Chapter 03
“Tony, give it back to me!” Ziva David growled as her partner held her cell phone out of her reach. “Give it to me or I will break your neck!”
Special Agent Jethro Gibbs walked up behind Tony DiNozzo and smacked him on the back of his head. He only leveled a look at Tony before continuing on his way to his desk. Sitting down, Gibbs squinted his eyes to read one of the messages that was left for him while he was away before crumbling it up and throwing it in the garbage.
“Oh, I don’t like that look…” Tony said. “See the look on Gibbs’s face, Ziva? What’s up, boss?”
“What do ya think, DiNozzo?” Gibbs he asked back before turning his cell phone off and throwing it in his desk drawer.
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking,” Tony rolled his eyes and sat down behind his desk. “But if I have to make a guess, Abby hasn’t stopped looking for aliens.”
At his desk, McGee started to cough and tried to sneak away from the area before falling victim to more jokes about his off duty interests.
“McSpaceman!” Tony called out. “It was your job to convince Abby that there’s no such thing as aliens!”
“Have you ever tried talking to a brick wall?” Timothy McGee sighed. “I’ve even tried to sabotage her computer, as in trying to lock her out from doing certain things, but she always finds a way around it.” He shrugged. “Besides, she’s focusing on conspiracy theories now, about missing or killed in action Marines where there’s no official record of them ever being deployed outside the States.”
This caught Gibbs’s attention and he raised his head. “What do you mean?”
“Well, at first she… well… we, thought that they were black ops Marines, and that our clearance would be too low to find out about it, but sometimes it just seemed as if they disappeared into thin air, no paper trails, no usage of credit cards, just POOF.”
He looked at McGee. “Were any of these people reported missing?”
“No, that’s the weirdest thing,” Tim replied and slowly sat down again. “And it’s not just Marines, it’s Air Force as well.”
Ziva raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “That doesn’t mean anything. We just can’t start looking into conspiracy theories when there are no reports filed.”
“Well, Abby likes to do these things while she waits for her machines to be done, or when she’s bored and doesn’t have anything to process.” Tim shrugged. “It’s not like she’s hacking into things.”
“But you are, aren’t you, tiny Tim?” Tony grinned. “You never get caught!”
“Until now,” Vance’s voice sounded; He was just as sneaky as Gibbs. “It has to stop,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “As I’ve already informed Miss Sciuto, but thanks to your unsanctioned digging into things that are classified, your computers will be taken away and will be replaced.”
SecNav had come down hard on him, for letting his agents and people roam loose like that, not knowing that Vance had no idea what they were talking about. “You have no idea how embarrassing it is when you get confronted by things that your agents are doing right under your nose.”
“Director, aren’t you over-reacting?” Gibbs said, amused.
“Agent Gibbs, you have no idea what kind of deep shit you’re all in.”
“Wait, ALL of us?” McGee asked, shocked. “Why?”
Tony shook his head. “All for one, and one for all.”
“Thanks to your poking, Homeland Sec-” The sound of the elevator made Vance turn around to face the people walking in. “Ah, I’ll let them explain.”
Ziva turned in her seat to see what was going on. She was confused at what the issue was other than the fact she knew that McGee’s hacking was wrong. What was intriguing was the fact that his attempt stirred such a strong reaction from Director Vance. Two men walked out and for some reason, as Tony would put it, triggered her ‘spidey sense’ of people who could be extremely dangerous. Especially the one.
Back at the SGC, John hadn’t asked for this, he knew nothing really about the computers on Earth, despite having been back for a year now. He and Teyla didn’t have a computer, nor a laptop, mostly because John was afraid that it could be used to spy on them. He was certain that this was a test from General Landry, to see how he’d react or something, and he was happy to oblige. Plus it took him out of Colorado Springs for a while.
Teyla had stayed home, as John was accompanied by Ronon for this – hopefully – short trip to Washington. All he needed to do was copy the hard drives and wipe them clean with a single device that had been given to him by Landry. In and out again.
It also meant that he had to wear his dress blues again, and Ronon had made fun of him on their way to the Navy yard from their hotel. “You look like a monkey in a monkey suit,” he had laughed. “You could have at least cut your hair a little.”
