Chapter 2: Second Chances
John walked around the cold room, looking at all the scientists studying different pieces of what General O'Neill had called "alien technology" he could hear a man with a Scottish accent explaining the particulars of what he had done mere minutes earlier and he followed the voice.
"The second I shut my eyes I could see it, I just felt this power I've never had before, it was dancing across the sky…" he heard the man explain with a chuckle "it was magical, really it was…"
"I don't know where it come from, I just tried to concentrate, and the drone shut itself down" John finally saw him as he rounded the corner to see the man in the blue jacket standing by a large chair.
"So you were the one?" John asked, and the man turned to him with wide eyes.
"Me?" he asked
"You were the one that fired that thing at me" he said stepping up onto the platform, the man looked at him somewhat in fear of his tone.
He couldn't stress to john enough how sorry he was, and upon seeing this john forgave him in an instant wondering what was going on down here, it was all so very confusing. The man started to explain to him about the ancients, and about a random gene found in some humans that enabled them to operate ancient technology. John slowly wondered in a circle around the chair as the man explained, and he slowly lowered himself into it.
"Major please don't" he said moving quickly towards him.
"Oh come on, what are the odds of me having the same gene as these guys?" he sad brushing off his worry and leaning back in the chair.
Within and instant the entire platform lit up and the chair reclined, and john froze, gripping tightly at the handles.
"Quite slim actually" the man said with his mouth hanging open.
"DR. WEIR!" he called. "Don't move" he ordered him before he ran away.
John was left for a moment with his own thoughts and fears of what was happening, wondering what he had gotten himself into this time, but what pushed to the forefront of that was the name the man had called as he ran off. Dr Weir. He wondered, could it be her, could it be the girl he had loved so many years ago, the face full of tears he had never been able to forget.
Within the span of a minute he came running back, followed by many others, and it was then that he saw her.
Just as beautiful as he remembered, her dark hair still as rich as it had been though much shorter and straighter than all those years before, she was dressed in a deep red jacket and looked at him for a moment, as all the other men stepped ahead of her.
"Who is this?" she asked, and his heart had momentarily crushed, she didn't remember him.
"I told you not to touch anything" General O'Neill said and john stuttered, tearing his eyes away from her.
"I-I just sat down"
The whole moment was a bit overwhelming, he imagined where they were in the solar system, and it appeared before there eyes in a beautiful hologram suspended in the air. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was smiling, not her full blown one, but it was gorgeous all the same.
She asked him to go with her, on this expedition to another galaxy, never in a million years would he think she would be asking him this, or anything for that matter, she looked at him with those big deep green eyes, and he found it difficult to say no, though every time he looked at her he was reminded of that day behind the grandstand, when he was in the position to help her and he couldn't do it.
He felt ashamed that he couldn't help the person he had loved the most in the world, ashamed of what she would think of him if she ever found out. But here she was, asking him, him of all people to follow her to another world, on an amazing adventure, and her eyes sparkled with excitement.
General O'Neill, practically ordered him to go, and he knew that he was right, it was an amazing opportunity, but he was afraid.
He wasn't afraid of the distant galaxy, of the endless black and foreign stars, he wasn't afraid of all the possible dangers that he would no doubt face. No. he was afraid of one thing and one thing only. Elizabeth.
He was afraid of it all happening again, of being there, of seeing her in danger all over again, and being powerless to stop it.
He couldn't face it; he couldn't face her, after all these years and she didn't even recognise him, but he couldn't bare it.
But here he is, at the base of the stairs with Carson behind him, and Elizabeth ahead of them addressing the entire expedition team, with her head high and her voice strong.
He was really going, really taking that step if only to be that little bit closer to her after so many years of wondering what had happened to her.
They arrived on Atlantis and he followed her everywhere, he watched over her, there were plenty of other military officers to explore, his job was to watch over her.
Not everything was smooth sailing, and he felt stupid to ever think it would be, because as soon as they stepped through the gate, the power levels started to drop, they called back the security teams and they tried all sorts of ways to channel the power but nothing worked, the city was dying, and they were going to drown.
Elizabeth ordered them in search of safe harbour, or better yet, another power source, though john had no intention of leaving, not if she was intending to stay.
