SGA FIC: A PEGASUS CHRISTMAS 2/2[PG]
Title: A Pegasus Christmas 2/2
Author: x-erikah-x
Rating: PG
Character: focus on John Sheppard and appearances of the team
Word count: ~11,000
Genre: hurt/comfort with some a side order of angst
Disclamer: Stargate and its characters belong to their respective owners. I do this for my love of John Sheppard and not to gain profit.
Summary: He just decided to suck it up and try to get through the month as quickly as possible. Probably his whole time would be devoted to juggling the lack of personnel in the several areas they were needed and trying not to think about his team.
A/N 1: Thanks so much sherry57 for the quickest beta I've ever had. Many Sheppard shaped cookies for you.
Part I
A PEGASUS CHRISTMAS
By ErikaHK
Part II
John felt his head had been on the pillow for just a few minutes when the radio cracked to life and woke him up. He forced sandy eyes to open and it took a lot of effort, not to mention a few calls of "Sir" through the open channel, for them to actually obey. He looked at his watch and confirmed that it had been just fifty minutes.
He felt that he would regret responding to the call immensely, but the voice was insistent and probably wouldn’t let him go back to sleep anyway, so he clicked the radio.
"This is Sheppard. What is it?"
"Sir, we have a situation that needs your attention."
John didn’t recognize the voice. "Okay…"
"We’ve picked up a faint distress signal coming from the mountain. My team was working on stabilizing the area when we heard clicking noises coming from our comm. It was an SOS signal, sir."
John got up straight away and sat on the edge of the bed. "Captain Ferguson’s team. What’s your location?"
"Three clicks from the relief camp up the northern range, just below the danger area, sir. Doctor McKenzie is now trying to narrow it down. The signal is barely coming through but she thinks they may be transmitting it from somewhere close enough to the surface where we could dig through."
"Is the area safe?"
"Seems a bit dodgy but it’ll hold if the rain doesn’t start again. We’d have to work quickly though. I can pull some men off the work we have been doing but not too many or we’ll be in danger of a mountain collapse in the most unstable areas. The problem is accessing the entry point, sir."
John was seeing where this was going and began putting on his boots.
"It’s very narrow and it doesn’t have a lot of space to maneuver in order to land a jumper. We’d need--"
"I'm on my way." John put on his earpiece and clicked it, hurrying out of the tent.
oOoOo
John soon figured out that the voice belonged to Sargent Gomez leading the second shift team of engineers and met them on the edge of a cliff, already fully geared and prepped for the mission along with Doctor McKenzie and her bag. He landed the jumper and opened the rear hatch to let them all inside, a trail of mud following their footsteps.
"Where to, Sergeant?"
Gomez approached the front section of the jumper while his men loaded in the pieces of equipment. "Sir, the location is on the other side of the mountain. Doctor McKenzie will upload the coordinates."
With that, Gomez stepped back and McKenzie approached with an open laptop walking over to the co-pilot seat. She was small, but strong and John had seen her working out at the gym many times before, so she was probably handling herself well in these working conditions. That was probably the reason Gomez had brought her to assist his team.
"This won't take long at all, Colonel," she said as she hooked up some cables. A few seconds after that, the HUD appeared on the front screen and showed a detailed map of the mountain that included updates on all the working engineers and their progress. The map circled around until it turned to the other side of the mountain. "There, sir." She pointed at a blinking blue dot.
John analyzed the area, checking altitude drops and distances. It was rocky and barely had any mud below, but the top could be a problem if it rained more, just like the Sergeant had said. The point was in the middle of a network of cliffs and sharp pointy rocks that looked like a maze. The map then circled down and showed a network of tunnels.
"I made this map based on the instructions of some miners I was able to talk to." She indicated a spot just below the surface, near a corner of the mine. This is the closest spot to the surface and is where the signal is coming from. Since it's SOS in Morse code and it's coming in on our channel, it's safe to assume it's the Captain's team signaling."
John nodded and smiled slightly. "Well done, Doctor."
"Thank you, Colonel." She smiled.
"All right, everyone. Settle down. This is going to be a bit tricky."
oOoOo
Tricky proved to be an understatement. John had flown in many complicated terrains with his chopper back in Afghanistan, some of those times in covert ops relying on gut feelings alone, so it wasn't all that new to him. The jumper provided incredible maneuverability and fast reactions and it was great using his thoughts more than just his instruments. He had to trust the sensors since a faint drizzle had started and the early night provided fog and darkness beyond what the jumper could compensate for, but still it wasn't anything too impossible for an experienced pilot like him. At least this time he wasn’t under heavy Taliban fire.
The real problem was the fact that once someone entered the maze with a jumper, they couldn't come out unless they retraced the whole way back. It was like flying a ship through a labyrinth without being able to tip toe and peek at what was on the other side because there was a ceiling of rock above. The distance and the curves made going on foot nearly impossible unless John wanted to risk their lives. If anyone got trapped or lost there in this weather it would be bad.
Thank goodness for Doctor McKenzie's map.
John found out that landing was an equal challenge and there weren't any large enough spaces to fit a jumper with the easiness he would have liked. If he put the ship down they would be trapped by rock on three sides and the jumper covering their only exit. John examined the passages that were showing on the HUD and cursed under his breath. Getting out of that spot was going to be just peachy, especially considering his lack of sleep.
"It's the only spot in miles, Colonel," McKenzie said, apparently reading his thoughts.
"Better hold on," he warned as he started to make the jumper touch down.
He failed to avoid a couple of rough edges and the landing was bumpier than a ship with inertial dampeners should allow. When they finally stopped moving, John found his weight inclining to the side as he discovered the ground wasn't exactly horizontal.
"Well, that's about the best I can do."
He turned around and saw Doctor McKenzie smiling at him.
"That was quite impressive." She nodded.
John returned the smile easily. "Thank you. Just wait until we have to fly outa here."
He opened the rear hatch and watched as everyone got out of the ship. John left last to check out the area and have a look at their plan in action before he decided to go back inside and take a nap on those nice comfy benches.
It was dark and the flashlights the team were putting up were barely enough to make the place recognizable. All John could see was rock and the fierce drizzle cutting through the beams of light.
The equipment was quickly set up, along with a tent where the doc settled to take some readings and analyze data. John helped unload the supplies but did little beyond that since digging through solid rock in dangerous locations was a little beyond his area of expertise. He tried staying out of the way as much as possible and let the men work without the shadow of their CO hanging over their shoulders. Pretty soon, John was bored out of his mind, fighting against sleepiness, his yawns almost popping his jaw.
