fic: IStB Chap. 1
Title: Isn't Supposed to Be Chap. 1: Shock and Awe
Pairing: John/Elizabeth
Part 1:
Chapter 1
- Shock and Awe
This wasn’t possible. John stared at the girl standing in front of him. “I’m sorry… What did you just call me?”
“Dad, come on, this isn’t funny,” said the boy seriously.
Another jolt to John’s nervous system. They both thought he was their father? So they didn’t just look like brother and sister, they actually were. “Look,” he said slowly, holding out a hand placatingly, “I don’t know who you are, but…”
Confusion entered the girl’s eyes. Before she had looked exasperated, but now… “Dad, stop it. You’re scaring me,” she said, and there was real fear in her voice. She may not have been his daughter, but John couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. Hell, she couldn’t be more than seventeen. “What’s going on?”
“That is precisely what I’d like to know!” demanded Woolsey, recovering finally from his shock at the girl’s claim of descent. “Colonel Sheppard, what is the meaning of this?”
“What, you think I have something to do with it?” asked John in disbelief.
“These individuals are claiming to be your children, what else am I…”
“Hey,” interrupted Ronon, passing through the line of armed Marines to stand at John’s side. “Unless you want the whole city to know about this in the next five minutes, you might want to move this somewhere else.” He nodded behind him. There was already an audience gathering at the fringes of the gate room - who knew how much they had heard?
Out of the corner of his eye John saw the boy place a hand on his sister’s shoulder; he was watching him intently. “Emily…” he called softly. A name, finally! The girl looked up at her brother. “…look at him.” He nodded his head towards John and, after shooting the boy a questioning glance, she turned to look. After a moment her eyes widened in understanding, her lips parting slightly in surprise.
He didn’t know what was so astonishing about his appearance, but once again he was struck by the resemblance between the girl and the woman she had started to name as her mother. Elizabeth. The initial shock of the situation was beginning to fade, and it was only now that John realized exactly what the girl - Emily, he reminded himself - was implying about her parentage. He swallowed deeply, the fast becoming familiar knot in his stomach giving another sharp twist. According to her, he and Elizabeth… Oh, he didn’t like to think about what Woolsey was going to say once he noticed that little detail.
Woolsey nodded at Ronon in agreement. “You’re right. Sergeant, escort these two to a holding cell. We’ll continue this discussion downstairs.”
The two teenagers allowed themselves to be led away without resistance. As they were marched past John, Emily’s eyes finally left his face and she turned to her brother. John was just able to catch the awed whisper. “His hair... there’s no gray.”
-o-
On the way down to the holding cell, the group ran into a concerned looking Rodney McKay, who was hurrying towards the gate room. “Hey, what’s going on?!” he demanded, falling into step next to John. “What happened with that tremor a minute ago? What was it? An earthquake?”
“Not exactly,” answered John flatly.
“Well what…” He finally looked around at the small party marching down the hallway and broke off mid-sentence. “Who are they?” He pointed at the pair of teenagers partially concealed in the midst of the Marine escort.
Woolsey looked at the scientist. “That, Dr. McKay, is exactly what I hope to find out. The tremor was caused by the gate, not an earthquake. There was an unscheduled off-world activation not fifteen minutes ago from somewhere in Pegasus; those children were what came through. And they’ve made some rather fantastic claims that I intend to get to the bottom of.”
Rodney frowned. “Oh? Like what?”
“They um…” John bit his lip and sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this, not with as many times as Rodney had called him a Kirk in the past. “They’re saying that I’m their father.”
“What? You’re kidding!” John gave him a look. Rodney cleared his throat and looked away. “Okaaay, not kidding then. Well are we really surprised…?”
“McKay!” John growled.
Rodney ignored the warning in his friend’s voice and tried to peer over the shoulders of the Marines in front of them to get a better glimpse of the prisoners. “…it’s only to be expec… wait, they’re teenagers. And you said that they came from Pegasus. Then that’s…”
“Impossible. Yeah, I know.” John looked ahead at the swinging ponytail of dark curls just visible over Sergeant Matthew’s shoulder. ‘And you have no idea by just how much.’
-o-
The holding room was lit momentarily by a flash of blue light as the force field snapped into place around the wide horizontal bars of the cell, effectively sealing the ‘visitors’ inside. As John and the others fanned out along the side of the cell, the girl crossed her arms and glanced around her, sighing tiredly. “This isn’t necessary,” she said. “You don’t have to lock us up, we’re not a threat.”
“You’ll allow me to be the judge of that,” said Woolsey.
The boy - John still didn’t know his name - stopped pacing back and forth and came to stand beside his sister, his hands in his pockets. John noticed how they had both been careful to stay away from the walls of the cell once it had activated, unlike most of the prisoners that had been kept there, all of whom had gotten a shock or two before learning not to touch. There was a familiarity in their attitude towards the technology surrounding them that John found almost… unnerving. There had been no surprise, no awe or exclamations of wonder as they had been led through the city. Although he was reluctant to do it, John had to admit that they acted as if… well, as if they had lived in Atlantis all their lives. For a split second he found himself wondering whether they had the ATA gene or not, whether they had inherited it… He quickly stopped himself from following that train of thought any further. ‘What is the matter with you, John?! These cannot be your kids!’
“I remember you now,” said the boy slowly, drawing out the first two words as he looked at Woolsey appraisingly. “Richard Woolsey… you’re that guy from the IOA that used to give Mom so much trouble.” He raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him and John was suddenly aware that Emily wasn’t the only one to bear resemblance to Elizabeth. “What are you doing here?”
Woolsey stiffened at the incredulity in the boy’s tone. “From now on I will be the one asking questions here. Now, you have some explaining to do and I suggest you get started.”
The boy sighed, his eyes sliding to the floor before he exchanged a look with his sister. Then he took a deep breath and fixed his eyes, not on Woolsey, but on John. “My name is Connor Evan James Sheppard. I’m nineteen years old. This is my little sister Emily. We were both born here, on Atlantis. Our father is Colonel John Sheppard, US Air Force, and our mother is Dr. Elizabeth Sheppard.”
“I’m not familiar with...” began Woolsey.
