Note: I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas (if you celebrate it) and wishing you all a very happy New Year. Wow, 2020 – so very scifi! After the short break, the fic starts up on 'Day 7' of the story and, of course, the New Year has to start with our John's pov...
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DAY 7 – Discussions
Chapter 9 - Avowal
Something was up.
John was almost certain.
Years worth of experience of getting into trouble had fine tuned his ability to hear certain tones in the voices of his superiors, and there had definitely been something 'off' in Colonel Carter's voice when she had called him up to her office.
He'd been down in the Infirmary keeping Carson company; well, actually Carson had been off working on some research thing, so John had focused on helping with the large jigsaw Carson had been working on. It was part of the Doc's physical rehab, and just plain a tradition for everyone when stuck sick in the Infirmary. With Teyla gone two days now, John had needed the distraction, and the jigsaw had been turning into a group effort as he, Rodney, and Cadman had been regularly visiting Carson.
Then Carter had called him on the radio and asked him to join her in her office. Yep, something was up.
As he headed across the Gate Room to the wide central stairs, he craned his neck to peer up towards the Control Room, but there wasn't any hint of a crisis and the Gate wasn't active, so no one was dialled in from the Alliance.
Nearing the top of the stairs, John looked over his shoulder towards Carter's glass-walled office to see that she had company in there. General O'Neill and Colonel Sumner were just about visible. Yep, something was happening, and, from the Colonel's tone, it wasn't good.
Turning on the landing to the small flight of final steps up into the Control Room, John paused on the top stair and peered around the corner, looking across the Control Room and down the walkway to the Colonel's office. Through the glass door he could see his three superiors were gathered together in the middle of the office, stood in a semi-circle and they all looked pretty serious.
A quick glance around the Control Room confirmed no increased activity, no prepping for a mission, and no IOA lingering about the place. So, it probably wasn't that bad news had come in from the Alliance, like Kolya doing something newly evil.
So whatever it was required just him alone to visit the Colonel's office. Well, that couldn't be good!
Peering back towards Carter's office, John squinted at her face, but as she was stood in profile he couldn't get a good handle on her expression. The General, stood in the centre of the little semi-circle of superiors, was easy to see though. John pulled back a fraction so O'Neill wouldn't spot him. The General looked serious, which wasn't the most normal of expressions on the guy.
Colonel Sumner made up the other side of the group, his left profile giving absolutely nothing away. He had his arms crossed, but that wasn't that unusual with the gruff guy.
Racking his brains, John was almost certain he hadn't done anything lately that would get him into trouble. Which left only two other possibilities: either the IOA had made a decision about whether they were going to stop him from going on missions anymore or there were questions about him and Teyla.
He couldn't think why they would suddenly have found out about him and Teyla, but it had certainly been playing on his mind lately. He'd caught himself repeatedly worrying that a superior, or a member of the IOA team, would abruptly ask him for details about his relationship with Teyla.
His saving grace in the event of that actually happening would be that he and Teyla were married now, and though it was 'just' a Political Marriage in their eyes, for John it was a very real marriage. He'd even gotten the paperwork completed and sent back to Earth that officially registered the marriage back home. The funny thing had been that the digital form had already included a box for 'planet of origin' next to 'name' and 'date of birth'. Clearly Earth were already geared up for dealing with aliens on their forms. He'd had no idea how to fill in the 'date of birth' box for Teyla, so had had to fill in 'to be confirmed'. The next time he saw Teyla, he'd ask her how Athosians record dates of birth.
He wondered if that alone was a good enough excuse to contact her sooner than planned.
He was getting distracted – he needed to focus on the worry at hand.
So, if their marriage was official here, in the Alliance, and soon on Earth, there was nothing technically wrong with him and Teyla having a proper relationship. So if they were going to ask about him and Teyla, he could use that argument.
The only small area that really concerned him about that though, was if he was officially asked about his relationship with Teyla prior to their marriage, and whether it had been part of the reason why he'd gone and made an offer of Political Marriage without permission that had forced Atlantis and the whole of Earth into a legally binding contract. If he answered that honestly, he suspected that, at the very least, he'd get an official reprimand or, at the very worst, he'd be fired.
