Chapter 9: Stalled.
Present time.
Somewhere in the Pegasus galaxy
Atlantis coming to a holt interrupted his memories and at that moment he wished that he had his earpiece, so that he could find out what was going on. But Keller had taken it from him when she'd relieved him of duty – not just for his sake, but for the sake of his family.
Sighing he let his eyes wander to the scene in front of him, it hadn't really changed since he'd stepped foot on the balcony. Looking at his watch he realised that they had only been travelling for around five minutes, which meant he'd been standing on this balcony for the last twenty-five minutes, trying to find the words that he needed to say to the woman he loved – the words he needed to say to his son. He'd given T.J half an hour with his mother, so in five minutes he had to go in and see her and he still had no idea what he was going to say.
Rather than focus on the fact that Atlantis had stalled – someone would tell him what had happened sooner or later – or that he desperately needed to talk to the woman he loved, he thought back to the time after Ronon and Amelia had left Atlantis and although he'd been happy for his friends, it had still been a difficult time for him.
Once Amelia and Ronon had left he'd felt an immense sense of loss. He was still gravely injured from the mudslide, and he had a long road to recovery ahead of him. A week after Ronon had left Jennifer had given him the all-clear to return to light duty and he no longer had to use a wheelchair – as long as he used his crutches.
But sitting in his office all day doing mind-numbing paperwork was even more boring than it had been before his accident. Ronon had visited once or twice during his recovery time and had even set a wedding date. Luckily, it wasn't to take place until after he had regained his health. He and Teyla had also planned their bonding ceremony during that time and in the end, Ronon and Amelia's and his and Teyla's wedding were to take part within a few days of one another.
His injuries did heal in a much quicker time frame than Keller had expected. By the time he was ready for active duty he was feeling fitter and stronger than he had in a long time.
It was decided that he and Lorne would share the administrative duties of Atlantis and they would both be able to go off-world. He was still the leader of the expiation and Lorne was still the military commander, but their roles became different the minute he had been put back on active duty.
Someone clearing their throat caused him to look up and he soon realised that they still weren't moving.
Turning around he was surprised to see that Col Lorne was standing behind him.
"What can I do for you, Lorne?"
"Sorry to disturb you General, but Dr McKay wanted me to tell you not to worry about the fact that we've stopped."
He nodded his head expecting that Lorne would go away, but it was obvious his 2IC had something else to say, "is there something else Colonel?"
"Yes sir, Torren is almost finished with Teyla and Jennifer says that you have five minutes until she wants you inside."
"Thank you, Lorne." He said as he turned back to look at the mesmerizing view.
It was strange that he couldn't take his eyes off the view in front of him. Usually standing around and staring at anything for half an hour was enough to make him go stir-crazy, but not today. He had so much to think about and he found staring at the never-ending nothingness of space soothed his troubled soul.
He heard Lorne's footsteps fading away, just as a shooting star shot across the sky. He'd never seen shooting stars in space before, but now was a good time to make a wish, right now he had so many wishes, the main one being that Teyla would be okay.
Perhaps when he went back inside all would be well and Teyla would look up at him with the strength he had always expected of her, the strength she had lost along the way. She would look at him with her beautiful brown eyes and tell him that all was well and that he had nothing to worry about.
A tear ran down his cheek and he tried to wipe it away, just as Rodney came up behind him and he knew it was Rodney because he was loud and annoying as always.
"Hey Sheppard, I just want to let you know that we should be underway within the next hour, and I think that we should be able to make it to the nebula without stalling again.
"Thanks for letting me know McKay." He said without turning around.
He honestly didn't have the strength in him to tease Rodney about the fact that he said 'I think' rather than telling him it was certain that Atlantis would be moving in the next hour.
Rodney didn't seem to want to go, so he turned around and stared at his friend hoping that he'd just leave.
"Look John I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what McKay?" He asked although he had a fairly good idea what his friend was going to say and as usual the last thing, he needed right now was to get all touchy-feely with his friend.
"I'm sorry about Teyla. I mean if there is anything I can do to help just let me know."
"Not your fault McKay, so if you can just leave me alone a bit longer, I'll go in and see her and once I've seen her, I'll come to the control room."
"You know you don't have to do that."
"Yes, I do McKay. I need to be working right now."
"I'm not sure Jennifer or Carson will let you do it."
"Don't worry, McKay, I'll deal with them; you just get back to fixing Atlantis?"
"I'll leave you to it then. I'll just be inside trying to get Atlantis moving again."
"You do that McKay and I'll see you later."
Turning back to look into space, he suddenly felt dizzy and had to hold onto the railing, so he didn't fall. He knew he'd been pushing himself and he barely slept these days, but he needed to stay strong for Teyla and his family. Perhaps when they made it to the nebula, he'd take the time to have a decent rest, but until then he had to keep going.
Staring into the black abyss again he smiled when he thought of his promotion ceremony and his wedding, these were two of the happiest days of his life, until that point…
TBC…