A story I have been sitting on for a while now. Something... anything that included our darling Todd. It drove me mad not to know what happened to him. I sort of wish we got to see more of him in situations like this.
Uncles
Sheppard stood in the control room, a little wary of their expected visitor. He didn't really like the idea of Todd returning to Atlantis. In his opinion the Wraith had been to their city far too often. Once was understandable, given their questionable alliance, but more then that… that was pushing things a little too far. It was never a wise choice from a strategic standpoint to allow an enemy, either likely or possibly, to know any of your secrets. Not to mention the very vital fact that John Sheppard was the ranking military officer of the expedition. Was he doing his job properly if this particular Wraith seemed to view the city as some kind of second home? No. He didn't really think so. It didn't sit well with John, especially now.
Protecting the city from a Wraith, and his somewhat radical hive, was one thing. Protecting ones' family from the same thing… that was different. And now that John had such a hypothetical family, in reality, his priorities had indeed shifted.
He had sworn, years ago, to always put the safety of the ancestral city and the expedition team ahead of his own. That had not changed. He didn't think that would ever change, regardless of what happened in his future. His future. John almost smiled, even now, thinking of that. Yes, he might not have changed much but he had changed enough to realize that his motives in staying on Atlantis had. He'd come here to appease Jack O'Neil, to find some of that adventure the General spoke about, and to… yes, run away. It sounded childish to him now but, in truth, he was glad of that childish flight he'd taken through the Stargate four years ago. He was glad of it because he had indeed found adventure and an escape, but more surprisingly because of what he had found here.
Atlantis was an amazing place. The Pegasus galaxy held countless wonders and adventures he'd never see in his own galaxy. This he knew because within the ancestral city was a woman he cared for greatly and her son… their son… were his only reasons for living each day.
It had taken him four years to come to the realization that the woman he had met, that first time off world from Atlantis, would come to mean so much to him. Friendship had come easily, for them both, and although there had been obstacles to overcome they had found a way to push those boundaries without risking that meaningful friendship. Of course this had all happened in the wake of Kanaan's death. Seeing her struggle through that, with an infant son, was enough to shake John from his cowardly fear of expressing emotion. He'd stayed by her side, offering to watch Torren or just listen to her talk when she needed to… he found that the easiest to do. Just listen. Share a beer… just be there. He didn't have all the answers. Realistically, he didn't even have any of them, but he did his best and it wasn't overlooked.
It came quietly a few months later. Nothing formal had been orchestrated, no marriage ceremony had been requested or even thought of. Still, for everyone who knew them, their relationship was one that seemed even stronger and more permanent then those tied together by any ceremony. They were mates for life. Everyone rejoiced over their union. Claiming they were far more loved and admired together, then they had even been apart. This both humbled and touched both Sheppard and Teyla, encouraging them that they had indeed made the right choice.
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Sheppard paced as he waited. Glancing back several times to the screen displaying the incoming vessel. Todd's hive ship. It had come up on sensors only twenty minutes ago but he'd been expected for almost two days. Two days that John had been a tight ball of tension.
"You know he wont be here for another hour or so, right?" Rodney questioned, looking up from the terminal he sat behind.
He'd been a silent witness these past few days, watching John like a ticking time bomb. He, Ronon and Teyla had done all they could to ease the tension that continued to build up within him but they'd been rebuffed at every turn. He'd compensate with jokes, fake smiles and harmless insults… as was his usual manner, but he wasn't fooling anyone. The closer Todd got the worse he seemed to be at faking it.
In reply to Rodney's query John glared, tight mouthed, at the doctor.
"I can call you when he gets closer. I mean if you want to…" He trailed off pointing towards the door, John's glare not making him very comfortable. He cleared his throat and looked back at his laptop. "…just a thought. Never mind."
John looked back at the sensor readout and continued to linger in the control room, pacing intermittently, to the distraction and dismay of everyone working there. They'd grown accustomed to Elizabeth Weir lingering by their sides, Colonel Carter offering advice or even taking over when there was a problem. Even having Mr. Woosely lingering rather awkwardly while everyone went about their business had become quite normal to them, but having Colonel Sheppard join them like this… it was unnerving. Not to mention highly uncharacteristic of the smart-mouthed man. Especially since there was much better things they knew he could be doing with his free time.
Mr. Woosely, also one of those standing by watching this unfold, chose to address the situation against his better judgement. He nodded to Amelia and then Chuck, motioning for them to resume their work, before striding over to where John stood.
"You know… Dr. McKay is right. We could call you when Todd arrives, if you insist on being here for it." Richard stated, coming up behind John. "This is your day off, you should be spending it with your family."
