Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of its characters. I do love to write about them though.
Just a little story to celebrate Christmas, it follows on after Easter on Atlantis, but can be read as a stand-alone story.
This story has five chapters and I will try and post one chapter a day, so it's all uploaded by Christmas Eve.
Chapter 1: The Christmas tree.
It was four days before Christmas on Atlantis and Colonel John Sheppard stood on a tall ladder putting an angel on top of his Christmas tree. The ladder almost reached the ceiling, so he suspected that Teyla would kill him if she knew what he was doing. He'd only been released from the infirmary that morning and he had his right arm in plaster and a twisted, swollen left knee, but then what Teyla didn't know wouldn't hurt her. At the moment she was in a meeting with the coalition of planets and Woolsey, so he didn't expect her home for hours. Torren was in day care and Teyla was supposed to pick him up when she had finished work, so for now he was completely alone.
Rodney had helped him bring the enormous tree home from the planet of Gaffer a world covered in trees, which were remarkably similar to Norfolk Island pines from earth. That was the mission that had led to his most recent stay in the infirmary; he'd actually climbed one of the trees to get an idea of where they were in relation to the stargate, he was quite a way up when there was a howl in the distance and he lost his footing and fell to the ground. Despite the fact that he was injured, he along with Rodney had still managed to drag the tree back to the jumper to bring back home for Teyla and Torren. The problem was that Rodney had complained all the way home that dragging the tree had injured his back, which led to a lot of eye rolling on his part. That was three days ago and seeing as if he'd spent the last two days in the infirmary, he'd had very little chance to decorate the tree until now.
He'd actually been surprised when he'd arrived home that morning that the tree had been placed to one side of the lounge room. Teyla had told him that Lorne and some of the marines had moved it to their apartment the night before, although Teyla had been puzzled as to why he wanted a tall tree in their apartment. Torren had just sat and stared at the tree and shrugged.
The sound of the door chime brought him out of his thoughts, startled by the noise, he fell off of the ladder and he fell on his injured knee. Groaning he thought open and the door opened to reveal that Dr Rodney McKay was standing at the door.
"Sheppard, what the hell are you doing!?" Rodney chastised him walking through the door and into the room.
Although he was in pain, he replied using his standard response, "I'm fine, now just help me up onto the coach."
"Sure you're fine Sheppard; you'd be fine if your leg was hanging off." Rodney mumbled while attempting to help him up.
Once he was settled on the couch and his knee had been elevated, he decided that perhaps he'd better stay right where he was until Teyla arrived home. There were still presents for him to wrap, but that would have to wait for another day when his knee was feeling better and hopefully it would feel better soon, because the last thing he wanted was to spend Christmas in the infirmary.
"Hey Rodney, can you get me some ice for my knee, and then can you make me a cup of coffee?"
It was obvious that the scientist wasn't impressed, when he just stood and stared at him, before replying, "What am I, your slave?"
Staring at his friend, he put on his best puppy dog look, hoping that his friend would feel compassion and do what he'd asked, "no, Rodney you're not a slave you are one of my closest friends that just wants to help out his injured buddy."
Rodney glared at him and he could tell that Rodney wasn't amused and he definitely wasn't placated, "don't you ever use that puppy dog look on me again, it may work on women, but it will never work on me! Do you understand?"
He sighed, this was going to be harder than he thought, "sorry buddy, but are you going to do what I ask?"
"Alright, but Teyla and Carson are so going to kill you?" Rodney said with a roll of his eyes.
Great all he needed was for Rodney to open his fat mouth and tell Carson, because Carson would have him back in the infirmary before he had a chance to blink. "Not if you don't tell them."
Rodney looked at him with a look that he could only describe as smug, "I won't tell them if you come and help me out with some ancient devices tomorrow?"
Smirking, he looked at his friend with a look of triumph on his face, since he had just thought of the perfect way to blackmail him, "or how about I don't tell Jennifer that you sent Teyla and I shopping for the engagement ring that you're going to give her for Christmas?"
Rodney held up his hands in a symbol of surrender, "alright I'll get you your ice and coffee, but can you still come and help me out with the devices tomorrow?"
He had proposed to Teyla back at Easter and apparently Rodney had been so impressed by the ring that he had gotten for Teyla that he had asked them to help him buy one for Jennifer. Perhaps it was time for him and Teyla to actually set a date; he sure wouldn't want Rodney and Jennifer to be the first ones to get married. He had applied to officially adopt Torren according to earth traditions as well, so he was hoping that the papers would come through before they had their ceremony.
The thought of getting married to Teyla and adopting Torren had him grinning like a stupid idiot, so he had no idea that Rodney was actually talking to him, "huh," he said when he finally realised.
