Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate Atlantis or the characters. As of 4/1/07, this has been edited. Thanks to Alaena Night for beta'ing!
Sticks and Snails — III
Little John sat on a large rock, picking at the sand as he watched Ronon swim. The other boy was swimming further out into the sea than he should have, and was using the waves to push him back in when he went out too far. Teyla met John's gaze and smiled, waving from where she was burrying herself in the sand. Her purple swimsuit was poking out, as only her chest and head were visible.
John jumped off of the rock, falling into the soft sand. Walking over to Teyla, he sat down.
"Wanna build a sand castle?" he asked, grabbing the little toy bucket that was laying beside Teyla. She looked up at him, moving her legs back and forth to knock the sand from them
"What's 'Sand Castle'?" Teyla asked, confused.
"I'll show you!" He filled the bucket with sand, packed it in, then turned it upside down. The sand fell out into the perfect shape of a tower. Teyla smiled.
"We could make Atlantis!" she suggested happily, taking the bucket from his hands.
And so they set to making the city. Two hours later, when Halling came to check on them, they were still building. Jinto had been sent to watch everyone, but he was swimming with Ronon. They were the only two children that knew how.
Halling smiled upon seeing Teyla and John hard at work. He walked over and knelt down beside them. John grinned.
"What are you building?" Halling asked, poking the structure. Teyla laughed and swatted his hand away.
"Atlantis!"
John packed sand into the bucket again and dumped it out. As soon as it fall to the ground, he put it in place and stated hitting it away so it would look a lot more like one of the Atlantis towers. Getting down on his hands and knees, he placed his head on the ground, looking at the bottom, his ear getting filled with sand. Happy, he pulled away and stood up, knocking sand off of his body. His green swimming shorts were still dripping sand as he ran out to the beach and stuck his foot in the water, testing the temperature. Teyla also ran over, Halling close behind.
Jumping up and down in the water, John motioned for Teyla to come in. Ronan, who saw them coming, swam closer to shore.
"Come on out to the deep part!" he said, motioning towards him and Jinto.
"No! We can't swim!" John called back, sitting down in the water so it was up to his waist; the lack of a shirt was making it so his back was becoming slightly sunburnt around the large scars on his back.
Ronon sighed and went back to swimming. Soon, Halling, satisfied that they were all safe, went and sat on the rock that John had occupied a few hours before. He was watching them from a distance, but he could see everyone. Slowly dozing off, he smiled at the playful screams of the children.
Frowning, Ronon swam over to Teyla and John, who were busy puzzling over how to make a sand castle stand up in the water.
"Come in just a little further, I'll watch you," he said. John thought this over for a moment and stood up, water dripping from his swimming shorts. He walked forward until the water was up to his neck.
"I scared," he said, starting to turn back. Ronon laughed and set a hand on John's head, pushing down. John didn't even have time to scream before he was totally covered by the water. Ronon wasn't being mean, just playing like most little boys did. However, he had never dunked a kid who couldn't swim before.
"Meanie! Let him back up!" Teyla yelled from her spot where the water was only to her ankles. Ronan shrugged and removed his hand. John didn't come up. Screaming, Teyla ran toward Halling and shook him until he was awake.
"Hallie!"
Sitting up, now alert, he looked around. His eyes landed on Teyla, who's small eyes were filled with fear as she yelled, "John isn't coming up!"
His own eyes going wide, Halling ran over to the water.
"Where did John go?" he asked Ronon and Jinto worriedly.
Ronon shrugged, saying simply, "I dunked him, and he didn't come back up."
Halling immedately jumped under the water, swimming around in search of the little boy. Soon, he saw him. Holding him around his waist, he hauled John above the water. Teyla was waiting desperately on the sand, while Ronon was looking very guilty. Jinto ran forward and helped move John out and away from the water. Halling turned to Jinto.
"Go, find help."
Jinto nodded and ran off.
"John? Can you hear me?" Halling asked, placing his face in front of John's. He felt nothing; the child wasn't breathing. Not more than a minute later, Jinto came back with a doctor. Carson had trained a few people on the mainland things like CPR and mouth-to-mouth. The doctor was a young man, not more than twenty-five. He knelt down beside John and checked his pulse. He couldn't find it.
"Jinto! Call Atlantis!" he yelled, trying to help John the best he could. Teyla was standing five feet away, crying. The doctor quickly began CPR and mouth-to-mouth. A few minutes later, John began coughing water up. He was still unconcious, but he was alive.
