Life, with a little spice 1
Welcome back to Louise's story. This is the installment to Louise and Seasoned with Love. I've been working on it for several months and have been hit by a lot of writer's block. This story is not completely written yet but I know where I'm going, though I'm still struggling with quite a few chapters.
I've also worked on a lot on recipes that you will find both on my blog, where you will find many more (blog dot ac-versailles dot fr/seasonedwithlove), and throughout the chapters. I hope you enjoy this new story as well as the recipes.
Feedback, coffee and donuts are my fuel so don't hesitate to send me the first item. I'll take care of the other two ;)
Just a request before we begin, though. I don't mind constructive criticism. Just don't judge my story on the chapter you walk on and if you really don't like it, no need to be mean. Thank you.
It happens almost three months into their journey – three blissful months of often stepping through the gate together and running the City side by side. All this – being on the City, sharing their life, sharing the same bed at night – she knew it couldn't last. She's told him once – whatever she did in her lifetime, the universe is making her pay for it. The universe, or the Ancients, or someone.
She steps hurriedly into the gateroom, asking for help and freezes, her eyes darting from one side of the room to the other in alarm. Four marines have their P90s trained on her. They order her – rather yell than order, actually – to remove her backpack, vest and sidearm slowly and slide them towards them. Her eyes widen with fear and her mind goes spinning.
She's just returned before the agreed time to ask for urgent help, the rest of the team having disappeared in the fog that had suddenly descended from the hills around the village. She's searched for them everywhere, returned to the village but no one – not even the villagers – was there. Her radio got only static after what felt like hours of useless search, so she'd finally headed back to the gate and sent her IDC and broken all the rules by stepping through the gate before she received a go-ahead, counting on the fact they'd heard her pleas to send reinforcement, and they'd be waiting for her and would drop the shield.
She does as told and puts her hands behind her head. "What's going on here?" she pleads. "We need reinforcements, stat. I'm the only one who made it back to the gate. For all I know, they're still out there..."
One of the marines stares her down. "Ma'am, you need to wait for Colonel Sheppard. He's on his way."
She sighs in relief. "Thank God." Techs are watching her from the Control Room balcony, talking in hushed tones. She sees Amelia and Chuck but they look away when they see her watching them. She wants to attract their attention but the marines cock their weapons at her once more. She hears the clicks of the safeties and gulps.
"What the hell...?" is all he says as he enters the room at a run. When he sees her, his hand drops to his sidearm and he narrows his eyes at her. "I needed to see it for myself. Couldn't believe what I've just been told," he mutters to Chuck who's descending the stairs.
Chuck nods at him sternly. "Couldn't either, Sir. Still can't."
"Who the hell are you?" John demands, training his eyes on her once more.
She gasps. This must be the worst joke ever. "John! Come on! It's not funny. Don't you see it's me?"
He sneers. "I don't know who me is, dearie, but if you're talking about our little cook, I agree with you, it's not funny."
"What the hell are you talking about?" she growls in exasperation. "It's me, Louise, and I need your help asap, John."
"Ma'am," Chuck tells her calmly, seeing his CO is still trying to wrap his mind around the whole concept of having someone looking like Louise in this very room, "Louise Léger went MIA three years ago. Only the rest of the team returned. Whoever you are, you're not Louise and this is a cruel joke."
She tries to process what he's just said. Three years? That can't be. She left just over twenty-four hours ago. She looks at John whose eyes are still trained on her and sees a couple wrinkles around his eyes she had never seen before and a few white hairs in his five o'clock shadow. She only notices because of what Chuck's just said but when she looks around, she does see a few unfamiliar faces – some techs she doesn't know and those marines too. "No," she insists stubbornly, "you got it all wrong. I mean... Am I again in another reality?" she wonders aloud.
Sheppard taps his headset. "Get me Teldy here, stat. Sheppard out." He turns to her. "We'll inquire into it, of course, but if you contend you went to MP4-916 with Teldy's team then you're gonna be confronted with her and you'd better answer my questions," he snaps the last two words, his eyes turning dark with unrepressed anger.
"John, honey, please..." She feels her head spinning. This can't be happening. She's stepped into a freakish nightmare.
