Chapter 57
This is post Season 5 so technically, we're entering Season 6!
"Hey, honey, I'm home," he banters, plopping down on the couch next to her and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. She yelps in fright, making him chuckle.
"John? What the hell are you doing here?" she cries out, her hand on her heart, breathing hard from the fright he's given her.
He wraps his arm around her shoulders and makes her sit back in the couch, still chuckling. "Sorry, it was too tempting. I just came back," he adds, answering her question.
"I didn't hear you coming in. You scared the shit out of me," she accuses him.
"Yeah, well about that..." he says, pouting.
She threatens him with her finger. "Oh, no, don't start again! I can take care of myself."
He growls. "Louise, we've had this conversation before but I won't let you go down easy on that one. I need you to be safe."
She shakes her head. "God, John, don't start. You've just arrived."
He relents because she's right. He's just arrived and he hasn't seen her for almost a month. He puts his feet on the coffee table and tries to relax, wrapping his arm more closely around her. "I missed you, little witch," he whispers in her ear. "How have you been doing?"
She smiles against his chest. "Good, I suppose. Except you were not here and I missed you too, FYI."
He rewards her with a kiss on her head again. "How are the repairs to the guest house going?"
She grins. "Good too. I hired a couple more workers. It should be finished by the end of the week and from then on, I'll plan the interior decoration with that gal from Sacramento I told you about."
He nods, remembering a recent conversation, and tickles her. "About time me and the guys got our new digs, uh?"
She looks up at him, glaring mockingly, and rolls her eyes. "You are so demanding, especially for you people who come and crash once in a blue moon."
He pouts. "You know we're doing what we can."
She smiles and kisses his cheek. "I know. Regardless, I worked as fast as I could and next time you drop by, you'll each have your own room. I can spare one of my rooms for tonight though," she offers. "Business is picking up quite well but it's mid-week and most of my guests won't arrive until Thursday night. You're staying tonight, right?"
He smiles. "Course I am. And tomorrow night as well, if it's not too much trouble."
She shakes her head in disbelief. She's all too happy to see him after being apart for so long. She's been back on Earth for almost six months now and has to admit to herself she misses him dearly.
With the last five years' wages, she's bought a plot of land in North Lake Tahoe that came with a dilapidated cabin that used to belong to some business magnate back in the 1930s. The place had been abandoned for years but when she saw it, she knew she'd found the place where she could settle and run her business.
Atlantis is back on Earth and running with a skeleton crew at the moment, pending a decision from the IOA and Homeworld Security as to what to do with it in the near future so she didn't see any reason to stay there. John and the others work for the most part with the SGC and she would feel useless in the now too quiet City.
Here, she's got her work cut out for her and is starting to make good money with the hiking and skiing vacationers. She's already hosted quite a few people from the SGC as well as former members of the expedition. Bates has already come twice on day-offs to just relax and enjoy the view on the lake and Louise's cooking.
The main cabin has been repaired and modernized and set to accommodate ten guests a night. John and Ronon have often come to help, lending a hand and offering advice, while she worked in the garden once the latter had also had a makeover. Now it's the turn of the old guest house. Once she's done with it, she'll be able to accommodate her friends whenever they wish to come and see her.
"Will you have time to look at the repairs tomorrow? I want you to decide where you want your room." She knows he won't come often but needs him to know it's his home too.
When she told the team about her wish to settle near Lake Tahoe, they all offered to invest money in it, contending they'd be there on their down time anyway. She was touched by their gesture but it's John who put the most money in it, apart from herself. She protested at first, upsetting him. "Look, Louise," he'd said. "I don't have a home to go to, OK? You're home to me. I'm buying the land with you. Period."
He smiles. She always looks happy to show him what's new and how well things are going. The Bed and Breakfast has only been running for a month but she already has it booked for the next four at weekends and with summer on the way, most of the weeks as well.
"You're gonna need to hire a couple more people if you don't want to be exhausted by the end of the season," he tells her.
"John," she chides him, rolling her eyes, "I managed on Atlantis. Ten people a day is really no big deal, you know. I don't need more people here, especially not in my kitchen," she adds, making him laugh out loud.
"Oh yeah, right! That's why you don't want anyone around! Your realm shall remain untouched, my lady," he teases her, "but you do need to have help around the house."
She slaps his chest playfully with the back of her hand. "You take care of saving the universe, Mister, and I'll take care of the house, OK?"
He snorts, seeing the mirth in her eyes, then sobers up quickly. "I'm sorry I wasn't around to help you more. Saving the universe as you say was much easier when I didn't have to commute."
She shakes her head and smiles. "Don't worry. As long as you can borrow a jumper or get beamed down to join me, I'm not complaining."
