Chapter 12: Answers.
John stared at the remains of the jumper in front of him struggling to come to terms with the fact that Sheppard had lied to them yet again, the first question that came to his mind was, why? There were so many other questions as well, like how the hell did Sheppard find another jumper on this planet and what the hell was it doing here? The jumper was totalled just like Sheppard had told him. But were Teyla or Sheppard injured in the crash? If they, weren't they would have been incredibly lucky. Why had he not seen the wreckage before now? He certainly hadn't been paying much attention when they were about to crash, but he had spent a day or two exploring the planet. He had also been in the jumper when Sheppard had flown it over the planet before they left, but then come to think of it, Sheppard had flown the jumper in the opposite direction on that occasion. At that moment he could have kicked himself because when Sheppard had shown him the jumper in the cave, he had failed to remember that Sheppard had told him that the jumper he and the other Teyla had crashed in had been totalled. There were so many questions, and he knew that he would have to do a little exploring in the morning, for now, it was almost dark and Teyla was waiting a little way off for him to return to the cabin with her.
Taking one last look at the jumper, he turned and walked towards Teyla who was curious at what she had seen - her eyes were open wide as she appeared to be looking past him to the jumper, "John why is there another jumper on this planet?"
"I have no idea Teyla, but one thing I do know is that Sheppard has lied to us once again and I think I'll have to ask the kids when we get back to the cabin."
"Please do not pressure them tonight John as they have just said goodbye to their father. Perhaps you should leave it for a few days to give them a chance to grieve?"
He turned to stare at her; he couldn't believe she thought he could be that heartless. That was the kind of thing that his father might have done, but he was nothing like his father. He was about to comment and decided against it as now wasn't the time to get in an argument with her. Walking past her he put his head down and tried to make his way to the cabin in the semi-darkness. He heard her calling him and telling him to stop, but at the moment he was a little hurt by what she had said so he just ignored her and kept going.
How could she think that he was anything like Patrick Sheppard, but then she never knew the man, so perhaps she wasn't thinking about anything other than the children's welfare?
Suddenly in the darkness, his foot hit something hard and he immediately found himself falling, he tried to put his hands out to stop falling flat on his face, but unfortunately, he only had one good arm. He twisted to try and protect his broken arm and although he succeeded in protecting the limb, he landed heavily on his right shoulder and all he could do to try and alleviate the pain at that point was roll on his back and moan before a few choice words came out of his mouth.
He lay there staring at the clear night sky as the stars began to appear. It was a beautiful view, but nothing compared to the magnificent sight of the night sky from Atlantis. The moons were not out as yet so it was incredibly dark, and he wondered how much longer it would be before he made it back to the cabin. He could just make out the trees in the distance and he could hear the river bubbling away so he was sure that they were close.
He barely noticed when Teyla came up alongside him a few minutes later, "John, are you alright?" She asked kneeling next to him.
He could see the worry and concern in her face and wondered whether he should tell her the truth – that his shoulder was hurting like hell, but then he didn't really want her sympathy, so he lied "I'm fine," he said before using his right arm to try and push himself to his feet. Unfortunately, the pressure was too much for his aching shoulder so moaning he immediately hit the ground again.
"John Sheppard, I am not stupid, so do not lie to me."
He winced and it was more to do with her tone of voice than the fact that his shoulder was aching, so he decided to tell her the truth – at least a watered-down version of it.
"I just fell on my shoulder, so it's probably only bruised."
"And what about your broken arm," she asked in a concerned voice?
"It's fine," he answered, still feeling annoyed with her.
"Perhaps we should get back to the cabin now?" Teyla suggested. "Would you like me to help you up?"
As much as he loved her, he really didn't want her help right now. In fact, all he wanted to do was go back to their room and sulk, so he pushed himself to his feet using his right hand and winced at the pressure it put on his shoulder. He then walked past her, totally ignoring her as he headed back to the cabin.
When he arrived five minutes later, he was surprised and a little annoyed to find that Torren was waiting at the door for him, "dad what took you so long," Torren asked before looking at the open door, "where is mom?"
He knew that Teyla wasn't far behind him as there was no way he would ever let anything happen to her so he'd made sure that he hadn't gotten too far ahead of her, "She should be here in a moment."
Walking past Torren, he went straight to his room as he really needed some time to himself to try and figure out what he had just seen. He immediately threw himself on the bed trying not to injure his broken arm or his newly injured shoulder. Staring at the ceiling he went over the facts as he knew them. The original Sheppard and Teyla had crashed on this planet and had somehow managed to fix their jumper and escape the planet. Then they were sucked into the anomaly again and crashed fifteen years earlier in the jumper that he had just found, therefore, creating another reality. Then he and Teyla had crash-landed on the planet creating yet another reality. Although it gave him a headache thinking about alternate realities, everything made sense except for the fact that Sheppard had lied to him. He decided that he didn't want to think about this any longer, but then again, he didn't want to go to the kitchen and join the others either, so he closed his eyes and tried to shut his brain thought processes down and then hopefully he would be able to go to sleep.