He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned his back on the hull of the jumper, trying to convince himself that nothing would happen in several hours and that it would be okay to take a nap until morning.
"Tired, huh?"
Her voice startled him and John snapped his head down to see Doctor McKenzie looking up at him. He hadn't seen or heard her coming over.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's all right. It's just been a very long day."
She nodded. "I bet. It's going to be a very long night too."
"I guess." He suppressed a yawn and looked over to the working men.
"What I mean to say is that this planet's rotation makes days and nights very long here, or haven't you noticed that it took almost twenty hours since you got here for night to finally come?" She smiled.
John chuckled. "Yeah, I noticed that." John cocked his head towards the combat engineers. "How long do you figure that's gonna take?"
She shrugged and glanced at them. "Hard to say, but they are making some slow progress. This mineral is way harder than anything they have ever encountered. It's using up a lot of drills. It's probably going to take the whole night." She looked back at him. "You should probably get some rest. I hear the Sergeant woke you up."
"Pretty used to that by now." John smiled and noticed how beautiful her eyes were in the faint light. "But you're right. No use in me to just hanging around doing nothing."
"I'll wake you up if anything happens."
"Thanks."
John entered the jumper and settled down on the bench, pulling a blanket over his wet uniform. He was asleep in seconds.
oOoOo
For the third time on the same day (or maybe not really the same day in Earth standard time, but he was on another planet), John was snapped awake just minutes after settling down. It took a few seconds for him to realize the jumbling and jostling wasn't coming from anyone shaking him awake, but from the jumper itself.
"What the hell?" he muttered as he tried to get to his feet.
At that moment, McKenzie along with Lieutenants Anderson and Souza stumbled into the ship half covered by mud and followed by a brown avalanche entering the jumper. Anderson slammed a hand on the control to close the rear hatch as McKenzie yelled for them to take off.
The ship shook and the ground turned wobbly as John tried to walk away from the coming landslide. He watched as the hatch slowly closed and left the outside encompassed with earth then hurried to the cockpit and started flight as fast as humanly possible. He watched in horror as the controls slipped and hammered stubbornly trying to follow the path of the landslide but was able to force them to obey with a lot of internal yelling and cursing. One of these curses made it out of his lips as a loud alarm from the jumper screamed at him that they would be buried alive by an imminent slide from the top slit of an opening.
John accelerated his pace, his curves sharp and dangerous until the realization that he wouldn't be able to make it far enough to be ahead of the coming avalanche and he turned abruptly in a different direction trying to find a safer area to land, somewhere where the strength of the slide wouldn't break the windshield into pieces.
His fierce grip on the controls made his joints ache until they snapped away from his hands as he was violently thrown across the console in an explosion of pain. For a few moments all that he could hear was loud breathing and the deafening sound of earth moving all around them. The jumper squeaked and started to move slowly until it tilted slightly to the side.
When everything seemed to finally stop, John got up from his sprawl across the panels with a painful wince. He started making a count of his injuries but a loud crack, the sound of soil and a squeal from the hull made him snap his head towards the windshield. The initial fissure spread to spider web within milliseconds and John barely had time to jump up and shove everyone to the rear before he was overtaken by mud. His lost his balance, felt his body being pushed forward and, before the others would get buried alive, John slammed the door shut and locked himself in the cockpit to be enveloped by darkness.
oOoOo
Consciousness was slow coming. Just when its edges started to envelop him, blackness lured him back in and John didn't have the strength to resist it. He didn't know how many times it had happened or how long had passed. John felt that the only thing he wanted to do was to sleep. When he finally woke up enough to realize his situation, panic began to flow as he desperately tried to move without success. His heart hammered fast in his chest and the gulps of air felt like agony washing through his body. He forced stilled hands and arms to try to break free from their enclosure of earth, his breath hitching faster and faster until he was so lightheaded he almost sunk back under the pull of sleep.
He opened his eyes again slowly as the panic ebbed away. He saw nothing beyond darkness and only felt earth on every inch of his body except his face and right shoulder. The soil was wet but applied enough pressure confined inside the cockpit to make his chest feel like it was being ripped apart each time he took a deeper breath, the pain probably amplified by a few cracked ribs. He figured he must be breathing in a pocket of air and felt himself slipping away in hyperventilation when he began considering how long it would last.
He willed himself to calm down figuring it would be even worse if he used up the little air he had left with useless panic. He took a few long breaths and quietly wished for some hope.
"Doc-- dammit," he breathed out when the pain spiked with the effort of speaking. He took a few seconds to try a second time. "Doc, Lieutenant… anyone… anyone there?" He figured his voice was too weak for him to be heard and after a few seconds without response, he called again. "Anyone?"
Shouting left him breathless but that sparkle of hope he had wished for finally hit.
"Colonel?" a faint voice came over muffled by layers of mud and the bulkhead.
He released the breath he had been holding. "Yeah." His voice was strained and he didn't know if it had been heard.
"Colonel?" a graver voice called.
John grunted. "I'm here." He bit his lip and tried to control his breathing. "God…" he muttered softly. "Hurts… hurts to speak…" he let his voice trail off.
"What's your condition?"
John focused on his body and tried his limbs. Nothing hurt too badly when he tried to move them, but he wasn't able to shift one inch. His chest was a whole different story. He didn't even need to try to think about it for it to turn to absolute torture. His head also felt light and throbbed incessantly. There was a definite sharp twinge somewhere above his forehead and only now he felt a sticky wetness covering it.
"Can't-- move… chest tight and…" He took his time to catch his breath. "Feel… lightheaded..."
John shook his head as best he could and let the pain help him fight off the sleepiness. A few louder thuds on metal snapped him from the haze.
"Colonel, try to stay awake," a voice that he recognized as McKenzie's said. "I'll see if I can find a way to increase the ventilation in the cockpit."
"Okay…" He knew his voice wasn't loud enough for her to hear, but he wasn't in the mood to shout.
"I turned both the ventilation and the heaters on several hours ago but kept it low because we thought you were dead. We're trying to make the hull of the jumper warmer to us. We didn't hear from you for over twelve hours," she continued.
"Twelve hours?" he repeated. "How… how are you guys?"
"We're fine, sir. Not much of the slide made it to the rear section. We have air and a few supplies. We think we can manage until the Daedalus arrives," Lieutenant… was it Anderson or Souza that said it?
