I kinda feel like I'm cheating. These are five ideas for conversations I had, that really had no focus or anything, just bits and pieces with no context. So now they are bits and pieces in the context of happening J
Five Conversations That John Sheppard Never Knew About
By
Denise
Larger than Life
Evan sat down in the chair, a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. He took a careful sip, oddly feeling the stimulant drink relax him.
It was the middle of the night in Atlantis and the cafeteria was largely empty. Like the SGC, Atlantis was a 24/7 operation, the different rotational cycles of the planets they explored meaning that sometimes, to arrive at planetary dawn, teams would have to leave at Atlantis sunset.
Of course, spending a few days off-world sometimes meant that a team would return home with their body clocks good and messed up. Which was why he was here, wide awake at 0400.
Three Marines sat in the other corner of the room and they were talking, their voices carrying across the room.
"Just what we need, some damn desk jockey," one of them said, digging his way through a plate of food. "I mean, at least Weir was smart enough to let Sheppard call the shots."
"Ed, she's a colonel for pete's sake. Do you seriously think they just gave her the job out of the goodness of their hearts?"
"Back at Whitefield, I had a colonel. Commanded our group. Didn't know squat. He was a friend of a friend."
Evan sighed softly to himself and got to his feet. He knew these men, even peripherally. Unlike a lot of the SGA personnel, they'd never worked at the SGC. They had been assigned directly to Atlantis, so about all they knew about the SGC was that it existed.
He figured that it was time for them to get a little orientation.
Evan got to his feet and made his way over to their table, sliding into the empty chair.
"Major," one of them greeted.
"Major," Evan acknowledged. "You know, I couldn't help but overhear."
"Ed was just blowing off steam."
Evan ignored the comment. "You guys ever heard of the Kull warriors?"
"Huh?"
"You mean those armored killer things?" one asked. "They were covered in that briefing remember? When we had our training on that special weapon. Their armor was impervious to everything else."
Evan nodded. "Those things kicked our asses at the SGC for the better part of two years. Until we had that weapon, nothing would stop them. We lost whole teams, they even attacked the Alpha Site. Or I guess it was our second Alpha Site. It was bad, really, really bad. We couldn't even recover all the bodies, there just wasn't anything left."
"That sucks."
"Yep. Colonel Carter was there. She was working with the Tok'ra to make the weapon that would take out the Kull Warriors. She survived the initial attack, but so did one of them. It hunted her for two days before the rest of her team got there with the part she needed to finish the gun and they killed it." He looked up, noting that he had their attention. "She came home on a stretcher. It came back in a bag." He paused for a second. "The colonel's logged more time off world than any of us. And just because it's in another galaxy doesn't mean it doesn't count." He looked at the youngest in the group, a recruit that he pegged to be about twenty-five. "And she was doing this before you left home for bootcamp."
He pushed back from the table and got to his feet. "If you honestly think she's that bad of a leader, you may want to put in a request and get your butts sent back Earthside."
He turned on his heel and left the cafeteria, smothering a grin until he was sure they couldn't see it.
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Confidentiality is optional
A shadow fell across her desk and Jennifer Keller looked up. "Colonel?" She got to her feet. "Did you need something?"
"Just a minute of your time," Carter said, motioning for Keller to sit. "Colonel Sheppard said that he removed Teyla from active duty because of her pregnancy."
"I hadn't heard that," Jennifer said. "Although it doesn't surprise me."
"So you knew that she was pregnant?"
"For a couple of months now, yes."
"And you didn't tell anyone?"
Jennifer shook her head. "Teyla said that she'd take care of it."
Carter nodded. "I see. Doctor Keller, I know that you're a civilian, and that doctors have confidentiality rules, but this is a military base, and those rules don't quite apply here."
"If you have something to say to me, Colonel, just say it," Jennifer said.
"Okay. I know that you have rules of confidentiality to protect your patients and I respect that. But, if the physical condition of anyone here could affect this base, or could affect their well being, I need to know." She crossed her arms over her chest as if she was expecting a confrontation.
"You think that I should have told you that Teyla was pregnant?"
"Yes, you should have."
"What would you have done?"
"I would have told Colonel Sheppard and let him make an educated decision about the welfare of a member of his team."
"And what about Teyla? What if…someone else comes in here and she's pregnant too? Am I supposed to tell you?"
"Yes."
"And then what?"
