"Ah, c'mon, don't be so uptight Rodney!" John said, back in the mess hall.
"IT WAS THE WEIRDEST FEELING IN THE WORLD JOHN! Trust me, you DON'T want Sibel to do that to you..." Rodney barked back.
"Well she doesn't really strike me as the kind of person who would pat someone on the head," Sheppard remarked, cocking his head to the side. "But then again, they've both done some pretty unexpected things in the past, so there's really no telling." He was smirking, big time.
Rodney rubbed the sweat off his forehead. "We haven't heard much from the wraith at all lately have we?" Rodney realized the odd silence from their ongoing and everlasting enemy.
John furrowed his eyebrows. "Actually, no. They're a little overdue for a visit, wouldn't you say?"
"Gives me the creeps!" Rodney replied, "Even though we're getting weekly check-ins from Todd, even he has noticed the silence of his species. I think that something is going on..." Rodney stood up, determined to go to the gate room and try to contact Todd.
John followed, suddenly wrought with a new concern. Normally, silence from one or two hives for a few months was pretty normal, but silence from all of them at once...it brought to light a few possibilities, and made the Lieutenant Colonel slightly nervous.
The two men walked towards the gate room. Time passed and Todd gave them no answers for he hadn't heard anything either.
"You believe something is wrong?" Todd asked in his normal curious manner.
"It's been a really long time since we even heard about a culling! There has to be something wrong!" Rodney snapped back.
"McKay's right, they've never kept quiet like this. Not all of them at once." John agreed. "I mean, little breaks are good, but this...this is suspicious."
"I would say that I agree. Even for them being my kind, it is not like them to go on silent like this for so long," Todd replied. "I will try and contact another hive, but if I have no luck, I can't do much else." the transmission ended.
"Well, so much for that." John sighed. "Do you think we should talk to the new kids about this?" He asked, slightly worried that such news might scare them, especially in light of recent events.
"Why wouldn't we? Maybe they can come up with a logical explanation," Rodney replied as the two started walking to where they predicted the girls would be.
"Yeah, if there's one thing they're good at, it's explaining things. Every thing." Sheppard said. They met up with Nova and Sibel, who were arguing about where they had set the finish line, each insisting that the other had changed it at the last minute.
Sibel saw the guys and tackled Nova to the ground. She took her sister's hair out quickly and spread it around her sister's shoulders. She quickly jumped back up and smiled.
Nova hauled herself from the ground, shaking her head around. "Sibel, what the--" Then she noticed the men, and smiled. "Thank you, that pony tail was KILLING me!" She cleared her throat. "Hello."
"We need to talk to you two," Rodney said trying to get straight to the point.
"About what?" Sibel raised an eyebrow as she examined Rodney's and John's expressions.
"Maybe we should take a walk." Sheppard said, and the four of them started moving. Once they'd traveled several meters, he began to explain. "Remember, when you first got here, you had all sorts of questions about the wraith, and Dr. Beckett was saying how he hoped you'd never see one?"
"Yes!" Sibel said not afraid of anything since her sister's and her experience with the unknown zoanthrope. "Why?"
"Well, when he said that, we were expecting an attack any moment. They've been quiet for a really long time...longer than usual. Normally, we don't go without an attack for more than five or six weeks." He stopped talking for a moment.
"What are you trying to say?" Nova asked.
"We haven't heard from them in three months." John told them.
Sibel started searching through the knowledge that she had of other worlds. "Maybe there's another creature that's started growing in numbers..." She tried to make sense of the situation.
Nova glanced at Sibel, and then back at John. "That doesn't make sense. I mean, it seems to me like if they were planning a full-scale attack, it wouldn't have taken them more than two months." She decided to put voice to her sister's thoughts, and said "Would it make sense for something to be...I dunno, wiping them out? I mean, I've read all of the mission reports on the trip on the Daedalus, so I know what else is out there according to you guys, but the Goa'uld are stuck billions of light years away as far as we're concerned, and that wraith guy that caused everyone so much grief is dead, but...do you suppose that we're missing something? That maybe there's something not on file out there that we don't know about?" This was where Nova's obsessive sci-fi watching came in, and her imagination started to go a little wonky.
"We don't know," Rodney said, trying to think of a solution. "I've pondered everything from parallel universe creatures, to the wraith hybrids. Nothing seems to be coming up."
