Standing in the shadows at the back of the control room Troy watched as Elizabeth spoke with the Wraith known as Michael. He'd known this day and the events that followed were coming since he'd first arrived several weeks ago. It was the actions that took place over the next couple of days that would lead to the eventual downfall of Earth.
Troy had been hoping that Rodney would have finished the generator and sent him home before the Wraith Hive ship showed up, but unfortunately seeing the Wraith as the bigger problem getting Troy back to his time period had been pushed to the back burner until after the Wraith had been dealt with.
The longer he was there the more and more he became tempted to tell his family what was about to happen. Logically he knew that he had no right to mess with the timeline, that he should just let things play out the way they were supposed to and yet at the same time he knew that Jamas had been right – his way of going about it may have been wrong, but not the idea – this was the chance to end a war before it had the chance to start.
Feeling frustrated by his conflicting emotions Troy pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against and silently left the control room headed for the gym. He needed to clear his head and working out had always been a way for him to do that.
Several hours later John entered the gym intent on clearing his own head. This whole alliance with the Wraith had him on edge and he needed to sort through his thoughts before he left on the Daedalus for the trial run of the retrovirus against another Hive ship. Finding Troy there John hesitated a moment, not sure if his presence would be welcome. Even though things had been improving between Troy and Elizabeth they had remained almost hostile between him and Troy.
"You just gonna stand there all day or what?" Troy questioned not stopping the complex looking moves he was doing with his staff.
"I don't suppose if I were to ask how this whole thing with the Wraith plays out, you'd give me an answer?" John spoke hoping to cover his surprise over the fact that Troy had actually spoken to him.
Troy didn't answer verbally just halted what he'd been doing and put the staff back with the others. Grabbing the water bottle off the bench by the window he took a long drink then made to leave the room.
"Wait," John moved to block his path. Uncertainly he held up one of his fighting sticks. "I could use a sparing partner and you look like you can hold your own."
For a minute Troy just stood there silently, then seeming to make up his mind he turned around and tossing the water bottle back on the bench he grabbed an extra pair of fighting sticks. Taking a ready stance he carefully adjust his grip, not as used to or as comfortable with the smaller fighting sticks as he was with the longer staff. Nodding John moved over to the sparing mat and just barely had the chance to get into his own ready stance before Troy took a shot at him.
It didn't take long for John to figure out that this was more than a simple friendly sparing match. Troy wasn't holding back with his hits, the younger man was out for blood. After blocking another powerful hit that had him wincing from the painful vibrations it sent through his arms John pushed off of Troy putting distance between them.
"What'd I do to make you so angry at me?" John, figuring this was probably the best chance he was going to get to get some answers, questioned. He made sure to keep just far enough away that Troy couldn't take a good shot at him.
"Why do you care?" Troy swung at John.
John was able to just deflect the swing, "I care because I'm your father and I think I have the right to know why I'm such a terrible father." Troy didn't answer just took another hard crack at John. Wincing as the shot winged his shoulder John took a shot of his own. "Deep down you hate my guts and I wanna know why."
"It won't change anything." Deflecting John's shot Troy pulled back slightly readjusting his grip on the fighting sticks.
"God you really are my son aren't you? You can be a stubborn bastard just like me when you wanna be."
That got a reaction out of Troy. Dropping his fighting sticks Troy lunged at John, shoving him up against the wall. "I am nothing like you!"
"Hit a nerve did I?" John didn't try to break loose of Troy's hold.
"You're nothing but a selfish bastard." Troy punctuated the statement by punching John hard in the ribs.
The next punch hit John, square in the jaw sending him to the ground. Troy didn't stop, something inside him had snapped and now he was taking out eighteen years worth of pain and anger on John.
At that moment Elizabeth walked into the gym looking for John. She'd wanted to speak with him before he left on the Daedalus and figured he'd be in the gym. Seeing Troy hitting John she quickly rushed over and grabbed the arm Troy had raised ready to strike John again.
"Troy stop!" She ordered as she pulled him off of John. Breathing heavily Troy looked at Elizabeth then down at John. Pulling away from Elizabeth's hold Troy turned and left the gym.
Torn between going after her son and staying to make sure John was ok Elizabeth decided to give Troy a chance to cool off and kneeled down next to John. "You ok?"
"Peachy," John let his head fall back on the floor as he let out a deep sigh. "My son hates my guts and I have no idea why."
"You can't beat yourself up over this John. Whatever the reason it's in the future, which means for us it hasn't happened yet. There's still time for you to change things."
"I just wish I knew what it is that I did to make him hate me so much, so that I can change it." Letting out another sigh John forced himself up to his feet. "I'd better get going the Daedalus will be ready to go soon." He extended a hand to help Elizabeth up.
"Don't give up on him, John. You can still get through to him." Elizabeth leaned up to kiss John's cheek. "He's just being stubborn like his dad."
