Chapters: 1/1
Rating T (some language)
Pairing: None
Beta: All on my own with this one. All mistakes are mine to keep.
Disclaimers: Atlantis and its marvelous characters are not mine. I jsut like to play with them every once in awhile.
A/N Thanks Linzi at Gateworld for making mention of Shep having a rough day and for letting me play with the idea!
Some Days are Like That!
Hmmm, oh yes, that's nice. John Sheppard liked red heads and this red head liked him. Well, truth be told, he likes blondes and brunettes just as much, but right now he was with a red head. She smelled so good and her skin was so soft. He was going to get to touch every part of it, starting with….
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Startled out of his dream, John slammed his hand down on the alarm. He must have slammed it a little too hard because it went flying off the back of the night stand to land, still beeping, on the floor between the table and the wall. He let out a loud groan and covered his head with his pillow. It couldn't possibly be time to get up already. He just went to bed!
beep beep beep beep beep beep
"All right! All right!" he sniped. "I'm getting up! You don't need to be such a pain in the ass about it!" He reached behind the night stand to get the alarm, but it was too far in. "Forget it!" he muttered.
As Sheppard sat up in bed, he remembered that yesterday had been a rough day. He remembered this because he ached all over. His left side hurt from being kicked by some donkey-like creature the natives on Olban used to transport trade goods. How was he supposed to know not to whistle when standing behind one? Good thing he had been off centered from it. At least no ribs had been broken. He just had one big nasty bruise with a horse shoe shape to it. The short wall that had been behind him at the time had managed to leave a nice scrape on his right hip and thigh as he tumbled over it to land in an ignominious heap on the other side of it. But he had missed the lovely pile of dung by mere inches. You should always look on the bright side of things.
Sitting on the side of his bed, Sheppard rubbed his face with his hands and thought about the day to come. He should have a relatively easy day ahead. Carson had put him on light duty because of his side. He needed to write up his mission report from yesterday and check on the rest of his team's reports to see what they said about his incident. Teyla and Ronon would be kind. They would gloss over his little mishap. He did not look forward to seeing what Rodney had written. McKay had been too busy laughing to be much help in getting Sheppard to his feet. It didn't matter to him that he had almost been bitten by one of the nasty things. "Almost doesn't leave a bruise!" he had snickered.
"Time to rise and shine" he thought. He stood up, took two steps from the bed and promptly fell over the boots he had left on the floor last night. He landed on his hands and right knee. "Great John! Just break your neck on your own sloppy housekeeping!" He stood up and kicked his boots out of the way and headed towards the bathroom.
A nice, long, hot shower was exactly what he needed right now. Reaching in the shower stall, he turned on the water and adjusted the temperature to where he liked it. The room started to steam up almost immediately.
To shave or not to shave! That was the question he asked every morning. Looking in the mirror he decided he had better shave today since he hadn't yesterday. He had gone way past scruff. He pulled out his razor and shaving cream, gave his face a nice lathering, held his razor up to his cheek and …
"Colonel Sheppard, are you available?" Sheppard let the razor drop and hung his head down. "Yes Chuck, I'm here. What do you need?" "Dr. Weir asked me to page you to see if she could postpone the meeting you were to have with her this morning." John's forehead crinkled. He hadn't remembered he had a meeting with Elizabeth today. "Uh, sure. Does she know when she wants to reschedule?" "Not yet sir. She will get back to you." John grinned. "Ok, but tell her she owes me one. I have been waiting for this meeting for awhile now." "Yes sir" was the quick reply.
Well things were looking up now. He evidently had more free time than he thought. Regardless of the fact he had forgotten about the meeting in the first place. He would just have to check in his office to see what it would have been about.
Up came the razor and on the first stroke, he took a nice chunk out of his cheek. "Ouch, dammit!" he cried grabbing for a cloth. This was why he hated shaving so much. He was always leaving pieces of his face in his razor. He wished he could use an electric razor but he was sensitive to the lotions for those. He moved the cloth away and took a look at the damage. Yup, it was a noticeable one.