"He is alive, but he needs to be taken to Atlantis. Halling, would you carry him back to the village?" The doctor asked. Halling nodded, picking up John under his knees and arms. Teyla clutched onto Halling's shirt, walking beside him. Ronon followed without saying a word.
An hour later John was resting peacefully. He looked tiny in the huge bed. Teyla was sitting with him as the adults talked.
"How did it happen?" Elizabeth asked Halling, who still looked a little shaken.
"I don't know. Teyla came to me and told me that they could not find John," Halling said slowly. "I do not know what happened before."
"And Teyla isn't talking. Ronon, do you know what happened?" Elizabeth turned to the still dripping boy. He was sitting on a chair, his hands in his lap and looking down at the floor.
"I did it," he said simply.
Elizabeth walked over, kneeling down beside him. "What did you do?" she asked softly, trying not to scare him as he shrank further back into his chair.
"I was just playing! I didn't mean to hurt him, honest!" Ronon pleaded, tears in his eyes.
"We know, Ronon. But we need to know exactly what happened, John almost died."
"Him and Teyla were playing in the sand, and when they came in, I wanted 'em to come further. When John did, I dunked him and he didn't come up." Ronan was crying now, the first time anyone had seen him do so.
Elizabeth nodded, rubbing the little boy's back. Soon, he was done crying and she walked over to John's bed where Halling was. Teyla had fallen asleep beside John and the two were snoring soundly.
"They get along good, don't they?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes, they do. You should have seen that they were building out of sand," Halling said, remembering that the beautiful tower that had gotten knocked down in all the excitment.
Elizabeth smiled. "What was it?"
"Atlantis."
Chuckling, Elizabeth realized it was just ike John to build the biggest, hardest thing he could.
"Yeah, just like them."
Later that day, John was woken up by loud voices. He tried to sit up, only to realize that Teyla was sleeping by his side. Smiling, he just laid back. What had happened? And why did it feel like an elephant had jumped on his stomach? Carson chose the moment to walk in, and smiled when he saw John awake.
"Why, hello. How 'ya doing, lad?" He walked over to John and felt his forehead for signs of fever.
"I fine. What happened?" the little boy asked. He looked around the room to see Halling sleeping in the bed next to him.
"You almost died," Carson said.
"Really?" John looked surprised. "How?"
"Ronon dunked you, and appearently, you don't know to close your mouth when you go underwater," Carson joked, laughing as he checked John's IV to make sure it was working right. "You're fine. Now, get some more sleep."
John laid down, but really coudn't sleep. When he finally did, he was met with unpleasant dreams.
John had been four at the time. He was swimming in their pool, having to wear a shirt to hide the horrible welts on his back from the last beating. Shawn was at a friend's, so John was enjoying his day, not having to be scared for Shawn. His mom was at a teacher's meeting at the school where she worked, and his father was the only one home, so John was staying outside. Smiling, he continued to walk around in the water, not really knowing how to swim. Suddenly, the back door slammed and Jack Sheppard came out, a broken glass in his hand.
"You broke this, you little rat!" He held it up, showing it to John, who was trying to back away as far as he could. It had actually been Shawn who had broken it, but he wasn't going to get his little brother in more touble than he would be in when he came home. John just looked at the ground.
"Come over here!" Jack was drunk, and John knew it. He could get away from him this time, but when his dad was sober, he would come after him again, and it would hurt a lot more. John slowly moved forward. As soon as he was within range, Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. John winced, closing his eyes with pain. His dad held up the glass, placing it on John's arm. John knew what he was going to do, and braced himself for the pain. He was the man of the house, and he had to take this like a the man he was.
His dad cut him across his forearm, the glass slicing through his skin, blood dripping into the pool. John couldn't help but let a few tears escape as the pain sliced through him like a knife.
"Daddy...please, stop," John begged. His dad smirked, and without saying a word, he pushed John deeper into the pool. He gasped, bringing in a mouthful of water. His dad brought him up by his hair, yanking hard. John coughed and sputtered, spitting up water.
"Why did you break it?"
Jack didn't give John time to answer before shoving him under the water again. The next time John came up, he shouted,
"It was an accident! I'm sorry!"
