DISCLAIMER:
We don't own them, nor make any profit from them, but gee we'd love to!
NEW YEAR'S DAZE
By: RogueTitan
A/N: - This is a sequel to "Christmas in the Infimary" by Titan5
and is very very proudly presented as the first collaboration
of Titan5 and Rogue1503
Warnings
Whumping (don't we love that!) and of course the whole Sheppard/Weir thing.
If you are uncomfortable around this kind of delight we understand, but we love it!
We were going to post this under our brand NEW banner of "RogueTitan" but has an initial three dayban on uploading stories for new accounts, so to abide by the rules, we'll wait to put it up on that pen-name, but since it is already/nearly New Year for all of us, we decided to post it up and move it later – hope you enjoy!
Sneaky Note: from Rogue1503
Since I got to do the posting on this one! – wee hee! I can tattle tale here and say "Thank you" to Jana (Titan5) for being the fantastic writer and friend that she is! – and thank you for the complete and unadulterated fun I am having playing ping pong across the world with writing this story – I am one very lucky person!
-o0o-
CHAPTER ONE
-o0o-
"Oh… I so need to get out of this place for a bit!" Kelly groaned, stretching against the railing on the infirmary balcony.
"I hear you sister – what I'd give for a nice long swim in the sea, just to feel the water, rather than just see it every other day!" Amy replied
"Well, it's just down there – just need to take a little dive off this balcony… should be strong enough for a diving board – what'd ya think?" Kelly answered, pretending to test the strength of the railing.
"Oh ha ha Nurse Funny-Girl! – I can just hear Dr. Beckett chewing me out right now for a taking a dip in the icy waters surrounding this city! – Besides – I'm still not exactly sure how far the bottom is, and what exactly will be nipping at my toes in the water and I somehow think that given the size of this planet – that they've got a few bigger things to worry about than our weeney "Great White Sharks"," Amy retorted.
"That's right – I guess you would be missing the beach you being an "Aussie Girl" and all."
"Hmmmm…. I didn't spend a lot of time at the beach, but now that I don't have it readily available … well… now I miss it more than I ever thought I would." Amy pondered, looking out at the deep blue of the Atlantis Sea. "Hmmm… New Years Day – at the beach, barbecue, sand, sun, water….. lifeguards." Amy smiled at her own memories.
"Well, we do have the mainland – I mean we haven't actually even tried out the beaches too much over there yet. They might just surprise you – fill the void a little," Kelly suggested thoughtfully.
Amy grinned at her. "Yeah that's true, but I don't have the gene and I don't think I can just ask one of the pilots to fly me over for a "quick dip" now can I?"
"Well you could ask Colonel Sheppard," Kelly offered innocently.
"Oh man you are such a tease! – yeah right, I'll ask Colonel "Tall Dark and Handsome" who doesn't even know I'm alive if he can spare an hour or two to drop me off and pick me up from my little excursion." Amy reached out and playfully smacked Kelly on the arm. "Oh you are so funny!"
"What? – Kelly was laughing at her friends spluttering, but managed to keep a modicum of feigned disbelief. "I didn't say ask Colonel Sheppard to do the running around, I just meant you could ask him if he would approve someone taking you over on your day off," Kelly continued angelically. "Maybe even a lifeguard."
"You are soooo bad girl! – so, when should I pull this little feat off – hmmmm? – when exactly do I have his undivided attention?" Amy asked, rising to the teasing challenge.
"Ohhh…. I don't know, maybe this afternoon just before you actually remove his catheter – somehow I think you'll have his full attention then," Kelly teased.
"Oh – you wouldn't!" Amy spluttered.
"Oh – but yes I would girlfriend! – I'm off in an hour and I'd be betting from the level of complaining the Colonel has achieved today, Carson will give in soon – at least for the catheter – you'll be fine, just be professional, keep a straight face, oh, and no blushing! – and warm your hands too!" Kelly added, thoroughly enjoying watching her friend squirm.
She could see the crush that Amy had on the Colonel a mile away. She wished it could be different for her but as half the Atlantis female population knew, Colonel "Tall Dark and Handsome" only had eyes for Elizabeth Weir. Still, it was fun to tease.
"Just think Amy, you'll be helping the Colonel to be up and around in no time!" Kelly added mischievously.
Amy closed her eyes and shook her head. "You are too cruel girl!"
"Who's cruel?" Nick Strauhan asked as he let himself out on to the balcony.
Amy and Kelly looked at each other shook their heads laughing.
"Oh nothing Dr. Strauhan, just a little "mentoring" is all," Kelly answered him primly.
