Chapter 1 – Arrivals & Long Nights
All eyes in control room were on the gate as it dialed up.
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was standing next to Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagan. "Is it just me or does Carson look a little anxious about the new Marine recruits, scientists and technicians? I mean more than usual."
Ronon's dark eyes looked over at Dr. Carson Beckett before he grunted. "He looks a little on edge."
Teyla nodded her head in agreement as she moved closer to the Doc. "Dr. Beckett, are you excited about the new recruits?" She asked softly getting the Scottish doctors attention.
Carson smiled. "Olivia is on the transport. She's decided to come back to Atlantis."
Teyla smiled softly as she touched his shoulder. "Really Carson?"
"Really Carson what?" John asked as he walked up with Ronon.
"Olivia is on the transport from the Midway. She's coming back." Carson said. He couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"Who's Olivia?" Ronon asked curiously as he looked around at his small group of friends.
"Olivia is Carson's niece; she's a doctor as well. She was here with Carson and then had to go back to Earth. She's been there ever since. I did not realize she was coming back. I thought for sure she was going to stay on Earth." Teyla stated.
Carson shook his head. "She was going to but she's doing much better now. It's been a year she said she is ready."
"Doing better?" Ronon asked; he wasn't sure what they were skating around. "How could she be doing badly?"
Teyla shook her head. "That is for Olivia to say. It is her business." She watched as her tall friend nodded in understanding.
Carson's face lit up as he watched and auburn haired woman walked through the gate with three very large marines carrying her trunks for her. "Livy…luv, how was your travels?" He asked as he approached the petite red head.
Dr. Olivia Dixon looked around the gate room until she heard her uncle say her name as she locked eyes with him she smiled before she jogged over and jumped into his waiting arms. "Uncle Carson I missed you so much."
Carson chuckled as he lifted her from the floor and hugged her tightly. "Aye lass it's good to have you back. This time I hope for good." He stated as he set her on her feet as he cupped her face and kissed her cheeks. "I promised your dad I'd keep an eye on ya."
Olivia shook her head and rolled her eyes. "He's such a worry wart."
Carson chuckled. "You remember Teyla and John right?"
Olivia's smile grew again as she and the Athosian embraced tightly. "It's so good to have you back on Atlantis Olivia." Teyla stated as she squeezed her friend.
"I should've come back sooner, but I wasn't ready yet." Olivia stated honestly as she stepped back and stepped up and received an equally tight hug from John. "John it's really good to see you again."
John smiled as he squeezed her tightly. "Glad to see you back kid."
"It's really good to be back." Olivia stated softly as she stepped back.
"What is on your first day agenda?" Carson asked.
"I have to go check in with Elizabeth and then I'm going to head to my quarters. I might nap or do a little unpacking. I haven't decided yet." Olivia stated as she adjusted the backpack hanging off her right shoulder. "I'll come by the lab later to check in Uncle Carson." She smiled when he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
Olivia's jade eyes watched as the huge guy standing behind her two friends and uncle turned and walked away before they could introduce her to him. She had to admit he was very tall and brooding. He wasn't in any type of Atlantis uniform so he was a stranger to her, but he was quite handsome. She could feel his eyes burning a hole in her; at that point she couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Ronon was not going to lie.
There was something about the Docs niece that seemed un-normal. And he had to admit he was more than a little curious to find out why exactly she left Atlantis and then what made her decide to come back. Only cowards ran away from their problems. He had a lot of distaste for people who showed a cowardly side.
On the other hand she was very beautiful. Her dark auburn hair fell in waves around her shoulders and stopped at her waist and her jade eyes sparkled with mischief. He was quite curious about her. He would ask a few of the regular people who had been on Atlantis and see what they came up with.
In the meantime he needed to spar and was about to challenge a few of the marines to some hand to hand. He smirked as he walked into the gym; knowing those jarheads could resist a challenge.
Jade eyes looked around the room. It was still the same way she had left it a year ago. It needed a bit of dusting and she was definitely going to move the furniture around a little and unpack her things she'd brought from Earth. She chewed her bottom lip as she walked over to the MP3 dock on the night stand as she fished her MP3 player from her pocket and plugged it in. She let the music move her around the room.
She dusted and cleaned everything off first and smiled softly at the note that one of her very best friends Nevaeh left for her.
I have all your pictures and ya know…things in my storage. I know you won't want everything back just yet, but let me know and I'll help you sort through them. I'll be off-world for a few days. I'll see you when I get back.
~Nevaeh
Olivia knew exactly what she meant when she said she had her pictures and other things. She knew she'd been in her room and removed anything that would cause a relapse. She was thankful for her friend. They had tried to keep in touch through e-mail and on a few of Nevaeh's trips back to Earth they had met up for a girl's night in. But their last real visit had been more than four months ago and she just knew it was because of the off world missions the teams were doing.
Once she had her room arranged the way she wanted and had all of her things un-packed and put away she showered and decided she needed a walk.
Night time on Atlantis was the most beautiful and peaceful time. She walked out onto the East platform and took in the waters bumping against the lighted pier. After an hour of sitting on the platform she finally stood and walked back into the building and made her way to the mess hall. She could feel her stomach growling in hungry objection. As she filled her tray with food and grabbed a couple of waters she turned to find a table and realized she was being summoned over to John and Teyla's table.
"Good evening John – Teyla." Olivia greeted as they invited her to sit down. "Dr. McKay."
Rodney looked up from his computer tablet and nodded. "Yes - Yes Olivia, welcome back. Katie said you'd returned to Atlantis." He stated dismissively.
Olivia smirked. "Same old Rodney."
