It only happens in Fairy tales

 

This story is co-authored by myself and Kassandra (Mackenzie’s Momma), who also beta reads my stories.

This story is a sequel to the The Solaris Device so you should probably read that first. The plot overlaps with Kassandra’s Atlantis Party story, and occurs before Lycan Amulet.

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

Nikki stared at her computer screen, wondering if there would be anything from John in the weekly data burst from Atlantis. It had been a couple of weeks since the Apollo had returned to Earth and Nikki still hadn’t heard anything.  Each week Nikki sent Radek a compressed file filled with research work, published journals, gossip, her latest chess move and personal messages for her other friends in Pegasus. The last data burst had included a message for John, and Nikki was hoping he would send a reply.

Nikki had tried to convince herself that it was silly to think that she had a chance with someone like John, because people only lived happily ever after in fairy tales. Except that recently her life had been a lot like a fairy tale, really. She had traveled to a city in a distant galaxy, on an important quest. She had been captured by the evil queen, and rescued by the handsome prince. Of course the prince was actually a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force, the queen was a Wraith and strictly speaking she had been rescued by Teyla, Mirth and Ronon, but Nikki felt that was just quibbling about details.

Jayne walked into the lab and placed a coffee mug down on Nikki’s desk. Nikki thanked her and sipped the warm, comforting drink.
“You ok?” Jayne asked, her voice gentle.
“Oh, just a bit of a headache.” Nikki replied. “Maybe I should take a break and get some fresh air.”
“Yeah, sure.” said Jayne, who wasn’t fooled by Nikki’s excuse. “Stop worrying, he probably had a mission or something, I’m sure he’ll write soon.”

Meanwhile, in another galaxy, John Sheppard was slouched on the narrow bed in his room,  staring at the screen of his laptop. In the open email editor window two words were displayed:
“Hi Nikki.”
John Sheppard didn’t know what to write. He had never been very good at talking about  his feelings and writing them down was torture. He wanted to tell Nikki how much he missed her, wanted her to come back to Atlantis, but he couldn’t put it into words. He sighed in disgust, and closed down the email application, before putting the laptop back on the tiny desk. Maybe he would think of something tomorrow.

In the end, John did send Nikki an email, but it wasn’t what she had been hoping for. The tone was friendly but impersonal, full of news about Atlantis. Nikki told herself that it was fine, that she hadn’t expected to be more than friends with Colonel John Sheppard and did her best to get on with life. If she wasn’t quite as cheerful as usual, her friends didn’t mention it. It never occurred to Nikki that maybe John just wasn’t very good at expressing his feelings, especially in an email. She didn’t know just how much courage he had required to write that simple message, or how much he treasured her reply.

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

The party in Atlantis had been Kassandra’s idea. Nikki had been meaning to organize a party at Area 51 for several weeks, but somehow there never seemed to be a good time. Then Trish had mentioned that she needed to go back to Atlantis for a medical check with Dr Keller, and Rodney had asked Nikki and Jayne to help out with a project to recharge empty ZPMs. Kassandra wanted to go with them, to organize some jumper flying lessons, so they would all be going to Atlantis at the same time.

When Colonel Caldwell beamed Nikki and Kass down to the large open space that the Lanteans had christened the Ball Room, most of the preparations were complete. Radek Zalenka and Evan Lorne had recruited everyone they could find to help out. John Sheppard stood nervously behind Lorne, trying to calm the butterflies in his stomach, as Nikki and Kass appeared in front of him in a beam of white light. He stepped forward in turn to greet the visitors, but barely had a chance to say hello before a dark haired woman dressed in a military style jacket and BDUs rushed forward and hugged Nikki.

“Oh My God, Mirth, when did you get here?” said Nikki breathlessly.
“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.” said Mirth grinning. “So where’s Bar?”
“Stuck at the SGC. They’re close to a big break through on the Solaris project.” Nikki told her.
“Shame, I was looking forward to catching up on the gossip.” Mirth said wistfully.
“Well you’ll just have to make do with me.” laughed Nikki. She turned her head to look for John, but he had wandered off to talk to Rodney. Nikki told herself it didn’t matter, there would be plenty of time to see John later. Meanwhile she had plenty of gossip to catch up on with Mirth.

John was disappointed he didn’t get a chance to talk to Nikki, but he didn’t mind waiting while she caught up with the news from her friend. He told himself there would be plenty of time to talk later. 

