John Sheppard sleeps in his uniform.
It's not paranoia, he tells himself; it's simply being prepared. Things can go wrong so quickly – and so often - in the Pegasus galaxy and even in the city they are not safe – energy creatures, nanoviruses, accidents in the labs.. even just the usual day-to-day mishaps and misfortunes of a couple of hundred people living in close proximity in a city which they've barely begun to explore fully.
He is the military commander of the expedition. He is responsible for everyone here. He has to be ready.
And so he sleeps in his uniform. Well, not his day time uniform, obviously – he is the CO and he needs to set a standard for his teams so his day time uniform is always scrupulously laundered and fresh. But he has a spare. A black t-shirt and a pair of BDUs that he never wears on missions, that never go off-world. He only ever wears them in his quarters; to sleep in.
For obvious reasons, the P90s are stored in the armoury until needed but he never goes anywhere, even on Atlantis, without his 9mm and at night he leaves it on his bedside table, within easy reach. He keeps a fully-stocked tac vest in his room for the same reasons.
If anything should happen, even in the middle of the night, John Sheppard wants to be ready.
The precautions come easily to him; he's been stationed in hostile territory before and when night raids by the enemy are a constant threat, the last thing you want is to be caught with your pants down – literally. In Afghanistan he'd sometimes slept with his boots on.
They might be in a different galaxy but the dangers are still the same. It's still hostile territory. And now his responsibilities are all the greater – he has soldiers and civilians under his command. It is his job to protect all of them and, whilst he knows he can depend on his military staff to look after themselves, civilian scientists and doctors and linguists and archeologists and.. diplomats.. simply aren't trained for a combat situation, can't be expected to defend themselves. That responsibility is his and he takes it seriously.
He knows the civilian staff, even Elizabeth, would not understand. To them Atlantis is home. Even after all they've been through, after the Gennii had brought death and terror right to their doorstep, killing his men, taking Elizabeth and McKay hostage, he knows they still do not fully understand.
He's seen them; McKay fast asleep in his lab, the door unlocked, his head down on the desk because he'd stayed up too late working and ended up dozing off; Elizabeth wandering into the mess hall in the middle of the night in pyjamas and a robe, grinning sheepishly because her hair was all mussed, looking for a cup of coffee because she'd woken up and couldn't get back to sleep; Beckett getting stuck in a malfunctioning transporter on his way to breakfast and only then realising that he hadn't put his radio on and had no way to call for help.
Atlantis is home and when they are home, they let their guard down. John can't afford to ever let his guard down. Atlantis is home for him too but it's also where he works – and his job is to protect every single person on this base; a base situated in hostile territory, threatened by an implacable enemy who vastly outnumber them. It's not 9 to 5 work. So he has to be ready – ready for anything, at any time.
John Sheppard sleeps in his uniform.
Fin..