John had shrugged at that. His hair was fine and he knew that Ronon was just pushing his buttons. But so far, so good. Landry had sought contact with the NCIS director and gave him
the heads up that his people were coming.
He had kept his sunglasses on his head because the NCIS building was so strangely lit, but he knew he had to take them off once they’d stepped out of the elevator as he wasn’t, and wouldn’t be, one of those people who wore sunglasses inside a building.
It was just him and Ronon on a mission, and it felt good. Until he walked into the bullpen and saw the director talking to the team that had created a mess for themselves by digging into the lives of enlisted personnel of the SGC.
Ronon muttered, “Oh, crap,” when his eyes fell on the woman who looked exactly like his Elsa Gutierrez, the woman his friend had spent the last few months grieving for.
“Director Vance?” he asked in his Colonel voice.
“Yes,” replied the man in the middle of the group. “I’m Vance.”
“I’m Colonel John Sheppard, this is specialist Ronon Dex,” he introduced them. “I believe you’ve spoken to General Landry?”
“Their computers are all yours,” Vance nodded, knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do about it despite the furious faces of Gibbs and his team. “They were about to tell me that it won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t.” John said, knowing that computer techs were already working on fixing the holes that this team had put in their firewalls.
“Agent David will escort you down to the lab once you’re done in here,” Vance added nodding to where Ziva sat.
John hadn’t paid attention to anyone except for the Director, because he knew he needed to focus and any distraction would likely cause him to fail whatever plans Landry had for him. Turning around, his eyes fell on a petite brunette. His mouth fell open slightly and color noticeably drained from his face.
“You okay, Colonel? You look like you just saw a ghost,” DiNozzo said as he stood from his desk. “Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” John muttered after Ronon elbowed him hard in the ribs and growled lowly in warning. He decided to give the device to Ronon, as Landry had explained how it worked to them both, and Ronon walked over to Agent DiNozzo’s desk to access his computer. It would copy the drive and then wipe it clean as a whistle, according to the General. All John wanted now was to get out.
Shaking his head clear, he went over to the one agent’s desk and started as the team stood and waited in the middle of the floor whispering amongst themselves.
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” John said as he looked at Ronon doing his job while he had his hands in his pockets to stop them from visibly shaking. “But this is what you get from sticking your noses where they don’t belong.”
“The Marines that disappeared worked for you. Don’t you feel their families deserve solace?” Gibbs asked, staring him down.
“Their families are taken care of,” John replied simply, and then swallowed hard as reality was pounding at the gates and demanding to be let in, but he wouldn’t let it. “The Marines knew what they were getting themselves into, it’s not as if we kidnapped them.”
“Sheppard…” Ronon warned him and John shook his head, telling him that it was okay.
“However, we should be thankful to you guys,” he smirked. “Our techs didn’t know that their firewalls were outdated.”
McGee shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that. It was rather difficult actually. Abby spent the last, oh, I don’t know, year trying to find out …” He was silenced with a firm slap to the back of his head.
John signalled Ronon to go for McGee’s computer next, and kept his eyes anywhere but on that woman who looked just like Elsa. She looked so much like her that it was hard to stay focused with her around. “Once we’re done here, and in your lab, our techs will review the data and advise Homeland Security and SecNav on further proceedings,” John said. “Which could mean that someone might end up watching over your shoulders for a while.”
“I get the impression that you’re trying to cover up something,” DiNozzo said, narrowing his eyes. “Like the aliens at Area 51.”
Oh, if only they knew, John thought. “There’s no such thing as aliens, Agent – I forgot your name,” John replied as Ronon laughed.
“DiNozzo,” said Tony.
“I don’t think he cares, Tony,” McGee answered, eyeing Ronon and the device he used on his computer. “What is that?”
“Classified.” Ronon replied. “Eyes forward.”
Gibbs realized that McGee had gotten them in big trouble this time, and looking at the Colonel and his specialist that looked like a killer, he guessed they weren’t dealing with just Homeland Security.
Ronon finished up with the other two computers before he looked back at his friend. John scratched at the back of his head as he avoided looking at the woman when he spoke. “Uhh, the lab?”
Ziva narrowed her eyes before getting a nod from Gibbs. “This way,” she said as she led them to the elevator, while her boss turned to head upstairs to talk to Vance as expected.
