sent me down to this room to show me what's here."
John paused expectantly, and Evan said, "Which is?"
"These." John waved his hand over one of the hatches. It opened up and a second later a platform extended out, on top of which was a stubby cylindrical canister of some sort. It was about four feet long and two in diameter, with a rounded top and a panel buttons and indicators on one side. Evan studied it for a minute, but eventually shook his head. Before he could ask what it was, John went on, "The Ancients were a bit weird about physical inconveniences, physical anything really, and this is one of the things they came up with to get around them. It's called a uterine replicator. An artificial womb."
"Oh," was all Evan could say.
"I read up on them in the database, and it says they work for men, too. All we'd have to do was touch one of those machines over there to get a DNA sample and wait nine months, and the system would take care of the rest. I know you've spent a lot of time with Teyla and Torren, and I know you really enjoyed being around your sister's kids, so... so I guess what I'm trying to ask is, once we've got things settled, do you want to have a kid?"
"Fuck," Evan said. He'd never expected something like this to come up, although he really should have, given the kind of biotechnology the Ancients had possessed. He looked at John with wide eyes. "Are you serious? I mean, sure, I'd like to, but you're not just asking because it'd make me happy, right?"
John shrugged. "Hey, I like kids too, and it's not like I don't know what I'd be getting into. I'm willing to try if you are. Hopefully I won't fuck up too badly."
"Then the answer's yes," Evan said, before squeezing John into a tight hug and kissing him. "And don't worry, you'll make a great dad."
"Really? 'Cause I have to admit, while I like the idea it still terrifies me."
"It should, but that doesn't change what I said," Evan told him, and to stop any further protests he kissed him.
(Next Chapter)
Words: 6,189 this chapter (~63k total)
Previous parts / Summary: Master Post, Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9
Chapter Note: The calm before the storm. Only, you know, not so much with the calm.
=== Chapter 10 -- Freefall ===
--- 10.1 ---
(June 1, 2010)
Inevitably, John and Evan ended up in the infirmary, with Evan sitting on the bed furthest from the entrance and John standing next to him. From the way the nurses kept looking over at them and giggling, it was obvious that word over what had transpired in the control room had already spread through the city. A few minutes after they arrived Keller came around the corner with a handful of medical gizmos and a broad grin.
"Good morning, gentlemen. I hear congratulations are in order," she said as she reached them. She sat her equipment down next to Evan. "Roll up your sleeve, please."
"He's finally decided to make me an honest man," John said.
"Someone had to," Evan said as Keller took a blood sample.
She smiled at him. "I couldn't think of a better person to do it. Now, if you'll just answer a few questions, I'll get out of your way before I'm tempted to ask you something embarrassing. Any headache, dizziness, pain?"
"Actually, doc, I'm feeling just fine," Evan replied with a smirk. "In fact, I'm feeling so great that I doubt you'll find anything interesting in my blood anymore."
John stared at him for a moment, eyes wide, then shouted, "You son of a bitch!"
Evan leaned closer to Keller and stage-whispered, "You know, people laughed at me when I took that drama elective, but between you and me I think it's turned out pretty damned useful."
"I can not believe this!"
"People always put down the arts," Keller said, ignoring John. "And if nothing comes up in your labs, well, I guess I'll just have to run them again. It could take weeks to figure out what they gave you."
"I should have known better than to believe you, you bastard!"
"I'm sure you'll find it if it turns out to be necessary, but I bet it won't."
"I am so going to kick your ass, Lorne!"
Keller looked between the two men and shook her head. "I'll just leave you two alone to work this out."
"I just hope that the mystery drug didn't do something awful like inhibit my libido," Evan told John with a mournful look. John glared back at him, before a smile finally started to force its way through his grumpy expression. Eventually, John shook his head and chuckled.
"I guess this is what I get for asking for a distraction."
"Pretty much. The chaos with the betting pool alone is going to keep everyone in a frenzy, and once Chuck and David get their ball rolling it's going to be great." Evan glanced at the door and nodded towards it. Carter and Woolsey were standing there, talking with Keller. "So, are we going try to deny everything, or what? Your call."
John considered it for a moment and replied, "I bet it'll more fun to tell them the truth and throw them for a loop."
"Sounds like a plan." Evan waved as Carter and Woolsey walked over to them and his expression slid back to slightly stoned. "Sam. Richard. Sorry if I made a mess of the departure, I wasn't really thinking straight."
