Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or Stargate SG-1 (thought I wish I did) and I do not own any of the show's characters (Carter, McKay, Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon etc…) and I don't care if you use any characters I have created either.
Full Summary: I always thought I knew what I'd signed up for when I decided to lead a team in the Pegasus galaxy; evil life sucking aliens, mutated viruses, Ancient machines and the occasional movie night and popcorn fest. I'd signed up for all of those things, but there was one thing that wasn't included in the job description. That fateful omission was falling completely and irrevocably in love with John Sheppard.
A/N: Chapter 2, as promised. I wrote 9 pages but decided to cut it to 4. The other five pages I'm working on now, new chapter in a few days. My holidays are in 3 days so I'll write a lot then. Love you all! Review me and I'll write quick!
Chapter 2: Sheppard… John Sheppard.
I stepped out of the gate and was suddenly overcome in pure awe at my surroundings. There was beautiful architecture as far as the eye could see extended around the room; tall, intricate colonnades where everywhere around the gate room. I scanned the room a final time to soak in the details before I spotted Colonel Carter waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled warmly as I quickly jogged over to her, "Matthew! Long time no see! Haven't seen you in over year." Carter threw her arms around me and gave a light squeeze. "I hear you've been well."
"Hi, Sam. Yeah, I have. Look at you, though! Commander of a secret base, not only on another planet but in another galaxy!" I exclaimed as she shook her head humbly.
"No, no. I'm just honoured that the oh-so-charming IOA have let me work here. It's fantastic; the place, the people. Even the food isn't too bad!" We laughed together as she made the last remark, "But, enough of that. Let me show you around our fabulous city." She gestured for me to follow her. We walked up the stairs and to the right where we encountered a small welcoming party. Dr. Rodney McKay, Dr. Radek Zelenka, Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex were all waiting patiently in front of the main control area. Sam began the introductions.
"Umm, well everyone this is Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Stark. He'll be assuming the role of Assistant Military Commander here on Atlantis, underneath Colonel Sheppard. Colonel, this is Dr. McKay, Dr. Zelenka, Teyla and Ronon." Sam made a point of gesturing towards each member of the expedition. I greeted them all with a firm handshake before introduce myself.
"Err, well thanks, Sam. So yeah. I've heard nothing but great things about all of you and I'm going to look forward to working with all of you." I tried my hardest to sound confident about my statement but something about them made me nervous. They had all been working together for 4+ years. They already had bonds with each other and with the rest of the expedition. To them, I was an outsider.
"Yes, well, as much fun as these introductions are, I believe you've got my ZPM?" McKay commented as he tapped the ground and rolled his eyes.
"Oh right! Here you are, Doctor." I passed the bulky steel case to McKay who eyed it greedily. "I'll get you the other one too." I said as I turned around to locate Alesha. I saw her in the corner of the gate room flirting with 3 marines who seemed wrapped around her little finger. I rolled my eyes at the thought: we just travelled millions of light years to another galaxy and the first thing she does is grab a few boyfriends. "Vega! ZPM! Up here 30 seconds ago!" I shouted towards the Major. She winked at the marines before logging up the stairs and into the control room, ZPM case in hand.
"Here you are, sir. No need to get antsy" Alesha passed me the ZPM and gave me a friendly punch on the shoulder. I stared her down but she just laughed and logged back down the stairs to pick her bags up and find her room. "Anyway, here you are, Zelenka." Zelenka gratefully took the ZPM as rushed to catch up with McKay who was already on the way to the ZPM room.
"Hmm, John was supposed to meet your team 10 minutes ago. I wonder where he is…" Carter commented as she tapped her earpiece. "Colonel Sheppard, its Colonel Carter. Please come in. You were supposed to report to the control room 10 minutes ago to greet the new team from the SGC." Carter paused for about 10 seconds until the relaxed voice of John Sheppard sounded from Sam's earpiece.
