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Stealing Away Home - Stargate: Atlantis – Gen (John Sheppard) - Words: 850
Summary: Being back on Earth after having lived in Pegasus was almost the hardest thing John ever had to do. Ep-Tag to Enemy at the Gate.
Written for Angst Bingo; Prompt: Outsiders
Content Notes: None. G.
On AO3: Stealing Away Home
Having Atlantis on Earth was hard in ways that John had never imagined. Being back on Earth at all was it's own special form of hell that kept him hoping the Replicators were trying to torture him for information or that he was unconscious off-world somewhere in Pegasus, too hurt to regain his senses. It worried him, just a little bit, that those scenarios seemed preferable to all of them being safe on Earth with their defenses fortified.
Most of the rest of the expedition seemed just as restless and uncomfortable. After they'd finished debriefing and medicals, the IOA and the SGC had dumped everyone with nowhere else to go in an apartment complex just outside of the base. John had put off everything, living off of take-out, ignoring the uncomfortable furnishings that had come with the apartment and living out of his duffle. Most of his stuff was still in the city, his city. He figured that after sleeping on the Atlantean beds for five years, the thin mattress where his feet didn't nearly hang off shouldn't have been a problem. But it was a problem. Nowhere in Pegasus, except maybe the Wraith hive ships, had ever felt so stifling and unwelcoming as Earth.
Ronon, Teyla and the rest of the Athosians were having adjustment problems. For having gone to Earth before, and blending in well enough, Ronon was still frustrated by the cultural differences and societal norms that suddenly weren't so normal for John an the rest of the expedition either. After years with truly little contact with large crowds and a constant flow of unfamiliar faces, it was suddenly more overwhelming than ever to be in a grocery store or having to use the phone to talk with strangers about getting cable tv or renewing a drivers license.
Rodney had took shelter in the SGC, ignoring the apartment that was next to John's and not coming above ground unless they were heading to Atlantis. John had only heard second hand when Rodney had a fit of temper that turned into a anxiety attack and had landed him in the infirmary. John had walked down and sat down on the edge of Rodney's bed and watched him sleep off the sedative. For all of the ease and ego Rodney displayed with most people, being back on Earth was breaking him as well.
Seeing Woolsey in the hallway was just as much of a shock, how the already trim man had thinned out and the haggard expression of someone who wasn't sleeping or and wasn't planning on getting much sleep in the future. It was at that moment that John realized that Woolsey had been an Atlantean, even though he had only been there a year. Atlantis, for all of its horrors and danger had been a sanctuary for all of them. In their time away from Earth some of them had become different, their bodies and minds adapting to a way of life that was somehow second nature. For others, like John, coming to Atlantis had been finding home.
When John had to start fighting to keep them from transferring his men to other bases, insisting they should stay with the SGC until they had Atlantis ready to send out again, he started to realize what he'd been suspecting ever since they'd landed on Earth: they weren't going to let them go back, even if it meant stranding the actual Pegasus natives on Earth. Woolsey had immediately taken up the fight with the IOA, disappearing for long stretches, even though the battle had brought out reserves that John hadn't realized the man possessed. John swallowed whatever pride he had left and pleaded his case to General O'Neill, knowing that if anyone on Earth could understand what it meant to be out there, O'Neill would.
General O'Neill had understood, a knowing nod and a depth to his gaze that told John that the man had been torn away from the Stargate with the same ruthlessness that they had torn John from Atlantis. O'Neill promised that he would do everything that he could to get Atlantis back out there again, and John had nodded and left, knowing that it wouldn't nearly be enough.
Three days later, on Atlantis, John sat on one of the balconies and stared out into the ocean, trying to ignore the reality that the scientists clambering over Atlantis for the most part weren't his, and the low grade hum that he could feel in the back of his mind. It had changed since they'd landed on Earth and John believed that she was saying that it wasn't right for her to be here. She was an alien on this planet just as much as the rest of them.
Rodney settled down next to him without a word, his knee bumping against John's for a brief moment. They didn't even have to look at each other to know what they had both started planning; words they couldn't say for fear of being overheard, ideas they had to plot by glances and gestures alone. They were going home.