“It’s totally empty!” McGee cried out. “They wiped the entire drive!”
Sheppard looked up at his buddy, who was grinning almost gleefully. “You could have left them solitaire, you know.”
Ronon waved the device in the air. “The other one at the hotel has those settings, this one was the prototype,” he shrugged with a smile on his face.
Ziva watched the two men, strangers, visitors… as she stood behind them in the elevator. “You do not work for Homeland Security, do you?” she asked in a knowing tone. Mossad training was still very much a part of her in many ways and each agency had a certain feel. These men were more…
“Not directly, no.” Ronon replied. “What’s your name?”
She looked at them for a moment. “Ziva David.”
“Ronon,” John warned and took a deep breath when the elevator opened. They walked out to allow the woman to lead the way but within steps of the door, John was nearly blinded.
Ronon took Sheppard’s arm for a minute to make sure he wasn’t bumping into things, since the lights were brighter in this hallway for some stupid reason. “Careful.”
“Something wrong?” Ziva asked, looking back with curiosity and some concern.
John kept quiet and so did Ronon as he motioned for Agent David to lead the way to the lab.
Upon Entering, they found a punky, dark-haired woman that didn’t look particularly happy. There was music blasting in the brightly lit room that nearly stopped Sheppard dead in his tracks.
“Can you kill the music and lights some?” Ronon asked, shoving John back out into the hallway.
“No,” the woman responded. “If you want something, then go and get it but I will not let you tell me what to do.”
John chuckled as he rubbed his eyes. “Good luck, Ronon.”
The Satedan looked back at him before turning back to the woman.
Ziva stepped defensively in front of Abby and looked up at Ronon with an expression that reminded him of Teyla when she was pissed off.
Backing down some, Ronon waved back to the door. “Please?” he asked, hating having to play nice.
Abby saw the man was clearly in pain and frowned. “Fine. You do know that this doesn’t help your credibility about everything. Cover-ups and all…”
Ronon shrugged as he started to work on the computer of the woman who looked too old for pigtails. “You should be glad that you’re not being locked up,” he responded.
“Ronon!” John warned him from the hall way. “Play nice.”
“Whatever. Your prisons here are hell of a lot better than some we’ve seen,” he pointed out with a grin as he worked on the few stations in the room.
Once John was sure that he was prepared for the bright lights and noise in the woman’s lab, he walked in and leaned against the door post with a smirk on his face as he watched the tall Satedan work.
The woman with the pigtails kept trying to look over his shoulder to see what he was doing. Fortunately, Agent David was out of his sight right now, so that was one less thing to worry about.
Ronon couldn’t help but glance back occasionally at the Elsa look-a-like. What he wouldn’t give to know what his friend was thinking. Reaching down to disconnect the device, Abby noticed the tattoo he had on his arm and bombarded him with questions about it as they went to the section where her desk was to work on the computers there.
McKay had often tried to explain to him that there was a chance that you’d meet your twin one day, and that everyone had a twin or a copy walking around, one way or the other because humans were basically complicated and nature had a funny sense of humor. John had never believed him, of course; it wasn’t scientifically proven and the papers Rodney had showed him were tales of personal experiences.
The only time John saw his own twin was his Asuran self, who was literally a copy of him down to his mannerisms.
It hurt like hell to just look at Agent David, and so he tried not to, but he couldn’t help being curious. Agent David carried herself differently than Elsa, like a fighter, like Teyla. He tried to spot other differences in order to tell himself that the universe had a twisted sense of humor, but failed to spot them at the moment.
Ziva watched the Colonel from across the room, having assured herself that Abby was fine with other guy. She did not believe for anything that he was a computer specialist. Fairly certain that her team was already trying to find out who these two really were, she studied them more closely here. “You are not here willingly,” she pointed out conversationally.
John raised his head and looked around briefly before taking a breath and looking at her. He did not answer immediately as he looked back at Ronon. “No.”
“Tell me something, is all this really necessary? Completely clearing out our computers? I doubt they actually found anything.”
“It is nothing personal. You don’t know what kind of information you may have come across, information you really do not want to know. I’m just following orders.” Please shut up! I can’t deal with this, John cried in his mind.