"That's… that's very good." John just hoped he would last until then.
oOoOo
The lack of any distraction except overhearing the conversation taking place on the other side of the bulkhead was taking a huge toll on John's ability to stay awake after a few hours. McKenzie had started a prime/not prime game with them and both Anderson and Souza were pretty good at it, but then they were engineers. John got some answers right, but a whole lot of them wrong. He blamed the concussion and the fact that he was barely able to keep his eyes open. He gave up trying any kind of mental puzzles since they were making his headache increase.
They kept constantly checking up on him, but John missed a fair amount of the calls and only noticed when the frantic tapping and increased yelling snapped him out of the haze. He was getting weaker and responding loud enough to be heard was becoming quite a task. John tried to find a way to tell them he was still there without speaking, but his arms were still trapped and unable to tap any kind of surfaces. He felt an increasing edge in all three voices as time trickled by but there was nothing any of them could do. If anyone opened that bulkhead, they would be swallowed by dirt. His best chance of escape was a miraculous beam out from the Daedalus.
He lost track of time and eventually lost his battle to stay awake. The next time he woke up, he felt increasingly crappier. He was shaking with cold and figured the heaters weren't doing much good anymore. The air around his face felt colder and his head touched the tip of his chest above the ground. Lifting it felt like an impossible task.
The back of the jumper was too quiet and John wanted to call them out so badly, but didn't find his voice. He could barely open his eyes without having them close again of their own accord. He fought tiredness as long as he could, forcing limbs to work, trying to get some exercise from his body but failed miserably and sagged exhausted.
"Guys?" he whispered faintly.
His chest tightened with the lack of any sound at all.
"Anyone?" he breathed out.
They must be sleeping. Only sleeping.
Silence stretched. John tried to keep droopy eyelids open but it was a losing battle. He eventually gave in and figured he wouldn't feel as cold if he just fell asleep.
Static woke him up. John peeled his eyes open and figuring it wouldn’t make much difference in the dark, decided to close them again. He almost sank back to oblivion but a loud hiss coming from his ear snapped him back awake. He furrowed his brow wondering where the hell the sound was coming from when his brain finally registered the fact that, somehow, he still had his earpiece on.
"Co--onel?" John heard Anderson's voice. "Are you there?"
John's heart stammered thinking maybe it was rescue finally reaching them. He opened his eyes. "Yeah--yeah, I'm here."
John heard a collective sigh coming from the channel.
"Colonel, I was able to get our radios working again," McKenzie said.
"But--" Souza cut in. "We're still not able to contact anyone. I supposed we're too far out of range."
"At least we can talk to each other," she added.
John felt his heart sink. "Yeah…"
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Tired…" He let his eyes fall closed.
"John?"
He snapped them back open with the sound of his name. "Sorry.... It's… hard…"
"But you have to keep trying," she insisted.
"I know… cold…"
There was a pause. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "I had to turn down the heaters a little to conserve power. I'm leaving them on around your location, but it's a lot of earth to heat up and--"
"It was my order, sir," Anderson interrupted.
"It's okay. You have a way better chance of getting out of here." John's voice was low and soft. "Do whatever you can to survive. If you need it…" John swallowed and took a moment to muster some strength in his voice. "You can cut off my air if it's necessary. That's an order." John breathed out. "Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"We won't need it," McKenzie interjected.
"But if you do." John tried to put as much command in his voice as he could in his condition. "Don't hesitate."
Silence took over for several moments.
"How long… how long has it been?" John asked, trying to keep the shaking from his voice.
A few seconds passed. "Twenty-one hours," she answered.
John swallowed. He had no idea it had been that long.
"It's going to be Christmas in the East Coast in just a few minutes," she added softly.
John had to take a deep breath to compose himself. He blinked a few times thinking of his team. Maybe they were eating dinner, maybe they were sleeping, maybe they were drinking and having fun.
This had to be the crappiest Christmas he had ever had.
"Merry Christmas, John."
"Merry Christmas…" John's voice came heavy and shaky and it didn't have anything to do with cold.
"Laura. My name is Laura."
John smiled slightly. "Merry Christmas, Laura."
"Yeah, Merry Christmas, sir!" came both Lieutenants voices combined.
John had to chuckle at their energy but it soon turned to coughing. When he was done, it took a few moments for his voice to return.
"Doesn't feel very merry at the moment but… Merry Christmas back," he said.
A few seconds passed.
"They're going to get you out of here, John" Laura said softly.
John blinked a few more times. "I know they will."
John took a deep breath and ignored the fierce protest of his ribcage. He closed his eyes and thought about Rodney, Teyla and Ronon unaware of what was happening to him.
Soon, Anderson's and Souza's voices cut through the silence and broke his moody humor by telling funny stories of previous Christmas. They talked about their families, the food, their favorite presents growing up. They shared experiences that had turned out great and some other that hadn't. Burned family dinners, torched trees, and an electrical burn out that cut off the power in the entire neighborhood… It was a true miracle they had managed to get past childhood.
John did little beyond just listen.
Laura also told some of her stories. She told them about the way her father liked to roast lamb, pork, rabbit, or anything that wasn't a turkey. She told about her mother liking to decorate trees with candies when she was a kid and how she would slip out of her bedroom at night to steal a couple of them every night. She chuckled as she said those trips had been responsible for a number of cavities in her baby teeth.
Souza cut in and told about his Christmases in South America. He told them about the summer weather and how he had never seen a white Christmas until he turned twelve and his parents moved back to the States.
Anderson told them about the time he had gone fishing a week before the holidays and had gotten lost in the forest with his little brother. Even though it must have been scary as hell for a child, Anderson put such an edge in his tale that everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud.
John felt more and more like sharing something of his own, but was at such loss for words he just kept on listening.
In the end, their voices lured him back to sleep and before he finally gave in, he prayed for them to be okay after all of this. It was Christmas after all, and it would be really crappy if they died under his watch and let those families mourn on such a festive date.
oOoOo
John woke up with a muddled brain and a warm softness around him. He noticed the pressure in his chest was gone then felt a familiar smell and a familiar beeping. His eyes fluttered before they finally opened and a bright white blur took over his senses. He squeezed his eyes and tried to open them again when he felt the light was gone.
The blur that took place turned out to be Carson with a smile on his lips and a very gentle pair of eyes. John looked above and didn't recognize the ceiling of the infirmary. He felt a hum around the walls and realized the gray bulkheads belonged to the Daedalus.
"Hey, John. Welcome back to the land of the living."
