CHAPTER 1 – SECOND CHANCES

"A word, Colonel Sheppard?"

John groaned. She had her base commander voice on and John wondered what he had done now in order to deserve that tone. He mentally rifled back through his recent indiscretions and tried to select one that could possibly warrant censure and gave a shrug. No doubt this information would be shared with him. Very soon.

He stepped into her office and schooled his features into a semblence of respect. Not so difficult really. He and Sam were friends, as well as colleagues – but from time to time she did wield that remarkably sharp stick that bore the label 'base commander'. And when she did? He either ducked or smiled through the pain when it connected with his rear end.

"Sam... Colonel Carter. You wanted to see me?"

He stood easy, resting lightly against the door frame after allowing the door to shut behind him. He was a large man, standing at six foot and well muscled, and would appear intimidating to most of the people on the base, until one got to know him. Sam did not intimidate easily – she was a full bird Colonel in the US airforce, a prior member of SG1 out of stargate command on earth and a statuesque woman who almost, but not quite, could look John in the eye when standing face to face with him.

"Relax John.. you're not in any trouble... and wipe that smirk off your face, or I might just dig through your rather long and interesting HR report and find something that managed to piss me off enough to punish you." She was smiling as she said it, and John dropped down into the chair in front of her desk, idly letting it spin slightly from side to side.

"I need to give you a heads up on something. We're about to have a new 'resident' in our fair city. And she's coming to us through the back door, so to speak.. under the radar..."

John's eyes narrowed immediately.

"Not liking where this is going already Sam... spill it."

She sighed. This was going to be a hard sell. If the request had not come from General O'Neill, she'd be digging her own heels in and flat out refusing. But General O'Neill... Jack... and her shared a somewhat unusual relationship – one that had been hinted at more than once in most circles, but had been neither confirmed or denied by the parties in question. Only Sam and Jack knew the true nature of their relationship and they both wanted it to stay that way.

"General O'Neill is sending us a new recruit... and before you get your underwear in a knot, let me give you the full story. Remember Colonel Barlow? The pilot who flew missions out of the SGC, seconded to SG3 at one point?" She looked at John, sure that he would remember.

"He was killed in action a couple of years ago. Flying an F302 in the Milky Way from what I remember. Had a daughter, army?"

"Airforce, John. Brief stint, then left under some bad feelings."

"Ok..." He drew the word out, wondering what was coming.

"Josephine, or Jo as she is known. Extremely bright, joined the airforce out of college wanting to follow in her Dad's footsteps. Decided against pilot training and found she had an amazing ability around machines, aircraft in particular. Could fix anything that moved. Magic hands, they used to joke."

"Used to? What happened." John had given Sam his full attention now and no longer let the chair swivel from side to side. His long legs rested comfortably in front of him.

"When her Dad was killed, she went a little crazy. Her mother had died when she was little, and the story around her father's death was a little sketchy. Top secret, of course, and because she did not have security clearance, she never found out how he really died. Fell in with a bad crowd and did some silly stuff... nothing worth a long haul in jail, but enough to get thrown out of the airforce."

"That's a tearjerker, Sam – but what's it got to do with us?"

"Getting to that John. Barlow and General O'Neill? Go way back, and when he died, Jack took Jo under his wing and she seemed to be getting along ok, then wham.. something lit her fuse and she was suddenly throwing everything in her life away. Came down to a choice. Prison... or something else. Jack chose the something else on her behalf. Here."

"You're kidding, right? Here? General O'Neill is sending us an unreformed... criminal?"

"Not quite that bad... well... not really. They were misdeamours, made worse by the bad crowd she had gotten herself into. She's a good kid, but needs a new start, away from all the crap that she's had put on her shoulders."

John grumbled,shaking his head. "They couldn't have sent her to say... Russia? But out here? Why the hell would you send a kid out here?"

"Not a kid John... not any more. She's 25, and another thing... she's not too happy about being sent here, but Jack didn't give her a choice. Fortunately she still has enough respect for him to pull her head out of the sand and give it a go. He's given her six months. Turn her life around, make a new start, or it's back stateside and he'll wash his hands of her. That got to her apparently."

The claxons sounded, signalling the stargate had been activated and John looked sharply at Sam.

Guileless blue eyes stared back at him and she smiled slightly. "Oh good... her timing is perfect."

"Great..." muttered John. "Please don't tell me I have to babysit her while she's here...because I will have to put my foot down..."

He didn't get to finish. Sam moved quickly past him, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder.

"I'm going to ask Evan Lorne to take her under his wing. Then she can spend some time working on getting some of that Asgard technology operational in the jumpers. I need your support on this John, I gave the General my word."

He followed her out of the office and lightly ran down the stairs, arriving in the gate room at the same time as the wormhole stablised. He watched as the crystalline blue of the event horizon shimmered and settled and parted briefly to allow a small figure in olive green fatigue pants and a white tshirt, carrying one small gear bag to step through and stand in the gate room, waiting briefly while the gate shut down. She dropped her bag on the floor and fisted her hands at her extremely trim hips and John's gaze travelled from the tips of her feet clad in black sneakers, up slim but muscular legs that somehow made those fatigue pants look... sexy, tight fitting white tshirt that did nothing to hide rounded shapely breasts, topped off by a face that had him swallowing over a suddenly dry throat. Milky white skin, topped by jet black hair. Lots of it. Tumbling all over the place. And gazing back at him, a hint of derison in her eyes... eyes that were a deep silver with a hint of violet, unusual and he found himself drawn to them, in spite of the look that she aimed him way.

It said, back off. In no uncertain terms.

Sam attempted to hide the smile at John's reaction. He was all male, testosterone thundered through his veins she knew that he would react instinctively to the visual package that Miss Josephine Barlow presented, from the tips of her size five sneakers to those bedroom eyes.

Sidling up close to John, she whispered quietly in his ear.

"Under the General's protection... in other words? Out of bounds. You lay a hand on her, and he will chase you into the next galaxy."

John huffed a laugh and hung back a little as Sam stepped forward and extended a hand. Slumberous silver eyes swept Sam from head to toe before she held out her own hand, a little reluctantly.

"I'm Sam.. Colonel Carter. I'm sure Jack told you a little about us all here. Welcome.. to Atlantis."

Silver eyes flicked over John and instantly dismissing him, sparked with controlled fury.

"Six months... Colonel... Carter. Then I'm outta here. Got that?" Her voice was thoaty and scraped fingernails of something sinful across his chest and lower and he swallowed again, thinking that six months was going to be a very very long time.

Sam's eyesbrows shot up and she told herself that she and Jack were going to have a little conversation about having full responsibility for choosing ALL of the people to join their little Atlantis family because Sam was not so sure that his particular new recruit was at all inerested in making any effort to fit in.

"And who are you?" The silver eyes now regarded him with just a mild hint of curiousity and he watched without moving, as she let them travel up and down his body, resting briefly on his muscled chest that stood out in sharp relief against the black tshirt he wore, then up to meet his hazel eyes. She blinked once, waiting for his reply.

"Colonel Sheppard... John. Your boss." Her calm regard got under his skin and he wanted to rattle her in return.

"I don't take orders from the military... Sheppard. Not any more. Not since your damn rules and regulations took my father. And destroyed my life. So tell me where to take my gear, and I'll report for duty, do my tour. But don't try and shove your military rules up my arse, got that? 'Cause you'll find I'll shove them right back atcha... and twice as hard."

She turned to leave, picking up her bag from the floor, but not before he saw something shift at the back of her eyes.

Hurt. And a whole truckload of it... and John groaned. He was a sucker for a damsel in distress.