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

The party was a lot like any other party Nikki had gone to, apart from being in an alien city in another galaxy. People ate food, drank Athosian ale and home brewed vodka, talked and danced. Of course Kassandra and Evan had disappeared early in the evening, claiming they had to help out with the food. Soon after, Mirth had mentioned the need for a cigarette and had wandered off towards the nearest balcony. Nikki was sure she saw Rodney follow her soon after and she exchanged a grin with Jayne. Of course Trish wanted to know what was so funny, so they ended up telling her about their last visit to Atlantis.

Dr Keller and Katie came over to chat, and Radek brought a round of drinks. Nikki sipped slowly, feeling the burn as Radek’s famous vodka slowly slid down her throat. It wasn’t long before she felt the familiar sensation of her brain synapses slowly shutting down. After that her memory of the party was a little hazy, but she remembered that Teyla had asked if she was going to join the dancers. A group of the marines had decided to try to teach Ronon and Teyla earth style line dancing. Nikki found herself standing in line between Teyla and John. The steps were complicated and Nikki kept making wrong moves. She stumbled against John and he caught her before she fell. Their eyes locked and for a moment Nikki felt a jolt of attraction. Then John’s mouth curved up into a grin, and they both laughed, the tension between them broken.

The party carried on all night, into the small hours of the morning. It was 3:40, Atlantis Standard Time, when Trish finally convinced Jayne that it was time to go back to their guest quarters and get some sleep. Jayne searched the dance floor for Nikki, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Finally, they spotted her with John and his team in the far corner of the ball room. Nikki had fallen asleep, her head resting on John’s shoulder. He had his arm wrapped round her shoulder protectively. John was chatting to Teyla, while Ronon listened, his feet resting on the table. Across from them, Rodney and Mirth were caught up in a private conversation. John reassured Jayne that he would get Nikki safely back to her room when she woke up. Satisfied that her friend would be well looked after, Jayne finally managed to get to bed.

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

Nikki woke the following morning feeling tired, with a dry throat and a headache. As Radek had provided the drinks for the party, Nikki felt she had probably got off lightly. She went to the mess in to meet her friends and grab some breakfast. Kass had already left, to do some maintenance on the jumper. She had left a message with Jayne for Nikki to meet her later, in the gym. Nikki sighed when she read the note; Kass had recently become obsessed with making Nikki work out. Her friend meant well, but working with weights wasn’t Nikki’s idea of fun.

Later that morning Nikki walked into the gym, dressed in sweatpants and a baggy T shirt, expecting to find Kass waiting for her. Instead she found Colonel John Sheppard, dressed only in sweat pants and a black wrist band, cooling down after a brisk workout.

“Oh sorry, I, uh, was looking for Kass”, WG stammered awkwardly, averting her eyes from John’s bare chest.

“Aw, that’s fine Nikki, I was just finishing up.” John replied, wiping the sweat from his brow with a scrunched up black shirt. He pointed toward the door before speaking again, “I was going to grab some food in the mess; care to join me?”

Nikki paused for a moment, but it looked like Kass had forgotten their appointment, and it was nearly lunchtime. “Sure, that would be great, I‘ll just wait here while you get dressed.”

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

John sipped his coffee nervously, with none of his normal laid back attitude. He glanced at Nikki through his eyelashes, at a loss for words. John had never been good at dealing with his feelings, and this was too important to mess up. Finally he asked her “So, how are you feeling after the party?”

“Not as bad as the last time,” Nikki grinned. “I think I may have finally got the hang of drinking Radek’s vodka.”
John’s answering smile made Nikki’s stomach flip. “Yeah, you’ve got to be careful with that stuff.”
John relaxed slowly, and his foot slid closer to Nikki’s under the table.

“So, Rodney says you’re here for the ZPM project?”  John prompted.

Nikki launched into a long winded explanation of the ZPM project. John watched her, not really listening, just enjoying the enthusiastic way Nikki described her work. He slouched back in his chair, and his foot slid forward further until it was touching Nikki’s.
He placed his hand on the table and reached across until his fingers lightly stroked Nikki’s hand.

Nikki stopped talking and looked at John, expectantly.
“So I was wondering, how about a walk on the North Pier? It’s a nice sunny day, we could grab a picnic for later?” John asked, hopefully.
WG smiled shyly back at John, “I‘d love to, John.”

As they left the mess, John reached out with his free arm and wrapped it around Nikki’s shoulders. It promised to be a very good day.

The End