He just had to hope they never asked him that particular question.
He couldn't imagine that was what the two Colonels and the General wanted to ask him about today...was it? What if there were questions about the marriage forms he'd supplied? No, that couldn't be it. Could it? Maybe it had kicked off questions back on Earth?
Okay, he was getting paranoid. Just because all he could think about for the last two days was Teyla, didn't mean that everyone else was thinking about her and him too.
He'd been coping pretty well since she'd left; he'd kept busy, running twice a day, and spending time visiting Carson to help with the jigsaw.
Sure he'd been thinking about her near constantly, and had each evening gone and sat in her side of their adjoining quarters. He'd even brewed up some of her Athosian tea just so he could smell it again.
He'd definitely not been 'moping' though as Rodney had described it. Rodney had just been trying to wind him up during their daily off-world trips on the universe's dullest missions. Since the IOA still wouldn't allow him on any missions outside of scientist babysitting missions to well known 'friendly' planets, his team had been stuck on boring outings. He'd tried to make the point to Mr Woolsey that Kolya had kidnapped him on a supposedly friendly planet, but that argument hadn't really worked in his favour.
Maybe then the reason for today's call to Carter's office was about that. What if the IOA had finally convinced Earth Defense that he was to be grounded? What if Carter was about to tell him he was never allowed out of Atlantis again unless it was to the Alliance?
If he never went on missions again, what the hell was he going to do with his time here? Sit in long boring IOA meetings and nothing else? Or what if he was being sent back to Earth? No, they couldn't do that now he was Teyla's Political Husband. Even if they did ground him, he'd at least still get to go into the Alliance for his new regular stays with Teyla. Apparently he was even going to get to visit the Elite's big headquarters Facility at some point soon, which was going to be cool.
But still, what was he going to do with his time if the IOA wouldn't let him do anything interesting again? Would they even let him fly a Jumper again?
A faint movement in John's peripheral vision caught his attention and he realised that Chuck had spotted him loitering on the stairs and peering around the corner at the distant office. John sent Chuck a faint smile and lifted a hand to his ear as he turned away, pretending that he was talking to someone on the radio.
Whatever the meeting was about, one thing was certain and that was that he wasn't going to find out what was going on stood out here. He just needed to get on with it. Face whatever it was directly and be ready to make some damn good arguments against whatever the hell was going on.
Taking a big fortifying breath, he turned back to the Control Room and strode forward, heading straight through the room and heading for the walkway to Carter's office. While also ignoring Chuck's bemused smile.
The General spotted John the second his boots hit the walkway and John saw O'Neill mutter something and both Colonels looked round. Serious expressions and a grim lack of smiles greeted John as he pulled open the glass door and stepped inside.
"Major," O'Neill said overly sternly, "you sure took your time getting up here."
John stepped into the available empty spot in the circle and stood at attention, because it certainly felt like an attention-worthy atmosphere in here.
"Sorry, Sir," he quickly replied, "I was waiting for my latest blood test results in the Infirmary." It wasn't a complete lie, as he'd been going in each day for his blood tests, but he'd actually had the result an hour ago. The results in, he'd ended up staying in the Infirmary to be with Carson and work on the jigsaw, whilst definitely not moping.
He'd been more than happy for the daily trips to the Infirmary for Carson to closely monitor the Wraith protein that had been reducing in his bloodstream since the little 'incident' with Todd.
He'd been working damn hard not to think about the feedings, which he'd managed to achieve during the day. However, at night the nightmares had started. He'd not had any while Teyla had been with him, but, now she was gone, the last two nights had been filled with vivid re-enactments of the feedings, as well as a repeating story about Kolya invading Atlantis again, only this time he killed everyone but John.
"Pleasing results, I assume?" Colonel Carter asked from the left of the circle. It occurred to John that she'd probably already had the results from the Infirmary an hour ago.
"No trace of the protein today," John confirmed. At least that was some good news.