"Sorry, Colonel, I slept in. I'm almost at the transporter and I'll be there in 2 minutes." Carter sighed.
"Come on, Colonel. We'll meet him at the transporter." Sam rolled her eyes and gestured for me to follow her. I nodded and we walked past the technicians in the control room and down a flight of stairs. We walked through a long corridor until we reached a small kind-of lobby that branched off into another 2 corridors. Directly in front of myself and Sam were the crafted doors of the transporter. We heard a familiar 'whoosh' and the doors swished open. The dark haired figure turned to face us. My heart skipped a beat as the ruggedly handsome Sheppard walked out of the transporter. This was the first time I've seen him in over 6 years. His face was perfectly shaped; the ridges of his eyebrows, the wrinkles on his temple, the curve of his mouth. His messy black hair stuck up in every way on his head. His sculpted lower arms fell loosely by his side. I could see his thick, tight muscular chest beneath his standard issue Atlantis military shirt. My body quivered in yearning but I held back the urge to press my lips slowly and warmly up against his.
"Well, Stark! Good to see you again." He extended his hand towards me and I grasped it firmly. He gave a kind of crooked smile which I took as a sign he approved of me. Carter also smiled as she noticed that he liked his new assistant. "So, I hear we've got ourselves 3 fully functioning ZPM's now?" Sheppard queried. I nodded.
"Yeah, that's right. The Aurora-class ship we found, the Horizon, had 3 ZPM's onboard. With the destruction of the Midway station and the IOA reluctant to build another, the SGC now has a permanent ZPM to dial Atlantis when required." I tried my best to not sound nervous but I heard my voice crack several times. "In addition, with the Ori eliminated, the ZPM aboard the Odyssey has been removed and now powers the Ancient weapons platform in Antarctica." Sheppard was nodding as I continued the story. "As of today, the Atlantis expedition now commands 3 Earth ships: the Daedalus, the Apollo and the Phoenix as well as the Horizon. The Daedalus will continue is voyages between galaxies to resupply Atlantis; the Apollo is and will still be a support battle cruiser; the Phoenix will become a permanent military asset for Atlantis and, finally, the Horizon will be used as a passenger transport for refugees but its primary function will be to destroy Wraith hive ships." I exhaled as I finally finished my 'presentation'.
"Well, isn't that something? Maybe the tides are starting to turn in our favour?" John said, smiling. He gave me a quick nudge on the shoulder. "Ronon and I are having an afternoon sparing match so I'll be seeing you around, Colonels." John stood quickly at attention then began to walk briskly down the hall towards the gym. I sighed. I didn't want him to leave.
"So, wanna check on McKay and Zelenka?" Carter asked me. Her voice knocked me out of the calming dream-like state while I was thinking about Sheppard.
"Umm, sure, why not? Maybe we can rustle some feathers and get them to work faster." I said. Carter laughed and we both stepped into the transporter. Carter hit touched the screen and the doors closed. There was a slight humming and a bright flash of light before the doors whooshed open again. We stepped outside the chamber and Carter led the way down a brightly lit corridor. We reached a set of doors where Carter waved her hands at the control panel. The doors opened to reveal the ZPM room. Inside, McKay and Zelenka were arguing over a tablet computer. In the centre of the room was a colonnade with 3 ZPM's raised on it.
"What's wrong guys?" Carter queried as she walked over to the Doctors.
"Well, the operating system of the city is set to uni-nominal power distribution instead of tri-nominal." Zelenka explained to Carter.
"Okay then. Bypass the control interface, recall the tri-nominal data reference and distribute through an anti-conditional update." Carter said, smiling at Zelenka. McKay mouthed 'Told you so' at Zelenka while the Czech scientist tapped the tablet. After a few minutes, the tablet beeped in conformation. The 3 ZPM's slowly descended into colonnade before the lights on top of them glowed a solid red. Carter gave Zelenka a high five while McKay grumbled something about doing that in his sleep.
