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musesmistressTitle: Past, Present and Future
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: General with suggestions of John/Elizabeth, Teyla/Lorne, Ronon/OFC, Rodney/Katie
Summary: How things change.
Past, Present and Future (2/5) John Sheppard
Past - Age 18
"Nora, go to bed."
"No," his eight year old sister stood sulking in the corner of the room watching him with eyes that clearly said "make me".
"Nora, it's almost ten, go to bed."
"I wanna watch the movie," she said innocently. "Dad said I could watch the movie."
"If he had said that, he would have said it to me, now go to bed."
"No," she shouted and John once again wondered why he always got stuck looking after her when their parents went out.
What had they been thinking, having a second child 10 years after the first? John had been comfortable in his time, the only child, not spoilt he just knew how to manipulate his parents. Then they had told him shortly after his tenth birthday that he was going to have a brother or sister. It hadn't changed much to start with, he just ignored it.
Then he'd been left behind when his mum had been rushed to the hospital that faithful day. They had forgotten him momentarily in favour of the new baby. His cousin had shown up half an hour later and taken him to the hospital, even though he didn't want to go, and just over an hour after that, he was pushed into her room and introduced to Nora.
He had looked at her once, then turned and left the room.
Nora grinned at him now as he crossed the room and seized her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Her laughter rang out through the room and he tickled at her bare feet as he moved through the hallway and up the stairs.
"No, stop," she cried out kicking wildly as he carried on, using the hand across her back that held her in place to start tickling at her side. It had taken him three years of ignoring her to realise she was something special. The problem he had when their parents went out, was that he had been too playful with her and therefore had no authority on what she did and didn't do.
He pushed her door open and dropped her haphazardly onto the bed and moved to open the window, the cooling air filled the room instantly.
"I will rent this movie for you in a few days time when I get my first pay check from the air force and we can sit together and watch it, okay?"
"Why can't I just watch it now?"
"Because silly little sisters need to get smart people sleep," he told her. It was something he had said long ago when she'd asked why he always over slept "because it makes me smarter". He had laughed when she said "doesn't school do that?"
He opened his mouth to add a comment to the declaration and was interrupted by the door bell. He pushed Nora back on the bed, quickly kissed her cheek and left the room.
Before he'd even reached the bottom of the stairs the flashing blue lights of the police car outside met his eyes. He could see two police office standing waiting on the step and his brow creased in confusion.
"John Sheppard?" one of them asked as he opened the door.
"Yes," he said and heard Nora's playful "they've come to arrest you" from the top of the stairs.
"Can we come in for a moment, sir?"
"Sir?" he thought, no one had ever called him "sir". He was a fresh recruit for the air force and there was definitely no one there who called him that. He stepped aside and indicated the sitting room where he and Nora had just been. They stepped in and past him and he gave a quick look up the stairs in time to see Nora's face vanish back around the corner.
The short walk to the sitting room seemed to take an eternity, there was no reason for the police to be here, he'd done nothing wrong and Nora was far too young. Which only left his parents and for the life of him, he couldn't imagine them doing something stupid or illegal.
"I'm afraid we have some bad news, Mr Sheppard," one of them said while the other stopped to look at the range of family photos on the side by the door. "There's been an accident; a truck ran into the side of your parent's vehicle…"
John's felt his brain shut down, heard punctuated words from what the officer was saying. "Asleep" and "rammed" but nothing really seemed to sink in for a few moments. When he finally reached the sentence "they died at the scene" John snapped back to reality, but it wasn't his words that punctured his thoughts. It was the small, fearful and hurt "Johnny" that came from Nora.
He didn't argue with her, didn't order her back upstairs or to bed. He simply held his hand out to her and let her into the room. She gripped his hand tightly with one hand while the other held a death grip on his sleeve. The officer still standing in front of him was asking him a question, but he couldn't take in the words he spoke.
His parents were gone, both of them, there was no one left in their family but him and Nora. And worst of all, she was now completely his responsibility.