"And then I talk to them and their commanding officer and we decide when she's going to rotate back to Earth."
"Just like that?"
Carter nodded. "Yes, just like that. Doctor, this isn't just a military base. It's an outpost in another galaxy. How many attacks and plagues has this places survived? It's not safe here, especially for a pregnant woman. Who knows what kind of birth defects could be caused by exposure to something that we don't even know about?"
"Would you send Teyla back to Earth?" Jennifer asked.
Carter smiled wryly. "Of course not. I would have offered to have her spend her pregnancy with her people on New Athos if she wanted."
"The same New Athos that doesn't exist anymore?" Jennifer asked.
Carter shrugged. "Nowhere is totally safe. And Teyla is more than welcome to stay here as long as she wants. In fact, it's probably the best place for her, all things considered. And I'm not asking to know every time Rodney gets a hangnail or Ronon gets beat up sparring."
"What exactly ARE you asking for?" Jennifer challenged.
"I leave that to your discretion. But, if someone has a medical condition that would affect them doing their job, or could affect their health or the safety of this base, I need to know about it, so that I can make the best decision for their well being and the safety of this base."
Jennifer nodded. "Okay," she replied, feeling like that was almost the only acceptable response.
Carter smiled. "Thank you. And if we need to requisition some baby stuff for Teyla, just let me know. If I can't get it through official channels, I'll hit the Babies R Us the next time I go back to Earth."
She turned and walked out of Jennifer's office. "I will, Colonel," Jennifer called after her.
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Second Guessing
Teyla pedaled the stationary bicycle, the rhythmic whirring of the wheel sending her into an almost hypnotic state. Sweat ran down her back and she closed her eyes, focusing her attention on controlling her breathing.
Another sound impinged on her solitude and Teyla opened her eyes, frowning when she saw Colonel Carter situating herself on another of the bicycles. "Colonel," she acknowledged.
"Teyla."
The woman started to pedal, slowly then faster. Teyla tried to ignore her and retreat back into her own world but it didn't work. A tension crackled in the air, and it was a tension that Teyla had to deal with. "Colonel Carter, may I speak with you?" she asked, stopping pedaling. The bicycle's wheel continued to spin, the whirring sound slowly fading.
"Sure," the woman said, also stopping her pedaling. "What about?"
"Colonel Sheppard has removed me from duty," she said.
"I know."
"I am aware that he seeks to protect me, however, I am simply pregnant, I am not—"
"Teyla," she interrupted. "I fully support Colonel Sheppard's decision."
"I am not incapable of carrying out my duties as a member of Colonel Sheppard's team," Teyla said.
"We're not saying that you're not capable," Carter said.
"Then why can I not continue with my duties?"
Carter sighed. "You know, I used to be on a field team."
"SG-1?"
"Right. We were together for the better part of ten years. We were a first contact team so…we got into some really weird stuff. I was the only woman. There was Colonel O'Neill, who was my commanding officer, Daniel Jackson, who was a linguist and archaeologist and Teal'c who was…kind of like Ronon." She smiled at the memory. "One mission that I remember, we ran into a little trouble and I got shot. It wasn't really bad, in fact, I don't think Janet even kept me overnight once we got back. But I had been shot and I was bleeding. As we were walking back to the gate, Daniel felt like he had to keep an eye on me. And he kept watching. And he was so busy watching me that he didn't see the rabbit hole that he stepped in.He sprained his ankle. So bad that Teal'c had to practically carry him back to the gate."
She looked at Teyla. "Colonel Sheppard didn't take you off the field team to punish you. Or because he doesn't think that you can handle it. Part of him wants to protect you, and protect that baby. And, I think, the other part of him knows that, if you go on missions, chances are the team is going to be more concerned about your well being than anything else. And that concern could endanger them all."
"I see," Teyla said.
Carter got off her bicycle and walked over to Teyla. "Teyla, I think, if you were on a mission and anything happened to that baby or to you…I don't think Colonel Sheppard would ever forgive himself."
Carter left the room and Teyla sat on the bicycle, thinking.
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Blunt Reality
Rodney crammed a plastic wrapped brownie onto his tray and left the food area, searching for somewhere to sit. Spying Sam at a table, he made his way over to her. "Hi Sam," he said, pushing aside one of her stacks of paper to make room for his tray.
"Rodney," she said, sighing, gathering her papers. "I'm surprised that you're up this early."
