Chapter Three: Life as Normal, or Close Enough to it
It had been days since they had arrived on Atlantis and already life was as normal as it could be expected to be. Everyone was assigned to different tasks and teams had already begun forming and setting out off-world.
Danica had been chosen as a part of SGA-4, Michelle's team. Her team hadn't been sent off-world yet, thankfully because Danica had been busy with a team of scientists investigating parts of the city that had been deemed safe by the first explore teams. Through this team work she had already become friends with many of the other scientists and even the head doctor, Carson Beckett. She had also had the unfortunate pleasure of working with a truly distasteful man, Doctor Kavanagh, the man with the unstylish ponytail and the attitude problem that she had met the first day at the window near the balcony.
Overall Danica enjoyed her days on Atlantis, but at night it was cold and creepy and she found herself missing home and her sister a lot. She often spent nights laying in bed looking over at her nightstand where a picture of her family sat. Her family had been happy and together back then, before her mom had passed away. Since then things had gotten crazy between them. For a long time the family had disbanded, except for Sam and her who were inseparable. It wasn't until Sam had told her and Mark, her brother, that their father was dying that she even began talking to her father again. From there things only managed to get stranger as her father announced that he would blend with a symbote named Selmak. Danica couldn't help but laugh when she thought of this story, in any other life this would have been a ludicrous idea that would be lucky to fly in a science fiction novel, but then again she was sleeping in a bed, presumably not slept in since the ancients had left thousands of years ago, in the lost city of Atlantis. Thus was the life of Danica Carter, strange and surreal in an oddly comforting way.
After awhile of laying awake remembering long lost memories of her family the fatigue of the day's events would finally show up, and she'd fall asleep, only to wake up and do it all again the next day.
One morning after waking up Danica made her normal morning rounds to the mess hall to get a cup of coffee, then off to the infirmary to say hi to Carson, and then back to her lab to work on some reports that had been laid on her desk while she was away.
As she walked into her lab she was surprised to see someone in there waiting for her.
"Good morning, what can I do for you?" She asked kindly as she set her cup down.
"My name is Doctor Rodney McKay, chief scientist on this expedition." The man said frankly.
She extended her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Doctor McKay, I've heard many good things about you." She said, which was somewhat of a lie. Already Doctor McKay had a reputation for being rather arrogant and lacking basic people skills, and that was only what she'd heard from her sister.
"Yes, yes, yes, that's all fine and well, but I don't have all day for mindless chatter. I came to see what field you study in and what research team you'd been assigned to." He said ignoring her outstretched hand.
Apparently this rumor was mostly based on facts, Danica thought. "I'm an anthropologist, and I've been working with research team two for the time being until my off-world team is allowed to go, well, off-world." She said.
"Well, good for you." He said shortly, and with that he left.
"He might actually be rather cute if he didn't have such a terrible attitude." Danica said to herself as she grabbed her coffee.
"Who's cute?" Michelle asked catching Danica off guard and nearly causing her to drop her coffee.
"Geese you scared me!" Danica said trying to regain a normal heartbeat.
"Yea, I seem to be good at that, not tell me, who's cute?" Michelle asked again as she hopped up onto the table.
"Oh, no one important. I was just making a bit of an observation." Danica said.
Michelle just nodded, not pressing the issue. "What say you and I do something productive today, like convincing Mom to let us go on a mission?" Michelle asked. Already she had given Doctor Wier the nickname of Mom, simply as a term of endearment, or at least that's what Danica had convinced herself.
"I don't know, I'm sure Doctor Wier is pretty busy, and I've got some work that could get done here." Danica said wearily.
"Just for one second could you put the scientist in you aside and act like a soldier in an unexplored galaxy? You realize that's where we are? Imagine it, you could find an uninhabited planet and call it Geektopia." Michelle said playfully.
"Yea, that's the way to convince someone, call them a geek." Danica said shaking her head.
"You are a geek, the sooner you accept it the better off you'll be. Now come on, what say we go explore, boldly go where no man has gone before." Michelle said with a laugh.
Danica couldn't help but laugh at her friend's attempt to persuade her. "Yea, alright, let's go." She said giving up.
"That's the spirit! Just apply that attitude when convincing Wier and we'll be out of here in no time!" Michelle said herding Danica out the door.
Finally, after walking through the maze that was the city, Danica and Michelle ended up in Wier's office.
Michelle knocked on the door. "Doctor Wier, may we have a word with you?" She asked.
Wier looked up from her desk and nodded. "Of course, come in." She said closing the file she was reading. "What can I do for you?" She asked after Michelle and Danica sat down.
"Well Ma'am, it's been a week since my team has been formed and we have yet to go on a mission. I'd like to request permission to be given one." Michelle said.
