The Strange Case of the Missing Pertew...
Part One
(If you haven't read my short fic Story Time I recommend you do before reading this)
now betaed as of 6/16/06 thanks to angw. thanks hun.
John Sheppard tried not to smile as he practically bounced down the hallway. He was more excited, than Ronon got at the prospect of a good fight, and that was saying something.
It had finally arrived two days ago. An item that was worth all the trouble he'd gone through to obtain it.
Hell, it was even worth the embarrassment John had endured at the hands of McKay when the nosy scientist had caught him inspecting the unique gift. John had since bribed his friend into silence under the threat of unleashing Lt. Cadman on him.
John bathed in the memory. Rodney had shut up faster than you could blink.
Now he just had to hope and pray it would brighten up Teyla's already lovely face. It was hard to believe how long he'd struggled with what to get her.
John had tried to think of the perfect gift for days, but nothing seemed good enough for this occasion. Then one day it had hit him...literally.
Bent over, lacing his boots, his door chimed.
John lifted his head, almost succeeding in knocking himself out on one very large, very heavy, technical manual. It had been sitting precariously on the edge of his nightstand.
Elizabeth had "suggested" he read it two months ago. Sadly, he just hadn't found the time yet. John cringed at the thought of trying to understand even a fraction of quantum mechanics or whatnot.
The book had, however, knocked some sense into him. It had sparked a pleasant memory of a nice evening he'd spent with the beautiful Athosian. She'd told him a moving story about a group of animals called the Pertew, and therein had been the solution to his problem.
The perfect gift for the perfect woman. Down boy. Just friends. Remember. He reminded himself sadly.
John glanced at his watch as he entered his room. Still two hours left. Plenty of time to get this wrapped. Of course John's version of wrapping was quite liberal. Too bad there wasn't an abundance of newspaper on Atlantis. So the brown, soft paper that Rodney had lying around his lab for protecting some of the more delicate instruments would have to do.
John got on his knees and reached under his bed, dragging out a small box. He sat Indian style and placed the box on his lap.
He still couldn't believe how well that woman had done with his special request. All he'd been able to do was doodle the image, that lived in his imagination, on a piece of notebook paper and the seamstress had created a masterpiece. Then there was the embroidery. She'd gotten the spelling perfect, John could barely squelch his excitement, Teyla had to love it.
He sighed and shook off the butterflies that were dancing in his stomach.
Get to it John.
Stretching far to his left, Sheppard grabbed the brown "wrapping" paper and set it next to him. He then carefully opened the box and his heart stopped.
His perfect gift was gone.
end part one
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