Under the water again, John tried to keep his mouth shut as his tears and blood mixed with the water. His dad dunked him several more times before stomping back in the house. John dragged himself from the pool, climbing a tree to his bedroom window. He had learned to do that, for it was his only way in the house when his dad locked him out at night. Once inside, John closed his door softly and ran into his bathroom.
After that, he told everyone his cut was from falling out of a tree. They believed him. Sometimes, he wished they didn't.
John woke to Teyla shaking him. Bolting up in bed, he looked around. His dad wasn't there. Sighing, he fell back onto the bed. Teyla touched his arm, looking at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked innocently, her eyes curious.
"Nothing. I just had a bad dweam." John wiped sweat off his forehead and took a deep breath. He turned onto his side and Teyla shrugged, bored again. There was nowhere else for her to sleep, so she just curled up at John's feet again. John stayed awake for some time, thinking, and when he finally did fall to sleep again, he was plagued with bad dreams.
The next morning arrived much too quickly for John. He wanted about ... ten hours more sleep. Yawning, he looked around. Carson saw him and walked over, smiling as he approached the little boy and sleeping girl. Teyla was still curled up, snoring.
"Good morning, lad," Carson said quietly so not to wake Teyla. John looked up.
"Can I get outta here? I don't wike this place."
Carson laughed. "You never liked it, did you?"
John looked at him oddly, cocking his head to the side.
"Never mind. And you can go, but I want you back here tonight."
John started to jump up, but was stopped by Carson, who said, "Eat somethin' first."
John pouted and sat back down, taking the tray Carson handed him. Teyla stirred, lifting her head up and looking around. Halling was gone, so he must have awoken a while ago. She eyed the jello on John's plate with interest.
"What is that?" she asked. John, not even realizing she was awake, almost choked on his cereal in surprise. He looked down at the jello, wrinkling his nose.
"Jello. Want it? I only like blue."
Teyla nodded and John handed her the bright red jello. She poked it to see if it would move, and when it didn't jump off the plate, she began eating it, giggling.
"It's funny."
The two of them laughed over the food for a while before Elizabeth walked in. Upon seeing them giggling and pointing at their plates, she smiled, walking forward.
"Hello, you two."
John looked up surprise, a chicken strip hanging out of his mouth. Teyla was fighting the jello with a fork, trying to catch it.
"Hi, Dr. Weir!" John said, grinning as he stuffed the chicken back in his mouth. He bounced up and down in the bed, making the jello that Teyla had just caught fall off her fork. Frowning, she started at it again. Elizabeth laughed as she gently took the fork from Teyla and handed her a spoon. Teyla smiled, and taking the spoon, grabbed the jello and stuffed it in her mouth. Carson walked over.
"Why, hello, Dr. Weir," he said, touching John's shoulder. "John, I am going to take the IV out now. This will hurt a little."
John nodded, wincing as the needle was taken from his skin. Carson stuck a piece of cotten over it and held it there for a minute. "You can go now."
John was about to run out of the room only wearing his hospital gown, but Elizabeth stopped him, holding out a pair of jean overalls and an orange T-shirt. He took them from her and started changing then and there. Carson hauled the little boy back behind a curtain, and soon he was dressed, wearing no shoes or socks.
"Can I go now?" he whined. Teyla had also changed, and was now wearing Khaki shorts and a pink T-shirt. Her hair had been pulled back into pig-tails by Elizabeth, and she was grinning, bouncing around in circles. Elizabeth took their hands and they started running forward, trying to pull Elizabeth with them. She grinned, ignoring them, and let them pull.
"Come on, slowpoke!" John whined. He turned around, pulling her as he walked backwards. Suddenly, his foot caught on a wet patch and he fell back right on his butt. Elizabeth bent down beside him and Teyla giggled, covering her mouth.
"Are you OK?" Elizabeth asked the crying John. He just nodded and allowed her to pick him up. She carried him the rest of the way to Rodney's lab, which neither child knew they were going to. John smiled brightly when they arrived, wiping the tears from his eyes. Elizabeth let him down and he and Teyla ran forward into Rodney's lab. He looked up, testing glasses still on.
"You look like a bug!" Teyla observed as she grabbed one of the small devices he was working on. John took another and started running around with it, using it as an airplane as he made whirring noises. Rodney glared at Elizabeth.
"Your turn for baby-sitting duty."
She grinned and left the room, leaving Rodney to deal with John and Teyla.
"I don't wanna sit in the corner!" John whined, crossing his arms over his chest and sticking his tongue out at Rodney. The older man sighed.
