Life, with a little spice 5
It's late at night and they're lying in bed. She's nestled in his arms, her head on his shoulder. He kisses her forehead. "I missed you so very much."
She giggles. "I bet you did. You showed me quite a few times tonight," she teases him.
He chuckles. "That, I did. But I was not only talking about that," he replies, his hand caressing her thigh.
She drops a kiss on his chest, near his heart. "I know. And though it was a very different experience for me, I missed you too." She sighs. "I never would have thought this would happen to us. Everything was so perfect..."
"Hey, everything will be perfect again, sweetie, I promise. And you know I don't make promises lightly," he says.
"Who did this to us, John?" She breathes out and cuddles closer, shivering.
He draws the bed sheets and comforter around them. "We'll find them. We have to. Or we'll never be safe again."
"But we have nowhere to start," she remarks, frustrated. "And the IOA will want me locked away. We're running out of time."
"Hey. I'll never let them take you away from me. Don't you know that?" He rubs her back gently. "If bad comes to worse, we'll get the hell out of here."
She pushes him away gently and props herself up on her elbow, eying him. "John, you can't do that. There are people here who're counting on you. You can't leave it all just for me," she protests.
"And I have a responsibility towards you," he counters. "You and I, we stick together. Period."
She sighs. "You're stubborn."
"Right back at ya', babe," he replies with a kiss to her temple. She falls silent. "What is it?" he asks.
"I... We need to talk, John," she says tentatively. He sighs, knowing what she has in mind, or rather who. "John, what about Nancy? I mean, it's not I'm really fond of her or anything, but still..."
"I know. I told you, Louise. I'm not going back to her. I'll inform her tomorrow." He pouts. "I have an inkling she already knows."
"John, I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say I'm sorry for her," she tells him.
"I understand but still... Louise, you need to know she hasn't had an easy life either." She scoffs. "Sweetie," he chides her. "I can understand how you feel but she was there for me even though she had to struggle with her own issues."
He elaborates, seeing he has her undivided attention. "She lost her husband not long before she was commissioned to join us. She was still with Homeworld Security when it happened. Carjacking. They never found who killed him. She needed to get away from there. Very much like you did," he points out.
"You'd be an excellent lawyer, John. You know how to make your point," she chuckles humorlessly. "I'm sorry for her. I didn't know."
"We got closer again – because of our mutual pains. I never forgot about you and she never forgot about him. We leaned on each other," he amends. "And I feel guilty for doing this to her now. She has no one to turn to, you know. She's barely made any friends on board. Everyone was pretty much faithful to you." He pouts and falls silent.
"I see why she's so pissed at me," she frowns.
He sighs. "Look, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll talk to her in the morning."
She nods in agreement. "You're right and we'd better talk about what we're gonna do about the other issue at hand. I need to ask you something."
He nods. "Go ahead. Tell me."
"I was not allowed to read the file concerning the mission during which I disappeared. You asked all the questions and I didn't have a say in the matter. I tried to piece things up but there are still missing pieces to the puzzle," she pouts.
He snorts. "Yeah, you tell me! What do you wanna know?"
"Don't get pissed at me for asking. I need to know what you did to find me. If there were some leaves left unturned, so to speak..."
He winces. "Louise. We sent all the teams we could spare to that planet, interrogated everyone in the village, scanned the whole planet, you name it. McKay worked on the gate, trying to obtain all the addresses where you could have gated to. Nothing."
"Did you ever think I could have been stored in the buffer and released later?" she wonders.
"Yes, we did. McKay found no trace of such a glitch," he replies, shaking his head. "All we hoped was that you had been taken somewhere and would be released someday but we never heard from you again."
"I told Jen the only explanation would be I was put in stasis. Did you ever think it possible?"
"Now, we do. We didn't know if you were dead or alive. But why then release you? What would have changed that would make it worthy to make you reappear?" he wonders.
"I don't know, John. But I do know two things. One – when the envoy arrives, it will be too late to act. And two – our only chance is to gate back to this planet and see what I remember," she says, lifting her eyebrows.
He shakes his head. "Oh, no, you're not going there. I have you here with me and I'm not risking losing you again. The place is not safe, for all we know."