John didn't realise he'd moved, hadn't noticed that the other officer who had stepped into the room was now in the kitchen and the tell tale sound of the kettle clicking suggested he was making a drink. He dropped heavily onto the sofa and pulled Nora close to him, her tears were instantly on his shirt soaking through to send a cold shiver down his spine.
He didn't hate Nora, he couldn't for the life of him remember a time when he had, but according to his parents there had been such a place for that feeling in his past. John always tried to provide for her, when dad came home with loads of sweets and gave them something each, John would always give her some of his. When their mum would read her a bedtime story and stop before she was ready to sleep, he would always step in without her knowledge and read until she was gone.
But this was something completely different. He was 18 and a fresh cadet in the air force, he wanted to learn as many air craft as possible and climb the ranks to General. How was he meant to do that with a sister 10 years his junior?
She couldn't take care of herself, couldn't possibly get her own food or get up and get to school on time. But how could he do this and his training? The other policeman returned and offered John a cup of tea, which he took without realising what it was.
The police stayed for almost an hour until John had managed to answer their questions. Nora had cried herself to sleep in that time and as he settled her into bed he wondered what would be the best course to take for her. Instantly he knew he didn't want to give her up, wasn't sure he could bring himself to push her through the foster system.
There were no other family members he could turn to, he had no living aunts, uncles, or cousins or even grandparents now that could take her in and he could pay them to look after her. He did know that he couldn't afford to rent an apartment for them, and he doubted very much that the air force would let her stay on base with him. His choices were limited.
The surprise came the next morning, when a lawyer showed at the door to offer his condolences and then instantly went into a spew about what his parents had written in their will in case something happened to them. The house was theirs, to live in or sell which ever they wanted to do and in the event that one or both of them had been unable to care for themselves, there were contact details of one relative.
John sat staring at the address. This relative he'd never heard of was a distant cousin and in this case, distant not only meant deep relations, but distance in space.
"Who's that?" Nora asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes, he'd let her sleep through the morning while he made several important phone calls.
"A cousin of ours," he offered.
"Where's England?"
"A long way away," he said letting his eyes drift to the telephone number before he turned to her. "Nora," he said and licked his lips. "I can't take care of you."
"You can't leave me," she said understanding him quicker than he liked. "I don't want to be a foster."
"I wouldn't do that to you," he said wrapping his arm around her, "but we need to work out what we're doing. Maybe we should meet this cousin of ours, see if she's willing to take you in. And I'll sell this house and put all the money into an account for you so when you turn eighteen you get to do what you want with it."
"You're gonna put me with strangers?"
"No," he said shifting her into his lap, "we'll spend some time with them, get to know them first. It's just that I want to stay in the air force, learn how to use lots of different planes and helicopters. Which means I'll be travelling around. I can't take you with me, they won't let me and it wouldn't be fair on you."
"I won't mind," she offered tightening her grip on him. "I can learn from you, you're smart."
"Let’s look at all the options together, okay?" John placed a careful kiss on her cheek and pulled her close.
~*~
Present - Age 37
John jogged along the corridor and paused outside Elizabeth's room. He didn't stop jogging and after ringing the chime he moved a few steps forward before returning to the door and jogging a few steps back. He couldn't really explain why he had so much energy today, but it was there all the same.
"John," Elizabeth said forcing him to turn around in his place a few steps away from the door.
"You interrupted my morning jog."
"I'm sorry," she said walking back into her room and leaving the door open for him. "But I got the list of personnel that's on the Deadalus, thought we could go over them early instead of last minute like we usually do."
He stepped into the room and looked around. It wasn't the first time he'd been in her private room, but it always surprised him that it was always so sparsely decorated compared to her office. Today seemed to be her untidy day as there were various articles of clothing lying around on the chairs.
He picked up a t-shirt to place it on another pile and found a piece of underwear underneath it. Before he could think what to do Elizabeth snatched the garment up, took the t-shirt from him and turned to gather up some more items.
"I've been too busy to clean up, haven't even made it to the laundry room for a while."
"I know the feeling; I'm starting to run out of pants," he offered as he dropped into the chair. "Good thing the machines here don't take too long."
