Authors Note: It's been an inexcusably long time since I updated this and all I can do is blame University for it. I'm working on the next chapter but I have my dissertation due in a couple of months so it may be a little while before the next update, I'll endeavor to keep the wait as short as possible. Thanks to those who have stuck with me, several of you have messaged me about this story and it's heart warming to know that people care enough to take the time to do that. I'm really sorry about the wait, I hope it was worth it.
Chapter 7
It was a warm night and the good weather seemed to have brought people out even though it was a Tuesday. Ronon and Teal'c guarded the doors to the town's new nightclub, Fever. The grand opening had been on Saturday, Ronon and Teal'c hadn't been working that night so this was their first shift. They'd both been a little nervous but half an hour of training and an hour of on the job experience and they were getting the hang of it pretty quickly.
They checked the ID's of a group of young girls going in; they were all eighteen so Ronon allowed them to pass into the club. They'd only caught one underage person trying to get in with an ID that obviously hadn't been his own.
"This is not so bad," Teal'c stated as he checked the ID's of the couple who were next in line.
"A little repetitive though," Ronon said as the couple walked by him.
"But it will give us both some extra money this year," Teal'c pointed out. "You can spend it on Teyla."
Ronon turned a mild glare on him but couldn't really comment because he knew he probably would spend at least some of it on Teyla. He couldn't believe they'd been together almost a year now; it didn't seem like that long ago that Teyla had called to him across the table in the cafeteria, asking him on a date to prove a point to Elizabeth. He hadn't been sure they would last to begin with, they were both so different but he couldn't imagine not being with her now.
"I'm sorry, we cannot allow you in," Teal's was saying and Ronon shook of his reverie and looked at Teal'c. He had stepped in front of a man who was trying to get into the club; he looked over 18 but not by more than a few years. He was swaying from side to side though as he stood there, occasionally shifting his feet to keep from falling over. The woman at his side was no better; she seemed to be holding onto him for balance herself.
"And why not?" she questioned, her words slurred together.
"You are intoxicated, I believe you have had enough to drink," Teal'c told them.
"That's not up to you," the man said looking Teal'c over and in his drunken state he seemed to find the odds in his own favour. "Lemme passed," he slurred and attempted to brush passed Teal'c. "I cannot."
"Is there a problem?" Ronon intervened to show the couple that Teal'c wasn't working alone.
"Yeah, this guy won't let me in," the man gestured at Teal'c with annoyance.
"I'm sorry sir but we're required by law not to let anyone who we believe to be too intoxicated into the club," Ronon tried to be diplomatic. This was the first time they'd had to decline anyone entry based on how drunk they already were but the night was still young and they had expected not to have to deal with this until later.
"And what makes you qualified to say I'm too intoxicated?" the man questioned, his words becoming more slurred and Ronon had to strain to understand them.
"It is left to our discretion," Teal'c stated, his voice full of authority. "Now we're going to have to ask you to leave sir, there are others waiting in the queue behind you."
"Well screw you," the man shouted loudly. "We don't need your stinking club, we'll go take our business somewhere else, we won't be coming here again."
"Let's hope not," Ronon mumbled under his voice after the man had stumbled away from the front of the club. They turned their attention of the group of young men who had been waiting behind them in the queue, checking ID's, stamping their hands with a red ink stamp and allowing them to pass.
"Why was Blue Tears extract banned from use in potions?" Elizabeth asked as she looked up from the book resting on her knees to John. They were sitting in his room studying for their potions test the following week. They'd been studying for over an hour, they'd started by sitting at his desk and had since migrated to the floor. Elizabeth was sitting with her back to the bed, John opposite her leaning against the wall. He looked at her with a blank expression and when she opened her mouth to try and help he quickly cut her off.
"No, no, don't tell me, don't tell me," he said quickly raising a hand as though it would somehow stop her words from getting to him. "I know this one, it'll come to me."
She waited patiently, he looked like he was about to say something but then changed his mind. "The long term effects..." she encouraged.
"It made people crazy," John finally said annoyed at not getting the answer sooner. "We're only a few weeks into the term; you would think Trel would save the tests until a little later."
"I suppose being tested regularly means we have no choice but to study as we go rather than trying to cram it all in right before the exam," Elizabeth shrugged as she looked back down at her notes to find another question to ask.
"I think my brain has been turned into mush," John said and she looked back up to see him swaying his head from side to side with a look of consideration before announcing that his brain was in fact mush.
