Chapter 22: Back to work.
John looked down at his beautiful wife, as she slept. How he wanted to get back in bed and sleep beside her, but today was his first day back on active duty in almost five months. After he had been kidnapped, hit by a car, tied up and shot for some woman's pleasure, Teyla had gone into premature labour and spent the rest of her pregnancy on complete bed rest. Then the twins had been born and he had spent the last eight weeks helping Teyla look after them, so it hadn't exactly been a holiday for him.
He was supposed to return to work two weeks ago, but Teyla was still struggling with looking after Tobias and Charin, so he had asked for another couple of weeks off. Now that the twins were sleeping through the night; five hours most nights, he had finally managed to get some sleep, as had Teyla. The twins were due to wake up in an hours' time, so he decided to let her sleep for as long as she could.
Exiting the bedroom, he headed into Torren's room to see if he was awake. It was 06:30 hours and Torren very rarely slept past 0600 hours. He was surprised to find the little boy was still fast asleep, which pleased him greatly, because it gave him a little time to himself, before the day started.
Leaving Torren sleeping he went out to the kitchen, put the coffee pot on, sat in his recliner chair and enjoyed the silence, something he hadn't had much of for the last eight weeks.
The silence didn't last long, as he was soon startled by his son, "Good morning Daddy."
He was amazed at well he spoke for a two-and-a-half-year-old. His speech had improved out of sight since the twins were born. He had also been successfully toilet trained day and night in that time, which certainly made things easier on him; one less diaper to change.
"Hey T.J. what do you want for breakfast?"
"Pancakes, thanks." Was Torren's reply.
"Of course, you want pancakes, I don't think you've ever had anything else for breakfast."
Torren chuckled and then a serious look came over his face, "Daddy, why do you call me T.J.? You could call Toby T.J. too."
"I know, but that would become confusing, besides that will always be my special name for you."
"Like Tobias is Toby and Charin is Charlie."
"That's right, now why don't you help me get some breakfast, before Momma, Charlie and Toby wake up?"
For the next half an hour, John made breakfast for the family; with a little help from Torren. They had just about finished when Teyla walked into the kitchen.
"Are Toby and Charlie awake yet Momma?" Torren asked, as he helped his father set the table.
"Not yet darling, so I thought that I would have something to eat in peace, before they awoke."
"Well come and sit at the table Sweetie and I'll get you some pancakes and a cup of tea?" John said as he guided her to a seat.
Teyla smiled and it was a genuine smile, she looked well rested for the first time since the twins had been born.
"Hopefully they are beginning to sleep longer now?" Teyla commented, while drinking the tea that John had given her.
John sat down and joined Torren and Teyla, "I hope you're right for all out sakes."
Teyla put her cup down and started on her pancakes, "Honey, are you going off world today?"
"Apparently Rodney has found some ancient ruins that may have some medical technology, so he wants to go and have a look. It should be a piece of cake."
Teyla glared and him and it felt incredibly uncomfortable, "John, do not ever say that something is a piece of cake. You know that things are never that simple for your team. You had better come back in one piece or Rodney and Ronon will be in deep trouble!" She replied to him angrily.
He was shocked to see that she was almost in tears, "T.J can you please go and check on your brother and sister, while momma and daddy talk."
He was relieved that Torren went without complaint.
He turned to his wife and spoke gently to her, "Teyla are you going to be okay if I go back to work today, or would you like me to stay home a little longer?"
"No John, it is time for you to go back to work, I just want you to be careful that is all. We have our honeymoon in two weeks' time and then Dave and Jane are getting married. Amelia told me yesterday that Dave and Jane have agreed to share their wedding day with them, so it will be a double wedding."
"Wow Ronon or Dave haven't mentioned that to me yet, perhaps I will ask them today and I will be careful Sweetie, Ronon will have my back. I hope that there will be no problems and I'll be back before lunch."
Before they had a chance to continue the conversation, Torren came running into the room, "Momma, Charlie is waking up."
John looked at his watch and realised that it was nearly 0730 hours and the twins had slept for almost six hours. "Why don't you go and get settled in the recliner and I'll get her for you?"
"Thank you honey, can you check on Tobias while you are there?"
"Sure sweetie, I'll be back in a minute."
He walked into the twins' room and found that they were both awake: Toby was trying to put his fist in his mouth and Charlie was screaming at the top of her lungs.
He picked her up and started to speak to her gently, "come on Charlie, no one wants to listen to you scream, how about I take you to Momma and she can feed you. I want you to be a good girl for Momma today, as I have to go to work."