John smiled and let his eyes fall close. "I suppose that's your doing," John muttered but doubted anything intelligible made it out of his lips.
Carson chuckled. "Yeah, but you did the fighting yourself." He squeezed John's arm. "Guess who's here to see you?"
John opened his eyes, really more hoping than expecting that Laura had decided to pay him a visit. Carson raised his bed slightly and John couldn't help but gape at the sight before him.
"Guys?"
They stepped closer to his bed, smiling.
"It is us, John," Teyla said, her grin brightening up the whole room. She stood by his side and took his hand, interlacing their fingers.
"Yeah, of course it's us. Who else did you expect?" Rodney replied. He stepped closer, dressed in civvies.
"Yeah. How you doin'? “Ronon's rough voice added.
John's smile was beginning to make his face hurt and he figured he must be looking a little stupid, but he didn't care. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Mister Woolsey called in the Athosians to help with the rescue," Teyla answered.
John nodded and turned towards Rodney and Ronon that were supposed to be in a different galaxy.
Ronon shrugged. "They called us and told you were missing for over 24 hours. Thought I should come and beat the crap out of anyone that had been responsible for it." He grinned.
"Only you would get in trouble on Christmas day and make us lose one of the most important meals of the year." Rodney crossed his arms and made it look like it had been entirely John's fault. "Anyway, I couldn't just stand around trading presents when a friend was in need and since my Christmas had already turned to crap anyway I figured you needed us more than we needed to celebrate. Not much to celebrate when a friend is in mortal danger."
John's smile softened. "Thanks, guys."
"Besides…" Rodney's face softened. "It didn't quite feel the same, you know… being away from..." his hand moved around. "You guys."
Ronon slammed a hand on Rodney's back and nearly made him fall on top of John's bed. Rodney looked at Ronon awkwardly and nodded but soon his soft face fell and he yelled something about a Hulk slap and Conan manners.
John chuckled. "Not to dampen the mood, but what about the people from…"
Rodney nodded. "Rescue is under way. With the Daedalus' help we've been able to locate nearly all missing villagers not to mention Captain what's-his-name with his team and that… other guy."
"That's good."
"And Doctor McKenzie, Lieutenant Anderson and Souza," Carson cut in. "They are mostly uninjured except for a few bruises that will pass in a few days."
John was really glad for that. "Good to hear." He nodded.
"We have a few things to show you, if you feel up to it." Teyla looked at Carson who smiled and nodded.
"Of course, love. He's well enough for a few extra minutes, aren’t you, John?" Carson rubbed John's shoulder.
John wasn't feeling tired anymore and in fact felt quite energized. "Sure!"
"I'll go first." Rodney lifted a finger and lifted a package John hadn't seen him carrying. He placed it on John's lap and rolled his eyes when John simply stared at it. "I think you're supposed to open it?"
John tore away the green and red wrapping and found a remote control inside. He took it in his hands and looked puzzled at Rodney.
"It's a new racing car model with increased range and speed limit. I took the liberty of modifying yours slightly so you can, you know…" he grinned. "Keep up with my new baby." He chuckled.
John smirked. "We shall see who will have to keep up with who."
Teyla went next. John gently pulled the golden string that kept the silk-like cloth in place and took a handcrafted book into his hands. The cover was made of dark brown leather and the pages inside were crafted paper. When he opened it he saw pictures of all of them, all framed and decorated by Teyla's handwriting. It had photos from each year of the expedition, including the ones taken with Ford, Grodin, Elizabeth…
John didn't know what to say. He looked up and saw Teyla's smile and settled for a simple "Thank you".
She bowed her head and joined her forehead with his.
Ronon's package was just a wrinkled brown paper that John had no problems tearing apart. He raised his eyebrow and looked at Ronon.
"Merry Christmas," Ronon said with a grin.
John picked up what had to be the coolest present he had ever got and tested its grip. It didn't have the Wraith hair on the handle like Ronon's had and it was identical to the ones Larrin's people carried.
"How... did you?"
Ronon shrugged. "I talked to that Captain lady when she showed up when the gate blew up and Todd took over the Daedalus..." He smiled. "Managed to get a pretty good deal. I have been saving it since then."
"Wow. Uh, thanks." John was rendered speechless and felt tiredness beginning to creep in. "I-I really, don't know…"
"Well, you don't need to," Rodney cut in. "After all, Christmas is about family and, for me personally…" Rodney took a deep breath and smiled. "Well, family is where you feel at home." He nodded. "And I'm definitely at home in Atlantis. Way more than I ever was back on Earth."
John smiled. He totally got what Rodney was saying. "Yeah. I… don't really have your presents here."
"We are just happy that you are all right, John," Teyla said.
Rodney snapped up. "As long as you didn't forget any of us. You know that I've been wanting that, uh…"
"Not now, Rodney," Carson interrupted. "He needs to rest now."
"Yeah, right." Rodney shut up.
"You didn't have to, you know. You guys being here was more than enough," John said.
Teyla squeezed his shoulder "We know. Rest well, John." John nodded and she turned around to leave.
"Do you…" a voice said from the infirmary door. "I mean, I could come back later…"
John's breath caught in his throat and he snapped up to a better sitting position. "Uh…" John looked at Carson with the best begging eyes that he could manage.
"Why not," Carson said. "But just a minute, dear." He jerked his head at John's team, indicating the door.
Laura smiled and blushed slightly. John's face felt hot as he stared at his team and he figured he was mirroring her expression.
Teyla left with a bow of her head and Rodney had to furrow his brow in confusion until Ronon dragged him out. The big guy gave one last look at John before he left, a dirty smirk on his lips. John rolled his eyes and shook his head.
Families were like that sometimes. They knew things even before you told them anything.
The End
---------------------------------------------------------
A/N: I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, a prosperous 2011 and a lot of happy moments including plenty of John Sheppard to drool over. Of course, this will most likely mean a lot of pain and whump to our poor boy to have to endure in the coming year, but he will bear it like he always does it, just to please us crazy fangirls.
A/N2: I would also like to add that the thing with Laura wasn't at all planned for this story but it just kind of developed. I had never put John in a situation like this (well, excluding the porn) and I hope she didn't turn up to be too Mary-Sue (ish). I needed to have someone smart to do the techy stuff since I had gotten rid of Rodney. I ended up liking her more than I had intended and it kind of passed over to John. Also, let's ignore the fact that I didn't explain how Ronon and Rodney got back from Earth so fast. Maybe Rodney used the remnants of the bridge between galaxies or maybe they used Apolo's ZPM or something. It doesn't really matter to me as long as they showed up in the end to make John happy.
