As I was writing this chapter I experienced a sense of déjà vu... I soon realised it was because this chapter is uncannily similar to the third chapter of my very first Atlantis multi-chapter, 'Baby Love'... ( cheesiest story ever!) Anyway, I've tried to avoid overlap wherever possible, but most of the same characters and situations are involved as well as there being a baby, so it's definitely similar!
This chapter was going to be longer, but I realised it was already well over 2000 words long, so decided to cut it. Not much happens... I'll try to get the next chapter up quick!
Chapter Fourteen – Back to Earth
"You're coming back, right?"
John sighed impatiently and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Rodney," he said for at least the twentieth time in three days. "I'm coming back."
"When?" Ronon asked from John's other side.
John fought not to roll his eyes again. "I'm spending two weeks on Earth and then getting on the Daedalus and coming straight back," he said, for about the thirtieth time. "I'll be back in just over a month."
"What are we supposed to do for a month?" Rodney demanded petulantly.
"You're always moaning that you don't have enough lab time because of missions," John said. "And Ronon is joining Lorne's team while Anders is on medical leave – you'll both survive."
Rodney and Ronon both opened their mouths to speak, but John held up a hand to stop them. "Guys – I'm coming back," he said firmly. He looked at them both seriously. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this – I need a break."
Neither of them looked convinced, or happy about the situation, and John knew why. They thought his decision to go back to Earth for some R&R was a symptom of some kind of grief-induced mental breakdown, when actually it was the sanest thing he'd done since Teyla had gone missing. He needed time to get his head on straight, time to come to terms with Teyla's loss... and most importantly he needed time to learn to look after Torren his own way.
Speaking of whom, Torren was currently being hugged goodbye by Keller, who stood a few feet from them. John was a little worried that the boy was awake – he'd been napping peacefully until Rodney, Ronon and then Keller had started making a fuss over him. Now he was wide awake, which wasn't really a problem, it was just that John wasn't sure how he'd react to his first trip through the Stargate.
Keller walked over to them and handed Torren to John, who balanced him on his hip while he slung a large duffel bag over his other shoulder. Torren gave John a wide, toothless grin – he could tell something exciting was happening, even if he didn't know what. He was getting more and more like a proper person every day, not to mention bigger seemingly by the second. One of the reasons John wanted to go to Earth was to buy Torren some new stuff – he really didn't have that many outfits that fit him anymore.
"Okay, buddy, ready to go?" John said cheerfully. Torren just smiled again and gurgled. John looked over his shoulder at the control room and nodded – Woolsey was standing by the DHD and nodded back. He said something to Chuck, who began dialling the gate.
They all turned to look at the gate as it connected – the wormhole engaged and John tightened his grip on Torren, but even though the boy had never been through it he had seen the gate engage before, and he didn't react except to stare round at the shimmering surface of the wormhole. John wandered closer to the gate, waiting for the all-clear. As he got closer, Torren stretched out a hand to try and touch the event horizon. John smiled and grabbed hold of his hand, pulling him back.
"You're clear to go through, Colonel," Woolsey said over the mic from the control room. John turned to look at him again, and Woolsey nodded to him. "See you in a month."
John nodded back and gave the gate room a swift, assessing look – this would be the longest he'd been away since the time the Ancients had returned. Leaving then had been torture – knowing he might never come back, saying goodbye to Teyla... John shook his head to clear the memory of her sad smile as he'd walked away. He felt the same crushing numbness he'd been trying to ignore for days, and knew he was making the right decision – he had to get out of there.
He looked over to where Ronon and Rodney stood, and gave them a lopsided smile. "I'll be back," he said firmly, before taking a deep breath and carrying Torren straight through the gate.
The journey was longer than average, stretching across two galaxies, but it was still only a few seconds later that John stepped out of the stargate at the SGC, the metal ramp hard and familiar beneath his feet. John immediately turned his attention to the baby in his arms – Torren's eyes were wide with shock, and as he looked around at the unfamiliar room and people his face started to crumple in distress. John shifted him round so he was facing him, and cupped the back of the boy's head.
"Hey, it's okay, look – I'm right here with you," he said softly. Torren focused on John's face and his expression cleared somewhat, though he was clearly still not particularly happy. He buried his face in John's neck and clung tightly to his shirt.
"Colonel?"
John looked up and saw Doctor Lam standing at the bottom of the ramp, her hands in her lab coat pockets and an expectant look on her face. He sighed inwardly – the fact that she was meeting him in the gate room suggested that life was not going to be fun for him and Torren for the next couple of hours.
"Hi Doc," he said, making his way down the ramp towards her. "How's it going?"
"Fine, thanks," she said. "Welcome home."
John raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything – Lam looked like she sensed her mistake, as she smiled slightly and switched her attention to Torren.
"This must be Torren," she said. She bent her neck so he could see her face – Torren peered at her for a moment before using John to hide again. Lam smiled wider and then gave John an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but I'll need to run some tests on you both."
"I figured," John said ruefully.
At that moment Doctor Lam's father, General Landry, appeared behind his daughter. John stood to attention the best he could while holding a duffel bag and a baby.
"Good to see you again Colonel," Landry said.
"Thank you Sir, you too," John replied truthfully. He had a lot of time for Landry – he'd had endless patience with John when he'd been assigned to the SGC and it was clear to the whole base that he'd rather be elsewhere.
"Just back for some R&R I hear?" He said.
"Yes Sir – hitching a ride back with the Daedalus in two weeks."
Landry nodded. "Well you won't get much R&R with a baby to look after," he said. "And it just gets worse as they get older."