Nick eyed to the two nurses, their faces flushed and noted the giggles that kept escaping the pair of them as they obviously fought the battle to regain control.
"Amy was just lamenting the fact that she hasn't been to the beach in a while," Kelly changed the subject.
"Mmmm.. oh yeah! – I didn't actually grow up around the seaside but boy I do love catching a wave when I can…." Nick eased into the conversation, his own memories evoking strong emotions.
"Me, on the other hand, very very happy with a nice white Christmas and New Year, very very nice – you can have your hot surf and sand people, I'll take the hot chocolate, open fire places and good friends….." Kelly started
"Oh Puh-leese – have you noticed that we haven't actually seen even a single snow flake since we've been here? – I mean we've had at least a year and from my recollections' there hasn't been a anything even remotely cold yet."
"Ah yes, - well, there goes that fine tradition I guess," Kelly sighed staring out at the shimmering ocean.
"I tell you what Kelly, if you had ever experienced a really great summers day at the beach complete with barbecue, you'd trade your frosty cold brass monkey weather in a heartbeat!" Amy challenged her.
"I don't think so Amy and besides, I don't think you can actually show me that all the way out here in the Pegasus Galaxy now can you?" Kelly replied, taking up the challenge.
"Just…. wait a minute you two, back to your corners for a minute…." Nick waved the two apart playfully. "Maybe we can do a little something. I mean with New Years Day only a few days away, maybe – that is…."
The girls both turned to him, eyeing him suspiciously. "I've seen that look before Dr Strauhan, what exactly are you up to?" Kelly asked first.
"Kelly, you wound me! – why do I have to be up to something" Nick grabbed at his heart in mock pain. "Well, let's just say I might have a few strings I can pull and maybe, just maybe, we might be able to swing a soirée on the mainland. – Maybe – I have to get it all approved first – and though it is pretty redundant to say, try if you can to keep this a secret – for now at least!" he added.
Amy looked down at her watch, not that it actually told the correct time, but at least she could keep track of time with it. "Well, my break is finished, I'll catch you guys later," she smiled mischievously, "my lips are sealed – for now." And with a head toss, she headed back to the coolness of the infirmary.
-o0o-
"A barbecue? – for New Years Day?" Elizabeth clarified.
"Ah ha," Nick answered hopefully.
"And you want to use the puddle jumpers and fly everyone not on duty over to the mainland for …. A day at the beach?" she quizzed him again.
"Exactly! – It'll be fun – look, we've got so many nationalities represented in Atlantis and we've all got different traditions to celebrate ringing in the New Year, but the truth is we're not on earth and no amount of wishing we were will get us there so I think we should embrace our surroundings and set our own new traditions for New Year," Nick told her.
"But isn't a barbecue just a little, bit oh I don't know, - Australian, perhaps? – how does that embrace new traditions?" she asked him.
"I agree, it is a little Australian, but a barbecue at the beach isn't just Australian. Other cultures do things like that too. Yes, I'll admit it is a little lopsided to the Down Under contingent, but let's face it – the weather at the moment – doesn't exactly lend itself to open fire places, snow man making and snow ball fights."
Elizabeth sat thinking for a moment. Nick was thrilled. At least he hadn't actually got a "no way" from her, he was still in with a fighting chance. Nothing like tending the fire when it looks like it needs it.
"Might be a nice relaxing day out, a chance for people to find a little solitude, take a little walk or two – gee, maybe Carson would even let Colonel Shep…" he froze at her look of pure steel. "That is, maybe even the ambulatory patients might actually benefit from a day trip – we are only a puddle jumper away from home, 30 minutes in fact." He waited. His heart was hammering in his chest - and that didn't happen often for Nick, but he was well sure that he had just overstepped the line - by a country mile.
Elizabeth got up and with her hands behind her back paced back and forth across her office.
"And who might organize this celebration?" she asked. "That is – if we have this celebration at all?"
Nick thought he caught a glimmer of the start of a smile in her eyes, but he wasn't going to trust himself. "I will – I mean, I can get it organized, I'm sure. We've just had fresh rations dropped off by the Daedelus, so I'm sure we'll find something useful. We've got a little sporting equipment so maybe we can have a bit of a game on the beach for those that want to join in... and we should invite the Athosians as well, since they're our nearest neighbors and all." He started to search for things to add.
"You mean, invite the Athosians if we hold this party of yours," Elizabeth corrected him.
"Of course – if we …" she cut him off.
"You'd better let Teyla know – that way all the Athosians will get invited and properly too! – and mind you don't leave us without enough rations to get us to the next Daedelus visit either, Dr. Strauhan," Elizabeth told him, the twinkle now very apparent in her eyes.
