CHAPTER SEVEN
Rachel Jackson – Atlantis
Three days.
We'd all been on base for three days, and still hadn't managed to bond with the teens from Atlantis. They seemed nice enough, but for some reason, we always managed to stay in our little cliques. It was comfortable, sure. It just didn't seem right. The other teens on Atlantis didn't seem to hang out with that crowd either, which seemed a bit odd. Were they THAT untouchable?
Hmmm… Going through the history that Shay, Grace, Jake, Shawn and I had together… I guess we kinda behaved that way as well. It was then and there that I decided we'd have to fix our relationship. Grace had said that Melissa was nice, but I hadn't even had a conversation with the girl. These kids were bright. We could learn so much from them!
I walked into the commissary with a new determination to learn more about Atlantis. I was sure that Grace would agree with me. Searching through the mess hall for our group, I found the longest table in the middle of the room, but no group. The line was short, and I did see some of our kids so I hopped in, hoping to grab something good before it got much later. I never thought I'd say this, but the SGC meals sounded pretty good. Atlantis "cuisine" was a nice experience, but it couldn't beat the SGC macaroni or Jello on a good day.
I glanced up front and spotted Jake and Grace ahead of me in line. Jake was just standing, occasionally saying something to Grace, but seemed pretty silent, still cautious. His pigheadedness was the main reason why we hadn't been able to bond with the other group. That was so like him, it was frustrating. Yet… I couldn't deny that it was something I'd learned to rely upon: His unwavering desire to protect all of us from pain. Shawn and Jake were great protectors. I mean, we didn't NEED it or anything, but it was nice to have on our side. Grace and Shay tended to agree.
And Jake, as always, did things to my heart that were becoming pretty difficult to deny.
With food in hand, I ran to catch up with Grace and Jake when I saw Shay'na enter the room, deep in conversation with one of the other Atlanteans. For the life of me, I couldn't remember his name. He was pretty obnoxious, though.
"Hey Rach," Grace greeted me.
"Hey." I grinned and followed Jake's gaze to the door.
"Oh crap," Jake muttered under his breath as he forged on towards our table.
"What do you mean, Jake?" Grace asked as we caught up to him. Across the room, Shay and the guy were getting in line. Both were laughing. And smiling. Dreamily.
"Uh oh," I said. Jake nodded in my direction affirmatively and rolled his eyes.
"That guy, McKay… Keep an eye on him," he ordered. Grace shot me a look, the realization dawning. She was grinning knowingly. Yep, Jake was in Big Brother Mode. It was all I could do not to laugh.
Jake was already on his way back to the table, his back to us. But he still knew. "Stop laughing," he ordered again.
Oh man. This McKay guy was definitely in for it.
There was one table that seemed to be The Table. The younger kids were already sitting there, literally opposite the kids from Atlantis, with Brandon and his sister, Melissa, sitting near the far end. The younger ones from both bases were seated in no particular order from there. But it was clear that all of the attention was on Brandon and Jake. Jake, uncaring of what was going on, sat down directly opposite Brandon, and I sat down to his right, next to Shawn. Grace sat down on Jake's left, leaving two seats left on our side of the table. Clearly, Brandon Sheppard was engaging us in some kind of standoff – or… sit… off… Whatever.
Jake seemed to be rising to the challenge though. He was eating, but his eyes never left Brandon's.
"So, how's it going?" I asked loudly over the noise of the cafeteria.
No one responded.
I caught the glance of Melissa, and could see that she was smiling a bit. Was this normal?
"Uh, what's going on?" Delia called from down the table on my right. "You guys were just laughing and joking less than an hour ago!"
"It looks like a game," Matt replied. "Like, you know, to see who has the biggest - "
"Hey guys!" McKay called from our end of the table. "How's it going?"
The poor guy apparently didn't know what he was doing. Though the table was clearly divided, the poor, smitten dork sat down right next to Shay'na, who had wisely sat down next to Grace. The table went eerily silent. No one moved. Brandon and Jake barely twitched.
"You'll never cease to amaze me, McKay," Brandon stated, his eyes never leaving Jake's.
"What?" he demanded, his mouth already full of food. "What did I do?"
"Apparently there's assigned seating," Hannah quipped.
"Perhaps it's alphabetical?" Nik added.
"Or, better yet, it's based on seniority," Matt suggested.
"That sounds about right," Delia agreed.
"What?" McKay asked again, as he searched the faces of everyone at the table. "I don't see what's wrong!"
"You're on the wrong side, apparently," Grace said quietly. "I don't know why."
"Why?" McKay challenged Brandon. "Why is the table like this?"
"McKay?"
That simple word had the guy standing up angrily, his eyes now on Shay (much to Jake's dismay), as he moved around the table and sat down on Brandon's right, just a seat away from being directly across from her. I chuckled to myself. So… this was how it was gonna be? Us vs. Them? Hmmph.
Suddenly, Brandon glanced at everyone sitting at the table. His gaze finally landed on Jake.
"I can't help but feel like we're a bit outnumbered here," he said by way of explanation. We all looked around the table. OK, so we definitely outnumbered them, but only by a few.
"Well," Jake responded in kind, "never let it be said that anyone from the SGC does anything half-assed."
Such a statement like that should not have had me giggling, but it did. Jake had a way of saying things that were just so true and telling and yet… incredibly funny. I looked up and realized that I was the only one giggling. Great.
Brandon looked from me back to Jake and shrugged.
"It's not that Atlanteans do things half-assed. We just have limited resources. As does Earth, as I understand it."
"Yeah, well, we're surviving," Jake replied.
"As are we," Brandon retorted.
"No one's disputing that," Jake shot back.
"Look," Grace said suddenly, "as hilarious as it would be for you two to engage in some kind of intergalactic pissing contest, I think it'd be best if we made something quite clear. I think I speak for all of us from the SGC when I say that we admire you all for living here. Atlantis is beautiful and amazing, but it's had some hardships. You have faced some incredible adversity. But you've come out of it alive and well."
"There's a lot we could all learn from each other," Shawn added. "I, for one, would love to learn about Atlantis' history and your culture. We're ALL a part of the future here."
"We are the future leaders of these programs," Melissa agreed. "I'd love to learn as much as I can about Earth."
"Definitely," one of the younger Atlantean kids, Alex, chimed in.
"We've got three weeks to do it," I said. "Let's try to utilize the time as much as we can to open our minds to different lifestyles."
"That IS why we were sent here, after all," Grace reminded us.
Everyone nodded. Even Jake and Brandon. OK, so this was gonna be OK. We were gonna be OK!
Across the table, another young kid, Ash, reached into his pocket.
"There's so much to explore!" I exclaimed, as I looked around the cafeteria at the architecture. All of a sudden, I saw something glistening on Alex and pointed. "Oh, look. Colorful stones!"
All eyes were on Ash's hands, which were filled with several colorful stones, all the same size and shape. He was grinning mischievously and his friends were all looking on with anticipation. Was I missing something?
"Oh yeah," Brandon said with a nonchalant shrug. "In case you were all wondering what the Hell's going on with our parents… There's something we thought you should see."
