Disclaimer: I do not own SGA. I do, however, own Nikki and Alex. They are my own original characters.

Summary: What happens when the team finally gets a day off? Remember the last time they got a day off? Hm, let's hope it's better than that fateful Sunday!

Note: I am soooo sorry for not posting in forever and a day. Again. I have had so much going on. I was in a car accident, I've been working even more, I decided to go back to school so I've been applying for colleges, transfering stuff, ect ect ect...Life has been one ball of crazy lately! Also. This is part ONE of a two part chapter. Or Three part...just depends on what happens. I wasn't planning on taking this chapter in this direction at ALL...but you know...you get ideas when you're writing and you just have to go with the flow! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10

John sipped his coffee and thought about what he wanted to do on his day off. He looked around at his friends and wondered what they had planned for the day. They were all sitting around talking while they finished their breakfast. Nikki looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

He looked up at her. "Just trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my day off. They're very rare."

Nikki nodded, smiling. "Yes they are. I'd take advantage of it if I were you. Maybe you could go to the Mainland for a while. I'm sure you could find something to do there."

John nodded, "You know, that's a really good idea." He sat up and looked over at Ronon.

"Hey, Chewy, got any plans for today?"

Ronon looked up at him and shook his head. "Nope. Why, what's up?"

A smile came to John's face. "How would you like to go surfing? This time of year there are awesome breakers out on the west tip of the Mainland."

A huge smile came to Ronon's face. "We haven't gone surfing in a long time. I'm in."

John nodded, "Awesome! Anyone else care to join us?"

Evan looked up from his coffee. "We could get a game of football going, teach some of the Athosians how to play. I haven't played in years. I haven't surfed in years either."

"Yeah, I haven't played probably since college."

Rodney looked up at John. "Didn't you say you were on some kind of team?"

John nodded, "Yeah, my college football team."

Nikki sat forward. "You were on a college football team?"

He looked at her and nodded, brushing it off easily. "Yeah, for a couple of years at Stanford."

"I didn't know that. We'll have to play sometime."

His eyebrows rose. "You can play football?"

She snorted. "Of course I can play football, are you kidding? I grew up in Texas with an older brother and a father who practically worshipped the sport. I would have been shunned from the family if I hadn't learned to play."

His smile grew. "You're right, we'll have to play sometime. Maybe next time we both have the day off we can get a group together and go over to the Mainland for a game or two."

She nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me. Not that it will be happening any time soon…"

He shrugged, tucking the piece of information to the back of his mind to remember when they both had the day off. He looked over at Teyla. "What about you, Teyla? Care to join us? Go spend some time with your people?"

She nodded, a small smile playing at her lips as she sipped her tea. "I had already planned on going to the Mainland today. I was hoping to find someone to fly me."

John smiled. "Well, look no further. You have found your pilot."

Her smile grew and she tipped her head forward. "Thank you, John."

"No problem." He turned his attention over to Rodney. "Okay, McKay. You're the only one left besides the rest of Lorne's team. You in or out?"

He looked up from his breakfast, cereal dripping from his mouth. "Definitely-."

"In, okay. I'll get it cleared with Elizabeth and we leave in an hour. Evan, you should invite your team. They're more than welcome to come."

He nodded, lifting his hand to his headset to relay the invitation to his team. John turned towards Nikki and smiled. "Well, I'm off to see Elizabeth. I don't know how long we'll be gone, probably until late. Then we leave first thing in the morning…"

She nodded, "I'm sure we'll manage to run into each other eventually." Her lips pulled into a smile, making sure not to make him suspicious of anything. She already knew when they would be seeing each other next, but she couldn't let him find out yet.

His smile softened and he leaned closer to her, planting a gently, but quick kiss on her lips before standing up and walking away from the group, taking his tray with him. He deposited his tray on his way out the door and was on his way to Elizabeth's office. It didn't take long for him to get there, no one having stopped him on his journey for once.

He walked into her office and sat down in one of the chairs. She looked up, surprised, and smiled at him. "Good morning, John. What can I do for you?"

"Well…since it's my day off…I was wondering if it'd be alright with you if my team and Lorne's take a jumper over to the Mainland for the day, get out of the city, go surfing, play some football, that sort of thing."

