Title: Our Mrs. Sheppard
Pairing: Sparky
Spoilers: This takes place sometime after The Tower, so I guess anything before that is fair game.
Disclaimer: I still don't own them or Firefly.
Summary: Sometimes John's off-world shenanigans catch up with him. And sometimes Elizabeth gets involved. Sparky.
Author's note: Okay, sorry about the delay for this one, but after real life gave me time to write, I couldn't find a good place to break the chapter, so I just kept writing. And it turned out to be kind of long, well at least for me. Hopefully the result isn't too chaotic!
Chapter 11- Over the threshold
John jumped up from his chair, drawing startled looks from Teyla and Rodney. They had been sitting in Elizabeth's office for the past two hours playing cards. He was proud of himself for remaining in one place for so long, but now he needed to escape. "I'm going to go get some coffee." He announced. "You guys want anything?"
"I'll take some coffee too." Rodney answered. He had joined them in Elizabeth's office shortly after the meeting to wait for any news from the search teams. "I can come with-"
"I can just bring it back for you, McKay. Teyla?"
"No, thank you." Teyla said and turned her attention back to the cards she was shuffling. While waiting, they had taught Teyla how to play hearts, and in the last couple hours she had gotten quite good.
He started walking to door, but paused before leaving. "Call me if we hear anything."
"Of course, John." Teyla reassured him. The teams had checked in about a half hour ago, not finding anything after the scanning an area around the stargate and forest. He had instructed one team to stay near the gate, while the other was to start for the village. Hopefully they would hear something soon.
John took the long way to the mess hall, not even using a transporter. What he told Teyla earlier was true; he was not good at sitting and waiting. Walking and waiting was only slightly better in his opinion, but it was the only option he had right now. On the way he almost wished he had taken McKay up on his offer for company to go get coffee. At the time he thought that he wanted to be alone, but now without something else to occupy his thoughts, his mind kept drifting to possible explanations for the missing team, and none of them were very optimistic.
John was a little surprised at how easily he was jumping to the worst possible conclusions. Usually he was better at compartmentalizing his thoughts and emotions, concentrating on the next step and not letting worry or fear override rational thought. It was a necessary skill for any soldier and even more so here on Atlantis with the wide variety of crazy situations they found themselves in. However, this time it was much more difficult to focus. He decided this was due to his inability to physically do anything. Instead, he had to give the orders and wait for others to carry them out. Yet John knew that was only part of the truth. It was more about the person that was missing. Elizabeth. He always seemed to take her well-being the most personally, and right now he couldn't help but feel like he had somehow failed her.
Before long John stopped walking, realizing that he had to get a hold of himself and keep a clear head. He drifted over to one side of the hallway, finding a window that gave a breathtaking view of the city's edge and surrounding sea. It was a beautiful night, cloudless, so that the stars could be seen twinkling above. The moon was almost full and its light illuminated the dark rippling of the waves. The sight of the ocean, calm and strong, seemed to help order his jumbled thoughts. Elizabeth would be okay. She was a smart woman. Lorne and his team were more than capable of protecting her. Ronon specifically was looking out for her. And if something had happened, they would figure it out and find her. Elizabeth had assembled one hell of a team in Atlantis and they all would do what was necessary to get her back. She would be fine. Feeling better, John turned from the window and walked the rest of the way to the mess hall, now with some degree of mental peace.
Five minutes later he was in the kitchen trying to decide between pretzels and potato chips. Teyla deserved a proper Earth card playing experience, which included eating snack food. He had already grabbed some coffee for himself and Rodney and the steaming cups sat on a counter near the kitchen entrance. All of a sudden he heard voices outside in the dining area. Not wanting to answer questions about Elizabeth, John chose to remain in the kitchen until these people left. He eventually chose the pretzels, tucked the bag carefully under one arm, and went to stand next to the coffee to wait until the coast was clear. Now he could easily hear two people talking outside the door.
"I'm on duty in ten minutes." Chuck said.
"That explains the coffee then." A woman's voice, that after a moment John recognized as Sandra Durine, one of the marines, replied. "I thought you were on this morning? That's really bad luck having to pull a night shift the same day."
"Yeah." There was a pause and then Chuck continued. "Nicole was supposed to be on tonight, but she came down with some stomach thing-"
"Ewww."
"Oh, I didn't ask for details, I just said I would take her shift."
"I hear Weir and Lorne's team hasn't checked back in yet." Sandra said seriously.
