December
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John stood nervously at the door of his father's house, and straightened his jacket for the eighth time. Beside him, Teyla laughed gently.
"I know what you are doing, John."
"And what is it that I'm doing?"
"You are trying to delay what you cannot prevent."
"You don't know my dad." She smiled.
"John, they asked you to stay for one night, and to have this holiday with them. They want you here."
"Yeah, but they don't actually know that you're here." he saw her eyebrows shoot up. "My dad only ever liked two of my girlfriends, and while I know that we're not a couple or anything you are a friend from another galaxy. I thought that if I told him about you it would just be another chance for him to get mad at me."
"You are still stalling," she told him, pushing him around towards the door. "I do not believe that they will be nearly as angry as you say. And we will never know who is right unless we go in." She glared at him with mock severity until he relented, and raised his hand to knock. Just they, the door was opened by a man who Teyla guessed to be in his late thirties. He stared at them for a second before he spoke.
"John," he said, pasting a smile onto his face. "I didn't think you'd be able to make it."
"Well, I had some time off of work and I thought, what the heck? Dad always did get the best Christmas spread available." the man's gaze turned questioning as he looked at Teyla. John followed his eyes.
"Oh, sorry, right. Teyla, this is my brother Dave; Dave, this is Teyla."
"Does Nancy know that you got remarried?" Dave asked. John shook his head violently as Teyla blushed.
"Teyla's just a friend, I know her from work. We're not married."
"Too bad," Dave said, shaking his head. "She's pretty."
"Thank you," Teyla said softly.
"Look, are you gonna let us in or what?" His brother stepped aside and ushered them in, offering to take their coats and apparently trying to act halfway civil.
"It's pretty quiet here this year," he said to John. "Just me and Dad and Rebecca and I guess you two."
"Wait, us and Dad and who?"
"Rebecca, my wife. Or didn't you ever meet her?"
"Dave, I've been on assignment for three years; I couldn't exactly desert just to meet your wife."
"And Nancy never mentioned her either?"
"Dave, I haven't talked to Nancy; not in years. And I'd appreciate if you didn't keep reminding me of her."
"Sorry." he led them into a formal living room with an tall, elegant Christmas tree against one wall.
"Um, look, Dad and Rebecca are upstairs. Why don't you guys wait here and I'll go tell them that you made it after all." Once he was gone, John breathed a deep sigh of relief and dropped onto one of three cream colored couches that filled the room.
"Sorry about that," he apologized to Teyla. "I told you, my family really doesn't like me much." Teyla shrugged.
"He was not so bad."
"Yeah, but that was only, what, five minutes? And we're gonna spend the night and most of tomorrow with them. Believe me, what doesn't seem like a big deal right now is going to get pretty annoying after the first six hours."
"That's what family is," she said. Before he could ask her what she meant Dave returned, with his wife and their father. John's eyes widened briefly when he saw him. He realized how long it had actually been since he had last seen him. Age was clearly catching up to him.
"Hi, Dad," he said softly. He thought that he saw his father's eyes brighten when he spoke, but the light faded just as quickly.
"Welcome back, John." Awkward silence quickly filled the space after their words, until Dave cleared his throat and introduced John to his wife, Rebecca.
Sheppard had to admit, the woman was pretty. She had long, dark hair and light green eyes, and her skin was fair and smooth.
"Nice to meet you," he said.
"Are you going to introduce me to your girl?" his father cut in. John frowned a little.
"Dad, this is my friend, Teyla." he stressed the word "friend". "And this is my Dad-"
"Call me Patrick," he said gruffly, and turned back to John. "I suppose that you'll both be spending the night?"
"I was kind of hoping..."
"Fine. Rebecca, dear, will you please show Teyla to one of the guest rooms; when you're done we'll all have dinner."
"Of course." Rebecca took Teyla's hand and led her up the stairs. Patrick turned to John again. He was certain now that his family was out to get him tonight, probably intent on taking Teyla down with him. At least Rebecca didn't seem to have a grudge against him. Though after tonight, who could tell...?
"Are you back for good this time?" Patrick asked. John rolled his eyes.
"Dad, you know I can't stay. I don't have much holiday leave; if it weren't for Teyla I wouldn't even be spending it with you-"
"You should never have joined the military in the first place!"
"Dad, it's too late. It's what I do now; and just about the only thing that I'm good at, other then disappointing you."
"I just want both my sons near me, is that too much to ask?"
"Yeah, I think so. You've always wanted to be able to control our lives, and now that I'm gone you can't control mine anymore and it drives you nuts."
"John, that's not true-"
"Hey!" Dave silenced them both. They looked expectantly at him. "For the sake of my wife and John's "friend", can we pretend that whatever problems you've got don't exist for tonight? I doubt that they came here to listen to the two of you argue."
"First smart thing I've heard here all night," John said. The three of them maintained a stony silence until Rebecca and Teyla got back. Then, they went into a dining room where, asd John had promised, an incredible feast was laid out.
"And this is only Christmas Eve," he whispered to Teyla. "Wait until you see tomorrow's dinner."
Durning the meal, it was Rebecca who held up the majority of the conversation, with each of them. She talked to her father in law, to her husband, to John and Teyla. John felt bad for her, and regreted his decision to accept the invatition. His brother poor wife had come tonight with no idea of the problems that he woluld stir up. She didn't deserve to be stuck in the middle of all this.
"So where are you from?" Rebecca asked Teyla suddenly, and John was instantly alert and nervous. He knew that Teyla was most worried about slipping up on earth and telling someone about Pegasus. But he waited to see if she would need help to get out of it.
"Very far away," she said. "I am not allowed to discuss it."
"Does she work with you, John?"
"Yeah, you could say that."