Her smile widened. "Of course. Both of your teams deserve the leisure. Take jumper three. Zalenka's currently working out a problem with jumper one. It seems the sensors keep coming unaligned."

John nodded. "Hope he can fix it. That's my favorite jumper. Well, I'm off. I have to go get ready. We'll be leaving in about an hour, so…I'll see you later."

She nodded and watched him leave, hoping nothing would go wrong today. Both teams really did deserve the day off and some time to relax.

John went back to his quarters and got ready for the day. He slipped on a pair of khaki shorts over a pair of swimming trunks before slipping on his running shoes. He grabbed his backpack and put his sandals inside. They weren't the dorky-looking ones his father would wear on occasion. These were the more sporty, rubber ones with no backs. He preferred those over the more… 'old man' ones, as he referred to them.

He grabbed a towel out of the bathroom and threw it inside the bag along with a tube of sunblock just in case. He knew that Rodney would whine and complain if he didn't have any, so he figured he'd bring along some just in case. He packed up anything he thought he may need while over on the Mainland, including a football he'd brought along with him from Earth from one of his last trips. He was looking forward to teaching the Athosians how to play.

When he was done packing everything he'd need, he headed towards the jumper bay. It was getting to be the time when they needed to all meet up, so he figured he might as well get there a couple of minutes early.

No one stopped him on his way there. Everyone he passed saw him in civvies and knew that it was his day off so they all knew better than to stop him for something. He made it to the jumper bay with plenty of time to spare.

He walked around to the back of the jumpers and headed down towards number three. As he was passing jumper one, he noticed Zelenka sitting in the rear compartment typing away on a laptop.

"How's it goin, Radek?"

Zelenka looked up, startled from sudden noise. "Ah, Colonel. Not the person I was expecting to be checking up on me."

John smiled. "I'm not checkin' up on you, Doc. I'm taking jumper three to the Mainland with the rest of my team and Lorne's here in a few minutes. It's our day off so I figured why not go have some fun. I heard jumper one's been having more technical difficulties?"

Zelenka pushed up his glasses and leaned back against the seat, sighing. "Yes, it is very frustrující...eh, frustrating. Every time I fix a problem there is something else that is wrong. Zkurvená sračko. Když to nebude začít pracovat, odešel jsem."

John stared at him, speechless, before nodding hesitantly. "Right…Well, good luck with that. Oh, I also managed to get Rodney out of your hair for the rest of the day, so have fun while he's gone."

Radek looked up at him, momentarily happy. "Ah, Colonel, you have saved my sanity for a little while. Děkuji! Eh, eh...thank you!"

John smiled kindly at the man. "No problem. Well, gotta be getting things ready. I'll see you later. Good luck."

He walked away, but before he got out of earshot, he heard a string of Czech curses rattling out from the jumper. He chuckled to himself, momentarily wondering what it was he was saying.

He walked up the hatch door into the rear compartment of jumper three and set his bag down by one of the benches. He walked into the cockpit and sat down in the pilot's chair. He brought up the HUD since he still had some time and ran some routine pre-flight tests just to make sure everything was okay with this jumper before they tried taking off. With one of the jumpers acting up, you could never be too careful. Just as the tests were completed, the rest of the group started trickling through the back. He turned around in his seat and smiled at the first to come through. He wasn't at all surprised to see Teyla and Ronon as the first to show up.

"You guys ready for some leisurely fun?"

The smile on Ronon's face was enough of an answer for John, so he turned to Teyla who nodded, quite obviously excited. "Indeed. I am looking forward to seeing my people again. It has been too long since I have been to the Mainland."

John nodded, "Yeah, same here. It's been a while."

Lorne walked through next, followed by his team a moment later. John smiled. "Glad you guys could make it! I hope you all like a good game of football."

There were various cheers and exclamations from Lorne's team, all as excited as the next to get a game of football going. It'd been so long since any of them had played.

John looked down at his watch and rolled his eyes. Rodney was late. "Anyone seen McKay?"

They all looked around at each other and shook their heads. John sighed and reached up to his com. "McKay, this is Sheppard. You're late."

"Hold your horses, Colonel. I'll be there in a minute."

"You know, McKay, for every minute you're late…I'll make you suffer without your data pad…with the Athosian children."

