Chapter 14
As soon as they were through the space 'gate John gave control of the jumper to Linda, whose A.T.A gene therapy had been a success. She'd been having a few short flying lessons with other people, but John had thought that considering it was just the two of them on a friendly off-world planet, it would be okay to let her try it out in the field. "Just be gentle, concentrate on going straight."
He had already come to the planet with his team and had been greeted by friendly people. They had been invited to a celebration of friendship between the two groups of people. When they had gotten back to Atlantis and told Elizabeth, she had said for them to go back and to cement this friendship, however, Teyla had to check in with the Athosian's and Ronan had gone with her, complaining about how the new race of friendly people were too irritating for him. Rodney had used a similar excuse and had gotten out of it by saying that he had 'important' work to be getting on with.
Elizabeth had suggested sending a different team but John had told her that it wouldn't be interesting to anyone but botanists; because of the wide diversity in plant life, astronomers, linguists and a few other departments. Linda was then suggested with the lack of off-world activity she had been having lately.
"I am," she quipped back, eyes narrowed in concentration as she stared outside of the window.
The HUD flickered into life to show a disjointed path they were taking compared to the straight lined path they were supposed to be taking. John gave her a pointed look and she sheepishly shrugged her shoulders. "Okay," he said gently. "Let's just, concentrate on a line. Straight ahead. That's all okay?"
She nodded and minutes later the path straightened out into a small quivering line. "That's good, definitely an improvement."
Linda gave a nervous laugh and concentrated on flying straight even more so and managed to completely straighten out their path. John nodded approvingly, "Definitely a good improvement."
"Yeah," she said as she lowered the jumper's altitude to skimming over the trees.
"Okay," he said, looking over a map of the area. "There should be a small clearing just up ahead."
"You mean land?" She asked, suddenly worried and the path began to shake.
He held his hands out to her gently, "Just, concentrate. That's all you need to do. Clear your mind and think, fly straight to that point then stop. That's it."
"Okay," she said. Their path eased out into a straight line and appeared to pick up speed. "Whoa," she said, thinking to go slower before a thought occurred to her and before she knew it, more speed had been added and they were going slightly faster.
"Linda," John stretched out disapprovingly.
"What?" she turned to smile at him and checked on the map for their position and the clearing. Then the jumper stopped all of a sudden.
John pinched his eyes shut and opened them again to find grinning gray blue eyes dancing back at him. "Okay show off. Now land, gently."
She nodded and her face grew serious as the jumper slowly began to descend in shaky jitters.
John gripped the edge of the console, worried that the inertial dampeners wouldn't stop him feeling the crash he could feel coming and he shut his eyes as the ground neared closer. A full minute passed and John pried one eye open to notice that they had landed. He opened his other eye and looked round to Linda to make sure nobody had taken over for her in that minute. Nope, it was her. "Huh." he said, "That's better then Rodney's landing."
She laughed at the comment and made a start to stand, "I'll take that as a compliment."
He smiled and made his way to the back of the jumper and opened the rear hatch.
SGASGASGASGA
The fire crackled in front of them and the villagers continued to dance and sing all around the small village. One of the local women, dressed in slightly skimpy clothes with different coloured paints decorating her body in swirls and patterns approached the two Lanteans sat on the small makeshift bench and offered them both a drink.
"Thanks," Linda said and John nodded, taking a whiff of the stuff and liking what he smelt. He couldn't place the smell but it reminded him of fruited wine with a hint of strong ale with a vague honey smell.
Glancing over at Linda he watched as she took a sip and smacked her lips appreciatively. "Not bad," she said with a smile, holding her cup up to John. "I think it's alcoholic though." A small frown dotted her face and she took another small sip.
John did the same and liked the taste a lot more then the smell. Maybe he could switch this for the beer in his room? He'd have to ask the locals and somehow smuggle it into the city.