"Don't honey me," he barks back, advancing on her menacingly, his gun now trained on her.
She starts hyperventilating and before she can do anything about it, she blacks out.
She wakes up in the infirmary, her eyes being prodded by a bright light. She blinks and tries to turn her head but just that simple movement hurts like hell. She groans and hears Jennifer's worried voice telling her to take it easy. She opens her eyes slowly and sees her friend looking down on her. "Hi," she says drowsily.
The othe woman gives her a tense smile. "How are you feeling?"
She tries to move and realizes her hands and feet are tied to the bed. She gasps and her breathing gets labored. "Why?" she whimpers.
Jennifer lays a reassuring hand on her forearm. "It's OK. It's just a precaution. You need to stay calm and everything will be alright."
"So, Doc, what have you got for me?" she hears John's strained voice coming from behind her friend.
Jennifer turns to him, clearly annoyed. "Colonel, she's been here ten minutes. How am I supposed to run a diagnostic in such a short time?"
He sniggers. "No need for tests, Doc. She's awake. I need her in the interrogation room. Period." He motions for two marines who come and untie her then set her not too gently on her feet.
Keller protests. "Now, Colonel. I've only had time to run a few quick tests. I need to know if she's OK before you take her there."
He shakes his head stubbornly and points at Louise. "Whatever that thing is, she's not your friend. Louise disappeared three years ago and the "woman" we have before us has not changed one bit. Don't you find that suspicious?" He lifts his eyebrows at Keller who huffs.
"There must be some explanation. Don't you want her to be Louise?" she asks him in a hushed tone.
He looks away stubbornly. "You and I both know there's a chance of a snowball in hell that's really her. I've been through that with Elizabeth. I won't let myself get fooled again."
Keller insists. "Elizabeth did come back, Colonel. And Beckett too. Why don't you want to believe it's possible?"
He narrows his eyes at her and lifts his forefinger menacingly. "Cuz that would be too good to be true." He motions for the marines to head to the door with Louise between them. "Whatever she knows, I'll get it from her – through torture if need be. Believe me, when I'm done with her, we'll get the whole story."
Louise shudders. John is the kindest of friends and the gentlest of lovers but on the field, he is true to his reputation as a badass. And he hasn't looked at her once since he entered the room, ignoring her during the whole conversation – as if she weren't part of his world anymore.
"I need to be there, Colonel. In case..." Keller tells him, looking clearly uncomfortable. He nods curtly and leaves, shoving Louise in front of him.
By the time they've reached the conference room where he's chosen to interrogate her, she's feeling dizzy and very cold. He's adamantly refused to talk to her and when asked for the hundredth time why he does not believe her, has yelled at her to "shut up, just shut up!"
She's cringed and done as told, trying to evaluate her situation but not being able to have one straight thought. She's too scared for that. All she thinks of is how it could have ended the last time she got accused of witchcraft. But this time, John won't save her and from the looks of it, he might as well burn her alive at the stake himself.
He orders her to sit. No one is sitting at the table but quite a few people she knows are entering the room though not approaching them. Keller has followed and now Rodney is standing next to her, his arm around her shoulders, both of them looking sad and resigned.
Ronon is there too and looking as murderous as John. She knows his skills. If John lets him interrogate her, she doesn't stand a chance. The doors are not closed yet and she sees Teyla approach the room cautiously. She's holding a toddler by his hand. He's conversing quietly with her. Louise's heart stutters. There's only one rational answer to who that little boy is, which means she's indeed missing three years of her life. She gulps and tries to contain the sobs that are gathering in her chest. Jen smiles at her encouragingly. "Try to calm down," she mouthes to her.
"Is that...?" Louise asks anyway.
Sheppard gives her an ice cold glare. "Yes, it's Torren. Now, shut up! You'll talk when asked."
She bites her bottom lip and folds her hands on her lap.
Sheppard turns to Rodney. "You scanned her. What do you say?"
Rodney looks at his tablet and shows it to his friend. "IDC code, energy signature, everything – that's her."
Louise looks hopeful. Sheppard turns to her and stares her down so she looks down at her hands. "What about you, Keller?" he barks, losing his patience.