John unfolded his arms and rested his hands on his narrow hips, making a little face that resembled something akin to a shallow smile.
"I'm good."
"I'm afraid I must-"
"I'm good." John repeated firmly, now with a bleak frown. "I'll stay, thanks."
He turned back to the sensor board, ignoring Woosely as if he were just another technician. In any other circumstance, the leader of Atlantis would have forced the issue, but today he allowed it to happen. He turned away, rather slowly and returned to his office. When Amelia glanced up, questioningly, he just gave a little shake of his head. She knew what that meant. She glanced privately at Colonel Sheppard, then returned to her work, counting down the minutes until this would all be over.
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Half an hour later they were joined by another. The stoic giant just stood out of the way though, leaning his weight against the staircase casually. He shared a private word with Amelia, asking quietly about the progress of both the hive and John but his attention rested primarily on his friend and not the attractive technician he'd been spending more and more time with lately.
He couldn't help but run back through the conversation he and Teyla had shared the previous day. Although he had expected John to be a little more on the defensive with the Wraith, especially now that he and Teyla were involved, Ronon was surprised he hadn't expected this level of paranoia. Teyla had made the request that Ronon watch John and try to ease his mind but it was proving difficult. Even Woosely, usually always extremely cautious and nervous about the Wraith's presence, wasn't this anxious.
He glanced at the man in question, working in his office like it was just another day. Ronon cut his eyes back to Amelia and asked her, without making a sound, what the man was thinking.
"He's letting the Colonel have his way with this one." She gave a little shrug, not quite knowing what else to say. "Maybe you should say something. I'm sure he'd listen to you."
The Runner was skeptical but he gave it a try, once more.
"You know Sheppard, you keep acting like this when the Wraith gets here and he's going to know you're hiding something." The Satedan stated from his place. His accusing tone making all the other technicians pause for a cautious moment before avidly trying to appear busy.
John cut his eyes to his friend. He knew he was right but he couldn't help himself. Teyla had tried to convince him that everything would be fine, several times, but the thought had yet to stick. At least she promised to stay out of sight with Torren. That little concession which caused him more relief then anything.
"Don't worry about me. I'm the king of cool." John finally replied, standing a little straighter. "I'll just be... happier... when this is over."
Ronon just arched a rather amused brow and said nothing. They continued to wait.
/\
Once the ship finally arrived and their old friend Todd was picked up, ferried back to Atlantis and then safely working in Rodney's lab on their newest shared problem, John was able to breathe a little easier. At least Todd was the same as he had always been. Relatively trustworthy for a Wraith, pleasant manners and even a little sarcastic in humour. He'd recovered from his latest challenge against the hive and was now working on a way to safely administer Dr. Keller's adapted retrovirus.
Although John wasn't fully comfortable the way Todd had acted unpredictably on previous occasions, the Wraith seemed to be a little more trustworthy every time they met. Every time they worked together well, that is. So, after issuing his normal threats, he left Todd and Rodney under the care of Lorne's men and stepped away for a meeting with the SGC. One even Woosely, despite the present predicament, would not allow him to miss.
/\
After a rather long and drawn-out conversation with Woosely and the SGC, John entered Rodney's lab to find the work completed. Or at least for now.
"That's all we can do." Rodney told him before he even asked. "Now we wait."
"That's it?" John asked, glaring unhappily at his friend. They had picked up Todd, went through all this ordeal for an hour's worth of work?
"Jennifer needs to complete some modifications to the retrovirus, at least a day or so of work if Zelenka and I pitch in. Todd's going to complete the rest of the calculations on his ship."
"I would rather not repeat the events of the last inoculation." Todd spoke up, uttering a little snarl.
"No." John thought about that, almost shuddering to remember that man-eating Wraith nearly ripping him to shreds with its teeth. And then, to top it all off the crash landing into the ocean. Not one of their better days. "Let's not do that."
"Indeed." Todd agreed.
John heaved a little sigh, knowing this would mean Todd would be returning soon. "I'll get a Jumper prepped."
He activated his comm and gave the orders to Lorne, who was on the roster to return the Wraith to his ship in orbit.
Todd glanced dismissively towards the door, where the guards awaited him, but remained where he was. "I understand I must congratulate you, Sheppard."
John frowned. What for?
Todd gave what appeared to be a rather genuine smile. "… it seems you have finally found a female willing to put up with you, and set about reproducing."
John's eyes slid over to McKay as the doctor turned white as a sheet. "Crap."
"Rodney." John growled
Rodney began stammering incoherently but managed to get out a terrified "I didn't say anything."
