A.N: I've really been getting into the Sheppard/Keller ship lately, so I thought this up during a boring Cellular Metabolism lesson. I plan on it being multi-chaptered, and have already written part of the second chapter. Enjoy!
Richard Woolsey was reading through SGA-1's latest mission report, specifically Ronan's rather succinct one, when he was interrupted by Major Lorne knocking on his door.
"Yes Major?" Woolsey asked.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I've been trying to contact Colonel Sheppard for the better part of 10 minutes with no answer. He was supposed to be in the jumper bay to help with the new recruits about a quarter of an hour ago." Lorne answered, looking concerned.
"Have you tried looking for him? Maybe he's just running late and forgot his radio." Woolsey suggested, although doubtful of it himself as Sheppard would never usually take his radio off, being the leading military officer.
"Just about to go do that, sir. I thought I should let you know." Lorne said, leaving to go search for his CO.
A full fruitless search of the city later, Lorne found himself back at Woolsey's office. As he entered, he noticed Marie, one of the nurses of Atlantis, sat in one of the armchairs.
"Anything, Major?" Woolsey inquired from behind his desk.
"Nothing, sir. I looked everywhere and when I got to his quarters the door was locked."
"Hmm, could be an electrical malfunction. Marie's just informed me that Doctor Keller is also not responding. Although she did have to day off today, so that may be why."
"Jennifer never takes it off, even at night she keeps it close by in case of a medical emergency" Marie interjected "I practically had to force her out of the door last night banishing her from the infirmary until tomorrow, but unfortunately one of the other doctors fell and broke their arm this morning, so I was trying to inform her."
"I didn't see her during my sweep of Atlantis." Lorne admitted.
"Well if there are mechanical issues there's a large chance they're both locked in their rooms.3 Woolsey conjectured. He touched his radio to bring it to life. "Doctor McKay?" he called.
"Yeah?" was the answer he received from an annoyed sounding Rodney McKay.
"Have you noted any particular power fluctuations or electrical issues recently? We fear that Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Keller may be trapped in their quarters."
"No I haven't. Have you tried hailing them?" Rodney asked obnoxiously, already making his way to Sheppard's room, which were closer to his lab than Keller's.
"Of course. They're not answering. We think they may also be experiencing malfunctions." Woolsey answered, pretending not to hear the tone of Rodney's voice. It had become common practice among the people of Atlantis to just ignore the way in which the scientist talked, as it was usually condescending or patronizing.
"Well there's no way a power fluctuation could affect both the communicators AND the doors. Look, I'm already at John's door. I'll try to get it open and we'll go from there. McKay out."
Upon reaching the door to John's room, he tried the door normally, just in case Lorne really is that stupid. The door remained shut. Not seeing any physical damage he tried his Chief-of-Science override. The door slid open and as he stepped into the room, he was not prepared for the sight in front of him: His best friend, fast asleep in bed, spooning with the CMO of Atlantis. They were both fully clothed, so no hanky panky had apparently gone on, but there they were lying with John's arms securely around Jennifer.
After a few dazed moments, Rodney knocked himself back to reality and knew he was going to have to wake them up. He made his way to the edge of the bed, leant over and shook his friend's shoulder.
"Whu-" Sheppard mumbled as he roused from his sleep. He took a second to gaze at the woman in his arms before he realised that she was not the one who had woken him. Whipping his head around, his eyes bulged seeing Rodney at his bedside.
"Rise and shine" McKay singsonged, enjoying the look of embarrassment on Sheppard's face. "It seems that you missed your alarm. I don't know about Jennifer but you are -" He checked his watch ostentatiously "-20 minutes late for work."
A mixture of shock and sleepiness left John speechless for a few moments before he just managed to choke out:
"She has the day off."
"Well not anymore. I heard something about a Dr. Somethingorother broke their arm this morning so that's probably why they're looking for her" McKay informed him as he pointed over at the sleeping blonde. "So both of you need to be up and out ASAP."
He made his way to the door, and as John started to call him back, he just answered "Don't worry, I've got your back". He made sure to shut the door behind him.
McKay strode into Woolsey's office, where Woolsey, Lorne and Marie were all stood waiting. They all turned at his arrival and looked at him expectantly.
"There's no problem with the doors, they were just locked from the inside. I used my override code to open them. There is however a problem with some of the communicators, I tried contacting you earlier on my way up here but couldn't get through. I'll start working on it straight away." Rodney lied through his teeth.
"Well why didn't the colonel turn up for training this morning then?" Lorne inquired.
"He overslept! Do you have any idea how much he works, or how much Dr. Keller works too? They get less sleep combined than anyone else on this expedition! He was bound to oversleep eventually. Hell, when I went to check on Jennifer she didn't even wake up when I opened the door!" At least that part was true.
Rodney would have carried on with his rant in his usual manner, but then realised that it would seem too defensive of someone else, which wasn't exactly his MO, so he clamped his mouth shut. He simply added "I woke them up and they'll be straight to work. Now, next time only bother me when there's an actual problem please!"
With that, he left the office with a hidden smirk on his face. Sheppard better give him a good, very complete, explanation.
A.N.2: Feel free to comment and favorite/follow !