He finished shaving quickly and without making anymore gouges in his skin. By then the whole room was a steam bath. It always amazed him that the mirrors on Atlantis never got foggy, no matter how long the water ran or how hot you made it. He looked forward to stepping into the nice hot shower stall. The floor would be warm on his feet. He hated cold floors!
He stepped into the shower, let out a loud "Yelp" and jumped back out again. How the heck did that water get so hot? It was scalding! He looked back at the faucet and it was set where he normally put it. Somebody was going to hear about this. Last week all he had was ice cold water. He had felt like he was showering with snow. Somebody was overcompensating with the heat levels.
Sheppard adjusted the controls down, waited a few minutes, tested with his hand then carefully stepped into the now bearable stream of water. Ah, that was much better. He reached for the shampoo/body wash combo. He liked the combo things. They made life much simpler. He liked simple, but it was not to be this time. The bottle was empty. He had forgotten to put a new bottle in yesterday when he finished this one. At least he kept a bar of soap handy for occasions such as these. He reached for that and gave a huge sigh as it slipped through his fingers and landed on the floor. Did he really need soap to get clean? It would help. He leaned over to pick it up and after 3 tries, finally succeeded in getting himself lathered and rinsed.
Finally he was done showering and dressing, including putting in a new boot lace because one of his decided to snap while he was pulling it tight. Sheppard headed out for some breakfast. He had tried once more to reach the stupid alarm clock but managed to knock his favorite picture, the one of him and Evel Kneivel, off the stand, almost breaking the frame. He figured the alarm could wait until later. It should turn itself off and be automatically set to go off tomorrow morning. He left his room with the alarm happily beeping behind the table.
As he hurried to the mess hall, he wondered if there would be any cinnamon rolls left. He was later than usual because of all his troubles. They only did his favorite treat once a week and today was the day. As he entered the hall, he glanced at the table where the rolls usually were. He saw a few left. Since he was making a bee line for them, he did not see Major Lorne step away from a table with his tray. A fully loaded tray makes a lot of noise as it hits the floor, along with all its contents. Everyone looked to see who had a mess to clean up.
Both men muttered, "Sorry, I didn't see you" as they bent to pick up the mess. It didn't take too long to clean up because Lorne had been hungry and had eaten everything. Only some dishes and a few crumbs littered the floor.
As soon as he had finished helping Lorne, Sheppard continued on his way to the tables. To his dismay, he saw Dr. Zelenka picking up the last two rolls and putting them on his plate. He went to him and said "Hey doc, you're not going to eat both of those are you?" "Oh, good morning Colonel. As a matter of fact, I am not going to eat either one of these." Sheppard started to reach for one of them and stopped quickly when Zelenka continued, "They are for my two companions. They have been working so hard in the lab, I thought they should have a treat." He nodded in the direction of two lab techs sitting at a table nearby. They waved at Sheppard and he gave a weak smile back.
With his tray fully loaded with leftover breakfast foods, Sheppard picked an empty table in a corner. He dropped his tray onto the table and managed to slop his orange juice onto his toast. As he was mopping up the juice from his tray, he heard a very familiar voice in the background.
"Well, well, Colonel. How are we feeling today?" Rodney quipped. "Any ass-pirations to play golf today? No! I know you won't be mule headed and try to work out with Ronon." "Can it McKay! I am in no mood for your smart-ass comments." "Oh, good one," countered McKay. "Do you need any ass-istance with your tray this morning?" "Enough Rodney!" growled John. "No need to be grumpy. I was just trying to lighten the mood." scowled Rodney. "Sheesh" "Sorry" responded John. "It is has just been a rough morning." Rodney nodded, "Hmm, see that! Cut yourself shaving again."
Sheppard picked up a piece of sausage and took a bite out of it. He was in no mood for Rodney's sarcasm this morning. He just wanted to get a bite to eat then head to the relative safety of his office. Glancing up he noticed Ronon and Teyla entering the mess. They seemed to be arguing over something as they headed for John's table. "Great. This morning is just getting better every minute," he thought.
