Disclaimer; SGA and Psych are not mine.
Hello! Sorry about the long wait everyone, thank you for your patience. I hope to keep on writing for this and keep the chapters coming. And I know that the leader of Atlantis has changed hands twice since I first posted this. First with Sam and now with Woolsey, but I'm going to avoid having to re-write certain sections and just keep it Weir. Hope that's ok!
Geeky BMWW Fan- Thank you, thank you for the beta! I give you your own personal Gus, to hang out with you and make you laugh! )
Chapter Eight: Explanations Are In Order
John had momentarily panicked after he realized that Shawn and Gus had escaped their cafeteria confines. And he purposefully ignored Radek and Rodney, who were unsuccessfully pestering him with questions.
"Colonel, who is this... Shawn? And Gus?"
"I thought you said you brought a girl! Am I right!?"
John jogged farther down the lonesome corridor, worry gnawing at his insides. If anything had happened to either of them, how would he forgive himself? And more so, how would he explain the situation to a group of saddened and angry parents and friends?
The idea seemed more daunting than approaching the IOA in explaining a bout of 'friendly fire' or other nonsense.
He needed Shawn and Gus to return to Earth, as soon as possible. And in literally one piece.
"Answer me!" A voice demanded, it sounded like Ronon. John could hear the Satedan just around the corner. This does not bode well. John's inner monologue caused him to panic further.
"Ronon! No! Ronon!"
As Ronon came into view, John could finally see the precarious scenario before him. Ronon was pointing his powered-up weapon directly at the two frightened individuals, namely Shawn and Gus.
John watched Ronon as he rolled his eyes slightly at the Colonel's intrusion.
"Yes, Sheppard?" Ronon asked, somewhat exasperated. "These two showed up after the Wraith beamed themselves onto Atlantis. Don't you find that suspicious?"
News travelled fast on Atlantis. But apparently, not that fast. It hadn't caught up with the former-Runner.
John sighed and stepped in front of his brother and his stone-stiff friend. "Put the weapon down, for the love of God. They're not Wraith and they're dressed like tourists." He turned around to give Shawn and Gus a reassuring nod. It immediately put Shawn at ease, and he fluidly returned to his former self.
Gus, on the other hand, was about to have a coronary.
Ronon seemed reluctant at first, but he did as he was told. Still somewhat puzzled, he raised a brow. "Do you know them?"
John grinned. "Ronon," he turned to gesture to his brother. "This is Shawn Spencer. He's my brother."
Shawn gave a half-wave while grinning lazily. "The one and only. Well, not really... There is Dave. Though, that's not really relevant. And technically..."
While Shawn rambled, Ronon watched, seemingly unimpressed. "He doesn't look like you."
Shawn smirked. "Oh, if I had a nickle..."
Gus might have agreed, or not. His rigid silence was starting to worry John.
"Besides, Dave's the lame one," Shawn whispered to his brother. John made a face.
"Wouldn't you say, Gus? Dave is lame? Yeah?" Shawn nudged his friend roughly. Burton Guster merely glared at him.
Still, Gus said nothing. And it didn't look as though he was going to anytime soon. Behind Ronon, Rodney and Radek were exchanging glances.
Rodney stepped forward, while smiling, ignoring the odd conversation that this 'Shawn' person seemed to be having with his mute friend. "I see a resemblance," McKay said, cocking his head to one side. "Maybeee..."
John patted Gus on the back. "And this is Gus, Shawn's best friend."
The corners of Gus' mouth might have moved in greeting. Might have being the operative words.
"You see, uh..." John continued. "Due to, um, Daedalus complications..."
"They were beamed with you?" Ronon deadpanned.
"Exactly."
Shawn raised his hand to get every one's attention. "Can I just ask something?"
Everyone, which included Gus, turned to look at him.
Shawn then pointed to the fallen Wraith. "What in the hell is that? And why is its hair so nice? It's like a walking Pantene Pro-V commercial. For aliens."
At that, Ronon simply walked away while toting his now powered-down gun. Radek followed after him, muttering to himself that he forgot to deactivate the power to the chair.
Rodney, however, strolled over to further investigate the newcomers.
"Hoo boy," Rodney said, shaking his head, "I guess there is no reason to ... well, uh... beat around the bush. You've seen enough. ..." He then decidedly shook Shawn's hand, expressing that it was always interesting to meet a Sheppard relative (John then wondered what Rodney meant by 'interesting'). "You have any embarrassing stories of our military commander you could share?"
Shawn laughed heartily at John's expense. "Do I ever. You name the time and place. And..."
"Ok, that's enough," John interrupted.
"Besides, anyone who Canadian is cool in my book," Shawn added, while smiling.
Rodney seemed unsure how Shawn knew that. "Uh, how did you..." "The patch, on your arm..."
Rodney looked down at his left shoulder and realized he was wearing the jacket displaying the flag of his heritage. It was a rare moment when Rodney McKay felt actually stupid. The moment only lasted a measly second or two. "Oh. Oh, right."
John grinned. "Rodney McKay's a genius, just in case you didn't know."
Shawn mirrored John's lop-sided smile. "You don't say."
