A/N: Here is the next chapter. I wanted to get this in before my family comes into town. Happy Reading!! Please feel free to leave a review!
The hour was up and everyone was back in the infirmary waiting for Teyla and Danielle's answer. Even Colar had decided to come and see what their answer would be.
Teyla and Danielle were both back in bed at the insistence of Carson who said a few more minutes of rest wouldn't kill them. To settle both Teyla and Danielle down, Carson told them he already had their discharge papers drawn up and as soon as the meeting was over they were free to go.
Sam was standing in the corner looking at Teyla and Danielle. She didn't envy the decision that both women had to make. The choice they had to make would not only impact their lives but the lives of everyone on Naharra. The weight of that had to be coming down heavily on them. Sam thought she could at least lift some of the burden they were feeling by letting them know that she and all of Atlantis were behind them.
"Teyla, Danielle, I know that this is a major decision for both of you. I want you to know that whatever you decided we will support you." Carter said.
"Thank you, Colonel." Teyla said.
"Yes, thank you ma'am." Danielle said.
Tollara stepped forward and stood in front of the beds Teyla and Danielle were in. He looked at both women and tried to gage their answers from the looks on their faces. Neither one gave anything away to him. So he looked into their eyes and found the answer he was looking for. A smile spread across his face and he bowed.
"Thank you both. We will start the ceremony tomorrow." Tollara said.
"Wait. How did you know what they were going to say? Can you read minds or something?" John asked.
"No Colonel, I can't read minds. I simply looked into their eyes Colonel and found the answers I needed from them." Tollara said.
John didn't like the answer he got from Tollara. He knew bullshit when heard it and what they were just told was full of it.
John was still uneasy about this whole thing. Something in him was telling him that Tollara wasn't telling them everything. He looked over to Lorne and could see that he wasn't buying any of this either. John made a mental note to get with Lorne and the rest of his team. He was tired of playing offense. It was time for a little defense. Sheppard style.
"So, after this ceremony, then what?" Lorne asked.
"Then they will go to Naharra to train. The ceremony will also take place on Naharra. " Tollara said. Thinking it should have been obvious.
What?! No! Why can't they train here?" John asked.
Tollara was starting to get very tired at all of Sheppard's interruptions. He wished that he was talking to the descendants alone. Tollara summed up all the patience he had and answered the Colonel's questions in the calmest tone he could muster.
"I know you care deeply for Teyla Colonel. Just as I know that you Major Lorne, care just as deeply for Danielle. You both want to protect them and I'm sure if our positions were reversed I would feel the same. But please believe me when I tell you that it is necessary for the training to occur on Naharra. I cannot tell you anymore than that. The rest is for the descendants to know." Tollara said.
"Can't or won't tell us anymore?" John asked hotly.
Teyla could see that this discussion was going no where fast and was getting more heated as time went by. She knew she needed to find away to make both sides happy.
"I believe I have a suggestion." Teyla said.
"Thank god." Danielle said rolling her eyes. She just wanted to get this whole thing over with. All of this going back and forth was just getting them further from her goal. Which was to leave the infirmary.
"I'm all ears." John said smiling at her.
"Please,anything." Tollara said.
"I suggest a compromise only if Danielle agrees. Danielle and I will train on Naharra if...John, Major Lorne, and the rest of my team are allowed to stay on Naharra while we train." Teyla said.
Tollara shook his head. He disliked this idea intensely.
"I must tell you that I believe this is a bad idea. I feel that your friends will only serve as a distraction for your training." Tollara said.
"What do you think Danielle?" Teyla asked.
"I don't believe they will be a distraction. On the contrary, I believe they will help keep us focused and on task. Bottom line, either they go or we stay." Danielle said.
Tollara felt like he was being backed into a corner. He didn't like that feeling. He needed to regain some control of the situation so he quickly thought of a compromise of his own.
"I will agree to your terms and allow your team to stay during training if...if they come after the ceremony." Tollara said.
"Why can't we be there for the ceremony?" John asked.
