Author's Note: Hi everyone. I know people are probably ready to throttle me with how slow this is coming along, so if you want to wait until this story is done to review I totally understand. I should have started around Halloween, but I had no idea it would grow this big. On the other hand, if it doesn't bother you to have such a long time between parts, please keep reviewing. It keeps me going :) Thank you also for the kind reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or anything else in that realm.
The Fourth Night
The moment the jumper landed, John was out and on his way to the infirmary.
"Don't you think you should get some sleep first?" Lorne called after him. "If you start bugging Carson at this hour, he might slip you a Mickey."
John threw his hand over his shoulder in a 'don't care' gesture and picked up his pace. He was exhausted. But he had to see if there was any change in Elizabeth's condition; he couldn't sleep until he knew how she was doing.
"Oh, yeh back," mumbled Carson. "Why am I not surprised. Tell me, d'ye at least park the jumper before you came stomping in?"
John sighed. Carson was usually much more amiable. However, Carson was closely running on the same amount of sleep John was running on, and that thought gave John an extra margin of patience. "Well, Doc, how's she doing?"
Carson looked to the sky as if to ask for help, then said, "Wait a couple o'minutes, Colonel. I'll have'a answer for ye soon."
John nodded and took Carson's chair again as Carson headed over to Elizabeth's bed. John had to fight from nodding off and falling off Carson's chair; he knew the moment he did that he'd earn himself a place in an infirmary bed. It was extremely hard to stay awake, though. John had a sneaky suspicion that Carson's couple of minutes had turned into the better part of an hour, but he was struggling so hard to stay conscious that time seemed to drag into an infinitesimal speck. Finally, in desperation, John got up again and began pacing the room. He hadn't paced long before Carson came back in.
"Good news?" John asked, silently bracing himself for the worst.
"Aye, lad," Carson replied with a tired but genuine smile. "She's outta the woods now."
John gave a huge sigh of relief. It felt as if a giant weight had just been lifted from his body. Elizabeth's going to be okay. That thought alone filled him up with happiness, and for a moment all was right with the world. Then, he caught a glimpse of Carson's knowing grin, and his heart sunk back to reality. "That's great," John stated, trying to sound like the stoic and supportive leader he should be at times like these. "I mean, it's great that she's going to be okay."
Carson rolled his eyes in amusement. "Don't try ta clown ye way out of this one, laddie. I saw the look on ye face when you heard she was going to be alright." After a moment, Carson added, "however, we do have a small problem."
John's face fell, and the color drained from it. Alarmed, Carson firmly pushed John into a chair and quickly explained. "Elizabeth'll be fine lad! Really! The only small problem is that she needs to let her lungs rest. She just needs a few weeks off; strictly one week of bed rest."
John heard that and grimaced. He had a feeling that Carson was preparing to ask him to undertake something big; namely, helping him keep Elizabeth on bed rest. However, both Carson and John knew that keeping Elizabeth on bed rest would be like keeping a wild horse locked up in a barn. After all, she hadn't allowed herself to take a rest for the three years since they got to Atlantis, so why would she allow herself to take a rest now?. In fact, John couldn't ever remember seeing her take one day off. "She'll never go for it," John stated.
"Well, she'll have ta go for it, or her lungs could be permanently damaged. And that's where you come in lad. You've got to take over her responsibilities, of course. But you also have to help me make sure she stays in bed."
John glanced at Carson, confusion settling on his features. "And how do you suggest I do that?" he asked.
Carson yawned and shrugged. "Elizabeth will listen to you, lad. In fact, I think sometimes you are the only one she'll ever listen to."
John frowned for a moment, too tired to puzzle out the details. "When are you going to release her?" he asked.
"Tomorra afternoon," Carson replied.
John nodded. "Good. I'll have a plan by then."
oOo
Lantean e-mail was a remarkable tool. Before he had gone to bed the night before, John had typed up a quick e-mail asking if a few people would like to volunteer to keep Weir company for an hour during the week. John set it up so that one person would be visiting with her in the morning, and another would be visiting in the afternoon. John intended to visit with her over dinner (though it would be a rather early dinner due to his storytelling), leaving extra time for her to sleep (she definitely needed it)...