He knew that would get McKay moving much faster, as did the rest of the group who chuckled.

"You wouldn't…"

"Oh, I assure you I would. If you don't believe me, you can ask Teyla. I'm sure she could back me up."

He looked up at Teyla to see her smiling knowingly. She knew that he would do just as he was threatening to do, especially if it got McKay moving faster. They didn't receive a response from Rodney, but a moment later he was hauling ass through the back hatch.

"I was barely three minutes late! You touch my data pad and you will lose a hand, Sheppard!"

John snickered, "Relax, McKay. As a matter of fact, that's the whole point of having the day off. To, you know, relax. That means no work. You will have fun today, kick back, enjoy yourself. We never get the day off, so you will not take it for granted. That's an order."

Rodney rolled his eyes as he sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "Sheppard, you have the day off too which means you can't give orders."

"No, it means I give less orders. If I need to give them, then I give them. You'll just have to live with it."

He spun his chair around towards the controls. "Everyone ready? I'm going to raise the back hatch."

Evan glanced around the jumper, inspecting to make sure everyone was there and accounted for with everything they would need for the day. "We're good to go."

"Good."

He hit the button to raise the hatch and then turned on communications. "Control room, this is jumper three. We are all set and ready to head to the Mainland if we're clear to go."

"Jumper three, you are all clear to go. Enjoy those waves, Colonel! I hear they should be pretty nice today."

John smiled, "I intend to do just that. We'll see you tonight. Jumper three out."

He lifted the jumper into the air as the bay doors started to open and daylight streamed inside. John couldn't help the smile that spread onto his face as they lifted up and out of the central tower, into the sky. They had a twenty minute flight to the Mainland, which wasn't too bad.

"So. What's first on the agenda for everyone?"

Ronon leaned forward in his seat. "I thought we could head straight for the waves. Earlier the better."

John chuckled, "Sounds like a damn good plan to me. I've been itchin' to go surfing. What about you, Evan?"

Evan looked up from his spot on one of the benches. "I was thinking about joining the two of you, if you don't mind. It's been years since I've been out on the waves."

John nodded, "Fine by me."

Ronon turned towards Lorne and nodded. One of the men on Lorne's team, Captain Williams, spoke up next. "I was hoping to go see Jinto and the rest of the kids, maybe teach them some Earth games or something."

Teyla turned in her seat, smiling at the Captain. "I think that is a lovely idea, Captain. I am sure they would enjoy that."

He smiled at her before looking across the rear compartment at his friend, Sergeant Harold. "I was thinking about helping out Naedan with anything that needs done. I know they're always building something new every time I go there."

Harold looked over at Staff Sergeant Dole who shrugged. "Maybe I'll go see if Arasa needs anything."

Harold smiled knowingly. "Oh, I'm sure she does."

Teyla glanced back at the two of them, wondering if Dole had a crush on Arasa. She was a lovely young woman who wasn't currently seeing anyone among their people. Teyla had a feeling that if the two of them attempted a relationship that they would be good together. She'd been around the Staff Sergeant on many occasions when the two teams went on missions together or would rescue the other from a situation.

John looked over at Rodney. "So. McKay. What are you going to do when we get there? And don't even think about saying work."

Rodney looked up from his data pad and grimaced. "Oh, I don't know. I thought I'd go lay on the beach, work on my tan, take a cat nap while listening to nature."

John smirked. "Good. You do that."

He heard Rodney snort as he turned back to the controls. They were almost there. He let his mind wander for a moment back to the city, back to his girlfriend. He couldn't suppress the smile that came to his face at the word. He could finally call her his girlfriend. And the best part was she wasn't a complete psychopath like his last one.

"What are you grinning about, Sheppard? Wait, never mind. Please don't tell me. I'd rather be spared from the years of therapy I'd need to recover."

John rolled his eyes. "I'm keepin' it PG, thank you."

Rodney looked up. "PG? Really? What the hell did the two of you do last night that was PG?"

John looked over at him as if he were the stupidest person he'd ever met. Which, at times, was the case. "I'm not even going to respond to that."

McKay thought about it for a moment before shaking his head violently. "Never mind. Please, please don't answer that. I'd rather keep my virtue, thank you."