"Look, you're a pain in the butt, and I need to work. You sit there, and do not speak," Rodney said, causing John to start crying again. Teyla scooched closer to him, wanting to get away from Rodney.
"Let's run away," she suggested, making John smile. He nodded and the two stood and quietly walked from the room. As soon as they were out of the lab, they started laughing and running down the hall. Once they were sure that they were far enough from Rodney, they slowed their pace and walked instead of running.
"That was fun!" John said, smiling. He looked around, spotting the transporter only ten feet away. He grabbed Teyla's hand and pulled her toward it.
"What is this?" Teyla asked.
"It's an evalator," John said, struggling with the pronunciation. Teyla laughed as they walked inside. John looked around for the floor buttons, and when he didn't find any, he touched the panel on the far side of the wall. The doors closed, and a second later, they reopened. John and Teyla had traveled half the way across Atlantis.
"Ma'am! Transporter five was just activated and traveled to section nine of the unexplored part of Atlantis."
Elizabeth gasped. She tapped her radio, opening a line to Rodney.
"Rodney!"
"What?" he asked, totally unaware that the two children had left his lab.
"Where are Teyla and John?"
There was a loud gasp from the other line of the radio as Rodney turned around.
"Not here!"
"Well, transporter five was just used to travel to section nine of the unexplored part of Atlantis. I think it was them," Elizabeth said, clearly upset. Ronon was safe, because he was helping move boxes out of an old room that some of the new recruits were going to use. He had volunteered, and Elizabeth took it as a chance to get him busy so he couldn't kill himself, or get in trouble as Teyla and John had done.
"Rodney, go and get them."
"Right." Rodney shut off his radio and ran out of his lab and down the hall to the nearest transporter. Running inside, he hit the button that would take him to John and Teyla. Nothing. Hitting it again, he sighed as it continued to do nothing. Turning his radio back on again, he spoke.
"Elizabeth?"
"Yes?"
"The transporter isn't wo-"
His words were cut off as the transporter closed him in. Pounding on it, he tried his radio again. Nothing. Sighing, he started on a way to get out. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was trying to keep people out of panic as the city went into an automatid lockdown again. There was a virus in Altantis, and chances are, it had come from where John and Teyla were.
"I scared, John," Teyla said, feeling her way around in the dark for him as she spoke. She wiped tears away as she looked around. It was dark, cold, and she was feeling sick. Coughing, she fell to the floor and placed a hand over her mouth. Just then, she felt someone sit down beside her. It was John. Shivering, she laid her head on his shoulder, coughing again. "It cold," she said.
"I know. It's dark, too. I wanna get out of here. Lets go look around." He stood up, helping Teyla up also. He took her hand, not wanting either of them to get lost again. They began walking, looking for a way out. Teyla suddenly fell to the floor, a coughing fit taking over. John knelt beside her.
"You all right?"
She shook her head. John stood up, quickly walking toward the door and finding the light switch. He turned it on and blinked several times as the room was bathed in light. When that was done, he walked around the room, looking for someting to help them. A radio! Running to it, John picked it up and fiddled with it until he got it to turn on.
"Dr. Weir!" he yelled.
"John?" He could hear her questioning voice as she spoke.
"Yeah. We can't get out of here and Teyla sick!" he said, running back over to her and sitting down beside her.
"I am going to let you talk to Carson, and I want you to tell him exactly what is wrong, all right?"
Elizabeth's worry was clear in her voice as she handed the radio to Carson. The questions began and John began to answer them to the best of his knowledge.
"Does she have a fever?"
John put his hand on her forehead. She was sweaty, and her head was really hot.
"Uh, huh."
"Cough? Sneezing? Runny nose? Shivers, chest pains?" Carson asked. John asked Teyla each one, and she said yes to the cough, shivers and chest pains. John told Carson and he sighed. "It sounds like a cold, but the system wouldn't have gone into a lockdown if it were just that. Does she have any other symptoms?"
"Teyla, is anything else wrong?"
"My stomach and throat hurts," she said, coughing.
"She said her tummy and mouth hurts."
Carson would have smiled at the childish words if were not for the situation.
"Doctor, she is vwery hot now," John said as he felt her forehead again. It was twice as hot as before. Carson geared up in haz-mat and began to trek through the halls until he found Teyla and John.