"I said wipe that ridiculous grin of your face and come and help me with some ancient devices tomorrow."
Glaring at Rodney and pointing to his knee, he decided to give him what he wanted, so perhaps he might get what he wanted, "alright, but I still don't have any ice for my knee or a cup of coffee."
"Alright, alright, I'm going and don't say I don't do anything for you Colonel Calamity." Rodney grumbled walking over to the kitchen.
At last Rodney was occupied and he could close his eyes and rest his aching head. When he had been released from the infirmary that morning, he'd only had a slight headache, so he hadn't bothered to tell Carson, but now it was progressively getting worse, "hey Rodney can you get me some Tylenol while you're in the kitchen?"
A few minutes later he heard Rodney re-enter the lounge, so he opened his eyes and smiled at his friend.
"Is there anything else you would like, before I retire to my humble abode?" Rodney asked him facetiously, while giving him a mock salute.
Chuckling at his friend he used his good hand to salute back, "No thanks slave, just don't forget to shut the door on the way out."
Smirking, his friend turned and left the room and at last he was alone. Looking over at the tree he realised that he had left the ladder next to it, but there was no way he felt like getting up now, because his knee was really starting to throb. He knew that he'd have to deal with it before Teyla and Torren arrived home, but for now all he felt like doing was sleeping, so closing his eyes he allowed himself to fall into a deep contented sleep.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teyla was thoroughly exhausted by the end of her day and she couldn't wait to get home to her fiancée. One day soon she was really hoping to set a date and be bonded to John for the rest of her life, but for now she was happy just to be with him. On her way home to the apartment she shared with John, she needed to pick up her son and then she could spend the evening with her two favourite men.
Although John was supposed to be taking it easy, she hoped that he had somehow managed to arrange dinner for them, because the last thing she needed right now was to head to the mess hall to pick up food.
She was curious to see what he had done with the large tree in the middle of their living room, because she really didn't understand the reason behind it. To her Christmas was a strange ritual that the humans from earth celebrated once a year. It had to do with some kind of divinity coming to earth as a baby to save the whole planet, but it just sounded strange to her. Easter was another one of those weird traditions that they celebrated as well. Although, she certainly enjoyed the chocolate that John had given her and Torren at Easter time, even though it had made Torren sick.
Before she'd even realised it she was at the childcare room and Torren was clinging to her legs.
"Torren it is good to see you, how was your day?" She asked looking down at him.
"Great Momma," he said looking behind her, "Where Da?"
"Daddy is at home, remember he hurt himself and was in the infirmary for two days."
"Oh," Torren replied, before furrowing his brow, "big tree."
"That is right Torren, let us get home and see what Daddy has done with the tree."
"Okay, Momma."
She looked up at the day-care teacher, who had obviously watched the entire exchange. "Thank you for looking after him today, Ms Jinoto."
"You're welcome Teyla; he is always such a well behaved child."
She nodded her head at the young woman, as she grabbed her son's hand and left the room. Their apartment was just a short walk and a transporter ride away, so it was with great relief that a few minutes later she walked into her apartment.
Walking in to her home, she got the shock of her life, when she realised that Rodney was there and he was preparing food in the kitchen.
"Rodney," she said suspiciously, "why are, you in my home preparing dinner?"
"Sheppard asked me if I could help, so that he could get some rest. His leg is supposedly hurting, so I thought I'd help decorate the tree and then stay to help out with dinner. Jennifer won't be back until Christmas eve, so I thought what better use of my time than to help out a friend."
For the first time since she'd walked into the apartment she noticed the tree and she was a little confused by what she saw, it was decorated with bright colourful glass balls and a haphazard bunch of little toy figures including a strange winged creature on top. There was brightly coloured lights wrapped around its branches and a strange material made of some kind of tin like material wrapped around it. She had no words to describe it and obviously Torren was confused as well, since he was just sitting in the middle of the room staring at it.
Looking away from the tree for a moment, she noticed that John was fast asleep on the couch with an ice pack on his knee.
"Well thank you for your help Dr McKay, but what is wrong with John's knee."
"Umm…" he stammered, "it was feeling a bit sore this afternoon, so I suggested that he put an ice pack on it."
Narrowing her eyes at him, she watched him squirm under her gaze and she found that she kind of enjoyed it, but in the end she decided to take him at his word and let him off the hook.
"How long has he been asleep Rodney?" She asked using her most charming smile.
"I think he fell asleep about three hours ago, he seemed to have a bit of a headache, so I gave him some Tylenol."
A moan from the couch interrupted their conversation, so Teyla rushed over to John's side, "John, how are you feeling?"
"I'm good thanks, "he said, before she caught him glancing behind her and it didn't take her long to realise that he was mouthing something to Rodney.