John almost choked on his own spit. "Your virtue? Really? Your virtue? Please tell me you're not a virgin."

McKay glared at the spikey haired flyboy. "What? No! Of course not! I get…women. And I'm with Katie Brown, thank you very much!"

John lifted an eyebrow. "And you guys…you know? Like…you actually…?"

McKay's lips parted. "You know, I see your lips moving, but no intelligent words are coming out…I can't understand a word you're saying."

John rolled his eyes and concentrated back on the controls. A few minutes later and he was bringing the jumper down to rest on the ground a short ways away from the settlement. He hit the button to release the rear hatch and stood up. "Okay! Only one rule for today. If you get into trouble and I have to come bail you out, I'm going to shoot you. Have fun!"

McKay grimaced up at Sheppard. "What if you're the one getting into trouble? Does that mean I get to shoot you?"

John shook his head, not even bothering to answer that as he moved into the rear compartment and picked up his back pack.

"See! You didn't answer me! That means I get to shoot you!"

John walked down the ramp and looked around. He hadn't been to the Mainland in some time and had missed it. He was just glad they'd decided to leave the surfboards they'd made here near the settlement instead of lugging them back and forth with them. It was so much easier.

John turned to Teyla. "Okay, Ronon, Lorne, and I will be on the west tip if you need us. I'm leaving my headset with my bag though, so you'll have to send someone to come get us if you need anything."

She nodded, smiling at the three men. "Everything will be fine, John. I hope the three of you enjoy yourselves. And…don't get hurt."

Ronon grunted and Evan chuckled. "We'll try, but no guarantees with the three of us."

Teyla nodded, "That is exactly why I said it."

Before any of them could comment, she smiled and walked away, moving towards the settlement to see her people. John nodded. "Right. Well, how about we head over to the storage shed we built and get the boards, then we'll get to the waves."

They quickly retrieved their boards as the storage shed wasn't very far from where John had parked the jumper. It was a twenty-minute walk from the storage shed to the west tip, so they used that time to talk about new transfers, fighting sessions, upcoming missions, you name it. They talked about getting together in the next few days and having a sort of cookout with their teams, and Nikki of course.

Once they finally made it to the beach, they dropped the bags they were each carrying. John pulled his shoes and socks off, stuffing his socks inside his running shoes. Next, he dropped his khaki shorts, revealing his black swimming trunks underneath. He opened his bag and stuffed his shorts inside along with his shirt. Once he was done, he looked up to see the other two men ready as well. He picked up his board with a smile and headed down towards the waves.

Teyla walked into the settlement and immediately spotted Charin talking to Halling. "Charin! Halling!"

They both looked up and the smiles that sprang to their faces melted her heart in an instant. She truly missed being with her people.

She approached them and greeted them both in the Athosian way. Halling smiled down at her. "Teyla, it is nice to see you. I hope this trip hasn't been for another relocation?"

She shook her head, her smile never faltering. "No, it is simply an innocent visit, I assure you. Our team, as well as Major Lorne's, has the day off so both teams decided to make a trip to the Mainland for the day. Colonel Sheppard, Ronon, and Major Lorne are already on their way to the west tip to surf."

Halling chuckled. "They waste no time. Come, Teyla, we were just discussing the birth of a new one. Lira has had her baby."

Charin smiled, "And she is as beautiful as her mother. I delivered her myself."

Teyla's smile only grew. She truly loved being back amongst her people. She only wished she were here more often.

Captain Ronnie Williams loved kids. He'd been the oldest of six children growing up and had lived on a street filled with kids younger than him. He'd even volunteered to watch the kids during the Sunday morning sermon at his church back home. He'd always had a soft spot when it came to children.

His goal today was to find Jinto and teach him and some of the other kids some Earth games, maybe even learn some games himself. It didn't take him long to see Jinto sprinting across the settlement with a small group of boys around his age.

"Hey, Jinto!"

Jinto came to a halt and looked around for the person who'd called his name. His face lit up when he saw the Captain walking towards them. "Ronnie! I was not aware you were coming today!"

When Ronnie met up with them, his smile widened. "Yeah, well, it was sort of last minute. Had the day off, so I figured I'd come hang with you guys if that's alright with you."

Jinto and the other boys nodded, they all loved when Ronnie came to the Mainland to see them as he did every chance he got.

