Reminder:
"This is spoken English."
"This is spoken Czech."
This is a thought.

A/N: You may have noticed chapter alternations. You may not have noticed. Basically, I was confusing myself and decided I should update this to match my copy. Many apologies. It won't happen again...

Previously: While offworld (since chapter 43), Radek might have forgotten the most important day of the year. Anna saw this coming. But it's okay. Sheppard's got his back. (Doesn't Sheppard just seem the type to save Christmas…?) Anyway, maybe repairing some mistakes made (such as in chapter 40).


Chapter 51. Veselé Vánoce.

Radek used to take Eliška to the Christmas Market in Prague to see the large Christmas tree there. The last time they did that was when Anna was three, so she probably wouldn't remember it. The tree in Atlantis's mess hall was no comparison for size or beauty, of course. In fact, it was rather small. But it was its own brand of beautiful.

"Veselé Vánoce." *

Radek spun when he heard Doctor Weir's voice, smiling. "Merry Christmas." He was unprepared for what he saw.

Elizabeth looked positively stunning in green, and it was a gorgeous dress besides. Obviously Athosian. He wasn't sure if it was Elizabeth, but he suddenly smelled vanilla in a pine forest. It wasn't her usual rose scent. He swore he only noticed it because it was a bright addition to the pervasive smell of rubbing alcohol and chocolate hanging in Rodney's wake in the labs. He'd gotten used to it, now…

"I, um," he breathed. A moment later, his breath caught up with him. "I think I'm underdressed."

"Oh, no, not everyone is dressing up," Doctor Weir assured him. She stood beside him. "We're just having a small concert. It was an excuse."

He glanced around for Anna, anything to change the subject. He didn't see her. "It's a nice tree."

"Sheppard and Ronon brought it from the mainland. Teyla got together decorations and everyone who cared to celebrate Christmas helped to decorate it. The Athosians seemed to enjoy that tradition very much."

Radek supposed that Anna might have helped. There was a surprising number of gifts all the way around the tree, wrapped in plain paper and tied with ribbons. As he looked closer, he saw there were perhaps hundreds of tiny gifts.

"And I understand that the majority of gift giving for a Czech family is done on Christmas Eve." Elizabeth turned to look at Radek and handed him two small gifts.

Radek looked at the tiny packages. They were each marked with tags, one for Anna and one for him. "Elizabeth, you didn't have to…"

"I didn't," she interrupted. "Gifts from home. The SGC reached out to a couple of charities that give gifts to people whose jobs take them far away from home. We certainly qualify. Your sister sent something, too, I think, but Anna didn't want to go digging. Most people are opening the gifts tomorrow."

"I'll have to send a message to thank her," Radek said. He looked up from the gifts for just a moment. He shouldn't have. When Elizabeth smiled, her eyes sparkled. He found himself smiling unwillingly. "Do you know where Anna is?"

Doctor Weir shook her head as she looked around. "She should have been here by now, though…" She sighed and whispered, "She didn't think that you were coming, so she asked me to spend Christmas Eve with her. She made some sort of dumplings…"

Radek looked down, nodded. He guessed he deserved that.

"She said her mother used to make them a special way at Christmas." Doctor Weir rose slightly on her toes, the way she did when she was unsure how to proceed. "But since you're here, I won't join you."

"No. That's fine," he said, fiddling with the gifts. "Probably better you than me, you know?"

He hadn't really meant that, but she sighed anyway, looking sympathetic.

"Radek?"

Anna's ivory dress shimmered in the lights on the tree. She gripped the neck of her violin in one gloved hand. She didn't look particularly happy to see him. More confused than anything.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say. Thank goodness for holiday greetings. "Veselé Vánoce, miláčku. Vypadáš pěkně." **

She smiled briefly in response, checking her dress for wrinkles as she walked toward them. "I thought you weren't coming." She stood between him and Doctor Weir, smoothing her dress.