Author: x-erikah-x
Rating: PG
Character: focus on John Sheppard and appearances of the team
Word count: ~11,000
Genre: hurt/comfort with some a side order of angst
Disclamer: Stargate and its characters belong to their respective owners. I do this for my love of John Sheppard and not to gain profit.
Summary: He just decided to suck it up and try to get through the month as quickly as possible. Probably his whole time would be devoted to juggling the lack of personnel in the several areas they were needed and trying not to think about his team.
A/N 1: Thanks so much sherry57 for the quickest beta I've ever had. Many Sheppard shaped cookies for you.
Part I
A PEGASUS CHRISTMAS
By ErikaHK
Part II
John felt his head had been on the pillow for just a few minutes when the radio cracked to life and woke him up. He forced sandy eyes to open and it took a lot of effort, not to mention a few calls of "Sir" through the open channel, for them to actually obey. He looked at his watch and confirmed that it had been just fifty minutes.
He felt that he would regret responding to the call immensely, but the voice was insistent and probably wouldn’t let him go back to sleep anyway, so he clicked the radio.
"This is Sheppard. What is it?"
"Sir, we have a situation that needs your attention."
John didn’t recognize the voice. "Okay…"
"We’ve picked up a faint distress signal coming from the mountain. My team was working on stabilizing the area when we heard clicking noises coming from our comm. It was an SOS signal, sir."
John got up straight away and sat on the edge of the bed. "Captain Ferguson’s team. What’s your location?"
"Three clicks from the relief camp up the northern range, just below the danger area, sir. Doctor McKenzie is now trying to narrow it down. The signal is barely coming through but she thinks they may be transmitting it from somewhere close enough to the surface where we could dig through."
"Is the area safe?"
"Seems a bit dodgy but it’ll hold if the rain doesn’t start again. We’d have to work quickly though. I can pull some men off the work we have been doing but not too many or we’ll be in danger of a mountain collapse in the most unstable areas. The problem is accessing the entry point, sir."
John was seeing where this was going and began putting on his boots.
"It’s very narrow and it doesn’t have a lot of space to maneuver in order to land a jumper. We’d need--"
"I'm on my way." John put on his earpiece and clicked it, hurrying out of the tent.
oOoOo
John soon figured out that the voice belonged to Sargent Gomez leading the second shift team of engineers and met them on the edge of a cliff, already fully geared and prepped for the mission along with Doctor McKenzie and her bag. He landed the jumper and opened the rear hatch to let them all inside, a trail of mud following their footsteps.
"Where to, Sergeant?"
Gomez approached the front section of the jumper while his men loaded in the pieces of equipment. "Sir, the location is on the other side of the mountain. Doctor McKenzie will upload the coordinates."
With that, Gomez stepped back and McKenzie approached with an open laptop walking over to the co-pilot seat. She was small, but strong and John had seen her working out at the gym many times before, so she was probably handling herself well in these working conditions. That was probably the reason Gomez had brought her to assist his team.
"This won't take long at all, Colonel," she said as she hooked up some cables. A few seconds after that, the HUD appeared on the front screen and showed a detailed map of the mountain that included updates on all the working engineers and their progress. The map circled around until it turned to the other side of the mountain. "There, sir." She pointed at a blinking blue dot.
John analyzed the area, checking altitude drops and distances. It was rocky and barely had any mud below, but the top could be a problem if it rained more, just like the Sergeant had said. The point was in the middle of a network of cliffs and sharp pointy rocks that looked like a maze. The map then circled down and showed a network of tunnels.
"I made this map based on the instructions of some miners I was able to talk to." She indicated a spot just below the surface, near a corner of the mine. This is the closest spot to the surface and is where the signal is coming from. Since it's SOS in Morse code and it's coming in on our channel, it's safe to assume it's the Captain's team signaling."
John nodded and smiled slightly. "Well done, Doctor."
"Thank you, Colonel." She smiled.
"All right, everyone. Settle down. This is going to be a bit tricky."
oOoOo
Tricky proved to be an understatement. John had flown in many complicated terrains with his chopper back in Afghanistan, some of those times in covert ops relying on gut feelings alone, so it wasn't all that new to him. The jumper provided incredible maneuverability and fast reactions and it was great using his thoughts more than just his instruments. He had to trust the sensors since a faint drizzle had started and the early night provided fog and darkness beyond what the jumper could compensate for, but still it wasn't anything too impossible for an experienced pilot like him. At least this time he wasn’t under heavy Taliban fire.
The real problem was the fact that once someone entered the maze with a jumper, they couldn't come out unless they retraced the whole way back. It was like flying a ship through a labyrinth without being able to tip toe and peek at what was on the other side because there was a ceiling of rock above. The distance and the curves made going on foot nearly impossible unless John wanted to risk their lives. If anyone got trapped or lost there in this weather it would be bad.
Thank goodness for Doctor McKenzie's map.
John found out that landing was an equal challenge and there weren't any large enough spaces to fit a jumper with the easiness he would have liked. If he put the ship down they would be trapped by rock on three sides and the jumper covering their only exit. John examined the passages that were showing on the HUD and cursed under his breath. Getting out of that spot was going to be just peachy, especially considering his lack of sleep.
"It's the only spot in miles, Colonel," McKenzie said, apparently reading his thoughts.
"Better hold on," he warned as he started to make the jumper touch down.
He failed to avoid a couple of rough edges and the landing was bumpier than a ship with inertial dampeners should allow. When they finally stopped moving, John found his weight inclining to the side as he discovered the ground wasn't exactly horizontal.
"Well, that's about the best I can do."
He turned around and saw Doctor McKenzie smiling at him.
"That was quite impressive." She nodded.
John returned the smile easily. "Thank you. Just wait until we have to fly outa here."
He opened the rear hatch and watched as everyone got out of the ship. John left last to check out the area and have a look at their plan in action before he decided to go back inside and take a nap on those nice comfy benches.
It was dark and the flashlights the team were putting up were barely enough to make the place recognizable. All John could see was rock and the fierce drizzle cutting through the beams of light.
The equipment was quickly set up, along with a tent where the doc settled to take some readings and analyze data. John helped unload the supplies but did little beyond that since digging through solid rock in dangerous locations was a little beyond his area of expertise. He tried staying out of the way as much as possible and let the men work without the shadow of their CO hanging over their shoulders. Pretty soon, John was bored out of his mind, fighting against sleepiness, his yawns almost popping his jaw.
