Fortunate Journey Season 4
Author: ShaViva
Rating: T, perhaps bordering on M in places
Content Warning: Adult themes, sexual situations, language, some violence here and there.
Season: 4
Main Story Summary: "Never before have I sensed that the future of so many worlds can turn on the actions of so few". When the continuity of humanity itself is threatened John and Sabina discover it is the core of what makes them who they are that will see them triumph ... together. Established ShepOCship.
Companion Story Summary: John's patience is stretched to the limit whenever missions don't go according to plan – especially those involving Sabina. Find out what he's really thinking during those times! John Sheppard 1st person perspective story.
Classifications: Drama, Romance
Pairings: John Sheppard & Original Character
Main Story Spoilers for: Plot spoilers for pretty much every episode in Season 4. BIG huge honking dialogue spoilers (more than just a few lines) for Doppelganger, Tabula Rasa, The Seer, Outcast, Midway, The Kindred Part 1 and 2, and The Last Man. Also HUGE spoilers for Season 5 Search and Rescue. Finally some minor spoilers for SG1 Season 10 Family Ties and the SG1 movie Ark of Truth.
John's POV Story Spoilers for: Plot spoilers plus BIG huge honking dialogue spoilers (more than just a few lines) for This Mortal Coil, The Kindred Part 1 and 2, and The Last Man. Also HUGE spoilers for Season 5 Search and Rescue.
Acknowledgements: I used Gateworld dot com transcripts to back up my own viewing as I worked through each episode. Anything else I reference will be acknowledged at the point it's used in the story.
Disclaimer: The Stargate characters, storylines, etc aren't mine. I am unfortunately not associated in any way with the creators, owners, or producers of Stargate or any of its media franchises – if I was we'd be seeing them on TV for some time to come *sighs dejectedly*. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, equipment, etc are the property of whoever owns them. The original characters and plot and anything else I made up are the property of me, the author. No copyright infringement is intended.
Copyright (c) 2009 ShaViva
Authors note:
There is an inadvertent error in FJS1 that comes into play in this season. I gave Sheppard no siblings and deceased parents ... at the time there weren't any details on his back story and I didn't know of the S4 episode Outcast. Now that I do I need you all to forget what I originally wrote and just assume that John said instead that his mother died years ago and he was never close to his father or brother. I just don't think it would be believable for him to have kept that to himself all this time with Sabina and only now suddenly bring it up. Okay? Also I've been calling the place they eat the commissary but I've noticed this season that they call it the Mess Hall (did they always call it that?) so I've changed my references to call it the Mess Hall too – pretty minor but there you go. Thanks!
Timeline wise this starts in February 2007 – given they're heading off to Earth in the first chapters it seemed like a good idea to pick something for things like weather etc,. Just assume Christmas and both their birthdays happened sometime during the Elizabeth missing/new planet weeks – since I've already done stories for that I didn't want to revisit them.
There is a companion piece to the story this season, called "The Other Side of the Story: John's Point of View". It's a 'fill in the blanks' story in Sheppard's own words for selected times when we need to know what he was doing and him just telling Sabina all about it doesn't cut the mustard. This will be interspersed within the main story as separate chapters. I'll put the title "The Other Side of the Story: John's Point of View" at the beginning of each chapter and label the chapters as interludes. They'll also be numbered separately from the main story so hopefully you won't get confused. Also means if you're not interested in that aspect you can just skip those chapters - although there is some good plot stuff for the end of the season you'd miss out on if you don't read them.
I'm not even gonna comment during posting on the whole keeping it canon and in character stuff for this season ... I am so far away from that by now it's not funny! I have truly taken these characters and made them my own for season 4, and had a lot of fun doing so. There is fluff and even a bit of silliness amidst all the serious stuff – not gonna apologise for it during posting though so consider this your warning. Having said that I did stick to the plot lines as much as possible and I always try to keep the characters as true to the show as I can. I read every transcript and watched every episode as part of the writing process so any changes to dialogue or situation are deliberate because I needed it that way or because I preferred things the way I've done them – sometimes I comment on it in an author's note but not always. Also I had requests after season 3 for a couple of aspects to be included in season 4 which I thought very hard about ... I have such a clear mental picture for Sabina and John so if I didn't take the story quite where you were hoping it'd be because it didn't fit in with that picture.
