I think you all know who everyone belongs to by now, but I'll say it anyway: MGM, SCI-FI, and NBC own everything you recognize.
Olivia was able to keep quiet while they walked through the hallways of the West Wing to the Oval Office. However once they were waved in by the Presidents' assistant Charlie, she didn't hold anything back anymore.
"What they hell is going on here Leo," she yelled as soon as the door closed behind them.
"Leo, Olivia, good to see you. To what do I owe this little visit," the President asked.
"Oh don't give me any of that bull; you know exactly what is going on here. Which one of you had the bright idea of sending me off to visit this little base on another planet? God that sounds wrong," she said, looking at both men.
"That would be me of course. You can say that I was executing my executive privilege," Bartlett said.
"Why me? Why are you sending me of all people to do this?"
"You have been with this program since the minute we found out about it. You were levelheaded and open minded when I sent you to Colorado and I think you can do the same thing now."
"Olivia, the President and I think that you can put your personal feelings and relationships aside to do the job that we are asking you to do," Leo said.
"Alright, I'll go. But next time ask me rather than just volunteer me for a job," Olivia said as she was she walked out the door.
Leo and the President watched as Olivia walked out the door. They knew she was angry, hell they knew that she would be angry when they made the decision to send her. They had debated whether or not sending Olivia was the best course to take, but even after consulting a third party…and a fourth and fifth, they knew that she really was the best one to send. They knew that despite the past between Olivia and the head of Atlantis military personnel, there was no one that they could send that all of the other involved countries would agree on.
"I hope we didn't just do something that will come back and bite us in the ass Leo," Jed said.
"That is a wish that probably won't come true sir."
* * * * * * * * * *
Four days later Olivia found herself sitting in one of the extra offices deep within the SGC. She had flown to Colorado the day before with the rest of the group and they were now preparing to head back to Atlantis. For two days after the announcement that Olivia would be returning to Atlantis with them things had been a little on the crazy side. Dr. Weir had spent some time trying to tell her what she could expect in the Pegasus galaxy, Dr. McKay spent some time attempting to tell her about the mechanics of making the expedition work while General O'Neill had offered simple advice: don't eat an hour or so before gate travel—otherwise you might not be too happy once you get to the other side. Olivia had spent whatever time she could going over things with Donna, Josh's assistant, (she would be filling in for while she was gone not that she actually did anything special except for babysitting Josh and Sam), and reminding the boys that they had to play nice in her absence.
She was on the phone with the president when General O'Neill walked through the door. The man didn't even bother to knock, he simply walked into the room. She looked up at him as he stood there patiently (as patiently as possible for him) waiting for her to get off the phone. After saying her final goodbyes to the people on the other end she hung up the phone and turned her attention to the general.
"Time to go?" she asked.
"Yep. Everyone is waiting in the gate room. Olivia, are you sure that you are okay with this?"
"Do you mean am I okay with having to go and evaluate the necessity of this little expedition, or do you mean am I okay with having to work with my ex-husband? I know that John has told you all about our past."
"I mean were you okay going via the gate rather than the Daedalus, but now that you have brought it up are you okay with everything else?"
"It's nothing I can't work through. And yes I am okay with traveling via the gate. If we had to be locked up on that spaceship of yours for two weeks, Atlantis would probably need a new military leader," she said with a small smile.
"Between you and me, I always knew that Sheppard was going to cause me a few headaches…which he as so if you want to bruise him a little bit I am all for it."
"Please, you know you love the guy. He reminds you of yourself," she said.
"Why do you say that?"
"That is what Sam and Daniel said, that he reminds them of a younger Jack O'Neill."
"Yes, well those two say anyone with a sense of humor and good love for cake reminds them of me."
"Yes sir," Olivia said with a laugh.
She grabbed her small bag from behind the desk, most of her belongings that she was taking with her had already been packed up with the supplies and equipment, and followed the General out the door. They walked a few minutes in relative silence. They finally reached the gate room and she headed in to join Dr. Weir and the team. Sheppard stood off to the side trying to avoid her as much as possible. He hadn't admitted to his friends how confused her coming made him. One part of him was excited that she was coming, that part was the portion of him that still regretted asking her for a divorce—the part of him that still loved her; the other part of him was upset that she was here, he had spent years trying to get over her and make a new life for himself.
General O'Neill made a farewell speech (it was two words: Good Luck) and then the event horizon opened. The new military contingent went through first followed by Drs. Weir, McKay, and Beckett. Olivia stood there watching as each person disappeared into what she could only describe as a giant pool of water. Finally it was just her and John standing there, Olivia staring intently into the wormhole. John came to stand beside her. Finally after what seemed like an exceptionally long time to him, John lifted his hand and placed a little shove on her shoulder—effectively pushing her through to the other side. He gave one small smile to Jack who was still standing there watching and then followed Olivia through.