Ziva opened her mouth to say something but she knew all too well about following orders. Not just with Mossad and her father, but here too for NCIS. She was under orders to let them have access to the computers. “I doubt that they will give up,” she said quietly. “McGee and Abby are good people.”
“I believe that Agent David. I wish that we could just tell the world everything but some things just can’t be shared.”
They fell into silence for the next thirty minutes or so until Ronon walked out. “I’m done Sheppard. Can we get pizza?” he asked as he walked right past John to go to the elevator.
“Sure thing, Chewie. Pizza sounds good,” John replied, wanting to get the hell away from the Navy yard and this building and that Agent David. It hurt too much and he was tired of holding back the impulse to run away or freak out.
“So, you like pepperoni pizza?” Elsa laughed and shook her head. “Typical male.”
“What’s wrong with pepperoni?” John countered as he stabbed in the piece of meat that was laying on his tray; it was supposed to be beef but it tasted horrible and even barbecue sauce didn’t make it better.
“Pineapple with extra cheese,” she mused as she licked her lips. “I’d happily disregard the Hippocratic Oath for a pizza like that.”
“That good, huh?”
“Orgasmic,” Elsa nodded with a teasing smile on her face. “Especially from this one place in New York? Ohhhh…” She bit her lip as she looked at him with big eyes. “Now you’ve done it.”
“What?” he asked impishly.
“All that talk about food… and good food and extremely good chocolate…” she licked her lips. “Made me hungry…”
John pointed at her tray. “You haven’t even finished your dinner.”
“I don’t care, I’m hungry.” Elsa had started to run her foot up and down his pant leg, and when she said she was hungry she had gently put her foot in his crotch, which made him look at her in shock.
“Are you serious?” he stammered. “We agreed to have dinner because we almost spent the entire day…”
“Well, what can I say? I’m happy that you have a day off, and I’m a sucker for a good lollipop,” she said innocently. “Either eat that or follow me out of the mess hall,” she told him and got up to leave, wiggling her behind as he followed her out with his eyes.
“I’m in trouble now,” he chuckled to himself, and ran after Elsa.
As soon as they were in the privacy of their hotel room, John just stared at Ronon. Today had been a bizarre day so far, he couldn’t believe that there was a not-Elsa walking around on the planet who looked exactly like her.
He believed he handled himself well though, he didn’t freak out (yet) and other than the misfortune of walking around in a very strangely lit building for the first time without knowing that it was so strangely lit, he thought he did okay.
“Want me to hail the Hammond to beam us out?” Ronon asked worried as he looked at his friend who still looked as if he had seen a ghost. Sure, they were supposed to act like normal Air Force people and catch a flight later that day, as these NCIS people were smart and would probably check them out and follow their every move after leaving the building, but Ronon was worried now, it seemed as his friend had shut down.
John shook his head as he sat down on the couch and stared into nothingness, his head in a completely different universe than himself.
“You’re not Beckett or Keller,” John said surprised as he walked into the infirmary, returning home from a mission that hadn’t gone particularly well. This new doctor was petite and appeared to be even more delicate. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a tail and the glare he received for his stupid observation could easily have killed him.
“Very observant you are,” Elsa greeted back with an irritated roll of her eyes. “Lose the shirt and pants and get on the bed,” she ordered as she continued to stare into the man’s chart.
“What?” John looked at the doctor and shook his head, “Sorry doc, I’m not losing my pants for just anyone, what’s your name?”
Elsa shrugged. “Fine. Doctor Cole! Got one for you!” she called out slamming Sheppard’s medical records closed and started to walk away.
“No no no no.” John reached for the doctor to make her stay. “No, fine, I’ll lose the pants… just…” he winced as he looked at Cole, “Don’t call that sick bastard.”
She raised an eyebrow knowing exactly what he was talking about. “I thought you might see my way. Alright Colonel, you have an intriguing medical record but let us begin with what happened on your most recent mission for this visit.”
“I got hit in the head by something,” John shrugged. “I’m only here because Carson’s threatened me, that should he find out that I’m walking around with an injury AGAIN, he’d do something I wouldn’t like. You’re lucky, if I hadn’t pushed McKay away you would have had him here instead of me and he wouldn’t stop whining.”
“I have my methods to shut up patients like him,” the woman said as she because palpating and poking around her patient’s head neck and shoulders. “Does this hurt?” she asked as she poked an area under his eye that was beginning to bruise a nice combination of mottled green and purple.