"Because you are not Naharran." Tollara said.
"Neither are they." Lorne said.
"Exactly." John said.
Tollara was about to lose his composure when Colar stepped forward. He didn't like what was Tollara was doing but he needed to make sure that he did his duty and help Tollara out.
"It just has to do with tradition, Colonel. If you like I can go over with you all the ceremony entails. There is nothing to worry about. They will be fine." Colar said.
John looked at Colarand he couldn't tell if he was lying to him or not but he was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. He decided to take a leap of faith and believe Colar. God help that kid if I find out that he was lying to us John thought.
"Alright, I can respect that tradition needs to be followed. My team and I will not attending the ceremony..." John said.
Tollara was about to say thank you but stopped when he saw John put up his hand.
"But we will be on the planet during the ceremony. Some place close by. I want to see my people as soon as the ceremony is done. Agreed?" John asked.
"Agreed." Tollara huffed out. "We will leave in the morning. Now, I know you both are very anxious to leave this place and I will not hold you any longer. My many thanks to you both. Good day." Tollara said.
"Oh, to you too." John said through gritted teeth.
Tollara smiled then left with Colar who also said his good-byes as they exited the room then left the infirmary.
John waited until he knew Tollara and Colar were gone and well out of earshot when he spoke.
"I don't like that guy." John said pointing his finger in the direction Tollara had left in.
"Really? You kept your feelings hidden so well." Rodney said.
"Aye, I agree with the Colonel. Something seems off. I dunna trust Tollara as far as I can throw him." Carson said.
"Well be that as it may gentleman, Teyla and Major Campbell have made their decisions and we need to support them." Carter said.
"And?" John said.
"And...you have a green light to go. Colonel, I want you and you're team to keep an eye on our friend Tollara as well as keeping our people safe. The first sign of any trouble you are to get our people of out there. Teyla and Danielle if you feel pressured in anyway you let Colonel Sheppard or Major Lorne know. I don't want either of you doing something you are not comfortable with. Understood?" Carter said.
"Yes ma'am." Danielle said.
"Understood, Colonel." Teyla said.
"Rodney, have you and Dr. Sona come up with anything yet?" Carter asked.
"As a matter of fact we have. Mina... I mean Dr. Sona...was able to find the notes and design schematics for the chambers the sisters were in." Rodney said.
"Well,that's great right? That means that they may not have to go through all this craziness." Lorne said.
"No, not great. We only found half of the notes and design schematics. Dr. Sona is in my lab right now with Zelenka downloading what was found. Hopefully we'll find more but I have feeling that what we need is on the planet. Not only that, the site that holds the chambers the sisters originally used is like a shrine. You have to be blessed before you can even enter it. Rodney said.
"Let me guess. Tollara has to be the one to give his blessing." John said.
"Give the a man prize. Dr. Sona said she would make arraignments to get us blessed tomorrow so we can explore the site." Rodney said.
"Is there anything else we need to know?" John asked.
"Funny, you should ask." Rodney said.
"Now what?" Ronon asked.
"Well, Dr. Sona said that the site is seismically active." Rodney said.
"So not only do we have to worry about people possible lying to us, we also have to worry about cave-ins. This just keeps getting better and better. Any other surprises Rodney?" John said.
"Nope that's it. Now, if there is nothing else, I'd like to get back to the lab and get my team assembled for tomorrow's off world assignments. I also wanna start looking at what we downloaded from the Ancient database. There maybe something in it that might tell us what to look for once we are on the planet. I'll see you all in the morning. After breakfast of course." Rodney said.
"Of course." Ronon said as he rolled his eyes.
Rodney was just about to walk out the door when he heard John call his name.
"Rodney!" John yelled.
"What?! I have important things to do Sheppard." Rodney said.
"I was just going to tell you to tell Mina hello for us." John said with a impish grin on his face.
Rodney's face turned a bright red when he heard Mina's name. He looked around the room and saw everyone trying pathetically trying to hold their laughter back.