"That's good," Carter smiled at him, but then she glanced away and her smile disappeared.
John's stomach dropped.
"Sheppard," O'Neill cut in, snapping John's attention back to him. "You've been the subject of a lot of talk back home."
Oh, God they were going to ground him!
"Top Brass talkin' about ya," O'Neill continued, but there was now a faint touch of his more unusual humour in his voice; probably trying to soften the blow.
"They are, Sir?" John asked as casually as he could manage.
"Some decisions have been made about your future," O'Neill supplied, his deeply dark eyes feeling a little too sharp and knowing.
He was being grounded! All his practiced argument points fled from his brain.
"And it falls on me," O'Neill continued, "apparently the most superior among us," he glanced pointedly towards both the Colonels beside him and the back to John, "to do the deed."
John worked on keeping his shoulders relaxed and on not losing it when the news arrived.
"I've never been one for any of that pomp and circumstance and ceremonial crap," O'Neill waved a hand in the air vaguely, "so I'll just say, congratulations Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard." O'Neill's hand extended towards John.
It took John a second to replay that in his head before being absolutely certain he'd heard the General correctly.
"Me?" John found his mouth saying. "Really?" He quickly checked.
"Yes, Sheppard," O'Neill grinned at him.
Carter's hand landed on John's shoulder as he shook the General's hand. "Congratulations, John," she laughed. They'd been playing a fake out on him! "No one is more deserving."
"Thank you," John replied, still feeling thrown.
"Now there's going to be the usual boring training stuff you'll need to do," O'Neill said, "and apparently the IOA want you to meet some bespeckled Ambassadorial types to help you talk politician-"
"By which we mean," Colonel Carter cut in, "the IOA are going to offer you the chance to train with some of their top negotiators and Ambassadors to help you in your new role liaising with the Alliance." That made a bit more sense.
"So, you'll have to head back to Earth for that," O'Neill continued.
"Earth?" John asked surprised. They usually got to do a correspondence version of the Air Force education training here in Atlantis.
"Yes," Carter nodded. "But we've managed to make the point with the IOA that now is not the best time for you to head back to Earth, with the trade negotiations with the Elite still to be finalised. Once the contract is signed and things have hopefully settled in the Alliance about Kolya, you'll be heading home for a small spell."
John felt his mood drop a little. He'd probably be away for at least a month for all that, so he was going to miss out on Teyla time. Still, that probably wouldn't be for a few months yet.
"Okay," he agreed. "And what about my still getting to work off-world missions outside the Alliance?" He checked.
Carter's gaze slid to the General. "That's still being clarified with the IOA."
"Argued about really," O'Neill interpreted. "As far as the Air Force and Earth Defense are concerned, you're our minion and we can put you in whatever deadly dangerous situations we want."
"Thank you, Sir," John smiled, appreciating the support, though the way the General had phrased it hadn't been entirely optimistic now John thought about it.
O'Neill grinned back at him, clearly enjoying the moment.
"I'll send you through details of the promotion and the pay rise," Carter reported.
John nodded along. "Okay, sure."
He was a Lieutenant Colonel!
"But, until then," she smiled as held out her hand. "Congratulations again, Lieutenant Colonel."
John shook her hand happily, still not quite believing it.
Lieutenant Colonel?
"Don't forget though," the General added, "with greater responsibility comes the greater weight of crap that can fall on you."
"Yes, Sir," John smiled.
Another hand reached out towards him; Colonel Sumner.
"Lieutenant Colonel," Sumner said as John shook the Colonel's hand. Looking into Sumner's gaze, John couldn't help wonder what the guy thought about this. They'd had a rather turbulent history and the guy had never really approved of John's presence on the expedition, but things had started to improve of late.
"Thank you, Colonel," John nodded to him.
"Once the IOA pull their finger out with a decision about your future, we'll talk about your new responsibilities here," Sumner stated as they released each other's grip. "Either way, we'll make sure we keep you somewhere useful."