What he didn't expect was a completely finished schedule when he woke up. He looked at his watch in surprise, thinking he must have slept the better part of a day if such a feat was accomplished... and noticed it was still fairly early. "When do people sleep around here?" he wondered to himself as he perused the schedule. "Rodney (oh Elizabeth'll just love an hour with him), Teyla, Katie Brown, Lorne, Zelenka, and Georgiana Tucker (is she new?). Sounds like Elizabeth will have enough visitors to keep her entertained."
John's radio clicked just then, Lorne interrupting his thoughts with a hesitant, "Colonel Sheppard?"
John frowned, disliking the tone in Lorne's voice. "Go ahead."
"Sir, I think you better come down to Rodney's lab. There is... a problem that needs sorting out."
oOo
Teyla smiled as she sat on the small hill overlooking her village. The sun was high in a cloudless brilliant blue sky, and the air was cool, crisp, and smelled of the sea. In the village below, several children ran about playing games and causing a ruckus. Normally, Athosian children were much quieter and serious (they had to be to survive in the world they lived in). Yet the night was the fourth night, the night dedicated to the children. And as such, the children were given a day just to play.
Many of them had gotten new toys that morning, and those that didn't get something new shared their bounty with the others less fortunate. The result was a happy and healthy pack of children almost dancing around the village, and all the adults set up seats in front of their tents just so they could watch (and possibly absorb some of the energy).
"They're cute," Ronon commented behind Teyla, making her jump.
"Ronon, I didn't realize you were there!"
Ronon shrugged. "I walk quiet. I just came up."
Teyla smiled at him and motioned for him to join her on the ledge looking over the village. Ronon edged down next to her, and the two sat for several minutes watching the children play in quiet contentment.
"Did you ever play like that as a child?" asked Teyla.
"No," Ronon said shortly.
Teyla frowned. "What did you do then?"
Ronon grinned, "Learned to track and hunt. We start the Academy at eight, so you have to know how to take care of yourself by six or seven."
"The academy?"
"Training for battle. All able-bodied kids go to learn war. Unless you are a healer, that is. But not too many kids start off as healers."
Teyla nodded, turning her face slightly so he would not see the surprised look that went with it. It shouldn't have been strange to Teyla that other cultures in the Pegasus galaxy raised their children different ways... but at least in Athosian culture a child became an adult in a rite of passage when they were seventeen or eighteen, not eight. And they could choose whether or not they wanted to be fighters.
"When did you go into your first battle?" Teyla asked carefully.
"I had my first kill at twelve."
Teyla nodded slowly and resolved to put the conversation away all together. Ronon did not press it.
"It's nice to see the kids play," Ronon commented gruffly after a moment. "It's what I think the world would look like if there was no Wraith."
Teyla smiled. "That is why we have this day for the kids. It is a symbol, to give us hope for the future."
Ronon nodded, then slowly asked. "Do you ever... think about having kids of your own?"
The question surprised Teyla (doubly so, coming from Ronon), but she answered it from her heart. "I would like a child of my own," she said quietly. "But I don't know if I'd want to raise them in this world. Fear is the only certainty we have here."
Ronon nodded slightly, agreeing. "But there is always hope that we'll defeat the Wraith, right?" he stated.
Teyla smiled. "Now more than ever," she agreed.
Ronon looked again towards the children playing. "I asked Beckett what Christmas was all about," he said after a moment. "He said it is a birthday celebration for God's Son, when He sent Him to save the world."
Teyla looked at Ronon in surprise, then broke out a slow grin. "It's fitting that a child should save the world."
"Yeah," Ronon agreed.
oOo
John was very close to murdering Rodney. So was Zelenka. After Rodney's experience with ultimate power, it became a well-known fact that Zelenka was prone to be caught up in power surges. Today was no different. Rodney's so called power device exploded when he tried to activate it (he didn't want to wait two weeks for Weir to help him finish the translations on the device), but instead of incinerating his lab, the energy backfired into a strange phenomenon that caught Zelenka just as he was trying to escape through the door. It somehow acted like a force field that adhered Zelenka not to a wall, but to the ceiling of the lab. Zelenka had been hanging there for the better part of the day before Rodney finally found a way to negate the energy.
John still had no idea why Rodney wanted him there. True, he was useful as a sounding board. But he sided with Zelenka on this offense, and in return Rodney did nothing but complain for a solid five hours. Finally fed-up, John marched to the canteen, grabbed a lemon from the cook, and threatened Rodney at lemon-point. Things got a little better from then on.