"Grow up Sheppard." Rodney said.
"No. You can't make me." John said then stuck out his tongue at Rodney.
Rodney rolled his eyes at John. It never cease to amaze Rodney at how juvenile Sheppard could be at times. If he wasn't witness to John's acts of adult bravery he would have thought that the Colonel was actually a five year old dressed in adult clothing.
Rodney wasn't about to let Sheppard have the last word so he quickly came up with something.
"Teyla, I feel for you. You now have two children to deal with. At least Torren is out of diapers." Rodney said then quickly disappeared out the doors leaving behind a flustered John and the sounds of laughter behind him.
Teyla looked up at John and could see that he was upset that Rodney got the last word.
"John, you are not really upset that Rodney got the last word are you? Teyla said.
John crossed his arms and poked out his bottom lip.
"No." John said in a small voice.
Teyla smiled at her man-child fiancé. She loved John's boyish charm. She knew how to make him smile again.
"Well, I'm sure that he wouldn't mind if you took some blue Jello with you to the mainland. All the children would love it." Teyla said.
She watched as John's face brightened with the idea. He gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat. He leaned over to her and whispered in her ear low enough for only Teyla to hear.
"That is why I love you so much. You always know how to make me feel better. God, I can't wait to marry you." John said then kissed Teyla on her forehead.
"Well, if we are all done here, I need to go check on Captain Harrington and his team. They will be checking in soon. I also have to find a way to explain all this to the IOA as well as the SGC. Hopefully, they will not send anyone to interfere with this already delicate situation. The last thing we need is Woolsey snooping around here." Carter said
At the mention of Woosley's name Danielle felt a burning anger start to fill her. She never forgot the hell that Woolsey put her through after the incident with the Karnatari. The more she thought about it the angrier she got. She was sending out energy from her body without even realizing it. Everyone was so busy talking they didn't notice that Danielle's eyes had turned white.
Teyla felt the hairs on the back of neck start to rise. Something was wrong. She turned her head and looked over to Danielle. That's when she noticed that Danielle's eyes were white and the look on her face was one of great anger. Teyla quickly hopped out of bed and ran over to Danielle knocking Lorne out of the way. Teyla grabbed Danielle's face and looked into her white lifeless eyes. She knew she needed to reach Danielle before something happened.
"Danielle, I need you to stop what you are doing. Can you hear me?" Teyla asked.
John was about to walk over to Danielle but stopped when he heard Rodney screaming in his ear asking what was going on now.
"Would you stop screaming I can hear you just fine Rodney. It's Danielle, she's in that trance again. Teyla's trying to bring her out of it." John said.
"How in the hell is that happening? You didn't let them spar again did you?" Rodney asked.
"What kinda stupid question is that? Of course we didn't. We are all still in the infirmary. I don't know what brought this on. We were all talking and then she just went all Blair Witch on us. I'll keep you posted. You let me know if the energy level starts to spike out of control again." John said.
"It's a little high but not like last time. I'll let you know if anything changes." Rodney said.
"Copy that." John said.
John walked over to Teyla who was still trying to reach Danielle. Even Evan was calling her and got no response. John looked over to Carson and could see he was filling a syringe with something clear. Probably a sedative he thought.
Teyla looked over to see Carson approaching her with a syringe in her hand ready to use it on Danielle. Evan stepped in front of Carson as he approached.
"Please Doc, let Teyla try again. I know she can reach her plus, Danielle would be devastated to know that she would have to spend another night in here." Evan said.
"Alright lad. If Teyla can't reach the Major soon I'll have no choice to use this." Carson said. He looked over to Colonel Carter who nodded that she agreed with Carson's decision.
Teyla thanked Carson for the extra time and turned her attention back to Danielle. Teyla kept thinking something was not right here. She needed to somehow reach Danielle. Then it came to her what she had to do.
"Niya...can you hear me?" Teyla said.
They all watched as Danielle turned her head towards Teyla.
"Yes, I can hear you." Niya said.