The arguing pair arrived at the table and sat on either side of Sheppard. "I do not believe that is a wise idea" stated Teyla. "It could prove to be harmful" "No way" shot back Ronon. "Any real warrior could handle it." Teyla leaned in front of Sheppard to look Ronon in the eye. Sheppard had to lean back to avoid being crushed between the two. "Is that a challenge?" she said softly. "Good morning to you two too." Sheppard interjected. "Is there a problem?"
Teyla leaned back and Ronon shook his head. "No, no problem. Teyla just doesn't want to admit her people can't handle a simple game." Teyla addressed Ronon, "What you propose is no simple game. It could involve pain and injury. In addition, we have much to do to finish the harvest and do not have time for any of my people to expend their energy playing a dangerous game."
"What exactly are we talking about?" inquired Sheppard. It wasn't like Teyla to be so adamant about her people not doing something, even when it was harvest time.
"I want to challenge the Athosians to a friendly football game against the Marines and she doesn't think they can handle it" stated Ronon. John rolled his eyes and put his head in his hands. "You two are arguing over an Earth game?" Teyla sat up straight and took a deep breath. " My people can handle it Ronon. We just do not have time right now. There is no time to prepare properly. It is not a game we have ever played and we would need to learn the rules. Unless you think that we would be too formidable an opponent if trained properly?" Her one eyebrow raised at this last statement as she looked Ronon straight in the eye.
As Ronon started to lean in front of Sheppard to respond, his hand leaned on the almost empty breakfast tray which upended and the contents of which landed squarely in John's lap. It was too much for Rodney. He burst out laughing while Sheppard just sat there with a piece of toast, butter side down, and the few scraps of egg he had not eaten, laying in his lap. He tried to look on the bright side of things. At least he had finished the orange juice.
Teyla jumped up to grab some napkins from a nearby table to hand to John. "Sorry Sheppard" muttered Ronon. Rodney was still having fits on the other side of the table. "You certainly are having an ass-ortment of troubles today" he quipped.
John stood up, grabbed his tray and turned to leave. "Where're you going?" asked Rodney. "To my office," John growled "where I can have some peace and quiet for a few hours." Rodney looked perplexed. "I thought we were going to explore the top floor of new building on the west pier?"
Another appointment forgotten? John was on a roll today. "Well, I changed my mind. I have some other things that need to be done first." Rodney looked crestfallen. "Oh ok." Then he perked up, snapping his fingers. "I'll just go work on the new scanners we found. They do the most amazing things. Did you know…."
Sheppard turned to leave again and Teyla stood up with him leaving Ronon to suffer through Rodney's amazing discoveries. "I am sorry if our bickering ruined your meal Colonel" apologized Teyla. "No problem" Sheppard said as he dumped his trash in the bin and continued out of the mess. "Are you ok Colonel? You seem a little off this morning?" John stopped walking to look out a window at the beautiful view of the Ocean. "I'm ok. Just had a rough start to the day. It'll get better." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Teyla.
She took a good, long look at him. "Maybe you should see Dr. Beckett about the cut on your cheek. It looks painful." John looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, turned to look at Teyla and said "Thank you for your concern. The last thing I need right now is Carson giving me lessons on the finer points of shaving. I am going to head to my office now. If you need me, you know where to find me. Have a great day!" He turned on his heel and walked away leaving Teyla to watch him go.
His time in his office did not prove to be the safe haven he had hoped it would be. In addition to the many drop-in soldiers wanting to change duty times and or stations, he had scientists wanting to schedule military escorts to previously explored worlds that would hold the key to every problem in the universe. At least that was what they hoped they would find. So of course their mission was of the utmost importance and they needed the use of a Jumper and full crew to go with it. As soon as possible. Without regard to previously schedule missions. Now!
It also seemed as if his technical troubles followed him to his office. His favorite chair broke when he leaned back to put his feet up on the desk. When he opened his top desk drawer to get a notepad out, it came all the way out of his desk and spilled the contents all over the floor. As he was cleaning that up, he knelt on a pin that went right into his knee which was bruised from his trip over his boots this morning. By the time he was done picking everything up, his bruised side was aching and his head was about to explode. The last straw was when he finally started to type up his mission report, the "s" key on his keyboard started to stick. He would end up with lines of "ssssssssssssssss" which were a pain to delete.
