Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of the characters. As of 4/1/07, this has been edited.
Sticks and Snails — II
Rodney groaned as he tried again to get John to eat something. The kid was as stubborn as ever. He was sitting at the table with Teyla and Ronan, who were actually eating PB & J without a fight. Arms crossed and eyebrows creased, John stuck out his tongue out and crossed his eyes as well. He now knew he could get away with that kind of stuff with Rodney, where as if he was with Elizabeth, he had to be careful.
"Please eat," Rodney begged, shoving the sandwich toward him. John grabbed the sandwich and looked at it, sticking his tongue out and licking the sandwich. Frowning, he took it apart and started eating the peanut butter half. Grinning, he disposed of the jelly half. Right in Rodney's face. Teyla started giggling so hard she choked on her sandwich and Ronan fell out of his chair. Elizabeth chose that moment to walk in. She laughed at the sight before her.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Rodney took a paper towel and wiped his face with it as John carefully licked all of the peanut butter off of the bread and got rid of it by dropping it on the floor. Teyla, unfortunately, was still on the floor, laughing. The sandwich fell right on her stomach. Screaming, she jumped up and ran in circles, hitting at the bread and trying to get it off of her shirt. Soon, it fell to the floor, smearing peanut butter all over.
"This. Is. Hell," Rodney declared, walking out of the room. Elizabeth laughed at the sight of John with peanut butter all over his face. Ronan was quietly ripping his sandwich to shreds and eating them like one would a live animal.
"Come on, guys, let's go get cleaned up," Elizabeth said.
John burped loudly, causing Teyla to snicker and Ronan to laugh. Soon, the boys were in a burping contest and Teyla was rolling on the floor with laughter. Apparently, she was somewhat of a tom-boy. Just then, Halling walked into the room. John stopped what he was doing and wiped the peanut butter off of his face, waving at the man before he let out another big burp. This time, he beat Ronan by a long shot. Teyla burst out laughing but sat up straight when she saw Halling.
"Dr. Weir?" Halling asked, recognizing Teyla right away.
"Hallie!" Teyla stood up, peanut butter still on her shirt, and hugged Halling's leg. John dropped to the floor and started making patterns in the ground with the peanut butter that seemed to be everywhere. Halling lifted Teyla into his arms and frowned.
"What is going on?" he asked.
"Major Sheppard, Ronan and Teyla have all been turned into children. From what we can tell, they are all about four."
Halling's mouth fell open, just then realizing that the little, messy boy was the Major who had walked into his tent two years ago.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Sorry, no."
Halling looked down at Teyla, brushing his fingers through her soft brown hair. She looked up and him and smiled.
"So, they are children?" Halling asked, still not believing it. John was now sitting on the floor in Elizabeth's office, trying to stay inside the lines as he colored a picture of a car. Teyla was laying on the floor beside him, coloring the picture on the other side of the book. She had been so excited when Elizabeth had given them the book, and even more excited when John showed her how to color
"Yes. We don't yet know what caused it, or how to turn them back."
Halling nodded.
"I would like to bring Teyla back to the mainland, then."
"About that. I was thinking, would you take all of the kids for the weekend? We are going to be testing a new discovery, and it is going to wipe the power for an hour. John is afraid of the dark, and to be honest, Ronan really isn't the kind of kid to be confined to his quarters. He needs to explore," Elizabeth said, walking over and handing Teyla the brown crayon, because she was coloring her person's hair purple. Smiling, Teyla put the purple crayon in her mouth. Elizabeth bolted forward and took it from her, sticking it in her pocket as John started laughing,
"I guess I could take them. I have one question, what is Teyla doing?" Halling looked on the coloring book with interest.
"Coloring. On Earth, we have a book with already drawn pictures for children to color in. It helps pass the time and it is something fun for them to do." Just then, John finished his picture and, in very childish writing, wrote 'John Sheppard' on the top of the picture with a bright orange crayon. Teyla eyed the words.
"What you doing?"
"Putting my name on it so people will know I did it." He smiled, laying on his stomach on the floor beside her.
"Can I do it to mine?" John nodded and Teyla started scribbling her name at the top. Frowning, she looked up at John. "Could you help me?" Together, the two wrote her name on the paper. Smiling, they took the book and ran up to Elizabeth.
"Lookie what we did!" John said proudly.
"That's great!" She then leaned down in front of them. "Hey, John, Teyla, would it be all right with you if you went with Mr. Halling to the mainland for a few days?."
"What's the mainland?" John asked in a childish 'spooky' voice. Teyla also looked confused.
"It is where we live," Halling explained.
"Ronan coming, too?" Teyla stuck out her bottom lip, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes, he has to come," Halling said, smiling. Teyla was the same little girl she had always been.
