Weir faced the two Thack'eeryn leaders seated in her office.
"Mayor informed our people that our stay with the Parcinese is permanent. It was a mutual agreement. We also understand that it's for the best. Such a ship in the hands of the Wraith is too frightening to contemplate." Head of the Advisory Body shifted in his chair. His feet barely touch the floor. "He also relayed that the Dr. Macaw saved his life. We're forever in your debt, Dr. Weir."
Elizabeth stifled her amusement. No matter how many times she politely exaggerated Rodney's last name, they stuck with calling him a parrot. Fitting somehow. "Yes, well, we'll extend your thanks to Dr. Mc-KAY. This was not the ideal first contact scenario, but all things considered, it turned out well."
Mayor, whose feet also dangled, spoke next, "The Parcinese are a very gracious people and immediately showed us their temples. Ancestors be praised for leaving such structures as this city and the Pavilions." Mayor smiled before continuing, "I watched your people in a great time of distress and how they conducted themselves. I welcome an alliance."
Weir returned their words with her own genuine smile. "Thank you, so would we. I guess we'll be in touch after your people are settled. We have constant contact with Parcini so we'll be talking very soon."
Everyone stood up and walked to the Control Room. "Please tell the Lt. Col. Sheppard and all who are on his team, thank you. It doesn't seem enough." Mayor grabbed his companion by the arm and directed him down the grand staircase.
Weir motioned for the Canadian Gate technician to dial it up before she followed them. "Tell Chief Elder Mirandau hello. We look forward to our next meeting."
The two men nodded back and stepped through the event horizon.
"If Mayor of the Thack'eeryn is shortened to Mayor, I wonder if they just call him Head?" She quietly wondered. Weir shook her head and decided she did not want an answer- ever.
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"So, are you going to explain why you're so moody?" Rodney asked as he pulled a candy bar from his pocket.
Ronon flicked him in the back of the head before he started to open it.
"Ow! What?" Rodney howled while fumbling with the confection.
Teyla's pinched expression stopped any further comments. "I thought that we needed to talk and…"
Obviously, her expression did not stop the comments for long. "Can we talk somewhere else than the landing pad? If Caldwell finds out we're here, with the mood he's in, he might hurry the ship up so he can land it on our heads, especially Sheppard's."
Sheppard stood up. "Point taken. We can sit over there," he said pointing to some folding chairs others had left on the pier.
Once they settled, Teyla started again, "I wanted to relate my own experience. As you know, Orodi could read minds, but he could not read mine. He, however, could manipulate it. He made the Colonel and I relive a traumatic day from our past." She paused and looked at Sheppard. He chose to remain on the deck instead of sitting in a chair like the rest of them. "He…It was the death of my intended. I believe you call them fiancés. I do not think it reveals too much that Col. Sheppard had a similar experience."
Sheppard's eyes focused on the deck. He nodded in agreement after a short wait.
"The problem I am having- and this maybe true for you as well- I feel like it just happened."
Sheppard's head bobbed up and down before he added, "Like yesterday, or this morning, or five minutes ago…" He spoke directly to the deck. The reflection of sun returned his glare.
"I know it is today, yet my mind cannot accept his death is in the past. We have to reconcile these old injuries afresh. It is not easy." She looked at each face except for Sheppard. The now familiar crown of his head looked back at her. "But, I believe we are family of sorts. Mine is all gone. I have my people, but since we depend on each other on missions, should we not when one or more of us needs help?" Teyla once again looked at each person. With Charin recently mourned, her team took on a greater importance than before. Funny what one figures out in the heat of battle.
Sheppard's eyes left the mesmerizing view of the floor only to cut her a sideways glare.
"This could all have been avoided you know," said McKay between bites.
This time, Sheppard's head shot up fixing McKay with a hard, fierce look.
Rodney returned it with a withering glare of his own. "I'm not talking about the console. I think he rigged that to awaken him if any Ancients boarded the ship. I don't think the Solar Tempest even knew about it. But, that's pure speculation." He rolled his eyes and sighed all in the same breath. "What I mean is: why couldn't Moab show up and take down Orodi before any of this happened? I know he hid himself from his people, but once the ship powered up…I would have loved to look at her fold engines and how she moved so effortlessly…instant transmission anywhere in the Universe…the seamless integration of technology and biology…" Rodney's eyes focused on a point billions of light years away.
"McKay," reminded Ronon and poked him in the side.
"Ouch, what…oh yeah. Once the ship powered up, she knew what was going on. You said so in your report Ronon; you thought her mission was the neutralization of Orodi."
"What're you getting at McKay?" Sheppard asked coolly.
"Why wait until the Wraith boarded the ship and you were a charcoal briquette in Sparky to come to the rescue? From what I've read and heard, you didn't choose to sit in the chair. He forced you. She could have stepped in anytime, but she helped us first."
Sheppard's mouth opened and closed. He looked at each face in the group. As much as Sheppard looked a loss of words, Ronon appeared to put two and two together to equal four.
"Freewill," Ronon stated out of the blue.
"What? Freewill?" McKay barked incredulously. "Didn't you hear me say, 'didn't choose to sit in the chair'?"
Sheppard's head tilted to the side and his eyes focused on a point billions of light years in the opposite direction of McKay's. "He's right."
"Do you both have brain damage? Do I need to call Carson?"
"I didn't choose to sit in the chair. I did choose to fire on the Wraith. It was a conscious decision and the only one I thought I had at the time." Sheppard continued to stare off center. "I couldn't let the Wraith just have the ship."