"The results will be here any minute," she tells him then turns to Louise to elaborate. "I took some blood. It should help us determine if you've got the same DNA and it will also detect the Ancient gene." Louise nods and smiles briefly before looking down again. She needs to remain demure until they realize it's really her. John is too angry now and for the first time since his near conversion, she's scared of what he could do to her.
"I'm also hoping we'll find a trace of Michael's manipulation in her cells. It would allow us to determine if she's a clone or the real her," Jen adds but clams up when she sees Sheppard's murderous look. Obviously, he doesn't want to believe in it and has already decided she's a fraud.
"You know as well as I do it's not that simple," he retorts. "As long as we don't get a thorough explanation for where she's been all this time and how she got back here, she'll be a threat to this base."
Louise finally decides enough's enough. "She is right in front of you, John, and she has been trying to discuss it with you all along. Why don't you ask me, for a change?" she growls, looking straight into his eyes.
He sniggers. "At least, she has the same pesky personality!"
She counters on the same tone. "No shit, Sherlock!"
"Well, that's good to know," he retorts, a dangerous glare in his eyes. "Cuz that way, I'll know how to handle you..."
"And I know which buttons to push too, Colonel," she answers, tilting her chin up defensively.
Rodney snorts. "You have to admit, Sheppard..."
"I'm not asking you, Rodney," he barks at his friend who looks shocked at the rage he sees in his friend's eye.
Ronon lifts his eyebrows. "What are we waiting for? I can interrogate her if you want," he offers.
She shudders. "You don't need to. I'll tell you everything I know," she pleads.
"Actually, Ronon, I need those results first," Sheppard replies.
Louise puts her head in her hands, her elbows resting on the table. "Louise, you OK?" Jen asks and walks to her, only to be stopped by one of the marines who are standing behind her chair.
She feels even more dizzy than when she arrived but she wants to keep a brave front. It's no time to look weak. "I'm OK," she says, lifting her head slowly.
That's when she sees her walking into the room and knows for certain she can't be in her reality. "Is that..." she asks, squinting at the woman standing in front of her who's holding out a couple of files to John and Rodney.
John looks away, wincing. "Yeah. That's Nancy..."
Louise can't take her eyes off her. "What is she doing here? I mean, it means I'm not in my own reality. Nancy was on Earth, working for Homeworld Security..."
Nancy scoffs. "Yes, well, that was a long time ago..."
Louise trains her eyes on John. "What is going on here, John? What is your ex-wife doing here?" she demands. She sees Rodney huff. Teyla is now standing in the doorway, looking compassionate. Ronon winces.
John sighs and finally looks at Louise, his hand on the file he's set unopened in front of him. "Nancy is not my ex-wife. She's my wife. We remarried a year ago," he says quietly, shame in his eyes.
She gasps and feels herself slowly falling from the chair, as if in slow motion, as if her body was not her own anymore but she were looking at it from afar.
"Colonel, she's waking up." She hears Keller's relieved voice next to her and opens her eyes slowly.
"What happened?" she croaks, her throat parched.
"You were in a coma for almost two days, Louise. I'm sorry. I should have been more careful and run more tests before they took you back to be interrogated. Your blood sugar level was very low. I guess the shock did the rest," Keller elaborates, frowning. "How are you feeling?"
"Thirsty," she whispers, her eyes closing against the too bright lights of the infirmary. She feels a straw against her lips and opens her mouth slightly and drinks avidly. She chokes, having drunk too fast, and opens her eyes. John sets the cup back on the table before her and walks quietly to the door. She wants to call after him but then she remembers why she fainted in the first place and tears well up to her eyes.
Jen pats her shoulder. "It's OK, honey, you've been under a lot of stress. You need to relax."
Louise turns her head to the other side. " I'm sorry. It's just... He hasn't even said a word to me."
"Hey. There's a couple of things you need to know. One, the tests have confirmed it's really you. We don't know what happened but Rodney and Radek are on it and it's everyone's top priority. And two," she adds, seeing she has Louise's attention, "Colonel Sheppard has spent the last two days glued to that stool over there," she says, pointing at the seat just behind the window of the room, "waiting for you to wake up."
Louise smiles sadly. "What for? To put me in the brig the moment you discharge me?" she scoffs.
