Sheppard was sitting in his office trying to avoid paperwork when a sergeant brought an envelope in. He ripped the end of the envelope and blew into it. Blue powder flew out, enveloping him in a cloud. It settled on him, covering his hair, skin and clothing. He dropped the envelope on his desk and called for the sergeant.
"Who sent me this envelope?
The man looked nervous. "I don't know sir. It was on my desk and since it had your name on it…" the man trailed off.
"You thought you would deliver it." Sheppard finished. He sighed. "You can go."
The sergeant didn't have to be told twice. He threw a salute at Sheppard and stepped quickly out of the room. He had been hit by the prankster. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.
He stepped out of his office and went to his room to shower. He left his clothes in a pile on the floor and stepped in. He turned the water on and adjusted it to his liking. After a few minutes he noticed that the dye wasn't coming off, and it was getting darker. He scrubbed harder and harder. It wasn't coming off!
"Weir to Sheppard."
John groaned inwardly. He didn't want people to see him like this. The light blue he could have gotten away with, but the new color was dark and in spots. McKay would be certain not only to notice, but to comment on it.
"Sheppard here."
"John, the meeting started several minutes ago. Are you coming?"
John hit his head gently against the wall several times. He couldn't think of a way out of the meeting without someone seeing him like this. If he said he was sick, Weir would make him go see Carson. He sighed.
"I will be there in a minute." He stepped out of the room and down the hall.
As Sheppard walked into the meeting, the room went silent. Weir looked at Sheppard with a concerned look. "John, I know that you are excited that football season is starting, but the body dye is a little much."
The sound in the room was going from silence to barely concealed laughter.
"Meeting adjourned!" Elizabeth said. "John, stay here."
She waited until the doors had closed to speak. "John, what happened?"
He told her the story about the envelope and the powdered dye, about taking a shower and how that only made things worse.
"Well, see Carson and ask him if he has anything that might take the dye off."
"Yes ma'am." The doors opened as he walked towards them and he started to the infirmary. He hoped to get the dye off before Rodney saw him as he hadn't been at the meeting.
"Hey, Papa Smurf! How is the colony going?"
Sheppard froze. It was Rodney. Sheppard turned slowly to face him. "Can I help you, Rodney?"
Rodney was smiling. "Nice color, but it doesn't really suit you."
Sheppard tried to walk past Rodney, but he moved so that John couldn't get past him. "You finally got hit. I was beginning to think you were the one doing the pranks."
"I'm not," John said. "I just hope that Carson has something to get this off."
"He might. You never know."
He pushed past Rodney, hoping that he wouldn't follow. He could hear Rodney walking behind him and started walking faster. When he got to the infirmary, he went in and walked right up to Carson.
Carson looked at him. "Elizabeth said you would be coming. Come over hear and sit down. I think I have something that will take that right off."
John sat down and looked at Rodney. He was still smiling. John wanted to hit that smile as hard as he could, but he knew that they needed Rodney…for now. He might get to hit the smile later.