"Here I am," Radek said, trying to keep light-hearted. "I couldn't possibly miss Christmas."

Anna seemed to consider that, and smiled a little. "No, I guess not." She leaned to one side, he guessed, to see around him. "I have a solo in Greensleeves."

"I can't wait." Doctor Weir smiled first at Anna, then at Radek.

Colonel Sheppard suddenly stepped up beside Elizabeth. He wasn't dressed in anything formal, nor was he dressed in his usual Atlantis uniform. Radek couldn't recall having ever seen him in a t-shirt and jeans.

"Well, aren't you two lovely ladies?" he said with a smile at both of them. He then looked pointedly at Anna. "I told you Christmas was a season for miracles."

"Yes, miracles." Anna smiled ever so slightly at Radek. "I should go get ready."

Without so much as a goodbye, she scampered away to the open space before the Christmas tree and began tuning her violin. Doctor Brown joined with her flute, and a few others that Radek knew from around Atlantis joined with some other instruments. It would never pass as a legitimate orchestra, but it was a nice idea anyway.

"Shall we sit?" Doctor Weir asked, motioning toward rows of seats where the tables used to be.

Sheppard slid in first, sitting near the end of the row. Elizabeth sat next to him, followed by Radek. A few moments later, Ronon joined by squeezing past all of them to sit at the end of the row next to Colonel Sheppard. No one complained at the discourtesy.

"What's this about again?" Ronon asked after a few seconds of listening to the instruments call notes back and forth.

"It's a holiday that many, many cultures celebrate on Earth," Doctor Weir said. "In fact, I think most of the nations represented here on Atlantis celebrate it in one form or another."

"What's with the tree?" Ronon leaned back and looked at the tree from top to bottom.

Radek took a second look, too. It was covered in ribbon and tinsel. It was topped with an angel and decorated with orbs and light bulbs. Less familiar were the Athosian decorations. Radek had to admit he had no idea what the tree was about.

"I think it was an old Celtic thing? Or maybe a German thing…" Sheppard said.

Ronon conveniently skipped over the Celtic and/or German thing. Maybe he got the feeling the answer to any question was more complicated than what he wanted to commit to at the moment. "And what does that have to do with the holiday?"

"I don't know. It looks nice?" Sheppard glared at Ronon for half a moment before turning his eyes back on the musicians.

No wonder Ronon didn't talk much.

Radek turned back to the tree, though. He would have said something similar. And it did look nice. He probably would have said everything he knew about the tree, relevant or not. He wondered what sort of pine tree this was. The first Pegasus Christmas tree.

"May I have everyone's attention?" Doctor Brown spoke up after the instruments quieted down. Radek wondered if Rodney should have been here. "Thank you all for coming. Most of you know me, Doctor Katie Brown. I work in the botany department. Doctor Lewis Adams, from medical. Sergeants Brian Sobelowski and Elise Jung. Anna Zelenková." She made a short bow. "Thank you."

Quiet applause came up from the crowd until the musicians raised their instruments. Radek recognized virtually all the songs as traditional carols and other seasonal tunes. On the whole, it wasn't awful, but every one of their musicians overtly spent their time on other pursuits. Even Anna.

The Atlantis mess was no Carnegie Hall. But that didn't mean it wasn't enjoyable.

Radek recognized most of the traditional carols, but there were quite a few he didn't recognize. He paid special attention to the solo during Greensleeves, wondering if it was wrong of him to think that Anna's playing was just a bit better than everyone else's.

Probably not wrong. Just incorrect.

The concert ended with a rousing rendition of "Joy to the World" and a round of applause.

"She played very well," Doctor Weir said over their clapping. "She's been practicing all week."

He couldn't believe he almost missed it. It wasn't as if he had the excuse of another galaxy these days. Of course, he was on another planet. Most people would take that as a reasonable excuse.

The applause died away and the crowd went to go talk to the musicians. Radek stayed back. Anna would come for him when she was ready. Radek sidestepped around the chairs to Colonel Sheppard. He and Ronon talked about the gift-exchanging part of Christmas until Radek arrived on the scene.

