A/N: Welcome, readers! If you haven't read "Better With You" or "Holding On and Letting Go"… no worries. You'll catch on. Basically all you need to know is that John has a 15 year-old daughter named Izzy.
The other OC in the story is Landon, who was Izzy's boyfriend before he left Atlantis to go to the SGC.
Jason is Sergeant Markham, who only makes two or three appearances in season one. They killed him off at some point but he stays alive in this story. He's Landon's best friend and a surrogate older brother to Izzy.
This new series takes place after Atlantis finds a new home on Earth (after season 5 ended!).
And this is for especially LoveStoryFanatic… there will be Sheyla.
This first chapter is more of an introduction... setting the stage for later chapter. Chapter 2 is going to jump a few months ahead.
Mega thanks to my beta izzysheppard for being an endless source of encouragement, pestering, and awesome advice! And all apologies that you didn't read this in advance… I got really excited and posted. I didn't think you would mind.
Without further adieu… Welcome to the Milky Way.
Chapter 1 – Settling In
"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" John asked.
"Positive." Izzy replied.
"I would rethink that move."
"I would rethink your life." Izzy teased. "Your turn."
John moved his knight. Izzy grinned. He fell into her trap.
Izzy knew what move she was going to take immediately.
"Checkmate." She said, grinning widely.
John scratched his head and examined the board for a few seconds before tipping over his king. His daughter had won… again.
"Best five of seven?" She asked.
"And have you humiliate me again? Pass." John said.
"You know, for a MENSA inductee, you'd think you'd be able to beat your own daughter at a simple game of chess."
"Alright smart-ass, time for bed. You have a big day tomorrow." John said.
"Orientation at the school I'll be starting at in the fall. Woo freaking hoo." Izzy groaned.
"Oh, not just orientation, but testing to see what classes you'll be put in." John reminded her.
"Can't wait." Izzy groaned.
Izzy slid under the covers in her quarters on Atlantis. They were searching for a house in San Francisco. After researching the local public schools, he knew which district he wanted to live in. Now all they had to do was find a house. They were going to tour one after orientation tomorrow morning.
"You'll be fine." John said, pulling the covers up to her shoulders. "See you in the morning, kiddo."
Izzy mumbled something in return and John smirked. This was the most relaxed and happy he had ever seen her. Being back on Earth had done her wonders, even though they had only been back for two weeks.
He left her room and glanced at his watch. It was nearly 10:30pm. He contemplated trying to get more paperwork done but decided to go to bed himself in the end. Izzy wasn't the only one going to orientation in the morning.
It was a bit of a pain getting onto the shore from Atlantis. Rodney was working on getting a transporter up and running in the new compound just off the San Francisco coast line, but it was a slow process. Wouldn't want to go beaming out a chunk of someone's body, after all.
The offshore compound was a large warehouse-turned-training facility that the government bought, knowing that it would be needed if Atlantis was going to remain in the Pacific.
But until the transporter was completed, they had to hitch a ride on a boat, followed by picking up John's car from a parking garage specifically for members of the SGC and Atlantis.
"It'll be nice when Rodney gets the transporter up and running." Izzy said. "I'm already tired of catching a ride on a boat."
"You and me both." John said, turning the key to start the engine.
The school was bigger than either anticipated, and Izzy was a little intimidated by the size. John put his hand on the small of her back and walked with her to the front office to meet with the school's principal.
If they could get past the secretary.
She wasn't a kind looking woman, Izzy decided. Her pointy nose seemed even more pronounced under the glasses that sat on the middle of her crooked nose. Her skin was pale, almost porcelain like. Her black hair was pulled back into a neat bun at the nape of her neck. She was unhappy about whatever she was looking at on her computer because her lips were pursed and eyebrows taught in concentration.
"Hi," John said, approaching the desk. "We have a meeting with Principal Sanders at nine."
Said secretary looked up from where she was bent over her computer and examined both John and Izzy over the top of her glasses. She gave an appreciative smile when she looked at John. Izzy noticed that her eyes slid to John's left hand. Her appreciative smile grew even larger when she realized he wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
Izzy rolled her eyes.
"Name?" The secretary asked, almost too sweetly. Izzy highly doubted that she was a nice person.
"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, and my daughter Isabelle." He said, setting his hand on Izzy's shoulder.
The secretary smiled again. "I'm Nancy Matherne, I'm Principal Sander's administrative assistant." She extended her hand for a shake.
"Nice to meet you." John said, glancing at their hands uncomfortably. She held the handshake for a few seconds too long.