He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned his back on the hull of the jumper, trying to convince himself that nothing would happen in several hours and that it would be okay to take a nap until morning.
"Tired, huh?"
Her voice startled him and John snapped his head down to see Doctor McKenzie looking up at him. He hadn't seen or heard her coming over.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's all right. It's just been a very long day."
She nodded. "I bet. It's going to be a very long night too."
"I guess." He suppressed a yawn and looked over to the working men.
"What I mean to say is that this planet's rotation makes days and nights very long here, or haven't you noticed that it took almost twenty hours since you got here for night to finally come?" She smiled.
John chuckled. "Yeah, I noticed that." John cocked his head towards the combat engineers. "How long do you figure that's gonna take?"
She shrugged and glanced at them. "Hard to say, but they are making some slow progress. This mineral is way harder than anything they have ever encountered. It's using up a lot of drills. It's probably going to take the whole night." She looked back at him. "You should probably get some rest. I hear the Sergeant woke you up."
"Pretty used to that by now." John smiled and noticed how beautiful her eyes were in the faint light. "But you're right. No use in me to just hanging around doing nothing."
"I'll wake you up if anything happens."
"Thanks."
John entered the jumper and settled down on the bench, pulling a blanket over his wet uniform. He was asleep in seconds.
oOoOo
For the third time on the same day (or maybe not really the same day in Earth standard time, but he was on another planet), John was snapped awake just minutes after settling down. It took a few seconds for him to realize the jumbling and jostling wasn't coming from anyone shaking him awake, but from the jumper itself.
"What the hell?" he muttered as he tried to get to his feet.
At that moment, McKenzie along with Lieutenants Anderson and Souza stumbled into the ship half covered by mud and followed by a brown avalanche entering the jumper. Anderson slammed a hand on the control to close the rear hatch as McKenzie yelled for them to take off.
The ship shook and the ground turned wobbly as John tried to walk away from the coming landslide. He watched as the hatch slowly closed and left the outside encompassed with earth then hurried to the cockpit and started flight as fast as humanly possible. He watched in horror as the controls slipped and hammered stubbornly trying to follow the path of the landslide but was able to force them to obey with a lot of internal yelling and cursing. One of these curses made it out of his lips as a loud alarm from the jumper screamed at him that they would be buried alive by an imminent slide from the top slit of an opening.
John accelerated his pace, his curves sharp and dangerous until the realization that he wouldn't be able to make it far enough to be ahead of the coming avalanche and he turned abruptly in a different direction trying to find a safer area to land, somewhere where the strength of the slide wouldn't break the windshield into pieces.
His fierce grip on the controls made his joints ache until they snapped away from his hands as he was violently thrown across the console in an explosion of pain. For a few moments all that he could hear was loud breathing and the deafening sound of earth moving all around them. The jumper squeaked and started to move slowly until it tilted slightly to the side.
When everything seemed to finally stop, John got up from his sprawl across the panels with a painful wince. He started making a count of his injuries but a loud crack, the sound of soil and a squeal from the hull made him snap his head towards the windshield. The initial fissure spread to spider web within milliseconds and John barely had time to jump up and shove everyone to the rear before he was overtaken by mud. His lost his balance, felt his body being pushed forward and, before the others would get buried alive, John slammed the door shut and locked himself in the cockpit to be enveloped by darkness.
oOoOo
Consciousness was slow coming. Just when its edges started to envelop him, blackness lured him back in and John didn't have the strength to resist it. He didn't know how many times it had happened or how long had passed. John felt that the only thing he wanted to do was to sleep. When he finally woke up enough to realize his situation, panic began to flow as he desperately tried to move without success. His heart hammered fast in his chest and the gulps of air felt like agony washing through his body. He forced stilled hands and arms to try to break free from their enclosure of earth, his breath hitching faster and faster until he was so lightheaded he almost sunk back under the pull of sleep.
He opened his eyes again slowly as the panic ebbed away. He saw nothing beyond darkness and only felt earth on every inch of his body except his face and right shoulder. The soil was wet but applied enough pressure confined inside the cockpit to make his chest feel like it was being ripped apart each time he took a deeper breath, the pain probably amplified by a few cracked ribs. He figured he must be breathing in a pocket of air and felt himself slipping away in hyperventilation when he began considering how long it would last.
He willed himself to calm down figuring it would be even worse if he used up the little air he had left with useless panic. He took a few long breaths and quietly wished for some hope.
"Doc-- dammit," he breathed out when the pain spiked with the effort of speaking. He took a few seconds to try a second time. "Doc, Lieutenant… anyone… anyone there?" He figured his voice was too weak for him to be heard and after a few seconds without response, he called again. "Anyone?"
Shouting left him breathless but that sparkle of hope he had wished for finally hit.
"Colonel?" a faint voice came over muffled by layers of mud and the bulkhead.
He released the breath he had been holding. "Yeah." His voice was strained and he didn't know if it had been heard.
"Colonel?" a graver voice called.
John grunted. "I'm here." He bit his lip and tried to control his breathing. "God…" he muttered softly. "Hurts… hurts to speak…" he let his voice trail off.
"What's your condition?"
John focused on his body and tried his limbs. Nothing hurt too badly when he tried to move them, but he wasn't able to shift one inch. His chest was a whole different story. He didn't even need to try to think about it for it to turn to absolute torture. His head also felt light and throbbed incessantly. There was a definite sharp twinge somewhere above his forehead and only now he felt a sticky wetness covering it.
"Can't-- move… chest tight and…" He took his time to catch his breath. "Feel… lightheaded..."
John shook his head as best he could and let the pain help him fight off the sleepiness. A few louder thuds on metal snapped him from the haze.
"Colonel, try to stay awake," a voice that he recognized as McKenzie's said. "I'll see if I can find a way to increase the ventilation in the cockpit."
"Okay…" He knew his voice wasn't loud enough for her to hear, but he wasn't in the mood to shout.
"I turned both the ventilation and the heaters on several hours ago but kept it low because we thought you were dead. We're trying to make the hull of the jumper warmer to us. We didn't hear from you for over twelve hours," she continued.
"Twelve hours?" he repeated. "How… how are you guys?"
"We're fine, sir. Not much of the slide made it to the rear section. We have air and a few supplies. We think we can manage until the Daedalus arrives," Lieutenant… was it Anderson or Souza that said it?