"Why don't we take a break," Elizabeth suggested and closed her book, putting it on the floor beside her. John perked up at the thought and stood up, stretching as he did so and then reaching down a hand to help her up as well. She realised her butt had gone numb while she had been sitting and she moved over to John's window to try and walk it off a little. She looked over the campus; John's room was on the scenic side of the tower, the one that looked out over the forest rather than the other school buildings. He had a pretty good view from his window; it was probably the only thing about living in the towers that she envied. She happily went without her laundry being done, without the bigger rooms and bathrooms, the extra wardrobe space. She didn't need any of those things; she wouldn't have minded having the view though.
John moved to stand next to her. "The view is probably wasted on me now, I'm used to it."
Elizabeth smiled but she could tell he was lying; he appreciated the view as much now as he had when he first saw it. "You could always try and move rooms, ask for a view of the campus."
"You know, some of the rooms look out towards the girl's dorms," he said with a mischievous note to his voice. "That might be worth acting like a spoiled rich kid to get."
She elbowed him in the side and he feigned a look of hurt. "You deserved it."
"I did, you're right," he replied and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She was getting used to this now, the random displays of affection that she could never predict from him. It still baffled her at times, that she had this, had him, and the rest of her life at school, it was all so different than anything she'd had before. At times she was afraid she was going to wake up in her bed in Tralos and this would all have been a dream.
It wasn't a dream though, it was real, John was real and currently looking at her lips with a looks she was becoming accustomed to seeing. He kissed her, his lips meeting hers softly and she was drawn in as she had been every time since the first. She ran her hands through his hair, his hands sliding down to her hips and pulling her closer. She knew where this was leading, wasn't sure how far she wanted it to get down that path yet and so she broke the kiss.
"We really should study," she said and John narrowed his eyes.
"You couldn't distract me with anything else, food, friends, a library book you forgot to return?" he questioned. "No, it had to be the potions test."
She smiled and stepped away, moving back over to where her books and papers were and sitting down next to them again. "Come on, we'll just do another half an hour and then I'll distract you with food."
Rodney shifted the weight of the bag on his shoulder as his muscles protested against the weight he was carrying. He would have thought he'd be used to carrying around so many heavy books after his first year but that was apparently not the case. He walked toward the cafeteria, spotting his sister waiting for him by the doors. She was the complete opposite of him, both in looks and in personality. She was all blonde hair and blue eyes, she got along with everyone and didn't have an ounce of arrogance in her despite being almost as smart as he was.
"Meredith," Jeannie smiled as he approached.
"I told you not to call me that here," he glared at her in response.
"It's your name," she pointed out, grinning.
"Just..." he sighed and took one of the books out of his bag. It was a book he had used in first year that she had somehow managed not to pack her own copy of when they'd come to school. "Here, take this."
"Thank you," she took the book from him and hugged him hard. "You're the best, I can't believe I left mine at home, I'll get it back to you in one piece at Christmas I promise."
"Rodney," a voice from behind him said and a moment later, Laura and Carson stepped into view. "You heading in for lunch?"
"It's lunchtime isn't it?" he questioned.
"Don't be rude," Jeannie admonished him and then turned to Laura and Carson. "I'm Jeannie McKay."
Laura took her outstretched hand and shook it. "I'm Laura, this is Carson."
"It's nice to meet you," Jeannie said and then looked at her brother once more. "Thanks again for the book Meredith, I'll see you later," she told him and with a quick kiss on his cheek she walked away.
Rodney looked at his two friends, Carson was clearly trying not to smile but Laura was openly grinning at him, at least she was holding back the laugh, for the moment. "Shut up," he said to her.
"I didn't say anything," she replied, amusement in her tone.
"I can hear you thinking it," he replied and she held back another laugh as he threw up his hands in resignation and walked through the cafeteria door.
"She seemed nice," Laura said as they found an empty table. "She obviously adores you."
Rodney wasn't sure how to respond to that so he chose to say nothing, instead he looked around the cafeteria at the students who were already eating to determine what was on the menu for today.
"See anything you like Meredith?" Laura questioned and he turned his head to glare at her. She was sitting at the table, her chin resting on her hands and her eyelashes fluttering innocently.
"You just can't resist can you?" he muttered in annoyance.
"No," Laura shook her head with a smile. "I tried but I really don't have that kind of self restraint."