"Of course. We were just headed down to the river if you want to join us."

Ronnie smiled. "Yeah, I'd love that."

Rodney walked towards the beach where he could get some privacy. He knew that if Sheppard found out that he was working on his tablet, he'd make him pay for it. So, what better way to not let Sheppard find out than to hide out on the beach in one of the last places he would usually be found!

He threw a beach towel down on a spot in the sand before settling down. The first thing he did once he was settled was lather himself up with sun block. There was no way he was going back to the city looking like a ripe tomato again. It'd taken weeks to get people to stop making jokes about it the last time.

Once every patch of white skin was covered in thick layers of sun block, he wiped his hands on his pants and picked up his tablet, getting to work on a project he'd been working on in secret for nearly two weeks. He'd found something in the Ancient database that could potentially mean the end of relying on ZPM's for a means of a power source. He was reluctant to mention it to anyone in fear that he was wrong and would get everyone's hopes up. He didn't want to do that again.

Nikki walked through the halls of Atlantis on her way to her lab. It hadn't been all that long since John and the rest of the group had left for the Mainland and she was looking for something to keep her mind preoccupied.

She was still mind-blown that she could officially call John her boyfriend. Ever since she'd seen him that first day she came to live on Atlantis, she knew that they would be close to him in some way. She just had no idea it would be in this way.

After the night she shared with him last night, she wished she could spend some more time with him today. Last night had been the best night of her life as of yet and she knew that the longer she was with him, the better it would get. And not just the sex.

Nikki walked into her lab and sat down at a lab table, pulling open her laptop and getting to work on one of her latest projects. She sat there working for what felt like hours before it was time for lunch. She'd made plans to have lunch with her brother since everyone else was on the Mainland. She still had to tell him about her and John making things official.

She walked into the mess hall and found him already sitting at a table so she got her food and joined him. When she sat down opposite of him, he looked up. Instantly his brows rose. "Why are you so happy?"

Nikki rolled her eyes. "What? I can't just be happy to be living in this amazing city with my brother and some awesome friends?"

Alex studied her for a minute before shaking his head. "No, you can't. Spill."

She sighed. Right down to business, then. "Well…I do have some news to tell you."

"You're not pregnant, are you?"

She gave him the best bitchface she could manage causing him to throw his hands into the air. "What? It's possible!"

She shook her head, "No, I'm not pregnant. I'm…uh…John and I made it official last night. We're dating now."

She met his eyes and saw hesitation along with another emotion she couldn't quite identify. "Really? You and John?"

She tilted her head the slightest bit. "Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?"

Alex shook his head too quickly. "No, no, no. I didn't say that. I think you two…will make a good couple."

Nikki narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean?"

Before Alex could respond, her headset went off. She raised a hand. "Dr. Nikki Teagan, we need you in the lab."

"Saved by the com."

"On my way."

She rose from the table without letting him say anything more and left the mess hall. She told herself that she would deal with it later. She had no idea what that'd been about. Alex liked John. She didn't see why he would have a problem with them being together.

A few minutes later, she was walking into the lab. She saw four scientists huddled around a table shouting at each other. She immediately spotted Radek standing off to the side, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Radek, what's going on?"

He looked up as she approached and put his glasses back on. "I arrived not long ago and found them like this. They will not see reason. Or stop shouting. I did not know what else to do, but call you."

She nodded, turning towards the group. She placed two fingers into her mouth and whistled as loud as she could. Immediately the shouting ceased and they all turned to look at her.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Miko, one of the scientists, stepped forward. "Dr. Teagan, there was a problem with one of the new devices that a team recently found in the outskirts of the city. It…started flashing rapidly and then…"

She lifted an eyebrow. "And what? What'd it do?"

"That's the thing…It just stopped. And then an alert started going off."

"What kind of alert?"

"Um…"

The spidey sense that John always got when something bad was about to happen sunk into the pit of her stomach. The group stepped aside and let her see the flashing alert on her laptop screen. Her and Radek shared a quick look before stepping closer.

"To není dobrý…"

Nikki nodded, catching the gist of what he'd said. "Call Dr. Weir. Immediately. This is not good…"

Soooo...? What did you guys think of part one? Intense, right? Haha! Stay tuned!