"What about were-creatures?" Sibel accidentally spoke aloud.
Nova squinted, but didn't want to give anything away, so remained silent.
"You...do know that this is real life we're talking about, right?" John said. "I'm no scientist, but as far as I'm concerned, everything we've encountered has an explanation that the people who are scientists," He motioned toward Rodney, "Can see and prove."
"If only they knew what we saw back there. Or what's been going on for the past week." Nova thought to Sibel.
"Listen, the wraith are a vampire-like hybrid of human and bug. Who said there can't be similar creatures like them except mixed with other unknown animals of this universe. I've read the reports about the laboratory that you found. Those weren't just wraith mixed people, they had other creatures in them that we don't even know about!" Sibel said trying to make her case. She put her jacket back on even though she was starting to sweat. She might have needed to run away in a minute and she didn't want to have to come back for her jacket.
John nodded slightly. "True..." He agreed, reluctantly. Nova noticed Sibel looking worried, and looked at her in that 'are you going to be alright?' kind of way.
Sibel's anger turned into rage, unsure of what the rage was towards she simply told the two men, "I'm sorry, I have to go!" She ran off towards one of the balconies to get out into the fresh air.
Nova glanced at John, who looked back and forth between Rodney and her for a moment, and then walked slowly after Sibel. Nova smiled, glad he got the message, and also glad that she could talk to her sister without having to follow her.
"You okay? What happened?" She asked.
"I started getting extremely angry for some reason... I don't know why though. I started burning up again like when I kissed John." Sibel replied.
Nova stopped walking, much to the confusion of Rodney. "Like when you kissed John, before you did the weird morphing thing...right, Sibel?"
"Yeah... Um yeah..." Sibel replied not sure what else to say. She stared out at the ocean. "Maybe I was angry because it reminded me of how people back on earth don't believe anything anymore. They believe that science is the answer even though even science says that it can't prove everything!"
"I know, I felt it too. I just...guess I didn't react as strongly as you did."
"Sibel?" John's voice came from behind her, in an unusually meek manner.
Sibel jumped, "Oh... You scared me!" Sibel said as she wiped the sweat off of her brow trying to hide the heat that she was feeling.
"You...okay?" He asked, putting a hand gently on her shoulder, his intense eyes not once leaving her face.
"I'll be fine, just needed to calm down. I know that science can't prove everything, so I kind of get angry when I hear stuff about it proving stuff. I know that there are things happening right now that science CANNOT explain so I haven't mentioned it..." Sibel calmed herself down as she talked about it.
John stared out over the ocean for a moment, letting a quizzical expression settle across his face. Finally, he said "You think science can explain why you kissed me the other day?" His voice was so quiet, it was barely audible over the crashing of the waves.
Sibel's facial expression disappeared and so did all color. Then she began blushing a very bright red. "Uh-um.." Sibel couldn't speak at all she was so embarrassed and nervous.
Sheppard realized that he'd made things very awkward, and tried hurriedly to fix it. "I--I mean, I wasn't...complaining...I just thought it was time to bring it up, but I didn't want to in the hospital, and..."
Sibel giggled nervously as she heard John stumble, "Honestly... It's hard to explain..." She looked at the ocean trying not to face John or even look at him, afraid that the urge would come back.
He put his hand on top of hers, also staring out, now avoiding eye contact. He took a deep breath, and turned toward her. "You know, it wasn't that bad."
Sibel's cheeks flushed again, "Listen, I'm sorry. It was a... I can't explain it without blowing a couple secrets but it was.... HORMONES!" Sibel came up with the perfect explanation for that moment.
"You know, you use that excuse a lot." John said, smiling, and stared at her silently for a long, long moment.
"Well, seriously... I've been going through really CRAZY mood swings and..." Sibel saw that 'whatever you say even though I kinda know that it's bull crap' look in John's eyes.
"So, why, really, did you scream in your room the other day?" He asked.
Pain..." Sibel replied knowing that it truly was the answer. "Pain ran through my entire body. Not like pins an needles... Like knives and bullets... I couldn't make it go away and well.. That's why I screamed..." Sibel replied as she recalled that night.
"Oh. I'm...sorry." John said, slightly disappointed for lack of a more colorful, interesting explanation. "Knives and bullets, really?!"