"Yes. Well," Woolsey said, flustered and at a loss for words. "They left on schedule, although many of them seemed a bit... startled. We also had to rather forcefully encourage the reporters to go."
"They were like sharks smelling blood in the water," Carter said. She had a smile, but it quickly went away as she continued, "I bet we'll be getting orders to investigate this incident with the next databurst, so we're going to have to act fast and have an explanation ready to dispatch before then. Now, Jennifer's investigating the mind-altering alien substance Lorne was exposed to, which gives him an alibi. The way I see it, clearly John was just humoring him to make sure no one got hurt. Right, John." Carter grinned at them and winked.
John tilted his head to the side. "I suppose that would be a logical explanation, but what about the ring?"
"Um." Carter pursed her lips. "It's an heirloom, right? He's carrying it for good luck. Lorne, make sure you tell Pierson that when she manages to hunt you down, people will love that."
"Sounds good," Evan said, "although that runs into the problem of how to hide the wedding. Speaking of which, John, I'm thinking we can have Teyla officiate, Radek will be my best man, and yours can be McKay."
"I don't know if Ronon will go for that, but I suppose the two of them can fight it out or something."
Woolsey coughed into his fist. "Ahem. Wedding?"
"We did just get engaged," John reminded him. "Usually a wedding follows that."
"A real wedding this time," Evan said, pointing an accusatory finger at John. "Not a fake alien one, and especially one that doesn't involve both our teams. Again."
"Yeah, yeah." John waved his hand. "I bet Teyla can annul all those other weird rituals at the same time or something."
"Oh, boy," Carter muttered under her breath.
"Colonel Sheppard," Woolsey said. "I can understand why you might be a bit distracted, so perhaps I should remind you how this works. You tell me some polite fiction to justify your insane actions, I pretend not to realize that you're lying to me, and then everything gets sorted out in a way that technically doesn't violate any rules. We've done this dozens of times."
"Oh, no," Evan said. "He's not wiggling out of this. I've had this planned for a while now, and he's going through with it even if I have to get Ronon to stun him and carry him to the altar for me."
Woolsey sighed and covered his face with his hand. "You know, I think it would be best to have this conversation once everyone involved is completely sober. Samantha, if you would be so kind as to try to talk some sense into them, I would appreciate it."
"Sure thing."
"If you'll excuse me, I'll be in my office not hearing things I shouldn't be hearing," Woolsey said before stalking off.
Carter watched him go and shook her head. "You're not going to play along, are you?"
"Nope," John said.
"And you realize they're going to toss you both out, right? There were enough reporters there that you'll be on every news channel on the planet. There is no way the SGC can't act on it without some kind of extenuating circumstance."
"I know, ma'am," Evan said. "Thanks anyways, though."
"Just checking." Carter leaned against the next bed over. "So -- how long?"
"It's been, uh..." John trailed off and glanced sideways.
Evan gave him a moment to figure it out, then rolled his eyes and supplied, "Two and a half years, more or less. Since when we were on Earth while the Ancients were here."
Carter's eyes lit up. "Oooh. That explains a few comments Daniel made. Damn, I must have been blind."
John shrugged. "We did our best to hide it."
"I mean, honestly, I though you... you and..." Sam started to chuckle uncontrollably, before managing to bite out, "You and McKay."
John's expression grew annoyed. "We're not sleeping together. We're just friends."
"Except when you do sleep together," Evan pointed out.
"Don't you even start."
"Or when we do, I should say," Evan went on. He grinned salaciously at Carter. "Let me tell you, when McKay sets his mind to something other than physics, he can be pretty damned awesome at other things. And his hands -- well, I don't know where to start."
"Evan, please stop talking now," John groaned.
"You know, maybe I should just let you to go back to your quarters and, ah, talk," Carter said, her face growing pink. Then, curious and the slightest bit regretful, she asked, "If you don't mind me asking, though -- do you think it's worth it?"
They looked at each other, and together said, "Absolutely."
--- 10.2 ---
(June 4, 2010)
For a few days, Sam had thought she and Woolsey had the situation under control. Only hours after the VIPs had departed Earth had dialed in and transmitted a databurst. It contained instructions placing her in command of the military and ordering Sheppard and Lorne to return to Earth for a board of inquiry. For obvious reason everyone in the city had found out within minutes. So far things had been stress-inducing, but not disastrous. McKay she had been prepared to deal with, but thus far he had been slightly less loud than she had anticipated and he had yet to threaten to resign. The rest of the scientists and the medical staff were obviously unhappy with the situation, Captain Barnes and First Sergeant Stackhouse had both quietly informed her that the men were angry and feeling betrayed - not by Sheppard, but by the SGC - and Teyla had already registered a formal protest as her people's representative in Atlantis.