That idea was ruined when Teyla walked into the room and carefully sat on the bed beside him, "John are you upset with me?"
That was certainly a good question, was he upset with her, or was he angry that Sheppard had lied to him again? Perhaps he was more upset with Sheppard, "Nah, I just don't understand why Sheppard lied to us again and I still intend to ask the kids in a day or two."
"John I am sorry if I was insensitive when I suggested that you should not talk to the children tonight. I assure you that my only concern was for Charin and Dave."
He thought about agreeing with her and telling her how heartless she had been, but then he thought better of it and replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "Don't worry about it. I'm not upset with you; I just can't understand why Sheppard lied to us about the jumper in the cave."
"I do not know John, but one thing I do know is that Torren and Maddie are worried about you."
He chuckled at that comment, his son who should have only been eighteen months old and his son's wife who should have only been three or four, were worried about him. Would Maddie and Torren still meet if he and Teyla went back in time, or would Torren marry someone different – maybe an Athosian if he could prevent the culling of that world? Interesting question, he thought before trying to clear his head.
"Tell them not to worry because I'll be fine, although I must admit my shoulder is aching and the pain in my arm is notching up a little."
"You must be in agony to admit that you are in pain, "Teyla commented with a smirk.
"Yeah, I guess I am."
"If you can manage to get your shirt off, I will go and get Maddie to look at your shoulder."
The thought of getting his shirt off right now was worrying as his left forearm was broken and his right shoulder was throbbing in time to the beat of his heart, he was about to ask Teyla to help him when he realised that it was too late as she had already left the room. He lay there wondering if he should wait until she got back, but in the end, he decided that he wouldn't let something like a bruised shoulder and broken arm dictate to him what he could and couldn't do.
It must have taken him about five minutes to get his shirt off and by the time he had finished, he was exhausted and in pain. Lying on the bed he took some deep breaths to try and alleviate the discomfort he was feeling, he knew why his shoulder was aching, but he had no idea why his arm was still hurting - it was in a cast after all.
He had no idea how long he'd lain there with his eyes closed before the door opened so he opened his eyes and turned towards the door, and he wasn't surprised to see Maddie walk through the door.
"John, what have you done to yourself this time?" Maddie asked before sitting beside him on the bed.
"Fell on my shoulder," he grunted as pain shot through his shoulder.
"Okay let me have a look at it?"
Really, she can clearly see what's wrong with it, anyone can see it's just bruised, was his first thought, but then perhaps she couldn't see the obvious right now, "it's just bruised, Dr Miller," he said glaring at her.
She just glared back at him, and it made him feel incredibly uncomfortable, "yes I can see that Dr Sheppard, but why don't you let me take a scan anyway?" She suggested sarcastically.
He watched as she pulled out a handheld scanner and ran it over his shoulder, and he wasn't happy by the look on her face, "what's the damage, doc?"
"There is definitely some deep bruising there and some ligament damage. It should be alight, but I'll have to immobilise it for a few days."
"Really doc, I didn't hit the ground that hard?"
She looked at him with a thoughtful look and he knew that he wasn't going to like what she had to say to him.
"The only thing that I can think of is that the strange bacterium is still creating havoc with your system."
He immediately thought of Sheppard, who had spent almost fifteen years on this planet before he discovered he was dying. Would the same thing happen to him, did he have to stay here for the rest of his life to have a chance at living for any length of time?
"Are you suggesting that I'm going to have to spend the rest of my life here and it's going to be a short one at that?"
"I'm not suggesting anything John, I'm just surmising as to the reason why your shoulder seems to be so damaged."
"Well, I certainly hope I don't have to live the rest of my life on this rock."
He looked into her piercing blue eyes as she answered him, "Torren hasn't given up on finding a cure and neither have I."
"Thanks, Doc," he replied, "but I'd like to go to sleep now as for some reason I'm feeling extremely exhausted."
"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"
"No thanks doc, I'm not really hungry so just do what you have to do with my shoulder and then I can get some sleep."
Five minutes later when Maddie had finished and his right arm was strapped to his chest, he felt his eyelids drooping, and he was almost asleep. He had no idea whether it was because of the busy day he'd had or whether it was the pain meds that Maddie had given him, but he wanted to try and stay awake until Teyla came in - unfortunately, he was asleep within a few minutes.
When he awoke again there was sunlight streaming through the window and Teyla was asleep by his side. He could hear movement in the kitchen area, and he really hoped it meant that someone was getting his breakfast as for some reason he was starving.