From the outside that could have sounded like a faint threat, but to John it felt like a real show of support at the possibility of John being grounded. Colonel Sumner was many things – gruff, difficult, overbearing and stern - but ultimately he was a true career military man and John saw real understanding in the man's gaze.
John nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Sir."
Sumner nodded back.
"So, I'm thinking champagne?" O'Neill grinned towards Colonel Carter.
"There isn't any," she replied, but her tone said that, even if there was, now was not the time, being it wasn't even lunch yet.
"You always spoil my fun," the General told her, but he was smiling, his eyes sparkling.
John frowned slightly at that smile, suspecting he saw something a little extra in the expression.
There had been plenty of rumours for years about O'Neill and Carter, though John had pretty much ignored them; the two of them had a long and massive history fighting alongside each other and were clearly friends, and often people could misinterpret things like that. Besides, who was he to judge?
However, John now had to wonder himself. Not so much because of the General's informality, but because he recognised a little too much of himself in the grin that could so easily be interpreted as flirtatious.
Maybe he wasn't the only one hiding a secret relationship?
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Halling's days were starting to settle into something close to a steady routine.
When he arose in the mornings, he went directly to the Healing Bay to share First Meal with Oneakka, with Massa often joining them as he usually took the earliest shift to sit at Oneakka's bedside. After the meal, Halling then dedicated his mornings to the Skerti research. Overseeing and liaising with Silvar's team, Imseti on The Mad Moon, the Fleet Commanders, the Military Council, and his fellow Elite, his mornings and evenings were very full; while his afternoons were dedicated to sitting with Oneakka, though as Oneakka slept a great deal, during those long pauses, Halling continued the Skerti research via text link and writing his own reports.
As well as liaising between the various groups, he had also established a team of researchers within the Facility. Set up in a project room, they were tasked with looking for any clues of the Skerti in both data and legend, looking for any hint of the new enemy both within and beyond the Alliance border. Today he had also been in discussion with Colonel Carter via the Portal. The Colonel had so far found no information within Atlantis' database relating to the individuals seen in the Ancestral recording that had supplied the one and only documented reference of the Skerti so far.
Halling agreed with Colonel Carter that the lack of information in Atlantis suggested that the Ancestors had suppressed the information. Colonel Carter still appeared intent to find something, and had her own research team looking to see if they could retrieve any deleted information in the Ancestral database. Colonel Carter was also using Atlantis' deep space scanners to probe unknown empty systems and the outer fringes of the galaxy in hopes of finding indications of where the Skerti might be hiding.
Everyone was working very hard and there were many hands at the helm to assist, but so far there nothing new had been discovered that provided any clue as to where the Skerti were hiding. A number of the Military Council and Fleet Commanders had suggested that perhaps the Skerti Queen he had killed was a lone survivor, but Halling was not convinced, for the Skerti had told him plainly that her kind was returning. Considering that she had been about to kill him, there had been no reason for her to lie. Besides, Sitayi' prophecy had presumably not been about one single Skerti destroying the entire galaxy alone.
Patience and good research was all that was needed. Every warrior knew that intel took time and effort to obtain, and he was confident that something would be found soon enough.
Outside of this hard work, he was enjoying his afternoons with Oneakka. It was important to him to have time with his friend, who was still very weak and needed help, and just to see Oneakka alive and talking made Halling so grateful.
Though today he had delayed his start to sit with Oneakka, for once the news had gone round that Oneakka was awake, everyone who knew him was anxious to visit, not just to celebrate his survival, but because everyone knew that there was limited time before Oneakka reached his Cuddly Bear of Moor stage. Once the inevitable grump arrived, Oneakka would not be good company, so everyone was rushing to visit him over these last couple of days. The visits were all short and prearranged with Halling for the most part, and he had restricted the visiting hours to the morning and early afternoons, as any more would only exhaust Oneakka.
Today there had been twelve people scheduled to visit Oneakka, the last of which was Si. However, Halling knew that Si had been particularly looking forward to seeing Oneakka since having returned from Atlantis, so Halling had given them some extra time before arriving. The delay had also allowed Halling some extra sparring time with Jobrill after her visit to see Oneakka, and for him to visit the goat in the Hydroponics Bay.
