Chapter Eight: Surprise and more Surprises!
Teyla was out on the balcony reading her book and finally set it down and look down on her watch. She growled some more. Rodney has been busy as of lately and she was getting frustrated that she doesn't know what is going on with him. It had only been a week since the kissing situation and when they admitted to each other that they were more than friends. She sighed and looked out at the ocean and just stared for a minute. Then something she heard made her got up from her seat and walked into her room to see who was at the door. Once she opened the door, there was Evan Lorne standing there. He had a grin on his face.
Teyla nodded to him and stepped aside and let him inside her room, "Lorne, it has been a few days since I last saw you? How are you?"
Lorne nodded and sat down on a chair and faced her, "I know, and I'm sorry about all this Teyla but so much have happened since I left. I just got back from the Alpha site and well, you know me, I still have to train the new people that arrived here. They have to know what not to do and what they can do within reason. It's not easy mind you. It is a lot they have to take in and a lot of information for me to drill in them."
Teyla sat down on the chair opposite from Lorne and smiled, "Indeed, it is a lot for them to understand. So, I'm assuming that now that you're done with their indoctrination, I'll be next teaching them some diplomatic skills that they will need on the various worlds they will be going to?"
"Yeah, but that might have to wait. Radek just pulled me aside and told me that the world with the kids, M7G-677's ZPM is due for a checkup and well, we know what happened to Radek the last time he was there and I don't really want to earn another one of his ire this time around. So guess what, our team is going. Now, before you say anything about needing Dr. Keller's permission, I've already cleared it with her." Lorne informed.
Teyla smiled, "Then it sounds like you got things all planned around and I think it would do a whole world of good if I get out for a bit. Rodney has been busy as of lately and I haven't seen much either. When do we leave?"
"Lorne, what do you mean we're leaving in 20 minutes! I've got things to do!"
Lorne smiled and tapped his ear piece, "Rodney, get ready because I will drag you there whether you are ready or not. You need to get off Atlantis and so does Teyla; being cooped up here isn't helping either of you!"
Teyla laughed at what Lorne had said and she got up to get her new coat. Since she was now in that stage of showing, she will need a new wardrobe soon. Shaking her head she just grabbed her boots and put them on.
Lorne snapped at Rodney finally, "Rodney, just meet us at the gate room okay?"
Teyla looked at Lorne and gestured to him, "What's wrong?"
Lorne rolled his eyes and held his hand over the radio, "You know Rodney, and once he gets his claws into his projects there is no tearing him away from it."
Teyla was about to comment when she heard Rodney's remark loud and clear despite not having her radio on.
"Lorne, I heard that! I do not have claws! This project that I'm working on is very important and I can't afford to slack off this right now!"
It was then Lorne looked at her with his eyes pleading for help that Teyla sighed and put her radio on and spoke to Rodney softly, "Rodney, I would love to spend some time with you even if it's off world but I really need to get out once in awhile. Dr. Keller has already approved of me going and I would rather you be there than Radek. You know how Radek is around me."
The both of him could hear Rodney's loud sigh as he gave in, "Okay, I will meet you there. Is Ronon going to be there too?"
Lorne toggled his ear piece for a bit, "Ronon, report to the gate room for departure in 20 minutes."
"Sure, now you inform him last, what are you, chicken Lorne?"
Teyla stifled a laugh behind her hand and she looked at Lorne who winked his eye at her. She walked to the door and motioned him to lead the way. Lorne got up and smiled at her and let Teyla follow him.
Twenty minutes later, Teyla, Ronon, and Lorne entered the gate room to hear Rodney and Radek having an argument.
"No Rodney, I will not go near your office but how do you expect me to do any work if I can't be in there!?" Radek complained.
"I'm working on something very important and I don't need you to meddle in something that important." Rodney huffed as he finished clicking his gun holster to his thigh. He looked up and stared at Radek intensely.
Radek threw his arms up and started muttering in Czech with a few words in English and he walked away to go to the DHD console. It was then Carter came out of the office with John and Caldwell in tow.
"Radek, you might as well suit up, SGA-1 is going onboard the Daedalus for an off world mission." Carter informed Radek.
Radek balked at this news and looked at Rodney and then back at Carter and he hanged his head in defeat and went to the locker rooms to change.
"That was strange; I was half expecting an angry retort in Czech anytime now." Steven chuckled.
"Wait till we get onboard sir, then you will know what I mean by that." John said dryly as he too bounded down the steps and followed Radek to the locker room to suit up as well.
