A/N: So you think I own it? Nah…maybe in my dreams.
Okay, if anyone has ANY ideas for later chapters, do not hesitate to speak up. I am currently dumpster diving for ideas. So..until I get some more ideas, updates may be slower…that and classes started yesterday. But send me a PM or review and let me know any idea. Thanks!
Chapter 14
Nikki walked out of the bathroom and sat down on John's bed. She had started to show a few weeks ago. John was absolutely thrilled by it. Whenever they were together in private, he would rub her belly and talk to it. He would just lay there and tell their child everything that had happened that day.
Whenever Nikki would ask, he would say he just wanted the baby to know his voice when he was born, but the truth was he was already so in love with his unborn child, he just couldn't wait for it to be born. He already wanted to interact with it. He was so excited.
Every time John would talk to their child, Nikki would run her hand through his hair and just watch him as he dove into story after story for their child. She mused that by the time their child was born, it would be able to recite every story on Atlantis by heart.
He hated spending time away from Nikki. Especially when it was to off-world on a mission. Every time they stepped through the gate, they ran the risk of never coming back. He had to come back. For his child and for Nikki.
They didn't tell him this, but his team and Lorne had made it a personal goal to make sure he returned no matter what. That child needed its father.
Today Sheppard's team was scheduled to go on a mission. They had about two hours before they left.
John had started to work on some paperwork while she showered. He was really starting to get behind so he was taking every opportunity he got to get some done.
He looked up at her when she sat down and started brushing out her hair. He set his laptop aside and scooted down to the end of the bed.
"You know, John, we really should start looking for some bigger quarters. One room and a bathroom isn't quite big enough for two adults and a baby. And I doubt you'd still want to live in two different quarters once the baby comes."
He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I know. The only problem is that we can't power a lot of the city and that greatly restricts where we can look for bigger quarters."
She sighed and nodded. She had already talked to Elizabeth about locating a bigger room and she had consented. Elizabeth understood that they were about to be a family and needed to have somewhere big enough for the three of them.
"When's your appointment with Keller?" She set the hairbrush down and leaned into John's shoulder.
"About an hour after you leave. I wanted to get it scheduled for before you went off-world, but she's been pretty busy lately."
John nodded and rested his head on top of hers. "It's almost breakfast time. We should probably head to the mess hall."
They got up and made their way to the mess hall. Their friends hadn't gotten there yet, for once, so they got their food and sat down at their usual table.
They had just sat down when Ronon walked in. He got his food and made his way to the table. "Hey, Chewie, where's Amelia?" "On duty. She had an early shift today."
John nodded and started eating his food. Rodney walked in and, of course, made a beeline for the food.
When he got settled, he didn't even say hi before digging in. "Good morning to you too, McKay. Thanks for asking. How do I like the weather you ask? Mm..well, I could do without the rain, but I've had worse. What about you?" McKay looked up from his food and rolled his eyes at Sheppard.
Whenever he was in a good mood he liked to pick on Rodney. And, of course, McKay would pick right back. "Oh, you know. I've been dealing with some smartass clouds, but yes, I agree, I've had worse."
John rolled his eyes and looked up as Kanaan and Teyla joined them. He nodded his head in Kanaan's direction. He had never really had a conversation with the man, but he knew Ronon didn't have a problem with him. As long as Teyla was happy and Ronon didn't have a problem with him, neither did he.
Soon Lorne and Kira had joined them as well. When Kira sat down at the table, John looked in her direction. "So, Kira, any plans for today?"
Kira looked up at him and shook her head. "No, not really. A couple of sparring sessions later, but that's about it. Unless you consider getting lost around here plans." He chuckled and nodded.
"Well, I wouldn't dwell on that too much because you'll be going off-world with Ronon, Rodney, and myself. Unless you'd rather wonder aimlessly around the city."
Her face lit up and she nodded. "Yes! I mean, I would love to go off-world. Where are we going?"
He smiled and took a sip of his coffee. "Just a little planet on the edge of the solar system. We're going to check it out and see if there's anything there. There's nothing about it in the database, so I figured it's worth checking it out. And plus, Ronon here's been whining about getting off-world."