"That's what I've heard too. I hope everything is okay." Chuck sounded worried. "Two teams were sent to look into it, but they haven't found anything yet."
At this point John was glad he had stayed in the kitchen so that he didn't have to talk about any of this. Not surprisingly, Chuck was well enough informed to answer any questions on his behalf. Thanks Chuck.
"Those two are so cute."
"Oh, great. Here we go again." Chuck said in an amused tone. "You people are hopeless romantics."
"You know he sent Ronon to watch out for her. I heard it myself."
"Really."
"Okay, well not in so many words. This morning I had to drop off a report in the control room, so I saw Sheppard pull Ronon aside as they walked out of the briefing room. He said "Ronon" and then Ronon interrupted him and said "I know Sheppard" and walked off. It was kind of funny." Sandra explained.
There was a pause in the conversation and then Chuck said, "You know what else is kind of funny? Dr. Weir practically told me to look out for Sheppard."
"No way."
"Well she phrased it as, "Chuck, please try not to let John and Rodney blow up the city," but I know what she meant."
Sandra laughed a little at this. "Wait. So you're a hopeless romantic too." She accused.
"I am not." Chuck scoffed.
"I think you are. And you took this shift so you could look after Sheppard. That's really sweet of you Chuck." She teased.
"I just want to know what's going on." Chuck sounded a little embarrassed. "But I bet he's taking this hard. He didn't want her to go in the first place."
"You know, it would be so much easier if those two would just realize that they're half in love with each other."
"Yeah."
"See." Sandra's voice rose triumphantly. "Hopeless romantic."
"Well, if you'll excuse me, some of us need to go to work."
"I'm taking your non-response as agreeing with me." She replied.
"I don't think so," Chuck shot back.
Their voices faded as they continued to argue, obviously leaving the mess hall.
John stared at the door well after they had left, stunned by the conversation. He knew that rumors ran wild on Atlantis. He had heard several about himself, usually also involving Teyla, although there had been the occasional one about him and Elizabeth too. More recently though he hadn't heard much of anything. Well, obviously until just now. It was...it was ridiculous.
John picked up the coffee and started back to the office. He didn't want to think about all of this, especially having just straightened out his thoughts regarding Elizabeth's disappearance. Yet on the way to her office, he couldn't help but remember what he had overheard. He and Elizabeth were just colleagues and good friends. Yes, he did try to look out for her welfare, but that was all done in the spirit of friendship. Elizabeth was under a lot of pressure and sometimes needed to be reminded to eat or take time off. As her second in command he had a right to be concerned and make sure she was doing okay. He knew that they flirted once in a while, but it wasn't really flirting. Talking and joking around with Elizabeth came so naturally and with very little effort. And, besides he couldn't see himself as Elizabeth's type, so there was really no point to continuing this line of thought. What Chuck and Sandra had been talking about were two people that were close, that had been through a lot together, and had a comfortable friendship. That was all. He had other close friends, and he could be friends with a woman without it being anything else. Look at Teyla. It wasn't his fault if people assumed things. With these final thoughts, John crossed the front of the control room, heading for Elizabeth's office. He noticed Chuck had taken his seat. I may have to downgrade Chuck on the awesome scale.
When he finally made it to the office, he was glad Teyla and Rodney chose not to comment on his long absence. They seemed to appreciate the snacks and settled in to play cards once again. Halfway through the second game the gate alarm sounded.
"What have we got Chuck?" John questioned, walking over to the console and feeling rather proud for controlling his impulse to run.
"It's Jumper two Colonel." He answered. "Go ahead Miller."
"Atlantis, we've got everyone and are heading back."
John felt a flood of relief as the nightmare that had been his evening and early morning was now suddenly over. However, his concern returned with Miller's next statement.
"You should get a medical team to the jumper bay. Dr. Weir is unconscious."
"What?" John asked, gesturing for Chuck to page the infirmary and Beckett.
"She collapsed on the way to the gate. She's breathing fine and everything, but we're not sure what's going on."
"Thanks for the heads up." His fears had subsided a bit with the additional information. "Hurry back."
After the transmission ended he turned to look at Teyla who was now standing just inside the control room with Rodney.
She gave him a comforting smile, "You and Rodney go. I'll stay here in case anything else comes up."
