Title: Full Moon Rising
Disclaimer: Any characters, concepts and names you recognise don't belong to me. The plot line was thought up by someone long ago, I'm sure, but for the purposes of this fic, it's mine
Rating: T
Notes/warnings: Set during the first and early second seasons of SGA. Spoilers in this chapter for season one, and 'Seige Pt III'. This story is SLASH.
John isn't exactly human, and hiding it in the Pegasus galaxy isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world.
"How do they change privately, all in the basement?" Rodney demanded, pacing back and forth in front of the basement door.
"There's plenty of space down there," Connor said, not entirely unsympathetic. "It was designed with privacy in mind. There are cubicles – they can get out once they've changed."
"And then Major Sheppard has to…stake his claim as alpha," Daniel said, leaning forwards in his seat. "Amanda was rather unclear about what that entails."
"I don't know myself – the last alpha dispute was fifteen years ago, according to Hannah," Connor shrugged.
"Yes, this is all fascinating, but entirely irrelevant," Rodney said, scowling.
"You haven't changed at all, McKay, have you?" Daniel said with a faint sigh. "This is really interesting."
"Yes, well, forgive me for considering the softer sciences little more than voodoo," Rodney sniped.
"John's going to be fine," Connor said quietly. His watch beeped. "Moonrise," he noted.
Down in the basement, John did his customary stretch, and shook himself. Changing here, in the basement of his childhood home, was strange. He hadn't been here in years, and to hear and smell the other panthers around him…his feline instincts made him bare his teeth as he pushed at the door, letting himself out into the main area of the basement.
A group of young panthers – half a dozen or so – ran up to him, clamouring, learning his scent. He allowed them to paw at him for a few moments, and then he sent them away with a low growl and started a circuit of the room.
Some of the animals were very familiar to him: the female-that-was-Hannah, smaller than him and angry, hissing and trying to push others away from him; the female-that-was-Mother, greeting him with an attempt to groom him; his uncle, his cousins, a dozen others. Some were missing – male-that-was-Alphafather was gone, and something ached inside the human John Sheppard.
The basement was large – more a bunker than a basement, built to enable the entire family to meet together in animal form. It got crowded at times – it was crowded now – but it was familiar, and it was safe.
Safe for the family and safe for everybody else.
Someone roared; the roar of a panther that sounded so much like a scream. John turned, all power and grace, and bared his teeth at the challenger.
The male was smaller than him; lean and long, but with less height and less bulk. He thought that perhaps he should recognise him – a cousin, perhaps? He knew – the human part of him knew – that two of his male cousins would be about the right age for this feline form.
He had known this was coming. It was expected – he was his father's son, and he had returned now so suddenly. Whatever the family felt about him most of the time, for this night he would earn their respect.
He moved towards the younger male, a low growl rising in his throat. He wasn't his father. He didn't want to hurt the challenger. The male would be given a chance to back down.
John hoped, rather than knew, that he would back down. He had been gone too long, and if this one gave up, another would approach. They resented him.
He brushed past the male, shoving his weight against the smaller animal and making him stumble sideways. He continued on, gently batting a paw at a cub who was playing with a squeaky toy of some sort.
The male snarled and launched itself at John; John crouched, letting the other roll almost over him, but claws dug into his fur and flesh. He yowled, twisted, tried to dislodge the attacker. He managed to claw at the male – he wasn't sure where – and the attacker released him with an angry cry.
John stood, teeth bared and eyes narrowed to slits. His tail twitched as he faced off against the young male.
A battle for dominance, then, and John knew he would win. The young panther was smaller, lighter, and had probably never been in a fight like this. The panther-that-was-John had every advantage.
He launched himself directly at the other panther. His claws dug in, his teeth found purchase. The young challenger didn't have fast enough reflexes to react in time; John held him down on the ground for long moments, until he made a keening sound of surrender. He pulled back and allowed the male to slink away into the corners of the basement, licking his wounds both physically and metaphorically.