"Early? Right, well I never really got to sleep," he said, scooping up a large forkful of eggs and pushing them into his mouth. "There was so much stuff to document and keep track of and…umm, is that all you're having for breakfast?" he asked, pointing at the remains of her bagel and fruit.
"That's all I need for breakfast," she said.
"Oh, yeah, I guess not going out into the field you don't need the energy. Don't want to eat so much that you get that old middle aged spread or anything."
"Right," she said, taking one last sip of her coffee before she started to organize her papers into one pile. "You better make sure that you get some sleep before your team goes back into rotation."
"I heard what you said to Ellis," Rodney said as she moved to get to her feet.
"Excuse me?"
"How you, you know, put him in his place so to speak."
She nodded slowly and sat back down. "I did? Did I?"
Rodney nodded. "It would have been nice to have seen it, but I guess that you can't have everything. And maybe he'll have learned his—"
"He wasn't wrong," she interrupted.
"He aah, wha—what?"
"He wasn't wrong," she repeated. "You came into that briefing knowing that you didn't have the right answer and instead of just saying that up front and saving us time, you started in on a lecture."
"Yeah, but Sam—"
"But nothing. Rodney, they don't care how HARD your idea was. All they cared about was whether you could get it to work or not. And all they needed to know was if you'd gotten it to work."
"If Ellis would have let me finish—"
"Nothing would have changed. This isn't some college lecture where you can bluff your way through and overwhelm people with…long words and complicated theories."
"That's what you used to do at the SGC," he challenged. "And don't deny it, I heard you, more than once, do the exact same thing to General Hammond."
She shook her head. "I NEVER wasted their time lecturing them just to avoid saying 'sorry, didn't work'."
"I don't—"
"Yes, you do," she said. "And you do it all the time. Rodney, you just can't seem to wrap your head around the fact that no one here is keeping score. You're pushing the envelope with everything that we do here. And not everything will work. Things will fail and things will go wrong. That's part of exploring. No one expects you to be perfect. But you have this idea that they do, so every time something goes wrong, you twist yourself in knots trying to find someone or something to blame. That's what you were doing in that briefing. You couldn't get the answer that you wanted and you were going nuts trying to find something to blame for why you couldn't pull the rabbit out of your hat."
Rodney glared at her and frowned. "If you feel that way, why did you yell at Colonel Ellis?"
She smiled. "I didn't yell at him. But, even though he was right, it wasn't his place to speak to you like that." She got to her feet, her papers held to her chest. "If anyone is going to jump your ass for wasting time, it'll be me."
She turned on her heel and left the room. Rodney stared after her for a few seconds before returning his attention to his rapidly cooling breakfast.
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It Happens in the Movies"I hope Teyla's all right," Ronon said, leaning his head back against the edge of the gurney.
"Unless she happens to be quarantined with whomever is sick, she should be fine," Jennifer said, idly creasing and uncreasing her pants.
"I don't mean getting sick," Ronon said. "I mean with the baby."
"Pregnant women are more resilient than people think they are," Jennifer said. "Besides, she's not due for a couple more months."
"I know, but in the movies—"
"A lot of things happen in the movies that don't happen in real life," she said. "Case in point." She motioned at the mess of destroyed equipment left behind by their failed attempt to use the oxygen tank to blow open the door.
"Yeah, but—"
"Ronon, she'll be fine," Jennifer interrupted. "The 'pregnant woman going into labor' is just a cliché. Kind of like the good guys wearing white hats. The hero's best friend always dying. The hero's girlfriend always being taken hostage." She ticked them off on her fingers.
"Those things happen," he said. "I don't think anyone around here wears a white hat though."
"What about the monster always attacking the girl that's down in the dark basement by herself?"
"If there's a monster around, what are you doing in the basement by yourself?" he countered.
"How about in Jaws? The greedy mayor is always wrong and the 'little guy'," she held her hands up and made quote signs with her fingers. "Is always right?"
"That's because they usually are," he said. "Look at that Woolsey guy and how he treated Colonel Carter."
Jennifer sighed. "Okay, fine. How about the cliché that whenever a man and woman are trapped alone together it's just a matter of time before they fall into each other's arms and make wild, passionate love to each other?"
Ronon didn't answer and Jennifer looked at him, her face coloring at the speculative and knowing look on his face. "Oh," she finally forced. "Umm, aah…"
"You should stop while you're ahead," he said, choking back his laughter.
Fin