All of that Sam had expected and braced herself for, but what hurt more was the increasing isolation she felt. More than once she had come across groups in the common areas and the mess talking, only for them to suddenly shut up before either beginning to furtively whisper to each other or loudly and pointedly changing the subject. It wasn't that they were excluding her or being unfriendly, and in fact many people had made sure to tell her they didn't blame her personally, but like Woolsey she was ultimately there as a representative of the SGC. She just hoped that they'd eventually forgive her for her part in things.
Still, she hadn't thought things could get worse, which was possibly her biggest mistake. Definitely her biggest mistake, she concluded as she walked into the control room the morning of the scheduled Earth dial-out. She had arrived in the control room early, intending to make sure things went smoothly, and quickly found that she had been right to do so.
"Chuck," she asked slowly, looking down from the balcony at the gateroom floor. "What's going on?"
From behind her the technician said, "Don't look at me, I only just got here myself."
Sam didn't believe that for a second, because nothing happened in the control room without him knowing - certainly nothing like this. There was a crowd of at least three dozen people assembled on the gateroom floor. They were all civilians, and at a glance they seemed to be pretty evenly spread across the different departments and nationalities. Some were standing, some were sitting, a few were eating breakfast, but all of them appeared to have at least one hand-made sign near them. To add insult to injury, they had somehow managed to haul one of the large displays directly in front of the gate and hooked up several game systems, and even as she watched a nurse and an archaeologist were busy playing Dance Dance Revolution.
It took them a few moments to notice her, but as soon as they did they all picked up their signs. While the artistic abilities of their makers varied wildly from "scribbled block letters" to "carefully drawn rainbows, flowers, and puddle jumpers", most of them had more or less the same general message: DOWN WITH BIGOTRY! FREE LOVE! ATLANTIS FOR ATLANTIS! SHEP IS OUR HERO! Then the chants started.
"Who do we want? Sheppard and Lorne! Where do we want them? Here!"
Sam spotted Doctor Parrish making his way through the crowd and she met him at the top of the stairs. "Dr. Parrish, what's going on here?"
"It's a protest." He dug into one of his pockets and pulled out several folded sheets of paper, which he handed to Sam. "This is a petition against the removal of Colonel Sheppard and Colonel Lorne, signed by everyone in the civilian portion of the expedition."
"A protest," Sam repeated in a dubious tone. She unfolded the paper and quickly skimmed over the contents, spotting McKay's signature at the top of a long list of names, followed by Jennifer Keller's.
"Yep," he said with a broad grin. "It's also a sit-in and gate blockade, too. Oh, and a strike, but this part here's mostly the protest."
Sam had a horrible sinking feeling in her stomach as she processed that statement. "A strike? You can't go on strike."
Parrish shrugged. "Well, we have."
"Who's we?"
"Everyone. Well, everyone except the military, obviously, but other than essential maintenance and the medical duty staff the entire civilian contingent isn't doing any work until the situation is resolved."
"I... you..." Sam was rendered speechless by the shear audacity of the idea. The situation was extraordinarily insane even by Atlantis standards. Knowing the answer already, she asked, "I don't suppose ordering you to move would do any good?"
"Nope. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back down there. I'm up next for the game." With that, he turned and loped back down the stairs.
As Sam watched him go, she wondered if she was starting to slip, having failed to even consider something like this. To be fair, most military officers never had to deal with fully two-thirds of their base's residents deciding to strike, of all things, so maybe she shouldn't be blaming herself for not seeing it coming. On the other hand, she should have realized that the civilians wouldn't see things as being a simple matter of regulations and would have their own unique ways of expressing their displeasure. The speed with which they'd put it together was astonishing, which suggested a considerable amount of planning on their part. Now that she thought about it, it was entirely likely they'd had something like this planned ever since the first rumors of the ZPM withdraw had started, and the suspicious quiet of the last few days had been the scientists' equivalent of laying in wait to spring a trap. If so, it was definitely a very effective trap.