Seeal had been keeping a close and concerned eye on the heavily pregnant goat, and had apparently forced the animal specialist to set up a permanent base in the Hydroponics Bay to care for the expectant mother. The animal specialist had been with the goat when Halling had visited and it had been very obvious that the man was less than thrilled at his full time temporary assignment. The goat for her part seemed very happy, but was huge. Halling had no idea how an animal could move around, even slowly, with such a massive belly that was full of clearly kicking baby goats. The specialist had repeated what Seeal had already told Halling, that it wasn't clear how long the goat would carry her young as the hybrid species had not been studied. Still, the specialist was happy the goat was fine and that the young could be born any day now.
The goat visit complete and a small amount of appeasement supplied towards the resentful animal specialist, Halling proceeded on to sit with Oneakka.
As he turned into the main hallway towards the Surgical Healing Bay, he noticed there were a lot of Recruits waiting outside the minor injuries entrance. The Facility was back to its usual routines following the crisis situation with the rogue Hive ship, so the Recruits were back to their classes and training. That inevitably led to an increase in sprains, bruised delicate body parts, and broken bones. However, he could see an unusually increased number of Recruits lined up, all male and all holding ice packs to various parts of them. He suspected there had been a significant fight among them, which wasn't unusual here, but clearly had involved a large group. He would have to ask Massa later, as he would know the gossip by then.
Moving quickly through the halls of the Surgical Bay, he checked his pad for the latest report due from Silvar, but it had not yet arrived. Silvar's team was removing the outer casing of the Skerti Drive today, so the report would be very interesting indeed. With one last check of his text link messages, Halling signed off rotation and tucked the pad under his arm as he turned into Oneakka's room.
To find that Teyla was visiting Oneakka, sat comfortably at his bedside.
"Halling," Teyla smiled brightly as he entered. He had spoken with her over link yesterday but had not seen her since her return from Atlantis. Considering the political weight upon Torren at present, she had decided to stay on Athos yesterday.
"Teyla," he grinned as he set his pad down quickly and reached for her as she headed towards him.
Their hands settled on each other's shoulders with practiced ease and he leant his forehead against hers. She felt strong and warm as he lifted his head and gently squeezed her shoulders.
"It is so good to see you," he told her happily. She looked very well, her face bright and she appeared the most relaxed he had seen her in a long time. He felt desperately grateful that she held no grudge against him for him having withheld his information about Sitayi' prophecy, as well as his former less-than-positive attitude towards her relationship with Major Sheppard.
"Are you well, Halling?" Teyla asked as they released each other's shoulders.
"I am," he confirmed for her, though noticed that her eyes were taking in his almost healed facial scratches from the Skerti Queen.
"Good," she replied with a smile and turned back towards Oneakka. "I have been telling Oneakka the entire story of what happened in Atlantis, ensuring it is in great detail so that it will take many days to tell."
"Detail is important," Oneakka replied with a faint smile. Laid almost flat, Oneakka's head and upper shoulders were resting on a layer of pillows, but it was very obvious to Halling that his friend was feeling very tired.
"Of course," Teyla agreed with Oneakka's assessment, though they all knew that the slow telling of her tale was also to help entertain Oneakka over these difficult days of discomfort.
Teyla reached out and took Oneakka's hand in both of hers. "I will leave you to sleep," she smiled kindly, "and I will return tomorrow and continue from where we left off."
"The parrot," Oneakka supplied.
"Parrot?" Halling frowned. Why had they been talking about birds?
"Indeed," Teyla smiled back and leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Oneakka's forehead. "I shall see you tomorrow," she promised him and then turned to Halling. "I will send you my schedule, Halling. Please add me to the rota wherever you feel best going forward."
"I don't need constant watching," Oneakka objected with a faint lisp that told Halling that his friend was now likely to fall asleep the second Teyla was gone.
"Are you saying that we bore you?" Teyla challenged him but there was a clear teasing tone to her voice. She looked so much happier today it was almost shocking.