John looked at her gratefully and quickly walked out of the control room with McKay close at his heels. They made it to the jumper bay in record time, neither saying much on the way, arriving just as the puddlejumper landed firmly on the deck. Lorne's team exited the jumper first, followed by Ronon who was carrying Elizabeth in his arms.
The medical team wasn't there yet, so John rushed up to see her, noting that Ronon looked a little worried. Elizabeth lay still, breathing deeply, almost like she was sleeping. She was astonishingly pale, making the brown curls lying carelessly across her forehead seem darker, and streaks of dirt stood out clearly on her face.
"Infirmary. Now." He ordered quietly, his eyes never leaving Elizabeth.
Ronon immediately started walking in the direction that the med team would be coming. John waited a second to follow until Lorne was even with him, so the two of them could walk together. "What the hell happened?"
"I thought she looked kind of unwell before we left the farm, sir, but she said it was just a little dizziness. About halfway to the gate she collapsed." Lorne replied.
John realized that Lorne assumed his question had been about Elizabeth, which it was, but he wanted to know all of what had happened. "Okay. And?"
Lorne then proceeded to fill him in on the entire day, from their time in the village to eventual capture by Imely and probable involvement of the Genii.
"But I thought we had a truce with-"
"So did I Colonel," Lorne said. "Maybe Dr. Weir knows more about it than she told me. We were in a hurry to get out of there."
"And you did a good job of that, Major." He replied. They had reached the infirmary, but hadn't gone in yet because of their discussion. "You should let the Doc check you out now."
"Yes, sir."
John followed Lorne through the door, spying Carson working on Elizabeth in the far corner. Rodney and Ronon were with her. He started over to her bed, checking on the rest of the team along the way. So far it appeared that everyone just had minor cuts and bruises. Except for Elizabeth, they had lucked out on this one. He ended up sitting on a stool near the bed while a nurse finished taking blood. After a minute of watching her, almost to remind himself that she was indeed back, John looked up at Ronon, who was leaning against the wall to his right.
"You okay?"
Ronon nodded, "Yes. Lorne fill you in?"
"Yep. We'll do a formal briefing after we know what's going on with Elizabeth." He responded, turning back to watch Carson examine her. She still looked so pale.
A moment later Carson addressed him, Ronon, and Rodney, "Well, the only thing I can find wrong with her right now is a concussion, which may have caused her to lose consciousness." He motioned to Ronon, "But you did say you were drugged, so it's possible that getting hit on the head and whatever you were given may have reacted unfavorably. I'll know more when I get her test results."
"That's it?" John failed to hold back his response.
"Colonel, she's been here for fifteen minutes." Carson answered patiently. "It appears that she's not in any danger right now. Normal breathing, blood pressure, temperature, and her pupils are reactive. She's just unconscious. I'd say there's no real reason to worry right now, but I have to wait for the blood tests or for her to wake up. Give me an hour."
John sighed. It looked like there was more waiting in his future. "Okay."
He stood and walked over to Lorne to tell him they would do the debriefing in the morning. It was almost 4 AM and they all needed some sleep. Maybe by that time Elizabeth would be awake too, so they could get more of her side of the story. Then he stepped out of the infirmary to radio Teyla and explain the situation. When he returned, the commotion had died down as Lorne and his team had left, and the on call medical staff had gone back to the sleep rooms. As he passed Carson's office, John could see light coming from under the door and assumed that the doctor was waiting for Elizabeth's test results.
Rodney and Ronon were still by Elizabeth's bed when he reached it. After John had taken his seat again, Ronon pushed off the wall and called it a night, but Rodney stayed a while longer. They didn't say anything for a time, just sitting in the relative silence of the infirmary and watching Elizabeth. Her face had been washed, so the streaks of dirt were gone. Sometime during his brief absence they had also changed her into hospital scrubs, the white of them only a shade lighter that her face.
"She's going to be fine, you know." Rodney said, the low tone of his voice disturbing the quiet of the infirmary.
"I know." John answered softly and ran a hand through his hair. "That doesn't mean I don't worry though."
"I know." Rodney replied with a half smile and stood from his chair. Before he left he added, "She always worries about you too. Good night John."
Too tired to puzzle out the unreadable look on Rodney's face during that last comment, John simply watched him exit the infirmary before turning his gaze back to a motionless Elizabeth. She looked so fragile, so unlike the strong and lively woman he knew. As he sat there, a fragment of a conversation heard not that long ago drifted back to the front of his mind.
"… if those two would just realize that they're half in love with each other."
TBC