He looked up from his food. "I'm restless. And you're one to talk. Every time we spar you get antsy. You're itching for some action, I can tell."
"Well, hopefully not too much action I should hope." John looked at Nikki. "I can take care of myself."
Rodney snorted. "Please. Remember the time when Kolya kidnapped you and fed you to a Wraith? Or the time you literally ran into an iratus bug and we had to kill you to save you? Oh, what about the time when you got stuck in the Sanctuary in a time dilation field and who had to come save you before you wasted away of old age before supper?"
John rolled his eyes. "First of all, you didn't have to come save me when I got kidnapped. I escaped without your help, thank you very much."
McKay snorted again. "Yeah, with the help of a Wraith! What about the bug? Ford killed you and then Carson saved you. And I'm the one who saved your sorry ass from the Sanctuary."
John sat up straighter and looked at him. "Yes, Rodney, you got me out of there. But who saved your ass from Elizabeth tearing it apart when you destroyed most of a solar system? Or how about when you and Elizabeth were held hostage by Kolya and his men. Who saved your ass? Or when you got zapped and got smarter for a while? Who tried to help you so your head didn't explode and you could ascend and still live! Or when you had that bug in your brain that made you forget everything. Who was there for you through the entire thing, staying by your side as you slowly lost your memories, and then helped Jennifer drill into your skull to save your life. Hm? I think I deserve a little credit here, Rodney."
Rodney huffed. "You weren't alone any of those times." "For saving your ass from Elizabeth I was. And you weren't alone either. You didn't do a damn thing when I got kidnapped except carry a gun and sit in the puddle jumper. I admit, I tend to get myself into a bit of trouble sometimes," Ronon grunted, "but, I'm not helpless and most of the time, something good comes out of it. Like, take for example when Kira fell through that trap. She may have died if I hadn't grabbed onto her hand and went down with her. Or when you and I checked out the Genii bunker and we became prisoners? If I hadn't of decided to check it out, we wouldn't have gotten that Wraith intel, now would we?"
Rodney sputtered, "N-No." John kept going. "Or how about when I decided to check out that planet that ended up having the thousand-year-old Wraith on it? We got a lot of intel that day and survived to tell the tale. I could keep going, if you prefer, but I think you get my point."
McKay nodded and took a sip of his coffee. John sat back in his chair and sipped his own coffee. The man drove him nuts, but he did have a point. Trouble did seem to follow him everywhere he went.
Ronon looked back and forth between Rodney and Sheppard. He laughed and shook his head.
Nikki rested her hand on top of John's. She lowered her voice so that way he was the only one who could hear her. "You will be careful, John, right?"
He turned and looked at her. "Yes, I'll be careful. I will come back, I promise you that."
She smiled and nodded. "Good. I'll hold you to that promise." He smiled as well. "Good. I expect you to."
SGA
Sheppard and his team had been walking through dense forest for the better part of an hour. They hadn't found anything interesting. Ronon stopped and looked at Sheppard. "Hey, Shep. What does that look like to you?"
He looked where Ronon was pointing. "I'd say it's an old cabin or something. Could be worth a look."
Ronon nodded and they changed directions. When they got to the little cabin, they stopped. "McKay, are you reading any energy readings or picking up any life-signs?"
Rodney got out his life-signs detector. "No. Nothing. There's nothing of interest in…whoah. Hold on. I am picking up an energy reading. I think it's come kind of shield…it's coming from inside the cabin."
John looked at Ronon. "Keep your eyes open." He glanced back at Kira. "That goes for you too, Holt. Stay close to McKay." "Yes, sir."
Sheppard and Ronon moved toward the cabin. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. It was just a little log cabin that seemed to have been abandoned years ago.
John opened the door and walked in. The floor was made of dirt, but there was a rug in the middle of the room. John walked into the cabin and started to inspect the area.
Ronon followed and took the other half of the room. McKay and Kira waited at the door just to be sure.
"I don't see anything suspicious in here. Or anything that could warrant a shield. McKay, are you sure you read that-."
Right in the middle of his sentence, he had stepped on the rug and it had given out. They heard breaking boards and looked over to see a huge hole in the floor where the rug had been and no Sheppard.