He turns to her, looking surprised. "No reproach? No questions about where I was all this time?"
"Nope, John. I've decided there isn't much I could do about it so I'm just enjoying the time we have together."
He tickles her, making her squirm. "Who are you and what have you done to my friend?"
She laughs out loud and tries to get out of his grip – to no avail. "I won't ask questions but I can remind you I still have clearance so you can talk to me whenever you want and I'll be most happy to listen. But I won't pester you. Lord knows we're not a couple, John, and anyway, you'll never have to fear me turning into a nosy shrew."
He ruffles her hair she's let grow again, making her look pixie, to give himself some countenance. He's proud of her for acting cool and unruffled even if he surmises she still worries for him – for them all. "I lo..."
"Shut up, Sheppard," she growls, not wanting him to say it out loud.
She still doesn't feel comfortable with that part of their relationship – how more open he is with her than with the others and how more cuddly and flirty he is with her these days - again.
"He doesn't treat me like his sister anymore – not since my relationship with Chris," she's told Teyla.
"Took you long enough to realize that," the other woman pointed out wickedly.
"Is it because I look younger?" she wondered.
Teyla shook her head. "It might be but I don't think that's the point. John might act like a womanizer but he's far from that. I think when you dated Chris he finally realized you were not just a friend – you were a woman, and one men were more than willing to court, even younger ones."
Louise flushed, embarrassed at having it voiced out loud. "I didn't mean to hurt him," she whispered, thinking about John's look of hurt when he'd found out about her and Chris.
"I know. But in a way, it was a good thing. It made him understand you were not a given in his life. He had to fight for you if he wanted to keep you."
He pouts and stands, offering her his hand. "It's late and I'm tired. I think I'll crash."
She winces, knowing she's hurt him. "I forgot to ask you if you'd had dinner," she apologizes.
"I'm good. Don't worry. I know where the fridge is. You're not my free housekeeper, Louise," he adds, remembering a conversation they had some time ago about her former husband and her low opinion of men in general before she came to Atlantis.
"I'll show you to your room then."
He grabs the duffle bag he's set in the hallway and follows her upstairs. Her own room is downstairs, by the kitchen, pantry and office.
"How many guests tonight?" he asks her in a hush tone.
"Just two. A couple of retirees. They've come to visit the area. They crashed early but will be up early too. I'll drop them at the bottom of the slopes so they can be up the mountain by early morning, before the haze sets in," she explains.
"What time will you be up?"
"Probably well before you. I'll prepare their picnic and drive them there. It won't take me more than a half hour for the round trip. I'll probably be back before you get up," she says, opening the door to his room. "The room is yours for tonight. Tomorrow, I've got full house. I'll give you my room and sleep in the office," she offers.
He shakes his head dismissively. "We'll get plenty of time to talk about that tomorrow." He kisses her forehead. "Night, Louise."
She gets up at five thirty to be on the safe side and takes a quick shower while she bakes her banana bread. When she gets into the kitchen to take it from the oven with her hair still wet, he's already there, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, and has beaten her to it.
"Morning, sunshine," he says, giving her his trademark grin and a bear hug. "Coffee?" he offers, grabbing a couple of mugs from the cupboard.
"You made coffee?"
"Don't look so surprised. I do know my way around a house, ya' know!" he teases her.
True, he does it all the time off-world but this feels so mundane, too mundane actually for him.
"Oh really?" she banters. "I'd always thought you were as useless as a chocolate teapot." She tucks her tongue at him and runs for cover on the other side of the island top, seeing his murderous look that only means she won't get out of this one unscathed.
He rounds the island top before she can move and wraps his arms around her waist and tickles her until she dissolves in laughter. "Surrender," he orders, his hands still holding her waist. She shakes her head, breathless, so he narrows his eyes at her. "Louise..." he warns her but she shakes her head once more, the corners of her lips turning up and her eyes crinkling with mirth. He pulls her to him, his eyes locked on hers. "I'm not useless, little witch," he whispers in her ear, pulling her flush to him, blowing on her neck, making her shiver. "Actually I can come in very handy, ya' know," he drawls lazy. She breathes in and out. Where did that come from? One minute they're bickering like kids and the next he's coming on to her, big time. It's the first time in a long while he is so flirty.
She's saved by a knock on the door and someone pushing it open. John growls but lets her go relunctantly when she disentangles herself from him. "Hi," a tall man with white hair says with a tentatively smile. "Sorry to bother you. I know it's awfully early but I couldn't sleep..."
John combs his hands through his hair, looking awkward. Louise covers her embarrassment quickly and motions for him to come in. "That's quite alright," she replies. "There's fresh coffee and a banana bread that is begging to be tasted and approved."