He was relieved when she started to settle down and he was amused when her eyes focused on him. It was almost as if she understood everything he was saying to her.
Once he had delivered her to Teyla, Toby decided that it was his turn to scream at the top of his lungs, so John picked him up and headed out to the lounge room and walked from one end of the room to the other trying to settle him. Eventually he settled down and started to focus on his face.
Finally, Teyla had fed and he had changed them both, so he lay them down on a blanket in the middle of the floor with some baby toys to play with. Torren sat with them, while he started to load the dishwasher.
"I am going to have a shower before you leave for work John, are you taking Torren to childcare, or is Dave taking him?"
"Dave will pick him up just before 0900 hours, but I will have to leave as soon as you've had your shower."
"I will watch Toby and Charlie," Torren announced.
"Thanks buddy, but I will wait until Momma is out of the shower."
He watched as Teyla left the room and went for her shower. Torren seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the twins entertained for the moment, so he went on tiding up.
Half an hour later the kitchen was clear and Teyla was showered and dressed for the day. He knew that he really needed to head off to a meeting with Woolsey, so he kissed Teyla goodbye and ruffled Torren's hair and he headed off to start work.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teyla watched her husband leave and her heart sank. It had been wonderful to have him around, but now for the first time she would be alone with the twins. Torren would be off to day-care very shortly and then she would be truly alone with them and she was terrified. The first thing she had to do this morning was take them in for a check-up and then she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She had decided to stay at home with them until they were six months old, but she had no idea if she would survive that long.
She was startled from her musings when the door chime sounded.
"I'll get it Momma," Torren announced getting up and heading over to the door.
Torren opened the door to reveal Dave standing outside.
"Hey T.J. are you ready to go buddy?" Dave asked coming inside.
"I'll just get my bag." Torren replied.
Teyla watched her son head off to his room to get his bag and it brought tears to her eyes. He was growing up way to fast. Some days she wished that Tobas and Charin were a little bit older and then she could send them to day-care too.
She came back to the present and realised that Dave was talking to her. "I am sorry Dave can you repeat that?"
"I said how are you managing? Do you need any help today?"
"I may need some help after lunch, so that I can try and have a rest."
"I will try and come over at lunch time to help then. I'm sure I can whip up something for lunch."
"Thank you Dave, but John has said that he will be back for lunch, so you may want to come a bit later."
"It's really no problem Teyla, I'm sure that John wouldn't mind lunch cooked for him."
"Okay then, I will see you at about 1300 hours and thank you Dave."
Just then Torren came out of his room with his bag, "I'm ready." He announced.
She watched, as Dave took Torren's hand and led him out the door and now, she felt truly alone.
Luckily for her, the twins had drifted off to sleep, she knew that she had a short period of time before she had to feed them again, so she got ready to take them for their check-up.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
John arrived in the gate room at 09:30 hours, and he was excited to be going through the gate again. The briefing with Woolsey had finished fifteen minutes ago and Rodney had gone to his lab, so he knew that he'd be waiting for him for a while, but he'd no idea where Ronon was. He knew that it was only a mission to check out some ancient ruins, but it had been so long since he'd been off world that anything was exciting.
He was staring at the stargate when someone came up behind him and slapped him on the back, causing him to fall forward. Luckily, he was able to stop himself from falling flat on his face; that would have been so embarrassing.
"Hey Sheppard, how are you doing?"
"I'm fine thanks Chewie, but can you give me some warning next time, so that I don't end up flat on my face."
"Sorry," Ronon replied with a smirk on his face.
They didn't have to wait to long for Rodney to appear and he wasn't happy when he reached them.
"If anyone touches anything they shouldn't while I'm gone, I'm going to kill them, or better yet maybe I'll get you to shoot them Conon!" he was in a full-blown rant by the time he had finished.
"What's happened now McKay?" John asked rolling his eyes.
"The idiots who call themselves scientists have been messing around with ancient devices again and I'm not happy."
"Well the quicker we get going, the quicker we get back and you can supervise your minions again." John suggested.
John managed to suppress a laugh as Ronon rolled his eyes at Rodney, "Sheppard's right McKay it's time to get going."
When Rodney nodded John turned around and made the signal for Chuck to dial the gate. He stood watching the chevrons light up and bounced on the soles of his feet in anticipation of what was to come.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teyla entered the infirmary for the twins' check-up and she was relieved to find that Jennifer was already waiting for her.