Finally, Rodney got Zelenka off the ceiling, and the two shut the lab down for the day. John had ordered both of them to come to the evening's story-telling so he could keep an eye on them, and they hurried off to eat a late lunch so they wouldn't be too hungry at dinner (Rodney's dislike for Athosian cuisine was legendary).
After that crisis was averted, John headed to the infirmarary. He promised Carson he'd help get Elizabeth to her quarters that afternoon, and when he got there he saw that Elizabeth was not only awake, but dressed and ready to go. It was the first time that John had seen Elizabeth awake since the day she collapsed, and he couldn't keep from smiling. She still looked pale though, and seemed even thinner.
Elizabeth gave John a sheepish smile as he strolled towards her. "John," she whispered hoarsely, her voice still suffering the effects of a breathing tube, "I'm sorry about the other day... what I said about you and Teyla."
John shook his head, "It's nothing to apologize over, Elizabeth," he stated. "In fact, I should be apologizing to you. I kept using your apparent tiredness to get my way around here... and I didn't even notice you were sick."
Elizabeth shrugged. "I didn't notice either," she whispered ruefully.
John grinned. "Truce?" he asked.
"Truce," Elizabeth replied.
Carson walked in with a wheelchair. "Glad you two made up," he said with a happy smile. "Now get yourself to your quarters to bed," he ordered Elizabeth.
Elizabeth slowly got off the bed and eased herself into the wheelchair, trying not to wince as her movements jarred her sore lungs. When she was seated, John grabbed the bars of the chair and began to push Elizabeth quickly out the door. "Lets get out of here before he tries to give you another shot!" John shouted exaggeratingly.
Carson rolled his eyes and shouted out, "You take care of her, laddie! And mind you go slow!"
John slowed down and whispered in Elizabeth's ear, "Killjoy." Elizabeth chuckled, then held her ribs in with a wince, making John sober. The rest of the journey was made slowly and smoothly.
By the time they got to Elizabeth's quarters, she had already nodded off. Carson had given her a dose of some sleep aide in hopes that she would relax without the pain. John didn't want to wake her, and so he gently picked her up out of the chair, carried her through the door, and eased her down onto her bed. He made sure she was comfortable, spreading a blanket over her before he snuck out.
Lorne was in the hall, grinning from ear to ear. Apparently he had seen the whole thing.
"Shut up," John ordered after a moment, and Lorne just shook his head amused as John resumed walking down the hall.
oOo
There were many more Lanteans that came on the fourth night. For one, the war games had left many of the military personnel "dead," and the celebration at the mainland was a delightful diversion. More scientists were there because John had commanded Rodney and Zelenka both come. This left both of their departments scrambling for something to do, so many of them came as well. Still others had heard of the beautiful singing they missed on Third Night, and were determined not to miss out on anything else. In that aspect they were disappointed somewhat; the celebration for the children happened during the day; John's story was to be the capstone of the evening.
However upstaged by the last night's singing, John had in mind a story piece woven from the events of the day that he had clownified on his way in the jumper. All the people were there whose expressions' he wanted to see during his story (including Teyla and Ronon, who were to be traveling back on the jumper that evening), and he practically leaped on the platform when Halling called him to begin the night's story.
"When we last left off," John began, "the Dark Knight had been trying to get his buddies to walk on the main road toward Pennywise's keep. After all, they looked like clowns! Why not act as if it were their territory too?"
"Though Bones and Meredith were against the idea at the start, they had no better suggestions, and by afternoon the four were approaching a strange-looking town. In the center of the town was a worn-out red circus tent, but around the tent was situated a group of dwellings called... trailers."
"'That is odd,' the Dark Knight remarked. 'Clowns don't generally live in trailers. Just tents.'"
"'I have a bad feeling about this place,' remarked Bones."
"'You do? Okay, let's leave,' Meredith stated."
"'Hush!,' shushed the Silver Knight. 'Someone is coming!'"
"It was useless for them to hide, since the bright garish clown costumes could be seen from miles away, and the gray land here was particularly flat. So the four stood up tall and moved themselves into battle position."
"Out from the trailers came a tall, gangly... creature. In fact, no one was sure what it was for a moment. It wore the gaudy outfits of the clowns, had a red ball nose, and it's hair was wild, yet it had the face of a human, not a clown. Suddenly, the Silver Knight began to growl."