"You're alright," Oneakka admitted.
"Good," Teyla smiled at him before releasing his hand and moving away. "Make sure you rest," she added with a more authoritative tone.
"Is that your wife-ly tone you use to boss Sheppard around?" Oneakka asked sleepily.
Halling chuckled as he squeezed Teyla's offered hand as she passed by him. "Are you returning to Athos now?"
"I have a short meeting with Edfu and then will confer with Jobrill once she's out of the Military Council meeting, but then yes. Are you free for midday meal tomorrow?"
"I am," Halling agreed readily. "Shall I meet you in the canteen?"
"I look forward to it," she smiled before returning her attention to the patient. "Rest," she repeated her order to Oneakka.
"Poor Sheppard," Oneakka replied as retaliation just before Teyla left, not allowing her the chance to respond.
Halling moved around the end of Oneakka's bed to his usual chair by Oneakka's left shoulder and noticed that the side table had accumulated a small stack of books – the gift of choice for Oneakka – and his main Facility computer pad was here.
"Ah, you already have your pad," Halling remarked. "I looked for it in your quarters." It was still far too soon for Oneakka to start reading messages and reports, as he was only just able to hold a cup, but within days Oneakka would be growing frustrated and the distraction would be welcome.
"Seeal brought it for me last night," Oneakka reported with a faint grunt as he worked to shift his body slightly in the bed. Halling could see now that the layer of pillows behind Oneakka's head were crushed and one was spilling out, and that the angle of Oneakka's neck no longer looked comfortable.
"Do you want to adjust your pillows?" Halling checked. Oneakka tended to pretend he was comfortable with visitors, but was usually more honest with him.
"Just need to shift down the bed a bit," Oneakka grunted as he tried to move himself, but he was too weak to do so alone.
"Here," Halling slid his whole arm under Oneakka's upper back. Oneakka took the offer of physical assistance willingly and, between them, they shifted him a few inches down the bed, and Halling puffed up the pillows and rearranged them into a supportive arrangement for his friend.
They had both seen each other through numerous injuries and recoveries, and had the procedure down to an easy wordless routine between them. They had stayed with each other through painful bone resets, through the agony of the first steps after serious injury, and helped each other shower and dress when too weak to do so themselves. Halling knew he was one of only a small handful of friends that Oneakka would allow to see him so weak and in need, and that he trusted to help him without embarrassment.
Today's latest assistance completed, Oneakka finally relaxed against the pillows, though was noticeably a little out of breath, which was no doubt due to the activity and the triggering of some pain in his wound. Halling made no comment and instead focused on straightening Oneakka's blankets and ensuring he was warmly covered.
As Halling secured the side of the blankets down under the edge of the bed's mattress, Oneakka finally let out a long more relaxed breath, the wave of pain clearly subsiding.
Halling patted his hand on Oneakka's chest and then reached for Oneakka's pad as he sat down in his chair. "Did Seeal check your text link messages for you?" He asked.
"She's not authorised to see Elite level messages," Oneakka replied, his voice still a little tight.
"Of course," Halling shook his head. He was a little surprised at himself for having forgotten that obvious fact. It was probably due to how closely he had been working with Seeal lately, not just in caring for Oneakka, but she had been assisting with his Skerti project. She had been helping him create a reproduction of their battle against the Skerti Queen, but she had also suggested looking through the Dreamstation database she had supplied to the Elite. The Dreamstation logs included ten years of scan data of the station's star system and neighbouring sectors, so it was possible there was something useful hidden within it all.
Halling was a little concerned about Seeal though, as she continued to work all the hours she was awake. If she was not undertaking her usual full time project work, she was assisting the Skerti research, watching over the goat, and then giving five hours of her evenings to sitting with Oneakka. She was looking tired to Halling's eye, but she had again turned down his suggestion that she remove herself from Oneakka's vigil rota for a few days.
Though, now Oneakka was awake and fast approaching the difficult and grumpy stages of his long recovery, Halling needed to be sure that Oneakka would actually welcome her remaining part of the rota. Though Oneakka was willing to show weakness and ask for help from Halling and a few select friends, Halling was not so sure that Oneakka would do the same when Seeal was with him.