She gave a weak laugh at the thought and picked up her tablet PC before taking a seat next to him. He looked around again and realised that her dirty laundry had been placed in a single pile on the bed.
"So," she said, "as I said last time, this is the busy one."
"Double our teams," he said, "double our efforts."
"That's the one."
It was true, for the last couple of months the IOA and SGC had been pushing them to get more out of the database and their research. In response to the last couple, Elizabeth started demanding more personnel. Which they were now getting.
Their three off-world teams was about to take a leap up to seven, internal security was jumping from 15 people to 38 and their research, command and science teams were hopping the personnel list to 120. To top it off they were getting seven new doctors, 18 new nurses, five psychiatrists and Elizabeth was gaining a personal assistant.
"How exactly are we going to find rooms for over 130 people?" John asked scanning the names of the medical team.
"This is a big city, there must be 132 rooms somewhere," Elizabeth said giving him a grin and raised brow. "I was thinking that we could restructure, put some people in the main tower, those who need to be near the infirmary and control room for example, then split the rest into the nearest two towers.'
"All that wonderful energy I had for jogging... I think I left it at the d..."
John stopped mid sentence, while Elizabeth had been telling him her idea he had switched over to the science and research lists and now stopped at one name in particular.
"John," Elizabeth tried to catch his attention, he knew she'd been talking the whole time he stared at the name, but he couldn't turn away from it. At the end of the list of top level researchers, those commanding their own team was a name he never expected to see again, let alone heading for Atlantis.
"Nora," he breathed.
"Nora Wells," she said, "do you know her?" he couldn't bring himself to respond. "John? Nora's going to be my personal assistant, is there something I need to know?"
He could hear the clicking from her tablet as she searched for a file and opened it. Before she spoke again he knew she'd opened Nora's file and was browsing it.
"Twenty-seven years old, raised in England by her cousin, graduated with honours, has been in a Personal Assistant job since, was found by our talent scouts by accident when he called to talk to an old friend."
John set his palm computer down on the side and leaned forward in his chair. He could feel her eyes on him, could practically sense the look of curiosity she was giving him. But he couldn't keep it a secret; he didn't know how Nora would react of him now.
"She's my sister."
"Nora Wells?" she said lingering on her last name.
"Nora Maria Wells," he said watching out the corner of his eye as she checked the file. "Born November 19, 1980," he took a deep breath before adding. "Adopted July 8, 1989 by Penny Wells."
Silence followed and he knew she had verified the details. He had never forgotten them, the day she had been born, the day their parents died, the day they visited Penny and the horrible memory of the day he'd left her with the woman. It had been agreed, he needed to get his career going and he couldn't care for her while he did that, but he made sure she was well cared for.
They had sold their family home and John had put all the money from it into a trust fund with her name on it. Only she knew the details for the account, they hadn't even told Cousin Penny about it.
But the day she had been officially adopted by Penny was the day he had last seen her. They had gone to the airport with him so he could come back home, and Nora had started to cry. He knew she was afraid, he was too, he loved her, but he was doing what was best for her. He remembered it like it had been yesterday.
*
John stood on the pier watching anxiously as the Daedalus docked, he didn't really know what to expect, he hadn't seen Nora since she was eight and above all, he hadn't talked to her since then. For all he knew, she hated him now.
He watched the people file off following one of the ship's crew to the meeting room just inside the dock. Every woman that passed him was open to his scrutiny. He wasn't sure if she'd stand out to him, if her pretty eight year old features would still be present on her face.
The last of the group passed him and he relaxed in sadness. He hadn't been able to tell who she was; he couldn't recognise his own sister.
"Wait for me," a lone woman stepped off the ship calling to the last female he'd seen and stopped, her jaw dropped at the sight of the city and John got a perfect view of her.
"Nora," he breathed taking in her beautiful face and slim figure, she looked healthy and well cared for as she turned to him and his mothers green eyes met his. She narrowed her eyes on him and he could see the faint recollection on her face, she knew him, just couldn't place it.