"We don't mind what sort of mission, any will do, just that it would be nice to get out there and start exploring." Danica said.
Michelle turned to her, rather shocked at her statement, considering five minutes ago she had to force her to come along.
"I believe that can be arranged. We'll get something worked up for you, report here tomorrow morning and we'll send you out." Wier said making a note to herself.
"Thank you Ma'am." Michelle said standing up.
"Yes, thank you." Danica added, standing up as well, and with that the two women left.
"I'm going to work out a bit, get ready for tomorrow." Michelle said. "You're welcome to join me." She invited.
"Thanks, but I have some things I ought to get done in the lab." Danica said.
Michelle shrugged. "Your loss, you work too hard, you're so taking a day off soon." She said.
"We'll see." Danica said with a cheeky grin. "Besides, I'm a scientist, I'm supposed to work a lot." She added.
"If you say so." Michelle said as she walked off towards the training room.
Danica shook her head and walked off towards her lab. She was nearly there when Doctor McKay caught up with her.
"Carter!" McKay yelled, getting her attention.
Danica turned around. "Yes Sir?" She asked kindly.
"I have some artifacts that SGA-2 brought back that need to be researched. Do you have time to do that?" He asked.
"Absolutely Sir." She said. For some unknown reason Danica was beginning to see how cute the Doctor was, even if his personality hindered it a bit.
"Excellent, are you OK with working in my lab?" He asked.
"Of course, Sir." She said.
"Sir is not necessary." He said as they walked off towards his lab.
"Alright." Danica said fighting her urge to say Sir.
"Carter, you know I knew quite the amazing woman with the name of Carter. If you worked with the SGC you've probably met her, Samantha Carter, brilliant woman." McKay said as they walked.
Danica fought to hide her disinterest in the subject, too often had she been told how amazing her sister was. "Yes Sir, I've met her. She's a nice woman." She replied.
"Ah, we're here." Rodney said as he walked into his lab. Danica followed him. "The artifacts are all here, and here are empty files to be filled out for all of them." He said laying out a pile of folders.
Danica grabbed a file and got to work without another word.
"I'm going to the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee, would you like me to bring you one back?" Rodney asked.
"Yes, please." Danica said, not looking up from the artifact.
He turned around and left, leaving Danica alone in the lab. She wasn't alone for long, however. As she was studying an artifact someone walked in and startled her. She nearly cried as she watched the artifact break into little pieces as she dropped it.
"Oh geese! I didn't mean to scare you! I was just looking for McKay." The man said.
Danica picked up the pieces. "It's no fault of yours, Sir. I've got butter fingers, and I'm rather jumpy around here." She said.
The man, whom Danica had recognized as Major Sheppard, smiled. "Aren't we all? So, Dr. McKay, is he around?" He asked.
"He went to get coffee, Sir." Danica said looking at the pile of pieces that laid on the table.
"That's no shock. I suppose he'll be back soon. If I won't be a distraction to you I'll just wait here." He said.
"Absolutely, Sir, it wouldn't bother me any." She said kindly. She had heard many fellow females discuss how attractive Major Sheppard was, and she could see where they were coming from, but she was more interested in Doctor McKay for reasons unknown to even herself.
Danica set the pieces asides, vowing she'd get out some glue later and put it back together so she could read what the writing said.
Soon after Danica began working on the next artifact Rodney walked in with two cups of coffee. He sat one down next to Danica and turned to Major Sheppard.
"Ah, Sheppard, nice to see you. What can I do for you?" Rodney asked.
"Elizabeth wants you to start running tests on the ships we found. She'd like them to be fully operational as soon as possible." Sheppard said.
Rodney nodded, and just at a glance he noticed the broken artifact. He turned to Danica. "What did you do? I leave for five minutes and you break something?" He asked angrily.
"I…well...I…" Danica stuttered, trying to think of the right words to explain the mishap.
"Get off her back Rodney, she didn't break it, I did. I leaned on the desk and accidentally hit it. It's no big deal though, she said she could fix it, so no harm done." Sheppard said.
Rodney shook his head. "You're destructive, Sheppard." He said.
John shrugged. "What can I say?" He asked. "I'll see you later, don't forget to work on the ships, I'd like to get them flying asap." He added, and with that he turned around and walked away.
Danica cleared her throat. "I'll be right back." She said going out to the hall. "Major Sheppard." She called trying to catch up.
Sheppard stopped and turned back towards her. "Lieutenant, what can I do for you?" He asked.
"You didn't have to do that back there." Danica said.
"It's no big deal, no one likes watching McKay berate someone." Sheppard said shrugging it off.
"Either way, I owe you, Sir." Danica said.
"We'll see." Sheppard said turning around and walking away.