Dreams Come True, Chapter 3
John walks out to the kitchen, dressed and freshly showered. The scene that greets him would give anyone warm fuzzies. The boys, dressed in their best clothes, are quietly sitting in front of the TV, watching the old 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' movie that Elizabeth has gotten them addicted to. Marcus is wearing a moss green sweater while Michael is in a blue collared shirt. Elizabeth refuses to dress them the same because she considers it cruel and unusual punishment.
His wife is standing in front of the stove with her back to him. Elizabeth has thrown a short robe over her pajamas and he has a wonderful view of her legs from about mid-thigh down to her bare feet. John walks over and wraps his arms around her waist, careful not to get too close to the hot stove. He nuzzles the back of her neck contentedly.
"You know, Legs, a guy could get used to this."
"What's that?" Elizabeth asks, scooping the finished eggs onto a plate.
"Walking in to the smell of breakfast cooking and his wife barefoot in the - ouch!" The spatula whips out to smack him on the arm, hard.
John takes a few steps back, rubbing his arm and laughing. His wife is advancing on him with spatula still in hand, a mock glare on her face.
"John Alan Sheppard, don't you start –"
John moves forward quickly. Before Elizabeth can defend herself, she finds her right arm pinned behind her by John's left hand. Her left arm is effective immobilized by his right arm wrapped around her middle. There's a wicked glint in his eyes as he dips his head to kiss her. The spatula clatters to the floor. John lets go of her hand and Elizabeth wraps it around his neck.
"Oh. It's just Mommy and Daddy kissing again."
John and Elizabeth look over at the twins without pulling apart.
"Is breakfast ready yet?" asks Michael.
"We're getting kinda hungry," comments Marcus.
"Yes, it's ready. Go sit at the table. Daddy will be out in a minute."
The boys leave and John buries his face in her neck.
"Why do we keep them around again?" he mumbles.
"Because they're our children and we adore them."
"Oh yeah, that."
John gives her a final kiss on the neck before they break apart.
"I'm going to take a shower and get dressed. Go feed your kids. And please don't give them candy canes this early in the morning."
"Who, me?"
"Yes you, you big softie." Elizabeth gives him a quick peck on the cheek as she walks out of the kitchen.
"Whatever you say, boss."
"Don't forget it either," she throws over her shoulder with a grin.
John grabs the scrambled eggs and toast. He puts the food down on the dining room table and the twins jump in like they haven't eaten in days. Twenty minutes later, the boys are back in front of the television and he's finishing up the breakfast dishes.
There's a knock at the front door and John looks at his watch in surprise. Marc is rarely on-time and never early when he comes to visit. His brother-in-law is not supposed to be here for another half hour. John is even more surprised when he opens the door to find Lt. Aiden Ford on his doorstep.
"Lieutenant. What are you doing here?"
The young man doesn't look too sure of that himself, so John waves him into the house.
"Doesn't matter. Come in. Have you eaten breakfast? You remember my kids?"
"Thanks, I ate earlier. Hey kids." The boys wave at Ford from in front of the TV and the lieutenant does a double take. "Should they really be eating candy this early in the morning?"
"Sure. I only gave them the small ones. It's fine...as long as they finish before their mother comes back out, right boys?"
"Yes, Daddy."
"No problem, Daddy."
Michael stuffs the rest of his candy cane in his mouth and John winces. Elizabeth walking out to find him performing the Heimlich maneuver on their son probably isn't the best way to start off Christmas morning. But Michael doesn't seem to be choking or turning blue, so he motions Ford over to the dining room table.
"Won't she notice the mint on their breaths?"
"Hadn't thought of that. Not that it matters. She's a mom. She probably knew from the moment I handed them the candy. It's scary, I tell you."
Ford sits at the table. The guy looks like he could use some caffeine.
"Coffee?"
"Sure, thanks."
John comes back with two cups of coffee. The young lieutenant still looks nervous.
"What can I help you with, Lieutenant?"
"You see Major – I mean Colonel – sorry."
"No problem. It's only been a few weeks since I got promoted to Lt. Colonel. Still not quite used to answering to the new title myself."
"Colonel," Ford starts again. "I'd like if you could answer some questions without asking me why I'm asking the questions."
"I think that's going to depend on the questions. I can't promise anything, but I'll try."
"That's okay, I guess," Ford doesn't quite know where to begin. "How did you and Mrs. Sheppard –"
"Dr. Sheppard," John corrects. He feels that her title is equally, if not more, important than his. There are times when he wonders how a woman as smart as Elizabeth ended up with a goofball like him. She still goes by Dr. Weir at work, but he considers that a good thing. It keeps drunk, love-struck air force cadets from showing up on his doorstep.