“It’s a bruise,” John rolled his eyes. “Of course it hurts if you poke at it.”
Elsa smirked with amusement. “Then you have learned to just shut up and let me work instead of avoiding the inevitable.”
“Which is?” he mused.
“Sheppard,” Ronon grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him. “Hey.”
“Huh?” John blinked up to see Ronon standing in front of him with coffee. “Sorry… I think zoned out again.”
“Yup,” Ronon nodded.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. “When is it going to stop?”
“Who knows?” Ronon handed him a cup of coffee and sat down opposite of his friend, “You did okay today,”
John shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. “Sure, compared to the usual self that I am lately, yes, I did okay today. But please do not tell Teyla about her. She had it hard enough already…” he smiled.
“I won’t,” Ronon shrugged. “It was just weird, that’s all.”
Sheppard knew that well enough. “Let’s get some sleep. Landry is supposed to call tomorrow to update us and I just want to sleep.”
Ronon looked at the clock, it wasn’t even dinner time yet. “No, we’re going to catch our flight in a couple of hours, but you can sleep some before we go.”
John blinked at Ronon and tried to shake the fog out of his head as he put down his cup of coffee and laid down on the couch. “Ronon?” he muttered, putting his arms over his eyes. “Please don’t leave,” No, if Ronon would leave while John was sleeping, he’d go nuts when he’d wake up or sleep uneasily because for some reason he’d know that Ronon was gone and this was a hotel room, not as safe as his apartment.
Ronon lounged out on the bed as he waited for the pizza they ordered to arrive. “Not going anywhere bud,” he said.
By the time they came back in Colorado, John was feeling as if he was sleepwalking and he still had to brief General Landry about the day that he and Ronon had. Which meant that he had to go to the SGC and the taxi driver that was driving him there didn’t know how to drive and the taxi needed some inertial dampeners for sure.
“Colonel!” Landry greeted him outside in the parking lot with a big smile on his face. “How was your day?”
“Kind of crazy considering even we weren’t told what we were supposed to do,” John looked at the General and handed over the device. “What exactly did they do? They looked like capable, yet somewhat awkward, people.”
Ronon elbowed him in the ribs. “Missing marines, linked to SGC, Antarctica… he already told you,” he said in a low voice.
“He did?”
“Colonel, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just tired sir.”
“Perhaps you should go visit Dr. Lam just to be certain,” Hank said with concern. “Did something unexpected happen? It was a routine job.”
“No, apart from their stupid lights I’m fine, just tired.” John shrugged. “Please, General, I don’t need to be checked out.”
“Well, I’m afraid I must insist.” Hank gently started to push John towards the entrance of the mountain. “That babysitter I was talking about? It’s going to be you for the next few months, I want you to keep an eye on them and I can’t let you do that if one day of work tires you out.”
John groaned, this was a bad idea.
Ronon scratched his eye and signalled for Landry’s attention. “I don’t think that is such a great idea. Did you guys run backgrounds on those people? With pictures?”
“Yes,” Landry nodded. “And that’s exactly why he’s going back there with Teyla as his support. It’s time to get back in the saddle.”
He shook his head as he watched John check in. “That was a low move. He didn’t have any time to prepare himself.”
“I’ve seen how you and Teyla and even Dr. Beckett are around him, you’re treating him as if he’s something fragile, and he needs a good kick in the ass to get his life back on track.” Landry told Ronon, knowing full well that it was hard on John. “Agent Gibbs has quite the reputation and his team is wonderful, and it might be hard on him at first, but he’ll get over it.”
“That woman could have been Elsa’s twin,” Ronon growled.
“Really?” Landry frowned. “Apart from her physical appearance, she’s not Dr. Gutierrez. I’ve double checked, she’s also not a replicator.”
“Still wrong,” he grunted and followed John in. “You’re telling what you are expecting of him there. I’m not.”
He didn’t really know why, but Dr. Lam insisted on having him stay for a couple of hours and get some sleep before she’d do some tests on him. She felt sorry for John, he did look tired and her father was being hard on him, even after she had told him that John wasn’t ready for it all.