"Major I'd like you to go with them" Damn, he thought, as she gave him that order, if only she hadn't asked, if she hadn't asked, he wouldn't have had to leave her there. But he gathered himself, and he prepared himself to take that step. Waving to her as he left, he stepped through the gate again.
He met the Athosian people, Teyla and Halling, and his son Jinto, Teyla explained about the beings called wraiths, a powerful and formidable enemy, and he felt his skin crawl at their mere description.
Teyla walked him to the old ruins, though all he thought about on their journey was Elizabeth, was she alright, was he taking too long.
As they headed back to the village John heard lieutenant ford over the radio, that there were multiple bogies headed in their direction. He and Teyla immediately broke into a run, she was faster, leaping and bounding over rocks and fallen logs, as he scrambled his way desperately trying to keep up with her.
They were all around him, he could feel them, he could see their silhouettes moving in the mist, strange and terrifying figures playing with his eyes and he stopped, he raised his weapon, but he couldn't figure out where to fire.
His eyes widened as Teyla returned to him, spreading the shadows as she went, stating "the wraith make you see things that are not there"
And they were running again, he told Colonel Sumner to fire on the ships, and to his knowledge he did, regardless of the mans dislike of him.
Many of Teyla's people were killed, and many more taken to be fed upon, it was a horrifying thought. Colonel Sumner, Bates, Teyla and Halling were all taken. John found Jinto on the beach by some Wraith wreckage as a wraith arm crawled along the ground on its own.
For a moment he didn't know what to do, the place was in ruins, the people were shattered and John was in way over his head. Then he looked into the eyes of that frightened young boy, and he did what he knew was right.
They gathered the remaining people at the gate, and he took them back to Atlantis, he saw Elizabeth as she ran down the stairs to him, the city was shaking and rumbling, and she looked absolutely terrified.
"Major Sheppard, who are all these people?" she asked angrily
"Survivors from the settlement, we were attacked; Sumner and some of our men were taken…what's going on?"
She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards her.
"We are in no position to help anyone right now" she said in a low voice.
"What the hell's going on here?" he asked looking up at the ceiling, and the walls shaking.
"We are about the abandon the city" she stated, and he looked down into her eyes.
"Going back there is a really bad idea"
"Major Sheppard the shield is about the fail and the ocean is about to come crashing in on us, do you have a better place for us to go?" she asked and he could see the genuine fear in her eyes.
Quickly he turned around.
"Jinto, do you know of any other addresses we can gate to?" he asked.
"Yes, many" he answered.
John grabbed Jinto by the arm and they ran for the stairs, Elizabeth was sceptical, but he pushed on. John turned around suddenly, dropping to his knees as the entire city shook with an amazing force, he saw behind him as Elizabeth fell backwards onto the floor, her legs flying in the air before she hit the ground but he found it necessary to stay and hold Jinto to the stairs. He was relieved as he saw Lieutenant Ford hold Elizabeth on her feet, as the great city began to rise.
"We're moving!" he shouted as they could see the water rushing over the windows. Boxes fell and people staggered to stay on their feet.
"I'm Dialling and address" they heard Grodin in the control room.
"NO WAIT!" Elizabeth screamed, and he did.
The massive city exploded out of the surface of the ocean, great monolithic towers rose as beams of sunlight shot through the patchwork windows showering the massive room in all sorts of marvellous colours.
Once the city finally came to a stop, it was on the surface of the ocean, water trickled down the windows as people looked out over the endless expanse of sea.
John watched Elizabeth as she slowly made her way up the stairs, starring out the window in awe as they all were.
"I was hoping for another day…"she breathed out "looks like we just got a whole lot more than that, lets not waste it" she said and John smiled.
He wasn't going to waste it. This was his second chance, new city, new galaxy, new terrors, and the same Elizabeth. It was his chance to make it right.
She may not remember him; she may not remember the young boy who followed her around at school, who was too afraid to speak to her, too afraid to help her when she needed it the most. But he was different now, he was older, stronger, and more confident, some would even say cocky, and he wanted nothing more than to help her see him this time.
Please R&R