John walked a circle, head low, looking at every member of his family. He didn't want to fight again, he was sick of fighting. It was all he ever seemed to do.
Nobody approached, and the cubs ran into the centre of the room and began playing again.
John settled himself near them, letting the smaller ones climb all over him. After a moment the female-that-was-Hannah came towards him. She shoved the cubs out of the way and lay down next to her brother. She lifted a paw and batted him gently, then shifted to lay over him so she could reach the top of his head and began grooming him.
He shifted her off eventually and went to the stairs that led up to the rest of the house. The cubs and his mother followed him, watching as he lifted himself up and opened the door. The rest of the family, he knew, would stay in the basement.
"John!"
Rodney was there in moments, hands running over John's body, checking for injuries. John head-butted him and pushed a cub out from under his feet.
"Oh," Rodney said. "Uh. Hello, little one."
"That's Katie," Connor said from the table, where he and Daniel were playing cards. "They don't usually come up here when the whole family's here."
John made a rumbling noise, then he followed the panther-that-was-Amanda until she settled herself on the couch. Rodney trailed him, looking suspiciously at the other panthers until John herded him onto a chair, and proceeded to drape himself over the man.
"Oh, fine, use me as a cushion," Rodney grumbled. "It's not like you haven't before."
"This is incredible," Daniel murmured. Two of the cubs had approached him and were investigating his feet. He reached a hand down slowly, offering his scent to them. One of the cubs started climbing up his leg.
"Go on, pick them up," Connor urged. He had a lapful of cub, and was moving the cards out of the reach of small paws. "None of the kids are as wary as the adults – they don't need to learn to be, yet, not in the house anyway." He checked his watch. "Hannah'll be up in a bit," he predicted. "Full moon or not, these kiddos need sleep."
"They're not the only ones," Rodney commented. John yawned and closed his eyes. "John, I'm not a pillow. Really, I'm not. I can't sit here all night, my back will go into spasms." John rubbed his head against Rodney's chest without opening his eyes.
"Do the children have any conception of themselves as weres?" Daniel asked, now cradling one cub and trying to stop another climbing onto his shoulder. "I mean, do they always know, or does it come with age?"
"Katie remembers, afterwards," Connor said quietly. "Adam's starting to, a little. I think Katie is starting to be able to hold onto her human self during the change, but I'm not sure. The twins don't really understand. To them it's just normal."
"Normal is relative," Rodney nodded from the armchair. "John, I'm serious, I can't stay here all night." He looked up at Connor. "I'm assuming he won this…alpha thing?"
"Since he's here and not bleeding, I guess so," Connor said dryly. He gently pushed the cubs from his lap to the floor. "I'd better get the cubs to bed. They'll sleep through most of the change – all of it, sometimes."
"I'll help," Daniel offered. Together they managed to herd the six cubs out of the room. Rodney listened to them as they tumbled up the stairs and, presumably, into some sort of bed. Then he looked at the older panther who lay on the couch.
"I'm going to say this once," he said quietly, "since neither you or John can interrupt me. If you ever, and I mean ever hurt John again, I will make your life a misery." John opened his eyes and growled deep in his throat. "No, John, shut up. You don't get to make noises right now. You think that I don't see how much your family has hurt you? Hello, genius here." He put his hand on John's head and gently pressed him down. "John has enough to deal with where we are," he continued. "It's saving the world type stuff, and he's good at it. It's time you started recognising that."
Amanda lifted her head and practically sneered.
"No," Rodney said, with heavy finality. "No. He has been through hell this last year, and he doesn't need this shit. We get enough of that from everyone else – he doesn't deserve it from you."
"Kids are asleep," Connor said lightly from the doorway. "Something to drink, Rodney?"
"Coffee," Rodney said with a scowl. "Because apparently I'm not going to be going to bed at any point tonight." He tugged one of John's ears gently. "Oh, and do you have any cookies? Or other pastry-type food? Or chips?"
To be continued.