“I’m fine, Elsa,” Sheppard replied, “It’s only a flesh wound,” he continued, referring to the gunshot wound in his side while he stacked a box upon another for cover. “How’s it going McKay? We can’t stay here longer than we have to.”
“Yeah well, at this rate, trained mice could do a better job than me!” Rodney barked at him. “I give up.”
“No, you’re not!” John pushed him down on the ground, “You need to fix this, this is all your fault.”
“My fault?” Rodney huffed and disconnected his tablet. “If you want to blame someone, blame yourself, or Carter, or Woolsey for thinking that it would be okay for the Genii to come here for protection.”
“You allowed them to change the passwords!”
“John! Rodney!” Elsa sounded disgusted. “What the hell!”
When John looked at Elsa, he saw that she was sitting on a pale white horse with long flowing manes and evil red eyes. “What are you doing on that horse?”
“Getting back into the saddle,” Elsa deadpanned before the entire environment changed into a circus rink again. “Bombs away.” She shrugged as grenades started to drop from the ceiling.
John sat straight up in bed breathing rapidly. “What the…” he coughed out as he tried to piece together the dream to what he knew before the details faded. He got up and stumbled into the bathroom to rinse off his face with cold water. He knew he couldn’t go back to his apartment looking like that. Teyla would go crazy on him and he didn’t want her to do that. As it was, he had to break the news that they will likely have to move if Landry goes through with his plans. Plans that he will find out more of later after lunch.
“Oh good, you’re awake again,” Carolyn Lam smiled as she stood in the doorway. “You’re in big trouble, John.” she said. “You’ve been keeping things from me and Carson.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grumbled as he went to look for clothes to change into. “I gotta get home.”
“Well, you and your shrink have been keeping things from me and Carson, I thought we had a deal,” smiling somewhat as she had taken his clothes and put them somewhere he wasn’t able to find them, he needed to be checked out and she was going to make sure that it was going to happen.
With all the dresser drawers empty and his pants from the day before gone, he just looked at her. “Oh come on doc! I’m not in the mood for this. I’ve been fine.”
“Yes, then why didn’t you let your shrink inform us about your medication?”
John shrugged and sat down on the bed. “It’s nothing.”
“Okay, you know what?” Lam decided to take the same approach as her father, as she was fed up with John’s antics anyway. “You’re right, you’re fine.” She got his clothes out of a different trolley and threw it in his face. “Here we are, trying to put you back together, we’ve found the best physical therapists, the best shrink in town… and you’re not letting him tell us the real thing about your progress or lack thereof.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Good luck in Washington.”
That got his attention. “What? What did you say? What are you talking about?!” he asked as he ran out into the hall in just his shorts with his pants in hand.
“General Landry is sending you to Washington with Teyla and Torren,” She said, “If I’d believe what your shrink has finally told me about you, I would have said that you weren’t going, but since you insist on being fine, I’m going to clear you for duty now.”
“Oh fuc—!!”
She smiled sweetly. “Now be a good Colonel and pull on your pants,” she said as she headed for the elevator.
John made sure that General Landry had given him a hard copy of his orders so that he wouldn’t forget, and then made his way home to Teyla, who was smiling proudly at him. “How did it go? I had expected you to come home sooner.”
“Dr. Lam held me hostage,” John shrugged and rubbed his face tiredly. “We need to talk.”
“What about?” she asked as she closed the door to her room where Torren was down for a nap.
“Well…” he sighed and sat down on the couch. “Remember how you joined our team on Atlantis? You wanted what was best for your people, and help us.”
She looked at him and nodded slowly. “I remember. What does that have to do with anything here now?”
“Well, General Landry wants me to temporarily join an organisation to keep an eye on them, they have been making too many connections between some of our… marines and the SGC and Antarctica.”
“John, that is great news!” Teyla smiled widely.
“One thing though…” he sighed, knowing how much Teyla liked it in Colorado Springs. “We’re going to have to move… I can’t do this without you, Teyla, please…” he begged, “Please say you’ll come with me?”
She was still grinning happily. “I would be happy to join you. I could not imagine letting you go through something that new alone. Torren and I will join you wherever you will need us. Does this mean that we have to look for a new shelter? I have watched many shows where people visit multiple places before making a decision.”
