Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of the characters trademarked by its
owners.
A/N: This story involves slash so please do not read unless you like that kind of thing.
I'm not sure if there will be a sequel to this chapter. That will probably depend on
the response I get from readers. Please r/r.
John Shepard stood in front of the door he had been dreading for
the last day and a half. This would be the last
time he would be standing
here, and strangely, that made him sad. They had ended it cleanly,
but he knew they both had some sort of feelings for each other. And
that made this even more difficult.
He thought of all the other people that were spending their last
few hours on Earth with the ones loved. All the people saying good-bye
to their parents, spouses, and children. Knowing that chances are
they'll never as much as talk to them again.
folks a long time ago. He could barely remember his mother because he
was so young when she'd left. His father had died when he turned
seventeen, and he had died the best man John had ever known. As far as
children, John didn't have any kids. And spouses? He was about to
address whatever might qualify for that in his life.It took him another moment to summon the courage to knock on the
white do in front of him. His knuckle echoed with a dull thud through
the door and he waited for it to open.Though, when it did Shepard himself at a strange lose for words.
He had known that seeing Thomas again would be difficult, but he hadn't
thought seeing him would make him speechless.Maybe it was the way that Thomas' light blue jeans set lowly on
his hips, the same way they always did. Or maybe the way that the sun
reflected off his green eyes perfectly."John?" It was Thomas' voice that broke him from his sudden stupor.
"Are you all right?""Um...yeah. I just need to talk to you." He replied flatly. "Can I come
in?"
"I don't know if that's such a good idea. I mean, the way things
happened last time...""I won't say much or stay long; I just need to tell you something."Thomas started to give a flurry of reasons why he shouldn't come
in, and before John could stop himself he had shouted something. And
honestly, he wasn't sure what he had shouted."What?" He heard Thomas say breathlessly.It suddenly came to him what he had shouted at the man standing in
front of him. He took a breath to calm himself and tried to explain
fully."I'm leaving. I got a new assignment, and I'm more than likely never
coming back." John said in a voice that hardly sounded like his own."When...when are you leaving?" Came a deep, soft reply."About eighteen hours from now." John's heart dropped a little When
Thomas' face fell. He hated having to tell him this, but he wouldn't be
able to live with himself if he didn't at least let Thomas know he was
leaving.Thomas never replied, he only left the door standing open and
walked deeper in the house. John took it as the permission it was and
followed after the brunette. The house was exactly as he remembered it.
Still warm colors covered the hall and pictures of happier times still
hung in their places. He was surprised Thomas had kept them all.Thomas had set about doing something in the kitchen and John
walked through the room's doorless entry."So, I'm guessing you can't tell me where you're going." John knew it
was statement not question. He'd hardly even been able to tell Thomas
anything about the missions he'd went on, but for a long time Thomas
faithfully moved around the states with him where he needed. He could
still hear the same anger in Thomas' voice that had been there in the last
few months of their relationship."No, I'm sorry. But I had to at least tell I was going.""Why is it so permanent? You make it sound like a suicide mission."
This time it was something more akin to fear in Thomas' voice, and that
bothered John more than he knew. He'd tell him what he could.
reassuring, but that was hard when he wasn't sure himself. After what
seemed like a forever of silence John spoke up. "Let's just say other worldly.""Listen, I'm sorry that I just showed up and dropped something like
this on you. And I'm sorry that in the years that we were together that
I couldn't be better for you. You were that most important person in my
life for a long time, and I thought you deserved to know that I just
didn't up and disappear." His voice cracked a little with the last sentence and
this was one of the few times in his life that didn't bother him.
In a few large steps, Thomas crossed the kitchen and wrapped hisarms around John's neck. Thomas wasn't a small man. Almost equal in
height to John, and John's arms fit perfectly around his slim waist as
they always had."No, I'm sorry. Sorry I couldn't deal with your job better." Thomas
told John as he squeezed him tightly. The feeling of Thomas warm breath
against his ear as he talk almost sent a shiver down his back. "And
that I pushed you away when I didn't know what else to do"They just stood there holding each other for a while, offering
comfort in the needed moment. Then slipping apart, almost awkwardly,
they both leaned against opposite counters, Thomas looking down.
"Well." John said with a note of finality. Neither of them had ever
been very good at good-byes. John really wondered if there was anything
else left to say."The adventure awaits." Thomas with a slight laugh. A few tears were
sliding from his green eye and down his cheeks. And that's how Thomas
had always told John good-bye when he would leave for missions. 'The
adventure awaits.' It offered John a small bit of comfort and he
returned the soft smile.He pushed away from the counter and made his out of the house
quickly. He was starting a whole new part of his life, and with one
last you look at what he was leaving behind he headed down the street.And a damned good adventure it had better be.