Sam sighed and returned to the main control console, where Chuck was looking on with amusement. She gave him a suspicious look, glanced between him and where Parrish was standing now a few times, and considered asking him again if he really didn't have any idea that this had been coming. Not being one for completely useless gestures, she instead ordered, "Chuck, get Mr. Woolsey up here."
"Are you sure, ma'am? I mean, he really doesn't like having his morning routine interrupted. He gets a bit cranky."
Sam closed her eyes. "Fine. I'll wait for him in my office. His office. Just tell him I'm waiting for him." She started to turn, then said, "And you may as well tell Sheppard and Lorne they're not leaving today, assuming they don't already know."
To a background chorus of, "Hell, no, they won't go!", Sam retired to the office to start figuring how to salvage the situation. It only took a few radio calls to confirm that the strike was indeed city-wide, with most of the scientists gathered in the recreational areas. By all appearances, the only people who were working were food services, the infirmary emergency team, and a few people monitoring key systems. Even McKay wasn't in his lab, although apparently he was down in the hangar with Zelenka and a few other engineers whose idea of 'day off' apparently meant 'putting the final touches on our hobbyist starship.' The military staff, of course, was still operating as usual, although Sam suspected that most of those who were off-duty could be found with the civilians in the rec rooms even if they weren't officially joining the protests. Sam decided against trying to stop that, because the last thing she needed were a bunch of sullen and bored marines. That was just a recipe for disaster. The real wildcard of the situation was Woolsey, of course. Sam couldn't imagine he'd react well. He had stretched regulations from time to time over the course of his tenure, but afterwards he had always been careful to document the reasons for the exceptions he made and to change the rules when they failed to adequately match practical reality. This was an entirely different matter entirely, however, and Sam suspected he'd see this all as a direct affront to his leadership of the base.
Sam settled into one of the spare chairs and pulled out her PDA in the hopes of getting something useful done while she waited. About an hour later, Woolsey arrived, sneaking in through the back door. He looked startled to see her there, which probably meant that Chuck had suddenly started to become forgetful and failed to inform him she was there.
"Colonel Carter! I hope you haven't been waiting long. Breakfast took longer than expected, for some reason the cooks seemed... they seemed a bit... what's going on out there?"
Sam looked over her shoulder through the window. At some point, even more game consoles and screens had been hauled up, while the act of actually waving signs about and chanting had been delegated to a trio of MALPs with signs attached to their claws and small speakers plugged into them. The gate was quite thoroughly blocked by the mess of equipment, stands, boxes, and wiring. Sam stood, shrugged, and said, "It's a strike."
Woolsey came over to stand next to her and stared down in shock. "A strike? Who's on strike?"
"The civilians, Richard. All of them."
"They can't strike!"
Sam forced down a sigh as she realized just how tiring explaining this was probably going to get. "That's what I said, but apparently they disagree."
"That's insane!"
"That's Atlantis for you." Sam pointed at the gate, or rather what portion of it that they could see. "You'll notice they've made the gate impassable, and I'm sure you can guess why."
His eyes narrowed. "So that we can't send Colonel Sheppard through. I should have known he'd try something like this."
"Actually, as far as I can tell this is a purely civilian operation," Sam replied, handing over the petition. Woolsey angrily snatched it from her hands and began to read it.
"This entire thing is absurd. I have no more desire to see them leave than anyone else, but there are proper channels for making these sort of protests. If they think I'm going to let this stop a legitimate investigation, they're wrong. I want that equipment moved, now."
Sam looked at him in disbelief. "How do you propose to do that?"
"I'm sure the military isn't participating," Woolsey said. "Have a few soldiers go down there and clear a hole."
"That won't work. The civilians won't let them through. Unless you're suggesting I have the marines remove them by force, I don't see what I can do."
Woolsey looked like he'd bitten into a lemon, but he nodded. "If that's what you need to do to deal with this, this mutiny, then I want you do to it. I doubt it would take much effort to get them to leave, just aim a few stunners at them to get the point across and physically carry away any stragglers."
Sam shook her head angrily and crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, there's no way I'm ordering the men to go up against our own people. It would completely tear the expedition apart, and I'm not doing anything of the sort without a direct order from General O'Neill or the president. If you or the IOA have a problem with that, tough."
"Fine. Then we'll contact Earth and get you those orders."
"All right." Sam didn't think it'd be nearly that easy, but she led the way out into the control room. "Chuck, raise the shield and dial Earth."