"John?" she questioned seeming to come to a conclusion about who he was. John could only manage a stiff nod and Nora took a step towards him. He couldn't look away, even as Major Lorne and Elizabeth stopped nearby, to Elizabeth the situation must have looked simply awkward. "Why didn't you write?"
The timid question tore at his heart and he hung his head. In the almost twenty years they had been separated, he hadn't written to her once like he had promised.
"I'm sorry, Nora," he looked back up to see the tears in her eyes and the small smile on her lips. She shuddered before she stepped forwards and wrapped him in a tight hug.
Tentatively he placed his hands on her back, before taking a deep breath and pulling her close. He had found his sister again, in the most unlikely of places. Over her shoulder Elizabeth smiled at him before placing her hand on Lorne's arm and turning away from them. John watched the Major give him a shy smile before he followed.
"I did what I thought was best for you," he said.
"I know," she said. "I don't hate you for it," she pulled away and smiled at him before turning serious. "But would it have killed you to write?"
"Probably," he said with a grin and felt his whole body warm with her laughter.
~~**~~
Future - Age 48
John crouched low as he rounded the corner and slipped along the corridor. He checked the palm scanner again and saw his target a few feet ahead. As he looked up he saw the small face peak around the corner before she took off again, her laughter flowing back to his ears.
Quickly he darted forward, rounded the corner and sprinted the short distance to sweep her up into his arms. She squealed in delight as John pulled back the small shirt the Athosian's had made her and blew against her stomach.
She carried on laughing as he turned the corner and came face to face with Ronon.
"She stopped again," he said simply handing over his friend's four year old daughter.
"You're too playful with your niece," Ronon said. "She likes getting caught too much, she won't learn that way."
"Ronon," he said tucking the scanner away, "there's no real reason Kyara has to learn like this. There are hardly any Wraith left for her to have to fight."
"I still want her to be aware, there are still people around that want to take power."
He could understand the wisdom behind the words but had to laugh as Kyara reached up at that point and placed her hand over his mouth her little fingers barely covering her father's lips.
"Looks like she's on my side," John said before stepping into the transporter.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: General with suggestions of John/Elizabeth, Teyla/Lorne, Ronon/OFC, Rodney/Katie
Summary: How things change.
Past, Present and Future (2/5) John Sheppard
Past - Age 18
"Nora, go to bed."
"No," his eight year old sister stood sulking in the corner of the room watching him with eyes that clearly said "make me".
"Nora, it's almost ten, go to bed."
"I wanna watch the movie," she said innocently. "Dad said I could watch the movie."
"If he had said that, he would have said it to me, now go to bed."
"No," she shouted and John once again wondered why he always got stuck looking after her when their parents went out.
What had they been thinking, having a second child 10 years after the first? John had been comfortable in his time, the only child, not spoilt he just knew how to manipulate his parents. Then they had told him shortly after his tenth birthday that he was going to have a brother or sister. It hadn't changed much to start with, he just ignored it.
Then he'd been left behind when his mum had been rushed to the hospital that faithful day. They had forgotten him momentarily in favour of the new baby. His cousin had shown up half an hour later and taken him to the hospital, even though he didn't want to go, and just over an hour after that, he was pushed into her room and introduced to Nora.
He had looked at her once, then turned and left the room.
Nora grinned at him now as he crossed the room and seized her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Her laughter rang out through the room and he tickled at her bare feet as he moved through the hallway and up the stairs.
"No, stop," she cried out kicking wildly as he carried on, using the hand across her back that held her in place to start tickling at her side. It had taken him three years of ignoring her to realise she was something special. The problem he had when their parents went out, was that he had been too playful with her and therefore had no authority on what she did and didn't do.
He pushed her door open and dropped her haphazardly onto the bed and moved to open the window, the cooling air filled the room instantly.
"I will rent this movie for you in a few days time when I get my first pay check from the air force and we can sit together and watch it, okay?"
"Why can't I just watch it now?"
"Because silly little sisters need to get smart people sleep," he told her. It was something he had said long ago when she'd asked why he always over slept "because it makes me smarter". He had laughed when she said "doesn't school do that?"
