The Return
Here they were all; the members of the Atlantis back on Earth. Home. Safe, at last.
The battle against the Wraiths had been a difficult one. Whilst they had been able to destroy the super-hive, they didn't eliminate all of the Wraiths. Pegasus was still swarming with those life-sucking aliens.
However, with Atlantis' entry into the atmosphere, the city suffered some major damages and it was going to take a lot of time to repair everything. They didn't have the materials to rebuild some of the parts of the city's buildings. They decided, after numerous meetings, to concentrate on the main tower and would think about the others afterwards. Atlantis' ZPMs were not completely depleted; but with all those repairs, it left them as a -rather large- sitting duck in the Pacific Ocean.
The members of the Atlantis expedition took this time to enjoy a break from the constant fear of being under attack. Some went to visit family, while others decided to quit the Atlantis adventure to settle down in a more normal life.
After that short time, the senior members were to stay on the floating city to supervise; some people had stayed on board, not having anything else to do, or to help repair the floating city.
...o.o.o...
John was looking through the window, wondering when it was going to stop pouring. It had rained for days on the city of the Ancients. It was gloomy and he hated it; during those kind of times, it would put him in a nostalgic mood. Being nostalgic always reminded him of his childhood; and at that moment, it made him think of Alexander, his son in that alternate dimension. A few years had passed since the boy had visited them, but it still felt like yesterday. Now he'd probably be around 8 or something like that; John wondered what the boy would look like.
If only he was still with them...
He tried to remember the happy moments, but could only feel emptiness and longing. It felt as though he had lost a child. He scoffed; these thoughts getting ridiculous. At that moment, he was glad that Rodney was occupied with something in the labs; looking at the man reminded him of Alexander. It would also look suspicious if Sheppard came by the labs when there was no valid reason for it. Sure, he did it a couple of times in the past... more like a couple of hundreds of times, but now it was different; Rodney was in love with Jennifer Keller. The scientist hadn't been the same since he started "seeing" her.
While everyone went back to their occupations, Sheppard was left alone because he was the head of security of Atlantis… and there wasn't any menace -as of yet- on Earth. He was also alone because he didn't have a "better half" like the others. Yep, the guy who seemed the less likely to end up alone, did; his Kirk reputation sure sucked real bad. Of course, he had gotten the chance to go see his brother during the break; spending time there had been a nice vacation, since Dave now occupied the family estate. At first, it was fine, but, like many other times, John got into an argument with his brother and couldn't stand the other man, so he left.
The positive outcome was that, on Earth, there had been enough time to sit back and relax, without the constant fear of Wraith attacks or any danger found in the Pegasus galaxy. But now it was plain boring.
John scoffed at his own miserable thoughts and got up to go to the mess hall.
Even though they were all back to what most called 'home', John felt better staying on the floating city than when he was at the family estate with brother. Atlantis was his home. Stargate Command had informed all passengers of the city that when it would be repaired, Atlantis would set its course back to the Pegasus Galaxy. John wondered if the expedition team and goal would stay the same or they would change the formula. Would they let him back on the team? His job was rather important, so he could always bring this as an argument; it's not like Atlantis should be left defenseless without a military force to protect it.
As he walked, he greeted a few people that he made eye contact with and went to get his lunch before sitting down at a free table.
Munching on his sandwich, he could hear two people arguing and coming to the mess hall. From the shouts, he was able to clearly identify who it was: McKay and Zelenka. They seemed to be angry at something, yet, it was something he couldn't quite grasp.
He waited for the two men to enter the mess hall and sent them a sign to come and sit with him.
"Hey Sheppard" "Hello colonel" both scientists said, stopping arguing for a second.
John tried to greet them back, but the two immediately continued their conversation where they had left it.
"Oh sure! Now you're gonna tell me that this miscalculation was a test, again?" McKay shot out.
"NO, RODNEY! I was going to correct it when you pushed that damn button and THEN everything went wrong!"