"Ma'am?" He cupped his hand over his ear. "Sorry, couldn't quite hear that."
The noise from the floor wasn't that loud, but she raised her voice anyways. "I said, raise the shield and dial Earth!"
"Oh. You do know it'd be a bit difficult to get anyone through, right?"
"I know that. Just do it."
Chuck shrugged and began dialing, but he hit the wrong key for the sixth symbol and the gate died with a whir. Cheerfully, he said, "Whoops. Curse my clumsy Canadian fingers. Sometimes I think all that horseback riding damaged my nerves somehow."
"You've never been on a horse in your life!" Sam protested.
"Don't be silly, ma'am. How else would we Mounties get around? We don't even have cars yet." It took him two more tries, but finally the gate connected and the kawhoosh splashed across the shield. For their part, the protesters and gamers below didn't so much as flinch. A few seconds later a video link with the SGC was established and put on the main screen.
"Stargate Command, this is Atlantis," Sam said. "We have a situation. Is General O'Neill available?"
"Just a second, ma'am," Walter replied. In the background, Sam saw Jack coming down the stairs. She was not surprised under the circumstances, and was glad that she could deal with him instead of Landry. Somehow she suspected that Landry would take things even worse than Woolsey had once he heard about the situation.
Jack reached the camera and crossed his arms. "Carter. What's up?"
Sam glanced at Woolsey, but he was silently fuming. "Sir, we've got a bit of a problem here. I don't think we're going to be sending Sheppard and Lorne through to you anytime soon."
"Let me guess -- Sheppard and his team disappeared through the gate," Jack said peevishly. "Again."
"Actually, no," Sam replied. Surprisingly, John had promised to do nothing of the sort, and the last she had heard after being told their dial-out was canceled he and Lorne had returned to Lorne's quarters to... well, she didn't want to think too hard about what they were doing while talking with a general who might wonder why she was blushing. Especially not while talking with Jack, who would ask about it. "It's a bit more complicated then that."
"Which means?"
"The civilians are on strike," she said, and to make the point clear she made a few keystrokes to send them footage from the gateroom surveillance cameras.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack muttered. "Of course they are.
Sam was thankful that he hadn't even tried to pretend it wasn't happening. "They've blocked physical access to the gate, so I don't think we're getting anyone in or out until this is resolved."
Woolsey chose that moment to cut in. "It could be resolved quickly if you would instruct Colonel Carter to simply have the marines move the civilians aside. Surely it could be done without hurting anyone."
"And as I already told you, that's just a sure-fire way to turn this into a complete catastrophe," Sam retorted.
Jack leaned closer to the camera with a scowl. "You're right about that, Carter. Do your best to keep the situation from escalating and try to figure out what they want."
"They want Sheppard and Lorne to remain here, sir. If we could get a guarantee that they won't be removed from the city, even without command, I think we can keep this under control."
Jack snorted, and under his breath muttered, "I knew this was going to bite me in the ass." Louder, he went on, "I'll see what I can do. In the mean time, try your best and don't do anything stupid. SGC, out. Walter, tell Hank I need to use his phone to -"
The transmission cut off and Sam signaled for Chuck to kill the gate.
"Well. Looks like we'll do this your way," Woolsey said, actually looking a bit relieved. "Given that you're the closest thing to a neutral party here, perhaps you should speak with the ringleaders and see if they'll at least resume work when not... protesting. With any luck we can get this all sorted out before the IOA or anyone else needs to get involved."
"I hope so." The president was a reasonable man, and with any luck he would steamroll past any opposition from the Pentagon or elsewhere and find a way to guarantee Sheppard and Lorne would get honorable discharges that would allow them to stay. Otherwise, while those on Earth might not realize it yet, Sam knew that the scientists definitely had the fortitude and dedication to make this a very long and very ugly affair. The only bright point was that the press had no idea anything was happening yet, but the longer things dragged on the more likely it was they would realize that the duo should have been returned to Earth by now. Even worse was the possibility of the civilians managing to sneak a databurst out to friends. If that happened, it would probably be the biggest PR disaster and media feeding frenzy since disclosure.
--- 10.3 ---
(June 6, 2010)
Jennifer paced back and forth in the infirmary, going over her checklist a fourth time that night. Everything seemed to be in place, just like it had for the last few days, but tomorrow was The Day, capital letters and all, and she had to be sure everything was ready. There wasn't supposed to be anyone hurt, not worse than maybe a stunner hangover or two, but when had anything every gone as planned in this galaxy?