Steven looked at Carter with a question look on his face and Carter shook her head indicating she had no idea by what John meant about it either.
"Where are you guys going anyhow?" asked Ronon who got intrigued for a minute.
"Sorry Ronon, you are not going with them, and you'll find out when you guys get back. Lorne, did you pack enough chocolate for the kids?" Carter asked Lorne as she rebuffed Ronon.
Teyla shook her head and looked at Rodney who was finishing checking his pack for his equipment and double checking things before they leave.
"Yes ma'am, I do. Thank goodness the Daedalus' shipment of chocolate came in time. It is hard not to have chocolate for them kids." Lorne nodded.
"Okay, good luck, you'll be staying a few days I'm assuming?" asked Carter.
Rodney's head jerked up from his pack and yelped at Lorne, "A few days!! You never said that!"
Lorne chuckled and look at him, "You never asked and I chose not to volunteer that information because I knew what you will say next. I've seen it happened too many times when you were on SGA-1. Now that I know, I know better!"
Carter rolled her eyes and nodded to the gate technician, "Dial the gate and let SGA-2 be on their way."
Teyla went to Rodney and helped him up from his kneeling position and Ronon hefted up his pack with ease and smiled.
"Few days, what am I going to do for a few days?" Rodney whined loudly as he watched the gate dial the planet quickly. The event horizon pooled up and out and back in. The room had the strange blue glow.
"Okay, shall we?" asked Lorne as he stepped in front with his weapon in front of him. He walked towards the event horizon with Teyla following behind with her weapon up and ready while Rodney followed at Ronon's behest and soon enough, they were no longer on Atlantis but speeding their way to M7G-677.
"Okay, well, I think I better get the Daedalus ready for departure." Steven sighed as he tapped his ear piece and spoke, "Daedalus, would you transport me aboard."
In a flash of light, Steven Caldwell was gone and Carter looked to everyone and sighed.
Meanwhile on M7G-766, SGA-2 was greeted at the gate by the elders. Teyla nodded to them and so did Lorne as they approached the kids who were classified as elders regardless of the fact that they were in the 23-25 years of age.
"Greetings Keras, how are you today?" asked Teyla as she put her weapon down and away.
Keras in his red cloak look at Teyla with surprise on his face and asked, "You are expecting?"
Teyla blushed in response and nodded while Rodney interrupted, "So, can I go to the ruins to check on the EM device?"
Aries stepped forward and gestured to Rodney, "Please, I will be the one escorting you there."
Rodney turned to Ronon and grabbed his pack from him and followed in the direction of the ruins while Ronon went to Lorne.
"Take it easy Ronon, I know this is your first visit here." Lorne suggested.
"They're kids?" asked Ronon feeling confused.
Lorne looked at Ronon and asked, "Didn't you read any of the earlier mission reports while you were in SGA-1?"
Ronon shrugged, "Too long, I get bored to easily reading those reports. Plus, every time there is a report written by McKay, I just ignore it and don't bother to read it since McKay never makes any sense."
Lorne smiled, "Good point and I'm thinking I'll be the one reading those reports before I hand them in to Carter. Oh well, not much I can do about it now."
It was then Ennea stepped forward and nodded to Ronon and Lorne, "Lorne, will you be joining our hunters for the hunt tomorrow?"
Ronon looked at Ennea and smiled, "Did you say hunting?"
Lorne groaned, "I will join and I have a feeling Ronon will be joining us. He's a good tracker, maybe he can lend some tips to your hunters."
Ennea nodded and replied, "Great, I will let our lead hunter know and mayhap you two can talk to him. What is your job Ronon?"
Ronon shrugged, "Before I came to them, I was a runner. I spent 7 years of my life after the culling of my world. Since then, I am now lending a hand in tracking and such missions. Mainly, I keep McKay alive if things go wrong."
Ennea gasped as she listened, "I'm so sorry to hear of that, McKay is not the easiest person to get along with."
"Rodney can be difficult at times but that is only because he thinks in different terms than we do Ennea." Teyla spoke up after she saw Rodney leave.
Ennea turned to Teyla and expressed surprise to see Teyla, "Congratulations Teyla, I had no idea you were expecting."
Teyla blushed again but this time Keras stepped in, "Like Teyla informed me, it wasn't planned but she is content with this. I am for one, happy for her and I wish her much luck with her child."
"Well, who will be helping you raise your child?" asked Ennea.