Since he couldn't bring her back until she was in isolation, Carson had his men bring haz-mat suits for both of the children. The smallest they had were still too large. Placing Teyla on a stretcher, they walked out, closing the door behind them. The lockdown ended twenty minues later when the city kicked in and closed all of the doors leading to the lab and kept them locked. When they got back to the infirmary, Carson put Teyla in an isolated section and began giving her medicine to slow her fever and to help fight the virus. Nothing was working. Her fever had gone up.
"It's bloody 108.7!" yelled Carson. "Your internal cooling system kicks in when a fever goes above 106 point anything!" He was frustrated, not knowing what was going on, or how to stop it. "It is holding, but I am afraid that unless we cool her down, her body won't be able to take much more."
John was also in isolated quarters, only feet from Teyla. All of a sudden, he yelled.
"Something's wrong!"
Teyla had gone into convulsions. Carson ran forward, frantically adding medicine to her IV that would help calm the convulsions. It was all he could do for her. He held her small form to the bed to keep her from hurting herself as he waited for the assult on her tiny body to stop.
"She will die," Carson said when Elizabeth asked what would happen if the convulsions started again. "I don't know what is going on, I only know that John avoided it. Either the ancient gene is protecting him, or it only attacks females."
Two hours later nothing had changed. John wasn't allowed to go yet, so he was sitting by Teyla's bedside, holding her hand and fighting sleep.
"He thinks it is his fault," Carson told Elizabeth, Rodney and Ronon, who were all waiting for news on Teyla.
"How so?" Elizabeth asked, stifling a yawn as she tried to stay awake.
"He said that he was the one that activated the transporter," Carson said slowly, looking back to John. "I just hope she is going to be all right.
John was trying not to fall asleep, a battle he was losing. He knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake any longer. Sighing, he fell into a deep sleep.
John was sitting with Shawn by his mother's bedside. She was dying, and the doctors said she had only a little more time until she would be gone. John was fighting tears as Shawn cried deeply. John held his little brother as he greived for the mother that they were losing, hoping he could offer a little comfort. Jack Sheppard hadn't come to see his wife once. He'd been the one who had done this to her.
One Hour Ago
John watched fearfully as his dad hit his mom around. He was drunk again, and wasn't very happy when his wife had told him she was pregnant again. John didn't know what that meant at the time, but he knew it must be bad, because his dad was being meaner than he had ever been before.
"Please..." his mom begged. He didn't listen. Instead, he continued to kick her in the stomach. "You'll kill the baby..."
"Shut-up! How do I even know it's mine!" Jack yelled, kicking her more.
She was crying, not for herself, but for her baby. There was no way it had lived through all of the abuse Jack was giving it. John heard Shawn come out of his room, and quickly ran from the stairs, stopping him before he could get to close. If Jack knew they were both out of bed, they would be in deep trouble. Taking Shawn back to his room, they both crawled into the closet and John held Shawn close. With each scream from his mother, a tear fell from his eye. Soon, there were no more tears to shed. Suddenly, the house went quiet. Leaving Shawn crying, John quietly went downstairs, grabbing the phone and calling 911. He gave the address and the reason he was calling, and then ran back up to his room before his dad found out what he was doing. He had told the woman to bring the police, too.
They arrived and arrested Jack, bringing John's mother, Kelly, to the hospital. And that's where he was now. Sitting beside his brother, mourning the death of both his mom and his unborn sibling. The doctor had told him what pregnant was.
It wasn't fair.
His sibling got to escape this life.
To escape pain and suffering, the suffering that John and Shawn had gone through so many times, and the last time his mom would go through it ever again.
John awoke on his own this time. He didn't realize what had awoken until he looked up and saw Teyla holding his hand. She was awake, if just barely. John called Carson in. He was still wearing his haz-mat gear, and smiled upon seeing Teyla awake. He quicky took her tempature, and realized it was holding at 108.7. He checked a few more things, and by the time he was done with the tests, Teyla was sleeping again.
"She is fine for now, but if we don't find out what is wrong, she'll die." Carson reported to the adults once he was out of hearing rage of John. At least he thought. John knew he wasn't supposed to hear it, but he did. Placing his face on Teyla's bed, he cried tears he didn't know he still had.
Too ... long ...
Well, what do you think? I am going to show what happened between John and Shawn after their mom's death through more flashbacks in the next few chapters, but not now. I decided to end it on a good note ... Not!
Please Review!