Still not taking his eyes off John, Connor - he finally had a name- smoothly interrupted him. “She was Elizabeth Weir before she married our dad.”
John heard Rodney beside him give a startled ‘What!?!’ and start choking and sputtering at that last sentence, but he didn’t take his eyes off of the young man in the cell, who was staring at him with serious green eyes. He bit at his lip and exhaled deeply through his nose at hearing what he had guessed all along finally laid out in front of him. He and Elizabeth. Married. That was... that was so…
Connor finally looked away from John and turned his gaze to Woolsey, his voice taking on a heavily sarcastic edge. “I also hate broccoli, got my tonsils out when I was twelve, and had a pet rabbit named Fluffy. Anything else you wanna know?”
Surprised, John quickly bit the side of his mouth to keep from smirking. He couldn’t help it. He was starting to like this kid. Connor saw the suppressed grin and the corner of the boy’s mouth lifted in a faint smile as he caught John’s eyes for a brief second. The sarcasm blew right by Woolsey. He was still stuck on the previous bit of information.
“What?” said Woolsey in bewilderment. “Did you say your mother was Dr. Elizabeth Weir? The former leader of this expedition?”
“Our mom is Elizabeth Weir,” spoke up Emily, an edge to her voice as she stressed the present tense. “And she’s not the former leader. She and Dad run the city together just like they have since they first came here from Earth. Or at least…” She shared a glance with her brother, brow becoming furrowed in confusion as she looked to him for confirmation. “… they will...”
John heard the unspoken ‘I think’ that came after her uncertain last statement. Then for the second time in less than an hour he found himself being struck by something this mysterious girl was suggesting. ‘Whoa’… that explained a lot.
“Now wait a minute, wait a minute,” began Rodney, stepping closer to the bars, arms crossed over his chest and that familiar look of scientific interest dawning on his face, “are you saying you’re from the future?”
“I… we don’t…” Emily faltered and looked at Connor beseechingly.
He sighed and ran a hand through short wavy brown hair, studying the dull gray of the floor before looking back up at the gathered adults, one hand hooked around the back of his neck. “It kinda looks that way.”
-o-
Two Days Ago… Nineteen Years Later
Emily Sheppard closed her eyes, a smile spreading across her face as the sharp wind blew, whipping her hair up over her head. It was cold, but then it often was at this height, especially at night. She didn’t mind; she’d long ago learned to bring a coat when she was up here.
The wind faded and died and Emily opened her eyes to deep blue velvet scattered with diamonds. The night air was perfectly clear, and each point of gently pulsing light was razor sharp in its clarity. The sky was swirled with every shade of blue from deepest indigo - almost violet - to dark teal. And faded even farther into the background, its stars little more than a glittering blur as it arched overhead, was the sweeping expanse of the arm of the galaxy. Emily tucked her legs in against her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees as she stared up. She had seen the night sky on Earth several times before during her family’s occasional visits, but it had been nothing… nothing compared to this.
She had just settled herself farther into her perch among the beams when a familiar voice sounded from indoors. “Hey Emily, are you in here?”
“No,” she called back, “Out here!”
Footsteps crossed the room and then Rachel McKay appeared on the balcony below, her dark blonde hair shining with the light pouring out of the open door behind her. Rachel’s eyes flashed back and forth in a cursory glance of the balcony, but she almost immediately focused her attention higher, easily finding Emily among the shadows as she sat nestled in her hiding place between two support beams. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Rachel casually placed her hands on her hips as she looked up at her friend. “You know, your dad would have a fit if he saw you up there.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Emily brightly. “He did last time anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s because he knows just how far the fall is. Is the view really that different from up there?”
Emily gazed out and up at the star strewn splendor. “Oh, it’s worth it. Trust me.” She looked down at Rachel, who had been her best friend for her entire life (even if she might not always admit it). “I know, I know” she said quickly with a smile, stopping Rachel from opening her mouth any further, “you’ll take my word for it.”
“Exactly.”
“So… what’s going on?”
“One of the teams just checked in; they found something. I figured you’d want…”
“Well, why didn’t you say that to begin with!?” cried Emily. She unfolded herself from her hiding spot, swinging her legs over the edge of the beam she was sitting on and reaching over to grasp the raised panel on the wall near her. Quick as a flash, and with the ease of long practice, she scaled down the wall to the balcony floor ten feet below, using the grooved decorative paneling as a ladder. Jumping the last foot to the ground, she turned to Rachel and dusted her hands off on the legs of her jeans. “What do you think my chances are?” she asked nervously.
“I’d say they’re pretty good. At least 70:40.”
Emily nodded as the two of them began walking briskly towards the door. “Okay, I’ll take that.”
One transporter ride and a three minute walk later, Emily hopped up the steps into the gate room, the vaulted ceiling stretching far above her head and the colors in the shining stained glass dull with the darkness outside. The main floor was empty - it was always pretty quiet in this part of the tower at night - so Emily, with Rachel close behind, turned and sprinted up the main staircase, their heels lit up by the perpetually glowing characters of the Ancient welcome set into the steps. They were almost to the top when they met Chuck Campbell coming down.
“Hey girls,” he greeted cheerfully.
“Hey,” said Emily, pausing with one foot on the step in front of her. Good. Just the person - or at least one of them anyway - she needed to see. “Balcony or office?”
Chuck smiled. “Office. Although I might wait a bit before going in.” He jerked his head towards the glass walled room that stood off to one side of the control room and then winked. “It needs some smoothing out, but I think you’ve got a decent shot this time, Em.”
Emily returned the smile. “So I’ve been told.” Chuck had often been roped into babysitting duty when she and her older brother were little, and had been one of their strongest allies and co-conspirators when it came to the procuring of chocolate cookies after bedtime. Since then he had retained the position of a kind of fun uncle.
She glanced up in the direction Chuck had indicated. As expected, she saw both of her parents sitting inside her mother’s office. Her father, the wildness of his hair clearly visible even from all the way over on the stairs, was sitting on the edge of the desk next to his wife’s chair. The two of them seemed to be deep in some sort of discussion. Emily bit her lip. That didn’t look good. What were the chances that that discussion wasn’t about her?
“Good luck,” said Chuck.
