DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, or these characters; I just borrow them.

Weathering the Storm Part 9

With Dr. Weir incapacitated the burden of leadership fell on Major John Sheppard. It was just one more reason that he wished Elizabeth was not lying on the floor of the control room. But for the most part he just hated the fact that she got hurt at all. With the storm still raging outside the city, there was not much to be done besides make sure those injured were treated, and that the non-injured kept themselves that way. John picked himself up off the floor and trudged slowly over to Aiden and Dr. Beckett. This action was two-fold: to help those that he could, and to get his mind off of those that he couldn't.

Once he had determined that Carson was feeling a little bit better, and that Aiden was doing all he could to keep the doctor awake. Major Sheppard walked over to Teyla and the other Athosians in order to determine what he could do to help out. He knew that saying in one place for too long would drive him insane; therefore even the most meaningless tasks would help calm him. And meaningless task they found, he thought wryly as he helped Teyla and the children drag various sleeping equipment down to the gate room floor. As he was walking down the stairs with an armful of pilfered sleeping equipment, a rouge sleeping bag started to wiggle lose of his grip. Luckily John was only a few steps away from the bottom, or he would have been added to the list of those injured. The sleeping back fell from his arm, and as John could not see his feet he did not notice the squishy object until his foot stepped on it. The change in traction caused John to tumble face-forward. The only thing saving him was the other sleeping equipment as it padded his fall; however the other sleeping bags and pillows did nothing to help his bruised pride.

The sound of chuckling, and then full out laughter reached his ears, and he turned to see the traitorous Teyla and a group of giggling children. Teyla hurried over to see if she could help and tried to curtail her bouts of laughter. "Major …snigger …are you okay?" Teyla asked. The tears in her eyes were a dead give away however, and as she offered her hand to help John up, he grabbed her and pulled her down into the array of bedding. This was what they needed, John thought. The laughter would do them all good; he just wished they weren't laughing at him. Oh well, he thought, we can't get everything. He let loose, and joined in the laughter.

The commotion brought Lieutenant Ford to the edge of the stairs, and as he looked over the railing he noticed a heap of bedding containing a downed John and Teyla. "Is everything okay down there?" Aiden asked with a questioning voice that betrayed his humor in the situation.

"Everything is fine, Aiden," Teyla shouted upward as she deftly stood up. Rather than offer her hand to help John up, she leaned over him and grabbed the blanket that was under him. As she stood back up she tugged at the blanket; John was flipped over and his face landed in a nearby pillow.

John quickly sat up, and when he noticed Teyla start to turn around to look back at him he was ready for his payback.

Teyla started to turn back to glance at the Major, wanting to see the confused look that she knew would be gracing his face. She did not get a chance to see John at all. The only thing she did see was a pillow flying straight toward her before it slammed into her face.

Aiden who was still watching from above was graced with Sora's presence as she came over to see what was going on. Aiden spoke down to John as he heard Sora's laughter beside him, "Sir, I don't think that was such a good idea."

"Why not?" John said while turning around to glance up at his second-in-command. That turn was his downfall, and he felt an impact to the back of his head. John quickly turned around to see an Athosian ready to fight. However her fighting sticks were replaced with a pillow. "Oh we want to fight do we," John said as he stood up and grabbed the closest pillow he could find. The Athosian teenagers watched in amazement as the two adults started to act as rowdy toddlers.

Twelve minutes later the three children and the two not-so adults were finished placing the bedding in a reasonable fashion. John was glad that the pillows were not made with feathers as he did not want to have to sweep up the mess that would have resulted from the brutal pillow fight between himself and Teyla. He watched the caring look on Teyla face as she helped the teenagers settle down for a much needed rest. Once the hunters were comfortably lying down, John and Teyla walked back up the stairs, away from the humor, and back toward the horror of the day.