Light bulbs exploded around Rodney, "Of course," he smacked his head. "Time's linear flow."
Teyla listened intently as they talked. It was more than they had done in the three days of returning. It was somewhat off topic, but there was communication again. Her strange little family was healing, in its round about way.
Rodney continued, "She followed the path of least resistance. She let the natural order take its course and waited for her moment to intervene. She plotted out the best outcome."
"Apparently, she chose well," Ronon added. "Here we are."
"Yes, yes, but not without scars," Rodney countered. He gave Sheppard and Teyla an almost sympathetic look- as close as he was going to get anyway.
She looked back down at the crown. Her second subject for nightmares tapered at that moment because she succeeded in that mission. There was the crown of unruly hair answering McKay.
"The thing about scars, McKay, they heal. They leave reminders, but they do fade," Sheppard said with an appreciative look. "My experience was similar to Teyla's. My little outburst…"
McKay stared incredulously at him, again, as did Ronon.
"OK, my complete and utter collapse into a quivering mass of blubbering ooze…"
McKay, Ronon, and Teyla nodded with knowing smiles. The humor masking the hurt and the embarrassment returned, but receded with the next statement.
"…is because I never grieved properly. With time, the sting will lessen like it did the first time. Along with it, the moodiness." He gave Teyla a quick sideways smile before he looked back at Rodney. "Just be patient, if you can."
"I am not the one who has been moody," defended Teyla.
"Puh-leeese," exaggerated Rodney, "I asked for the ketchup at breakfast and thought you were going to break my hand when you passed it to me." He emphasized it by rubbing the offended appendage.
"The bruises on my arms from this morning's sparring say differently too," Ronon slid in quietly.
"As I said, we are family. I should have expected this. You have turned into annoying, petty, squabbling siblings."
"I'm not petty…arrogant…yes…can't help that when you're me. I'm working on the good with people thing." Rodney looked at the confused faces around him. "What? Never mind. If all else fails with this dysfunctional "family"…" He actually made air quotation marks. "We can contact these Old Ones…to dissolve this partnership." His voice trailed off at the end of the statement and then he completely stopped.
Sheppard and Ronon's heads turned quickly towards him.
"Does that sound familiar to anyone else?"
Teyla shook her head as Ronon and John nodded theirs.
"Did the ship seem familiar to anybody else?" Sheppard asked.
All three shook their heads.
"Just me then."
"But, Moab was cryptic about meeting you," pondered Rodney. They sat for a moment in silence.
"I doubt we'll ever have a complete answer," concluded John while looking up at the big blue sky. "An ambiguous puzzle."
"It seems John; we now have all the time in the world to figure it out." Teyla stood up. The others followed her lead.
She had chosen her words carefully. The simple request for help played on his fierce loyalty and (just as fierce) need to do what was right. Dr. Heightmeyer knew what Orodi used against him, but Teyla knew how to get the necessary response to move forward. This little conversation was a good start.
Moab also knew- calling him John the Shepherd was not a mistake and quite appropriate. She knew his role on Atlantis. He tended the flock, as did Dr. Weir and herself. His sole purpose at times was to help and to protect. It defined his actions and his reasoning.
Dr. Heightmeyer knew this as well. Maybe Teyla was not as clever as she thought. Manipulated- again. Anger rose within her for one second and then twisted into appreciation the next. Kate was a sneaky one. Teyla did her job for her. Kate knew she could get past the defensiveness easier and the rest of the team would be blunt. Rodney's voice brought her back to the conversation.
"Well, until the Universe needs saving again," speculated Rodney as they walked back towards the spires of Atlantis.
"Or, dinner to eat," supplemented Ronon casually.
Sheppard checked his watch. "Dinner it is then."
The Universe can wait, thought Teyla as the group passed through the entrance to the city. Quickest way to ease a man's mind is through his stomach. And, for certain males, it was football. She had one last trick up her sleeve. It was time to remind them of the Hail Mary, because everyone needs reminders of why the journey is taken every once in a while.
Plus, while they re-watched the video, she could practice making her tuttle root soup on a captive audience. Had to be in the slicing of the root; or the compilation of the stock; or…she would figure it out. If they complained, she could gain sympathy with the moody card again.
"Oh, an armament officer sent word that 200 drones mysteriously appeared in the stock room," Sheppard offhandedly said. "Guess Moab cleaned house before she left."
Rodney's eyes glistened with desire. "Cool. Those could come in handy. On a side note, has anyone seen the Jumper we took to the planet? I was going to schedule it for maintenance, but it's missing from the list."
Teyla lowered her head and peeked at Sheppard as he swallowed.
"Well, Rodney, about that…"
When John finished, there was an ominous silence.
Until McKay answered:
"I told you she was a spy."
"I wouldn't talk, bottom of the ocean ring a bell?"
"She probably sabotaged that one too."
"Two words McKay: Illudium Phosdex." Sheppard grinned wickedly.
Teyla rolled her eyes- childish, squabbling siblings.
But, they were all hers.
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A/N: Well, Gopher has taken the bags. Hope it wasn't too sappy or easy…there's always the next story to explore. The little plot bunnies are already nibbling viciously on the next one. They demand Isaac be allowed in the A/N's of it. They too love his White Russians and Mojitos. Thanks for all the reviews and to all who read, it makes a girl giddy. Please feel free to leave feedback on the story as a whole..