"Don't let him here you say that. I accused him of the same thing and well…you just walked in on how well that went over." John gave a weak smile as he kissed her forehead, before he left.
Sighing Elizabeth left the gym as well. Deciding it was time she had a chat with her stubborn son.
Sitting on one of the balconies over looking the eastern side of the city Troy carefully held the only picture he had left of his family, it had been taken when he was five at Carson's wedding. This balcony had always been one of his favorites it was the highest balcony in the city and had been the closest thing to flying Troy could get without actually leaving the ground when he was a kid.
He heard the balcony doors open but didn't turn around already knowing who it would be. Standing in the doorway Elizabeth remained silent waiting to see if Troy would acknowledge her or not. After a moment of silence she decided that he wasn't going to make the first move.
"Want to tell me what that was all about?" She moved to sit next to her son who remained silent for several more minutes. She didn't expect to get an answer, but asked anyway on the off chance that he might let his guard down and confide in her.
"Why him?" Troy finally spoke, ignoring Elizabeth's question. "I mean out of all the people in this city you could have fallen in love with, why him? Why not Rodney, or Carson, or hell even Ronon?"
"Honestly I'm not sure I can explain it. There's just something about him that draws me to him." Elizabeth shrugged then fell silent.
"This was always my favorite spot in the whole city. I used to come out here all the time just to get away. I remember coming out here after you..." He trailed off a moment not sure if Rodney had told here anything about what they had talked about.
"Died." Elizabeth couldn't help the involuntary shiver that ran down her back. She didn't know any details but she'd been able to put things together from little hints Troy had let slip here and there.
"Yeah. Anyway I remember sitting her looking out out the view wishing I had wings so that I could fly away from here, escape from all the pain and just be free. Rodney found me here and it was like he could read my mind. Never said a word just took my hand and led me to the Jumper Bay."
"I remember sitting there on his lap, his hands wrapped around mine on the controls, wishing that it never had to end that I could stay up there forever. With Rodney I felt like everything would be ok, that he would always be there for me. Dad tried to be there for me...at first...but he just couldn't deal with me after a while. I think I reminded him too much of you. He took your death and everything that led up to it pretty hard..." He trailed off lost in his memories.
Standing in the cemetery Troy could feel water starting to run down the back of his shirt; the soft misty rain that had started out the day had started to turn into a light drizzle. He'd only been to Earth a few times in his short life but already Troy had decided that he didn't like it very much. The weather was always changing and unpredictable and it was crowded way too crowded for his liking, he didn't understand how anyone could live there. Earth was a nice place to visit but was somewhere Troy hoped he would never have to live - he would take living in Atlantis any day.
Troy still didn't understand why they'd had to come back to Earth to have a funeral for his mom when they'd already spread her ashes over the ocean on Atlantis. All they were doing on Earth was burying an empty box. Kate had tried to explain it to him, that it was so the rest of his mom's friends and family - the ones who lived on Earth and didn't know about the Stargate - could have some closure too.
He glanced up at Rodney who stood next to him one arm wrapped around his shoulders while he held a sleeping three year old Nathan with the other one to see if the rain was starting to bother him too, but the look on Rodney's face told Troy that the man was too preoccupied with other things to notice the rain.
Next Troy looked over at Kate who was standing on his other side, one hand resting on his shoulder fingers intertwined with Rodney's. Seeing the tears in her eyes Troy reached an arm up to wrap around her waist in an attempt to give some comfort. Giving a sad smile she freed her hand from Rodney's and started soothingly running it through Troy's hair before turning her attention back to the podium.
Following her gaze Troy spotted his father, dressed in his dress blues, standing at attention slightly behind and to the side of the President who was standing at the podium giving a speech. That had surprised a lot of people when the President had taken time out of his busy schedule to come pay his respects. Of course those people didn't know about the Stargate at all and therefore had no idea just how important his mom really was; they all just thought that she was an accomplished diplomat.
He could see Carson, Teyla, Ronon, Radek, and a number of other Atlantis personnel scattered about the crowd as well. The crowd was completely silent as the President finished his speech and stepped back from the podium. It surprised Troy when he felt his eyes starting to tear up when the coffin was lowered into the ground - he hadn't thought this would effect him, that he had gotten through all the crying and stuff at the service they'd had for his mom on Atlantis.
Shortly after, the crowd began to move off back to their cars, soon leaving only him and his dad standing by his mother's grave. Not missing the way his dad refused to look at him Troy - not wanting to deal with the odd way his dad had been acting towards him the last few days - decided it was time he left and let his dad have a moment alone. Turning he walked away finding his way over to where Rodney and the others where waiting for him.
Seeing the pain and anguish that filled Troy's eyes Elizabeth nearly felt her heart break. Wishing that she could take all of his pain away and shelter him from every bad thing that had ever happened to him Elizabeth wrapped an arm around Troy's shoulders, pulling him close. The two sat there silently watching the horizon until Elizabeth was called back to work.