McKay was already walking away. "Oh great! Just what I needed. A John-clone."
"He'll warm up to you. I think he likes you already, actually."
Concerned, John then looked over at the still-silent Guster.
Teyla's voice interrupted on the com-link. "Colonel? The second Wraith is down. My team and I caught him in nearing the south entrance."
John nodded. "Thanks, Teyla." He then ended the com while musing out loud. "Right, so I can't help but agree with McKay. It's not going to hurt anyone if you know what's going on here. And I'm sure Dr. Weir wouldn't mind..." He trailed off thinking about the dire consequences. Of course she would mind. But lying blatantly to his brother and Gus seemed out of the question. Besides, he was more than aware that Shawn had figured out more than humanly possible anyway.
"You mean you don't have those flashy things that erase part of your memory? Particularly the part of the memory that holds the images of alien sightings and encounters?" Shawn asked.
"Are you asking me if we have something from Men in Black? No, no we don't have that."
Shawn smiled and turned to Gus. "Don't worry, you can be Will Smith. I'll be Tommy Lee Jones."
Gus was still quiet, while he narrowed his eyes at his friend.
John ignored them. It was something he was good at. "I guess explanations are in order. And Lorne has everything under control," John continued. "Why don't we all go for a drink in the cafeteria?"
Shawn smiled. "Sweet! I could use a some sort of chocolaty hot beverage. Perhaps oh... hot chocolate?" He turned to Gus, "Buddy?"
Gus nodded.
"One thing," Shawn asked, as he followed John down the hall, neither of them bothering to notice that Gus was skirting the dead Wraith as if it could come back to life at any given moment.
"Who's going to clean that up?" Gus asked in a whisper far too quiet for anyone to pick up on.
"Has this Ronon person had his rabies shot?" Shawn asked, sounding completely sincere.
John gave Shawn a look.
Gus was shaking his head, "Seriously? Is anyone going to clean that up?"
"Dave isn't lame. He's just rough around the edges."
Shawn mocked an understanding nod. "He never laughed at any of my jokes. And how about the time he called me a half-wit and ran me off of his lawn with a rake during the one and only family get together I was invited to?"
"Wait? He didn't do that, did he?"
"No, I think his wife did."
John made a face. "Ex-wife. Actually."
Shawn then grinned. "Wow, him too. That's almost sad."
"Don't remind me."
On a relatively different note, Gus seemed almost back to normal. He was walking alongside John, listening to every word and not adding too much to the conversation.
"He had a nice house though. That granite siding... wasn't it Oregonian river rock?"
"It wasn't river rock, it was sediment from western Washington, Shawn," Gus answered back in an authoritative voice. "Which reminds me, Dave owes me twenty bucks."
John looked over at Gus, clearly puzzled. "My brother owes you money?"
"During the same family get together, he bet me that I couldn't beat him at croquet." Gus then grinned slyly. "Proved him wrong. I should figure in what he owes me with interest."
"Dude, weren't you like... eleven? Or something?"
Gus became slightly smug. "Yes, but I was also captain of the croquet squad at school."
"Oh God, I tried ousting that from my memory," Shawn moaned.
Gus simply avoided Shawn's verbal slam. "Either way... that was a long time ago."
John sighed, "A very long time ago."
Earlier John had tried recalling happier times with his now scattered family. It was so long ago, it almost seemed unreal. And it saddened him greatly.
As soon as they entered the commissary, John had his two guests take a seat. Gus and Shawn seemed surprised at how busy and bustling the cafeteria was when compared to when they had abandoned it.
"Did this people come out of the wood work?" Shawn asked. "Even though there isn't any wood work in the area..."
John was already up to grab he and his accompaniment hot chocolates.
As he walked toward the queu in front of the beverage station, he couldn't help but allow a small smile to form. He hadn't spent time with Shawn for what felt like ages. The decade of not speaking with him had left John wishing he could have shared more of his life with him. Now was the time to rectify that.
"Sheppard?" Weir's voice came through his com-link, breaking John from his thought process. Surprisingly, Weir sounded... very professional. It worried him. Slightly.
"This is Sheppard."
"Fantastic job with destroying that hive ship. You came at just the right time. I'm sorry we had to disrupt your vacation."
John was about to open his mouth and shrug off the compliment, but she was too quick with continuing.
"However, I heard about what happened beforehand. Colonel Caldwell contacted me, expressing the situation. Is it true you brought two civilians back with you?"
"I... well, yes. Still, it was an accident."
"I understand that, Colonel. But there is more of a situation on our hands. Meet me in the conference room as soon as possible."
"Anything you need me to prepare for?" John hated the waiting and guessing game when it came with the unexpected.
Elizabeth seemed hesitant to reply at first. "The Daedalus won't be here from another week or so, and our ZPM is running low on power. Typical, I know. But you know what that means..."
John knew exactly what she was hinting at. He was afraid something like this would happen.
Shawn and Gus weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Again, so sorry about the hiatus. I hope to add more soon.
Thank you to all of the anonymous reviewers! I greatly appreciate your comments and feedback!
Thank yous to: mimi, Janiqua, reader, RNG, sgakaz