Ronon snickered and spoke up, "Rodney will."
Keras was shocked, "Rodney? I thought he wasn't comfortable around the younger ones?"
Teyla's head tilted to the side and spoke, "True but he has changed much in the last few weeks."
"Well, let's not stay here for much longer, it is not safe here outside the field, let's head to the village and talk there. We have much planning to do for the hunt tomorrow." Keras suggested.
Nightfall came and Rodney and Aries returned from the ruins. He looked around for Teyla and saw that she was surrounded by a bunch of expecting females. He sighed and walked over to Teyla.
"Hey Teyla, how are you feeling?" asked Rodney as he approached her from behind.
Teyla looked up and saw Rodney, her face broke into a smile and she tried to get up but Rodney shook his head and sat down next to her. She held her arms and hugged him while he kissed her forehead.
The few females that stayed around giggled a bit and Teyla broke from his embraced and looked at him, "I'm fine Rodney and I missed you. How are things at the ruins?"
"Well, not going into details but I think I might have a few ideas how to improve the performance of power consumption but its something I have to figure out when we go back. No point in saying anything definite. What I am though, is starving! Is there any food around for me?" Rodney explained as he crossed his legs.
"Yes, there is some food left Rodney, how did things go?" laughed Lorne as he appeared to the left of Rodney.
"Good, food now and talk later!" Rodney demanded.
"Rodney!" Teyla chided him as the rest of the females broke into fit of laughter.
"Here you go Rodney, I made sure there's no citrus in this meal." Ennea offered as she appeared in front of him with a steaming plate of food that made Rodney's stomach growl quite loudly.
"Thanks Ennea, nice to see you by the way." Rodney thanked as he grabbed the plate that was brought to him and he started to chow down the food as fast as he possibly can.
"We also arranged some rooms for you guys to stay at. I hope you don't mind bunking down with me Lorne. Ennea has offered her place to you Ronon and Aries has offered his place to the both of you. He has to join the hunters tonight so you'll have the place to yourself for tonight." Keras informed them.
Teyla nodded, "Thank you so much Keras, I'm sure we are all grateful for your hospitality tonight and for the next few days. Rodney, will you have to go to the ruins tomorrow?"
Rodney took a break from scarfing down his food and looked at Teyla for a minute, "No, since Aries is on the hunting party, there's no one to escort me to the ruins so tomorrow, I have a bit of a break"
"Okay, well, I'm off to get some sleep, Ronon and I have to be up early for the hunt. See you guys tomorrow when we return bearing food!" Lorne yawned as he went and followed Keras to his place.
Ronon grinned and looked at Ennea, "It will be a nice change of pace, hunting without our usual weapons. I look forward to it. See you both tomorrow!"
"Night Ronon, and goodnight Lorne. Rodney, it's been a great day and I feel so happy being out of Atlantis for a change. It was a nice afternoon spending with the ladies who are also expecting and to hear their stories and their advice." Teyla sighed wistfully.
"Well, if you're happy, then I'm happy. Now, that was a good meal!" Rodney grinned as he put his plate by the fire.
"I can't believe that you are now five months now Teyla. When is your next schedule appointment with Dr. Keller?" asked Rodney.
Teyla got up from her seat and looked at him, "Its next week baring any surprises. Dr. Keller has a lot on her plate handling the various wounded that comes back from their missions. It's been equally frustrating to be able to keep my appointments first and not have to worry about rescheduling."
Rodney got up and sighed, "I know. At least Obstetrics is up and running now. It'll be ready by the time he gets here."
"That's what I thought too, and I extended an invitation to Atlantis for the expectant mothers as well. The facility might as well receive visitors. I'm concerned though, some of them are quite young to be even having children of their own." Teyla replied.
Rodney winced and nodded in understanding, "I know, but they lived that sort of lifestyle for so long, it's a natural occurrence here."
Three days later, the group was setting to depart and return to Atlantis. Rodney was anxious to go back to whatever project that was awaiting there and that made Teyla curious about it.
"Rodney, what were you working on before we left?" asked Teyla.
Rodney gulped and looked at her, "Working on what? Oh, nothing much Teyla, just a little something."
Teyla looked at Rodney again, "That's not much to say Rodney, but can you tell me in greater detail about it."
Rodney started to open his mouth but was interrupted by Ronon, "McKay, would you be as kind to dial home so we can go."
"Sure thing Conan." Rodney muttered as he went to the DHD and started punching in the address for Atlantis and pulled out his IDC to let Atlantis know that it was them.
