Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 53

Chapter 53 - Parenting Lessons

It was rare to see Teyla looking anything but put together, so when she walked into the mess hall and all but collapsed into the seat across from John, he took it as an indicator that events had probably reached the point where he should try and do the whole good boyfriend thing.

“Anything I can help out with?”

“Do you know how to keep up with someone who seems to have functionally endless energy?” Teyla asked in a tone that sounded exactly as tired as she looked.

“No more than anyone else.” John returned apologetically as he pushed aside his empty tray. “I take it Rayla's running you ragged?”

Teyla grimaced slightly, looking over to eye the lunch bar for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning back. “I just spent the past five hours showing guiding her through various Bantos forms.”

“Thought she didn't like fighting?” John asked with a frown, distinctly remembering Teyla having mentioned that a couple days ago.

“She apparently considers martial arts to be distinctly different from actual combat.” Teyla put forward, sounding more than a little confused at the distinction.

“A bunch of people on Earth do the same.” John offered with a shrug before motioning over to the serving line. “Want me to get you something?”

“Some tea and one of the large meat buns would be appreciated.” Teyla said with a thankful incline of her head.

Shooting her a grin John got up. “Gotcha.” 

Grabbing his own tray for disposal, he stepped over to drop that off before heading over to pick up Teyla's lunch with an extra helping of freshly made french fries since she always seemed to enjoys those after a workout 

“Here you go.” He said, carefully setting the tray down before returning to this seat.

“Thank you John.” Teyla returned with a grateful smile. 

“So where's our resident elf now?” He asked as she began to eat.

“Elizabeth finally okayed Rayla's request to investigate Elves as they are portrayed on your world. “Teyla began between bites. “So she is spending the afternoon watching something called an Anime that Doctor Mallozzi provided her with.”

John had to hold back a chuckle at that, as apparently sitting the kids down in front of the television so the parents could rest was something of universal standard, even for people who hadn't grown up with that particular technology around.

“Did Mallozzi mention the Anime's name?” He inquired in idle curiosity.

“I believe he called it Record of the Lodoss Wars?” Teyla returned uncertainly.

That sounded familiar, which probably meant it was on the long list of elf related things John had heard people talking about the past few days.

“Kind of surprised she didn't start with Lord of the Rings.” He muttered. “The new movies were pretty good.”

Checking the temperature on her tea, Teyla nodded to herself before taking a sip. “I am still somewhat unsure why the Wizard turned from grey to white after falling into the lava.”

“It was kind of a visual metaphor for his change in status.” John explained. “It makes more sense in the books.”

At least it did so far as he could recall, though that could probably go either way given it had been almost twenty years since he had actually read the series.

“Got some good news on my part.” He put forward with an amused grin. “Grodin thinks he's finally figured out how to keep the city from flooding my laptop with the past ten thousand years of readiness reports.”

Which had been more than a little depressing to skim through, kind of like reading a detailed account of an old sailing ship falling apart over the years because there just wasn't the willingness to keep it up.

“I still say you should not so readily discount those.” Teyla said as she stared somewhat judgingly at him. “The Ancestors did not do things without reason.”

“Well yeah.” John agreed with a nod, not seeing any reason to argue that. “But from everything we've seen they're not always good reasons. And this was a government we’re talking about, if the Ancients were anything like us they probably had a bunch of bloat that only existed because that’s just how things had always been done.”

“That does seem to be something of an unfortunate constant.” Teyla agreed with a sigh. “The number of times I have had to deal with trying procedures that may have once had a point but no longer do is unfortunately too numerous to count.”

He gave a wry smile. “Speaking of annoying paperwork though, the IOA finally got around to pushing through yours, so you’re now officially registered as a mid-level contractor for the Atlantis international deep sea study expedition.”

Not the most exciting cover story, but at least it meant they could tell family about things while on Earth without making it obvious that it was a cover story.

Setting down her now empty cup, Teyla pursed her lips in consideration. “And with that they will allow me to visit your world?”

“Even open a bank account.” John joked, only to frown at the sudden realization that she probably would want to have one set up. “I'll walk you through the whys and hows of that later.”

“Thank you.” Teyla returned with a slight bow of her head. 

His radio chose that moment to crackle to life, Colonel Caldwell’s voice echoing out into his ear. “Major, the Enterprise and Navis just dropped out of Hyperspace and are on approach with some extra guests. I’m going to need you to put a security team together and meet them in ring platform three.”

“All right.” John said, shooting an apologetic look to Teyla as he got to his feet, the Athosian woman just gave him an understanding smile in return. “I’ll be there in ten.”

The radio went quiet, only to immediately come back on this time with Elizabeth’s voice.

“Major, I just just learned that–

“I heard.” He interrupted in hopes of cutting short what was likely just a repeat of Caldwell’s message. “Already putting a security team together and on my way to the ring platform.”

“I’ll be meeting you there.” Elizabeth said, sounding just a tiny bit annoyed. “Is Teyla with you?”

Looking over at the Athosian woman as she finished her meatbun he nodded. “We were just finishing lunch.”

“Ask if she could join us then.” Elizabeth added in. “And see if she knows anything about a group that calls themselves the Travelers.”

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Author’s Note: Oh John, don’t you know, never try and get between a city and its paperwork, all that will happen is you end up with even more paperwork on top of what you had before...