Emily looked back at the sandy haired technician and gave a quick smile, a little nervous now. “Thanks.” He nodded and then continued on his way down the stairs. When she didn’t move at that exact second, Rachel, two steps below, let out an irritated sigh and made shooing motions with her hands.
“Well, go on!”
Well accustomed to Miss McKay’s often impatient nature, Emily just rolled her eyes and resumed walking. Crossing the control room, she waved at the brown eyed woman sitting behind the console. Amelia Dex, also known as Aunt Amelia, smiled warmly and waved back, crossing her fingers at her and mouthing the words ‘good luck’ as she passed by.
Emily returned the smile but mentally grimaced. Was it really that obvious what she was here for? Or maybe they just knew her too well... Halfway across the walkway that linked the office to the control room, Emily slowed and stopped, quietly motioning with her hand for Rachel to do the same, as she strained her ears to catch the voices drifting out of the room in front of them. Emily felt her heart sink into the familiar wash of disappointment at the heated tone of an argument. Obviously the others had been a little overoptimistic about her chances.
“… not old enough.”
“John,” reasoned her mother, “it’s not like she’s never been off world before. She’s tagged along with both of us and Ronon and Rodney and Teyla dozens of times.”
“Exactly. She’s gone with me or one of us. I won’t be there this time. What if something goes wrong?” John demanded.
“Then a whole team will be there to look out for her. She’s not going alone! And this is an uninhabited planet with no signs of anything unusually dangerous.” Elizabeth’s tone grew softer and Emily, praying she wouldn’t be noticed, had to take a couple of steps forward to hear what she was saying, hope rising cautiously within her. If her mom was on her side then it couldn’t be a completely lost cause. “I understand where you’re coming from. Believe me I don’t want to let her go as much as you do. But Connor went on his first mission when he was seventeen too.”
“He was closer to eighteen,” corrected John. “And that was more of an accident.”
Elizabeth let out half a laugh. “Still,” she sighed, serious again. “We didn’t really give ourselves any room to say no to Emily once she reached that age.”
John sighed. “And now she has.”
Just visible over her father’s shoulder, Emily saw her mother nod her head, the soft light from the Ancient fixtures reflecting off the brown curls. “Now she has.”
Silence fell in the office and judging by the angle of her dad’s head, Emily guessed that her parents were sharing one of their long looks. She glanced at Rachel and began to take silent steps forward, deciding that now was a decent time to join the conversation, but still ready to stop if they started saying anything more of interest.
A second later John sighed again and she froze. “I don’t suppose we could just keep her locked up in the Tower until she’s thirty?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Do you really think it would hold her for very long?”
John chuckled. “No, I guess not.”
Suddenly, Emily lost all interest in hearing herself talked about, especially since Rachel was there to bear witness to whatever potentially embarrassing things her parents might say next. The two of them walked normally up to the door of the office, Emily tapping on the outside of the glass wall to announce their presence.
Elizabeth Sheppard turned her head away from her husband, eyebrows raised questioningly as she looked to see who was at the door. A smile spread across her face when she saw her daughter. “Hey girls, there you are.” Emily didn’t miss how her mother’s green eyes darted towards her dad for a split second as she spoke. “Perfect timing.”
John, still seated on the edge of the desk, twisted at the waist to look at them and smiled. “Yeah, Em, we were just talking about you.”
Emily lowered her hand from where she had held it hovering next to the glass and slipped inside the office. “Should I be worried?”
“That all depends,” smirked her father. “Done anything worth worrying over lately?”
“Who me?” She folded herself into one of the cream chairs that sat in front of the desk, letting a pondering expression come across her face as she pretended to think about the question. She flashed an innocent grin. “Nope. Nothing comes to mind.”
The corner of Elizabeth’s mouth quirked and she stared at her daughter appraisingly, thinly veiled suspicion lurking behind her eyes.
“What?” Emily tried not to fidget under the scrutiny, but it was difficult. Why did she have to have a renowned intergalactic diplomat for a mother? She had long ago developed the belief that if she were a Wraith or some other bad guy and she was confronted with either her mother’s stare or her father’s P-90, it would be the former that would have her running for the stargate.
Elizabeth’s gaze lit on the top of her head and one eyebrow shot upwards. Emily swallowed. Uh-oh. Here it comes. She didn’t know what about her head had given her away, but…
“Nothing,” said Elizabeth lightly, leaning back in her chair. Now it was Emily’s turn to give a suspicious look, but she kept her mouth shut.
Her mother sighed and looked up at her father, who had moved from his perch on the edge of the desk to stand beside his wife’s chair. “I guess there’s not much point in asking if you know what’s come up?” Elizabeth shot Rachel a pointed look and Emily slowly shook her head.
Elizabeth continued. “It’s an uninhabited planet, but there are Ancient ruins there and Dr. Melkov thinks that they’re worth a second look.”
“So you’re sending a science team,” Emily finished eagerly.
“Yes,” said Elizabeth, eyes narrowing slightly in an amused smile. “The day after tomorrow.”
“Along with a group of Marines,” added John, arms folded across his chest.
“For a scientific research trip?”
“Yes.”
“On an uninhabited planet?” Emily raised an eyebrow.
Now John narrowed his eyes at her. “Let’s just say we’re erring on the side of caution.”
“So, does that mean…?” she trailed off, waiting for her parents to take the opening. They just looked at each other, a confused look on John’s face.
“Mean what?” he said.
That was it; she couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, come on, Dad! Please! I’ve been asking for this for months! Either just go ahead and tell me no again, or…” The arguments died away when she noticed the smirk that had spread across her father’s face. “Dad! Not funny!” she scolded, her face going red in embarrassment. She would have hit him if he’d been close enough.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he laughed. “Couldn’t resist.”
She just glared at him, a difficult thing to achieve since now she was trying very hard to keep from laughing herself.
“Still.”
“Hey,” said John, walking around the desk. “If you’re going to go off to some planet without us, the least you can do is let me make a joke out of it.” He bent down and kissed the top of her head.
“So I can go?”
Once again, she didn’t miss the silent exchange that passed between her parents. “Yes,” said John, a note of resignation in his voice, “you can go.”
Emily beamed and sprang out of her chair, throwing her arms around his neck. “Thank you!”