Sorry about the super long authors note but when you write a story as big as this you feel the need to set the scene a bit ... probably too much. There are literally hundreds of hours of effort in this ... and it will take me probably half that again to post it all. So while I won't beg for reviews, if you read this and enjoy it, a little encouragement to keep going from time to time would be appreciated. I won't promise a daily post because I hate disappointing people waiting and then not getting a chapter ... but posts will definitely be happening on a regular basis.
Having said ALL that, let's get on with the story! If you recall, at the end of Season 3 they'd just held a memorial for Elizabeth and got agreement for John and Sabina to have personal leave back on Earth. Settle in ... this is gonna be a long journey ...
Chapter 1: The place hasn't changed at all
"You packed?" John came striding into our room the night before we were due to Gate back to Earth, obviously keen to get moving. "Remember we're talking February in Colorado – it's gonna be much colder than here."
"I think I've got it covered," I replied, looking at him in concern from my position on the bed. "You realise just because you're talking to them in person, the SGC and the IOA aren't just gonna cave and go 'sure you can look for Elizabeth – here's a Puddle Jumper and a team of marines!'"
"I know the odds are slim they'll authorise anything," John said with just a hint of frustration in his voice. "We have to try though ... are you gonna forget about it if we don't?"
"No," I admitted. "And neither will you."
"Exactly," John came and sat down beside me. "Did you pack something nice?"
"Depends on what you define as nice," I looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"
"There's this restaurant I remember going to, just before my Mom died," John's expression was wistful as he reached up and absently brushed a stray strand of hair away from my face. "I thought we could go there."
"You never mentioned it before ... the last time we were back on Earth," I pointed out softly.
"All that talk about alternate futures ... marriage ... children," John looked at me seriously. "It got me thinking about family ... my family."
"What – you want to do the whole 'meet the parents' deal?" I frowned in confusion. "I thought you weren't close to your Dad or your brother."
"I'm not," John agreed. "You told me about your adoptive parents and that was hard. I've never said anything about my Mom and I should have. I was close to her so I thought ..." he trailed off uncertainly.
"You thought we could go to that restaurant and you could tell me about her?" I asked carefully.
"Something like that," John's rueful smile said he knew he wasn't being exactly logical about the whole thing. "She would have liked you ... while we're on Earth I want to give you a sense of who she was."
"If she was anything like you then I don't need all that to know I would have liked her too," I rested my head against John's shoulder companionably. "But I'd love to see whatever you want to show me."
"Thanks," John put an arm around me and squeezed tightly. "Wanna catch up with Ronon and the others? We might not get a chance in the morning and the commissary should be all cleaned up by now."
"Okay," I jumped up first, holding out a hand to pull John up beside me. "Do you think it went well today?"
"It was perfect," John kept a hold of my hand and urged me towards the door. "Elizabeth would be very impressed with what you and Teyla did. I was kinda surprised you volunteered to take care of the actual arrangements like that."
"Well, you're in charge for the moment and it just seemed like something that should come from us," I said a bit defensively. "Besides, it was my idea."
"I don't disagree," John looked down at me in amusement.
"What?" I demanded, stopping and glaring up at him.
"Nothing," John replied, letting go of my hand as he kept walking. When he was a few paces away he turned back to me and added "It was just a very ... wifely thing to do."
"Oh don't start that," I practically ran to catch up to him. "You don't get to tease me with 'wife' comments – especially since we're not even engaged yet!"
"Okay," John put his arm around me and steered me down the corridor. "So once we are .... then I get to tease you?"
"I haven't said yes," I looked at him sternly. "And if you keep that up, when you ask in the future I might not!"
"No wife jokes ... check," John agreed in amusement. I tried to resist glancing up at him but I couldn't. His little boy look with the humour fairly sparkling from his eyes was too much ... within moments we were both laughing as we continued up the corridor.
oOo
"Welcome back Colonel, Ms Scott," General Landry greeted us as we made our way down the ramp at the SGC.
"Thank you Sir," John replied respectfully. "The place hasn't changed at all."
"It seldom does," Landry replied with a meaningful look. "I assume you'd like to meet with me before you head out?" With those words the General made it clear he was well aware of what had motivated John's request for personal leave.
"Ah ... yes Sir," John raised an eyebrow at me. I nodded, silently letting him know I'd be fine while he went off to put forward his case.
