Warnings: Post S5
Disclaimer: I own no part of the SG world, none of the characters and make no money from this. If only!
Comments: Response to the Beya Valentine's Day 'Different Types of Love' Challenge – this is my response to the prompt to 'Kinds of Love'. I could have written this story out into a much larger fic, but it was this moment that I really only wanted to capture in reference to this prompt. I may use another prompt to write a bit more in this storyline.
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"Something's not right," John muttered as he looked through the thick Ancient glass of Woolsey's office out to where their 'guests' waited under armed guard.
"We're talking about visitors from another reality, one could argue that isn't right in of itself," Woolsey replied. John turned to meet the city leader's concerned eyes.
"They're keeping things from us," John said.
"They said as much," Carson pointed out.
"They don't want to contaminate our timeline," John quoted, his suspicion and doubt clear.
"Regardless, as it stands, their intel saved Major Lorne's team and they have done nothing, as yet, that warrants our suspicion," Woolsey replied, but his tone suggested that he was open to hear otherwise.
John looked at Carson. "Did you find anything odd about them?"
Carson shrugged. "They wouldn't agree to give blood samples, so I can only go with the scan results. They are normal human beings, had their fair share of broken bones which is to be expected with soldiers."
John looked back through the glass wall to their visitors. "What about the girl?" He asked. She was the real source of his heebie-jeebies he decided. There was something wrong about her that he couldn't put his finger on. Something about her that screamed to him that she was holding back something very important. She had to be twenty years old, but the rest of her small team deferred to her. She carried herself with strength and confidence beyond her years, but she was friendly and approachable with it. He was very suspicious of her.
"Nothing I would consider especially suspicious," Carson replied.
John turned back to him eagerly. "Meaning?"
"It's nothing really, but the scan revealed she wears contact lenses."
"So?" Rodney asked with confusion.
"Well, it's unusual for soldiers to wear them, but then we're talking about another reality here," Carson added with a shrug.
"Maybe she just works for the military, like us," Rodney argued. He had seemed strangely defensive of their visitors, especially the young woman.
"From her healed broken bones I would think she's seen combat," Carson added. "But, then so have we," he added with a shared smile with Rodney.
John turned back to his studying of the young woman in the gate room below. "I'm telling you, something's not right here. She's not telling us something." He watched her sat on the lower steps of the gate room, her manner very relaxed for someone under guard and in a strange new reality. She laughed at something someone said to her and John noticed with annoyance that it was one of his own people who had made her laugh. Their guests' guards were chatting away with those they should be watching very carefully. Maybe it was that Atlantis was home for these visitors as well, just a different version, or that the faces around them were so familiar was why they were so relaxed… There were answers to his concerns, but he still didn't like it. Something told him to be very careful, and that inner voice had rarely ever been wrong.
"She's young for a leadership role," Woolsey said from behind his desk.
"She carries it well," Carson replied, and again there was that strange sense of warmth to his tone. Everyone seemed to like her, except John. He wished Teyla were here, she was always the best at reading people. That reminded him of something.
"She was glad Teyla isn't here," he muttered as he turned back to them. "When her and her team first stepped through the Gate. That girl was clearly relived that Teyla wasn't here." It was a very thin thread to cling to, but he did.
"Are you saying we should recall Teyla from her vacation with Torren?" Woolsey asked him.
"Maybe we should," John replied. Not that he liked the idea of interrupting Teyla's time away, but he would feel better if she were here. And of course it had nothing to do with breaking up her time spent alone with Kanaan and their son. John shoved those thoughts aside, surprised that they were still lingering around after so much time.
"You think Teyla might recognise her?" Woolsey asked.
John shrugged. "There's something…familiar about that girl, and maybe Teyla will be able to tell us what it is."
"Maybe she's Athosian?" Carson considered as he moved to stand beside John at the window overlooking the Gate Room. John looked down as well and decided Carson could be right, she did look rather Athosian. She had strong shoulders and held herself with the confidence he associated with Athosian women. Her skin was almost the same colour as Teyla's as well he noticed.
"Even if she turns out to be Teyla's long lost relative, she is still from another reality," Rodney pointed out. "What difference will it make?"
John looked back at his friend. "Because, maybe she's lying and this could be some setup. She's familiar somehow," John told him. "Like I've seen her somewhere before."
Rodney was shaking his head even before John finished his sentence. The scientist got up from his seat and tapped away on the large screen in Woolsey's office that linked up with the Atlantis' central mainframe. "Look, the scans we took of them clearly show a differential that proves they are from another reality," he told John as he pointed to the graph of lines displayed for John.
"Though…" Rodney muttered suddenly as he looked at the screen again.
"What is it?" John asked as he moved towards Rodney.