Dr Lam pursed her lips and gave the General a sardonic look, which he returned with a completely innocent one. John smiled slightly and tightened his grip on Torren as Lam nodded to him and led him out of the gate room.
As predicted, the next little while was not fun. Torren relaxed a little bit in the infirmary, as it was very like the Atlantis one and more familiar to him, and he sat quite happily while Lam drew some of John's blood and examined him, all the while quizzing him about Torren's development. John was relieved to hear Lam agree with Keller's assessment that he was developing exactly as he should, and at the right stage of eating solids and teething and all of that. John seriously had no frame of reference.
Then Lam turned her attention to Torren and all the boy's bravery was gone. John had to hold him as he bawled his head off through having blood drawn and being examined. To be honest, John didn't blame the kid.
Torren's crying drew quite a few curious visitors to the infirmary – John guessed that a lot of people had missed the memo of a baby from the Pegasus Galaxy arriving in the SGC – but one of the visitors was someone John was actually pleased to see: Cameron Mitchell. He arrived, luckily, just as Doctor Lam had moved off and Torren had calmed down a bit, so John was actually able to hear him.
"Well look what the Pegasus Galaxy dragged in," Mitchell said, strolling into the room.
John managed a genuine smile. "Hey Mitch," he said. He'd first met Cameron Mitchell when he and some more of SG-1 had come to Atlantis on a fact-finding mission, and though he hadn't spent much time with him they had hit it off right away. Then Rodney had come back from a trip aboard the Daedalus with the man complaining non-stop about him, which had only endeared him to John more. When John had been assigned to the SGC for those six torturous weeks, Mitchell had really looked out for him.
John had a great respect for Mitchell – in fact, he'd often thought that they were very similar, and if he – John – had been a bit more of a good soldier, he probably would have followed a path similar to Mitchell's. John wasn't arrogant but he knew he was a damn good pilot, and he felt sure that if he hadn't made such a mess of his career in Afghanistan, he would have been transferred to the X-303 unit... from there it was a natural progression to the SGC.
Not that he could regret being assigned to Atlantis instead... thank god for the ATA gene.
Mitchell walked over to where John sat on one of the gurneys, Torren cradled against his chest. "Honestly, Shep, I could hear you crying all the way down the hall – Carolyn isn't that bad," he said with a smirk.
John responded with a smirk of his own. "Carolyn?" He asked pointedly.
Mitchell seemed to realise his teasing had backfired on him, because he quickly changed the subject. "So this is Torren?" He said, stopping next to them. Torren peered up at him through wet eyes, and Mitchell smiled at him before giving John a small smile as well. "He looks just like Teyla."
John nodded, and Mitchell nodded as well – he knew that there was nothing he could say. He sat down next to him on the gurney, turning his attention to Torren again.
"It's so weird seeing you with a baby," he said after a moment.
John shook his head, looking down at Torren who was a bit calmer now, but had John's shirt clenched in his little fists. It had been a while since he'd thought of having Torren with him as weird, but he could imagine how strange it must be for Mitchell to see him with a baby clinging to him.
"You get used to it," he said.
"So you're looking after him now, right?" Mitchell said, taking a seat next to him on the gurney. "You're his..."
"Guardian, yeah," John said. "Woolsey's already okayed it for him to stay on Atlantis with me, and there are plenty of willing babysitters. Plus there's the Athosians – Teyla's people – so it will be fine."
"So how's my old friend McKay?" Mitchell asked with a smirk.
John smiled and opened his mouth to say that Rodney was the same as ever, but something made him stop. The thing was, he wasn't. Neither was Ronon. None of them were.
"He's coping," John said instead.
Mitchell gave him an understanding look and just nodded as Dr Lam came walking back in.
"Okay Colonel, you and Torren have both checked out so you're free to leave the base," she said. "The General's been called into a meeting but he said that there's a car waiting for you upstairs to take you wherever you need to go."
"Great," said John standing up. He glanced at his shirt lying on the bed behind him and down at Torren in his arms. Mitchell stood up as well and John smiled evilly.
"Here, hold him for a second," he said. And, before Mitchell could protest, John deposited the baby in his arms.
"Woah – I – okay..." Mitchell held on to Torren kind of awkwardly, a look of abject terror in his eyes. John saw him glance at Lam, who was trying very hard not laugh. John smirked to himself and pulled his shirt on over his t-shirt, buttoning it up as quickly as possible.
He turned back to Mitchell, who was now giving him a death-glare, and Torren, who just looked plain confused.
"He likes you," John said innocently.
Torren turned his head at the sound of John's voice, and as soon as he saw him he held out his arms to him, demanding to be taken back. John grinned and obliged. Mitchell looked all kinds of relieved to be baby-less again.
"He likes you more," he noted as Torren settled happily against John.
John shrugged. "It's the hair," he said.
He said his goodbyes to Mitchell and Lam, promising Mitchell that they would meet up before his return on the Daedalus, and made his way up to the surface. He recognised a couple of the people at the SGC from his time there and he nodded hello to them, noting wryly the way their eyebrows disappeared into their hairlines at the sight of him with a baby.
As Mitchell had said, there was a car waiting for him on the surface – John planned to hire a car for the rest of his stay, but he was appreciative of the general's initiative. It wasn't until John got into the backseat with Torren still in his arms that he realised it would be the boy's first time in a car – in fact in any kind of moving vehicle in which he'd be able to feel they were moving. He also realised he had nowhere to put him.
"Where to, sir?" Asked the young airman in the driver's seat.
John glanced down at Torren, who was looking around curiously.
"The nearest place to buy a carseat," he said.
TBC
Next up – John and Torren on Earth, and a Sheppard family reunion.