The Solaris Device pt17

The Solaris Device

It’s strange to think that this story is nearly finished. I really can’t believe we got to 17 chapters.

This is the last full chapter, but there’s going to be an epilogue for what happened when they get home.

Chapter 17 Saying goodbye

When Nikki finally woke up, she had a throbbing headache. Her eyes were sticky, her mouth was dry, and there was an ache in her chest. The room was quiet apart from the steady beep of the heart monitors, and gentle snoring. Lifting her head as slowly as possible, she realized that Jayne was slumped in a comfy looking chair by her bed, fast asleep. Next to her, scratched and bruised, with his arm in a sling and a cheerful grin on his face, was John. He passed a glass of cold water to Nikki, who took it gratefully.

“How you feeling?” he asked her softly.
“Terrible” she replied, smiling at his concern. “How about you?”
“Oh, you know.” he said dismissively. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“Has Jayne been there long?” she asked.
“Not sure.” he replied. ”She was like that when I got here, a couple of hour’s ago.”

At that moment a nurse came into the room, and ordered John back to his bed. He left reluctantly, pulling a face when the nurse wasn’t looking, while Nikki tried not to laugh.
The noise woke Jayne, who was relieved to see her friend was feeling better.

**********************************************

Mirth and Rodney found themselves back on the same balcony from before the mission. Mirth reached for her cigarettes, nervously and then put them back in her pocket.
“So.” she said, at a loss for words.
“Um.” Rodney tried, staring at his hands.
“This isn’t going to work is it?” Rodney said, sadly.
“I’m sorry.” Mirth apologized.
“No, it’s OK,” said Rodney, graciously. “It’s not like you didn’t try to warn me.”
They stood quietly for a while, lost in thought.
Mirth finally broke the silence, a thoughtful expression on her face.
“Look, I‘ve got one more night here, before I have to go, why not make the most of it?”
“What did you have in mind?” asked Rodney, hopefully.
“How about a date – dinner and a movie?”
“OK” Rodney said, smiling. “I’ll get us some food from the commissary, we can eat in my room and watch a film on my laptop.”
“Nikki’s got all the latest episodes of Dr Who and Torchwood on a flash drive.” Mirth said, grinning.
“Really?” said Rodney, excitedly. “So what are we waiting for?”

*************************************************

A couple of days later, John and Rodney were standing together in the Gate room, watching as the girls were beamed aboard the Apollo.
“So, you going to see her again?” asked John, in a casual tone of voice.
“No, probably not.” Rodney replied, wistfully. “Apparently she’s got someone back home.”
“Oh. Sorry.” said John, awkwardly. Rodney tried to hide his grin.
“So what about you?” he asked.
“I offered her a job in Atlantis.” John stated.
“She said no?” Rodney asked, not expecting a reply. “I could have told you that would happen. Sam asked her before.”
“I guess I can’t really blame her, after the way the mission went down.” said John, thoughtfully. “Shame though, we could do with more people like Nikki.”
“Well obviously.” agreed Rodney.
“You know she has a kid?” asked John.
“Yeah, he’s twelve, or thirteen. Something like that. Gotta be tough, bringing up a kid on your own.”

They stood quietly for a few minutes until finally Rodney broke the silence.
“So, chess?”
“Sure.” John answered.
They started to walk away from the gate room, when John remembered something. He pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket and held it out for Rodney to see.
“She gave me her email address.” he said, with a happy smile.
“I’ve already got it, along with half my team.” Rodney teased. “So does this mean  you’re going to see her again?”
“Maybe.” said John. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”