He opened his mouth to add a comment to the declaration and was interrupted by the door bell. He pushed Nora back on the bed, quickly kissed her cheek and left the room.
Before he'd even reached the bottom of the stairs the flashing blue lights of the police car outside met his eyes. He could see two police office standing waiting on the step and his brow creased in confusion.
"John Sheppard?" one of them asked as he opened the door.
"Yes," he said and heard Nora's playful "they've come to arrest you" from the top of the stairs.
"Can we come in for a moment, sir?"
"Sir?" he thought, no one had ever called him "sir". He was a fresh recruit for the air force and there was definitely no one there who called him that. He stepped aside and indicated the sitting room where he and Nora had just been. They stepped in and past him and he gave a quick look up the stairs in time to see Nora's face vanish back around the corner.
The short walk to the sitting room seemed to take an eternity, there was no reason for the police to be here, he'd done nothing wrong and Nora was far too young. Which only left his parents and for the life of him, he couldn't imagine them doing something stupid or illegal.
"I'm afraid we have some bad news, Mr Sheppard," one of them said while the other stopped to look at the range of family photos on the side by the door. "There's been an accident; a truck ran into the side of your parent's vehicle…"
John's felt his brain shut down, heard punctuated words from what the officer was saying. "Asleep" and "rammed" but nothing really seemed to sink in for a few moments. When he finally reached the sentence "they died at the scene" John snapped back to reality, but it wasn't his words that punctured his thoughts. It was the small, fearful and hurt "Johnny" that came from Nora.
He didn't argue with her, didn't order her back upstairs or to bed. He simply held his hand out to her and let her into the room. She gripped his hand tightly with one hand while the other held a death grip on his sleeve. The officer still standing in front of him was asking him a question, but he couldn't take in the words he spoke.
His parents were gone, both of them, there was no one left in their family but him and Nora. And worst of all, she was now completely his responsibility.
John didn't realise he'd moved, hadn't noticed that the other officer who had stepped into the room was now in the kitchen and the tell tale sound of the kettle clicking suggested he was making a drink. He dropped heavily onto the sofa and pulled Nora close to him, her tears were instantly on his shirt soaking through to send a cold shiver down his spine.
He didn't hate Nora, he couldn't for the life of him remember a time when he had, but according to his parents there had been such a place for that feeling in his past. John always tried to provide for her, when dad came home with loads of sweets and gave them something each, John would always give her some of his. When their mum would read her a bedtime story and stop before she was ready to sleep, he would always step in without her knowledge and read until she was gone.
But this was something completely different. He was 18 and a fresh cadet in the air force, he wanted to learn as many air craft as possible and climb the ranks to General. How was he meant to do that with a sister 10 years his junior?
She couldn't take care of herself, couldn't possibly get her own food or get up and get to school on time. But how could he do this and his training? The other policeman returned and offered John a cup of tea, which he took without realising what it was.
The police stayed for almost an hour until John had managed to answer their questions. Nora had cried herself to sleep in that time and as he settled her into bed he wondered what would be the best course to take for her. Instantly he knew he didn't want to give her up, wasn't sure he could bring himself to push her through the foster system.
There were no other family members he could turn to, he had no living aunts, uncles, or cousins or even grandparents now that could take her in and he could pay them to look after her. He did know that he couldn't afford to rent an apartment for them, and he doubted very much that the air force would let her stay on base with him. His choices were limited.
The surprise came the next morning, when a lawyer showed at the door to offer his condolences and then instantly went into a spew about what his parents had written in their will in case something happened to them. The house was theirs, to live in or sell which ever they wanted to do and in the event that one or both of them had been unable to care for themselves, there were contact details of one relative.
John sat staring at the address. This relative he'd never heard of was a distant cousin and in this case, distant not only meant deep relations, but distance in space.
"Who's that?" Nora asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes, he'd let her sleep through the morning while he made several important phone calls.
"A cousin of ours," he offered.
"Where's England?"
"A long way away," he said letting his eyes drift to the telephone number before he turned to her. "Nora," he said and licked his lips. "I can't take care of you."