"How did you and Dr. Sheppard meet? How did you get here, today?"
"Don't you know most of this already?" John asks with a frown.
"You said you'd try."
"Right. Sorry." John's not sure where Ford is going with this, but starts at the beginning. "Elizabeth and I literally ran into each other at the Air Force Academy. I had just gotten a commendation for that whole Afghanistan fiasco and she was a guest lecturer. I wasn't looking where I was going and we ended up in a heap outside of her lecture hall."
John smiles, remembering that fateful day. He'd actually been ogling one of the students coming out of the lecture hall, which is why he'd backed into Elizabeth. He can still clearly recall how her legs had seemed impossibly long as they laid across his lap. Her skirt had hiked up just enough to show a peek of her garter belt. A garter belt she still has and they pull out on special occasions. It wasn't exactly love at first sight, especially for Elizabeth, but he's nothing if not persistent.
"Anyway, long story short, we were married about six months later on Christmas Day. The twins came embarrassingly close to being born exactly nine months after our honeymoon. Elizabeth got a full time position teaching at the Academy and I got transferred to Cheyenne Mountain. Today is our five year wedding anniversary."
"So we met...?"
"At Cheyenne Mountain where we both work."
"Yeah, that's what I remember too." Ford doesn't sound like he's sure about what he remembers.
"Look, Ford," John says calmly. "I know I said I'd try, but you're starting to sound like you got hit in the head recently. What gives?"
"I just woke up this morning with this feeling that things aren't quite right."
"Anything in particular?"
"Not really. Just everything feels a little wrong."
"I'll tell you what's wrong."
"What?" Ford asks, looking at Sheppard expectantly.
"It's Christmas morning and you're sitting here in my dining room instead of cuddling up to your new wife."
"Oh."
"Oh, is right." John leans back in his chair with a patient smile. "This is just post-wedding gitters. It happens all the time. You'll get over it."
"You think that's it?"
"Definitely."
"Did you get these gitters?"
"Well...no. But that's because I knew what I wanted from the start. It just took six months to convince her."
"Convince who of what?" asks Elizabeth as she walks in from the hallway. "Aiden! What brings you here on Christmas morning?"
Lt. Ford stands and Elizabeth gives him a warm hug before pushing him back down on the chair.
"Sit. I didn't mean to interrupt. I'll just get myself a cup of coffee."
Elizabeth comes back with her own cup of coffee and sits on her husband's lap. John's arms automatically go around her waist. Ford once again has this feeling that, while this seems perfectly normal, it also doesn't seem quite right.
"Are you guys talking about work? I could go into the other room until Marc gets here."
"Nah. We were just talking about post-wedding gitters."
"The colonel says he didn't have any," says Ford. "Is that true?"
"That sounds about right. I don't remember him showing any gitters." Elizabeth grins. "That is until I told him I was pregnant."
John plops his head down on Elizabeth's shoulder with a groan.
"He didn't talk for a full ten minutes. Just sat there with his mouth open staring at me."
Ford starts to laugh and John lifts his head.
"You should have seen me when the doctor told us it was twins!"
All three start to laugh as the boys in question run into the kitchen.
"Mommy!" they say in unison. "Can we..."
Elizabeth stands with her hands in front of her, stopping the boys in their tracks.
"Whatever it is, no. At least not until you wash those sticky fingers. I don't want candy cane fingerprints all over the place."
John mouths "See? Scary." behind her back. Ford tries not laugh.
"I saw that," Elizabeth says as the boys run off to the bathroom.
Ford stands. "I better get going."
John stands to walk him out. Ford goes part way down the front walk, then turns around. John and Elizabeth Sheppard are standing at the front door with their arms around each other. They look comfortable and happy. Ford starts to think that the Colonel was right, it's just post wedding gitters. They just look too right together for this to be wrong.
"Thanks for the talk, Colonel."
"No problem," John responds with a smile. It was definitely a strange conversation, but at least Ford doesn't look so nervous now. "Any time. And bring that wife of yours by sometime for dinner."
"I will. Goodbye Colonel, Dr. Sheppard."
"Merry Christmas, Aiden," says Elizabeth. "And give our best to Teyla."
"I will. Merry Christmas."
The lieutenant walks down to his car and back to his own home, his own wife. The Sheppards go back into their house with John rubbing Elizabeth's bare arms against the chill of a snowy Christmas morning.
TBC...
I'm still not giving any hints as to where I'm going with this, but there's a twisted side of me that's enjoying the confusion I've garnered.
Kudos to anyone who can pick out all the little things that connect this story with the rest of my Conversations Series.