After a few more sips he could feel a faint fuzziness settle in the back of his mind and glanced back down at the cup. Only half of it was gone. "That's strong," he said retaining to sipping it as occasionally as was necessary to wet his thirst.
"Hmmm, very." Linda agreed, seeming to come to the same conclusion.
"Well," he said, turning to look at her and nudging her leg with his, "I'm driving."
She snorted into her drink and took another sip, nudging his leg back. "Good job too." She took another gulp and grinned round at him. "You think we could get some of this back on Atlantis?"
He snorted and patted her leg, "Don't drink too much. I don't want to have to carry you."
SGASGASGASGA
A light fog was lingering in his mind and he helped a slightly tipsy Linda into the rear of the jumper with a yawn. "What time is it?" she asked, her arm curled tightly around his as her head lolled on his shoulder.
"Erm," he stumbled to pull the sleeve of his shirt up, "Near to 11pm." He gave another yawn and they both stumbled slightly in their stepping.
A small giggle left her throat and he turned a smirk in her direction. "What's funny?"
She peered up at him, grinning madly and his smirk widened, "I don't know." Another giggle filled the air and John felt a light laugh emanating from his own voice.
His slightly spaced mind screamed at him and his hand reached out to tuck a loose strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear, his hand resting on her neck.
The action sobered her up slightly and she blinked up at him, her unwrapped hand resting on his arm.
John smiled down at her and she smiled back. Gulping, John inched his head forward and licked his lips. Her eyes were dancing from his eyes to his lips and he reached his hand round to the nape of her neck and pressed his mouth to hers.
She was frozen, her mouth agape in shock and he started to pull himself away when she reciprocated the touch, albeit tentatively.
The touch was quickly ended as Linda drew back, biting her lip and looking down at the floor with a groan. "What?" he asked gently.
She looked back up at him and pulled herself free, sending her falling back onto the bench behind her. With a shake of her head she turned away from him, "I- I d-." Her eyes came back to fix on him and she sighed, "I don't know."
He frowned down at her and licked his lips, the nice beverage from before still strong on his lips as he turned away and sat in the pilot's seat.
The entire journey back was in silence and John was getting fidgety. When they finally set down in Atlantis Linda had stuck around long enough to tell Elizabeth about the success of the 'friendship party' before scampering off and leaving him to give the expedition leader the final details.
SGASGASGASGA
Evan opened Linda's door and froze in his steps. It was too late, she'd caught him and offered a sheepish smile. She'd just finished sparring in the gym with a few choice Marines and was only dressed in a towel after having a shower.
"Sorry," he muttered before turning and slamming his eyes shut.
Linda rolled her eyes and hastily dressed herself. Once she was done she told him and began to towel dry her hair.
Even turned and gathered his thoughts together. Finally remembering what it was he came to talk to her about he narrowed his eyes into a frown, his mind darkening at how it had taken this long for him to find out. "Linda. Care to explain something to me?"
Her own eyes narrowed in confusion and he rose an eyebrow, making her stop her actions and pull her hands away from her hair. "Like?" She knew he wasn't happy with her, but why she didn't know.
"Your threat to Sergeant Reynolds." Oh, that. She knew something had slipped her mind and her and Laura's conversation came barrelling back to her.
"Next time I won't hesitate to punch the guy."
"Linda! You can't just go around threatening the military personnel."
She narrowed her own eyes at him, anger boiling up in her stomach. "Me threaten him? He threatened me first! I was warning him Evan!"
Evan shook his head and delivered a stern glare. He didn't want this to go any higher then him. For all he knew it could make the situation worse for everyone. Taking a deep breath he levelled his gaze with her, "Linda," he stopped. On one hand getting her to apologise was the aim, but on the other he knew her story held some truth to it.
He took another deep breath and sighed, heavily. "Linda," he repeated, trying to think of what to say. "From now on, you stay away from him." He held a hand up to silence her comments, "You don't talk to him, you try to avoid him. And you apologise to him."
"To hell I will!"