All the shouting was getting to John's nerves: "Guys! Okay, enough!" When the two scientists stopped to stare at him, he continued: "As long as you're sitting here, you will eat and talk normally. No yelling here." And with a triumphant smirk, he took another bite of his sandwich.
"Whatever colonel, you didn't have to yell to get your point accross, you know" Rodney said, rolling his eyes.
Zelenka mumbled something angrily, but John didn't have the nerve to make him repeat. Clearing his throat, he asked, knowing this was considered dangerous terrain: "So... how are the reparations going?"
A clank was heard before McKay answered with much frustration: "What if I told you that I don't want to think about it right now? Would that answer be satisfying for monsieur?"
John was surprised by the harsh tone; there was no smirk in McKay's face. "I see" he answered flatly. "Well if you'll excuse me, I'm done here."
McKay stopped yelling and blurted out: "WHAT? but you're not even finished!" He dropped his fist on the cafeteria table.
The military man just waved his hand in dismissal "Whatever" and left the mess hall, after throwing again his half-eaten meal. Not hungry anymore, he decided to go practice katas in the training room to kill some time and release some pent up frustration.
...o.o.o...
Instead, he found Teyla training by herself.
"It seems you had the same idea as I did" Sheppard said with a smile.
Teyla stopped to greet him: "Good afternoon, colonel. Earth was very beautiful, but I need to stay in shape, for when we return to Pegasus. The battle isn't over."
John nodded nonchalantly. "So, want a little friendly match?" he said, as he took a pair of sticks for himself.
Teyla smiled warmly: "Of course, John. Let's see what you have learned since the last time we fought."
They both took a stance and got ready.
After a few intense minutes of sparring, Sheppard hit Teyla's arm for the second time during the first round of the match. "Are you letting me win?" he asked incredulously. He stopped and relaxed, putting a banto stick on his shoulder to take a break.
Teyla sighed. "No, John. I think... I may be a bit unfocused today. That is all." Making the sticks twirl in her hands, she motioned Sheppard to continue.
"What's occupying your mind?" he shot, as they got back into stance.
"I guess I am eager to return to the Pegasus galaxy, to see Canann and Torren." Her eyes, never leaving the opponent.
He lowered his stance, walking in circles, ready to hit: "Well, it has been almost 3 months since we've left the Pegasus Galaxy, doing near nothing." And he attacked.
But he was blocked by Teyla, and she pushed him to the ground. Helping her friend to get up, she added with a soft smile: "Yes, far too long in my taste."
...o.o.o...
During the evening, as he was making plans for the morrow in his quarters, John's doorbell rang. Without getting up from his desk, where he was going through a pile of papers, he yelled "Come in."
To see that it was Rodney made John want to close and lock the door. But, ever the polite military man he was, he greeted the scientist instead: "Hi, Rodney."
"Hey" Rodney awkwardly answered. "What'cha doing?" he asked, as he entered the small apartment.
"Planning stuff." John saiddejectedly. "Why does it interest you?" he said as he examined his papers; he felt his answer had been a tad rude, so he evaded his friend's gaze.
McKay shrugged: "Dunno. Out of curiosity." He then put his hands in his pockets, waiting.
"So, what now?" Sheppard asked impatiently, not looking up. He knew Rodney was there for a reason.
A short hesitation was felt on Rodney's part: "Well... I don't know how to say it... I'm going to propose to Jennifer."
John's heart skipped a beat; he was frozen on the spot, papers in hands.
"Sheppard?"
The man snapped out of his silent stupor and answered, looking straight into the scientist's eyes: "Huh, yeah. Congrats, buddy" and added a fake smile to go with that. He felt the same way as three years back, when he saw the proposal ring for Katie Brown, the botanist.
Rodney didn't pick up the lie in John's voice, so he said happily: "Thanks." And stood there, not really knowing what to say next.
Out of patience, John finally motioned him to sit down.