"That's… that's very good." John just hoped he would last until then.
oOoOo
The lack of any distraction except overhearing the conversation taking place on the other side of the bulkhead was taking a huge toll on John's ability to stay awake after a few hours. McKenzie had started a prime/not prime game with them and both Anderson and Souza were pretty good at it, but then they were engineers. John got some answers right, but a whole lot of them wrong. He blamed the concussion and the fact that he was barely able to keep his eyes open. He gave up trying any kind of mental puzzles since they were making his headache increase.
They kept constantly checking up on him, but John missed a fair amount of the calls and only noticed when the frantic tapping and increased yelling snapped him out of the haze. He was getting weaker and responding loud enough to be heard was becoming quite a task. John tried to find a way to tell them he was still there without speaking, but his arms were still trapped and unable to tap any kind of surfaces. He felt an increasing edge in all three voices as time trickled by but there was nothing any of them could do. If anyone opened that bulkhead, they would be swallowed by dirt. His best chance of escape was a miraculous beam out from the Daedalus.
He lost track of time and eventually lost his battle to stay awake. The next time he woke up, he felt increasingly crappier. He was shaking with cold and figured the heaters weren't doing much good anymore. The air around his face felt colder and his head touched the tip of his chest above the ground. Lifting it felt like an impossible task.
The back of the jumper was too quiet and John wanted to call them out so badly, but didn't find his voice. He could barely open his eyes without having them close again of their own accord. He fought tiredness as long as he could, forcing limbs to work, trying to get some exercise from his body but failed miserably and sagged exhausted.
"Guys?" he whispered faintly.
His chest tightened with the lack of any sound at all.
"Anyone?" he breathed out.
They must be sleeping. Only sleeping.
Silence stretched. John tried to keep droopy eyelids open but it was a losing battle. He eventually gave in and figured he wouldn't feel as cold if he just fell asleep.
Static woke him up. John peeled his eyes open and figuring it wouldn’t make much difference in the dark, decided to close them again. He almost sank back to oblivion but a loud hiss coming from his ear snapped him back awake. He furrowed his brow wondering where the hell the sound was coming from when his brain finally registered the fact that, somehow, he still had his earpiece on.
"Co--onel?" John heard Anderson's voice. "Are you there?"
John's heart stammered thinking maybe it was rescue finally reaching them. He opened his eyes. "Yeah--yeah, I'm here."
John heard a collective sigh coming from the channel.
"Colonel, I was able to get our radios working again," McKenzie said.
"But--" Souza cut in. "We're still not able to contact anyone. I supposed we're too far out of range."
"At least we can talk to each other," she added.
John felt his heart sink. "Yeah…"
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Tired…" He let his eyes fall closed.
"John?"
He snapped them back open with the sound of his name. "Sorry.... It's… hard…"
"But you have to keep trying," she insisted.
"I know… cold…"
There was a pause. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "I had to turn down the heaters a little to conserve power. I'm leaving them on around your location, but it's a lot of earth to heat up and--"
"It was my order, sir," Anderson interrupted.
"It's okay. You have a way better chance of getting out of here." John's voice was low and soft. "Do whatever you can to survive. If you need it…" John swallowed and took a moment to muster some strength in his voice. "You can cut off my air if it's necessary. That's an order." John breathed out. "Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"We won't need it," McKenzie interjected.
"But if you do." John tried to put as much command in his voice as he could in his condition. "Don't hesitate."
Silence took over for several moments.
"How long… how long has it been?" John asked, trying to keep the shaking from his voice.
A few seconds passed. "Twenty-one hours," she answered.
John swallowed. He had no idea it had been that long.
"It's going to be Christmas in the East Coast in just a few minutes," she added softly.
John had to take a deep breath to compose himself. He blinked a few times thinking of his team. Maybe they were eating dinner, maybe they were sleeping, maybe they were drinking and having fun.
This had to be the crappiest Christmas he had ever had.
"Merry Christmas, John."
"Merry Christmas…" John's voice came heavy and shaky and it didn't have anything to do with cold.
"Laura. My name is Laura."
John smiled slightly. "Merry Christmas, Laura."
"Yeah, Merry Christmas, sir!" came both Lieutenants voices combined.
John had to chuckle at their energy but it soon turned to coughing. When he was done, it took a few moments for his voice to return.
"Doesn't feel very merry at the moment but… Merry Christmas back," he said.
A few seconds passed.
"They're going to get you out of here, John" Laura said softly.
John blinked a few more times. "I know they will."
John took a deep breath and ignored the fierce protest of his ribcage. He closed his eyes and thought about Rodney, Teyla and Ronon unaware of what was happening to him.
Soon, Anderson's and Souza's voices cut through the silence and broke his moody humor by telling funny stories of previous Christmas. They talked about their families, the food, their favorite presents growing up. They shared experiences that had turned out great and some other that hadn't. Burned family dinners, torched trees, and an electrical burn out that cut off the power in the entire neighborhood… It was a true miracle they had managed to get past childhood.
John did little beyond just listen.
Laura also told some of her stories. She told them about the way her father liked to roast lamb, pork, rabbit, or anything that wasn't a turkey. She told about her mother liking to decorate trees with candies when she was a kid and how she would slip out of her bedroom at night to steal a couple of them every night. She chuckled as she said those trips had been responsible for a number of cavities in her baby teeth.
Souza cut in and told about his Christmases in South America. He told them about the summer weather and how he had never seen a white Christmas until he turned twelve and his parents moved back to the States.
Anderson told them about the time he had gone fishing a week before the holidays and had gotten lost in the forest with his little brother. Even though it must have been scary as hell for a child, Anderson put such an edge in his tale that everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud.
John felt more and more like sharing something of his own, but was at such loss for words he just kept on listening.
In the end, their voices lured him back to sleep and before he finally gave in, he prayed for them to be okay after all of this. It was Christmas after all, and it would be really crappy if they died under his watch and let those families mourn on such a festive date.
oOoOo
John woke up with a muddled brain and a warm softness around him. He noticed the pressure in his chest was gone then felt a familiar smell and a familiar beeping. His eyes fluttered before they finally opened and a bright white blur took over his senses. He squeezed his eyes and tried to open them again when he felt the light was gone.
The blur that took place turned out to be Carson with a smile on his lips and a very gentle pair of eyes. John looked above and didn't recognize the ceiling of the infirmary. He felt a hum around the walls and realized the gray bulkheads belonged to the Daedalus.
"Hey, John. Welcome back to the land of the living."
John smiled and let his eyes fall close. "I suppose that's your doing," John muttered but doubted anything intelligible made it out of his lips.