"You can't leave me," she said understanding him quicker than he liked. "I don't want to be a foster."
"I wouldn't do that to you," he said wrapping his arm around her, "but we need to work out what we're doing. Maybe we should meet this cousin of ours, see if she's willing to take you in. And I'll sell this house and put all the money into an account for you so when you turn eighteen you get to do what you want with it."
"You're gonna put me with strangers?"
"No," he said shifting her into his lap, "we'll spend some time with them, get to know them first. It's just that I want to stay in the air force, learn how to use lots of different planes and helicopters. Which means I'll be travelling around. I can't take you with me, they won't let me and it wouldn't be fair on you."
"I won't mind," she offered tightening her grip on him. "I can learn from you, you're smart."
"Let’s look at all the options together, okay?" John placed a careful kiss on her cheek and pulled her close.
~*~
Present - Age 37
John jogged along the corridor and paused outside Elizabeth's room. He didn't stop jogging and after ringing the chime he moved a few steps forward before returning to the door and jogging a few steps back. He couldn't really explain why he had so much energy today, but it was there all the same.
"John," Elizabeth said forcing him to turn around in his place a few steps away from the door.
"You interrupted my morning jog."
"I'm sorry," she said walking back into her room and leaving the door open for him. "But I got the list of personnel that's on the Deadalus, thought we could go over them early instead of last minute like we usually do."
He stepped into the room and looked around. It wasn't the first time he'd been in her private room, but it always surprised him that it was always so sparsely decorated compared to her office. Today seemed to be her untidy day as there were various articles of clothing lying around on the chairs.
He picked up a t-shirt to place it on another pile and found a piece of underwear underneath it. Before he could think what to do Elizabeth snatched the garment up, took the t-shirt from him and turned to gather up some more items.
"I've been too busy to clean up, haven't even made it to the laundry room for a while."
"I know the feeling; I'm starting to run out of pants," he offered as he dropped into the chair. "Good thing the machines here don't take too long."
She gave a weak laugh at the thought and picked up her tablet PC before taking a seat next to him. He looked around again and realised that her dirty laundry had been placed in a single pile on the bed.
"So," she said, "as I said last time, this is the busy one."
"Double our teams," he said, "double our efforts."
"That's the one."
It was true, for the last couple of months the IOA and SGC had been pushing them to get more out of the database and their research. In response to the last couple, Elizabeth started demanding more personnel. Which they were now getting.
Their three off-world teams was about to take a leap up to seven, internal security was jumping from 15 people to 38 and their research, command and science teams were hopping the personnel list to 120. To top it off they were getting seven new doctors, 18 new nurses, five psychiatrists and Elizabeth was gaining a personal assistant.
"How exactly are we going to find rooms for over 130 people?" John asked scanning the names of the medical team.
"This is a big city, there must be 132 rooms somewhere," Elizabeth said giving him a grin and raised brow. "I was thinking that we could restructure, put some people in the main tower, those who need to be near the infirmary and control room for example, then split the rest into the nearest two towers.'
"All that wonderful energy I had for jogging... I think I left it at the d..."
John stopped mid sentence, while Elizabeth had been telling him her idea he had switched over to the science and research lists and now stopped at one name in particular.
"John," Elizabeth tried to catch his attention, he knew she'd been talking the whole time he stared at the name, but he couldn't turn away from it. At the end of the list of top level researchers, those commanding their own team was a name he never expected to see again, let alone heading for Atlantis.
"Nora," he breathed.
"Nora Wells," she said, "do you know her?" he couldn't bring himself to respond. "John? Nora's going to be my personal assistant, is there something I need to know?"
He could hear the clicking from her tablet as she searched for a file and opened it. Before she spoke again he knew she'd opened Nora's file and was browsing it.
"Twenty-seven years old, raised in England by her cousin, graduated with honours, has been in a Personal Assistant job since, was found by our talent scouts by accident when he called to talk to an old friend."