John chuckled as he nodded. "Same old Rodney of course." His eyes looked up as the giant Satedan stepped up to the table and dropped his tray next to Olivia's. "Ronon, you missed meeting Olivia earlier when you disappeared. Olivia Dixon, this is Ronon Dex one of the new team mates under me. Ronon, this is Caron's niece Olivia."
Olivia looked over at the brooding man whose eyebrows were zipped together in the middle as he looked at her. "It's pleasure to meet you Mr. Dex." Her eyes widened when all he did was grunt in her general direction. "Okay…maybe not."
John cleared his throat. "You'll have to forgive Ronon, it takes him a while to warm up to new people and since you've been gone…well ya know."
"Yea I know." Olivia stated as she looked down at her salad.
"So Ronon where are you from?" Olivia asked, figuring it would be nice to get to know the only member of John's team she's never met.
"Sateda." He grumbled as he continued to eat.
Olivia's head snapped up as shock registered in her jade eyes. She swallowed hard. "Sateda?"
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Ronon growled.
John's eyes watched as Olivia became more and more alarmed. "Ronon, don't." He made eye contact with Ronon and gestured towards Olivia so he could see her reaction.
Teyla noticed the distress on her friends face. "Livy, are you okay?" She asked gently.
Olivia licked her suddenly dry lips. "I um…I'm not as hungry as I thought I was." She grabbed the water as she stood up and backed away from the table. "Excuse me please." She turned on her heels and left the mess hall making a bee line for her room. Once the doors slid shut she felt her back connect with them as she slid down to the floor with her knees tucked into her chest as she began to cry.
Suddenly she felt as if coming back to Atlantis was the biggest mistake she could make.
Ronon watched the auburn haired girl take off out of the mess hall like her rear was on fire. "What the hell was that all about?" He questioned as he looked back at John and Teyla.
Teyla shook her head. "I do not know, but something clearly upset her when you mentioned Sateda."
John frowned. "I don't know either, but Teyla is right. Ronon do you know Olivia?"
"No, how would I know her?" Ronon grumbled as he threw his tray away and left the mess hall.
John watched as the big man left the mess hall brooding even more than normal. "You think Carson would know?" John asked as he looked at Teyla.
"I cannot say for certain. Do you think it might have anything to do with Eric's death?" She asked John back who shrugged. "Let us go find him and ask. If that is the case…maybe Olivia should be moved to Major Lorne's team?" Teyla suggested.
John shook his head negatively as they stood and disposed of their trays and headed to the infirmary where they knew Carson would be for the night shift. "Olivia is nothing if she's not professional. I don't think we will have an issue with her being on the same team with Ronon. She just needs to get used to his rough edges and his broody self. He doesn't exactly trust new people. It takes him a while to get used to new people being in the group or around us. You know how protective Ronon has become since getting to know all of us."
Teyla nodded as they made their way to the infirmary. "Yes, Ronon has been more protective of everyone on the team; even Rodney as annoying has he can sometimes become when he is too involved with the tech side of things."
John nodded. "Precisely, but I've never known Ronon to ever be verbally rude to a woman either. And he was anything but chivalries just now towards Olivia."
Teyla shrugged her shoulders as she continued walking. "I cannot say for certain what is going on with our Satedan friend. We all know Ronon has his moods and we also know when he is in these moods we step aside and let him be. Perhaps he is having a bad day. We haven't been off world for a couple of weeks; you know he gets bored quite fast and irritated standing and doing nothing. Maybe the new batch of marines in for training will perk him up a bit." She suggested.
Once they got to the infirmary they learned Carson was off world and wouldn't be back for a few days and by then John's team – including Olivia and Ronon will be going off world on their first mission together.
Ronon stood over the cocky marine he had just taken down a couple of notches; his chest rising and falling at a fast rate as he held his head high. He's won this battle.
Hell who was he fooling?
He won all the battles.
His concentration was complete shit right now, but even without his total focus he was still kicking the shit out of the puny marines.
He looked up and his green eyes watched as Teyla walked into the gym with her bantos rods. He watched as she looked around the room at the other marines in the room still standing.
Teyla looked down at the marine laying on the floor. "I would suggest you go to the infirmary and make sure nothing is broken." Her eyes flicked to the other two standing around. "I would suggest you help him."
She smirked as she watched the two standing help their buddy up and out of the room. She watched as Ronon picked up the make shift wooden sword that he dueled with and also trained the marines with as she had a bantos stick in each hand and they began to spar.
Ronon frowned and then groaned when Teyla got a lucky shot in across his knuckles.
"Your concentration is extremely hindered tonight. Is there any particular reason why?" Teyla asked softly. She was fully focused on every move Ronon made.
Ronon grunted and growled as he moved around Teyla in a circle. "I don't want to talk about it." He hissed out when her bantos rod came down on his knuckles again and another smirk lit up Teyla's face.
"Are you sure?"
"YES!" Ronon growled from the back of his throat. "Is it not okay for me to have thoughts of my own?"
Teyla shook her head. "No of course it is not. But when you are sparring so hard and fighting even harder and your focus is THIS broken. Then something must be wrong. You know holding all that inside of you is not good for your soul."
"Well that is why I was sparring with the marines. They stupid enough to let their hotheads go and let their egotistical ways get their asses into trouble. They run their mouths about me being a damn alien because I was not born on Earth so what better way to shut them up then by letting my military training come in use? It gets my frustrations out and shuts them up." Ronon mumbled out as he advanced on Teyla once more only to be on the receiving end of another Bantos rod strike to his hip.
This was going to be a LONG night.