Rodney frowned and tapped the screen to pull up another graph. "As well as the differential we expect, and can recognise due to our little adventure on that reality shifting Daedalus rollercoaster we rode. They are from a reality very close to ours, but these readings here suggest…maybe there's a time differential as well."
"What does that mean, Doctor?" Woolsey asked.
Rodney pulled a face. "That they're from a different time frame as well, but," he added quickly. "That might just be due to travelling between realities."
"I knew there was something wrong here," John muttered. "They're lying to us."
"These readings could be due to travelling here," Rodney protested again. "I need to scan them again."
John turned to Woolsey, a silent conversation passing between them. "Very well. I suggest we talk to the lead woman," Woolsey replied.
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She walked into the office alone, her eyes scanning over the room with a strange curiosity, as if she knew the content of this room very well in her reality. It unnerved him even more.
"Hello, Miss," Woolsey greeted her. She and the others had refused to give their names or even ranks, which had only added to John's suspicion.
"Mr Woolsey," she replied with a smile as she inclined her head. The gesture was very Athosian he decided. As she stood in profile to him he studied her closely, yes she could be Athosian. And if she was from another time as well as from another reality – she could be anyone. Maybe she was a relative of Teyla's, maybe that was why she had been pleased to avoid Teyla now. Then he thought – what if she was Teyla's daughter?! He watched her look round at Carson and Rodney with a smile full of clear amusement and pleasure. She knew them all and John watched as they smiled back at her. Yes, she could be Teyla's daughter he decided, and the more he looked at her, the more he saw the similarities now he was looking for them. This could be Teyla's daughter.
"We have some questions," Woolsey began politely as he gestured for her to sit in front of his desk.
The woman's smile dimmed slightly. "I have already explained that I will not tell you anything about my reality or my people there. You will have to trust us. Did we not already save Major Lorne's team?" She glanced at John briefly as she asked that.
She tended to avoid John's gaze more than anyone else's, probably because he wasn't fooled so easily like the others. He decided he should take over this conversation.
"Miss," he added extra emphasis on the address as it annoyed him. "For all we know you set up that ambush."
She kept her eyes on Woolsey as she answered. "All I and my team need is assistance in capturing the individual that attacked your team, and then we will need to return to our reality through your Gate. That is all we need."
"Well, you're not getting it, until we get some answers," John replied as he crossed his arms.
The woman looked round at him, meeting his eyes for only a moment and for a second he thought she was going to roll her eyes at him, but she looked away to Woolsey again.
"I have to agree with the Colonel; we can not risk letting you have free rein in our reality. Until you tell us something more concrete, we will be unable to do anything but hold you and your team here."
She frowned at that. "The individual we are after is dangerous. You will need our assistance to bring him in."
"We can catch one guy for you," John told her.
This time she looked right up at John, her frown dark. "We know more about this man than anyone. He will have technology available to him that you will not expect," she began.
"Technology from the future?" John asked, challenging her with his theory.
She looked momentarily surprised, but she controlled it quickly. "The shift between realities can often present time differentials. I am sure that Doctor McKay has already pointed that out," she replied as she looked over to Rodney.
"I did, I did tell him that," Rodney said unhelpfully.
John stepped forward, using his height to intimidate her. "It's simple – you start talking or you all get thrown into the brig."
She looked up at him with dark brown eyes, her displeasure clear, but she didn't seem all that intimidated by him. After a beat she sighed heavily and looked to Woolsey again.
"Very well, but I will only talk with you four and you must promise me that you will not reveal anything you lean to anyone else. Ever," she stated. "Any events I speak of you must never mention again, any names, you must not repeat." It sounded like a command she had been given and was repeating for them now.
They all nodded and waited. She smiled. "I know there are cameras in here, and no doubt you have a recording device playing on your laptop, Mr Woolsey," she said.
Woolsey smiled up at her and nodded to Rodney before he leant forward and deactivated the programme on his laptop and turned it so that she could see it had stopped running. Rodney turned off the camera for this room and she looked round his shoulder to be sure. That complete she moved to the chair Woolsey had first offered her, but then she changed her mind and leant her hip against the side of the desk instead.
"We were being truthful when we said we are from another reality, but you are also correct that we are from the future," she told them as she looked up from the desk at John. "In truth, I am not sure how far apart our realities are due to the time differential it is unclear. Any actions we make here to influence the course of your reality could change my world, or the future of your world."
"This man you are chasing..?" Woolsey asked.
"A criminal using this travelling technology to hide from us," she reported simply, when surely it wasn't that simple at all.
"And you are?" John asked.
"Think of me as a cop," she replied.
"And your name?" John pushed. She had been avoiding his gaze again, but now looked up at him and sighed again. John set a heavy glare on her, waiting impatiently patient for her answer.