John just laughed and caught one of her jet curls, pulling on it and then releasing it so it bounced back into shape. “You’re welcome. Just don’t make me regret it!” With that, he smiled at her again and left the office.
The excitement nearly pouring off of her, Emily bounded towards the office door and Rachel, intending to catch her friend by the arm and hurry away to go flaunt the news to her brother and Max, but before she had gone two steps…
“Hey, Emily?”
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“Brush your hair.” Emily’s hand crept unconsciously upwards and felt the mass of dark curls. She winced at the unusual amount of volume; this was even messier than usual, which was saying quite a bit. She met her mother’s gaze.
Elizabeth looked at her, the green eyes that she had inherited sending a silent message and Emily suddenly realized that her mother knew that she had been climbing the tower. She had known the entire time, but she had chosen not to say anything. Emily felt a rush of gratitude; her mom knew as well as she did that if John Sheppard had found out about his daughter’s little feat of acrobatics then he would never have let her set foot through that gate.
As it was, she just nodded and smiled, her look conveying an unspoken thank-you, and ran across the walkway with Rachel into the dimly glowing control room.
-o-
Connor paced back and forth in front of the gate, occasionally favoring his watch with an impatient glance. They should be leaving by now! Bright morning sunlight was streaming in from every direction through the towering stained glass windows that lined the front half of the gate room, and the faint scent of coffee wafted through the air. Above him the stargate loomed - symbols darkened, the light reflecting off of the turquoise crystal chevrons - exuding an air of ancient and everlasting patience that contrasted sharply with Connor’s current state of mind.
The rest of the team was gathered by the small flight of steps that led down into the city, looking thankfully unbothered by the delay. The scientists were double checking their equipment one last time, and the Marines were laughing and swapping stories about the weird things they’d seen on night duty. One of them was speaking particularly loudly and Connor moved closer to listen. Listening to Lieutenant McFadden’s amusing tale about a mysterious ticking noise, Connor almost forgot why he had been so eager to leave before.
Suddenly the conversation among the other soldiers died away. McFadden was the only one still talking; the man standing next to him quickly punched him in the shoulder to get him to shut up. Connor turned around to see the new arrivals that had caused the sudden military hush - the chatter of the scientists continued uninterrupted in the background - and grinned. Now he remembered.
His father and sister were coming down the grand staircase, his mom following a couple of close steps behind. John Sheppard placed a supportive arm around his daughter’s shoulders as they reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the waiting team. Emily was fully kitted out in tac vest and uniform, hair pulled up into a struggling bun and a stunner pistol strapped to her thigh, pride at her apparel evident in every move she made.
They came to a stop in front of the away team, Major Thompson stepping forward to greet them. “Sir,” she nodded.
“Major,” returned the colonel. John gestured towards Emily with a small smile. “I’ve brought you an addition for your team.”
Major Thompson looked at Emily and smiled. She was a tall woman, maybe in her late thirties, with deeply tanned skin and curly sandy colored hair twisted into a neat military bun. “Happy to have her, sir.”
“Good, good.” He paused; Connor wondered how he managed to look both nervous and threatening at the same time. “I know I don’t need to…”
Thompson smiled again, looking slightly amused. “She’s in good hands, sir. We’ll take care of her.”
Connor decided to take that as his cue and stepped out from behind one of the Marines. “Yeah, we all will.”
The look on Emily’s face when she saw him nearly made him burst out laughing; as it was, he couldn’t help but grin. That was what he had been waiting for.
Emily looked up at their father, a pained expression on her face. “You didn’t tell me Connor was coming along to babysit,” she muttered through gritted teeth.
John just grinned at her. “Well, I think we’ve held up Major Thompson and her team long enough, don’t you?”
She just shot him a look and gave a resigned and heavy sigh. Elizabeth came up beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders, nodding to Major Thompson.
“Alright team, let’s move out,” Thompson ordered, tactfully giving her boss space to say goodbye to her daughter. Connor began to turn away too, catching a glimpse as he did so of Elizabeth whispering something in Emily’s ear, presumably ‘good luck’ or something to a similar effect.
He walked up to his dad and smirked. “What, no ceremony for me?”
John reached around him and ruffled his already messy hair, a gesture of affection that Connor had undergone as long as he could remember. It was embarrassing now, but Connor didn’t really have the heart to tell him to quit for good.
“Hey,” he laughed, lightly shoving his arms away, “nineteen year-old here, remember?”
“How can I forget?” his dad said, sticking his hands in his pockets, a slight twinge of wistfulness concealed in his voice. He glanced at the stargate, his watch, and then up to the control room.
“Okay, Chuck, dial her up!” he called.
Only a few seconds lapsed before the chevrons came to glowing life, the shining points of light that represented star constellations spinning dizzyingly around the gate’s inner track. The event horizon spilled into the sunlit gate room with its familiar splash before snapping into place inside the ring’s borders, a shimmering pool of aquamarine light. Major Thompson and the rest of the team moved towards it.
Emily and Elizabeth came over to where John and Connor were standing, Elizabeth moving to her husband’s side. John looped an arm around her waist as they faced their children.
“You’d better get moving,” said Elizabeth. She fixed her gaze on each of them in turn. “You two take care of each other,” she said seriously.
“We will,” they said simultaneously, causing them to glance at each other in mild annoyance.
“You’d better,” added their dad sternly. “Forty-eight hours; I expect you both back here in one piece.”
They nodded. “Yes sir,” said Connor. His dad didn’t take that tone very often, and when he did it was best to do what he said.
“John,” said Elizabeth, getting his attention. He turned to look at her; she dipped her head towards where Major Thompson was waiting.
He paused for a moment and looked at each of them, then jerked his thumb in the direction of the active gate. “Alright, go on, get out of here.”
With a last farewell, they turned and started walking towards the gate; the team had already begun to slip through the puddle.
“Come on, admit it,” smirked Connor as they walked. “You know you’re glad to have me coming along.”
Emily just gave him an exasperated look, but her mouth quirked upwards into an almost smile. She fixed her gaze forwards on the pulsing event horizon. “You never heard the words leave my mouth.”
Connor laughed as he stepped forwards, the sound echoing back at him as his world was filled with endless ripples of blue.