"I'm not asking, John," she stubbornly says.
He huffs. "Why do you insist on being so reckless, sweetie?"
"Taking a page from your book, John. I had a good teacher," she points out wickedly.
She barely sleeps a couple of hours before the nightmare wakes her up. She's once again walking through that fog, trying to find the rest of team, but this time, she sees a figure ahead, though she can't make out more. Either her mind is playing tricks on her or she's starting to remember something.
She wakes up with a start. He tries to draw her closer to him but is not really awake so she tells him to go back to sleep and gets up, dressing quietly, and tiptoes out of the room. The guards have not returned and it might be her only chance to talk to Rodney before the envoy arrives. She walks to his quarters and Jen's, hoping they haven't changed. Jen is not there but she's welcomed by a very sleepy Rodney.
He groans. "It'd better be important. I haven't slept in two days." He glances at the clock on his bedside table. "Louise, I barely had two hours of sleep," he chides her. "I'm not Superman," he points out.
She giggles. "I never said you were. Look, I'm sorry I'm waking you up but I need to talk to you. It's important." He motions for her to come in and offers her a seat. "I need to get back to the planet where I disappeared and to do so, I need you to convince John," she announces.
He lifts his eyebrows. "Piece of cake. Gate back to the forbidden planet. Convince John. Sure. No problem!" he sniggers.
She growls. "God, Rodney, I wouldn't ask if I didn't believe the clues are still there for me to find."
She sees he's fully awake now. "What do you expect to find?"
"Everything, actually. I think those villagers must know something. Seeing me might trigger something. If this is part of a grander scheme – as suggested by Nancy – and not an isolated incident with the gate, then we need to do something about it," she says.
"It's been three years, Louise," he points out. "The clues aren't probably there anymore and the villagers, they won't talk. We were pretty thorough the first time."
"I know," she nods in agreement. "I'm not asking you to send me back now. I'm asking you to send me back when it happened."
His eyebrows shoot to his hairline. "Hey, not Superman, remember!" he protests.
She pouts. "Rodney. Don't you dare think I'm stupid. I know you were working on rebuilding Janus's time machine way back when we left three and a half years ago. Don't tell me a genius with too much time on his hands isn't tempted to finish such a project – just for the fun of it." He looks away. "Have you or have you not finished it, Rodney?" she insists.
He nods. "But don't get your hopes high. I've never used it on anyone."
"But technically, it's ready and working, right?" she says stubbornly.
"Technically, yes," he answers, pouting.
"That's good enough for me, Rodney," she nods.
The door chimes and Rodney huffs then trudges to open it. "Thank God, Louise," John enters the room, looking worried, "I found you. I woke up and you were not there."
Rodney turns to her, smirking. She lifts her finger at him menacingly. "Shut up, McKay," she says through clenched teeth. He bites his lips not to laugh.
"Louise, you shouldn't have left without telling me," John chides her, wrapping her in his arms. "I was sick with worry."
"I'm sorry. I needed to see Rodney," she amends, looking embarrassed.
"You have come up with a plan and I'm not going to like it, right?" he says pointedly. She nods. "Do I have any say in the matter?" he insists.
She shakes her head. "Nope, not this time, John. But if you want to fix all this wrong that's been done to us, you'll agree to let me try."
He sighs and looks at McKay who nods at him. "I think she knows what she's doing, Sheppard. And I have my idea about how to make it work." He sighs. "Look, you guys, I suggest you go back to whatever you were doing before this young lady here woke me up and let me work on it. I'm heading back to my lab," he adds, shaking his head. "God, Louise, the things we wouldn't do for you!" he scoffs, making her giggle.
"You know you'd get bored without a good challenge now and then," she points out and winks at him. She kisses his cheek. "Thank you Rodney. For everything. For giving me a chance – again."
She folds her hand in John's much larger one. "Come on, honey. Let's get back in bed. I need my beauty sleep."
"Are you two gonna at least tell me what you're up to?" he pouts.
She shakes her head. "Let Rodney work on it and if it's feasible, we'll tell you." He lifts his eyebrows. "John, if it's not, we'll let you come up with a plan B," she amends, praying it won't be necessary.
TBC