"Can you let Danielle come back to us?" Teyla asked.
"Maihairi? Is that you?" Niya asked.
"Yes and no. I am her descendant. You are in your descendant's body. Niya, why are you here now?" Teyla asked.
Niya closed her eyes then laughed.
"What's so funny?" Evan asked.
Niya turned to Evan and smiled. He reminded her of someone from so long ago. She wanted to tell him who but this was not the time.
"You both have not done the ceremony yet have you?" Niya asked.
"No. Tomorrow." Teyla said.
"Why are you here now? I mean why didn't you show yourself before when we had all that trouble? You know, like when they almost blew up Atlantis." John asked.
Niya looked at the man who asked her the question and he too looked familiar. So, did the way he asked her questions. It was very direct and straightforward. She smiled inwardly.
"You are Lantean?" Niya asked.
"No. I'm from Earth. Why?" John asked.
"But you have the Lantean gene?" Niya asked.
"Yes. Why?" John asked.
"That explains it. I knew someone long ago that had the same tendencies as you. They annoyed me then too." Niya said with a smirk.
John was little taken back by Niya's sarcasm. He could see why they called her Spitfire because she certainly was. Before he could come back with something of his own Niya spoke again.
"To answer your first question, I am here because my descendant called me to her. Something got her very upset and she called me. Do not bother asking her how because she will not know how she did it. It was more of an instinct for her to call me. As to your other question, I was not aware of what occurred. If I would have known I would have stopped it. She..." Niya stopped in mid sentence.
"Are you alright? Evan said reaching out to steady her.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Niya said looking at at Evan. She wished he would touch her again. His touch made Niya feel safe and brought with it the memory of a love she thought she would never feel or remember again. Niya felt her descendant trying to reach out to him to let him know that she was safe.
For a split second Evan noticed that Danielle's eyes shifted back to normal when he touched her. He could see the sparkle in her eye. Like Danielle was trying to say she was ok. Before he could say something they went back to the lifeless white like before.
"It is taking a lot out of her body to have me here so I cannot stay long." Niya said then turned her attention back to Teyla.
"You must go through with the ceremony as soon as possible so this can be avoided. Neither of you are ready for the power that lies inside of you. There is so much you need to learn and so much more you don't know. All will be revealed to you at the ceremony." Niya said.
"Do you know why Danielle called you? And can you tell us anything about the ceremony?" Teyla asked.
"A name was said that made her upset. It was...... Woolsey." Niya said.
Then the IV bag behind her burst sending the fluid inside flying across the room.
"I apologize for that. She does not like that name." Niya said.
John was about to ask why when he noticed that Carter's and Lorne's faces both changed when Woolsey's name was mentioned again. He noticed a look of understanding on Carter's face and contempt on Lorne's. John made a mental note to ask them about this later.
"Yeah, that name gets a lot of people upset around here." John said.
"I'm afraid that I cannot tell you more about the ceremony because I must go. Just embrace it when it starts. You'll both understand when the times comes." Niya said.
Niya turned to Teyla and a tear fell down her cheek.
"What is it?" Teyla asked.
Niya placed her hands on Teyla's face and more tears fell from her eyes.
"I wish that I did not have to go. I know you are not really my sister but.....you...you... you have no idea how good it is to see your face again." Niya said though her sobs.
Teyla smiled and gentle wiped away Niya's tears. "We will meet again." Teyla said.
Niya nodded then smiled. "Take care, my Malani."
"I will. Kalani." Teyla said. Niya's hands slipped from Teyla's face. She closed her eyes and then her body went limp and started to fall back towards the bed.
Evan caught Danielle's body and helped lay her back on the pillow. They all waited for Danielle to open her eyes.
"Sheppard to McKay. Crisis avert. You can stand down." John said.
John heard Rodney breathe a sigh of relief through the ear piece.
"How did you make that happen?" Rodney asked.
"It wasn't me. Teyla saved the day. I'll have Carter brief you. Just know that things are ok for now. Sheppard out." John said.