He looked across at Teyla and realised that she was still asleep, so he decided to spend some time doing one of his favourite activities – Teyla gazing. It was only when he stopped thinking and started staring that he realised that the pain in his shoulder and arm were beginning to notch a little. That was something he would definitely have to deal with when he got out of bed, but for now, he was happy where he was.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and he found himself feeling a little annoyed, "Yeah," he called out trying to remain as calm as possible."
"Breakfast is ready, "Torren called out.
"We'll be there as soon as we can," he yelled back.
He soon realised that he didn't have a shirt on and all that he was dressed in was an old pair of sweatpants, so he wasn't going to be leaving the bedroom anytime soon.
"John, do you need some help putting a shirt on?" Teyla asked from beside him – he hadn't even realised she was awake.
"Might," he replied feeling a little embarrassed, "and you may need to help me eat as well."
"Right can you manage to sit up?" She asked walking to the other side of the room.
"I'll sure as hell give it a try."
Before he had a chance to sit up Maddie called from the other side of the door, "John I need to look at your shoulder before you get dressed."
He looked over at Teyla and was relieved to see that she was dressed and ready to leave the room.
"Come in Maddie, John is sitting up and ready for you."
He sat still as Maddie unstrapped his shoulder and he was relieved when there was no pain. When she started to move and manipulate the joint it sent a bolt of pain through his arm, and he hissed at the pain.
"Hey Doc, do you think you could stop trying to wrench my shoulder out of its socket?"
"Sorry, did that hurt?"
He didn't even bother to answer that question because in his opinion it didn't' warrant one," how's it looking doc?"
"You seem to have a good range of movement in it and the bruising and swelling have gone down a little today, so perhaps I will bandage your shoulder up and not bother to strap it to your side. That will give you one hand to use."
"That's great Doc, now can you do what you have to do so that I can get on with my day?"
He was relieved when she didn't say anything else and just got to work as he wasn't in the mood for any conversation right now. Thinking back to what had happened the night before, he found himself eager to get on with the day. The first thing on the agenda after breakfast was a little exploring – whether anyone came with him or not.
Arriving in the kitchen some twenty minutes later, he was surprised to see that everyone was squeezed around the table and consuming a great number of pancakes. They didn't even bother to look up from their food to acknowledge his presence, which left him feeling a little offended.
"Hey, is there any for me?" He asked squeezing in next to Teyla.
"There is plenty left for you John, would you like me to cut them up for you?" Teyla asked in a gentle tone.
Suddenly feeling embarrassed, he looked down at his plate hoping that none of the others had seen him. He actually wondered if he would actually manage to eat anything himself given the fact that his left arm was broken, and his right shoulder was incredibly sore – he'd sure as hell give it a go though.
Looking up at Teyla, he smiled, "sure, why not."
Venturing a look around the table, he soon realised that the others were all busy eating their pancakes and not starting at him at all. He still kept his head hung low while Teyla cut up his pancakes though.
She whispered in his ear once she had finished her task and he wasted no time in tucking in. He had no idea who had done the cooking, but the food was delicious – it obviously wasn't Teyla then.
A small voice spoke to him interrupting his contemplations, "John, Teyla told us about the jumper wreckage that you found."
Looking up from his food, he found that Charin was staring at him with her big brown eyes, "She did, did she? And do you know anything about it?"
"No, we don't," Dave answered, "and we've never explored that area as mom and dad always told us not to."
"Well didn't you ever disobey your father," John quipped?
"I did try and go out there once and I even got close, but Dad stopped me," Charin offered.
The more he got to know Charin, the more she reminded him of himself when he was a child, and he decided he liked it, "what happened next?" He asked wondering if she had been disciplined for disobeying her father. He knew that his Father would have made him muck out the stables or some other tedious tasks, or then there were the times where his father had locked him in his room without any dinner.
"I Promised him that I would never do it again, and I didn't," she explained, and John didn't miss the anguish in her eyes.
He suddenly felt uncomfortable when he saw tears in the corner of her eyes, and he was relieved when Maddie went and put her arms around her, while Dave sat on the other side and held her hand. John looked away to see what Teyla and Torren were doing, and he soon realised that they had left the room. Wondering where they had gone, he walked outside of the cabin and saw them heading around the back.
"Hey, guys wait up?" He called running to catch up with them.
They stopped and waited for him, and he very quickly caught up. His arm and shoulder were aching by this time, and he really wanted to tell them to stop, but there was no way he was ever going to stop so why should they, "where are you guys going?"
"It is such a lovely day, so we thought that we would go for a walk," Teyla answered with a smile.
He looked up at the sky and saw rain clouds in the distance, "it looks as if it's not going to stay that way for long," he told them pointing in the direction of the clouds.
"Yes Dad, we see the clouds, but right now the sun is out and we're going for a walk. Would you like to come with us, we promise we won't walk too far?" Torren suggested.