"Sabina, Doctor Jackson asked if you could go and see him when you arrive," General Landry kindly gave me somewhere to be while he was meeting with John. You might have thought I'd have issues with Landry after my time back on Earth the previous year ... to be honest I wondered myself but once confronted with being back at the SGC I was happy to discover I really had gotten past that.
"Thank you General," I smiled gratefully, turning to John and adding "I'll probably be in the commissary by the time you get done." Squeezing his hand I tried to pass on a host of messages all without words – 'good luck', 'be firm but not angry', 'I have faith in you'.
John followed the General to his office and I made my way down to Daniel's.
"Hello stranger," I stopped in his doorway, smiling at the state of his office. There was stuff everywhere ... lots of cool looking artefacts as usual and open books cluttering every space. "What are you working on?"
"Sabina!" Daniel rose from his desk with a smile and came over to greet me. "Sorry ... I meant to come down to the Gateroom."
"I can see why you might have been distracted," I excused. "This is a lot of research even for you."
"We're looking for an Ark ... from the time the Alteran's first came to this galaxy," Daniel explained with that light of academic discovery in his eyes.
"You're joking right?" I said in disbelief. "The Ark? What, of the covenant? What are you, Indiana Jones?"
"An ark ... not 'The' Ark," Daniel corrected. "According to my research the secret to destroying the armies of the Ori is supposed to be inside ... a piece of Ancient technology that can make anyone who looks into it believe the Ori aren't gods."
"Now that would be worth finding Indiana," I smiled when Daniel rolled his eyes at my casual tone. "So where is it?"
"That's what all the books are for," Daniel admitted. "I still don't know ... as soon as I get a lead we'll be heading out."
"Oh," I looked down at the pile of books with interest. "Can I help?"
"Pull up a chair," Daniel reached over and pushed one of his books in front of me. "Just look for any reference to an ark."
"So you're not out on SG1 missions at the moment?" I asked, sitting down beside him.
"Teal'c is visiting his son," Daniel replied. "He'll be back in a week or so. Sam's doing a short assignment at Area 51 and Vala decided to go with her – she watches too much television and actually thought it might be interesting. Mitchell's off doing training exercises with a bunch of new recruits starting soon."
"So they've left you here by yourself again?" I smiled, remembering the first time I'd met him.
"And I like it that way," Daniel said with feeling. "Not all the time of course but do you know how hard it is to concentrate on anything with the whole crew here?"
"I can imagine," I laughed, sure Daniel's team had as little patience with his love of books and anything Ancient as my team did of mine. Bending my head low I began to read in earnest, soon captivated by the contents of the book.
We sat in companionable silence for a while, each of us focussed on the Ancient text in front of us, before Daniel spoke again.
"I'm sorry about Doctor Weir," he said softly. "She was a capable leader ... and a great loss to the SGC."
"Yeah well we haven't given up hope yet," I replied without looking at him. "That's mostly what we're here for – John wasn't getting anywhere on a mission to go rescue her. He thought the ... personal approach might help."
"Ah," Daniel nodded in understanding. "The IOA aren't exactly known for their compassion."
"I know," I acknowledged what he was getting at. "Chances are we'll walk away empty handed but ... John needs this. It was a difficult decision – leaving Elizabeth behind – despite her ordering him to do so."
"I can't imagine," Daniel replied, looking across at me with a smile. "What are you going to do with the rest of your time here?"
"John wants to show me some of his favourite places," I said lightly. "Stuff we never had the chance to do before."
"Meet the parents huh?" Daniel raised an eyebrow teasingly.
"That might be amusing except I haven't got any family and John hasn't spoken to any of his for years," I replied seriously. "I've gotta admit I'm pretty curious about that but ... I don't want to push him because he hasn't even told me why they don't talk."
"Sometimes there's a good reason for that," Daniel replied. "You wouldn't have heard that we had Vala's father here a month or so ago ... he tried to manipulate us just to make a profit. Plus he used Vala's connections with little regard for her feelings ... I kind of understood after that why she doesn't talk about him."
"You're right," I agreed. "So you and Vala are ... close these days?"
"Would you look at that?" Daniel ignored my question, making a big production out of looking at his watch before jumping up and pulling me out of my chair beside him. "It must be lunch time."
Laughing at his antics I let him lead me off to the Mess Hall.
Author's Note:
Next Up? Fortunate Journey Season 4 Chapter 2