Nick felt like a ton of bricks had just fallen from his shoulders.
"Thanks Dr. Weir – I'll get on it!" He jumped up and headed for the door.
"Nick" she called as he headed out. He turned and looked at her expectantly.
"Thanks for the great idea."
-o0o-
Sheppard strained to hear what the two nurses a few feet from his bed were saying. He tried to shift positions in the uncomfortably thin infirmary bed, but he quit when it pulled on his chest. The nurses turned and walked away from him, so he eased back into the bed and relaxed. He'd heard bits and pieces of conversations all day about some kind of a New Year's Day Celebration that seemed to have everyone excited. He had asked a couple of people what was going on, but they purposely changed the subject or left hurriedly with some excuse about having things to do. Undoubtedly Beckett was behind the silent treatment. That could mean only one thing. The good doctor had already decided Sheppard couldn't go and was trying to hide the event from him.
Sheppard admitted he was still weak. He had been allowed to take a shower for the first time the day before and spent the better part of the afternoon sleeping it off. He had been shocked at how totally exhausted the small field trip away from his bed had left him. If Beckett hadn't helped him back to bed, he'd still be sprawled out on the bathroom floor. But he was feeling stronger every day and New Year's Day was still two days away. Surely he would be ready to be out of bed for a few hours by then. He had already started planning his argument.
"Okay, Colonel, let's see how you're doin'." Speak of the devil. Carson Beckett began taking his vital signs as he tried to figure out the best approach. He finally decided to start with a frontal assault.
"What's going on New Year's Day that no one will tell me about?" asked Sheppard.
Beckett ignored him for a minute as he recorded Sheppard's information on his chart. He finally turned to the Colonel and sighed loudly. "I should have known no one could keep their mouth shut."
Sheppard crossed his arms and stared at Beckett, unwilling to make the conversation easy. "Well?"
"All right. There's goin' to be a bit of a celebration and barbecue on the mainland. Apparently that is a common way to celebrate the new year in Australia and some of the staff thought we could try it here. And no, you can't go, so don't ask." Beckett said the last part with a conviction that Sheppard didn't like.
"Why not? I'm getting stronger every day. You said I was making a really speedy recovery. And this would be good for my morale. A little sun on my face would do wonders for my disposition, I guarantee."
Beckett was shaking his head no all through the Colonel's argument. "No. Son, you came this close to bleedin' to death," said Beckett, holding his thumb and index finger very close together. "That bullet tore up your insides pretty good and it took us several hours of surgery to sew you back together. If it was here at Atlantis, we might...and I emphasize might...talk. But you are not flying half an hour to the mainland for a bloody party. What if something happened? You'd be too far away from the infirmary to get help in a timely fashion."
"Like what? Just tell what it is that you are afraid will happen?"
Beckett sighed. "It's not that I think something will happen, but it's a possibility. You're still very weak and you're still healin', both inside and out. You need to take it easy for a few more days."
"I will. Doc...I just want to sit in a chair and soak up a few rays of sun and get the smell of disinfectant out of my nose. I want to be where my friends...where my family is. I pretty much missed Christmas. I don't really remember much of anything...well, up to the last couple of hours. I don't want to be sitting here by myself while everyone else is on the beach."
Beckett rubbed his forehead and Sheppard knew he was weakening. "Colonel..."
"What kind of year can I expect if I start it out trapped in the infirmary missing everything and everyone? What if...what if I promise to sit in a chair and not move a muscle until it's time to come back? Please doc...I really need to get out of here for a few hours."
Beckett sighed and shook his head. "I don't know how I let you talk me into this stuff. I will think about letting you go under several conditions. First, you check out okay that morning. Second, you stand by your promise to sit down and not exert yourself in any way. Third, I'm going...and you will do what I say and when I say it. Fourth, plan on coming back early because I seriously doubt that you'll last all day. If I say we go home, we go home. Understand?"
Sheppard grinned broadly from ear to ear. "I understand. You have a deal."
"What are you two making deals about?" asked Elizabeth as she walked up to stand beside Beckett.
Sheppard smiled warmly. "Doc said I can go to the party on the mainland."
"Only if you agreed to abide by my rules," he stressed.
Sheppard nodded and held up his hands defensively. "And I did."
Elizabeth looked stunned. She turned to Beckett, who was still sighing and shaking his head in disbelief. "So Carson, are they throwing snowballs yet?"
"Very funny, Elizabeth. You know how he can be."
Sheppard looked confused. "Snowballs?"
Elizabeth had a hard time not laughing. "Yes...Carson said he would let you go to the party at the beach when hell froze over. I'm assuming it's a little cold down there about now."