"Phooy," John said. He looked back at Teyla, smiling. Both of them ran back and laid down, turning to another page in the coloring book and attacking it with many different crayons.
"Wow!" John bounced up and down in the front seat of the jumper, looking out to the ocean. He grinned and continued to bounce. Carson was sitting in the driver seat, trying to concentrate on not crashing the ship. John turned to Teyla. "Come see!" She ran up and got on the seat with John, looking out into the sky. Ronan just sat on the seat behind Carson without saying a word.
"Cool," Teyla said, grinning.
"Hey, Ronan, come see!" John said, sitting down on the seat. Teyla returned to her seat behind John and sat on Halling's lap. Ronan shook his head, sticking his tongue out at John.
"No," he said.
John looked down at his seat, playing with the tiny uniform he was wearing.
"When we be there?" John asked suddenly. "I gotta pee!"
Carson groaned at the four-year-old's outburst. "Thirty-Minutes," he replied.
The second they got to the mainland, John ran screaming from the jumper, trying to find a bathroom. Halling followed him, trying to direct the bouncy child to the right place. Soon, he found it and ran inside, grinning happily. Five minutes later, he came bouncing out, running in circles.
He was running too close to the large root system of an old oak tree, and Halling tried to warn him, but he was a second too late. John tripped, falling forward right onto his face. Halling and Carson ran over to the little boy, who was now sitting up, holding his nose.
"How many bloody noses does this kid need?" Carson complained, holding a cloth to John's nose.
John was still grinning. "Can we go swimming?" he asked, nodding toward the ocean.
"Not yet. First we need to get you into clean clothes and set up your quarters," Halling said, helping John up and taking his and Teyla's hands as he lead them toward the village. As soon as they arrived, several people met them.
"Halling! Who are the children?" One woman asked. Teyla grinned and ran forward, hugging her.
"Charin!"
The older woman gasped.
"Teyla?" It was more of a question than a statement.
"And John!" Teyla said, pointing to John, who was still holding the rag to his bloody nose. "And that's Ronan." Sticking her bottom lip out, she pointed to Ronan, who looked quite fine with being disliked. In fact, he was smiling.
"Charin, I will explain as soon as I get the kids room set up."
Charin nodded.
"They will all share with me and Jinto." Halling, taking the hands of John and Teyla again, led the three children to his tent. As soon as they were there, John ran inside, Teyla and Ronan close behind. Inside the tent was one large bed and a smaller one in the corner. They were both made well, the blankets spread over them carefully. Jinto was sitting in the corner, doing what appeared to be schoolwork.
"Jinto, are you done with your studies?" Halling asked. When he nodded, Halling grabbed the back of John's shirt, making him stand still. "Good, then I would like you to meet John, Teyla and Ronan. They are going to be staying with for a while. Jinto jumped up, running over and looking Teyla over.
"Woah! Is that really Teyla?" He was over a foot taller than her.
"Yes. Now, let us see if we can find somewhere for them to sleep."
Rodney paced in front of the table, waiting for Dr. Weir to arrive. Suddenly, she walked in.
"What do you have?"
"I know how to change them back!" Rodney blurted out. Elizabeth gasped, dropping into a chair. "When I was playing with the device, it detected an older presence in the room. The reason I saw the eye light up the first time was because it was charging its power. When the light went away it was because the device didn't want to warn the enemy, that would have been us, of what it was about to do." He paused and took a deep breath. "When it was finished charging, it shot out the beam that turned them into kids. I was crouched down, so the beam didn't hit me."
"But why would it turn people into kids in the first place?" Elizabeth asked, trying to take in all of the information that Rodney had just given her.
"I think the population was made up generally of kids, so when an enemy approached, they would be turned into kids as well, rendering them helpless."
"So how does this help change them back?" Elizabeth asked, very confused now.
"It doesn't!" Rodney said, still smiling and trying to catch his breath.
"So how do we change them back?" Elizabeth growled, very impatient.
"We bring them back to the planet, let it charge up, and while it is doing that, I will reverse the effects, and when it shoots...boom!" Clapping his hands together for effect, Rodney sat down beside Elizabeth.
"You can do that? I mean, reverse the effect?"
"Yes!" Jumping up, Rodney ran out of the briefing room. Elizabeth shook her head, standing up and walking into her office. Could he really do it?
John sat in the corner, his arms across his chest and his lip sticking out. Ronan was in the opposite corner, playing with the fabric of the tent. He and Ronan had gotten into a fight because Ronon had been picking on Teyla again, and John still firmly believed that you shouldn't pick on girls. Teyla had a bloody lip, and John had several bruises, showing he had lost the fight. Now, Teyla and Jinto were playing with the coloring book that John had taken with him. Teyla was showing him how to use the crayons and Jinto was having fun.