And then there was the other conversation Halling had been considering bringing up with Oneakka about Seeal.
Considering whether the timing was right for the discussions, Halling held the computer pad close to Oneakka's left wrist, allowing the pad to pick up Oneakka's personal beacon and activate. Sitting back in his chair, Halling laid the pad on his lap to allow the computer time to sync with the Facility's main computer after having been off for so many days, and considered his friend. The trick with Oneakka was to bring up difficult issues directly but as non-confrontationally as possible, which was always a difficult balance to find.
"I need to talk to you about Seeal," Halling started.
Oneakka snapped his head round. "What has she done?" He demanded worriedly.
"Besides help save both our lives, nothing," Halling replied calmly.
Oneakka glanced away with a clear sigh of relief. Halling noticed that one of Oneakka's eyes blinked before the other as he fought the effects of medication and his body's demands to sleep. This was either the wrong time to bring up this subject or, possibly, the perfect time to do so.
"Are you happy for her to stay on the rota to sit with you?" Halling asked first.
Oneakka gave a faint shrug against his pillows. "I don't mind."
Though that hardly sounded like an overly positive affirmation, it had still been a 'yes' from Oneakka.
"Very well," Halling smiled with a glance down at the pad; it looked like it had completed its sync and was displaying plenty of message alerts, but he returned his attention to Oneakka.
Keeping his tone neutral and as conversational as possible, Halling asked his second, and far more sensitive, question. "Is there anything else regarding Seeal that you would like to talk about?"
There was a faint pause as Oneakka's medicated mind took an extra second to process the question.
Oneakka's eyes slid to Halling, but that was all that moved, so that Oneakka's sharp blue irises were looking out of the corner of his eyes.
"No," Oneakka stated firmly.
Up until now, though Halling had begun to believe that Massa's theory about Oneakka's feelings towards Seeal, there had been no actual confirmation. Though Halling had witnessed Oneakka's gentle touch to the strands of Seeal's hair while he had lain dying on the Hive floor, it was possible it could have been explained by Oneakka's mental state at the time. He might have been hallucinating due to blood loss, or simply completely unaware of what was going on around him.
However, with one look and a firm one word answer to a very open question, Halling now received all the confirmation he needed.
Massa had been correct.
Halling was almost shocked at the reality of it, as Oneakka had clearly understood the subtext of his question. For Oneakka, that was a quite an unusual level of awareness of a subject that was all about "stupid emotional distractions", as he had once described relationships. Instead, Oneakka was clearly aware of all the further questions Halling might have and was now looking at Halling with a glare that could only be described as 'very threatening'.
Even weakened, drugged, and unable to fight, Oneakka's warning glare was still very powerful. With his head shaved and the newly healing jagged wound running down his scalp, Oneakka looked even more menacing than usual. His look was very clear – this was a subject he did not want to discuss at all.
"Very well," Halling immediately agreed. "I will not ask about it again," he promised.
Oneakka returned his blue gaze up towards the ceiling, but it was obvious to Halling that he was tensed up again.
"But if you do ever wish to talk about it-" Halling felt he had to add; after all it seemed important to leave the door open for Oneakka to discuss the subject in the future.
Oneakka's eyes shifted back to him and then dropped to the pad on Halling's lap. "Any important messages?"
"Many, I am sure," Halling accepted the abrupt change of subject and clear resolve.
That was fine, at least Halling knew for sure now.
He picked up Oneakka's pad and pulled up the, indeed, long list of text link messages that Oneakka had received over the last week. Scrolling down to the first received, he would start there and work his way up to the present.
"There are a great deal of technical Elite-wide broadcasts," he explained, "but your first personal message is from Madesh on the day you awoke."
Halling settled back further in his chair and started reading the message out loud for Oneakka.
After the third message, Oneakka had started to relax again, his cheek against his pillow as he listed. By the end of the fourth message, Oneakka's eyes had drifted shut.
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TBC