A/N Sorry this is going to be a boring chapter. It's just introducing the characters and showing a little bit about them.
"Melena, it's time to get up." Amelia Banks called into her daughter's quarters. When no one answered, she opened the door and stepped inside. She stumbled over a pile of clothes as she walked over to her daughter's bed. She yanked the covers off and saw the pillows lined up underneath them.
"Of course…" She muttered as she headed out of the room again. She jogged through the hallways until she got to the Sparing room. She leaned against the doorframe, watching her husband Ronan and her daughter Melena spar.
"You know I don't like her sparing before school. She's tired and then there's a lot less learning going on." Amelia told Ronan. He turned to her, momentarily distracted.
"We were just-." Melena kicked his legs out from under him and he fell onto the floor. She grinned down at her father, enjoying her victory.
"We were just having a bit of fun, mom. We couldn't sleep... Besides, if I'm not failing school I must be doing something right." Melena said. She was eighteen and resembled her mother quite a bit with dark brown hair, tanned skin and a petite yet athletic build.
"Yeah, well, they're going to send the other kids off to school with or without you in twenty minutes." Amelia told her. Melena opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by her mother.
"And no, that was not an offer to skip school. Go get into something…else." She said, looking at her daughters sweatpants and faded t-shirt. Melena mumbled something about 'un-fair' under her breath as she walked out of the sparing room towards her quarters.
"And after school you're cleaning your room, Melena Teyla Dex! And that doesn't mean kick everything under the bed and hope I don't notice!" Amelia added.
"If someone comes into my room, they'll likely trip over something on the floor and die. I won't even have to get out of bed!" Melena called over her shoulder.
"Yeah and that was almost me! It gets cleaned right after school, young lady!" Amelia turned to Ronan as their daughter walked out of sight.
"Why do I think I'm the only parent who knows the meaning of authority?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Ronan smiled as he walked out of the room.
"I know the meaning of the word. Just don't like it." He teased. He laughed and walked off. Amelia rolled her eyes and headed for the gate room. Once Melena was dressed in a pair of jeans, a red tank top, black leather boots and a leather jacket, she headed for Torren Emmagan's quarters. She stopped outside when she heard him moving around inside. When he opened the door and stepped out, she smiled at him.
"Jeez, don't do that, Lena." He warned. She grinned and wrapped one of her arms around one of his as they walked down the hallway.
"Why? It's fun to see you jump. I'm the only one that can scare you, remember?" She teased.
"You're mean."
"You're no fun." She returned.
"At least you have to go to school. I get some peace and quiet while all the kids are gone." He told her, stopping and turning to look at her with a smile on his face.
"I don't get why they don't make you go!" She mumbled.
"I'm twenty-three, Lena; I'm done with high school. Call me when you're done and we'll talk." He pushed her forward into the ring-room and walked off. Melena rolled her eyes and hurried over to a bench Miranda McKay was sitting there, waiting for it to be time to go to school. She had her five year old sister Jeannie on her lap, playing with her. Melena hurried over.
"Hey, Miranda." She greeted her as she flopped down on the stair beside her. Miranda flashed a grin over at her, her bleach blonde hair falling over her blue eyes.
"Hey, Melena. Hey, Jeannie, why don't you go into the infirmary to see mommy, okay?" Jeannie toddled off. Even the youngest of the kids knew their way around Atlantis as well as the back of their hand. Miranda opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and turned as they heard the familiar sound of someone skateboarding down the stairs behind them. Jack Sheppard stopped at the landing, kicked his skateboard up, caught it and then flopped down in between the girls.
"You girls can be cool, but you will never be Jack Sheppard stair-surfing down to the Star-Gate cool." He said, sounding proud of himself.
"Where's your mom? She'd kick your butt for that act of 'cool' you just pulled." Melena told him, pulling her long hair into a ponytail. He ran his fingers through his own shoulder length brown hair.
"She's turned off the Mrs. Sheppard/Mother of an awesome child part of her personality. Now she's just back to Captain Dusty Mehra. She went off on a mission of some sort. Dad went with her." He answered.
"You kids ready to go?" Teyla Emmagan asked, coming into the room. She was holding one year old David Sheppard in her arms. Mostly other team members babysat, though there was a section in Atlantis for child-care.
"Sure why not?" Jack asked casually. The other teenagers (Emma, Caitlyn and Ethan Lorne, Valerie Vega and Maia Beckett among them) filed into the Gate-room. Teyla nodded and the ring was dialed was dialed for the SGC. All the teenagers walked into the ring and were transported to the SGC. Because of worm-hole physics, they couldn't use the star-gate to dial the other gate on earth. Kayla Jackson was waiting on the other end for Miranda and Melena. She ran over to them and linked their arms.
"You two should totally move to the SGC. We hardly ever see each other outside school." She complained. Kennedy Jackson (Kayla's twin sister) ran over to them as well.
"Let's go; mom is getting weird again."
"Your mom is always weird, Kennedy. It's part of the Vala-personality." Melena told them. Neither of the twins could argue with that. They headed out to the parking garage and got into Kayla's car. Jack was riding in Jacob Carter's truck with Jacob and Daniel Mitchell. Each of the girls rolled their eyes at the boys.
"Anyone wanna make bets on why their going to get suspended today?" Kayla asked as she started the car.
"Five bucks says it'll be disrupting class." Kennedy said.
"Five bucks that they'll run an article of clothing up the flagpole." Miranda said.
"Five bucks they'll start a food fight in the cafeteria." Melena said. Kayla motioned towards the box on the dashboard.
"Put the money in the box girls. Winner takes all."
A/N For anyone whose wondering, Melena is named after Ronan's girlfriend on his home world that was killed by the wraith. Obviously the middle name 'Teyla' comes from Teyla. Jack Sheppard is obviously named after Jack O'Neil. Miranda is just a random name I thought up. But, though it's not mentioned, her middle name Elizabeth after Elizabeth Weir.