She sees John is ready to scamper off so she grabs his hand and pulls him to her side. "Ken, please meet John. He's here for a couple of days." The two men shake hands. She motions for them to sit at the island top. John grabs the pot from the counter and serves them coffee while she slices the banana bread. "You'll get a hearty breakfast later on," she informs her guest, making him laugh out loud.
"You sure know how to treat your guests, young lady. My wife and I are gonna need to take long walks if we want to burn up all the calories you feed us. Not that I complain though. You've pampered us," he adds with a grateful smile, making her blush slightly from the compliment, then turns to John. "Your wife sure knows how to cook. You're a lucky man."
Louise turns beet red with embarrassment and John winces, seeing her unease. "Oh, eh, well, we're not married," he informs the older man who laughs.
"Doesn't matter, young man. What matters is love, not promises made on a piece of paper. My wife and I, we've been together for forty years. Not everyday can be a honeymoon, sure, but I think I love her even more than when we met," he replies with a fond smile, his eyes twinkling. John smiles at him but doesn't deny it.
Louise busies herself, preparing the rest of the breakfast as well as their picnic. John grabs her hand as she passes him and makes her sit next to him. "Sweetie, you need to have breakfast first," he says with raised eyebrows. "The rest can wait."
She looks away, not trusting herself around him after what's just happened. She smiles briefly. "Sure, you're right, John. Eh, Ken, if you'll excuse me, I'll be right back." She heads to the bathroom attached to her room.
John stands and excuses himself. "Louise," he calls her from her office, "can I come in?"
She's checking her sugar level. It hurts him every time he sees her draw blood though she's told him a hundred times it's no big deal. "Yes, John?" she says, looking up at him.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was best to elude the matter. More answers would only have led to more questions," he apologizes.
She looks upset. "Not telling the truth is not right, John. It's as good as a lie."
"It was not a lie, Louise. I do love you and it's not because you hate the word it makes it a lie," he replies, looking hurt.
"I hate the word, John, because everyone uses it and it really means nothing. It's an empty promise for so many couples and so many friends. How many people told me back then they "loved" me?" she says through clenched teeth, making air quotes. "My mother, my husband, my so-called friends. But they took the first opportunity to show me it meant nothing."
He huffs. She told him once she was a basket case for love and he's starting to believe it's true. Look who's talking, he thinks sarcastically. Not so long ago, he had thought the same about himself.
"Teyla told me once they don't use the word love for mutual affection in her people. They just tell their significant other he or she fills their heart with joy," he tells her, not wanting to let her retreat into her shell once more. He's just arrived, for God's sake, and she's already building those walls around her heart again.
"Cante washte yama kahi," she whispers to herself then looks up at him, stunned.
He looks nonplussed. "Sorry, what?"
She shakes her head as if to clear it. "It's Cheyenne. It means the exact same thing – you fill my heart with joy."
"And it's no empty promise, Louise," he adds, leaving her office to join their guest.
"Anything the matter?" the older man asks him. "I shouldn't have come at such an early hour," he apologizes.
John shakes his head. "We're good. Don't worry. Louise and I have our routine. We bicker all the time and do wake up early."
"Military?" Ken wonders, eyeing John's dog tags.
"Air Force." He hopes the man won't ask too many questions. He doesn't like to lie.
"Must be hard for her to let you come and go." The old man pouts.
"She's used to it. Actually she was a subcontractor on my base when we met," John explains and pours himself some more coffee as Louise comes into the room.
"Yeah, I couldn't have him underfoot all the time," she banters, having heard their conversation. "He was a pain in the ass, always coming to my kitchen at night to get milk and cookies. Sneaky flyboys," she adds, tickling him.
He grabs her hand and kisses it, smiling at her. She looks more relaxed now she's had a minute to regroup. He knows she doesn't like to be crowded – pretty much like him. That's why they never really get mad at each other. All this bickering is just part of their routine.
Ken finishes his cup of coffee and stands. "I'm going to wake up my wife. I'll come for seconds in a bit," he says, winking and leaves. John stands and helps Louise tidy the breakfast table then offers his help for whatever needs to be done.
"It's your day-off, John. Try to rest," she declines.
He doesn't want to push her, so he decides to humor her. "OK, well, I'll just head for the guest house and see how things are doing there. I'll see you in a bit," he says, dropping a kiss on her head.
"John?" she calls after him as he leaves the kitchen. "You do too..." He stares, not getting it. She blushes. "I mean, you do fill my heart with joy." He grins, his hazel eyes lighting up. "But, don't get me wrong. You're still a pain in the ass," she adds, tucking her tongue out at him.
"Yes, Ma'am," he drawls and heads for the door with a smirk plastered on his face.
TBC
I love writing fluff. Sigh. Do you like reading it? ;)