Word Count:
1,256
Rating:
PG.
Category:
Friendship. Humour.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary:
After Reunion in Season 4, Sam is on the balcony and is joined by John,
and then Rodney...
Beta: Thank
you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading.
Balcony Scene
By Leesa Perrie
Sam wandered onto the balcony just off the control room, finding
herself gravitating to it naturally whenever she needed to step away
from her new job for moment or two. She wasn’t the
only one
to do this and had often seen John disappear onto the balcony from time
to time. Even Rodney felt the need from what she’d heard.
In fact, many of the balconies were often to be found occupied by one
or another person seeking a break, and she couldn’t blame
them
for it; the fresh air, the view - it was a good way to relax.
And she wasn’t surprised when John entered the balcony a few
minutes later; they’d shared a few conversations out here,
first
after losing Elizabeth, and a couple of times since taking on her new
position. She suspected the balcony was more neutral
territory
than her office, with all its subsequent memories of his, their,
missing friend.
“Hey,” he said in his usually casual manner, and
she turned to greet him.
“Hey. How’s Ronon doing?”
“He’ll be okay, he’s tough.
Settling back into his quarters.”
“It can’t be easy for him.”
“No. Apparently, he considered them as family, so
finding
out they were working for the Wraith…” he trailed
off. “But, like I said, he’s
tough. He’ll
be fine.”
He turned to look out over the water for a moment.
“You do realise there’s a good chance the Wraith
will try to grab McKay again, don’t you?”
“It had crossed my mind,” she answered.
“Yeah, and judging by the mini-freak out he had when we got
back,
it’s crossed his as well.” There was a
hint of
amusement in John’s voice despite the seriousness of the
situation.
“Mini-freak out?”
“Don’t worry about it, he’s fine
now. Well, as
fine as he ever is. He might not look it… or sound
it,” he added with a roll of his eyes, “But
he’s
pretty tough as well, in his own way.”
“Has to be, to still be on your team after all this
time. I
have to admit, when I first heard about that I
was…”
“Surprised?”
“More like astounded. The McKay I knew…
no way would
I have thought he'd be able to function as part of a team or
willingly go off world into danger. I was wrong about
him.”
John shrugged.
“Easy mistake to make, and he has changed. At
first…” John grinned suddenly at the memories,
shaking his
head. “Well, let’s just say he insulted
more cultures
than I can count and made Teyla’s negotiations extremely hard
at
times. Now, though, he tends to keep his criticisms to the
team… well, some of the time, anyway.”
John stopped
for a moment, turning serious. “We’ll
just have to be
even more careful off world, make sure he isn’t left alone,
doesn’t wander off, that sort of thing. Not that he
wanders
off so much now.”
“But he used to.”
“Yeah, he’d see something interesting and go and
investigate, forgetting to tell anyone what he was doing or where he
was going. Thought I’d have to get him a leash at
one
point, though he’d probably be allergic to the flea collar
that
came with it,” he said with a wicked grin.
“Let’s just say, we had a few…
interesting…
conversations about that particular habit.”
“Sounds like Daniel. He used to get distracted and
wander
off in the early days, but not now. Well, not so
much,” she
added ruefully.
“Scientists!” John exclaimed in mock exasperation,
before sobering and adding quickly, “Well, civilian
scientists, I should say before you get offended.”
Sam laughed.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.
It’s a temptation that all
scientists get, it’s just those in the military are aware of
things like chains of command,” she admitted, before adding,
“I could suggest confining him to Atlantis to keep him safe,
but
I suspect that wouldn’t go down too well.”
“Hell, no. He’s pulled our butts out of
the fire more
times than I can count. We need him out there, on the
team.
Though don’t tell him I said that. He
doesn’t need
his ego bolstering anymore than it is.”
“No,” Sam agreed with a small grin.
“He doesn’t.”
“Besides, if he was confined to Atlantis for any length of
time
the scientists will probably mutiny. They’ve got
used to
his absences; they’re like a mini-vacation for
them.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want a mutiny on my
hands,” Sam replied dryly.
“Didn’t think so. Don’t worry,
the team’s got his back.”
“I know.”
They were interrupted by the balcony doors sliding open.
“Oh, there you are,” came the slightly strident
tones of one Rodney McKay, carrying a PC tablet.
“Yes, McKay, here we are,” John said, turning to
face his team-mate.
“No, not you, I was looking for Sam.”
“Feeling the love here, Rodney,” John commented
dryly.
“What? Oh, very funny.” McKay dismissed
his comment
and turned to Sam. “I’ve just downloaded
the data I
was able to get from the Wraith computers…”
“You downloaded data from their computers?” John
asked. “You didn’t say anything about
that on the way
back.”
“Yes, well, I was rather preoccupied by the fact that the
Wraith want me personally
as opposed to, you know, just generally…”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering how they found out about
your
modifications to the Replicator base code in the first
place,”
John interrupted.
“From the Replicator, apparently, though how they managed to
get
that information from it remains a mystery. Anyway, the good
news
is that the Wraith deactivation virus won’t work and all
their
work on modifying is a waste of time, due to the changes I made in the
Replicator base code during our first encounter. What they
need
to do is go back to the drawing board and start from scratch if they
have any hope of overriding the attack code, and at the moment all
their research is aimed at modification of the existing
virus…”
“So we don’t have to worry about them stopping the
Replicators any time soon?” Sam clarified.
“Not until they realise they need to start over,
no. And
who knows when they’ll realise that, or how long it will take
them to work up a new virus from scratch? To be honest,
I’m
still their best bet of stopping the war in the near future…
which isn’t exactly a comforting thought.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll keep them away from
you,” John said.
“You can’t guarantee that, no one can,”
Rodney stated somewhat morosely.
“True, but we’ll do our very best. The
alternative is to not go off world…”
“Which isn’t a viable option, so don’t
even think about it,” McKay immediately objected.
“We’re not,” John assured him, trying to
hide his
smirk before changing the subject. “You seen Ronon
yet, you
know, to give him back the painting you stole?”
“I did not steal it!” Rodney protested.
“He was
leaving and it was only going to go into storage,
so…”
“You stole it,” John repeated, continuing before
McKay
could respond, “You haven’t returned it yet, have
you?”
“Um, well, I asked Teyla to…”
“Coward.”
“Too damn right!”
“You know he wouldn’t really hurt you…
well, not much
anyway.”
“Oh thanks, that’s so reassuring…
Not!”
Sam shook her head at their antics. They were like two
brothers
squabbling; like Jack and Daniel, she thought fondly.
It might be a new start in a new place, but it seemed that some things
stayed the same.
She had a feeling she would fit in here just fine.
The End
