Chapter XVI: A Friend on the Inside

A/N: Apologies for the long wait. A combination of computer issues and a beta-change have slowed down the update. IzzieStar still gets an honorable mention for writing some of this chapter in advance. Aang Beckett has helped a lot! There is some humor, but the next chapter will be back to serious business. Enjoy! Sparky She-Demon

Although John had taken Woolsey's news with the placid face of a soldier that he had been wearing since Elizabeth had been taken, the facade slipped once Woolsey was out the door. Woolsey had mentioned that there was someone they could talk to at the facility where Elizabeth was being kept: the now USMC Major Laura Cadman. After watching Woolsey pull away in his car, John turned from the window and immediately made a bee-line for the liquor cabinet, where he poured himself a large glass of whiskey which he took in one mouthful, wincing as the taste burnt his mouth. Sensing a change in countenance, Rodney and Carson exchanged a nervous glance before settling their eyes on John warily.

"You have to go and talk to her." John said, pointing his glass at Carson.

"Elizabeth? I don't think they'll –"Carson said nervously.

"Laura."

Carson laughed nervously, "I don't see what good that will do."

"She can help us." John said resolutely.

"Do what exactly?" Carson asked.

"Rescue Elizabeth."

"Oh Dear Lord." Rodney muttered.

Hearing this, John turned the malice in his eyes on to Rodney, who shifted his glance away to stare out of the window and surreptitiously nudged Carson.

"I – we – want to get Elizabeth back as much as you do, but I don't think me of all people talking to Laura is going to help." Carson said sympathetically.

"It's been eight years Carson." John spat.

"Aye and I remember how uncomfortable you were about seeing Elizabeth again." Carson said in a raised tone, which he immediately regretted and blushed.

"And thanks to you I might not get the chance to see her again." John said.

"You can't put this one on me." Carson said.

"Oh I think I can. You are going to see her." John said maliciously.

"Why can't you go and see her? You know superior officer and all that." Rodney said, hoping to relieve the tension.

"It would sound better coming from him." John said, his eyes remaining firmly on Carson.

"I don't think it would, son." Carson said, gravely.

"Either way, if you don't want those two kids who have already been through hell to lose their Mom, then you are gonna to talk to her." John growled.

"You know that's not what I want and if there was any other way..." Carson protested.

Unable to suppress the emotions and exhaustion of the last few weeks for any longer, John spun round and hurled the glass that he had been gripping against the opposite wall. Angry at Carson for pushing him to this, he turned to see his reaction, but was greeted with Carson's back as he hurriedly left the room. Instead he was left with the piercing glare of mingled worry and fear of Rodney, which seemed to calming effect on him, and he staggered back towards the sofa and collapsed with his head in his hands.

"Why the hell did you go and do that?" Rodney demanded.

"It was the glass or Carson, which would you rather I chose?" John mumbled.

"I'd rather you be the man you used to be Sheppard – the man who cared about his friends, who could ask for their support without resorting to violence." Rodney said angrily.

"I don't know what else to do," John shouted, looking up at Rodney, "I've only just got them back – hell, I've only just got them at all – and now they've taken Elizabeth and I don't know what to do."

"Well, you could start with talking to your friends." Rodney said, uncomfortably.

"That didn't exactly work with Carson, did it?"

"You didn't talk to Carson, you told Carson."

"I've really screwed up." John admitted.

"No you haven't. He'll forgive you. I'm not so sure I would-"

"Hey, I don't need to remind you that you've screwed up more than once since we've known each other."

"But you still do." Rodney said with a weak smile, "Look, I'll talk to Carson."

"You will?" John said, looking up.

"I will."

Carson's mind was whirling with thoughts. What would Laura say to him? Would she be alright with his unexpected visit? Would she be able to help Elizabeth? Carson shook his head, trying to shake off the questions and appear composed. He felt like a teenager about to ask a pretty girl to a dance, even though his reason for being here was far more serious.

Standing outside the door, Carson hesitated for a moment before knocking. On the other side of the door, Laura was having a moment of her own. She paced the floor of her room, the whole situation with Elizabeth running through her mind. She should do something, but what could she possibly do? Laura ran a hand through the blonde hair she usually kept tied back, trying to focus her thoughts.

A knock at Laura's door jolted her out of her thoughts and she pulled the hair tie from her wrist, tugging her hair back into a messy ponytail to get it out of her face. She reached to open the door, thinking it was someone from the base, and got quite a surprise as she pulled it open and found herself looking into a very familiar pair of blue eyes.

"Hello Laura," Carson began, allowing himself to smile (though Laura knew those eyes, she could see the concern in them). Laura had to think for a moment to regain her train of thought; she'd forgotten how his eyes and that smile could throw her off balance.