They both looked at him like he was some foreign object.

"I wanted to make sure to thank you, Colonel," Radek said.

"Oh. You know, I'm thinking of renaming Jumper 3, 'Santa's Sled.' What do you think?"

Radek thought that Sheppard could probably get away with calling any of them anything he wanted. He got away with naming the whole batch of them puddle jumpers, and no one complained even though Radek couldn't think of a stranger name for them.

Sheppard grinned when Radek didn't have an answer, and saved him from having to. "It's Christmas, and the Stargate is open three-hundred sixty-five days a year."

"You don't know how many concerts I missed," Radek mumbled. He looked over to Anna. She was talking to one of the computer scientists, pantomiming playing her violin for her. She looked… well, actually happy.

If only Christmas could last forever.

"All the more important you don't miss this one."

Colonel Sheppard understood. More than Rodney, or probably almost anyone. Probably including Radek. He sometimes envied Sheppard's undeniable intellect that sometimes told Rodney what was what… as well as his easy manner around people.

"Anna told me that she thought Christmas was about forgiveness, so…" Sheppard shrugged. "Maybe she'll forget about all those other ones."

He smirked, unsure where the connection was. "Christmas is a day for miracles. Right."

Sheppard smiled suddenly when Anna approached. "Hey, you sounded great."

"Thank you." Anna's face was flushed, her smile broad. "It's been a long time since I performed like that. Playing for the Athosians is so much easier. Sometimes I think they aren't listening because they're too busy dancing…"

Sheppard shrugged. "Well, under the scrutiny of people who know close to nothing about music, yours stands up. Veselé Vánoce, Anna, Radek." He started to walk away.

"Uh…" Ronon looked after Sheppard. "Merry Christmas." He said it like a question, probably wondering what in the world Sheppard had just said to them.

"Merry Christmas, Ronon," Anna said back. She was smiling, but Radek didn't know at what, so he decided to leave it. Colonel Sheppard said she'd grow out of her girlish crush on Ronon. For the moment, he was content to believe that. But what he wouldn't give to get her off Atlantis for a few days. Maybe she'd forget about it faster that way.

"You played beautifully, miláčku."

"Thank you," she said. "I didn't think you'd have time for Christmas this year." She looked a little ashamed. "Or that you'd remember. Sorry."

Of course, she was right. He didn't remember. He should have corrected her. But he didn't.

"I'm sorry I don't have a present for you," he said, handing her the small package from Elizabeth.

"I don't have a present for you, either," Anna said.

They started walking back to their quarters. It was Christmas… he really should give her something special, shouldn't he? Something she really wanted…

"I made dumplings," she said. "Mom's recipe."

"It's been years…" He didn't want to say it had been years since he celebrated Christmas. It was, but that was beside the point. There didn't really seem to be a reason to celebrate, when there was no one to celebrate with. Years of Christmases came and went. The only thing to mark their passing was the letters he sent to Anna, the infrequent gifts, because he had no idea what to get a ten-year-old girl. A twelve-year-old. Thirteen.

Now he had no idea what to get a fifteen-year-old. Nothing ever changed.

"I had a thought," he said, before thinking things through completely. "I'll be going back to the outpost on the day after Christmas…"

Anna interrupted, giving him just enough time to second-guess his upcoming offer. "I know. It's okay; you're very busy."

"Yes, that's true. But the outpost is very safe…" For the most part. Never mind they were dealing with a huge weapon and even bigger energy yields. But he and Rodney were both on the job. Things weren't going to go too terribly. Especially if she stayed right next to him the whole time… "Would you like to come? We will be running a test. It should be interesting to watch."

He watched her eyes light up. He wasn't going to regret this, was he?

"Can I? I would love to see the outpost. Is it really Ancient?"