Ronon scowled at Rodney for that name comment and Lorne just shook his head and turned to Keras, "Thank you for a great hunt. I believe the meat will do us some good. It was a nice change of pace for Ronon mind you. It's been a blast seeing him stalking animals instead of wraiths too."
Teyla walked up to Lorne and Keras and spoke, "Keras, I spoke to Ennea and she will also let you know that some of the expectant mothers will be taking a trip to Atlantis. It would be great to have them checked out by Dr. Keller since many of them are close to their time."
Keras nodded, "Thank you Teyla, many of the women have spoken much about Dr. Keller. She is a really nice lady. Since she has been here checking on them with limited time, I'm sure the visit would be a great opportunity for them."
"Okay, guys…in case you haven't noticed, the gate is open, let's go home shall we?" Rodney yelled out to them.
"Okay….sorry about that Keras, I think we better go. McKay is a tad too anxious to head home to whatever seeks his attentions." Lorne apologized as he shook Keras hand and went to the gate and motioned Ronon that it was time to pack up and go.
Teyla nodded her byes and she too joined Rodney as Lorne and Ronon went through the gate. In an instant, the two went through and they were gone and shortly after that, the gate shut down.
"Teyla, Rodney, I'm glad you guys are home!" shouted a familiar voice as soon as Rodney and Teyla stepped out of the gate into Atlantis once again.
"Why are you glad to see us?" asked Teyla with great concern.
"What's going on Carter?" asked Rodney.
"I think this is better explained in sick bay." Carter suggested.
"Oh…okay." Rodney paused as he looked to Lorne who just shrugged his shoulders and he looked to Teyla but she was already following Carter so he sighed and dropped his stuff and said to Lorne, "Don't let anyone touch this stuff till I get back!"
Lorne was looking shocked that he was trusted to look after Rodney's stuff that all he could do was nod. Seeing that, Rodney turned around and ran after Teyla and Carter who were waiting in front of the transporter. Soon as he joined them, the door slid shut and they were transported elsewhere.
A few minutes later, they reached Sick bay to find that there were armed guards and a pacing Sheppard who growled every time Caldwell attempted to get in his way. When Caldwell looked up and saw Teyla and Rodney he looked relieved.
"About bloody time you got back home. Talk him down please." Steven muttered as he finally took a seat and watched everything unfold.
"Col. Sheppard, what is going on here?" asked Teyla.
When John heard Teyla's voice he jerked his head up and looked at her and then looked at Rodney, "You have to help her Rodney."
"Um…I don't mean to sound like I'm clueless here but what's going on?" asked Rodney who was feeling quite confused here.
"John's team went on a mission shortly after you guys left. On their way, they encountered a replicator ship." Carter started to explain and paused as Rodney winced on hearing that piece of news and so she continued on, "The ship was badly damage, but it was emitting a distress signal and rather than let the wraith find them, we decided to shut it down and take things from there. What they didn't expect to find was that the person that was in charge of the Ship was none other than Elizabeth Weir. She was badly wounded and so they brought her and the ship back here. Radek informed us the ship is so badly damaged that there is little chance of actually repairing it. Weir on the other hand, she is not responding and Dr. Keller can't quite understand what is going on."
"Elizabeth is here?" asked a startled Teyla.
John looked at Rodney with pleading eyes, "Rodney, you know more about the replicator base code, surely you can figure out what's wrong with her or at the very least, find out what happened to her."
"Um…okay, I have to get my laptop from my lab but is Radek still here or what?" asked Rodney.
"Radek is in there." Steven pointed towards the doorway, "and he has your laptop. Sorry, I know you didn't want him in your office but we had little choice. It would also please you to let you know that Hermiod is also there as well. He felt that he could lend a hand in this situation since the Asgard do have the knowledge about the Replicators."
"Okay, thanks. Um….John, stop pacing you're making me nervous." Rodney asked as he stepped through the doorway to lend a helping hand to Jennifer, Radek, and Hermiod and most importantly to Weir.
"You must have faith John, believe in this." Teyla soothed him as she encouraged him to sit down.
John looked up and spoke shaking at the same time, "Teyla, I haven't got the chance to say I'm sorry for acting like a jerk, but I have to tell you now, I'm not mad at you anymore. I don't think I was mad at you at all. It just that…." John's voice started to falter a bit and he couldn't continue on so he cradled his head in his hand and waited for news.