John quickly raised a hand, pointed furiously at McKay but he quickly launched into a kind of chattering in hopes that it might save his life.
"I never said anything about Sheppard reproducing, did I? All I-"
John's face, now an iron mask, produced a ghoulish bark of righteous anger.
"McKay!" John bellowed. How could he not realize what he was doing? What he had done!
"Sheppard." Todd halted the exchange.
Both men looked at him. He was apparently enjoying this, but he continued his previous statement as if it had not even happened.
"My congratulations were sincere. I know your kind. You are a warrior. Such an allowance to your solidarity, regardless of your chosen female's strengths, merits recognition."
John, still fuming, gauged the Wraith's expression.
He seemed oddly sincere, especially for something so… personal. Then again Todd had spent considerable time with Teyla when they were solidifying his position amongst the hives. He'd seen her at her best, even with the surprises he'd thrown her way. And as odd as their relationship was, Todd always seemed to respect his skeptical trust and fresh insults. They seemed to garnish respect from the peculiar Wraith, if not amusement.
"We were once brothers…" Todd continued, surprising John even further with the reminder of their first encounter. "If you still view us as such… I understand that in your culture it is required for gifts to be bestowed by ones in such a position."
Sheppard only glanced at Rodney, looking absolutely terrified where he stood behind Todd, before giving his full attention to the Wraith. He took some pleasure in Rodney's visible fear, but he knew that there would be more metted out to him once the Wraith had gone. McKay could be sure of that. For the mean time though… Sheppard braced himself for the something truly terrible.
"I have little to offer which I believe would be accepted… so I will give you this instead. A promise. A vow that should your son ever require my assistance, I will treat it as if it were a request from your own lips. I will render aid, as long as I breathe, without hesitation."
John stared for a minute, avidly trying to understand what had just been said. For some reason, it just didn't seem like he'd heard properly. He opened his mouth to mutter some question resembling a fearful request to call for Keller and check if he had just suffered a stroke when he heard...
"Really? No strings attached?"
John's eyes rose to find Rodney, whom he fixed with yet another withering glare.
"What?" McKay shrugged, his face a rather embarrassed shade of pink. "This could be extremely helpful."
Todd turned, ominously in his floor length leather jacketed attire, and snarled at Rodney. "This vow is not for your city nor your people to abuse. It will reside with Sheppard's progeny alone."
While Rodney shrank back, a little chastened, Todd turned back to Sheppard.
"And yes…" He told the Colonel. "No strings attached. Your son will never need to fear us."
John, however crazy it sounded, seemed to relax a little. Not that he would ever cash in on that promise, or even consult Teyla on this matter, but it seemed more prudent to just accept then to fight it. They didn't need another Micheal situation on their hands. A psychopath thinking they had more power in their lives then themselves.
"…well… thanks."
Todd bowed his head slightly, a respectful gesture towards the Colonel, then moved to follow the guards out of the room. "Until next time, Sheppard. Please give my congratulations to Teyla."
John and Rodney were silent as the Wraith exited the room and headed down the hallway with Lorne's men. The moment seemed to linger, tense and foreboding as John contemplated the hundred nightmare scenarios that might follow a conversation like this. So lost in thought, he barely even noticed Rodney come up beside him as he just stood there, staring blankly at the door.
"Does this mean Torren is going to call him Uncle Todd?" Rodney asked, still not tearing his eyes away from the retreating Wraith.
John pulled back and struck him in the chest with his arm, not uttering a word as he stormed off in a huff. Rodney stood there, hunched over a little and groaned to no one in particular.
"Ouch." He gave his chest a little rub as he pouted. "What have you got under that jacket, Barnes' metal arm?"
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Things had barely settled down around the city before Ronon found Rodney in his lab, working tirelessly on more of the Wraith retrovirus coding that was required if they wanted to avoid destroying the ships, as they had before. It had been a problem both he and Zelanka had been working on for hours non-stop. It was projected to take even longer but that was of little consequence to him.
Ronon wasn't good at waiting and now that Todd was gone and John was distracted for the moment, he located the doctor and set about clearing something up. Something that a very angry Sheppard had been cursing about as he opened his first beer.
"McKay!" Ronon roared, entering the lab hell-bent on a mission.
Rodney looked up, suddenly afraid and backed away from his computer, holding his hands up innocently. Behind him, Zelanka nearly mirrored the look before pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose a little higher.
Ronon, his face now a mask of terrifying normalcy, shifted his dark gaze to Zelanka. "Out. Now."
Zelanka, chastened by the curt order, picked up his tablet and rushed out of the room cradling it to his chest.