"You will!" he called back, determined to keep the situation under control. She stepped back, shocked by his outburst and he took this moment to finish off. "He will apologise to you as well. Are we clear?"
She threw the towel onto her bed and crossed her arms, glaring daggers at him. She shook her head, grumbled underneath her breath and stormed out of the room, leaving him stood there hoping she wouldn't pull a stunt.
SGASGASGASGA
April nudged Linda in the arm, pulling her from her reverie. "Hey, you with us here?"
"Huh, yeah. I was uh, just, just thinking."
Olivia and April exchanged a quick glance with each other and turned to the linguist, "About?"
Linda looked between the two and narrowed her eyes at them, "Nothing important. Work stuff. Look, I have to go do some, get some stuff back to Rodney. See you later okay."
With that said she quickly pushed up from the table and made a quick exit. "What's up with her?" Olivia asked.
April shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I'll find out later."
Linda's earpiece gave a squeak and she tapped it, "Dr Parsons."
"Parsons," Rodney's voice called out over the line. "Where is my artefact. I specifically requested it to be on my desk yesterday morning so where is it?"
Rolling her eyes she ignored the rant and flatly answered, "I'll be right there."
"You better be," he replied before clicking off.
She rolled her eyes again and turned down the stairs. Thirty minutes later, after visiting her own lab and gathering up the necessary items, she walked into Rodney's lab to find John, Radek, Miko and a few other scientists milling around. The Colonel nodded, tight lipped, to her, "Linda."
She nodded back with a tight smile, "John." Turning her gaze to a less then happy Rodney she put the objects onto his desk and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "There."
He rounded on her, eyes beginning to show signs of anger, "Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes it took you. What did you do? Take the stairs?"
"Yeah," she answered nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
John looked between the two, a slight smirk dancing on his lips. Rodney's mouth was flailing open and closed as he tried to figure out her reasoning. "Why?" was all he could manage, snatching up the documentation from off the table.
She gave another shrug and frowned back at him, "Anything else you need?"
He huffed and crossed his arms, "No, now leave. Some of us have actual work to do."
She shrugged her shoulders and caught John's eyes. Giving him another tight smile she turned and left the lab. Flyboys she thought, shaking her head and frowning to herself. Sparring. Need to spar she nodded at the thought and turned up the next set of stairs.
When she reached the top a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks and she turned to see John. "John," she said, stepping back ever so slightly. She winced at the movement, knowing how it must look, and pinched her eyes shut.
"Linda," when she opened her eyes again he was frowning down at her and looking past her shoulder. His hazel eyes quickly jumped back to hers and she stared back at him. He cleared his throat and asked, "You busy?"
Nod, shake, nod, shake. Damn it. She decided to go with a nod, adding a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, gym."
The word seemed to brighten his damp mood and he nodded, "Can I tag along?"
"Erm," his eyes started to plead with her and she nodded. "Sure, okay. Meet you there?"
He nodded, offering a soft smile before walking alongside her until they reached her quarters.
SGASGASGASGA
Linda slouched down to the gym, clad in simple cargo pants and vest top. Something was telling her this was going to be one of those conversations she'd rather avoid. Sighing, she gripped her gym bag closer to her body and made her way around the corner, the gym coming into view. I could still run she told herself, the corner of her mouth quirking up at the thought. That'd be cowardly her mind answered back and her face darkened.
Damn it she thought eventually as she paused, a few metres away. Damn the Pegasus galaxy, damn the Earth, damn the friggen whole Air Force, damn Jack and damn John. Damn, damn, damn, damn, she continued, adding a few expletives in her mind, cursing at anyone and everything she could think of.
Taking a breath she sighed, stopped the mental tirade and started walking again.
Reaching the door, she paused and looked inside. John was there, swinging a couple of bantos sticks in his hands, deep in concentration.
Taking another breath Linda walked over to the nearest bench and dropped her bag down, telling the Colonel that she was here. Here we go she thought, turning to face him with a small smile.