Danielle's eyes fluttered opened a second later. When she looked up she could see that everyone in the room was looking at her with concern on their faces. Then she looked over to Carson who still had the syringe in his hand.
"Why is everyone, looking at me like that? And why does Carson have a giant needle in his hand. And.." she stopped then felt her pillow. "Why is my pillow wet? What the heck happened?" Danielle asked.
"I almost had to knock you out luv when your other self appeared. I'll put this away now since you're back to normal." Carson said then went to put the needle away in the sharps box.
"So, what happened now?" Danielle frowned.
"You don't remember do you?" Evan asked.
"Nope. Last thing I remember is Colonel Carter talking about contacting the SGC and the IOA and then she said something about..." Danielle stopped when Carter held up her hand to silence her.
"Stop there Major. Apparently you have a trigger word. So let's not say his name." Carter said.
"Yes ma'am." Danielle said softly.
"Hey, you did nothing wrong. So, no pouting ok." Evan said.
"Ok. So, I can assume that I broke the IV bag right?" Danielle asked looking at the mess she caused.
"Yes. Apparently that "trigger word" of yours caused you to become so upset you inadvertently called Niya. " Teyla said.
"What! How?" Danielle asked.
"Well, it seems that you called her when you got upset with that name. She said that we must go through with the ceremony so we can control the power within us." Teyla said.
"Did she say anything else about the ceremony?" Danielle asked.
"No, not really. She could not stay long because it was putting a strain on your body. What she did say is that we need to embrace the ceremony when it starts and that we would understand." Teyla said.
Teyla looked at Danielle and could see that she looked very tired. She grew concerned for her "little sister". She grabbed Danielle's hand.
"Are you alright?" Teyla asked.
Danielle smiled back and looked down to her and Teyla's hands. She felt a connection to Teyla as soon as Teyla's hand touched hers. It was as if every passing minute there connection was growing and it felt nice to Danielle. She never wanted to loose this feeling of being connected with someone else.
"I'm fine. I'll be much better when we both get to leave here. What do you say Doc? Can we leave?" Danielle asked.
"Aye, las. You both can leave but if you feel different in any way.."
"She will be back here in heart beat. You can bet on that." John said looking at Teyla.
"So will she Doc. All she will be doing is relaxing until tomorrow." Evan said.
"Alright! Mel Brooks marathon it is." Danielle said.
"Um no. You're not driving me insane so you can relax. I will pick the activity." Evan said.
Danielle crossed her arms and scrunched up her face like a cranky two year old.
"Spoil sport." she said.
"If you fix your face and stop acting like a two year old I will have a surprise for you." Evan said.
"A surprise? Really? What is it?" Danielle perked up when she heard the word surprise.
"That's the point of a surprise. For you not to know. So you gonna trust me?" Evan asked.
Danielle looked up at Evan and couldn't keep her pouty face. She smiled a small smile at him.
"Yeah, I'll trust you, but it better be good." Danielle said.
"You're such a baby." Evan said.
"And proud of it." Danielle said.
"So what are you two planning to do while I take care of the baby?" Evan said patting Danielle's head.
"We will be visiting my people Major and spending some time with Torren." Teyla said trying to stifle a laugh.
"Yeah, some quality time with the little guy is always nice. Plus I get to play some football with the other kids and when we are done, we will celebrate with some nice blue Jello. Courtesy of Dr. Rodney McKay." John said.
"Well, I'll leave you all to your plans. Like I said before I have some paperwork to catch up on and I also need to check in with Captain Harrington. Colonel Shepard, Teyla, safe trip to New Athos. Major Campbell please stay calm. Major Lorne, I expect you to do what ever is necessary to make that happen. Oh and Ronon, please stop breaking my Marines." Carter said.
"No promises." Ronon said.
Carter shook her head then left the infirmary.
"I'll see you guys later." Ronon said.
"Where you headed to big guy?" Sheppard asked.
Ronon shrugged. "I'm just going to my quarters. I've been meaning to listen to this music Amelia gave me."