"Hey," someone said behind her, and Jennifer nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around to see Ronon leaning against the door frame and put her hand over her pounding heart.
"Hey there," she managed to say after a few seconds. "What's up?"
"Nothin' much. You busy?"
"Yeah, I'm," Jennifer started, then stopped. She shrugged, spread her hands, and admitted, "Actually, not really. I was just double-checking everything for tomorrow, again."
"Worried?"
"Aren't you? I mean, this is pretty big, and it's not like we're gonna be fighting Wraith this time."
"Naw. Sheppard's got a plan; he'll get us through fine."
"That doesn't mean no one's going to get hurt."
"And you'll fix them."
"I wish I was as confident as you." Jennifer felt a smile creep onto her face. "Did you need something?"
Ronon jerked his thumb towards the hall. "Want to get dinner?"
She hesitated, then set her list aside. "That'd be great."
=====
The door chimed, and Teyla smiled to herself. She had been expecting a visitor about that time and had just taken her evening tea off the heating element to let it cool. She finished setting out a pair of cups and went to the door, opening it to find Rodney.
"Good evening, Rodney."
Rodney gave her a little wave and fidgeted nervously, glancing up and down the hall several times. "Hey. I just thought I'd drop by, see what you were up to."
"I was about to have some tea. Would you care to join me?"
"Oh, sure, thanks."
Rodney bustled inside and sat down at the table. Teyla brought over the kettle and cups, along with a plate of mint cookies the mess made that she had found went well with the tea. As she poured them each a cup, she commented, "I am surprised to see you here, Rodney. I had assumed you would be busy."
"I figured I should do a few rounds, make sure everyone was ready for the big day tomorrow."
"That is very kind of you." Teyla sat down across from him and sipped of her tea. "Your work in the lab is done, then?"
"Not quite, but it never is, and Zelenka threw me out because my pacing and muttering was 'distracting' him." Rodney rolled his eyes and dismissed the complaint with a waggle of his hand. "But, since all the preparations are finished and I could tell he was nervous, I thought I'd take it easy on him and go for a walk."
Rodney himself was tense and practically shaking, but Teyla refrained from pointing that out. "I'm sure it will do you well also. You should relax and rest while you have a chance. You may not have another for some time."
"You're right, of course, but when aren't you?" Rodney shrugged. "Anyways, I went to see if Sheppard was doing anything, but apparently he's got something planned with Lorne. He said he'd be cool with hanging out anyways, but I decided not to."
"I see," was Teyla's only comment. She had been aware of what John had been planning for this night for some time, but was also sure he would have set it aside in an instant if Rodney truly needed his companionship.
"Not that I have anything against hanging out with those two. Lorne's a pretty nice guy, when you get right down to it. I mean, he puts up with me, doesn't he? So I could have, but I didn't because I'm not quite that clueless. They deserve a bit of time alone. So here I am instead." Rodney stopped, his eyes bugged out slightly, and he hurried to add, "Not that you're my second choice or something."
"Rodney," Teyla said, "I know what you mean. That was quite considerate of you."
"Me? Considerate? That'd be the day." Teyla suppressed a sigh at that remark, as she often did when Rodney said such things about himself. "No, that was just a tiny bit of common decency. It's not like Sheppard belongs to me or something. Getting married isn't going to make him forget I'm his best friend, right? Of course not. It's just a little ceremony, not nearly as life-altering as some sappy morons would tell you. Nothing's going to change."
Rodney gulped down most of his tea and Teyla silently refilled it in silence, letting Rodney continue to vent.
"It's been, what, two, three years now? If something was going to really be different it would already be different. Sure, they're probably going to move in together or something, and they won't have to hide anymore, which will probably mean they'll spend even more time outside of work with each other and thus John will have proportionately less time with me, and since they'll be married they probably won't be having me around for, well, you know anymore...." Rodney seemed to deflate and slumped backwards. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'll be left alone, just like every other time one of my friends has fallen in love. I'm just surprised it's taken this long this time."
"Rodney!" Teyla said sharply, causing him to jerk his head up. "You are a bright man, but sometimes I despair at your inability to judge how others feel about you. Do you truly think that John Sheppard cares so little for you? Has he ever given you reason to think that?"
"Well, no. He was a bit pissed after Doranda, but even then it was more sulking than anything else."
