Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Part 2/?
Dedication: Dia.Dahling has also written a sequel to one of fyd818's fics - Go check it out. Now. It's great and she's a good author. What are you waiting for? Go! Read!
Chapter 2
Plans Are Made
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"Pack your bags, 'Lizbeth, we've got a bit of a trip ahead of us."
The brunette in question looked up from her typewriter in astonishment, her hand instinctively moving to the pronounced bulge of her expectant stomach.
"What's wrong, John? Who was that on the phone?" she called to her husband, who stuck his head out of the kitchen door to reply.
"Commander Lorne. We need to go on vacation for a while," he said, but she knew by the lack of the ever-present laughter in his eyes and his serious demeanor that something was wrong. Rising slowly to her feet, her hand on the desk to support herself, Elizabeth Sheppard frowned at her husband.
"What's wrong, John?" she repeated, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He sighed and ran a hand through his perpetually messy brown hair.
Noticing her pronounced look of skepticism, he hastened to assure her, "You don't need to worry."
"I only worry when you tell me not to worry about something," she replied wryly. He sighed, a small smile breaking across his boyish features, and crossed the room to kiss her gently, his hand joining hers on her stomach.
"We're gonna have a baby, Elizabeth," John said softly, and she smiled at the look of absolute wonder he always wore when he looked at her – their – baby, safely hidden for the moment, but in five months . . .
"Yes we are, John," she said, then added sternly, "Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me what's wrong."
John sighed, "I know when I'm beat," then guided her gently over to the overstuffed couch in the room and sat her down, never letting go of her hand.
"I really don't want you to worry about this," he repeated, throwing in a puppy-eyed look for good measure, although it seldom worked on her.
"Well I'll start not worrying just as soon as you tell me what's going on!" she said exasperatedly. He laughed, patting her arm.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. And trust me – we're going to be okay."
"You fill me with confidence," she quipped, leaning stiffly back onto the couch.
John took a deep breath. "That was Commander Lorne," he started. Elizabeth nodded for him to continue.
"He had some . . . fairly bad news," he said, then stopped as if unsure how to continue.
"Which was?" she prompted.
"Erm . . . Kell broke out of prison a few hours ago."
Elizabeth sat there in shocked silence for a few seconds, then shook her head slightly to clear it and leaned forward attentively.
"How?"
John shook his head. "He didn't tell me yet."
"Do Ronon and Teyla . . .?" she asked, her hand moving to support her forehead as she tried to sort out her thoughts.
"They know. They're going to wait for us at the docking port."
Elizabeth nodded, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before standing resolutely and walking towards their bedroom to pack. John followed her, his hand comfortingly on her back.
Atlantis - Atlantis Spaceport
"Ronon! Teyla!" Elizabeth called, waving and smiling at her friends as she joined them at the docking port for the outgoing spaceships.
"John said for us to go on into the ship while he accqaints himself with the controls," she explained as she bent down to give Allie a hug.
"Is John piloting?" Ronon asked in his deep, rumbling voice. Elizabeth nodded.
"This ship is fairly small, so we shouldn't need any crew," she added as they moved up the small rampway into the ship.
"Good Evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages," came John's voice over the loudspeaker as they entered the spacecraft. Allie giggled in delight as the announcement continued, "Please remember that this is a strictly private flight - all of you stowaways had best be jumping ship now, cause there's only enough food for the five of us."
"Hello John," Teyla greeted him as the party came onto the bridge. He stood to give her a quick hug and shake Ronon's hand.
"So, folks, where to?" John asked, rubbing his hands together. He appeared excited about the trip, but none of his companions were fooled, knowing that he was as unhappy about going as they were.
"How much life-support and supplies do we have?" Teyla asked.
John shrugged and replied, "Enough for a week or two, but I was sort of hoping we could find somewhere . . . safe before then."
He looked at Elizabeth as he said this, and she rolled her eyes and tapped Teyla on the arm.
"Come on, I don't think I can stand much more of this over-protectiveness," she said, turning away and walking toward the living quarters in the ship. Teyla laughed, beckoned to Allie, and they followed.
Once their wives were out of ear-shot, Ronon turned to John, his comfortable manner changing abruptly to edginess.
"Commander Lorne told you what happened?" he asked tensely.
John nodded, his face as serious as Ronon's. He slid into the pilots seat and began a sequence of pushing buttons and flipping levers, almost unconsciously.
"How'd he get out?" he asked over his shoulder. Ronon snorted.
"One of the guards was an accomplice. Smuggled him in a ball-point pen containing poison instead of ink. He killed his guard and took the uniform, then just walked out," he answered disgustedly. John nodded.
"What are our orders? Lorne just told me to pack and meet you here," he asked, then clicked his comlink on and said, "Everyone please ready yourselves for takeoff."
As John turned the intercom off again, Ronon sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"We're supposed to lie low for a while. He didn't say where, just that it should be preferably out of the way."
John nodded silently and steered the ship out of the spaceport. They flew in silence for a few minutes, Ronon pacing quietly behind John's chair, and John immersed in his own contemplations, when suddenly the ship bucked in shock and the men heard an ominous crunching sound.
"Whoa!" Ronon asked, grabbing John's chair from behind to keep from falling down. "What was that?"
"We seem to have run into an asteroid," John said over his shoulder as his eyes quickly scanned all of the beeping, blinking consoles. Ronon slid into the copilot's seat.
"How?" he asked, checking the stabilizers and anti-gravity generators.
"Dunno, the scanners didn't pick it up until we hit it for some reason. It wasn't big, but we need some repairs, preferably now," John replied tersely. He sighed and angrily grabbed the steering apparatus and snapped on his comlink.
"Hold on to your hats, kids, we're turnin' back around."
"Wait!" Ronon said suddenly. John looked at him in surprise.
"Can the ship be fixed from the inside?" Ronon asked excitedly.
John ran his eyes over the sensor displays again. "Looks like it."
Ronon smiled. "Head for Verona."
John frowned slightly. "Why, you suddenly have some engineering skills I don't know about?"
"Nope." Ronon replied serenely.
"What then, you think I know how to do it?"
"Nope."
"Well who's going to fix the ship then?" John asked in confusion.
Ronon grinned. "I know just the man . . . "
To Be Continued...
A/N: Heehee, I had that line in my head for -ever-, just waiting for an opportunity . . . can anyone guess who the "man" is that Ronon's talking about?
A/N2: One thing - in fyd's fics, she responds to the reviewers at the end of each chapter. I'll do that as well, but I will mainly be replying to everyone's reviews, just through the "review reply" feature of So thanks to the three who reviewed chapter one - fyd818 (love ya!), Izzles (glad you like it!), and Hannah 554 (hope you liked chapter two!)
Thank you for listening to that public service announcement. Chapter three will be up as soon as chapter five is written. Which should be in . . . eh . . . five minutes? I'm on a roll today!
