This chapter is really two chapters but seeing as nothing happens in between them I thought I might as well put both up. Lorne is back in the next chapter, I promise. Please review! Hope you like it.
John sighed and made his way up the main stairs of Atlantis from the gate area to the control room. Elizabeth Weir was waiting for him at the top with a smile on her face.
"Colonel", she said nodding her head in greeting.
He sighed again. "You rang?" he said, pointing to his earpiece.
"Yes. I need you to head down to the Jumper bay." She replied.
John gave her a look of disgust and sighed for the third time. "Again?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I've been down there twice this morning already. I think I might end up sleeping in the damn place." Elizabeth ignored his last comment.
"Dr. Beckett needs someone to fly out to the mainland with some more equipment for Eryn." John gave her a puzzled look. "The pregnant Athosian woman."
"Ah. Her." John said, looking uncomfortable at the prospect of being around someone so hormonal.
"Yes. Her. Carson say's she'll be having her first baby very soon." Elizabeth said, smiling to herself at the look on John's face.
"And you need me to do it because….?" John groaned.
"Because I'm asking you to." Weir replied with the tone all too familiar with all members of the expedition. She had a way of saying things cheerfully but in a way that means 'you're not gonna win this one'. And John Sheppard knew this argument was a lost cause.
"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll do it." He said, defeated.
"Good. Carson's equipment's already down there waiting for you. Have a safe trip." She said, with an amused expression, as the Colonel slumped his shoulders in defeat and made his way back down the stairs.
oOo
Sheppard circled around the village in the Puddle Jumper he had managed to make off with while Zelenka was distracted. There would be hell to pay from the Czech when he got back, but John was sure a quiet word from Elizabeth would keep Radek sweet. It was common knowledge that pretty much anything Elizabeth said to Zelenka kept him sweet. For several hours.
He spotted the Jumper that Beckett had parked just outside the village and saw that the doctor was waiting for him. He landed the craft smoothly and opened the rear hatch.
"Hello again, Colonel Sheppard."
"Carson." John nodded in greeting. "Hope I brought everything you need."
"Aye, it looks like it." Carson replied with a broad smile, while looking around at the cargo in the ship. He gestured at it. "Any chance you could help me shift this lot to the village then, Colonel?"
John sighed. He knew it would hurt like hell to carry the stuff after the hammering he got from Teyla that morning. But, somewhere in the village, a woman was about to pop out her first kid, and he knew that right now, she was more important than a few extra pulled muscles. He lifted the heaviest-looking one onto his shoulders; the last thing he needed was for Carson to get injured as well. Despite Beckett's bulk, the thing on Sheppard's back was damn heavy, so John doubted the doctor could manage it. And Beckett was, on occasion, a bit of a wet blanket when it came to hard graft. He liked to leave that to the marines.
Carson picked up a laptop and a medical bag, and the two men exited the ship.
"So what did Rodney say about you stealing another one of his precious Jumpers?" Carson asked, grinning mischievously. Both Beckett and Sheppard liked nothing more than to wind up McKay.
"Uh, not a lot, actually." John replied, wincing slightly at the discovery of another bruise. "He's working on something else right now. Some sort of power failure in a restricted part of Atlantis. It was Zelenka I had to watch out for."
"Oh well, Radek's hissy fits aren't as bad as Rodney's." Carson said, smiling. No one's hissy fits were as bad as Rodney's.
"I'm not so sure about that, have you heard those two arguing? They bicker like a couple of girls!" John replied, remembering the last time he had witnessed the two men having a dispute. Rodney had looked ready to chew Zelenka's head off, and Radek was yelling at high speed in Czech. It didn't take a brilliant scientist to work out the gist of what he was saying. John had therefore made a hasty retreat. As had most of the science team.
"Aye, well, I've heard you and Rodney having a good go at each other too, Colonel." Carson teased. "You pair can bring on a headache as well, you know."
John opened his mouth to say something sarcastic in reply when he spotted Ronon running towards them. Not that he was difficult to spot, the guy was huge. John raised his hand to wave, but then noticed Ronon's expression. Ronon Dex was not one for showing much emotion and rarely changed his facial expressions, but this was one of those rare occasions. Ronon looked concerned.
"Dr. Beckett!" He called, catching up to them. He wasn't even out of breath. "Teyla sent me to find you. The pregnant woman's in a lot of pain, she's been yelling a hell of a lot. You can hear her from the other side of the village."
Carson paled slightly and started running in the direction of the Athosian camp, followed closely by Ronon. John thought about groaning but realised that now was not an appropriate time. If Beckett was worried then it was definitely something to be concerned about. He shifted the weight on his shoulders and jogged after the men.