"Surely you must also admit that he is close to Ronon and me, and that his relationships with us do not threaten his with you?"
"No, but that's different, we're," Rodney waved his hands vaguely, "you know, a team."
"And yet you deny that he could be part of a different sort of team and still value you as much. Is that logical?" Hesitantly, Rodney shook his head, and Teyla finished, "You are one of the few people John is close to, Rodney, and I know he holds you dearer than even Evan. You have nothing to fear from what is coming. Things may change, yes, but he will not leave you alone."
"I... okay, I guess I might be a bit more pessimistic than I need to be."
"If you are truly so concerned, then perhaps you should discuss your feelings with John," Teyla suggested.
Rodney looked utterly aghast at the idea. "Discuss my feelings? With Sheppard?"
They looked at each other for a moment, before even Teyla could not maintain her composure and had to laugh aloud. "I can see the flaw in that idea, so perhaps you should talk with Evan instead. I am sure he would listen."
Grudgingly, Rodney said, "I'll think about it."
That was all Teyla could hope for, at least for a time. Perhaps she could arrange for it to happen that Evan would broach the subject instead, with both men, as he was far more reasonable about such things than either of them would ever be. For now, though, she simply asked, "In any case, there will be time enough for that once the coming fight is over. How is your work progressing?"
"Oh, it's going great, and it's only going to get better. There's all sorts of research we haven't been able to do because of IOA regulations, and there's also the cruiser project that we've got going...." As Rodney babbled on, Teyla was happy to note that he had finally begun to relax. There was little else that she herself could do, not until things were in motion, but that was of no matter. She could still comfort her friends, and that was of far greater assistance than any purely physical aid she could supply.
=====
"Okay, John, I give in," Evan said, as they rounded yet another corner and started down yet another corridor. "Why are you dragging me way out here?"
"Like I said, I've got something to show you," John said, grinning over his shoulder. "What, are you the only one allowed to surprise people?"
"No, but I don't make people walk halfway across the city to do it?" Evan watched suspiciously as John hesitated at the next intersection. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"Sure I do," John said. He sounded confident, but then he almost always did and it was entirely possible that they were never going to find their way back to civilization. A short time later they did reach a nondescript door and John led Evan inside. "Here we go."
Evan looked around the room, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly interesting, just some consoles and a series of hatches set the walls. "This is, uh, nice?"
John turned to Evan, his hands planted on his hips. "So, um. I've been thinking for a while, about what might be next for you and me. Relationship-wise, that is. Obviously you've been thinking about it too, what with the proposal and all, which makes me pretty happy because it means we're on the same page. Right?"
Evan cautiously nodded. "Right."
"See, few months ago I was talking with the computer, about long-term plans for after secession, how we'd expand the population, genetics, families, that sort of thing, and it sent me down to this room to show me what's here."
John paused expectantly, and Evan said, "Which is?"
"These." John waved his hand over one of the hatches. It opened up and a second later a platform extended out, on top of which was a stubby cylindrical canister of some sort. It was about four feet long and two in diameter, with a rounded top and a panel buttons and indicators on one side. Evan studied it for a minute, but eventually shook his head. Before he could ask what it was, John went on, "The Ancients were a bit weird about physical inconveniences, physical anything really, and this is one of the things they came up with to get around them. It's called a uterine replicator. An artificial womb."
"Oh," was all Evan could say.
"I read up on them in the database, and it says they work for men, too. All we'd have to do was touch one of those machines over there to get a DNA sample and wait nine months, and the system would take care of the rest. I know you've spent a lot of time with Teyla and Torren, and I know you really enjoyed being around your sister's kids, so... so I guess what I'm trying to ask is, once we've got things settled, do you want to have a kid?"
"Fuck," Evan said. He'd never expected something like this to come up, although he really should have, given the kind of biotechnology the Ancients had possessed. He looked at John with wide eyes. "Are you serious? I mean, sure, I'd like to, but you're not just asking because it'd make me happy, right?"
John shrugged. "Hey, I like kids too, and it's not like I don't know what I'd be getting into. I'm willing to try if you are. Hopefully I won't fuck up too badly."
"Then the answer's yes," Evan said, before squeezing John into a tight hug and kissing him. "And don't worry, you'll make a great dad."
"Really? 'Cause I have to admit, while I like the idea it still terrifies me."
"It should, but that doesn't change what I said," Evan told him, and to stop any further protests he kissed him.
(Next Chapter)