Ronon ran over to the edge and looked down. It was too black to see anything so he grabbed his flashlight out of his pocket and shined it down into the hole.
Sheppard was lying on the floor about ten feet down. He slowly sat up and looked around. He had fallen into some kind of underground hallway. He looked up at Ronon and had to cover his eyes. As soon as Ronon moved the light so it wasn't shining directly on John, he spoke up.
"Why is it always me who falls through the hole?" Ronon grunted. "You're asking me. You okay?"
John stood up and looked around again. "Yeah, I'm fine. McKay!"
Rodney and Kira appeared the edge of the hole. "Yeah?" "Toss me down your life-signs detector. This hallway oddly resembles Ancient design. I'm going to do some scouting. Kira, go back to the gate and get a rope. We should really start making rope a necessary item on missions."
Kira nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll be back as soon as I can." "Take your time, Major. I'm in no hurry. Well, right now I'm not."
McKay snorted and tossed Sheppard the LSD. "Okay, I'll be right back. If you hear me yell, go back to the gate. And yes, Ronon, that's an order. Is that clear?"
Ronon grunted, which Sheppard took as a yes and started to make his way down the hallway. He had fallen right at the end of it, so there was really only one direction to go.
The hallway was long and narrow. He reached the other wall and noticed it opened up to another hallway going left. He took it and continued walked towards the energy reading he was picking up. It was getting more and more powerful he got closer.
He came to the end of that hallway and found a door. "Great, a door. I wonder what could be hiding behind it."
He wasn't reading any life-signs, but it was the Pegasus galaxy, anything could happen.
He quickly opened the door and pointed his gun inside, his flashlight on. He slowly entered the room and the lights came on immediately.
He stopped in his tracks. There were ten zpms just laying on lab tables around the room. His eyes widened and his feet seemed to be rooted in place. Had he actually found ten zpms? Rodney was going to have a heart attack from excitement.
He walked around the room, inspecting every inch before returning to the doorway. He hit his com. "Rodney, this is Sheppard. Come in." All he heard was static. He assumed the energy readings must be interfering with the radio.
He took one last look around the room and then made his way back to where he had come through the hole.
Since he had lit up that room, the entire hallway seemed to have come to life with lights. He no longer needed his flashlight.
He walked under the hole and looked up. "You'll never believe what I found. Rodney, you may want to sit down."
SGA
John had suggested they go back to Atlantis and get a science team to check out the zpms, make sure they were okay and safe to bring back to Atlantis, and still had any power.
They walked through the gate. John sent his team to the locker room and then to the infirmary for their post-mission checkup. He went straight up to Elizabeth's office.
He walked in to find Elizabeth sitting at her desk reading mission reports on her laptop. She looked up and saw the look on his face. "Why are you so excited, Colonel?"
"You'll never guess what we came across on that planet."
She closed her laptop and leaned forward. "Why don't you enlighten me, John?"
He smiled. "Well, we were checking out this old cabin. I stepped on a rug, fell through the boards, yada yada, ended up in a hallway of Ancient design. So, I had McKay toss me down his LSD. It was easier than making him jump ten feet. Well, I scouted the hallway and found a door. And behind the door was a room. Filled with zpms. Ten to be exact."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "You're serious? You found ten zpms?" He nodded, he could barely contain his excitement. "I suggest we send a science team along with Lorne's team to go check it out and make sure they still have power and everything and then bring them back to Atlantis."
She nodded, "Agreed. I want someone from your team to go along as well to show them where to go." He nodded. "I already figured I'd send Ronon and Rodney. Rodney couldn't stop talking about what we could use them for the entire way back and I know how restless Ronon has been. It'll do him some good to get out again."
"Agreed. Make the order." He nodded and left the room, headed to the infirmary.
"Major Lorne, this is Sheppard. Come in."
"Lorne here. Back already, sir?" He, Nikki, Teyla, and Kanaan had stayed in the mess hall for a while after the team had left. There wasn't much to do that day, so they just sat there and chatted.
Teyla and Nikki looked up at Lorne. They instantly knew he was talking to Sheppard. "Yep, and I have some pretty good news. I'm on my way to the infirmary. Meet me there?"
"Yes, sir, the infirmary, sir? No one got hurt, did they?"