"John tends to get assigned a lot of "top secret" missions," Dave said, with only mild sarcasm. "We never find out much about where he's been or who his friends are."
"You must have exciting work," Rebecca said. Teyla glanced at John, smiling a little.
"You could say that."
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After dinner, Patrick said they had a while until desert, and he had some things to get done before then. He disappeared into his office, and Dave and Rebecca went into the kitchen to get a bottle of wine that had been chilling. It gave John and Teyla a few minutes of privacy, which he welcomed gladly.
"Again, I'm sorry about everything. I really didn't expect things to be quite as bad as this."
"Why do you keep apologizing for your family?" Teyla asked him.
"Because they're being rude to you. Well, not Rebecca," he amended. "But that's only becasue she's so new to the family. She doesn't understand why they hate me."
"Your family does not hate you."
"They wouldn't be hazing us if they didn't."
"What are you ashamed of?" Teyla asked. John sighed, and glanced around. But they were still the only two people in the room.
"Come here," he said, leading her out of a glass door and onto a terrace. He walked to the edge and leaned on the railing, glad for the small amount of familiarity.
"When I was younger, things weren't like this. My family did everything together, and we loved it. But when I was ten, my mom died."
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
"Hey, no problem. But after we lost her, things changed. My brother grew closer to my father, and I started to resent him. That's why I joined the Air Force instead of going into the family buisness like my dad wanted. And that made him resent me, and things have just gotten worse over the years. And of course Dave hated me becasue Dad spent so much time trying to get me to come home... back here. And this has always beent the last place that I wanted to be." Teyla was quiet for a long time, and John knew that she was turning all this new information about him over in her mind. At length, she spoke.
"You're wrong, you know," she said softly. "They don't hate you."
"You've been here for barely two hours; what do you know?"
"I know that I saw pride in your father's eyes when he saw you, and when your brother spoke of "top secret" missions. I know that I saw regret in your brother's eyes, when you did not tease him back when he opened the door. I know that your family knows loss, and that loss makes you appreciate whatever time you have with those who still live so much more," she paused, letting her eyes drop before she continued. "I know that you look at your brother and are jealous, because he has something with your father that you desperately want for yourself."
"Why do you care?" John asked her when he was sure she was done. "You've spent the night being berated by my brother and father whether you realize it or not."
"Is that what you think all this is?" she looked into his eyes again.
"That's how it's always been." Teyla shook her head.
"You know very little about your family, John." she said. Much quieter, on the end she added, "I wish that you could see through my eyes."
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That night, John tossed and turned in bed long after the everyone else had gone to sleep. Finally, he got up, and crpet down the stairs to his father's study. His conversation with Teyla had been stuck in his head the rest of the night, and it was dirving him crazy. He had to go look at the pictures in his father's office; there was something that John remembered from his childhood that he wanted to see if Patrick still had.
In his family, there had been many military men over the years. He'd been named for his father's favorite uncle, who had made it to General in the Airforce and whose career John had begun to follow. But his father had always kept pictures of all the military members of his family; last John remembered there were eight, including his father and his dead brother, Jason. That had been the other point of contention between them; his brother had died, and Patrick had not wanted his youngest son to suffer the same fate. But all John had seen was a controling father. He had never guessed, until today, at the love that might be hidden beneath.
He stepped into the office and stared at the wall where he knew that the pictures hung. Moonlight splashed across them, making it easy for him to see. He counted, holding his breath. These pictures, more then anything else, would tell him if Teyla was right about how his family felt.
His breath caught in his throat as he counted nine black oval frames. He moved closer, and forced himself to look at the newest one. It was him! His father had actually put him with the family heroes. That meant more to him than any amount of encouraging words from his father. It meant that he was proud of him, that he respected his decisions.
"You know, I put that up last time you were here," he spun around and saw his father, sitting at his desk. "I really am proud of you, son."
"Thanks, Dad." he sat on the edge of the desk, and they sat in silence for a while. But it was not uncomfortable like it had been.
"That girl you brought here," Patrick said finally. "She's a good friend to put up with your brother and me for so long."
"Yeah," John said thoughtfully. "She's a good friend."
"Do you have anything to give her tomorrow?" John looked up.
"No." he'd completely forgot. What an idiot!...
"I think I might have something that would be appropriate..." Patrick dug around in his desk drawer until he found what he was looking for, and came up with a small box. John opened it, and gasped.
"I can't give her this!"
"Why not?"
"It was Moms! Why would you give it away?"
"Because you love her, John. And your mother would have wanted it to be passed on, not kept in a draw until we all pass on." John closed the box.
"Thank you, so much. You have no idea what this means to me."
"I think I do, John. Merry Christmas."
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The next morning, the house was awakened to the smell of hot chocolate and cinnamon buns; the traditional Sheppard family Christmas breakfast. Things went much more smoothly then they had the night before, with even Dave being fairly pleasant to both John and Teyla. For that, his brother was grateful.
Sheppard didn't give Teyla her gift until they had a few mintues alone. He took her aside, back out on the terrace, and handed her a little wrapped box.
"What is this?" she asked.
"A Christmas present," he explained. "For you."
"But I have nothing for you."
"Hey, you suffered through a night with my family; and I didn't have to do it alone. That alone was a present." she seemed overcome by his gesture, and couldn't speak.
"Open it," he encouraged. He watched with anticipation as her slender fingers undid the wrapping and slipped the top off. Her eyes widened.
"It's beautiful," she said as he took a golden necklace out of the box. There was a red glass heart pendant hanging from the chain.
"It was my moms," he said, clasping it around her neck. "But I think she would have liked me to give it to you. You bring out the best in me."
"What?"
"It's nothing," he instantly brushed his compliment aside. "Merry Christmas, Teyla."
Fin.