"Good luck Rodney." He muttered, scurrying off as quickly as he could.
Rodney, for his part, was bolstered by the other scientists' fear and set about proving he wasn't afraid of the dangerous Runner like everyone else appeared to be. He muttered something about Zelanka under his breath and tried to stand a little taller… a little braver. Still it was pathetically weak.
Ronon laid his palms on the cool surface of the table and stared down at Rodney, his frown slowly growing deeper and deeper until even Rodney could not maintain his calm façade against it.
"What… you didn't talk to Sheppard… did you?" He asked, cringing a little, against his better judgment.
Ronon uttered a little snarl, which made the good doctor tense up considerably before he launched into his ill rehearsed excuse.
"Its not my fault!" He nearly shrieked. "I was working late last night on a different project using my personal computer and I left it here without realizing. Jennifer made this really-"
"McKay." Ronon growled.
Rodney snapped back to the point the was trying to make. "She was bugging me to try and stay focused and not get full of myself but I don't really see how a few pictures are going to do that. I mean it was one picture!"
Ronon just stared. "McKay, you showed Todd a picture of Torren and told him it was Sheppard's son."
"No… I…" Rodney cringed then began to stammer. "I didn't mean to… My personal computer has some of those screensavers... you know, with the pictures. Jennifer did it after Jeannie sent pictures of Madison. I guess we sort of… got carried away."
"What was the one thing they asked you to do when they said you could be a guardian for Torren?"
"That I 'keep him safe'." Rodney replied quickly. "But I didn't do anything wrong! I never said anything to Todd!"
"Then why did you tell him about Torren and Sheppard?"
"I didn't! Sam sent John a little football jersey for Torren. One for his favorite team. I had a picture of Torren in it on the screensaver and Todd saw it. He asked what it was and I said it was John's favorite team and Todd sort of… read between the lines. I never said-"
"What else did you show him?"
"...Um." Rodney's gaze slid effortlessly away from the Runners'.
"McKay?" Ronon hissed.
Rodney, hanging his head, turned and grabbed the laptop in question. He opened it, hit a few keys then turned it so it faced Ronon.
He was unsure of what was happening at first but soon a slow montage of pictures slide onto the screen and then off again, only grabbing his attention when he noticed they were of people Ronon knew. They began with a picture of Rodney's sister and her family. His sister's kid and clear evidence of another on the way. Then one of Torren laughing in his swing. Elizabeth Weir, standing on her balcony looking out over the ocean. Carson asleep at his desk in the medlab. One of John and Teyla when no one was looking. Ronon surrounded by a couple of kids from a village. One of Jennifer when she was consumed with her work. One of the two of them, Jennifer and Rodney. Then another of John and Teyla, this time flanked by Ronon and Rodney themselves, ready to go off world and laughing about something.
In all honestly Ronon was impressed. He had no idea any of these pictures existed. Especially not those beyond the ones of Rodney's family or those of Torren. And what was more, he would never of thought Rodney, of all people, would be the one to have them all. It was rather shocking.
"You take all these?"
"Well, evidently not." He replied, a little snobbishly. "My sister sent me a few. She always had an interest in photography as a kid. She took a couple pictures when she was here last time. A few others I got from Elizabeth's files. She was... um... saving them for the archives."
Both Ronon and Rodney were silent a moment, thinking fondly of their first leader and her sentimental side. Neither doubted that she'd kept most of the photos and mementos more out of a sense of pride for her family here on Atlantis rather then anything else. McKay wished she could see them now. See what she had accomplished with that pride of hers.
Rodney cleared his throat, willing himself to forget all of that for now as he flipped through the photos and selected the one of Ronon and the kids, displaying it on the screen once more.
"That one, I took." He smiled. "Pretty good one too, if I do say so myself... even if the lighting could have been better…"
While Rodney critiqued the photo, angling his head methodically and frowning at his work, Ronon showed very little reaction to McKay's suggestions for retouching it. Completely ignorant of what he was even saying, Ronan just grunted and pushed away from the table as he turned himself towards the door and headed for it.
"What, you don't like it? …Ronon?" Rodney pushed his computer aside and craned his neck to watch Ronon go. "Hey… so, am I in trouble… or…?"
Ronon did not reply, he pushed open the door to the lab and let it slam behind him, drowning out Rodney's voice. He strode away, a smile firmly in place on his lips, and unable to shake it.
Originally this was to be two stories, the exchange with Todd being one and Ronon dealing with McKay as another one entirely but I stitched them together and added that note about Elizabeth in the editing. I miss Elizabeth. As much as Sam and Richard were great... it just wasn't the same.