Rating
is T – sometimes suggested adult themes and suggestion of torture,
though no more
Summary: Romance, emotional and physical whump with
John Sheppard and now established O/C
Season: Season 5, post
Inquisition
Spoilers:
Remnants
and
Season 5 generally. Some reference to Common
Ground
Disclaimer:
Not mine. Though John Sheppard is in my guilty imagination
A/N:- This is a follow up to my stories Maybe This Time and The Aftermath. Set about a month after the latter story. I felt that the fall-out from Remnants for our John needed to be further explored.
Prologue
It was entirely possible that the whole of Atlantis had been woken by the raging argument coming from Doctor Catherine Adams' quarters. For nearly an hour the voices on the other side of the door had been at it, and more careful listeners were astonished to hear the range of profanities that occasionally could be heard. Teyla and Ronon stood outside, not sure what to do and surprised at the level of anger coming from inside. Fortunately, Richard Woolsey was a good sleeper, and the South East pier was far enough away for him to remain undisturbed. They had buzzed Rodney, who at that moment bad-temperedly stomped around the corner.
'What the hell is so important that you have to disturb me at this time of the night?' he grumbled, then with an 'Oh.....' he shut up. 'Well, that's unusual. How long have they been at it?'
'Since we've been here, at least half-an-hour,' replied Teyla, genuinely disturbed at what she was hearing. She had thought that the couple had sorted out their differences, and though she didn't know the details of their nearly fatal fall-out a month ago, Cat had appeared to be really happy to put it all behind her.
'Well, we'd better do something, before Woolsey wakes up. I didn't know there were so many swear words in the English Language. Er, Ronon...?'
'What do you want me to do? Break down the door?' muttered Ronon. He didn't really want to face an angry John Sheppard and suspected that Cat could be quite dangerous when in this mood too.
At that moment, the door opened and a white-faced John stomped out, quickly followed by a heavy object which crashed into the wall opposite, barely missing Rodney, and smashed into tiny pieces, leaving a permanent scar in Atlantis' skin. He hardly registered his friends, as he ran down the corridor, but they could clearly see the fury rising from the back of his head. Even his, usually, spiky hair seemed to more resemble a spiny anteater, than the more-gentle hedgehog look he normally wore.
'If you go with that jumper, John Sheppard, then that's it, it's over!' screamed the female voice from just inside the room. Rodney rose from the ground, where he had crouched to avoid the flying object which had so nearly decapitated him, only to meet a pair of extremely angry eyes. No, angry was not the word he would chose. Murderous, maybe, would be a better description. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, he stepped behind the bulk that was Ronon.
'Cat, Cat, what is it?' tried Teyla in as calm and gentle a voice as she could muster. 'I'm sure you didn't mean that. Come on, let's go inside and talk about it?' Teyla moved slowly towards Cat, and placed a soft hand on her arm, all the time trying to make eye-contact. Teyla had the ability to be almost hypnotic in these situations and, to Rodney's amazement, Cat allowed her to gently guide her back into the room. 'Rodney, Ronon, it's alright. I'll stay with Cat.' With a look at them and then down the corridor, she silently communicated to them to follow John and make sure he was okay.
Cat was shaking and sobbing as she allowed Teyla to guide her to the sofa. She didn't know if she was even capable of getting two words out at this point. 'How could he do this to them?' was all she could think. She knew that Teyla would not leave until she had some sort of explanation. Teyla was her friend, but she had been John's much longer. In fact, when Cat first arrived on Atlantis, she had heard rumours that there might have once been something more that friendship between Teyla and John, but he had quickly dispelled them. However, she understood the firm bond that tied them.
'Tell me what the matter is, Cat? What has caused you and John to fight like this?'
'He...he is going to the mainland [sob] taking those damn scientists [sob] to look at plants. 'She just about managed to get the words out.
'I don't understand, Cat. Why is this such a problem? Surely this is not enough to make you say all those unpleasant things to each other?'
'You don't understand, Teyla. Doctor Parrish is one of the biologists. You know, that pretty petite brunette who all the marines have been ogling since she arrived?' Cat could feel her temper rising again. 'She's just his type too. Bastard!'
Teyla was surprised, but suspected that the threat to fly the scientific expedition had not been the first bone of contention between them. Patiently, she tried to take Cat back to the beginning of the argument. And, slowly Cat unwound the events that had led to John storming out of the room so spectacularly. It had started as a minor irritation. John had promised to be back home by 7 O'clock but had been waylaid by Rodney, who wanted him for 'only a few minutes' to 'activate' a small device that Rodney was investigating. Rodney had been annoyed that it wouldn't respond to him and Teyla suspected that John had agreed, because in this mood Rodney could be very persistent, event to the point of waking John up in the middle of the night. As ever, Rodney's few minutes had turned into over an hour, and by the time John had reached their quarters, the romantic dinner that Cat had so carefully prepared was ruined and she was already fuming, fed up with the number of times he had already arrived back late that week, always with some perfectly plausible excuse that usually involved Rodney or Ronon. Teyla knew that it was no good trying to reason with Cat. She remembered well how important the early stages of a relationship are, thinking back to how she needed Kanaan to be with her in the evening, and how she had needed to make a nest for the two of them, now three with Torren John.
Still, the force of their argument surprised her. Not for the first time, she wondered if it was something John had done that had led to Cat's near death just a short while ago. She decided to play on her hunch.
'Cat. Tell me. When you ran away to the edge of the city, it was more than just John not turning up for the meal on the east pier, wasn't it? Did he do something to really upset you? Was it another woman?'
There was a pause. 'Yes,' she said simply, unwilling to say any more.
'Tell me, Cat. You can trust me. What happened?'
Cat painfully recounted the scene she had witnessed in the Atlantis bar. The beautiful brunette wrapped around John. The way his hands ran over her body. His kiss. The fact that they hadn't talked about it since, but that every time he was late, she wondered if he was with someone else, or maybe even 'her'. It had eaten away at her, and she had allowed it to boil to the surface this evening.
'You must know how much John loves you, Cat. He is one of the most fiercely loyal men I know. He would never do anything to hurt you. You do know that, don't you? Teyla said quietly.
'Yes. I do know Teyla, I really do. It was out of hand before I knew it, and now he really is chasing after another woman.' With that thought, she broke down into tears again.
'It is alright. I am certain that Ronon and Rodney will find him and bring him back. It will be alright. I will go and find them. We will bring him back to you.'
Teyla watched as her friend curled up into a foetal ball on the bed, and gently sob herself to sleep. Then, she quietly left the room in search of Ronon, Rodney and John and a means to bring the couple together again.