Chap 1 Part 2
Pairing: John/Elizabeth
Part 1:
Chapter 1
- Shock and Awe
This wasn’t possible. John stared at the girl standing in front of him. “I’m sorry… What did you just call me?”
“Dad, come on, this isn’t funny,” said the boy seriously.
Another jolt to John’s nervous system. They both thought he was their father? So they didn’t just look like brother and sister, they actually were. “Look,” he said slowly, holding out a hand placatingly, “I don’t know who you are, but…”
Confusion entered the girl’s eyes. Before she had looked exasperated, but now… “Dad, stop it. You’re scaring me,” she said, and there was real fear in her voice. She may not have been his daughter, but John couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. Hell, she couldn’t be more than seventeen. “What’s going on?”
“That is precisely what I’d like to know!” demanded Woolsey, recovering finally from his shock at the girl’s claim of descent. “Colonel Sheppard, what is the meaning of this?”
“What, you think I have something to do with it?” asked John in disbelief.
“These individuals are claiming to be your children, what else am I…”
“Hey,” interrupted Ronon, passing through the line of armed Marines to stand at John’s side. “Unless you want the whole city to know about this in the next five minutes, you might want to move this somewhere else.” He nodded behind him. There was already an audience gathering at the fringes of the gate room - who knew how much they had heard?
Out of the corner of his eye John saw the boy place a hand on his sister’s shoulder; he was watching him intently. “Emily…” he called softly. A name, finally! The girl looked up at her brother. “…look at him.” He nodded his head towards John and, after shooting the boy a questioning glance, she turned to look. After a moment her eyes widened in understanding, her lips parting slightly in surprise.
He didn’t know what was so astonishing about his appearance, but once again he was struck by the resemblance between the girl and the woman she had started to name as her mother. Elizabeth. The initial shock of the situation was beginning to fade, and it was only now that John realized exactly what the girl - Emily, he reminded himself - was implying about her parentage. He swallowed deeply, the fast becoming familiar knot in his stomach giving another sharp twist. According to her, he and Elizabeth… Oh, he didn’t like to think about what Woolsey was going to say once he noticed that little detail.
Woolsey nodded at Ronon in agreement. “You’re right. Sergeant, escort these two to a holding cell. We’ll continue this discussion downstairs.”
The two teenagers allowed themselves to be led away without resistance. As they were marched past John, Emily’s eyes finally left his face and she turned to her brother. John was just able to catch the awed whisper. “His hair... there’s no gray.”
-o-
On the way down to the holding cell, the group ran into a concerned looking Rodney McKay, who was hurrying towards the gate room. “Hey, what’s going on?!” he demanded, falling into step next to John. “What happened with that tremor a minute ago? What was it? An earthquake?”
“Not exactly,” answered John flatly.
“Well what…” He finally looked around at the small party marching down the hallway and broke off mid-sentence. “Who are they?” He pointed at the pair of teenagers partially concealed in the midst of the Marine escort.
Woolsey looked at the scientist. “That, Dr. McKay, is exactly what I hope to find out. The tremor was caused by the gate, not an earthquake. There was an unscheduled off-world activation not fifteen minutes ago from somewhere in Pegasus; those children were what came through. And they’ve made some rather fantastic claims that I intend to get to the bottom of.”
Rodney frowned. “Oh? Like what?”
“They um…” John bit his lip and sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this, not with as many times as Rodney had called him a Kirk in the past. “They’re saying that I’m their father.”
“What? You’re kidding!” John gave him a look. Rodney cleared his throat and looked away. “Okaaay, not kidding then. Well are we really surprised…?”
“McKay!” John growled.
Rodney ignored the warning in his friend’s voice and tried to peer over the shoulders of the Marines in front of them to get a better glimpse of the prisoners. “…it’s only to be expec… wait, they’re teenagers. And you said that they came from Pegasus. Then that’s…”
“Impossible. Yeah, I know.” John looked ahead at the swinging ponytail of dark curls just visible over Sergeant Matthew’s shoulder. ‘And you have no idea by just how much.’
-o-
The holding room was lit momentarily by a flash of blue light as the force field snapped into place around the wide horizontal bars of the cell, effectively sealing the ‘visitors’ inside. As John and the others fanned out along the side of the cell, the girl crossed her arms and glanced around her, sighing tiredly. “This isn’t necessary,” she said. “You don’t have to lock us up, we’re not a threat.”
“You’ll allow me to be the judge of that,” said Woolsey.
The boy - John still didn’t know his name - stopped pacing back and forth and came to stand beside his sister, his hands in his pockets. John noticed how they had both been careful to stay away from the walls of the cell once it had activated, unlike most of the prisoners that had been kept there, all of whom had gotten a shock or two before learning not to touch. There was a familiarity in their attitude towards the technology surrounding them that John found almost… unnerving. There had been no surprise, no awe or exclamations of wonder as they had been led through the city. Although he was reluctant to do it, John had to admit that they acted as if… well, as if they had lived in Atlantis all their lives. For a split second he found himself wondering whether they had the ATA gene or not, whether they had inherited it… He quickly stopped himself from following that train of thought any further. ‘What is the matter with you, John?! These cannot be your kids!’
“I remember you now,” said the boy slowly, drawing out the first two words as he looked at Woolsey appraisingly. “Richard Woolsey… you’re that guy from the IOA that used to give Mom so much trouble.” He raised an eyebrow at the man in front of him and John was suddenly aware that Emily wasn’t the only one to bear resemblance to Elizabeth. “What are you doing here?”
Woolsey stiffened at the incredulity in the boy’s tone. “From now on I will be the one asking questions here. Now, you have some explaining to do and I suggest you get started.”
The boy sighed, his eyes sliding to the floor before he exchanged a look with his sister. Then he took a deep breath and fixed his eyes, not on Woolsey, but on John. “My name is Connor Evan James Sheppard. I’m nineteen years old. This is my little sister Emily. We were both born here, on Atlantis. Our father is Colonel John Sheppard, US Air Force, and our mother is Dr. Elizabeth Sheppard.”
“I’m not familiar with...” began Woolsey.
Still not taking his eyes off John, Connor - he finally had a name- smoothly interrupted him. “She was Elizabeth Weir before she married our dad.”