"'Clown worshipper,' he spat fiercely."
"'What is he?' asked the Dark Knight.
"The Silver Knight shook his head. 'They are known as Junior Clowns,' the Silver Knight explained. 'They help the Clowns do their dirty work... in the hopes that one day they will be chosen to become Clowns themselves.'"
"'You mean, they are human?'"
"'At the moment.'"
"The Junior Clown came closer, slowing as he reached the four. He moved in a strange way; rolling his shoulders as he walked as if he was loosely disjointed. He stopped a couple of feet from the group, just out of arm's reach. 'What is your troupe?' he asked."
"'What?' queried the Dark Knight.
"'Whose troupe do you belong to?' the Junior Clown asked again. 'Your markings are unfamiliar to me. You are not of any of the troupes here; I would know.'"
"'Who are you?'" shot back the Silver Knight.
"'My name is Zelen (Zelenka's eyes popped open in surprise as Rodney mockingly whispered, 'oh, look, Sheppard made you a bad guy'), and I am the head of the Junior Clowns. Troupe of Bozo the Clown. We do parties. And I ask yet again, whose troupe do you belong to?'"
"'That's none of your concern,' the Silver Knight stated fiercely."
"'We are on a mission from our boss... concerning Pennywise,' the Dark Knight stated. 'How much further till we reach his tents?'"
"Zelen smiled an evil smile. Out from his baggy pants he pulled a switchblade knife. (Ronon chuckled at this; one of the airmen at Atlantis used to be a gangster before he turned his life around... and he showed Ronon the wonders of that particular knife. Ronon greatly admired it.) The four tensed. 'Obviously that was the wrong answer,' Meredith muttered."
"'You are very close to Pennywise's Tents,' Zelen said, casually swinging the knife open and shut. 'The only question is... would you like to go together or in pieces?'"
"'You think you can take us?' sneered the Silver Knight."
"Zelen suddenly laughed a loud and creepy clown chuckle. Then, as if in answer to his laugh, the ground in front of the four began to move. A small mountain of gray seemed to rise up around Zelen, shielding him for a moment from the four's vision. The four backed up several yards, watching the growing ground in confusion. Then, the gray wall began to break apart into a tangle of... arms and legs. Suddenly, the four saw that what had seemed to be more gray ground in front of them was actually a mound of people dressed from head to toe in gray camouflage suits. They turned their faces towards the four, and suddenly the Dark Knight saw them for what they were."
"'Oh, no!' he wailed in despair. 'MIMES!'" (The expedition members held back laughter, while the Athosians tried to decide if they should think this funny or frightening.)
"The solid wall of white faced, gray clad mimes began to shake their fingers at the four in unison, as if to say, 'no no no.' Then, each pulled from their suit a switchblade."
"'Can we run now?' asked Meredith."
"'Not yet!' the Dark Knight shouted in defiance. 'We still have one trick up our sleeve! Meredith, go ahead and use your magic!'"
"'What! Um, hello, no!'"
"'You said you could do it!'"
"'Yeah, well that was when there was no pressure.'"
"'You always work better under pressure!'"
"'Oh, sure. You have a problem and it's always up to me to save you from it. If I weren't here...'"
"'If you keep talking, none of us will be here. So use the damn Force, Meredith!'"
"Zelen had obviously had enough of their clowning around. 'Alright, my mimes. Go at them! Spare nothing.'"
"Meredith closed his eyes and lifted his arms to the sky. 'Abracadabra,' he cried as the mimes began their charge. 'Lightningo Terrifyingo!' (McKay paled, and it was Zelenka's turn to tease. But to his credit, he only dealt Rodney one jab and left it at that.)"
"The clouds exploded with a bolt that shot down and did a direct hit... on Bones.
"He fell to the ground like he had been hit with a twenty pound sandbag. Meredith screeched in surprise, while at the same time lifting his hands up high and saying, 'I didn't mean to do it! Bones, can you hear me?'"