Elizabeth finished brushing her hair and set the brush down on the dresser as Teyla walked toward her with two letters in hand. She handed one of them to Elizabeth on the way to her bed and Elizabeth looked down at the envelope in her hand, she recognised her father's handwriting instantly. She felt her stomach drop, she had a feeling she knew what this was about, she'd been expecting it for over a week.
She opened the envelope and took out the folded paper inside, unfolding it to read her father's words and with a sigh she put the paper on the dresser. She could feel eyes burning into the back of her head and turned around to see Teyla looking at her curiously.
"My father," she told her and Teyla nodded her head in understanding. After meeting her father and sister during parent's week last year Teyla had taken an instant dislike to them both, Elizabeth couldn't really blame her for it but they were still her family.
"He had bad news?" Teyla questioned knowing how little Elizabeth got letters from home.
"Something like that," Elizabeth told her and then sighed again. "Carlie found out about the Allinyas thing last year, she heard the rumour that Jack, Laura and I took the drugs willingly and blamed Cal when we got caught."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Teyla asked in disbelief.
"There was nothing to say about it, I told her that Cal had spiked our food and drinks to try and get us addicted to the drugs," Elizabeth told her. "I don't think she believed me."
"And now she's written home and told your father," Teyla shook her head. "How bad is it?"
"Pretty bad," Elizabeth replied. "He's angry about the situation, questioned my version of the truth, told me not to ruin our families reputation and that I should have told him immediately about the situation."
"Because he's so approachable," Teyla muttered. "I'm sorry Elizabeth, I know he's your father but he should treat you better. I hate seeing the way he treats you, it makes me so mad."
"It's fine Teyla, I understand," Elizabeth said. "I suppose I'd better tell him I'm testifying at Cal's trial in a couple of weeks."
"Are you nervous?" Teyla asked.
"About testifying?" Elizabeth questioned and Teyla nodded. "I'm trying not to think about it too much. We've got that meeting next week to go through our testimony, I'm not really looking forward to any of it."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Teyla said and then grabbed her jacket from the bed. "Let's go and get breakfast."
Janet walked into her room to find Laura hanging off the side of the bed as she tried to reach a book on the floor. Only her knees and the lower parts of her legs were still on the bed, one hand was balancing her on the floor and the other stretching as far as it would go, her fingertips touching the book but not enough to grab hold of it or pull it closer.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just get up and get it?" Janet questioned as she watched the spectacle.
"You would think so," Laura replied, her voice strained. She almost lost her balance but quickly righted herself again and reached for the book once more. "But in my mind this was the easier option, I'm not entirely sure why I'm still doing it, pride maybe?"
Janet walked over and nudged the book closer with her foot so that it was within Laura's reach. Her roommate grabbed the book and then proceeded with the spectacle of getting back onto her bed without getting up to do it.
"I did it," Laura announced as though she'd had no help whatsoever.
"Well done," Janet replied with a shake of her head and then held up the piece of paper that had been stuck to their door. "Atala guild meeting," she announced. "First one of the year is on Friday next week."
"Think we'll all get the same events as last year?" Laura questioned and Janet shrugged.
"More or less, we won last year and as first years we did pretty well overall so I doubt they'll make too many changes, it'll just be a case of where the new first years fit," she replied.
"At least that gives me something to look forward to next week," Laura said as she flicked through the pages of her hard earned book. "I have that meeting for the trial on Wednesday."
It was said so casually that had Janet not known her better she would have thought Laura was completely unconcerned by it. She did know her better though, she knew how much what Cal had done had affected her last year. Laura was a tough girl and Cal had made her feel vulnerable, made her feel weak and it had more than just knocked Laura's confidence. There had been a time last year that Laura hadn't been herself, it had been like sharing a room with a different person. An experience like that left its mark on a person and it had definitely left one on Laura, even if her roommate hid it well.
"Jack and Elizabeth are going to be there too right?" Janet asked and Laura nodded absently.
"Yeah and the other kid that came forward about being spiked, they're going to talk to us about the trial and the procedure and then I think they're going through each of our testimonies separately," Laura told her as she continued to flick through the pages of her book but Janet could tell she was no longer seeing what was on them. "Wouldn't want us contaminating each other's testimonies."
"Not nervous then?" Janet asked knowing what her answer would be and knowing it would be a lie.
"Not really."
"That's good then."
TBC