John heard Rodney beside him give a startled ‘What!?!’ and start choking and sputtering at that last sentence, but he didn’t take his eyes off of the young man in the cell, who was staring at him with serious green eyes. He bit at his lip and exhaled deeply through his nose at hearing what he had guessed all along finally laid out in front of him. He and Elizabeth. Married. That was... that was so…
Connor finally looked away from John and turned his gaze to Woolsey, his voice taking on a heavily sarcastic edge. “I also hate broccoli, got my tonsils out when I was twelve, and had a pet rabbit named Fluffy. Anything else you wanna know?”
Surprised, John quickly bit the side of his mouth to keep from smirking. He couldn’t help it. He was starting to like this kid. Connor saw the suppressed grin and the corner of the boy’s mouth lifted in a faint smile as he caught John’s eyes for a brief second. The sarcasm blew right by Woolsey. He was still stuck on the previous bit of information.
“What?” said Woolsey in bewilderment. “Did you say your mother was Dr. Elizabeth Weir? The former leader of this expedition?”
“Our mom is Elizabeth Weir,” spoke up Emily, an edge to her voice as she stressed the present tense. “And she’s not the former leader. She and Dad run the city together just like they have since they first came here from Earth. Or at least…” She shared a glance with her brother, brow becoming furrowed in confusion as she looked to him for confirmation. “… they will...”
John heard the unspoken ‘I think’ that came after her uncertain last statement. Then for the second time in less than an hour he found himself being struck by something this mysterious girl was suggesting. ‘Whoa’… that explained a lot.
“Now wait a minute, wait a minute,” began Rodney, stepping closer to the bars, arms crossed over his chest and that familiar look of scientific interest dawning on his face, “are you saying you’re from the future?”
“I… we don’t…” Emily faltered and looked at Connor beseechingly.
He sighed and ran a hand through short wavy brown hair, studying the dull gray of the floor before looking back up at the gathered adults, one hand hooked around the back of his neck. “It kinda looks that way.”
-o-
Two Days Ago… Nineteen Years Later
Emily Sheppard closed her eyes, a smile spreading across her face as the sharp wind blew, whipping her hair up over her head. It was cold, but then it often was at this height, especially at night. She didn’t mind; she’d long ago learned to bring a coat when she was up here.
The wind faded and died and Emily opened her eyes to deep blue velvet scattered with diamonds. The night air was perfectly clear, and each point of gently pulsing light was razor sharp in its clarity. The sky was swirled with every shade of blue from deepest indigo - almost violet - to dark teal. And faded even farther into the background, its stars little more than a glittering blur as it arched overhead, was the sweeping expanse of the arm of the galaxy. Emily tucked her legs in against her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees as she stared up. She had seen the night sky on Earth several times before during her family’s occasional visits, but it had been nothing… nothing compared to this.
She had just settled herself farther into her perch among the beams when a familiar voice sounded from indoors. “Hey Emily, are you in here?”
“No,” she called back, “Out here!”
Footsteps crossed the room and then Rachel McKay appeared on the balcony below, her dark blonde hair shining with the light pouring out of the open door behind her. Rachel’s eyes flashed back and forth in a cursory glance of the balcony, but she almost immediately focused her attention higher, easily finding Emily among the shadows as she sat nestled in her hiding place between two support beams. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Rachel casually placed her hands on her hips as she looked up at her friend. “You know, your dad would have a fit if he saw you up there.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Emily brightly. “He did last time anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s because he knows just how far the fall is. Is the view really that different from up there?”
Emily gazed out and up at the star strewn splendor. “Oh, it’s worth it. Trust me.” She looked down at Rachel, who had been her best friend for her entire life (even if she might not always admit it). “I know, I know” she said quickly with a smile, stopping Rachel from opening her mouth any further, “you’ll take my word for it.”
“Exactly.”
“So… what’s going on?”
“One of the teams just checked in; they found something. I figured you’d want…”
“Well, why didn’t you say that to begin with!?” cried Emily. She unfolded herself from her hiding spot, swinging her legs over the edge of the beam she was sitting on and reaching over to grasp the raised panel on the wall near her. Quick as a flash, and with the ease of long practice, she scaled down the wall to the balcony floor ten feet below, using the grooved decorative paneling as a ladder. Jumping the last foot to the ground, she turned to Rachel and dusted her hands off on the legs of her jeans. “What do you think my chances are?” she asked nervously.
“I’d say they’re pretty good. At least 70:40.”
Emily nodded as the two of them began walking briskly towards the door. “Okay, I’ll take that.”
One transporter ride and a three minute walk later, Emily hopped up the steps into the gate room, the vaulted ceiling stretching far above her head and the colors in the shining stained glass dull with the darkness outside. The main floor was empty - it was always pretty quiet in this part of the tower at night - so Emily, with Rachel close behind, turned and sprinted up the main staircase, their heels lit up by the perpetually glowing characters of the Ancient welcome set into the steps. They were almost to the top when they met Chuck Campbell coming down.
“Hey girls,” he greeted cheerfully.
“Hey,” said Emily, pausing with one foot on the step in front of her. Good. Just the person - or at least one of them anyway - she needed to see. “Balcony or office?”
Chuck smiled. “Office. Although I might wait a bit before going in.” He jerked his head towards the glass walled room that stood off to one side of the control room and then winked. “It needs some smoothing out, but I think you’ve got a decent shot this time, Em.”
Emily returned the smile. “So I’ve been told.” Chuck had often been roped into babysitting duty when she and her older brother were little, and had been one of their strongest allies and co-conspirators when it came to the procuring of chocolate cookies after bedtime. Since then he had retained the position of a kind of fun uncle.
She glanced up in the direction Chuck had indicated. As expected, she saw both of her parents sitting inside her mother’s office. Her father, the wildness of his hair clearly visible even from all the way over on the stairs, was sitting on the edge of the desk next to his wife’s chair. The two of them seemed to be deep in some sort of discussion. Emily bit her lip. That didn’t look good. What were the chances that that discussion wasn’t about her?
“Good luck,” said Chuck.
