"You lost them! You lost two small children and a scientist!"
"In their defense, they also had Ronon."
"You find this funny, Dr. Zelenka?"
"No sir, not at all." Elizabeth tried to be subtle about covering her mouth to conceal her growing smile. Carson and Rodney's sense of honor would be satiated when they found out their disappearing act had gotten Sgt. Bates chewed out by a very irate Colonel Caldwell.
"Dr. Zelenka, would you fire up the internal sensors please?" Elizabeth patted Zelenka on the shoulder, reassuring him that though he probably was going to yell some more, at least Caldwell wasn't going to kill him. Radek dashed to the consul and fidgeted for a moment under Caldwell's gaze. He clicked a few buttons, listened to a rather annoying beep, then tried again. He muttered what she assumed was something foul in Czech and turned to Elizabeth. "She won't let me."
"What?!" Caldwell roared.
Zelenka carefully chose his words, deliberately aiming for the most irritation and replied, "I believe, sir, that she won't help you get mad at him."
Elizabeth faked a sigh and tapped her earpiece, further stiffling that smile. "Maj. Lorne, I need you to assemble a search team. It seems that Sgts. Bates and Greene have lost Teyla and John."
Elizabeth could heard laughter and music in the background, as Lorne replied. "Mission accomplished ma'am, they're both here in the commissary and doing fine."
"Thank you Maj. Lorne, Weir out." Caldwell and Bates were up in an instant and took off towards the commissary at a trot, with poorly concealed frustration. Elizabeth followed after them, hoping to prevent bloodshed.
They entered the commissary, and Elizabeth finally broke down and laughed. One of the marines was strumming "Ring of Fire" on his guitar while John taught Teyla, Carson, and a few of the lunching marines how to line dance, while the rest looked on in enjoyment.
Tables had been pushed to the side to give the children enough room to play, while Ronon and Rodney were busy sharing a plate of brownies and watching the spectacle. The laughter and games continued, until Maj. Lorne tripped over another marine and fell to the feet of Caldwell.
"Colonel!" He jumped up as the other marines leapt to attention, one with a guitar still strapped around his neck. Weir just smiled, and complemented Lorne on his dancing prowess, toeing the fine line between relinquishing complete control of the situation to Caldwell and infuriating him even more.
"John, Teyla, come here for a moment, I'd like to introduce you to someone." John had either heard the disguised warning in her voice, or was used to dealing with military men with that look in their eyes, because he paused for a moment to straighten his Athosian jacket before striding towards Caldwell with a sufficiently humble expression. Teyla took her cue from John and cast her eyes towards the floor, pretending she was a demure, defenseless little girl. Ronon settled into the table in what she assumed was his non-threatening position, but still halfway in front of Rodney to protect him from any outraged marines. Weir found herself stifling another smile, and thinking just how good her alpha team was.
"Colonel Caldwell, this is John Sheppard, and Teyla Emmaggan. John, Teyla, this is Colonel Caldwell, he's the military commander here on the base."
"An honor to meet you, sir." John saluted in flawless military fashion, while Teyla modestly dipped her head.
Elizabeth glimpsed the incensed gleam in Caldwell's eye and started running through all the possible ways this could end badly. "I was under the impression that you were given instructions to stay with Sgts. Bates and Greene."
"Yes sir."
"Then tell me Mr. Sheppard, why would you run away from two marines that were appointed for your own protection?" John held his position at attention, and kept his gaze directly in front of him- he knew full well that every one of these questions was rhetorical and answering would only get him into more trouble. Elizabeth wondered to herself for a moment just how many more times in his life John was going to have the opportunity to practice this skill, and how on earth he knew it at nine.
"So tell me Mr. Sheppard, how exactly did you manage to elude two US marines?" There was bite to Caldwell's voice, barely containing the fury that Sheppard still had the capacity to defy him, even in this state. She shot Ronon a look, telling him to have the common sense to let Caldwell rant; there was nothing to be done. He settled back to the bench, but that tone was enough to have his hackles raised.
"They were using hand-held detectors sir, and the detectors started malfunctioning. Ms. Emmaggen and I stepped into something akin to an elevator, sir. It returned us to a populated portion of the city, and we assumed that, rather than step into an elevator where we were unsure where it would take us, we came to the commissary. Mr. Dex and Dr. McKay found us first, and they decided it would most likely be easier to have the marines track us rather than track marines, sir."
"So, Mr. Dex and Dr. McKay didn't help you to lose the marines?" He was baiting a nine-year-old! What kind of person baits a nine-year-old?
"No, sir." Good John, she thought, stay mellow, don't give him anything to work with.
"Are you sure about that?" He'd been circling John, like a vulture going in for the kill. There was a sadistic joy to him that he would probably be confining Sheppard to his quarters in a moment, finally able to exercise control over the rogue flyboy. She shot Ronon, and now Rodney, the look again, which she knew wasn't going to keep them in their chairs for much longer.
John's eyes broke from the arbitrary point on the wall where they'd been fixed for the last several minutes and met Caldwell, stare for stare. "Yes, sir." This needed to end, and quickly. Traces of the John they all knew and loved were sneaking through, and she didn't doubt that if John pushed, Caldwell would try to get him returned to earth to be looked over by the doctors there.
