CHAPTER 29 – OR SOMETHING BROUGHT BACK...
He got through the first week. It had been a long debrief with Elizabeth. They had moved from the infirmary to the conference room and had been joined by Rodney, Zelenka and Teyla – all of whom had been fascinated by the play of events that had necessitated his trip back in time. Elizabeth had made careful notes. While the onus of the mission report fell more or less on John's shoulder's, she was the one who was perhaps a little more wary of including all pertinent details while John sometimes had the not so appreciated knack of leaving out data he simply did not wish to include. And she suspected that he would intentionally blur as much of this one as he could.
She sat in her office now, one week later, reading back through the notes that she had made. The report had not been forthcoming yet and she knew that she would have to get onto John about that. She also knew why he was dragging his heels on this one. Include too much information, and he could affect some changes in their future that he was not supposed to. But include not enough, and some serious red flags would start flying back on earth. So far news of his latest escapade had not gotten back to the SGC and by keeping it under wraps for now she was giving them the time to find the best way to put it into it's written form. For posterity.
John and Ronon had just finished sparring. Ronon, still worried a little about John, had noted that he seemed more himself this morning and dragged him off to the sparring room to make sure that he stayed on his game. More or less like old times. John took a bashing and now sat in the middle of the floor, a derisive smile on his face, blood streaming from a small wound on his forehead. Again. Ronon was a formidable component with the sticks and John, while improving considerably over the years, would likely never be in the big man's class. Consequently, he came away with various injuries and with no sympathy whatsoever from Ronon.
Holding a towel to the wound now, the two friends left the sparring room, heading in the direction of the mess. Food and coffee. And that brief flash of Gina as he thought of coffee... and the last cup they had shared in her kitchen that morning. This was by no means his first flash... she had been on his mind constantly during that week, but in order to get on and do his work, he tried to compartmentalise their relationship for now – at least during the day. At night he lay in bed somewhat restless, and let her lovely soft body come to him in his dreams. Hell, it was better than nothing.
The sound of a dog barking broke him from his small reverie, and he heard Rodney's surprised voice as they met up with him just before arriving at the mess door.
"Was that a dog I heard? I thought pets were forbidden in Atlantis?" He gave Sheppard and Ronon a quizzical glance, shaking his head when he saw the wound on John's forehead. "Aaah, I see you let Ronon beat you up again. When are you going to learn Sheppard? He's bigger than you..."
John smiled, then froze in place as a small white dog came hurtling around the corner, caught sight of him and started barking excitedly.
"What the hell?" A mental picture flashed in John's mind. Waking up on the beach in Hawaii, the sound of her voice, and the sound of the dog barking... running up to him with a ball in his mouth.
Gina's dog. Crap! Gina's dog. But... what happened to Gina's dog? It was there the first day... then gone. I never saw it again. She never mentioned the dog again. It was just not there anymore. What the hell? Like it ceased to exist back there, the day after I arrived..."
Ronon put a hand to his shoulder. "You Ok Sheppard? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I think I have Ronon. Something's wrong. Something's very wrong. Rodney?"
Rodney was looking from the dog to John, a puzzled expression on his face. "I don't like the look on your face Sheppard. That dog came from earth, from the time portal, didn't it? I know damn well there are no dogs here in Atlantis." And as if to prove his theory, he starting promptly sneezing and backed away a little from the small while dog who sat at John's feet gazing up at him expectantly.
John keyed his radio. "Elizabeth. You need to come down here now. We've got a problem. Those ripples in time I talked about? One of them is sitting in front of me now. With doggy breath. Aah crap..."