Jen shakes her head sadly too. "Louise. Everyone thought you were dead. We never found anything that could lead us to you but it doesn't mean we did not keep looking."
Louise scoffs. "I understand you did, guys, but obviously he didn't."
Jen protests. "Louise, there's not a day I don't see him on your balcony..."
Louise turns to her with a look of pain so intense, Jen knows there's no way Louise is gonna be fine, no matter what. "He remarried! I should never have let him into my life in the first place. I was really just a fling after all..." She turns her head to the other side. "Jen, would you mind leaving me alone, please?"
Keller walks to the door and switches off the lights. "Sure. You need to rest. I'll come back later."
Louise curls into a ball on her side and wraps her arms around her knees, rocking from side to side and sobs quietly until she finally falls asleep. Not once has Sheppard left his station behind the window, watching her until he's sure she's sound asleep before he heads back to his office.
She wakes up drowsily and sees Rodney watching her from the side of her bed. He's sitting on a stool and smiling at her. He squeezes her hand. "Hey, how are you doing this morning?" he asks her gently.
"OK. Headache. Tired. Muscles hurt," she musters the courage to say. He walks to the door and calls Jen.
"I'm gonna give you something for your headache but I won't give you something stronger. You're just out of a coma," Keller tells her.
Louise chuckles humorlessly. "How could I forget!" She turns on her side and closes her eyes. "Wish you could knock me out. I could use something stronger than tylenol to dull the pain."
Jen pouts. "Louise, be reasonable. I need you on your feet soon. Whining will achieve nothing. Hey," she adds, smiling brightly, "when you're up to it, I have a surprise for you!"
"Like "the man of your life has remarried" kind of surprise?" Louise sniggers.
Jen rolls her eyes at her. "Good to know you haven't lost your sarcasm. No, like guess who's dying to lick your face and jump on your bed?"
Louise turns to her and her eyes light up. "You mean Shep's still around?"
Rodney chuckles. "Of course, silly. He's the pride and joy of our ship! Whenever you're ready just tell Jen and I'll get him, OK?"
"What about now?" she asks, sitting in her bed.
He gives her a broad smile. "Now, that's my girl! I'll go find him. Will be right back."
He comes back with the dog and John in tow, who walks to his seat behind the glass panel and folds his arms on his chest, observing her reconnect with the Australian shepherd he'd offered her on the first day they'd been together. It's been three years but the two reconnect right away. Jen pouts when she sees the dog jump on the hospital bed but relents when Rodney eyes her pleadingly. Shep settles next to his mistress and after a while, they both fall asleep. Rodney hears the dog sigh with content and chuckles. He turns to John but sobers up when he sees the forlorn look of his friend.
He walks out of the room quietly and comes to stand next to him. "You still believe it's not her?" he asks him.
John shrugs and bites his bottom lip. "I don't know, McKay. I need to understand what happened to wrap my head around this whole freakish nightmare. Are you making any progress?"
Rodney shrugs. "Kind of. There's a possibility she was kept in the buffer drive of the gate and then released but why, I have no idea. And it doesn't explain why she didn't make it when the others did.
Nor does it explain that fog she describes the others didn't see or the disappearance of everyone in the village. And why was it her who had to disappear?"
John growls in frustration. "Argh! Too many questions, McKay! I need answers and I need them fast. The IOA and Stargate Command are going to pester us for those and we'd better come up with something." He drops his voice to a whisper. "I've already received orders to hand her down to the IOA for questioning if we don't solve the case in the week to come and you know what that means..."
Rodney frowns and nods. "No trial, no compassion. They'll lock her away somewhere secret and use her as a lab rat."
"Good to know you get my drift. Devote every resource we have to your research if need be but solve the puzzle, Rodney," he groans.
Rodney nods and leaves then turns back and on second thoughts, asks his friend. "You've spent the last three days here, Sheppard. Don't you think it's time to go and see her in there?"
John sighs. "To what end, Rodney? She's been gone three years and I've tried to forget about her. For her, it's only been a couple of days. She feels betrayed. There's nothing I can say that will make up for that."
"You could start by telling her you still love her," Rodney huffs before leaving.
TBC
So? What do you think?