Carson chuckled. "Yeah, but you did the fighting yourself." He squeezed John's arm. "Guess who's here to see you?"
John opened his eyes, really more hoping than expecting that Laura had decided to pay him a visit. Carson raised his bed slightly and John couldn't help but gape at the sight before him.
"Guys?"
They stepped closer to his bed, smiling.
"It is us, John," Teyla said, her grin brightening up the whole room. She stood by his side and took his hand, interlacing their fingers.
"Yeah, of course it's us. Who else did you expect?" Rodney replied. He stepped closer, dressed in civvies.
"Yeah. How you doin'? “Ronon's rough voice added.
John's smile was beginning to make his face hurt and he figured he must be looking a little stupid, but he didn't care. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Mister Woolsey called in the Athosians to help with the rescue," Teyla answered.
John nodded and turned towards Rodney and Ronon that were supposed to be in a different galaxy.
Ronon shrugged. "They called us and told you were missing for over 24 hours. Thought I should come and beat the crap out of anyone that had been responsible for it." He grinned.
"Only you would get in trouble on Christmas day and make us lose one of the most important meals of the year." Rodney crossed his arms and made it look like it had been entirely John's fault. "Anyway, I couldn't just stand around trading presents when a friend was in need and since my Christmas had already turned to crap anyway I figured you needed us more than we needed to celebrate. Not much to celebrate when a friend is in mortal danger."
John's smile softened. "Thanks, guys."
"Besides…" Rodney's face softened. "It didn't quite feel the same, you know… being away from..." his hand moved around. "You guys."
Ronon slammed a hand on Rodney's back and nearly made him fall on top of John's bed. Rodney looked at Ronon awkwardly and nodded but soon his soft face fell and he yelled something about a Hulk slap and Conan manners.
John chuckled. "Not to dampen the mood, but what about the people from…"
Rodney nodded. "Rescue is under way. With the Daedalus' help we've been able to locate nearly all missing villagers not to mention Captain what's-his-name with his team and that… other guy."
"That's good."
"And Doctor McKenzie, Lieutenant Anderson and Souza," Carson cut in. "They are mostly uninjured except for a few bruises that will pass in a few days."
John was really glad for that. "Good to hear." He nodded.
"We have a few things to show you, if you feel up to it." Teyla looked at Carson who smiled and nodded.
"Of course, love. He's well enough for a few extra minutes, aren’t you, John?" Carson rubbed John's shoulder.
John wasn't feeling tired anymore and in fact felt quite energized. "Sure!"
"I'll go first." Rodney lifted a finger and lifted a package John hadn't seen him carrying. He placed it on John's lap and rolled his eyes when John simply stared at it. "I think you're supposed to open it?"
John tore away the green and red wrapping and found a remote control inside. He took it in his hands and looked puzzled at Rodney.
"It's a new racing car model with increased range and speed limit. I took the liberty of modifying yours slightly so you can, you know…" he grinned. "Keep up with my new baby." He chuckled.
John smirked. "We shall see who will have to keep up with who."
Teyla went next. John gently pulled the golden string that kept the silk-like cloth in place and took a handcrafted book into his hands. The cover was made of dark brown leather and the pages inside were crafted paper. When he opened it he saw pictures of all of them, all framed and decorated by Teyla's handwriting. It had photos from each year of the expedition, including the ones taken with Ford, Grodin, Elizabeth…
John didn't know what to say. He looked up and saw Teyla's smile and settled for a simple "Thank you".
She bowed her head and joined her forehead with his.
Ronon's package was just a wrinkled brown paper that John had no problems tearing apart. He raised his eyebrow and looked at Ronon.
"Merry Christmas," Ronon said with a grin.
John picked up what had to be the coolest present he had ever got and tested its grip. It didn't have the Wraith hair on the handle like Ronon's had and it was identical to the ones Larrin's people carried.
"How... did you?"
Ronon shrugged. "I talked to that Captain lady when she showed up when the gate blew up and Todd took over the Daedalus..." He smiled. "Managed to get a pretty good deal. I have been saving it since then."
"Wow. Uh, thanks." John was rendered speechless and felt tiredness beginning to creep in. "I-I really, don't know…"
"Well, you don't need to," Rodney cut in. "After all, Christmas is about family and, for me personally…" Rodney took a deep breath and smiled. "Well, family is where you feel at home." He nodded. "And I'm definitely at home in Atlantis. Way more than I ever was back on Earth."
John smiled. He totally got what Rodney was saying. "Yeah. I… don't really have your presents here."
"We are just happy that you are all right, John," Teyla said.
Rodney snapped up. "As long as you didn't forget any of us. You know that I've been wanting that, uh…"
"Not now, Rodney," Carson interrupted. "He needs to rest now."
"Yeah, right." Rodney shut up.
"You didn't have to, you know. You guys being here was more than enough," John said.
Teyla squeezed his shoulder "We know. Rest well, John." John nodded and she turned around to leave.
"Do you…" a voice said from the infirmary door. "I mean, I could come back later…"
John's breath caught in his throat and he snapped up to a better sitting position. "Uh…" John looked at Carson with the best begging eyes that he could manage.
"Why not," Carson said. "But just a minute, dear." He jerked his head at John's team, indicating the door.
Laura smiled and blushed slightly. John's face felt hot as he stared at his team and he figured he was mirroring her expression.
Teyla left with a bow of her head and Rodney had to furrow his brow in confusion until Ronon dragged him out. The big guy gave one last look at John before he left, a dirty smirk on his lips. John rolled his eyes and shook his head.
Families were like that sometimes. They knew things even before you told them anything.
The End
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A/N: I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, a prosperous 2011 and a lot of happy moments including plenty of John Sheppard to drool over. Of course, this will most likely mean a lot of pain and whump to our poor boy to have to endure in the coming year, but he will bear it like he always does it, just to please us crazy fangirls.
A/N2: I would also like to add that the thing with Laura wasn't at all planned for this story but it just kind of developed. I had never put John in a situation like this (well, excluding the porn) and I hope she didn't turn up to be too Mary-Sue (ish). I needed to have someone smart to do the techy stuff since I had gotten rid of Rodney. I ended up liking her more than I had intended and it kind of passed over to John. Also, let's ignore the fact that I didn't explain how Ronon and Rodney got back from Earth so fast. Maybe Rodney used the remnants of the bridge between galaxies or maybe they used Apolo's ZPM or something. It doesn't really matter to me as long as they showed up in the end to make John happy.