Teyla took a breath and smiled at Jennifer, "good morning Dr Keller, how are you this morning?"
"I'm well thank you Teyla, how are you doing now that John has gone back to work?"
"I have managed to get from my apartment to the infirmary without too much trouble, but I have no idea how the rest of the day will go." She said with a chuckle.
"Well if you need any help give me a call and Carson or I may be able to come and help you." Jennifer suggested.
"I will keep that in mind, but can you please give Tobias and Charin their check-ups, because they will be screaming to be fed before too long."
"Alright, who are we looking at first?"
Teyla carefully got Charin out of the pusher. She appeared to be waking up, so it was a good bet that she would need to be fed soon. "Do you mind if I feed her when she has had her check-up."
"No go right ahead, if you need to stay and change their diapers, you can do it here as well."
Teyla sat holding her breath as Jennifer, weighed Charin. She was really hoping that she'd put on enough weight. Jennifer had told her early on, if she wasn't satisfied with the weight gain of Tobias and Charin. They would probably have to supplement the breast milk with formula.
"She's looking well, I'm happy with her weight gain and I think that you should be able to start her on some solids within a few weeks, just mashed up vegetables and pureed fruit for now."
"Thankyou Jennifer, I will feed her and change her while you check Tobias out."
Teyla started to feed Charin while Jennifer checked Tobias out, he was still half asleep, so he didn't really know what was going on.
"He is doing well Teyla, again you can start giving him some solids in a few weeks as well."
"Thankyou Jennifer, may I stay here and finish feeding them?"
"Stay for as long as you need. I'm about to finish my shift, but if you need anything before you go Carson is on duty."
She nodded as Jennifer left the room. Now she was alone again, but for the moment she had to focus on the task of feeding, maybe I'll take them for a walk and sit on the east pier for a while, before I head back to the apartment. She smiled at the thought, maybe that would keep her busy until Charin and Tobias needed to be fed again.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
John stepped through the Stargate to a beautifully sunny day, but he knew that it wouldn't last long, as there were storm clouds on the horizon. Turning around he watched as Rodney came through the gate followed by Ronon.
"I think we may only have a few hours, as I want to get back to Atlantis, before we get caught in a storm." John informed Rodney.
He stared at Rodney expecting him to say something, but luckily he kept his mouth shut, "okay let's get going. Ronon can you take point; I'll take our six and Rodney you walk in between."
"Really Sheppard, we're just going to look at some ancient ruins, what could possibly go wrong?" Rodney said rolling his eyes.
Before John had a chance to reply Ronon turned to look at Rodney, "just do as he says McKay. You should know by now that anything can happen at any time."
John almost laughed, when Rodney shrank back from Ronon, it was almost as if he was afraid for his life.
"Let's get going Chewie, Rodney can you let him know what way to go?"
It wasn't long before they were heading down a well-worn path towards the ruins. The view around them was rather dull, there was just woodlands for as far as he could see. He assumed that the ruins were up ahead someplace, but where was anybody's guess."
They had been walking for an hour when he tripped over an exceptionally large rock. "Hey McKay, how much further to the ruins?" He asked with impatience.
Rodney turned to look at him, "I have no idea, hopefully we won't have to walk much longer, as I am really beginning to get tired and I really should eat soon, so my hypoglycaemia doesn't play up."
He looked up and the sky and saw that the storm clouds were almost over head, the last thing he needed was to get stuck in a storm today. "You know what Rodney, as you have no idea where these ruins are, we should head back before we get stuck in a storm!"
"Just ten more minutes and if we haven't found them by then, we can turn around and come back another day with a jumper?" Rodney pleaded.
"Hey Sheppard, why didn't we bring a jumper in the first place?" Ronon asked casually.
John wasn't happy, so he just glared at him, "because McKay said that he knew where the ruins were and that it wouldn't be more than half an hour walk!"
"I'm sorry, but that is what the ancient data base said." Rodney informed him.
John scowled at him, "okay, we will walk for another ten minutes and if we can't find anything by then, we will head back to the gate. Now turn around and get moving or I will have Ronon shoot you!"
Luckily, McKay turned around and started walking again, because he would have loved nothing more than to have Ronon shoot him. This was his first mission back on duty and it was turning out to be a total waste of time and he wasn't happy about it.
They walked along in silence for another five minutes and all the while Rodney was muttering about something. He was about to say something when the wind picked up and loud clap of thunder roared across the sky. A few seconds later the rain began to pour down in torrents.