He was relieved that Teyla wanted to go with him and then had to laugh because Teyla sounded eager to look for a new place to stay and she wanted to look for something together. “The SGC has acquired us a temporary house, as we might be there for just a couple of months.”
John pulled out the folder that had some details as for as the region and where they would be staying, including pictures. They managed to score a nice place in the heart of Georgetown, with more than enough room so that Teyla, Torren and he would have their own space without stepping on each other’s toes. “Wow,” he commented as he looked at the almost mansion like place.
“You always told me that the SGC liked to save money,” Teyla looked at the pictures and then at John, “See? You’re something special to them too.”
He shook his head. “We need the space,” he said, actually grateful for the SGC to provide them with a bigger place. “Unfortunately with what this looks like, they may be expecting us to host some get togethers if I know them as well as I think.”
“Which is fine, John.” Teyla nodded.
“I don’t know,” he chuckled.
She took his face in her hands and smiled up at him. “It will be for the best. I can feel it.”
John could only nod again. Teyla tried the hardest between them to make the best of out of the situation they had found themselves in, with adapting into the culture of America and Earth. He was proud of his friend greatly and could only smile as she was thrilled that the SGC also noted that they would be allowed a spending allowance to furnish the large home and was already flipping through home improvement catalogs that came in the junk mail.
Yep, this is not going to go well, he thought to himself but would never admit his odd feelings about the situation to anyone.
“Anyway, I’m going to get some sleep, it’s not really a fun thing to fly twice a day,” he said and managed to smile at Teyla. “If you need anything, just call,” he said walking to his bedroom.
“Can we not ask the SGC if they can teleport us and our belongings into the new house?” she asked as he retreated.
“Already asked, and Landry said he wouldn’t have it any other way… although if you don’t mind, I’d rather fly there from the airport.” He didn’t want to be in orbit ever again. Maybe sometime in the future, but right now, anything that reminded him what he couldn’t do anymore hurt, despite refererring to Atlantis from time to time.
She nodded understandingly. “Very well, I will begin packing our things. If there is anything specific you wish to bring, let me know.”
He rubbed his eyes and turned around to face her. “I can’t let you do the packing all by yourself,” he said. “I think you should just bring your and Torren’s clothes and any other items you like to bring, we’ll buy whatever we need when we get there, okay?”
Nodding, “I have just one more question John.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“When do we leave?”
“Landry wanted us to leave tomorrow, but I managed to give us an extra day,” he responded. “I’ll be starting my new job on Monday.”
Teyla was surprised. “Alright,” she said looking out the window where the setting sun still shone warmly. “If you do not mind watching for Torren, I can run to the market and acquire some boxes to get things together tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure.” he smiled. “I’ll go and make myself a pot of coffee.” he said, making his way towards the kitchen. “And when we are in Georgetown… I have an important task for you.” he smiled deviously. He would hate it, but it was needed.
She turned around while pulling her coat on. “What is it John?”
“I’m going to need proper civilian work clothes,” He groaned. “So I’m going to rely on you to make the right decisions for me.”
“Colonel Sheppard! Are you asking me for womanly advice on your attire?” she grinned happily.
“See? I knew you were going to love that.”
Teyla bowed respectfully and chuckled to herself as she walked out eyeing the tacky ripped jeans he wore to come back from his meeting with the General. “I accept your challenge John.”
“Good, because you know how I hate my dress uniform,” he chuckled and started to make himself a turkey sandwich. “When will Torren wake up?”
Checking the time, “He should be up by now for dinner. If you want to start that as well, I can finish it when I return. I think there is a box of pasta in the cupboard.” She headed out, closing the door behind her quietly.
Oh, this was going to be hard enough as it already was, he thought as he was munching on his sandwich waiting for the coffee to be done. “Okay.”
Teyla came home just as he had ordered in some Chinese. When Torren had woken up from his nap, and John had finished drinking the entire coffee pot, Torren had laughed at him and asked him why he wasn’t making dinner. John realized that he had to find a good working system for remembering things when tired or distracted or they’d think at NCIS that he was an incompetent person.
“Where’s the pasta?” Teyla wondered out loud.
“Torren wanted Chinese,” John grinned at Torren who was screaming “NO!” repeatedly. “Okay fine, I wanted Chinese food.”
“Right…” Teyla said with an all knowing smile.