Rodney did as asked. And there, the awkward silence was back. So he blurted out: "Are you mad at me?"
That question surprised John, because all he could say was: "What?"
"I dunno. It's like you're angry at me... for something." He fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "And I don't know what it is" McKay said, a bit annoyed.
Of course, John couldn't empty his heart as Rodney wished, because there was something that could not be said. So he quickly made up an excuse: "I'm not angry at you per se. It's just... I'm getting bored here and there's nothing to do on Atlantis."
The scientist's eyes lit up: "Oh. Well you should have said it sooner. We need someone to sit in the chair to help repair the city and tell us how it's going."
Working with the scientific team was out of the questions, because Jennifer was always checking on Rodney and stealthily giving John the evil eye. "I'll see about that. But I was also thinking about starting to get back into shape. I think I let myself relax too much and need to return to my training to be prepared for when we get back to the Pegasus galaxy."
Rodney looked a bit disappointed: "Huh. Okay then." He looked at his watch. "Well, I'll be going. I'm meeting Jennifer for dinner. And then I'm going back to the repairs. Good evening."
"Bye" John answered back. As Rodney left the room, he wanted to hit himself with his pillow for being stuck in that weird situation. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid...' he repeated mentally, like a mantra.
...o.o.o...
In the end, it took another month for the repairs to be complete. They were finally on their way back to the Pegasus galaxy.
Woolsey was having a meeting with a team of scientists new to the Atlantis adventure.
Suddenly, a flash of light engulfed the conference room and, as everyone was blinded by the brightness, an unknown, but excited voice was heard: "Oh wow! I did it correctly this time!"
Woolsey tried to calm down the people present in the room. He sent a signal to the marine guarding the door to be ready for anything. "Who are you?" he asked, trying to hide the fear in his voice. He still couldn't see clearly, but he could now discern a tall figure standing in the middle of the conference room.
"It's me!" the young man said, a dashing smile accompanying the sentence.
Squinting his eyes, Woolsey then took in the physical appearance of the person standing: young adult, tall, broad shoulders, clear blue eyes, slightly pointed ears and dark disheveled hair. The young man looked a lot like John Sheppard. Odd. But he also reminded him of someone else he knew.
This was too strange. A shaking hand to his radio, he communicated with Chuck: "This is... urgent. Tell Dr. McKay and colonel Sheppard to come to the conference room... Immediately!" Still confused, he asked for the young man's name.
"My name is Alexander, sir. I need to speak with colonel Sheppard" he replied. He took a deep breath and declared, crossing his arms: "Yup, feels good to be back."
Woolsey let out a nervous chuckle. "Hum... sure." He motioned the soldiers to stay alert until the two concerned senior members arrived.
Everyone in the room was bewildered . The only thing left was to wait.
A/N: Hello there, everyone! Here's Beyond the Lie (BtL), the sequel to my story Precious Times (PT). Yes, I brought Alexander back! lol he was begging me to. This one is set AFTER season five.
If some of you didn't read PT, I strongly suggest you do (and since it's not that long, it won't take you much time); while this one could be read as a stand-alone, you may miss some details that were explained in the previous story.
I actually started this story two years ago, but only got to really write it a few months ago. The problem was, I had some scenes depicted in my mind, but no real story to mend them together; the first chapter was the most difficult to write, I had no inspiration. It's going to be a bit longer than Precious Times, if I follow my plan from beginning to end.
Yes, it's another mpreg story (I am planning a non-mpreg McShep story, but it's not yet written), as some people requested that John had his own kid in his universe and I had the intention to write the sequel anyways. The funny thing is that, a year before writing PT, I wanted to write something, and had some ideas for BtL; so this one is actually older than PT, in some way.
Please review! I'd like to know what you think of the first chapter :) Like I mentioned, I am not really proud of it, I feel it's missing something... so maybe I'll edit it lightly before posting the next chapter.