He decided to be nosy. He pulled up the mission reports from his team. He went directly to yesterday's report. It was just as he figured it would be. Teyla and Ronon made little mention of John's tumble over the wall. As for Rodney's report, you would have thought that this small incident that happened at the end of the trip, was the whole trip.
John was done. He closed down his laptop, looked at his watch and saw that it was almost time for dinner. He had missed lunch, partly on purpose but mostly because every time he tried to leave his office, someone new showed up with a new urgent request. Good thing he kept a supply of power bars in his bottom desk drawer. They were a little squished, but still ok to eat.
He headed towards the mess hall wondering what was on the menu for tonight. Someone fell in step beside him and he looked to see who it was. Carson gave him a big smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just checking to see how my favorite patient is today. I half expected to see you stop in for at least a pain reliever." John smiled in response and gave his trademark "I'm fine." Carson laughed. "You may be fine, but you still don't know how to shave with a razor I see!"
For the first time the whole day, John actually smiled. He gave a little laugh and waved at Carson as the Doctor headed down a different corridor to the medical center.
The day was almost over. He just needed to get through dinner and few hours down time. He headed into the mess hall and spotted Rodney, Ronon, and Teyla sitting at a table in the back. He went to fill his tray with dinner. Of course it had to be meatloaf. He hated meatloaf. As he headed back to sit with his team, a young scientist stood up and stepped in his way. They almost collided, but this time he had been watching and managed to sidestep her without incident. "Excuse me," she said with an embarrassed smile. "Quite alright. No harm no foul" Sheppard replied.
Dinner actually went off without any spills, arguments or incidents. Rodney even behaved with his "ass" comments. Though John did thank him for his "ass-esment of the situation in his mission report"
As he walked out of the mess hall, he saw Elizabeth heading his way. Darn! He had forgotten to check to see what his meeting with her would have been about.
"Hey" he said! "Hey yourself" she replied with a raised eyebrow and a smirk! "I heard that I owe you one for postponing our meeting." "Ah you know I was just joking!" Elizabeth smiled. "I figured as much seeing as how I have been trying to get you to sit down with me about personnel evaluations for a month now. John, I know you don't like doing those, but it is a necessary part of our job. We need to be realistic about weaknesses as well as strengths of our people."
Shepppard walked looking at his feet, not replying to Elizabeth's statement. "John, is everything alright?" He sighed deeply and stopped walking. She stopped and turned towards him. "It has just been one of those days. It seemed as if nothing was going right and I was not handling it very well. I'm better now. Looking forward to relaxing for the evening and starting fresh in the morning." He put his hands in his pockets and looked out a window at the night view of the ocean. He had just figured out how to spend his evening.
Elizabeth put a hand on his arm and patted it. "I am glad that your day is almost over. Get some rest." She had turned to head back to her office when John called to her, "Hey, what made you postpone the meeting this morning? Anything I need to worry about?" She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh no, it has been taken care of. It was a problem with the water heating system. Night!" John just shook his head. "I should have known!"
John headed to his room. When he got there he changed into sweats and a fresh black T-shirt. After carefully putting his boots under his bed and his clothes in a hamper he grabbed his book. He momentarily debated whether to light some candles but quickly decided against it. The day wasn't completely over yet. Last thing he wanted to do would be to check the fire alarm system. He headed out to the balcony he had outside of his room. He had a comfy chair and table all ready for him to sit and relax and read. It did not take long to get settled and into his book.
Just as he finished the fifth page of his story, he felt the raindrops start. Splat, Splat then whoosh as the clouds opened up. He grabbed his things and ran back inside. At least he hadn't gotten soaking wet. Bright side again!
"Guess it is time for bed then." He climbed between the sheets and flipped off the light. "Maybe I can finish that dream," he thought sleepily.
As the room got quiet, he heard a beep beep beep beep beep beep coming from behind his table. "Damn alarm," he grumbled. He grabbed an extra pillow and put it over his head, rolled over and was asleep in minutes.