Olivia stumbled through the other side; the only thing keeping her from falling down was the marine who was standing there waiting for everyone to come through. After righting herself with the help of wonderful marine whose uniform indicated his name was Major Lorne, Olivia's first thought was that she was glad she had taken O'Neill's advice in not eating before she left. She was about to move out of the way when she was struck from behind by another person. Although she had been spared the embarrassment of falling down before, the impact of John's body literally walking into her pushed her off balance again and this time she ended up on the floor.
John had been stunned when he had bumped into something when he walked out of the gate. Since he wasn't expecting anything his reflexes were not that quick and only reacted in time to see Olivia land on the ground.
Olivia was sitting on the ground looking up at whoever had knocked her over only to find herself facing John. She gave him a dirty look, even though she knew he had not done it on purpose. Two hands reached down to help her up and with the help of John and Major Lorne she quickly found herself upright again.
"Welcome to Atlantis Olivia," John said.
"Wow."
"That's what they all say when they first get here," John said with a laugh.
"I bet. This place is amazing."
"Yeah, it has it's good moments. It's seen its share of problems too. Come on, I'll show you up to Elizabeth's office, she's probably all ready in there trying to catch up on what we've missed."
John headed up the stairs Olivia and Lorne in toe. They got stopped along the way a couple of times by people needing John to sign off on something, but eventually they made it up to Elizabeth's office. They found her in the middle of a conversation with Dr. Zalenka and Dr. McKay. John rolled his eyes at the group and then looked over at Olivia.
"This is going to take a while. We might as well get your stuff and show your quarters. Later on I'll send someone over to give you the tour of the place and show you where your office is," he said to her. Then he thought about it for a second and turned to Lorne. "Do we even have quarters for Ms. Barrington?"
"At the moment, no. But we can just go ahead and put her in one of the rooms that had been set aside for one of the new recruits and find an office for her later," Lorne said giving Olivia an apologetic smile.
"Don't worry about anything right now major," Olivia said. "I know that my presence wasn't expected so you go ahead and do whatever you have to and worry about me later."
"Appreciate that ma'am. Colonel if there isn't anything else that you need I will get back to work," with that Lorne headed back.
* * * * * * * * * *
Later that evening Olivia wandered into the commissary. To say that her first day on Atlantis was crazy would be the biggest understatement she had ever heard. After Lorne had headed back to the control room, John attempted to locate some quarters for her. This task was rather difficult seeing as Major Lorne had already assigned rooms to incoming personnel days ago when the duty roster had been sent. John finally managed to find an empty set of rooms; the only catch was that it was in the same section of rooms most of the command staff occupied. She was situated into a room between Rodney and Carson and across from John.
After he brought her to her room he had left her to get settled. There had been a mix up in her luggage and instead of finding hers waiting for her, she had the luggage of one of the marines new to the city. She finally got that situation dealt with thanks to the help of Lt. Laura Cadman, the marine that had been sent to give her a tour. Her day got considerably better after spending some time with Cadman. The woman was hysterical and a joy to be around. She told Olivia about all the great hiding spots in the city and some of the crazy stories about what had happened in Atlantis since her arrival five months ago (one particular story revolved around her being stuck in Rodney McKay's head after a run in with the Wraith).
Olivia had spent some time unpacking before hunger kicked in and she headed off to the commissary. Luckily for her it was the one place she could remember how to get to…trying to find her way back to her room was going to be fun. She had made notice of John when she walked into the room; he was sitting at a table with his team. She had met Teyla and Ronon shortly after her arrival and had found both of them to be friendly… even though Ronon didn't seem to talk much. She grabbed her food and headed into the dinning area looking for a place to sit. She noticed John staring at her, which left her a little uncomfortable. Looking around for a place to sit she saw Cadman at a table with a few other marines and Dr. Beckett. Laura waved her over indicating for Olivia to join them, and she walked over.
* * * * * * * *
John had been sitting with his team in the commissary when he saw her come in. He had been hoping to keep his past with Olivia a secret, but that wasn't going to happen; Rodney blabbed that secret as soon as they all sat down for dinner. Teyla and Ronon had been a little shocked…neither had ever pegged John Sheppard as the type to be married. He watched her as she came into the room, tray in hand looking for a place to sit down. He was contemplating inviting her to sit with them when he saw Laura Cadman wave her over to her table.
"Looks like she's made a friend already," Ronon said as he watched John Sheppard's ex sit down.
"Great; her first friend is Laura Cadman. You do realize that those two are going to be trouble, right?" Rodney asked before shoving the last piece of his pie into his mouth.
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