He nodded. "It is." He was going to regret this. On the other hand, no man on his deathbed wished he'd spent more time at the office. Wasn't that the saying? He had to spend time at the office. The really miraculous thing was that his daughter actually wanted to be there, too. He should take advantage of that. Few were so lucky.

Plenty were unfortunate enough to have missed Christmas entirely. "Would that be a sufficient Christmas gift?"

Anna laughed. "It would be wonderful! Thank you!"

"Good." He paused outside their door. Anna waved it open. "Merry Christmas, then."

"Merry Christmas," Anna said back. She trotted into the room. She'd been busy, apparently having gotten food from the hunters on the mainland. True to her word, dumplings were involved. "Elizabeth will be here any minute."

Radek had almost forgotten, but the reminder gave him plenty of time to contemplate his anxiety. Of course, he wanted her to share Christmas dinner with them. But, then again, of course, he didn't. "Oh, yes," he managed. "Good. Is there enough for all three of us?"

Anna looked at the spread before them. "I think so."

It wouldn't be a feast, for sure. But that wasn't what Christmas was about.

#

Radek changed into what Anna assumed was his most formal attire. Or, at least, something close. A long sleeve white shirt, navy tie. He'd looked completely out of place standing in the doorway to his room.

"What do you think?" he'd asked.

He didn't take it very well when Anna just giggled and nodded. It didn't matter because the door rang a second later. Anna skipped across the room, the first to the door. Of course, it didn't seem like Radek was taking it as any kind of race. He went back to the table they'd set together with three places. White plates that Anna had borrowed from the mess hall. They were plastic, but what did she want out of Christmas Eve in another galaxy?

"Veselé Vánoce," Elizabeth said when the door opened. "Thank you for inviting me, Anna."

Anna stepped aside so Elizabeth could come in. "Thank you for offering to spend Christmas Eve with me." Because, well, it struck Anna as slightly out-of-character for Radek to be here in the first place. But today was the day for out-of-character, because he was wearing a suit and tie. It was more like a funeral than Christmas. But she and Elizabeth were dressed formally, too, so it might have been strange for him to be dressed so differently.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor Weir." Radek motioned to their small table.

Three place settings somehow managed to squeeze into the tiny space. Anna smiled and pointed toward the long counter. There were fruits and a salad, compliments of Doctor Brown in botany. Anna only had to ask nicely and Doctor Brown seemed pleased to accommodate. The little Pegasus chicken wouldn't give any leftovers, and Anna hadn't actually cooked it herself. Lots of Atlantis team members seemed to have planned on their own private celebrations of the holiday, and so the kitchen made dozens of birds available to those who would be eating in their quarters. Anna could only imagine the celebration taking place for everyone else in the mess hall.

Radek produced a few bottles, looking at them sideways before offering one to Elizabeth. "I apologize; I don't have anything nicer."

"Beer on Christmas Eve." Elizabeth grinned as she took the bottle with an ironically impressed nod. "No better way to celebrate."

Anna had never seen Radek so embarrassed. Okay, maybe once before, but this was a decidedly different kind of embarrassment than Doctor McKay calling him names in front of everyone on Atlantis. She decided to jump in to save him. "The food will get cold."

She only just realized how awkwardly the evening was about to go. It would have been fine were it only Anna and Elizabeth. It even might have gone alright if it were Anna and Radek. But Anna and Radek and Elizabeth? This was a disaster waiting to happen…

Anna saw to it that everyone served up healthy portions of the meal before sitting down. Radek must have been following some really arcane etiquette because he stayed standing until Anna was seated and Elizabeth sat in the chair across from him.

"How has the work been going offworld?" Elizabeth asked two bites in.

Anna offered silent thanks for Elizabeth thinking of something to say, and about the one thing Radek could probably talk for hours about. She looked to Radek for his answer, taking a bite of a gelatinous fruit pie.

"Oh, you don't want to hear about that," Radek said with a chuckle. "It's really very boring."

