Chapter Fourteen
Surprise Visitors
Her first week at her sister's house was filled with moments of nightmarish freakishness in between playtime with her nieces and nephew.
Her nieces spent most of their days at school. Rose and Bailey (she couldn't think of them as separate units, now) were in second grade, and doing quite well. They came home and told her of their days; her sister's emails had been filled with this kind of thing, but she hadn't known them before. Now every little thing was a matter of import.
Sam spent a lot of the day trailing around after her. Pip had been irritated at first, but quickly saw how much peace that gave her. The house, as she told Tom late one night, had never looked so clean.
Merry spent most of the mornings in the living room, a laptop on her knees, going over the reports she had neglected. By the end of the week, she had caught up on the last three months' work, and had sent it to Doctor Lee to send to Ames in Pegasus.
Her favorite time of night had quickly become bedtime. She sat the twins at her feet and held Sam in her lap as she told them stories of Colonel John Sheppard, the hero of the galaxy.
"And when he saw the thing on a nest, he laughed. He turned to his friend and said, 'See? I told you there was an Easter bunny.'"
That had been Sam's favorite story. The girls liked the ones where John kissed a beautiful woman. After tucking Sam in, Rose and Bailey had asked her straight out. "Are those real stories, Auntie Merry?"
Merry had smiled. "Of course not. You can't travel to other planets yet, girls. Now, get in bed." After kissing them and handing them over to their mother, she had gone back to her room and finished her report.
'Lieutenant Simms reacted exactly as had the three other scientists who encountered the cena; he reached out to grab it and was rewarded by a bite on the hand. Unlike the others, he grabbed the thing by the back of the neck, revealing a nest with four eggs and Doctor Gregory's scanner. The cena had been trying to hatch it. He ordered me to grab it, which I did, and then he put the beast back. He turned to Doctor Richmont and held out his hand for bandaging, saying, "I guess the Easter bunny bites."'
During the second week, Merry began to walk around the neighborhood. From her first month in Atlantis onward, she had always taken a run around the city; although using the same paths that most of the marines used and even, on occasion, Colonel Sheppard, she had never run into him.
On the second day, Pip had asked her to bring Sam with. The day before, he had whined constantly until she had gotten back, and Pip hadn't liked it very much.
Her relationship with her sister was improving, but she couldn't say how that had happened. Perhaps it was late at night, when she heard Tom and Pip talking as they came up the stairs; maybe it was the way her nieces and nephew reacted to her. She was beginning to feel comfortable around her twin again, and her sister hadn't made one obnoxious comment in almost three days, not even on accidentally.
On the third day, Sam found a stray cat. Both Pip and Tom were allergic, so he couldn't keep the animal, even though he and the twins begged. Finally, Tom relented and let it sleep in the garage for one night.
Two days later, it was allowed in the house. The cat was very friendly, and Tom even spoke of bringing it to the vet to get it checked out. Sam had named it Rooster, even though the cat was obviously female. Rose and Bailey argued him down, and eventually named the little gray thing Shadow; Sam still called her Rooster when his sisters weren't around, and Merry thought it was charming.
On Sunday, after her sister's family had gone to mid-afternoon church, Merry decided to take a bath. She was too tired to run, and wasn't entirely sure that she should leave the house unlocked while her sister wasn't there. She decided on the upstairs bathroom that the children used; the tub was deep enough to sink into, and that was where all her bath things were anyway. It was a tough argument to win; her sister's bathroom had a whirlpool.
She sank into the nearly too-hot water and sighed. All of her muscles ached; she thought she had been in good shape. Apparently, chasing a four-year-old was a lot more work than running could take care of.
An hour later, she began to wake up slowly. The water was tepid, and her fingertips were cold. The first thing she saw was Sam's bottle of shampoo, a large red kangaroo on a green bottle. She groaned. Something had woken her up, and she couldn't say what.
Then the doorbell rang again.
Merry wasn't often one to answer the door in her bathrobe, but the people had rung the bell twice more since she had woken in the bathtub. She wrapped a towel around her head, threw a fluffy pink bathrobe on (it was her sister's), and raced down the stairs. The front door had fogged glass, so she could just make out two figures on the other side. Making sure nothing was showing, she opened the door and saw the last person she expected.