"That's it we're going back!" John snapped, as he stormed off ahead of Ronon and McKay.
He was so furious with Rodney right now that he didn't see a tree branch lying in the path until the last minute. Vaguely he heard Rodney shouting at him, so he tried to avoid the branch and twisted his ankle in the process. He managed to trip over it anyway and before he'd had a chance to get his hands out, his head connected with an extremely sharp rock. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a flash of lightening lighting up the sky.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney watched as John stormed off, he knew that his team leader wasn't happy with him and probably had every right to be. He hadn't done the proper research before suggesting this mission to Sheppard. If he had they would be in a jumper right now all cosy and warm.
He knew that he should go after Sheppard, so he started to follow him, and it wasn't long before he saw a large tree branch lying in the middle off the path. He was watching Sheppard and he was convinced that there was no way that he had seen it, so he started yelling at him. John didn't seem to hear because the next thing he saw was Sheppard tripping over it.
He was frozen to the spot and couldn't move for a moment. He started to move towards his injured friend, but Ronon was quicker and covered the distance in no time.
"How is he?" Rodney asked, as he watched Ronon bending down beside Sheppard.
"He's unconscious and I think he will probably have a concussion, looking at the size of the bump and cut on his head."
Rodney was feeling upset and guilty about what had happened, "Oh my God, Teyla is going to kill us."
"I will handle Teyla, but we really need to get him out of the rain and back to Atlantis." Ronon informed him.
"Yes okay, let's do that. How are we going to do it?" He asked in a panicked tone.
"I will have to carry him, but let's get going now, because I'm sick of being wet!" Ronon growled.
He watched as Ronon gently picked Sheppard up and he was worried at the fact that John didn't even make a sound, as Ronon began to walk back towards the gate in the torrential rain. The path was getting muddier with every step they took, and Rodney was worried that Ronon was going to slip and drop Sheppard; then Teyla would really be angry with them.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teyla looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was 1300 hours already. After leaving the infirmary she had taken the twins down to the east pier for a while. Luckily for her they had slept the entire time she had been on her walk. She had just finished feeding them again, so now they were laying on a blanket in the middle of the floor playing with some toys.
Dave was due any minute and she was looking forward to having some company. She was happy that she had managed quite well by herself that morning, but she was also glad that Dave had offered to help her for the afternoon.
She was startled out of her reflection, by the sound of the door chime. She wandered over to the door and opened it and she was happy to see that Dave was there with a parcel of food.
"Come in Dave, I am glad to see that you have brought some food with you?"
"I've brought enough for John as well, is he back yet?"
"Now I have not heard from him yet. Perhaps I will contact Mr Woolsey and see if he has heard from the team."
She tapped her earpiece, "Teyla to Woolsey, come in please?"
"Go ahead Teyla?"
"Have you heard from John yet?"
"No, I haven't, but there not due to check in for another twenty minutes."
"Will you let me know when you hear from him?"
"I'll let you know as soon as I do Woolsey out."
"Thank you, Mr Woolsey, Teyla out."
"He has not heard anything from them yet. Their check-in is not for another twenty minutes."
"Well why don't we eat and then we can keep what's left over in the fridge for John?" Dave suggested.
She looked over at the twins and realised that they had drifted off to sleep, so it seemed as good as time as any to have lunch and what was even better was that she had some adult company to enjoy it with.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Rodney continued to stumble down the path. It was as black as night and the rain hadn't let up, in fact it seemed to have gotten heavier. He stopped and looked behind him to make sure that Ronon was still following him. Sheppard still hadn't regained consciousness, so Ronon was still carrying him.
He waited for Ronon to catch up and when he did, he was distressed by what he saw. Sheppard had a large bump on his forehead as well as a gash that was still bleeding slowly and his ankle was so swollen that he wondered if they were ever going to get his boot off.
"Let's keep going McKay, surely it can't be too much longer to the gate." Ronon muttered.
"I think it's just over that hill."
They walked on in silence; the only sound was the sound of the pouring rain which continued to pound against their faces.
Ten minutes later Rodney saw the most magnificent sight he had ever seen; the stargate. Picking up his pace, he arrived a few seconds before Ronon did and the first thing he did was look for the DHD and to his horror it had been completely obliterated.
TBC…
I'm sorry I had to put in an evil cliff hanger, as I haven't had one for a while. I would still like to cover Teyla and John's honeymoon and the double wedding in this story, so there will still be a few more chapters to come yet.