What else do you expect to talk about? Anna couldn't help but wonder. She offered a smile, anyway, and said, "Collins said there were skeletons." Not appropriate dinner conversation, and certainly not for Christmas Eve, but she couldn't think of a better way to goad him into talking about the boring stuff.

"Um, no," Radek said quickly with a shake of his head. He coughed a little, and Elizabeth giggled. "No, those were removed a long time ago. They're all here now, actually." He motioned with his fork in the general direction of the infirmary in the Central Tower. He smiled at Anna. A smile that said, I'm onto you. "I'm sure Doctor Beckett would love to show them to you if you asked."

"Maybe I will." Anna took a thoughtful bite of chicken and glared.

Radek didn't notice. "But, really, there isn't a lot to tell. We're only setting up for our first test fire. I suspect will know something more concrete this time next week." He shrugged a little, and then looked at Elizabeth. "Has anything of interest happened on Atlantis, Doctor Weir?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Not so much. Teyla has been hard at work, negotiating some important trade deals for the Athosians." She nodded a little as though remembering something. "Ronon found out that he wasn't the only survivor from Sateda."

The sudden rise to Anna's eyebrows was involuntary. "He isn't?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, but I'm not sure how many more there are or if he'll be joining them or staying with us." She sighed and shrugged. "I can only say that it didn't seem to go well, so I don't suppose he'll be leaving. You can never tell with Ronon, though. Or, well, I can never tell."

Anna tried to absorb that with as little emotion as possible. Ronon, leaving? That would be… well, she didn't know what it would be. "He didn't say anything about it."

"I don't imagine he would. He's a very private person."

Radek suddenly coughed and changed the subject. "The Christmas concert was a wonderful idea."

"Wasn't it?" Elizabeth's eyes lit up. "I thought it was a wonderful break for everyone. You should have seen the fun we had decorating the tree."

Anna smiled as Elizabeth started telling the story of the Athosians going all-out when they received the request for tree decorations. They apparently couldn't wait to understand what sort of celebrations and social rituals the Humans from Earth engaged in. Intrigued to find out that it involved a tree. People from Earth didn't seem to be interested in anything natural, like trees.

"I hope they weren't upset about the branches I broke," Anna mumbled when Elizabeth finished her story.

"Oh, no," Elizabeth assured her. "I think they were more offended by Cadman's idea that we paint them."

"She didn't know," Anna muttered.

"Wait, offended about paint?" Radek interrupted. "What did she want to paint on them?"

Elizabeth giggled. "Nothing obscene. Just paint. But paint is deceptive, you know," she said conspiratorially.

"Deceptive." Radek raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, yes. Hiding an object's true nature? That's deception."

"I don't know if they've found out about makeup yet," Anna said with a playful grin.

Radek chuckled, and Elizabeth seemed to find it funny, too. Anna couldn't contain her smile if she tried. This was the strangest Christmas Eve ever, but it was alright. It was Pegasus. It was different. A little awkward, maybe. Despite that, it felt normal. Somehow, it just felt right.

#

"Thank you for coming, Elizabeth," Anna said.

Anna stood next to the door while Elizabeth slid into her jacket. She'd changed from her formal dress into a casual shirt and jeans.

"Thank you for inviting me," Elizabeth said. She looked from Anna to Radek. "I hope I wasn't intruding."

"Of course not," Radek said. Beyond his reckoning, he'd somehow enjoyed himself. They talked more about the day-to-day operations of Atlantis than anything else, though discussion of Christmas traditions and stories of past Christmases were certainly brought up. A welcome change from his usual train of thought, since that usually ended up exploding or being bombarded by Wraith cruisers in orbit somewhere along the line.

"Good. Well, good night." Elizabeth turned to the door to leave. Paused. Turned back. "You will be here tomorrow, won't you, Doctor Zelenka?"

"Yes. Colonel Sheppard isn't going back until the day after. He's my ride." He felt a little sheepish for saying it that way, but it was true. Hard to get around on a Puddle Jumper he couldn't fly. Though he would have loved to.