"He'll be with you in just a moment." She said after paging him. "Feel free to wait over there." She gestured to a row of chairs along the opposite wall.
John sat next to Izzy.
"She's totally in to you." Izzy whispered.
"Her?" John asked.
"Oh yeah. She immediately looked at your left hand to see if you were married."
Izzy glanced up to see if Ms. Matherne noticed they were talking about her. She seemed wrapped up in whatever she was working on so they continued.
"Well besides the obvious," John said, "she has the same name as my ex-wife."
"Fair point." Izzy agreed.
The principal's office door opened and he stepped out. Unlike his secretary, he looked like a kind man. He looked to be in his early-forties and had salt-and-pepper hair, standing at approximately the same height as John.
"Ben Sanders, I'm the Head Administrator." He said, extending his hand.
"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard." John said, shaking his hand. "This is my daughter Isabelle."
Principal Sanders shook Izzy's hand. "It's great to have both of you. Why don't we meet in my office."
The rest of the orientation went without a hitch. Izzy's testing went spectacularly as John had expected. She would be enrolled in tenth grade and was placed in pre-calculus, AP English, AP history, and AP biology. Izzy was nervous about the tough schedule, but John knew that she would pass those classes in flying colors.
They grabbed lunch at a Chick-Fil-A before driving to the house they were going to tour. Izzy was excited to be able to set roots with her father on the mainland. The commute would be annoying for John, but he would get used to it, even if he did have a tiny ache in his heart after leaving the Pegasus Galaxy.
It didn't take long for them to decide to buy the house. With three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, there was more than enough room for the both of them. The previous owners had done a good job of taking care of it, and it was a reasonable distance between Izzy's school and the training facility that would eventually house the transporter that would take them back-and-forth from the mainland to Atlantis.
John put an offer on the house and completed the mortgage application with the loan officer two days later. They had to wait a few weeks before they could move which was okay with John because he had mounds of paperwork to complete before then.
The first stack of paperwork was the formal request to retain some of the members of the expedition before they were reassigned – namely Teyla and Ronon, who had to get paperwork to make them US Citizens and fake documents giving them some sort of history on Earth, even though they had only been on Earth for 23 days.
The second stack were the people that would be transferred to Atlantis.
Dr. Daniel Jackson was being transferred next week. He would become the lead researcher in Ancient language and culture, while Rodney would retain his head position of the science and technology departments.
John gave it about a week before one of them killed the other.
The final stack were his and Izzy's papers. Her birth certificate, social security card, and school ID sat at the top. The newspaper with circled housing ads was on the bottom. His documents were somewhere in the middle.
He glanced between the stacks and tried to decide which he wanted to attempt first. None of them were appealing, and he almost wished that a Wraith attack would intervene to delay completing the paperwork before remembering they were in the wrong galaxy for that. Sighing, he picked up the first stack.
John stood in front of the bathroom mirror in his quarters. He finished buttoning the top button of his black shirt. He couldn't remember the last time he was simultaneously so nervous and excited. He felt like a teenager with a crush on a girl all over again. Being on Earth and not being distracted by the looming threat the Wraith & Replicators presented made him realize how strong his feelings were… so strong, he could no longer ignore and suppress them like he had been doing for so long.
He heard a light knock on the door.
"It's open." He called, letting Izzy know that it was okay to come in.
Izzy slid her hand over the door panel and grinned.
"I was hoping you would pick that shirt." She said.
"Do I look okay?" John asked, holding his arms out and spinning in a circle.
"My gosh you're like a teenager." Izzy giggled.
John sighed. "So… that's a yes then."
"Yes, you look great." She said, reaching up to smooth out his collar.
John watched as the emotions played out on Izzy's face like an open book. She was happy one moment and lost in thought the next. He had an inkling of what she was thinking about.
"Thinking about your mom?" He asked softly.
Izzy hesitated briefly but nodded. "I know it's been almost two years since she died, but I still think about the what-ifs… what if she had told you about me… what if she didn't die… what if I didn't sneak out that night…"
Izzy ran a frustrated hand through her hair. John could tell she wasn't done yet, so he waited.
"I love Teyla, you know I do. And I love you with Teyla. It just makes me think about my mom, is all." She admitted.
John reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Isabelle, you're what's most important to me. If it's too soon for me to date Teyla, tell me and we don't have to see each other. She knows that you come first."
Her father didn't use her full name often, but when he did it was because he was being completely serious.
"No, it's not that… it's… it's nothing. Just a lot of emotions still." She said, giving him a reassuring smile.