Emily looked back at the sandy haired technician and gave a quick smile, a little nervous now. “Thanks.” He nodded and then continued on his way down the stairs. When she didn’t move at that exact second, Rachel, two steps below, let out an irritated sigh and made shooing motions with her hands.
“Well, go on!”
Well accustomed to Miss McKay’s often impatient nature, Emily just rolled her eyes and resumed walking. Crossing the control room, she waved at the brown eyed woman sitting behind the console. Amelia Dex, also known as Aunt Amelia, smiled warmly and waved back, crossing her fingers at her and mouthing the words ‘good luck’ as she passed by.
Emily returned the smile but mentally grimaced. Was it really that obvious what she was here for? Or maybe they just knew her too well... Halfway across the walkway that linked the office to the control room, Emily slowed and stopped, quietly motioning with her hand for Rachel to do the same, as she strained her ears to catch the voices drifting out of the room in front of them. Emily felt her heart sink into the familiar wash of disappointment at the heated tone of an argument. Obviously the others had been a little overoptimistic about her chances.
“… not old enough.”
“John,” reasoned her mother, “it’s not like she’s never been off world before. She’s tagged along with both of us and Ronon and Rodney and Teyla dozens of times.”
“Exactly. She’s gone with me or one of us. I won’t be there this time. What if something goes wrong?” John demanded.
“Then a whole team will be there to look out for her. She’s not going alone! And this is an uninhabited planet with no signs of anything unusually dangerous.” Elizabeth’s tone grew softer and Emily, praying she wouldn’t be noticed, had to take a couple of steps forward to hear what she was saying, hope rising cautiously within her. If her mom was on her side then it couldn’t be a completely lost cause. “I understand where you’re coming from. Believe me I don’t want to let her go as much as you do. But Connor went on his first mission when he was seventeen too.”
“He was closer to eighteen,” corrected John. “And that was more of an accident.”
Elizabeth let out half a laugh. “Still,” she sighed, serious again. “We didn’t really give ourselves any room to say no to Emily once she reached that age.”
John sighed. “And now she has.”
Just visible over her father’s shoulder, Emily saw her mother nod her head, the soft light from the Ancient fixtures reflecting off the brown curls. “Now she has.”
Silence fell in the office and judging by the angle of her dad’s head, Emily guessed that her parents were sharing one of their long looks. She glanced at Rachel and began to take silent steps forward, deciding that now was a decent time to join the conversation, but still ready to stop if they started saying anything more of interest.
A second later John sighed again and she froze. “I don’t suppose we could just keep her locked up in the Tower until she’s thirty?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Do you really think it would hold her for very long?”
John chuckled. “No, I guess not.”
Suddenly, Emily lost all interest in hearing herself talked about, especially since Rachel was there to bear witness to whatever potentially embarrassing things her parents might say next. The two of them walked normally up to the door of the office, Emily tapping on the outside of the glass wall to announce their presence.
Elizabeth Sheppard turned her head away from her husband, eyebrows raised questioningly as she looked to see who was at the door. A smile spread across her face when she saw her daughter. “Hey girls, there you are.” Emily didn’t miss how her mother’s green eyes darted towards her dad for a split second as she spoke. “Perfect timing.”
John, still seated on the edge of the desk, twisted at the waist to look at them and smiled. “Yeah, Em, we were just talking about you.”
Emily lowered her hand from where she had held it hovering next to the glass and slipped inside the office. “Should I be worried?”
“That all depends,” smirked her father. “Done anything worth worrying over lately?”
“Who me?” She folded herself into one of the cream chairs that sat in front of the desk, letting a pondering expression come across her face as she pretended to think about the question. She flashed an innocent grin. “Nope. Nothing comes to mind.”
The corner of Elizabeth’s mouth quirked and she stared at her daughter appraisingly, thinly veiled suspicion lurking behind her eyes.
“What?” Emily tried not to fidget under the scrutiny, but it was difficult. Why did she have to have a renowned intergalactic diplomat for a mother? She had long ago developed the belief that if she were a Wraith or some other bad guy and she was confronted with either her mother’s stare or her father’s P-90, it would be the former that would have her running for the stargate.
Elizabeth’s gaze lit on the top of her head and one eyebrow shot upwards. Emily swallowed. Uh-oh. Here it comes. She didn’t know what about her head had given her away, but…
“Nothing,” said Elizabeth lightly, leaning back in her chair. Now it was Emily’s turn to give a suspicious look, but she kept her mouth shut.
Her mother sighed and looked up at her father, who had moved from his perch on the edge of the desk to stand beside his wife’s chair. “I guess there’s not much point in asking if you know what’s come up?” Elizabeth shot Rachel a pointed look and Emily slowly shook her head.
Elizabeth continued. “It’s an uninhabited planet, but there are Ancient ruins there and Dr. Melkov thinks that they’re worth a second look.”
“So you’re sending a science team,” Emily finished eagerly.
“Yes,” said Elizabeth, eyes narrowing slightly in an amused smile. “The day after tomorrow.”
“Along with a group of Marines,” added John, arms folded across his chest.
“For a scientific research trip?”
“Yes.”
“On an uninhabited planet?” Emily raised an eyebrow.
Now John narrowed his eyes at her. “Let’s just say we’re erring on the side of caution.”
“So, does that mean…?” she trailed off, waiting for her parents to take the opening. They just looked at each other, a confused look on John’s face.
“Mean what?” he said.
That was it; she couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, come on, Dad! Please! I’ve been asking for this for months! Either just go ahead and tell me no again, or…” The arguments died away when she noticed the smirk that had spread across her father’s face. “Dad! Not funny!” she scolded, her face going red in embarrassment. She would have hit him if he’d been close enough.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he laughed. “Couldn’t resist.”
She just glared at him, a difficult thing to achieve since now she was trying very hard to keep from laughing herself.
“Still.”
“Hey,” said John, walking around the desk. “If you’re going to go off to some planet without us, the least you can do is let me make a joke out of it.” He bent down and kissed the top of her head.
“So I can go?”
Once again, she didn’t miss the silent exchange that passed between her parents. “Yes,” said John, a note of resignation in his voice, “you can go.”
Emily beamed and sprang out of her chair, throwing her arms around his neck. “Thank you!”