John set his palm computer down on the side and leaned forward in his chair. He could feel her eyes on him, could practically sense the look of curiosity she was giving him. But he couldn't keep it a secret; he didn't know how Nora would react of him now.
"She's my sister."
"Nora Wells?" she said lingering on her last name.
"Nora Maria Wells," he said watching out the corner of his eye as she checked the file. "Born November 19, 1980," he took a deep breath before adding. "Adopted July 8, 1989 by Penny Wells."
Silence followed and he knew she had verified the details. He had never forgotten them, the day she had been born, the day their parents died, the day they visited Penny and the horrible memory of the day he'd left her with the woman. It had been agreed, he needed to get his career going and he couldn't care for her while he did that, but he made sure she was well cared for.
They had sold their family home and John had put all the money from it into a trust fund with her name on it. Only she knew the details for the account, they hadn't even told Cousin Penny about it.
But the day she had been officially adopted by Penny was the day he had last seen her. They had gone to the airport with him so he could come back home, and Nora had started to cry. He knew she was afraid, he was too, he loved her, but he was doing what was best for her. He remembered it like it had been yesterday.
*
John stood on the pier watching anxiously as the Daedalus docked, he didn't really know what to expect, he hadn't seen Nora since she was eight and above all, he hadn't talked to her since then. For all he knew, she hated him now.
He watched the people file off following one of the ship's crew to the meeting room just inside the dock. Every woman that passed him was open to his scrutiny. He wasn't sure if she'd stand out to him, if her pretty eight year old features would still be present on her face.
The last of the group passed him and he relaxed in sadness. He hadn't been able to tell who she was; he couldn't recognise his own sister.
"Wait for me," a lone woman stepped off the ship calling to the last female he'd seen and stopped, her jaw dropped at the sight of the city and John got a perfect view of her.
"Nora," he breathed taking in her beautiful face and slim figure, she looked healthy and well cared for as she turned to him and his mothers green eyes met his. She narrowed her eyes on him and he could see the faint recollection on her face, she knew him, just couldn't place it.
"John?" she questioned seeming to come to a conclusion about who he was. John could only manage a stiff nod and Nora took a step towards him. He couldn't look away, even as Major Lorne and Elizabeth stopped nearby, to Elizabeth the situation must have looked simply awkward. "Why didn't you write?"
The timid question tore at his heart and he hung his head. In the almost twenty years they had been separated, he hadn't written to her once like he had promised.
"I'm sorry, Nora," he looked back up to see the tears in her eyes and the small smile on her lips. She shuddered before she stepped forwards and wrapped him in a tight hug.
Tentatively he placed his hands on her back, before taking a deep breath and pulling her close. He had found his sister again, in the most unlikely of places. Over her shoulder Elizabeth smiled at him before placing her hand on Lorne's arm and turning away from them. John watched the Major give him a shy smile before he followed.
"I did what I thought was best for you," he said.
"I know," she said. "I don't hate you for it," she pulled away and smiled at him before turning serious. "But would it have killed you to write?"
"Probably," he said with a grin and felt his whole body warm with her laughter.
~~**~~
Future - Age 48
John crouched low as he rounded the corner and slipped along the corridor. He checked the palm scanner again and saw his target a few feet ahead. As he looked up he saw the small face peak around the corner before she took off again, her laughter flowing back to his ears.
Quickly he darted forward, rounded the corner and sprinted the short distance to sweep her up into his arms. She squealed in delight as John pulled back the small shirt the Athosian's had made her and blew against her stomach.
She carried on laughing as he turned the corner and came face to face with Ronon.
"She stopped again," he said simply handing over his friend's four year old daughter.
"You're too playful with your niece," Ronon said. "She likes getting caught too much, she won't learn that way."
"Ronon," he said tucking the scanner away, "there's no real reason Kyara has to learn like this. There are hardly any Wraith left for her to have to fight."
"I still want her to be aware, there are still people around that want to take power."
He could understand the wisdom behind the words but had to laugh as Kyara reached up at that point and placed her hand over his mouth her little fingers barely covering her father's lips.
"Looks like she's on my side," John said before stepping into the transporter.