"Yeah... It was... Kinda horrifying... There is a deeper reason but I'll tell you that when I'm ready... It's darker than you could imagine." Sibel sighed as she finally turned towards John who hadn't taken his eyes off of her.
He smiled softly when she turned, and still didn't avert his gaze. "As long as you're comfortable."
She smiled back, "I will tell you, I promise. Just not yet...." She stepped closer.
John put both hands on her face. "Good. You shouldn't talk right now, anyway..."
"Sibella, tell him that it's SOUTHERN California where the surfers live, and Berkeley is a--" Nova had been running up onto the balcony a few feet ahead of Rodney, but froze when she saw John and her sister. "I'm...interrupting something, aren't I?"
Sibel and John both jumped back from each other as Nova came out. Sibel's face flushed again. "GO AWAY NOVA!!! HE WAS ABOUT TO KISS ME!" Sibel yelled at her sister in her head.
"SORRY! SORRY SORRY!" And then, aloud, "Rodney, don't follow me!" Nova dashed back inside, shoving Rodney back through the doors.
John had flushed crimson, unable to hide his embarrassment and excitement.
Sibel watched as Nova left. She turned back to John and saw him blushing, causing her to blush as well. "She always comes in at those awkward moments...."
"She has a knack for that, doesn't she?" John asked, now finding it difficult to look away from his hands sitting on the railing. But, he forced himself to turn his attention to Sibel. He'd started something that he fully intended to finish, awkward and embarrassed or not.
Sibel's color came back, her eyes seemed to be highlighted with moonlight. The strange urge was came back but it was hopefully going to leave again.
The feeling seemed to pass through the air, as John once again replaced his hands on Sibel's face. He leaned toward her, and seemed a bit hesitant for a moment, but regained his confidence and, before he could mentally talk himself out of it, planted a huge kiss right on her lips.
Sibel felt like she was in a dream. The time passed away and she didn't know how long they were there kissing. She didn't open her eyes once and she simply felt John's lips touching her own. She felt like she was stranded on an island where she had everything she needed and more.
John wasn't sure either of how long they stood there like that. When eventually they pulled apart, both were paralyzed. The wind was blowing now, ever so slightly, and the sound of ocean waves crashing against the lower barriers of the city was the only sound on the balcony audible over blood rushing in his ears.
Sibel could barely breathe even though the foreign ocean air was like filtered air from a humidifier. She stood there motionless and felt the urge disappear. She kept her eyes closed for several moment and opened them to find John in the same position that she was, trying to catch his breath. "Nova... You will never believe..." Sibel thought as she stared back at John who was only a few inches away from her.
"What? WHAT? Did you kiss? Are you still kissing him? Geez don't tell me about it yet, focus on what's happening right now!"
"Well...now we're even." John teased. "Granted, that wasn't as unexpected as last time, but..." His eyes seemed to search hers.
Sibel could barely speak since she was trying to catch her breath. She stood there, motionless in front of John for several minutes before saying, "So he really is head over heels for me?" to Nova but accidentally saying it out loud as well.
"He really is." John said, a mischievous smile that was genuinely John Sheppard plastered across his face.
Sibel was speechless again as she heard Nova squealing in her head. She didn't know whether to run off or hold him close. She kinda felt like kissing him again but that would just be too easy for the little werelioness, wouldn't it?
John stared at her for several more moments, then cleared his throat, and extended a hand. "So, you feel like facing a movie tonight?" He asked.
"As long as it's violent... um and not romantic.. I think that I get enough of that without the movies helping!" Sibel laughed as she realized what she said out loud again.
"Violent, not romantic, got it." He smiled. "Well, that's new. C'mon, let's go see what we have."
Sibel and Sheppard left the balcony, "OMG NOVA THAT WAS AMAZING!" Sibel screamed to her sister through their mind connection.
"I was RIGHT, wasn't I?! HE TOTALLY LIKES YOU! AND HE KISSED YOU DIDN'T HE!" Nova screamed back. She smirked over at Rodney. "She's making progress." Her words seemed completely random and irrelevant, but she didn't care, she was bursting with happiness for her sister.
"HE TOLD ME THAT HE WAS HEAD OVER HEELS OVER ME HE ADMITTED IT!" Sibel screamed again as she restrained from jumping up and down.
"NO WAY!" Nova screamed and hugged Rodney. "I'm going to go find my sister and tell her good night!" She said, and ran off. "I'm coming to find you!"