“What?” he said sheepishly. “I like Chinese food, it’s a change from Italian, chicken and pizza.”
Two days later, the Hammond beamed up everything they had packed, while John, Teyla and Torren flew out to DC. Torren was excited about the flying and was amazed at the size of the planes at the airport. Teyla seemed to be enjoying herself too.
He still had a very bad feeling about this assignment, he’d be working with Gibbs’ team, as well as keep an eye on Agent McGee and the Goth in the lab, and he was wondering how the hell he was going to do all of that while working along side the Elsa lookalike.
He knew that in a small amount of time, he wouldn’t appear to be a blinded idiot while moving around in the NCIS building as he’d have gotten used to the diverse lighting of the awkward building and prepare himself for the knock back of it, but that was all in the future still.
“You were right, John,” Teyla mused as they walked at the airport in DC. “That was an amazing experience, the flying.”
“Yea but it’s still not a jumper,” he grumbled as he lifted their bags over his shoulder. “Let’s rent a car instead of a taxi. We’ll need it to get around as I doubt there will be anything within walking distance like in Colorado.”
“Alright, although I’d love to walk around and explore our new area,” Teyla mused as they walked to the car rental booth.
“I loved the sound of the plane,” Torren was skipping around them. “I want to fly one!”
John chuckled. “And maybe you will, when you’re a little bit bigger buddy.”
“What a lovely family,” the rental agent greeted. “Your son is absolutely adorable.”
“Thank you,” Teyla answered before John could start objecting to anything and explaining nonsense. After he got the keys to the car, he pulled her outside and looked at her questioningly.
“Why did you let her think that?” he asked. “I’m not his father…”
She smiled back at him and shook her head. “Let her think what she wants. You are the closest person to him like a father now. Even though I speak to him often of Kanaan, all he knows now is Uncle John.”
He slowly nodded as he adjusted his ball cap and put on his sunglasses. “Alright… let’s see if I can still drive without us getting killed.” he said half jokingly as they walked to the rental car. The lady at the booth wanted to get them a mini van, and he refused. An ordinary sedan was fine.
They arrived at the house less than an hour later and all he could do was stare at it from the car. It was much larger than he thought it was going to be and sighed at the neighborhood. It wasn’t exactly middle class. Growing up with money, he knew that was mostly the neighborhood. Damn Landry.
“You know, maybe we could stay in a hotel for a couple of nights,” he suggested as he hadn’t made an attempt of leaving the car, but both Teyla and Torren were already outside, looking at the house in awe. “Yeah I didn’t think so, what was I thinking,” he muttered and got out of the car.
Dragging the bags inside the doors, John looked around. Maybe it won’t be so bad, he thought as he saw a pool table in a room off the foyer. “There are supposed to be a number of bedrooms. Two downstairs and three or four upstairs. Which floor do you want?” Even though it was a large one family home, there was plenty that they could keep to their own area and feel a little more independent. Sharing of the social areas like the kitchen, dining, and living room was to be expected and he needed to set up something of an office. Like hell he’d spend all his time in NCIS headquarters to work.
“How about Torren and I take upstairs?” Teyla suggested, knowing that John wanted to be able to react quickly should anything happen, there was a reason why he had his bedroom near the front door in his apartment in Colorado Springs. “I know that you’re up at night sometimes and that way you won’t have to be afraid as to waking us.”
“Thanks,” he replied and grabbed his bags to go dump them in one of the bedrooms before helping Teyla with hers. Looking around as he made his way through the halls, he noticed that the place was pretty furnished with basic necessities. Unfortunately there was a lot they still would need to buy to supposedly make the place feel like a home if he had to bring anyone to the house for business.
Soon he started carrying the other bags and things upstairs with Teyla to walk in and find Torren jumping on the bed in a room that was clearly intended for a child. “You better stop that before you mom sees you. Don’t want you to fall and crack your head open. Uncle Carson isn’t around to fix ya up like before.”
Torren just giggled as he jumped off the bed, landing on his two feet. “Can I unpack my toy box now?”
The Hammond had teleported the boxes that he and Teyla had packed inside the home, and he was grateful for that, it saved him a lot of work. “Yes buddy, go decorate your room.” John nodded.
Sighing, he fell down to sit on the kid’s bed. It was going to be a long weekend.