"Whose idea was it to run away from the marines?" Caldwell turned his gaze from John to Teyla, and John's will broke. He stepped defensively in front of her, and the gauntlet was thrown.
"She had nothing to do with it, sir. She followed me away from the group, because she was afraid what would happen to me if I ran off alone. She's the one who pressed the map in the elevator to take us back to the main part of the city. Lady didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Ronon, Rodney, or the marines."
"Well then John," Weir interrupted, "we're going to have to do something about that." She kneeled in front of John to meet his eyes and said in a pseudo-reprimand, "You know that it was wrong to run off like that John."
"Yes ma'am."
"I need you to promise me that in the future, you will always stay with Ronon and your marines."
"Yes ma'am."
"And don't lead Teyla into any more trouble."
His act was firmly back in place as he hung his head in shame and replied, "I promise, ma'am."
She lifted his chin and smiled, "Well, if that's taken care of, I suggest that you get back to that plate of brownies before Rodney eats them all. And then, if you'll humor me, I have always wanted to know how to line dance."
He smiled back to her, then dashed over to the table with Teyla in tow. Caldwell's anger was palpable. She knew it wasn't at John, it was at all of Atlantis for keeping his condition hidden from him, and from the SGC. He still wanted Sheppard's position, that was obvious, but that he'd been overlooked didn't seem to irritate him nearly as much as the blatant favoritism for Sheppard, even in this condition. Now that she thought about it, that blood vessel in his head had started to throb at about the time Zelenka had mentioned that Atlantis was refusing to give him up. Even the city would fight in John's behalf.
"Colonel Caldwell, thank you for helping to find them, it was greatly appreciated."
"Dr. Weir..."
"Especially considering that you are the commander of the Daedalus, and given that both John and Teyla are civilian children, they are under my command."
The muscles in Caldwell's jaw clenched as he restrained his tirade against her, then simply nodded his head. "If you need any further assistance Dr. Weir, I'll be on the Daedalus."
"Thank you for the offer Colonel, but I'm sure we won't." Caldwell gave Bates a look equivalent to a threat on his life if Sheppard made it out of his sight again, then left the room, leaving Bates and Greene to take positions at the door, and attempt to heal their egos in solitary. Elizabeth walked over with a smirk and joined the rather entertaining conversation in progress.
"Alright John, you taught us a line dance, and now I get to repay the favor."
"By wiping it from everyone's memory?"
"Shush, Rodney. John, I'm going to teach you how to waltz." Carson turned to the guitar toting marine and said, "Three-fourths time please." He held out his hand and asked, "Elizabeth, if you wouldn't mind?"
He led Elizabeth to the middle of the open space, and started his simple waltz saying, for John's benefit, "Front, side, together, back, side together. See now, it's not hard at all."
John just smirked and bowed to Teyla. "May I have this dance?"
She stared at him incredulously and said, "Boy, I don't know how."
"Just keep your eyes on mine and follow where I lead."
"But..."
"Trust me?"
There wasn't even a pause before she replied,"Yes, of course."
"Then you'll be amazing." They started to dance, and Carson's jaw hit the floor.
Ronon helped himself to a brownie and said, "I hate to break it to you Doc, but I think you just got outclassed by a nine-year-old."
They went in a graceful arc around the room while the marines snickered and Carson sought for something of value to say, rather than staring. "You know that he lied for them, don't you Elizabeth?"
"What?"
"It was Teyla's idea, Ronon led the marines away, and Rodney shut down the transport once they made it through. He lied to protect them."
She just smiled as they waltzed around the room and murmured, "That's our John."
Rodney started cursing under his breath, "I mean really, it's just not fair."
"Rodney," Carson warned.
"Oh come on Carson, he's nine! How does a nine-year-old know the Viennese Waltz?" John heard Rodney's rant, and stopped mid-step.
"How do I know how to waltz?"
Carson shot a glare at Rodney and said, "Probably just from watching too many old movies lad, most people pick it up eventually from someplace. Everyone knows it, they just don't know they know it."
"Dr. Beckett, I don't think one can pick up the Viennese Waltz from movies."
"Oh aye, lad, that ye can. But I wouldn't fret about it, doesn't mean anything."
John turned back to Teyla and she acted on the confused and rather troubled expression etched on her best friend's face. Without a word from John she said, "I don't feel much like dancing anymore." He nodded and they stepped over to Carson, with John asking on behalf of a conveniently blurry eyed Teyla, "Aren't we late for our regularly scheduled afternoon nap?"
"Aye, that ye are lad, let's head back to the infirmary." Carson, thankful that the subject had been dissolved, ushered them out the door with Ronon close behind, and Teyla's hand firmly in John's grasp.
Rodney stepped next to Elizabeth and whispered, "He didn't say thank you."
"What?"
"He's been unbearably polite this whole time. This morning he thanked almost everyone in the infirmary during their check-up. And today, everyone danced and played with them, and he didn't say thank you to anyone."
She stepped to the balcony, her gaze following the children as they walked back to the infirmary. Rodney moved around to be in her line of sight and make sure he had her attention. "He knows something is wrong Elizabeth, those instincts of his are too damn good to not know."
She nodded and murmured, "Get everyone to the conference room once they're asleep." Rodney nodded and headed out the door while Elizabeth kept staring at their retreating group, wondering why a little dancing had her stomach sinking like a stone.