"Okay, hurry up and run!" Sibel giggled as she continued walking with Sheppard.
Nova broke into a run, and eventually crossed paths with the two. "John! Sibel! Hello! I wasn't expecting to find you here. Actually, I was...mind if I borrow my sister from you for a moment?"
Sibel smiled as her sister grabbed her arm and pulled her away, "I'll just meet you in the movie room!" Her sister dragged her into an empty corridor. Sibel leaned against the wall afraid that she would become uberly sore with the large smile she wore on her face.
Nova looked up and down the hall to make sure she was alone with her sister, before screaming "TELL ME EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!"
"Okay, first he asked if I was okay, cause I ran and stuff, right? Then he said something like 'I guess that science can't explain why you kissed me either' or something. And then I told him that I couldn't tell him entirely what happened that night! And then, he said 'You shouldn't need to talk anyway' and then YOU CAME OUT!" Sibel began the first explanation
"I know, I came up and ruined it all, but obviously something else happened, or you wouldn't have been walking toward the theatre holding hands with your Mr. Perfect!" Nova said, in a hushed squeal.
Sibel slid down the wall. "Then after you left...We said something...then it all became a blur, like a dream. He kissed me..." Sibel sighed then jumped up with joy knocking invisible balloons through the air. "HE KISSED ME NOVA!"
Nova screamed and grabbed Sibel by the shoulders, shaking her.
"It was the most amazing experience I could have ever had when kissing someone... It was just... MAGICAL!" Sibel replied as her sister stopped shaking her, "I don't think that there is a way for me to calm down!"
"Then you should go back to him and complete your perfect evening with a movie! Pshh, you don't need me here, get!" Nova shoved her sister toward the movie room. "And don't stay out too late!" She teased, giggling.
Sibel smiled, "BYE!" Sibel bolted with unnatural speed to the movie room and sneaked in without John even noticing. She sat on the couch, and waited for him to turn around and notice that she was there.
It took several moments for the colonel to notice something moving in his peripheral field of vision, and he turned and saw Sibel. "Oh, hey!" He said, after he jumped, a little bit startled by her quiet entry. He smiled. "Just thinking of what to put on. And waiting for you."
Nova dashed back to where she'd left Rodney. When she found him, it took all of her self-control to walk normally and use a regular tone of voice. "Well, it's official now." She said, smiling so big her face might fall off at any moment.
"What's official?" Rodney asked blankly, confused by her sudden exit and entry.
"IT'S official! You know, my sister and the Lieutenant Colonel...they've got a thing?" She smirked excitedly. "They're together now!"
Rodney's eyes opened wide. "He told her that he thought that he was in love with her?!" Rodney asked, and then realized that he blurted out the Colonel's secret.
"Um, I'm not sure what his exact words were," Nova said, completely oblivious to the fact that Rodney had given anything away. "Something about being head-over-heels." She hefted a deep sigh. "FINALLY. I mean, from the moment we stepped off the Daedalus...oh, whatever." Her smirk grew to a grin.
"Wow, that's pretty insane..." Rodney said sadly wishing that he could tell Nova how he felt. "I have a question, if you don't mind my asking."
"Of course, go ahead!" Nova said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"What happened the other night when you ran off to your room?" Rodney asked. He was still confused about everything aside from longing to be like Sibel and John.
Nova thought back to the night she was sure Rodney was speaking of, and then tried to think of a good excuse. "Um, well, my head hurt, and...it was too warm. And...I needed...um..." Darn it, she wished Sibel was there, she was SO good at thinking of reasons. "I felt...nauseated! And I was afraid that...well, you know what normally happens when a person feels nauseated. And I don't mean hungry nauseated, either." She twiddled her thumbs, desperately hoping he bought it.
"Well, I can kind of understand," Rodney felt disappointed, knowing that she wasn't telling the full truth, but hopefully she would tell him in time. "Well, what do you want to do?!"
Nova read the disappointment on his face, and it hurt, but she knew she couldn't tell him what really happened. She wasn't even exactly sure WHY she couldn't tell him, she just knew she couldn't. But she perked up a little when he seemed to let it go so quickly. "Well...if you have any means, I'd like to visit the mainland. I haven't seen dry land since I left home over a month ago." She said, smiling. Aside from that, she also enjoyed being outside at night. It made her feel strangely good, refreshed, happy.