"Oh, um, hello Carson…what brings you out here?" Laura questioned, her voice catching as a memory flooded her mind. Now it was Carson's turn to have to think about his response, pulling his gaze from hers for a moment to compose his thoughts. Carson had also quite forgotten how just a look from Laura could send his mind completely off track.

"Wait, why don't you come in, then you can tell me why you're here," Laura remembered her manners at the last second and stepped back inside, gesturing lamely for Carson to come into her room. He seemed to think for a moment before showing a glimpse of that sideways smile and stepping into the room.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Love…I mean, Laura," Carson caught himself using the special term of endearment he used to use every time he spoke to her, causing her head to snap up and her eyes to meet his for another moment (again, that flash of concern, Laura could see something was clearly wrong), "I suppose I ought to explain."

Nodding slowly she said,

"I suspect it has something to do with Doctor Weir."

"So you've seen her?"

"Yes I have. Hard to believe isn't it? How they kept it quiet, I'll never know. Their relationship, I mean. There were all those bets going on."

Carson smirked as he remembered all the bets concerning John and Elizabeth. Some of them had been doozies. He'd had his suspicions, especially after the Phoebus/Thalen incident.

Cadman continued babbling,

"She showed me a picture of the kids. Really good looking. Then again, considering who their parents are, that's almost a given." She paused for a moment and giggled. Carson looked at her with a question on his face. She answered,

"Rodney owes me money."

Deciding that now would be a good time to get Laura back on track to the matter at hand, Carson said,

"Laura, if you decide to help and things go wrong, your career in the Marines would be over."

She gave him a dirty look and said,

"If I don't help you guys, I would be betraying the ideals of being a Marine. And I also don't think those kids deserve to have that happen to them. So I don't give a damn about my career."

Carson raised his hands, saying

"I was just warnin' ye lass. So, do you want to come with me and meet them?"

Laura smiled and replied,

"I'd love to."

Back at Jack's house, JJ and Olivia came running into the family room just in time to see Jack jump up from the couch and cheer as one of the teams in the hockey game he was watching scored a goal. JJ turned to see what was on the TV, while Olivia giggled at Jack.

"Uncle Jack? What's that?" JJ turned to look back at Jack and was met with a smile.

"That, JJ, is a game called Hockey. You hit the puck with one of those sticks," Jack pointed to the TV as he sat back down, which both twins turned to watch for a moment, "And try to get it into that net."

"Oh. Can we play?" JJ looked up at Jack hopefully.

"Yeah can we?" Olivia spoke up as well, turning her gaze to Jack.

"Sure can. Shall we go outside?" Jack asked the question, directed at both of the twins, who nodded enthusiastically and tackled him back into the cushions behind him with excited hugs. With an exaggerated grunt, Jack levered himself back off the couch with one twin tucked under each arm and then set them back on their feet.

A few minutes later, Jack and the twins found themselves out in the yard with a couple of shortened hockey sticks and a puck, laughing and enjoying themselves.

"Like this, JJ" Jack was showing JJ how to hold the stick by placing his hands on it, while Olivia had already mastered holding her stick and was practicing swinging it at the puck.

A loud crash of shattering glass caused him to let go of the stick and turn around, to find a rather red-faced Olivia standing behind him, clutching her hockey stick behind her back. He looked from Olivia to the shattered window and back and found himself laughing as a frustrated Sam walked out of the house holding the puck in her hand and caught sight of Olivia's bright red face.

As Sam's irritated expression melted into a smile and then a light laugh, John and Rodney appeared behind her in the doorway. John made his way down to the twins, a wry smile on his face, but Rodney stayed stone-faced behind Sam, but was holding back a smile that wanted to escape him.

"JJ, Olivia, who's going to tell me what happened here?" John bent down to their level to look them both in the face, but he wasn't angry with them. Jack coughed slightly, causing John to look up at him right then.

"Olivia has a heck of a swing with a hockey stick doesn't she?" Jack rubbed the back of his head with one hand and gestured to the window with the other hand, "She could be really good at hockey someday, you know."

"That's my girl," John pulled both twins into a hug, and the hockey sticks lay forgotten in the grass behind them.

Right at that moment, Carson and Laura walked up from the car, surveying the scene in front of them, from the shattered window and the hockey sticks in the grass, to Sam with the hockey puck still in her hand, to John hugging the twins and Jack standing nearby with a smile on his face, and Rodney standing in the doorway with his usual disapproving look pasted on his face.

Laura watched the kids for a moment, before silently turning and walking up to Rodney.

"You owe me money, I think it was 100 bucks," She stated, with a perfectly straight face, as she walked up to him.

A/N 2: A little bit of humor, next chapter will be back to business.