John chuckled. "No, Major. Well, I fell through a hole and landed about ten feet down, but that's normal. Just going for the normal post-mission checkup. Oh, and from here on out, rope will be a necessary item when going off-world."
Lorne chuckled and nodded. "Yes, sir. How did you get out of the hole then, if you don't mind me asking?"
Nikki's eyebrows shot up. He didn't seem worried, actually, he was relaxed still, but John had fallen through a hole? Again?
"Sent Major Holt back to Atlantis for some. Took her a while to get back. I'll explain more when you get here. Oh, and tell Nikki to meet me there as well. I'm sure the four of you are still sitting in the mess hall?"
Lorne sat up straighter. "Um, yes, sir. I'll see you there. Lorne out."
Lorne looked at Nikki. "The team just got back. I guess they found something interesting. The Colonel wants us to meet him in the infirmary. Don't worry, he's only there for his checkup."
She nodded and followed Lorne out of the mess hall.
They walked into the infirmary and saw Carson standing in front of John taking some blood. They walked over to them and John looked up.
"Ah, just the people I wanted to see. I can guarantee neither of you will guess what we found on that planet."
Nikki and Lorne looked at each other. He was clearly excited, so it had to be something good. "Um, I have no idea, sir."
Carson finished up with John. "There ya go, lad. I'm done with you." "Thanks, Carson."
He rolled his sleeve down over his elbow and stood up.
"I'll start at the beginning. Okay, so we walked through about an hour's worth of dense forest before Ronon spotted a little abandoned cabin. I figured it was worth checking out, so we made our way over there. Ronon and I went in because McKay picked up an energy reading. Well, nothing seemed out of the ordinary inside, until I stepped on a rug in the middle of the room that was covering some boards. I fell through and landed about ten feet, and yes, Nikki, I'm fine."
She rolled her eyes, but waited for him to continue. "I landed in a hallway that looked Ancient, so I had Rodney toss me his LSD so I could check it out. I sent Kira back here for some rope, so I had some time to kill. I came across a room at the end of the second hallway. It was filled with zpms. Ten of them."
Nikki's mouth dropped. "You're kidding, right?" He shook his head and his face lit up. "Nope! Lorne, you and your team will be accompanying a science team to go check it out. Ronon and McKay are going with you to show you where it is." Lorne nodded. "Yes, sir! I'll get my team ready."
He left the infirmary and Nikki looked up at John. "I'm going on that science team." He looked down at her. "No, you're not. We only checked out a small portion of that planet. Anything could still go wrong and I'm not willing to put our child in danger when there are plenty of scientists who are more than capable of going there, fetching a few zpms, and coming back. And don't say they'll screw it up. McKay is going and so is Zalenka. And, if anything happens to them while they're gone, we'll need a genius here to save the day while they're away."
She rolled her eyes, but saw his point. Not all three of the top scientists should go on the same mission and she was pregnant. Going off-world probably wasn't the smartest decision.
"Okay, fine. But you're going to make it up to me later."
He grinned and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into him. "You've got a deal, Dr. Teagan." He kissed her cheek and led them out of the infirmary.
They waited in Elizabeth's office for the team to come back with the zpms. They were too anxious to do anything else or be too far away from the gate room.
The gate activated the team came through. They rushed out of Elizabeth's office with Dr. Weir right behind them. They went down the stairs into the gate room and met Zalenka. He looked thrilled.
"All of them but three are at full power. Two of the three are at half power and the other one is completely dead. But, we have seven fully charged zpms at our disposal. It will only take two of them to get the city to full power."
Nikki was practically vibrating with excitement. Elizabeth looked up at John as Nikki followed the scientists to the labs. "Good job, John. Now we can have the city in full, working order. And you can expand your search area for bigger quarters."
He nodded his head. A smile was stuck on his face. They had gotten really lucky today.
Well, that certainly does open up a lot of possibilities, now doesn't it? I want to thank Clarabelle26 for the idea about the zpms. I tweaked the idea a bit, but hey! Still not my idea. So thank you for that!
I have a few things in store for the Atlantians. So we'll see what happens next. These zpms definitely help! Tune in next time. Same bat time. Same bat channel.