Rodney smiled, which was rare for him, and stood up, "Why not! Um... Maybe they can teach you how to control a puddle jumper... In all honesty, I'm not that good."
Nova felt good already, the prospect of learning something new making her tingle all over. Plus, the way that Rodney had just smiled didn't exactly put a damper on her mood. "Alright, let's go, then!"
Rodney and Nova traveled to the jumper bay and got in after they got permission to leave Atlantis. Rodney taught Nova all the basics of flying a Puddle Jumper, "Well, I think that's it..."
"Really? That's not so bad!" Nova said, getting a feel for the controls. "My dad was a Black Hawk mechanic before he went into computers. He tried to explain to me how to fly a Huey..." She blew air through her teeth, then laughed. "I think you'd probably better take us up this time, though, I was never good at night driving."
Rodney and they switched places as they left the jumper bay and headed towards the mainland. The two laughed and made jokes as they flew. Rodney landed the puddle jumper as smoothly as possible to no prevail.
Nova climbed out the back of the jumper, and took a deep breath of fresh, beachy air. "Mmm, the lack of pollution is certainly a credit." She said, smiling as Rodney exited the jumper as well.
"Yeah, no radiation from the mainland either!" Rodney joked, accidentally expressing his phobia of any kind of damaging radiation.
Nova giggled and stared up at the stars. She'd never been good at astronomy, but she still felt bizarre not being able to recognize any constellations. "There's things that bother me more than radiation." She murmured, a long list of profound fears rushing through her mind and giving her the chills.
"Like bugs?" Rodney asked.
Nova glared playfully. "Like bugs." She said, and pulled her jacket closer to her, attempting to escape the rapidly cooling night air.
Rodney took a blanket out of the jumper and sat down on a rock. He handed the blanket to Nova and gestured her to sit down with him.
Nova smiled a thanks, and sat down as well. "It's nice out here." She sighed.
"Yeah," Rodney decided to name all of the constellations that he knew so far trying to teach Nova how to remember them.
She wasn't any more interested in the constellations of the Pegasus Galaxy than of the Milky Way, but it was soothing to listen to Rodney's voice, explaining the story behind each picture in the sky. "You know," She said, to fill in a quiet moment. "When I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut. That was before I was diagnosed with free-floating anxiety, and I started getting weird and scared of things that I couldn't comprehend."
"I understand that. My phobia list is too long to count," Rodney laid back on the rock and stared into the sky. "Why did you want to study bugs?"
Nova shifted so that she was more comfortable. "Well, I'm not sure, to be quite honest. I think it started out as having something to do with a book I wanted to write. I was doing research, and I got a little involved, and Sibel was so far into zoology and mythology, I guess after a few months I decided to pursue it. Well, that, and I watched a countless number of science fiction as a teenager, and bugs are a big factor at least once in every sci-fi show, right?"
Rodney chuckled. "So you really are a sci-fi freak."
Nova smirked. "Everybody called me Mrs. Mulder when I was in high school, I'd say 'sci-fi freak' is a safe assumption." She looked over at him. "I guess I really don't have to ask why you went into astrophysics, it's pretty obvious."
Rodney shrugged and looked back up at the sky. "Why did YOU want to come to Atlantis?"
"My sister dragged me out here, I was actually preoccupied with several projects. She said she needed my help, and could use my expertise to help her further her investigation of the Iratus bug. I didn't want to come." She looked out at the sky as well. "But now...well, now I'm just glad I let her drag me on a three-week space ship ride to another galaxy." Nova said, in a hushed tone.
Rodney chuckled, "Okay this may sound odd but, what do you think of me?" Rodney asked, since everyone called him arrogant and mean most of the time. He wanted a straight-up honest answer from the girl he loved.
Nova giggled. "First impression, or what do I think now?"
"Both, if you wouldn't mind." Rodney replied, nervous of what she would say.
"Well, when I first met you, I thought you were a stuck-up pompous know-it all." Upon Rodney's fallen expression, Nova gave him a friendly shove. "But now, not so much. I think you're a nice, brilliant, misunderstood person. And a good friend." She threw him a soft smile.
Rodney began blushing, which he didn't do often, and simply muttered a small, "Thanks, I guess..." as he continued to concentrate on the stars.
Nova looked past him for a moment, and then back up at the sky. It really was a nice night.