John sighed, placing his head on the ground and flatening his hands there to get into a handstand. He smiled and stuck his tongue out a Ronan, who had turned around and was looking at him. Halling chose that moment to turn around. Surprised, John fell, tumbling right into a well stacked pile of pots. They all went crashing to the ground, several breaking. John put a hand to his mouth, tears forming in his eyes.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to do it." He pushed himself as far back into the corner as he could, wishing he could just disappear. Halling came over, lifting a hand to grab one of the pots. As he did, John flinched and closed his eyes. Halling noticed.
"What is wrong, John?"
"Please don't hurt me," he said, not noticing the tears falling freely from his eyes. Teyla and Jinto had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at what was going on.
"I won't hurt you," Halling said. "What made you think I would?"
"Daddy does," John said quietly. Halling's face clearly showed surprise as he sat down beside John, moving the pots to the side.
"Your father hurts you?" John just nodded, looking at the ground. "How?" John didn't reply for a minute, scared. Halling placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"He hits me."
"For how long?" Halling asked. He had never known John's father, but any man who would harm a little boy had done something wrong.
"Since forever."
"Want to talk about it?"
John shook his head and Halling gave up. He had known John when he was older, and he was very stubborn. Smiling, he went back to cleaning up the pots. John helped, grabbing the broken pieces and putting them inside of a whole jar. Wincing as one of the pieces cut into his hand, John pulled back and stuck it to his mouth, sucking away the blood.
Soon, Teyla walked over, helping them pick up the remaining pieces. Once they were done, Halling said that Ronon and John were free to go from their corners. Ronon jumped up and went back to sharpening his stick. John just continued to pick at the ground.
"What did your daddy do?" Teyla asked. She was curious. John started slowly.
"He hit me, and my mommy. Sometimes he would use a belt." John pulled up the back of his shirt, exposing huge welt scars. Halling winced from his seat at the small table in the far corner of the room.
"Why?" Teyla sat beside him, putting her hands in her lap and playing with the string on the shirt Halling had provided her with.
"I don't know. He just does. The first time he hit me, I was two. I spilled my milk." John wiped more tears out of his eyes. Halling took a deep breath, trying to keep himself from marching over and demanding to hear the whole story. What kind of father hit a child for spilling his milk?
"Is your daddy here?" Teyla asked.
"No, Mr. Rodney said he wasn't."
"We can share a daddy!" Teyla said. Halling's eyes went wide. Teyla didn't yet know about her father. He had been taken when she was eight, and now she only remembered from when she was four. Sighing, he knew he would have to tell her soon. "Halling, were is Daddy?" Teyla stood up and bounced over to him. He smiled a little and picked her up, placing her on his lap.
"Your father is not here right now, Teyla."
"Where is daddy?" Suddenly, fear took over Teyla. She had known far too many whose fathers had never come back. "Did those bad people get him?" Tears sprang to her eyes and when Halling didn't answer. She jumped up from his lap and ran out of the room. John looked over, surprised. Jumping up, he followed her.
"Teyla?" John asked, walking up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged his hand off and stiffled a sob. Wiping her tears away, she turned and looked at him without saying a word. John decided it would be up to him to talk first. "What's wrong?"
"My father is gone."
"I'm sorry. I know it hurts."
"How could you know?" She said, sobs racking her body as she hugged her knees to her chest.
"My mommy is gone. Daddy hurt her." He tried not to cry. He wanted to be strong for Teyla. No one was strong for him when his mommy died. He had to be the strong one, and it hurt him. He and Teyla were silent for a while, neither one knowing what to say. John sat beside her on the large stump she was sitting on. It was surrounded with trees and vines with flowers on them. You could see the ocean if you looked far enough.
"Did you love your daddy?" John finally said. "I loved my mommy."
"Yes. I loved my daddy a lot." Teyla hopped off of the stump, falling on her knees from the two foot fall. John followed. They started walking around the woods, Teyla eventually stopping and stuck her bottom lip out.
"What's wrong?" John asked.
"The fort isn't here." She had bulit one with her friends when she was a child, and didn't remember that they were now on the mainland. They continued walking, soon finding a small fort of sorts. Jinto and his friends had probably built it, as it said 'Jinto' on a piece of wood hanging over the door. Teyla grinned. She had found something at least.
"Wow," John said as Teyla took his hand and led him inside.
Holes in the roof showed its age, the sticks now rotten and liable to fall. Teyla smiled. It was a lot different than the one she had built, but it was OK. She didn't know why Jinto used rotten sticks, though. Inside it was empty, only a small round of rocks where there had once been a campfire. It was small, but cozy. The two sat down and talked for a while, mostly about their families, John avoiding the subject of his father. He mostly talked about his mother and brother.