John just laughed and caught one of her jet curls, pulling on it and then releasing it so it bounced back into shape. “You’re welcome. Just don’t make me regret it!” With that, he smiled at her again and left the office.
The excitement nearly pouring off of her, Emily bounded towards the office door and Rachel, intending to catch her friend by the arm and hurry away to go flaunt the news to her brother and Max, but before she had gone two steps…
“Hey, Emily?”
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“Brush your hair.” Emily’s hand crept unconsciously upwards and felt the mass of dark curls. She winced at the unusual amount of volume; this was even messier than usual, which was saying quite a bit. She met her mother’s gaze.
Elizabeth looked at her, the green eyes that she had inherited sending a silent message and Emily suddenly realized that her mother knew that she had been climbing the tower. She had known the entire time, but she had chosen not to say anything. Emily felt a rush of gratitude; her mom knew as well as she did that if John Sheppard had found out about his daughter’s little feat of acrobatics then he would never have let her set foot through that gate.
As it was, she just nodded and smiled, her look conveying an unspoken thank-you, and ran across the walkway with Rachel into the dimly glowing control room.
-o-
Connor paced back and forth in front of the gate, occasionally favoring his watch with an impatient glance. They should be leaving by now! Bright morning sunlight was streaming in from every direction through the towering stained glass windows that lined the front half of the gate room, and the faint scent of coffee wafted through the air. Above him the stargate loomed - symbols darkened, the light reflecting off of the turquoise crystal chevrons - exuding an air of ancient and everlasting patience that contrasted sharply with Connor’s current state of mind.
The rest of the team was gathered by the small flight of steps that led down into the city, looking thankfully unbothered by the delay. The scientists were double checking their equipment one last time, and the Marines were laughing and swapping stories about the weird things they’d seen on night duty. One of them was speaking particularly loudly and Connor moved closer to listen. Listening to Lieutenant McFadden’s amusing tale about a mysterious ticking noise, Connor almost forgot why he had been so eager to leave before.
Suddenly the conversation among the other soldiers died away. McFadden was the only one still talking; the man standing next to him quickly punched him in the shoulder to get him to shut up. Connor turned around to see the new arrivals that had caused the sudden military hush - the chatter of the scientists continued uninterrupted in the background - and grinned. Now he remembered.
His father and sister were coming down the grand staircase, his mom following a couple of close steps behind. John Sheppard placed a supportive arm around his daughter’s shoulders as they reached the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the waiting team. Emily was fully kitted out in tac vest and uniform, hair pulled up into a struggling bun and a stunner pistol strapped to her thigh, pride at her apparel evident in every move she made.
They came to a stop in front of the away team, Major Thompson stepping forward to greet them. “Sir,” she nodded.
“Major,” returned the colonel. John gestured towards Emily with a small smile. “I’ve brought you an addition for your team.”
Major Thompson looked at Emily and smiled. She was a tall woman, maybe in her late thirties, with deeply tanned skin and curly sandy colored hair twisted into a neat military bun. “Happy to have her, sir.”
“Good, good.” He paused; Connor wondered how he managed to look both nervous and threatening at the same time. “I know I don’t need to…”
Thompson smiled again, looking slightly amused. “She’s in good hands, sir. We’ll take care of her.”
Connor decided to take that as his cue and stepped out from behind one of the Marines. “Yeah, we all will.”
The look on Emily’s face when she saw him nearly made him burst out laughing; as it was, he couldn’t help but grin. That was what he had been waiting for.
Emily looked up at their father, a pained expression on her face. “You didn’t tell me Connor was coming along to babysit,” she muttered through gritted teeth.
John just grinned at her. “Well, I think we’ve held up Major Thompson and her team long enough, don’t you?”
She just shot him a look and gave a resigned and heavy sigh. Elizabeth came up beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders, nodding to Major Thompson.
“Alright team, let’s move out,” Thompson ordered, tactfully giving her boss space to say goodbye to her daughter. Connor began to turn away too, catching a glimpse as he did so of Elizabeth whispering something in Emily’s ear, presumably ‘good luck’ or something to a similar effect.
He walked up to his dad and smirked. “What, no ceremony for me?”
John reached around him and ruffled his already messy hair, a gesture of affection that Connor had undergone as long as he could remember. It was embarrassing now, but Connor didn’t really have the heart to tell him to quit for good.
“Hey,” he laughed, lightly shoving his arms away, “nineteen year-old here, remember?”
“How can I forget?” his dad said, sticking his hands in his pockets, a slight twinge of wistfulness concealed in his voice. He glanced at the stargate, his watch, and then up to the control room.
“Okay, Chuck, dial her up!” he called.
Only a few seconds lapsed before the chevrons came to glowing life, the shining points of light that represented star constellations spinning dizzyingly around the gate’s inner track. The event horizon spilled into the sunlit gate room with its familiar splash before snapping into place inside the ring’s borders, a shimmering pool of aquamarine light. Major Thompson and the rest of the team moved towards it.
Emily and Elizabeth came over to where John and Connor were standing, Elizabeth moving to her husband’s side. John looped an arm around her waist as they faced their children.
“You’d better get moving,” said Elizabeth. She fixed her gaze on each of them in turn. “You two take care of each other,” she said seriously.
“We will,” they said simultaneously, causing them to glance at each other in mild annoyance.
“You’d better,” added their dad sternly. “Forty-eight hours; I expect you both back here in one piece.”
They nodded. “Yes sir,” said Connor. His dad didn’t take that tone very often, and when he did it was best to do what he said.
“John,” said Elizabeth, getting his attention. He turned to look at her; she dipped her head towards where Major Thompson was waiting.
He paused for a moment and looked at each of them, then jerked his thumb in the direction of the active gate. “Alright, go on, get out of here.”
With a last farewell, they turned and started walking towards the gate; the team had already begun to slip through the puddle.
“Come on, admit it,” smirked Connor as they walked. “You know you’re glad to have me coming along.”
Emily just gave him an exasperated look, but her mouth quirked upwards into an almost smile. She fixed her gaze forwards on the pulsing event horizon. “You never heard the words leave my mouth.”
Connor laughed as he stepped forwards, the sound echoing back at him as his world was filled with endless ripples of blue.
Chap 1 Part 2