"Oh yeah, who is it?" Lorne asked.
"I don't know. Some guy named Bob Marley. She keeps telling me how good he is and that I need to try it. So since I can't break any more Marines today I'll go and listen to some music." Ronon said.
"You won't be disappointed lad. His music speaks to everyone. I think you will like "Buffalo Soldier and No Women, No Cry." I remember listen' to him at home in Scotland. He got me through a lot of heart ache with his words of wisdom." Carson said.
"I didn't know you listened to Bob Marley Carson." Danielle said.
"Like I said las, his music speaks to everyone. Now, I have other sick people to care for so you and Teyla are free to go. Teyla, have a wonderful time with that son of yours and Danielle you enjoy the surprise the Major has for you and for the love of god, stay calm." Carson said.
"No trigger words check."Danielle said.
"Thank you, Carson. I will tell Torren you said hello." Teyla said.
Carson and Ronon both said their good-byes and headed out.
"If you two gentlemen will excuse us. Danielle and I would like to get dressed so we can leave." Teyla said.
John and Evan both stepped outside to wait for Teyla and Danielle to get dressed. John thought this might be a good time to talk to Lorne about why Danielle got so upset when Woolsey's name was mentioned.
"Major, I have a question for you." John said.
"Yes sir." Evan said.
"I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?" John asked.
"Of course sir." Evan said wondering where this was going.
Here goes John thought.
"Can you tell me why Campbell got upset when Woolsey's named was mentioned? And don't tell me you don't know. I caught the look on your face and Carter's too when Niya said that Campbell didn't like the name." John said.
Evan couldn't help the deer caught in the headlights look he was giving Sheppard. This wasn't the question he had been thinking Sheppard was going to ask him.
Evan mulled the question over in his head. He saw two problems with answering this question. Well more than two problems. One was, when Danielle told him she wasn't supposed to tell him about what happened and two, Danielle had told him in confidence. He didn't want to break that confidence Danielle placed in him but, Evan also knew that he couldn't lie to Sheppard either. He was his commanding officer. You don't lie to the man who holds your life in his hands. In the end Evan knew what he needed to do and that was get the monkey off his back and place where it belonged.
"Sir, this is a conversation you should be having with either Major Campbell or Colonel Carter." Lorne said.
John looked at Lorne and could see that he was really having a hard time not telling John. John knew he could just order Lorne to tell him but he didn't really want to do that. If Lorne wasn't willing to tell him what the problem was it must be for a good reason and John was willing to go with that. For now.
"All right Lorne. I won't pressure or order the truth out of you. I will get with Campbell and Carter. Just not today. Teyla and Campbell have been through enough and I think their problems are only going to get worse before they get better." John said.
John could see Lorne's whole body relax when he said he wasn't going to ask him anything. This made John think that what ever he was going to learn would not be making him happy and may have the potential to just piss him off royally. Usually whenever the IOA and or Woolsey were involved it just made any normally calm situation worse. John thought they were the biggest bunch of pain in the asses ever assembled. They had no clue how it was out there for any of the SGC teams but they wanted to dictate the policy for them. It was the biggest crock of shit John ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Most of them wouldn't last five minutes alone out here John thought.
John was brought of his ranting thoughts by hearing Teyla laugh. She and Danielle were exiting their room. They both looked more then ready to leave the infirmary.
Teyla looked at John and could see that he looked upset about something. She walked over to him and put her arm around his back. She let her fingers stroke his back and wished they were touching his bare skin. Teyla turned her face up John and saw a smile creep up on his face replacing the frown that was there. John leaned over to Teyla and whispered in her ear.
"You have no idea how much that is driving me crazy." John said.
"Should I stop then?" she whispered back.
"Uh no. Please continue." John said.
Teyla laughed and continued stroking John's back much to his delight.
Danielle put her arm around Evan and smiled. She was so happy to be with him right now. To have his body next to hers was one of the best feeling she had all day.