John studied her face and nodded. "Okay." He said, bending down to kiss her forehead and rub her back briefly.
"If there's anything you want to ask me about or talk about along the way, promise me you will." John implored.
"Pinky swear." Izzy said, extending her pinky away from her fist. John grinned and looped his pinky around hers. They didn't make a habit of keeping secrets from each other and they weren't going to start now.
"I have something for you." He said, moving towards his quarters.
Izzy followed, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I was going to wait until your birthday next month but bought it when I was out today." John said, handing her a square box with a ribbon tied around it.
Izzy took it from him and opened it, a new cell phone inside. Izzy grinned.
"Getting a cell phone hadn't even crossed my mind." Izzy said.
John reached inside his pocket and pulled out his own phone.
"My number is already programmed in there, as well as a couple others you might need." John said. "Since you're watching Torren tonight I thought it would be good for you to have this in case you need to get a hold of us."
Izzy hugged John, gripping the back of his shirt. "Thanks, Dad."
"You're welcome." He pulled away and ruffled her hair.
"Is it time yet?" She asked.
John glanced at his watch. "Sure is." He said. "Coming?"
"Yep, I'm ready." Izzy said. "But first, I have something for you, too."
Izzy disappeared into her room and reappeared with a single red rose. John couldn't help but chuckle. He knew what was coming.
"You're supposed to get the lady something. Especially since it's your first real date." Izzy said, extending the rose towards John.
"You're probably right." John smirked, accepting the rose from Izzy.
They walked down the hall to Teyla's quarters and knocked quietly in case Torren was sleeping. Izzy smirked at how John was acting. He was clearly nervous but excited as well. Her father dating someone had brought feelings to the surface that she couldn't exactly pinpoint, but she pushed them aside to deal with later.
The door slid open and Teyla looked as beautiful as John or Izzy had ever seen her. Izzy had gone shopping with her earlier in the day and had helped her pick out a classy black dress that was flattering but not inappropriate.
Izzy didn't miss the flush that rose in John's cheeks. Her black dress matched his black dress shirt and dark gray jeans perfectly. In her opinion, they were flawless.
John leaned in and whispered something in Teyla's ear that Izzy couldn't hear and kissed her on the cheek. Even though Izzy didn't know what John said, she could tell that it meant a lot to Teyla. It was the first time that Izzy had seen Teyla blush. He extended the single rose towards her and she blushed even more fiercely, disappearing into her quarters to put the rose in a skinny vase of water.
They said goodbye to Izzy and left. Torren was already asleep for the night and would most likely sleep for the remainder of it. She opened the book that she brought but had trouble concentrating, her mind wandering to how their date was going.
She eventually fell asleep sprawled out on Teyla's couch. It was well past midnight before they returned.
She didn't have to ask how it went. They were both over the moon happy.
"Well?" She asked. John and Teyla glanced at each other and John smirked.
"We had a great time." John said, peeking in on Torren who was still sleeping before pulling his only child off the couch.
"Well you might've had a great time, but I know how insufferable you can be especially after a few hours alone." Izzy teased. "Teyla might not agree."
John flicked the back of her ear and ruffled her hair. Izzy innocently grinned at her father.
Teyla laughed at their antics. "We had a wonderful evening."
Izzy grinned and gave Teyla a hug.
"Good." Izzy said.
"And Torren? Did he stay asleep?" Teyla asked.
"Yeah. Perfect little baby." She said. "Well, not so little anymore but you know what I mean."
"Yes I can't believe how fast the time has gone." Teyla reminisced. "Seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant."
John and Teyla shared a look that Izzy couldn't quite interpret. Something about parenting, she supposed. She didn't give it another thought. Maybe one day she would understand what the look meant that they just shared, but she didn't think she would until after she became a parent someday.
They said good night and John and Izzy left to return to their quarters for the remainder of the evening.
Izzy slid under the covers and let herself dream. Maybe one day her father would find love again. Maybe that person would be Teyla. Maybe their family would grow.
Admittedly, she was a little jealous. Selfishly, she didn't really want to share time with her father because she already didn't see him often with his crazy schedule. But, having her father fall in love meant that there would be more people to love her.
And she was okay with that.
The third part is here! And it's all because of you readers. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for each one of you that expressed a desire to read more of John & Izzy's adventures. You all are the BEST!
Hope you all are happy with the first chapter! It was more of an introductory chapter as the next chapter is going to jump a few months into the future. Brace yourselves, it's going to be awesome.
And of course, let me know what you think!