"My name is Charin," she finally replied and John nodded.
"And the rest of it?" He said. She had as much as told him she was Athosian, and had backed up his theory of her being related to Teyla.
She met his eyes directly now, more than ever, holding his gaze with a strange stubbornness that only made him happy to wait longer until she spoke. He crossed his arms and smiled at her, telling her he wasn't going to let her avoid this question.
Finally the stubbornness died a little and John knew he had won, but she lifted an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you wish to know the entire truth?" She asked. It was another challenge.
"If you want any freedom in this reality, then yes," he stated in reply.
Her eyebrow lowered and she sighed again as she shook her head. A strange smile crossed her lips. "Fine," she replied. "My name is Charin Violet Emmagan." Feeling proud at the confirmation of his guess he nodded and looked to Rodney and Carson's surprised faces smugly. "Sheppard," she added. John snapped his gaze back to hers.
"What?" He asked.
She smiled again. "That is my name – Charin Violet Emmagan Sheppard," she replied, sounding out each name in turn.
John stared at her for a moment as he tried to decide if she was joking, but she smiled and he watched as she lifted her hands and began taking out her contact lenses. But, they weren't your usual contact lenses, they were tinted ones, and when she looked back up to him, green hazel eyes met his, and suddenly he believed her. Hot shock passed through him as he stared at her.
"Doctor Beckett or Jennifer can confirm my identity genetically for you," she added appearing very amused at his silence. John glanced to Carson, to find both the doctor and Rodney looking at him with wide expressions, their attention shifting between him and Charin. Clearly they saw some similarities, and were amused by it. John realised his mouth was open and he shut it, swallowing with confusion at the revelation.
Charin chuckled. "She's always right," she muttered.
"Who?" John demanded, lingering between the strange reactions of shock, annoyance and something rather like pleasure.
Charin met his gaze much more directly now, now she wasn't hiding her identity from him. There was a strong amount of familiarity. She looked at him like she knew what he was thinking.
"Mother, she said you would dig in your heels, that you would make things difficult for me here."
John felt the most bizarre sense of emotions at that. He felt somehow annoyed at Teyla, that other Teyla out there, who had judged his reaction so accurately.
"Was she the one to tell you to wear the contacts?" Carson asked clearly very amused.
Charin looked round at him and smiled. "Actually, it was you, Uncle Carson," she added.
John found himself looking at her eyes, almost the exact same colour as his, but it was the overall affect that made them similar. Her cheekbones were like his, and the shape of her eyebrows – he could see himself in her. No wonder she had seemed familiar to him! He saw part of her features every day in the mirror, and the other part in Teyla.
He and Teyla had a daughter in another reality! That realisation only now hit him. He felt the need to sit down, but resisted giving in to it.
"No wonder you were pleased Teyla wasn't here," Carson said.
Charin nodded. "Where is she?" She asked with an interested tone, but there was a subtle sense of longing there as well.
"She's on vacation with her, your, people. Her and Torren," Carson added. Yes, Torren – this reality's Teyla's kid. This reality in which she loved Kanaan and had his child, not John's. John clung to that sudden definition between Charin's life and his own. They were not the same. This wasn't really his daughter.
"Torren?" Charin asked. "He must be a baby at this time, right?" Carson nodded, and John felt the man's attention on him briefly. John already knew what Carson was going to do before he spoke to Charin.
"Torren is Kanaan's son," Carson told her with what sounded like an apologetic tone.
"Yes," Charin replied dismissively, shocking John again. "He must be what one year old or something?" She asked, far more interested in her brother's age.
"Fourteen months," Carson supplied her and John watched her grin. Suddenly the solider they had been dealing with was gone, and she was now a young mischievous girl.
"Really?" She said with enjoyment. "I would love to see him at that age. Think of the teasing material I could take back with me!"
John opened his mouth to ask a question, but shut it again. She had a Torren in her reality, a boy Teyla had with Kanaan. Then Charin was born, which meant that he and Teyla… He gave into the urge to sit down
The office went quiet and he looked up to see they were all watching him with amused looks. He met Charin's eyes and she smiled.
"You did ask, Dad," she told him. The affectionate familiar use of the term made him feel surprisingly happy. She wasn't really his daughter though, he reminded himself - she was from another reality.
Part of him resisted it still, considering whether this could be a lie, or some weird kind of trap. But, as he looked at Charin he could clearly see Teyla in her, and himself. A new sensation was growing in his chest and he tried to resist it, but as Charin smiled at him again he gave in and hope sprung forth. That and a new kind of affection that made him finally smile up at the young woman who represented a hope for his future, but also at the chance of a love he had only dreamt about being a possibility.
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THE END