When they had been taken away from their daddy, they had been separated and he had never seen his little brother again. His brother's name had been Shawn. Finally, as it started getting dark, they decided to head back. Once they entered the tent, they saw Ronon and Jinto playing stick fight. Oddly enough, Ronon was holding up pretty well, and he was much smaller than Jinto. Halling saw the two little kids enter the tent and ran over.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yes," Teyla said, wiping a few more tears away. She walked over to the coloring book, finding a page that was empty and picking up a crayon, beginning to color the turtle pink. John sat down beside her, grabbing the green crayon and coloring the bird. Halling smiled at them. They got along as well as they had when they were older. They also acted much older than four. He sighed. They were being forced to grow up to quickly. Kids their age weren't supposed to feel that much pain. They were supposed to be living freely, and happily.
Rodney paced around the room as he watched Elizabeth talk with Cadwell. Finally, she sighed and walked over to Rodney.
"He said no," she reported.
"Well, why the hell not?" Rodney growled, clenching his fists. "And who said he is in charge?"
"He said he won't risk any more people getting reduced to toddlers. He spoke with the 'Powers that be' on earth, and they agree with him. It is far to dangerous." She sighed, ready to drop the worst news on him. "You are being reassigned to a new team and PR6-541 is being removed from our system. No research unless it is on Atlantis."
Halling watched as John twisted and turned in his bed, sweat dripping down his face. He was apparently having a nightmare.
John was four. He was sitting at the table with his brother, mother and father. Shawn was playing with his food, not really eating anything. John was finished eating, waiting for his father to excuse him, which he knew he wouldn't for a while. Sometimes, he had to stay there all night, because if he got up, his daddy would hurt him.
"Daddy? Can I go to my room?" John asked, not meeting his eyes. "No. You are going to sit right there." Finally, his mom excused him and he ran up to his room, closing the door and sitting on his bed, crying. Soon, he could hear the screams of Shawn and grabbed his pillow, placing it over his ears. Shawn was only three. His mother was also yelling, yelling at his father to stop, to stop hitting Shawn. But his father continued hitting the little boy. Soon, the house went silent and he could hear Shawn run upstairs, into his room. The door slammed. His father didn't like slammed doors. The loud footsteps of Jack Sheppard were heard soon, heading up the stairs. John jumped off his bed, running into his closet and hiding. He knew his dad wasn't after him, but he was scared for Shawn. He wanted to help his little brother, but there was nothing he could do.
Soon, the shouts were heard again. His dad was hitting Shawn because he had slammed a door. He had slammed a freaking door, and he was being beaten within an inch of his life. When his dad was done, John "Why didn't you hwelp me?" Tears slipped from the tiny blue eyes that John loved so much. He would do anything for Shawn, anything he could. Protecting him was not one of the things he could do. "Because I can't." Later that night, as John tucked Shawn into bed, he walked back into his room to find his dad there, holding the belt. John wanted to scream, but every time his mother got involved, she got hurt, too. He had to suck it up and take it. His father had never done anything too bad to him, just to his mother and Shawn. John didn't try to run, or he knew it would be worse. That night was one John would never forget. His back was "Why didn't you help me?"
ran into Shawn's room to see the tiny child curled up into a ball on the floor. His eye was black and his arms were starting to form bruises. He was bloody, but John couldn't tell where it was coming from. Running over, he grabbed Shawn and held him until he stopped crying. Leading him into the bathroom that connected their two rooms, he sat Shawn on the toilet seat and started cleaning him up. Then Shawn asked the question that hurt John so much.
raw and bloody, and his arms had bruises forming where his dad held him in place as he was beaten. The question that Shawn asked him every time it happened still haunted him.
Halling ran over and woke John up. Bolting upright in the bed, John started crying. Halling had never seen John Sheppard so weak. He held the little boy until he had calmed down a little. Teyla was awake as well, but was just laying quietly in her corner. Halling pulled back and wiped some of the tears from John's eyes. He sniffled and wiped his nose on his shirt.
"What's wrong, John?" Halling asked gently.
"My daddy hurt me and Shawn," he said, his eyes red and puffy. Halling hugged the little boy again, gently laying him back in the bed.
"It's all right now, your father isn't here," Halling said, standing to leave. John grabbed onto his shirt.
"Could you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Halling nodded and smiled. It was the least he could do for the little boy. Sitting beside his bed, he watched as John's little eyes slipped closed again. He was shaking with fear.
...Why didn't you help me?...
(Yawn) Well, that took forever to write. 4000 words!
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