Summary: Being back on Earth after having lived in Pegasus was almost the hardest thing John ever had to do. Ep-Tag to Enemy at the Gate.
Written for Angst Bingo; Prompt: Outsiders
Content Notes: None. G.
On AO3: Stealing Away Home
Having Atlantis on Earth was hard in ways that John had never imagined. Being back on Earth at all was it's own special form of hell that kept him hoping the Replicators were trying to torture him for information or that he was unconscious off-world somewhere in Pegasus, too hurt to regain his senses. It worried him, just a little bit, that those scenarios seemed preferable to all of them being safe on Earth with their defenses fortified.
Most of the rest of the expedition seemed just as restless and uncomfortable. After they'd finished debriefing and medicals, the IOA and the SGC had dumped everyone with nowhere else to go in an apartment complex just outside of the base. John had put off everything, living off of take-out, ignoring the uncomfortable furnishings that had come with the apartment and living out of his duffle. Most of his stuff was still in the city, his city. He figured that after sleeping on the Atlantean beds for five years, the thin mattress where his feet didn't nearly hang off shouldn't have been a problem. But it was a problem. Nowhere in Pegasus, except maybe the Wraith hive ships, had ever felt so stifling and unwelcoming as Earth.
Ronon, Teyla and the rest of the Athosians were having adjustment problems. For having gone to Earth before, and blending in well enough, Ronon was still frustrated by the cultural differences and societal norms that suddenly weren't so normal for John an the rest of the expedition either. After years with truly little contact with large crowds and a constant flow of unfamiliar faces, it was suddenly more overwhelming than ever to be in a grocery store or having to use the phone to talk with strangers about getting cable tv or renewing a drivers license.
Rodney had took shelter in the SGC, ignoring the apartment that was next to John's and not coming above ground unless they were heading to Atlantis. John had only heard second hand when Rodney had a fit of temper that turned into a anxiety attack and had landed him in the infirmary. John had walked down and sat down on the edge of Rodney's bed and watched him sleep off the sedative. For all of the ease and ego Rodney displayed with most people, being back on Earth was breaking him as well.
Seeing Woolsey in the hallway was just as much of a shock, how the already trim man had thinned out and the haggard expression of someone who wasn't sleeping or and wasn't planning on getting much sleep in the future. It was at that moment that John realized that Woolsey had been an Atlantean, even though he had only been there a year. Atlantis, for all of its horrors and danger had been a sanctuary for all of them. In their time away from Earth some of them had become different, their bodies and minds adapting to a way of life that was somehow second nature. For others, like John, coming to Atlantis had been finding home.
When John had to start fighting to keep them from transferring his men to other bases, insisting they should stay with the SGC until they had Atlantis ready to send out again, he started to realize what he'd been suspecting ever since they'd landed on Earth: they weren't going to let them go back, even if it meant stranding the actual Pegasus natives on Earth. Woolsey had immediately taken up the fight with the IOA, disappearing for long stretches, even though the battle had brought out reserves that John hadn't realized the man possessed. John swallowed whatever pride he had left and pleaded his case to General O'Neill, knowing that if anyone on Earth could understand what it meant to be out there, O'Neill would.
General O'Neill had understood, a knowing nod and a depth to his gaze that told John that the man had been torn away from the Stargate with the same ruthlessness that they had torn John from Atlantis. O'Neill promised that he would do everything that he could to get Atlantis back out there again, and John had nodded and left, knowing that it wouldn't nearly be enough.
Three days later, on Atlantis, John sat on one of the balconies and stared out into the ocean, trying to ignore the reality that the scientists clambering over Atlantis for the most part weren't his, and the low grade hum that he could feel in the back of his mind. It had changed since they'd landed on Earth and John believed that she was saying that it wasn't right for her to be here. She was an alien on this planet just as much as the rest of them.
Rodney settled down next to him without a word, his knee bumping against John's for a brief moment. They didn't even have to look at each other to know what they had both started planning; words they couldn't say for fear of being overheard, ideas they had to plot by glances and gestures alone. They were going home.
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Right, now, back to school stuff.
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