"Well, I don't mean to be rude but I'm ready to leave this place so we will see you both tomorrow morning in the gate room. What time should we gear up sir?" Danielle said.
"0800hrs sounds good to me. I want an early start and possible do some recon while we are there. So see you both at 0800." John said.
"Yes sir." Danielle said.
"Copy that." Evan said.
All four walked of out the infirmary and started to walk there separate ways when John turned around and called Danielle's name.
"Major Campbell!" John said.
Danielle and Evan turned around when they both heard John call her name.
"Sir?" Danielle said then saw John wave her over.
"I'll be right back." John told Teyla then walked over to Danielle.
"Yes sir?" Danielle asked.
"Campbell, there are some things I need to discuss with you. Some facts have come to light and I need you to confirm them for me." John said.
"Facts sir?" Danielle asked not seeing where Sheppard was going with this.
"Yes, facts. Look, I know I'm being a little cryptic here..."
" A little sir?" Danielle said.
"Ok, a lot cryptic. The point is you and I need to talk. About a lot of things. Just not right now. You and Teyla both need time to rest and not think about what's to come down the pipe tomorrow. So, how's about we chat when Rodney and his team go to inspect the chambers the sisters used." John said.
"Sure sir. That would be fine." Danielle said hestitantly.
"Good. I'll see at 0800 and enjoy your surprise. What ever it may be." John said then walked back to Teyla and headed in the direction they were originally going.
"Everything all right John?" Teyla asked.
"Oh yeah. Just needed to pass on some last minute instruction to Campbell. Nothing to worry about." John said.
Danielle walked back to Evan and was very quiet. She kept trying to think what in the hell did Sheppard want to talk to her about. What could she have done now? She always felt like she could do nothing right in his eyes.
Evan looked over to Danielle and saw the sad look on her face. He slipped his hand into hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. She turned her face to Evan and smiled.
"No stressing remember. What did Sheppard want?" Evan asked even though he knew what it was probably about.
"I don't know. He said he would talk to me tomorrow about it. Do you know what it could be?" Danielle asked.
Evan put on his best military mask before he answered.
"No." he lied.
Danielle looked at Evan's face and thought she saw something in his eyes. She was about to say something to him but let it go.
"Oh. I thought he might have told you or mentioned something since you two were waiting for us." Danielle shook her head. "You know what?I'm not going to worry about it. If it were really that important Sheppard wouldn't wait for tomorrow right? Right. So I'm not going to worry. Besides, I have a surprise waiting for me don't I?" Danielle said.
Evan hadn't heard a word Danielle said. He was still trying to get over the fact that he just lied to Danielle. He didn't like it. It bothered him that he was able to do it without thinking. It came out too easily. Evan was bought out of his thoughts by Danielle waving her hands in front of his face.
"Earth to Evan. Hello? Where did you go?" Danielle asked.
"I'm sorry Dani. I lost my train of thought. What were you saying?" Evan asked.
"It wasn't important Evan. Don't worry about it." Danielle said.
Evan and Danielle kept walking until they reached his quarters. He waived his hand over the sensor and they both walked in. Danielle walked over to Evan's bed and saw a box on top of it. She was about to walk over to it but stopped. Evan was by his closet hanging up his shirt when he saw Danielle looking at the box on his bed. He walked over and stood behind Danielle. Evan put his hand on Danielle's shoulder making her jump.
"Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you jump." Evan laughed.
"God. You scared me. I guess I'm a bit more jumpier lately." Danielle said.
"With good reason Dani. I won't keep you in suspense any longer. The box is apart of your surprise. " Evan said.
Danielle walked over to the box and was about to open it when she stopped. There was something she had to do before she enjoyed what ever her surprise was going to be. She turned around and faced Evan.
Evan looked at Danielle's face and could see something was wrong.
"What's wrong Dani? Don't you want your surprise?" Evan asked.
"Yes but, I have to know something first." Danielle said.
"Know what?" Evan asked.
"Why did you lie to me when I asked you if you knew what Sheppard wanted to talk to me about?"