It was John Sheppard.
And she was in her bathrobe.
She squeaked and slammed the door.
Merry stood against the door, perfectly aware that they could see her through the glass but unable to do anything about it. She glanced down at herself and blushed. The robe formed a V that went rather deep; the instant she had looked into his face, a blush had spread that went even further down.
She heard a tentative knock and nearly jumped out of her skin. She pulled her robe closer, turned, and opened the door. John was behind a slightly shorter, stockier man with the same eyes; if she had had to guess, she would have thought it was his brother.
The man held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Dave Sheppard. Is Tom at home?"
Merry pulled her robe closer and shook his outstretched hand. "No, Tom's not here, but he should be back at any time. I'm Merry, his sister-in-law." There was a long, awkward pause. "Would you like to come in and wait?"
Dave smiled, and Merry felt slightly reassured. "That would be wonderful."
Merry stepped back and held the door open. Dave walked in first, dragging his shoes across the welcome mat. John followed, avoiding Merry's eyes.
She led them into the living room, motioned to the couch, and watched them sit, Dave comfortably, John on the edge of his seat. She stood uncomfortably in the doorway as several long minutes passed.
"Um, I'm going to go upstairs and change, okay?"
She turned to go up the stairs when John jumped off of the couch.
"Where's your bathroom?"
Merry gave him a tight smile. "The downstairs bathroom is being remodeled right now. There's one upstairs." He nodded and didn't move. She waited for a second, then added, "I can show you, if you like."
He followed her up the stairs -and she was sure he didn't even try to take one peek under her robe- and she pointed him towards the bathroom she had just been using. She turned to her room and then spun to face him.
"I…" His face was expectant. "I…uh, forgive the mess. I was just taking a bath."
She didn't even notice that her face had flushed until she shut her bedroom door.
She dropped the robe and towel and grabbed the clothes on the top of the pile. It was her favorite red shirt and a pair of loose black pants. She opened a drawer and pulled out the first pair of socks she could find- they were bright pink with large blue stars.
She was bending over to put them on- first- when her bedroom door slammed open. John stood framed in the doorway. And she was bending over, naked, except for one sock.
Merry could have killed John. She had squeaked, grabbed the quilt from the top of the bed, and wrapped it around herself.
"What the hell is your problem?"
John spun and faced the other way, blushing to the roots of his hair. "I, uh, I…" He felt behind him for the doorknob to shut the door.
Merry blushed, too. She reached blindly for the shirt and pulled it over her head. It was long enough to cover everything that needed to be covered, and she let the blanket go.
"John?"
He half-turned, and all she could see was his silhouette. "I'm sorry."
"John, you can come in now." She was pulling her pants on as she said it.
He turned away again. "I…"
She raised her eyebrows and grinned. "I'm completely covered now. Please."
He shook his head. "No…"
She walked forward and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him gently towards her. "John, it's alright."
He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I'm sorry."
She smiled. "It's fine." She turned his face toward hers. "Really."
John gave her a tight little smile. "I am sorry."
She grinned. "I know. And you obviously had something to say to me, so say it."
John's faint smile began to grow. "I just wanted to say that I was sorry."
Merry ran her hand down his face, loving the feel of the stubble on his cheek. "You did that already."
He grinned, a real grin this time. "Not for…that. For coming here, unannounced and all that. And before." She raised a brow in question. "The kiss."
She fought down her smile. "Oh. That."
He smirked. "Yeah. That." He turned away, and she fought him. "I've never done that before."
She grinned, blushing slightly. "Done what?"
"Kissed someone in my sleep. I've dreamed…"
Merry's blush spread to her ears; she could feel the heat. "I have a confession, too. I don't think you started the kiss…"
"Oh…?"
Merry turned away, and John grinned.
Merry finally looked up. "I kissed you first."
There was a long pause.
John put his hand in her hair and pulled her closer. His words were more whispers than anything.
"Then I guess it's my turn."
She sank into his kiss.