The suggestion of a walk gave him a fantastic idea, "I'm going to explore the crashed jumper. Would anyone like to come with me?"
"I believe that I would like to go for a walk to the waterfall and perhaps I will have a swim while I am there. " Teyla answered with a twinkle in her eye.
"Do you mind if I go with Dad, Mom?"
"No, go ahead Torren, I will see you later," Teyla said before turning to John "please do not do anything foolish while you are out there?"
He just looked at her and shrugged, which he immediately regretted when a shooting pain enveloped his shoulder.
"Are you sure you're okay to continue?" Torren asked looking at him with concern.
"I'm fine, so let's just get going." He replied walking off in the direction of the crashed puddle jumper.
He walked on in silence keeping an eye out for where he had fallen the night before and If he hadn't have been looking for it he would have tripped over it again. Looking down he saw another large chunk of metal from the jumper – no wonder his foot felt sore this morning.
After taking a moment to examine it he continued. Torren was a few paces behind him, which he didn't mind as he needed time to think.
Suddenly the wind whipped up, the sky began to darken, and a fine drizzle began to fall from the sky. It was obvious that the storm that had been brewing all morning was going to hit them sooner than he thought.
"Hey Dad, how about we head back to the cabin before the storm hits, "Torren called from somewhere behind him?
Stopping he turned around and faced his son, "no I want to check that jumper out and right now it's closer than the cabin, so perhaps we can take shelter in it."
The rain became heavier as they spoke, so he immediately turned and run towards the intact part of the jumper assuming that Torren was following. By the time he arrived and went inside John was totally saturated as was Torren.
Sitting down in the pilot's chair he was relieved that the craft would keep them dry for now, but he had no idea how bad the storm was going to get and if it would protect them in a thunderstorm.
He started out the window at the approaching storm, and he felt apprehensive about what to expect when it hit them. There was thunder and lightning in the distance and all he could do was hope that it missed them.
"Hey Dad, I found a note and it appears to be from Sheppard," Torren told him interrupting his thoughts.
Taking the note that Torren held out for him, he carefully unfolded it and looked at it with suspicion – why had Sheppard left him a note and what did it say? Hoping to find some answers he began to read.
Dear John and Teyla,
If you are reading this letter, I have already gone and I feel that I need to explain why I have constantly lied to you.
Obviously, you have already found the original jumper that my Teyla and I crashed in. Miraculously neither of us was injured in the crash, but as you can see, I never lied when I told you that the jumper was totalled.
It took us a long time, but eventually, we accepted the fact that we would spend the rest of our lives here, but we also knew that you would probably land here in the future and that fact disturbed us at the time. We knew that if you ended up here it would just complicate matters and we had no idea what it would do to the timeline. I certainly wished that McKay were with us at that moment.
We made a life for ourselves here and eventually Dave and Charlie were born, and for a while, our life was complete.
As time went on and we realised that the time of your crash landing was coming closer, I began to feel frustrated so on several occasions I wandered into the field where the jumper had crashed hoping for some inspiration and a way we could help you get off this planet and find a way home to Torren.
It was on one such walk that I saw something that looked like a tower in the distance, and I had to wonder why I had never seen it before. At the time Teyla was busy with the twins, so I set off to explore.
I had been walking for about half an hour when I felt the familiar hum of ancient tech - it didn't seem quite right, but it was definitely ancient - so I kept walking towards the structure that I had seen. As I got closer, I saw a spire and it reminded me of my home on Atlantis.
The hum was so intense by this time, and I couldn't wait to see what I had found. It wasn't long before I found an access panel and was able to go inside. The first thing I found when I went inside was a jumper bay and the first thing I saw was a puddle jumper, and it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.
My first thought was that I needed to see if it could fly as I knew that if you and your Teyla ever stood a chance to get off this rock, you would need a jumper. I also knew that I needed to do some serious calculations for that to happen. So, I got in the jumper and flew it out of the bay and hid it in the cave.
I never went to the ancient facility again, as I had found my mission in life; I knew that I needed to find a way for you and Teyla to get of this planet and even after my Teyla and Patrick died I knew that I had to find a way for the two of you to leave.
At the end of the day, there is no excuse for lying to you. I really can't explain why I did it and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
Anyway, I hope that you and Teyla can find a way home to Torren, but there is one final thing that I ask of you, can you please make sure that my children are well looked after? They need a home and a family, even if you don't take them in.
Regards,
John Sheppard.
Wow! He thought, Sheppard found an ancient facility and he didn't even bother to explore it. Well, that's definitely something I will be doing as soon as this storm is over.
He looked out at the storm again and he knew that it would be a while before he could leave as the clouds were getting darker, the rain was getting heavier and the thunder and lightning were getting closer.
TBC…
So, an Ancient facility and John wants to go exploring – things could go definitely go very wrong for him.