Sora was still standing near the railing when John and Teyla reached the top. They could both see the envious glance that she shown down on the trio, and the fun that the group had earlier. Teyla moved off to join Sora, while Major Sheppard went to join Aiden and the doctor. They were settled back on the far wall and holding a conversation. John could tell from the laughing after they would glance at him that they were talking about him

John settled down next to Aiden and Carson, and after asking how everything was, he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He did not open them until he heard a yelp from Sora, followed by an indignant, "That hurt!"

Teyla and Sora were across the room with the contents of a first-aid kit sprawled between them. He noticed the alcohol bottle in Teyla's hand, and an almost gleeful look from the yelp that she caused. "Well if you would clean and bandage your own wound that would not have happened." Teyla replied back.

"Well if you wouldn't have cut me where I cannot reach to bandage it, then it would have been no problem."

"Well if you would not have started the fight in the first place, we wouldn't be worried about bandages now would we?"

"Well if you…" Sora was at a lost on how to continue as she was still trying to put the blame she felt about her father's death were it belonged, and away from Teyla.

John started to chuckle to himself and turned to the others near him to see if either Aiden or Carson were picturing the scene from Disney's © The Beauty and the Beast.

Aiden laughed, "I'm surprised that you've watched a Disney movie. Let alone watched one so many times that you have a whole scene memorized."

"My cousin made me watch it whenever I was around. It was her favorite." John replied.

"She can out fight a grown man who has had military training. That is sad. Very sad, John," Aiden replied. He and the doctor both sniggered at the man in front on them who was starting to turn a perplexing shade of pink.

"She had these huge green eyes and a bottom lip that would start to quiver if you would even think about saying no. I doubt you would have been able to say no either. And beside it was the only way I could get to her to like me."

"She bribed you. That is too funny." Aiden teased.

"It wasn't that. I just had to remind her how the movie ended because she thought…" he mumbled the next few words so that his comrades could not hear him and make fun of him even more.

"What was that?" Dr. Beckett spoke up for the first time throughout this conversation. "He is making the injured party start to wonder if he is having hearing problems as a result of the blow to his head." Carson snidely directed to Aiden.

"I said," he said loud enough so that Sora and Teyla turned their attention toward the three men. He quieted down when he noticed the others staring and continued, "I had to remind her that the beast turned out to be nice at the end." He paused but continued before anyone could ask him why, hoping that the jumbled words would not make scene, "she thoughtIwasthebeast."

"She thought you were the beast," Aiden chuckle got louder. He fought his laughter in order to get the next thought out of his mind and into words. But as the image it brought to mind was so amusing, he could only gasp out his question between breathes "Did she ever try to… do your hair like they did to him when they were getting him ready for dinner?... You know …the one with the curls." John's complexion turning bright red was the only answer that the two men needed, and they started a full out belly laugh.

Dr. Beckett was the first one to stop laughing, as the sound was making the pounding in his skull worse. He thought about the funny scene that the previous image conjured in him head, and chuckled. At the same time he wondered how Aiden knew about that scene. "How did you know about that scene in the movie? Unless you had also watched it."

Aiden stopped laughing, and glared at the doctor. He was starting to regret the fact that Carson was staying lucid and talking again. With the embarrassment that was showing on John's face, he would not have come to the realization if it wasn't for the doctor's question. "Yeah, how did you know about that scene, huh?" John asked. The redness in John's checks seemed to be leaving at the same rate that it was appearing on Aiden's.

The minor bantering continued for the next hour or so, and was brought to a halt when a sliver of sunlight started to peek through the storm clouds. John knew that this was only the calm from the eye of the storm, which would be followed by another intense waiting period before storm finally abated. John stood up and walked over to the computer console that Dr. McKay was lying next to.

He punched in the buttons that were needed to dial the up Manara. Once the connection was made, he radioed over to the MALP that he knew would still be stationed near the gate. It was placed there so that the orders could be relayed to signal if and when it was safe to return to the city; however John had other ideas about how this transmission was to play out. "This is Major Sheppard. Come in."