"The Dark Knight was going to shout something terrible about Lore-Masters that electrocuted their own people, but he didn't have any time; the mimes were upon them. The Dark Knight and the Silver Knight fought bravely, while a humiliated and worried Meredith dragged Bone's body out of the fray." (During this time, John really got into his story, jumping and slinging his arms as though he was fighting a real enemy. The Athosian cape he wore flicked around as he moved, the glass glinting in the light giving the impression of flying daggers. Everyone watched transfixed; it was as if John were performing an intricate dance as he acted out his battle scenes.) "Though the two knights fought well, their strength began to ebb as the mimes overwhelmed them; there were just too many! And then..."
"Out from the hills a gray-cloaked figure leapt into battle, crying a war cry that was very familiar. Both knights stopped fighting for a second when they recognized the cry; their Queen Tala had entered the fight! In truth, Queen Tala saved their lives, for not only did she kill many of the mimes off, but her very presence spurred her knights to do better than they were doing (see, they had to protect the Queen). Even with their switchblades, the mimes gained no ground against Tala and her famous silver clown-killing sword. Soon, all the mimes had (either dropping in battle or dropping to escape) disappeared back into the blood-mottled ground, and Zelen had turned around and run.
"I'll be back!" he shouted over his shoulder, the words laced with malice. "And then, I'll terminate you!"
"Just try it!" Queen Tala shouted after him. "We will be waiting for you."
"She then turned to her people, who were looking a sorry state. Meredith was hunched over Bones, looking like the world had ended. The Dark Knight was bleeding from a cut over his eye, and even the Silver Knight looked winded."
"'Didn't we tell you to stay out of this?' the Dark Knight yelled."
"Queen Tala held her head up high. 'What if I did?' she huffed. 'You'd all be Spam by now if I hadn't have stopped those creatures. Fried spam, in your case,' she admonished as she turned towards Meredith."
"Meredith was too worried about Bones to respond to Queen Tala's rebuke. He pressed his head to Bone's chest in a desperate move to hear his heart. 'I don't know if he's going to make it. Listen! He's having trouble breathing and I don't know what to do and he's the doctor and he's the only one who knows how to fix him and...'"
"Be quiet!" Queen Tala ordered. Everyone stilled, and Tala bent over Bones. 'Bones, can you hear me?' she asked gently."
"Bone's eyes popped open, and he looked at Tala and whispered, 'Get. Him. Off. Me!'"
"'Oh, sorry!'" Meredith jumped up, and Bones took an enormous gasp of air.
"'Are you alright?'" the Queen asked.
"'I'll be fine, now that I'm not being suffocated anymore.'"
"'The lightning didn't... burn you?'" asked Meredith in awe.
"'Dinna even scratch the surface, I think. Gee Meredith, your spells need work!'"
(Rodney had been scowling through this entire exchange, and now he was near to growling. But to his credit, he did not say anything during John's performance, nor after. John's stories had inadvertently given him an outsider's view of how other people perceived him, and there were some things he disliked about himself that he hadn't noticed before.)
"Meredith eased Bones up into a sitting position. 'Alright, it ended well this time,' the Dark Knight stated. 'But now you've had your fun, my Queen, and you need to go. We can't make any progress if we have to worry for your safety too."
"No.' Queen Tala stated firmly. 'I am going with you. Queen Beth the sister of my heart, and I will travel to the end of the world to rescue her if necessary.' Then, her eyes took on a deadly glint as she addressed the Dark Knight. 'I am going,' she said, determined. 'If you want to stop me, you will have to fight me.'"
"The Dark Knight shook his head. 'I will not fight you,' he said quietly.
"'Then we are agreed,' Queen Tala finished. 'Now, Bones, if you can move... let's try to put some miles between this place and us before dark. We still have a lot of travel to do before we reach Pennywise's keep.'
"'That's my girl,' the Silver Knight whispered to the Dark Knight as Queen Tala began walking down the road. Everyone else fell in line, and after a few minutes, everyone was as at ease as they could get traveling through clown country. If only they had known that the world would erupt in chaos, starting... at dusk tomorrow."
When the story was over, the children cheered and the adults applauded loudly. Every family then began hustling their children out the cave entrance; it had been a long day and everyone was beat. Even the Lanteans themselves were tired; not many stayed to talk and as soon as John had changed everyone was ready to leave. The jumper flight back was uneventful, and when they finally landed everyone immediately split company. John felt like he was dead on his feet, but he still took a moment to check on Elizabeth. She was sleeping soundly and her breathing was clear, which was a relief. John left her cabin with his spirits high; for the first time in days, he felt completely and totally at peace.