She was suspicious of what was going on, so she stared at John and waited for an answer.
"I'm sorry Sweetie; I was just thanking Rodney for all that he had done today."
"Alright then Honey, I think I'll sit at the table and wait for my dinner, will you join me?" She asked with another one of her alluring smiles.
"I think I'll stay here thanks Sweetie, since my knee is still a little sore."
"And what about you Dr McKay, will you be joining us?" She asked flashing another one of her award winning smiles.
"Umm…., I think I'll head home now, thanks for asking."
"Okay, then please see yourself out."
She almost laughed when Rodney left the room in a hurry, but once he had gone she looked around to see what Torren was doing and much to her amusement, he was playing with one of the strange decorations on the tree.
"Torren, can you please go and wash up for dinner, while I have a talk with Daddy?"
She was relieved when he wandered off with out to much trouble and when she was sure that he'd gone she turned to John, "what have you been up to John, I do not believe that your knee just started to hurt."
He let out a sigh and she hoped that he was about to tell her the truth, "all that happened this afternoon is that Rodney helped me decorate the tree and my leg felt sore by the end of it, so I decided I needed to ice it some more."
He looked at his feet and Teyla suspected that their might be more, "Is that all?"
"And I fell off a ladder, while I was trying to put the angel on top of the tree."
"Can I not leave you alone for one afternoon, without you getting into trouble John Sheppard?"
"I'm truly sorry Sweetie, but I really wanted to surprise you and Torren. When I was a young boy we always used to have the biggest Christmas tree at home and a week before Christmas we would go and decorate the front lawn and the front of the house with lights, so what I wanted to do was to give you and Torren a chance to experience what I did as a child."
She was amazed by the softness and sincerity in his eyes, "You really did all of this for us?"
"I love you both and I would do anything for you, I hope you know that Teyla."
Looking at him, she could sense that he was becoming a bit uncomfortable by the conversation, so she changed the subject."
"So, Amelia tells me that you are supposed to buy gifts for the ones you love and put them under the tree, so, where are they?" She asked trying to hide a smirk.
John looked uncomfortable at her suggestion, "Ummm… you actually have to wait until Christmas morning for those."
"I suppose I can wait. Shall we have some dinner together and then perhaps you can tell Torren and me what Christmas was like for you as a child?"
"That's a great idea Sweetie, but I don't really want to move my leg right now, so maybe we can all sit in the living area and eat."
She nodded her head and immediately moved to the kitchen, taking a look at Torren along the way, as he hadn't said anything since they had arrived home. She was happy to see that he was still mesmerised by the colourful balls on the tree and she wondered how long a child could sit and stare.
Ten minutes later, when Torren was sitting on an old sheet in the living area with a sandwich, she sat next to John on the couch and waited for him to tell her about Christmas as a child.
It wasn't long before he started, "when I was young we would go out hunting for our tree two weeks before Christmas. There was a tree farm near our house….."
"A tree farm," Teyla interrupted?"
He smiled his crooked grin at her and as usual, it made her feel better, "a place where they grow pine trees especially to be used as Christmas trees."
"Oh…," she replied, with a smile of her own, "please continue."
"Anyway two weeks before Christmas, Dad, Mom, Dave and I would go to the farm and pick out the tallest widest tree we could find and then Dad would chop it down for us to take home. When we were a bit older, I think Dave was about nine and I was around seven, Dad let us cut the tree down by ourselves for the first time. Although he'd never admit it, he was so proud of us that day."
Teyla watched the pure joy on his face at the memories he was sharing with her and at that moment he looked like a young boy again.
"Anyway once we got it home we would spend hours decorating it together, while we were decorating it we would eat chocolate and shortbread, and we didn't bother to eat dinner that night, because we were so full of snacks."
She noticed that his countenance changed and his eyes misted over, "how many years did you do this John?" She asked not really sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Until Mom died, she died a month before Christmas when I was fourteen and Dave was sixteen, we never put up a Christmas tree again after that. Sure we still spent Christmas with extended family and friends, but our Christmas' were never the same after mom died."
She didn't really know what to say to that and she could sense his heartbreak. "I am so sorry John."
"Anyway I want you and Torren to enjoy Christmas as much as I did as a child, so that is why I put up a tree for you."
"Tanks Da." Torren said with a mouthful of food.
"Yes thank you for thinking of us John. I am really looking forward to hearing more of your childhood Christmas memories.
"You'll just have to wait until closer to Christmas, before I tell you anything else." He replied with a smirk.
Later that night when she was lying in bed she thought about what John had shared with her about his childhood and it made her wonder what life must have been like for him growing up on earth without the threat of the Wraith. But one thing she knew for sure was that he had suffered the loss of loved ones just like any person in the Pegasus galaxy.
TBC…