The static responded back for only a few seconds before the crackle of the radio signaled use on the other end. "This is Lieutenant Winters. What can I do for you Major," a young boyish voice responded.

"I need to speak with Sergeant Bates on a secure channel," John commanded, as he did not want to panic those off world about a situation that they could do nothing about.

This time the pause lasted for a few minutes before the tell-tale voice of the Sergeant came through. "The line is secure. What's the status of the city," he asked hoping that the damage was kept to a minimum.

"The shield came on line, but there is still going to be some damage. But that isn't why I'm contacting you." He took a deep breath as he continued to plan out his next statement, "I need you to organize a party to come back when the storm is over consisting of military, and several of the medical staff. We have some injuries here. We need to get these people help, and we also need to check out the city to determine if it is structurally safe for the rest of the expedition to return or not"

"Request to bring back an injured Athosian with us, sir?" Bates asked.

"How were they injured?" Sheppard asked knowing that Bates would only request to bring an additional person back if their injury was not just superficial.

"He got drunk and fell onto a sharp object. The wound has bled quite a bit. The doctor here thinks that he could use a blood transfusion to be on the safe side." He went on with the story of the ramblings of the drunken injured man. "Granted the mixture of the booze and blood lose went straight to his head. He kept going on about his life being threatened and being forced to open the gate to Atlantis. We checked out the gate though and asked around, and it was determined that the gate was only activated by a group that the Manarian government trades with."

"So that was how they got in here." John stated to those in the control room. He remembered the time when Cowen mentioned that the Genii were once a part of a large federation of planets. At the time he did not think that those other worlds were still in contact with them, but it made sense seeing that the Genii came from Manara and their tracks were covered up. "Shit," he said as he smacked the edge of the control panel. Those around him looked up, but he did not give them his attention as he still needed to let Bates know what was going on. He needed to know that they could not trust the Mararian people as far as they could throw them, and John knew that his anger would help propel them for a very far distance. He pushed the button to connect back to Sergeant Bates, "No, he was telling the truth. Bring him back with you. I'd like to talk to him once he's stable. Most of the injuries here were caused by the infiltration of a Genii attack force." Major Sheppard informed the Sergeant.

"I'm really sorry, sir. Those we talked to did not seem duplicitous. We'll keep a sharp eye out for any odd movements from the government or their 'trading partners'." Bates paused as a sickening realization came to him as he realized why Dr. Weir would not be the one contacting him, "How badly was Dr. Weir injured?"

John was touched at how well those from the expedition knew the actions of their leader. "She has a stab wound to her shoulder. She collapsed earlier from the loss of blood and the exertion from the day's events." Major Sheppard decided to explain the rest of the injuries so that the medical team would know what they were dealing with. "Dr. McKay was also stabbed in him arm, and went into hypoglycemic shock. Dr. Beckett possibly has a concussion, and others have various bumps and bruises." John did not want to go into details yet about their Genii 'guest'.

"I'll let the medical team know what they need to prepare for, and I'll also prep my men. Is there anything else that I need to know, sir?" Bates asked.

"I think that's about it," John said marveling at the fact that the days events were just condensed into a five minute conversation. "I'll radio when the storm is completely over. Major Sheppard out." John clicked off the radio, shut down the gate, and looked out the nearest window. He sneered at the sunshine as he knew what it hid. It reminded him of the people from Manara. While he did coerce them into their help, he did not image for one minute that they would cause the amount of pain and destruction that they did. They were simple farmers for God's sake, but behind that helpful exterior lay a dark and sinister interior; the same with the Genii. The next time Teyla mentioned that she wanted to introduce them to a simple farming community, he would be ready he thought cynically.

It was as if John's thought controlled the weather. His darkening mood, both at the Manarian people and at himself for not seeing their deceit, mirrored the darkening sky. John would have continued to watch the fury that the darkening sky brought with it; however his awareness was brought back to the control room as he tried to distinguish the new sound that he was hearing.

(Sorry—good stopping place)