"So, anyone wanna grab some dinner?" McKay asked Carter, Zelenka and I.
"Sure." Carter and Zelenka both agreed and waited for my response. I decided I'd go and see Sheppard and Ronon in the gym. "No thank, guys. I'm going to catch up with Sheppard and Ronon in the gym. Thanks though."
"Okay, then. You know where the gym is?" Carter asked.
"Yup. I've seen the floor plan of the place. See you round guys!" I started to jog out of the room, waving to the group of scientists. I continued jogging up 3 flights of stairs and down a long corridor. All the time I was thinking about the rugged charm of Colonel John Sheppard. I didn't know how long I jogged to reach the gym but it must have been a fair distance to have a light sheen of sweat on my temple. I reached the gym and waved at the console. The door slid open and I walked in. In the centre of the room, on the training mats, were Sheppard and Ronon throwing all they had at each other. Ronon kicked Sheppard's side and John fell to the ground but then he kicked Ronon's feet out from underneath him. He rolled backwards to stand up but then noticed me in the doorway and patted Ronon's shoulder to signal that they were stopping.
"So, Matt, whatcha doin' here?" Sheppard inquired. He wiped his face with a nearby towel and shot a jet of water down his throat with a water bottle.
"I dropped by to see if I could have a god at taking on the legendary Ronon Dex." I snickered back. John made a lot of immature 'Ohhh' sounds as Ronon looked over from the edge of the mat.
"You wanna take me on? You sure?" Ronon asked. I nodded confidently and stripped off Atlantis jacket, a standard issue black button underneath. I rolled up the sleeves and rolled my neck. I stood at the ready on the edge of the rubber training mats. Ronon shrugged and dropped his water bottle on the floor. "Just warning you, we might have to take a trip to Keller." He stated cockily.
"That's fine but it won't be me who needs stiches." I retorted. Ronon smirked then lunged his body towards with force and speed I had only ever seen in my Martial Arts mentor. However, I was smaller and faster. I quickly ducked underneath his massive form and quickly laid three sharp kicks to the sides of his torso. He groaned but spun on the spot to attempt a spinning crescent kick. I caught his leg in my arms, grabbed them firmly, turned so my back was towards him and then lifted his huge body over my shoulder. He landed quickly on the ground a made a mousey 'Oww…' sound. I heard Sheppard laugh at Ronon's misfortune which made me smile.
However, that wasn't the end of the fight. Ronon spun quickly on the ground kicked my legs from beneath, much like what Sheppard had done. He then jumped into the air and tried to force his heel into my chest. I rolled out of the way just as his foot made contact with ground. I then pushed myself off two hands and forcefully kicked Ronon in the head. He stumbled backwards, cradling what seemed like a broken nose. I jumped up as he attacked me with punches, complex hand techniques and flailing kicks from every direction. I dodged and blocked them with relative ease before I decided to end this little sparing match. I grabbed his arm, twisted it 180o then landed a hard kick straight into his abdomen. He fell onto the floor coughing and spluttering. I smiled triumphantly.
"Very very well done. Who knew the new Colonel of the block was a martial arts master?" Sheppard clapped with a huge smile on his face. He held his hand out which I shook without hesitation. He helped Ronon to his feet; I thought the big man would try and attack me again but instead he embraced me in a solid manly hug. He released me after a few seconds. I stood there stunned (looking like an idiot, I might add).
"Great fight. It's hard to find a good sparring partner here. Sheppard and I spar every afternoon. You should come too." He said coolly. He collected his things and waited at the door for both myself and Sheppard.
"You go ahead, Ronon. I wanna talk to Col. Stark for a second." Sheppard waved Ronon onwards who shrugged and left the gym. 'Sheppard, my dream guy…' Sheppard moved so that we were face to face. After all this time; my mind raced back 6 years to the night after our huge mission in Afghanistan…