"Good," Doctor Weir said with a smile. "We're having a celebration with some Athosians who wanted to participate in the festivities. Maybe you can teach us some Czech carols?"

"I can," Anna volunteered. "I'll bring my violin."

"And I… will not sing. It would be better for everyone." Radek couldn't remember the last time he sang anything at all. Maybe it was when Anna was born. Babies didn't care how well lullabies were sung.

"I should get to bed, then," Anna said. "Dobrou noc." ***

"Good night, Anna." Doctor Weir made for the door.

Radek opened it for her. "I'll walk you to the transporter." Why did he say that?

Still, she smiled and nodded. At least it wasn't too horrible a mistake to offer.

The door slid shut behind them. "Thank you. Again. For being there for Anna. It's very… it's very kind of you." That was what he wanted to say, but now he had nothing else and it was a long way to the transporter.

"Of course," Doctor Weir said. "I hope that things quiet down around here sometime soon. It's been one pressing discovery after another for the science team, hasn't it?"

"Yes." It was true, it seemed like there was plenty of down-time last year. There was down-time. But this time Radek was sick for it. "I think that the Ancient machine will be up and running within the week. Perhaps after we get it working, there will be time."

"Time. Seems like there's never time." She sighed happily, though, like the words she just said were not at all depressing. They were depressing to him. Anyway, the transporter was now a few steps away.

"Good night, Doctor Weir. Anna and I will probably see you tomorrow." He started to walk back to his quarters.

"Um, Radek, wait."

He spun back. "Did you forget something?" Such as his last name?

"No—I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize," he repeated, looking straight at her. It was a mistake. Didn't they say, the eyes are the window to the soul? He could feel her peering into his soul like not even a pane of glass protected it. The strange thing was… he didn't really mind. "There is nothing to apologize for." Referring to his unfortunate misstep of asking her to lunch, no doubt.

"I think that—"

"I was not myself." Radek sighed.

Doctor Weir didn't look convinced, but she also looked relieved. "Alright, then," she said. She hesitated for a just a moment. Maybe they were both trying to figure out what to say next. "Good."

"Yes." Radek nodded. It should have been good, so he started to go back to the room.

But she started talking again. "I just wanted to be sure you understand."

Radek sighed and turned back. "Understand what?" More like, what was there to understand. Radek was not so naïve to think she was about to offer an excuse. He'd given her a perfectly good one. Why insult him by continuing the charade that she found anything about him even remotely desirable?

"Understand why it's important to keep my distance," Doctor Weir said. "I make it a point to not have relationships with the people who work for me."

Radek nodded slowly, even though that seemed massively unfair. Mostly to her. There was no reason why she should be alone. She was intelligent. She was beautiful. She was kind. At least, she was probably trying to be.

"It would… split my focus," Doctor Weir offered.

"You think I don't know that?"

That was a little more forward that he intended. He glanced at her to make sure this wasn't a terrible misstep, but she looked more confused than angry. Some of both, but more confused.

Radek took a deep breath. "My focus is more divided than anyone else's on Atlantis. But I still do my job. I am, perhaps, more focused on my work than I should be. But aren't some things worth the distraction?"

Doctor Weir tried to hide a smile, but it devolved into a half-smirk. "I didn't know you were such a romantic."

"I'm not." Radek felt himself blushing. "But, listen, Elizabeth…" He did it again. Couldn't help but make a fool of himself around her, could he? "I think you deserve to be happy. That's all." He didn't know how to finish that.

Elizabeth said absolutely nothing. Didn't help him much.

"Merry Christmas," he finished.

She nodded a little bit and stepped into the transporter. "Merry Christmas…"

He was glad Anna invited Elizabeth to share Christmas with them. She'd seemed happy.


Czech Things

* Veselé Vánoce = Merry Christmas.

** Vypadáš pěkně. = You look pretty.

*** Dobrou noc = good night


Next time: Ohhhh. That Collins.