Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 30

Chapter 30 - Time Off

“Not as bad as a day in Afghanistan, but close.” John muttered to himself as the door to his apartment closed behind him.

Sure he hadn't done much more than sit in the control chair watching the Wraith's approach though the city's sensors, but that was exactly the type of waiting that left you on edge for hours afterwards before crashing hard.

Also moderately hungry, and really wishing the Daedalus had brought more than standard MRE's and enough coffee to keep a carrier crew happy for a month.

Enough for even just a single turkey sandwich would have made him happy at this point. He could all but see it in his mind's eye. 

Toasted bread, lettuce, a little bit of mayo and mustard, a couple slices of provolone, and some thick and juicy slices of turkey. With a nice cold beer and some salty potato chips to go with it. Sadly while the Ancients had been pretty good at importing humans and trees to the Pegausus galaxy, they'd apparently decided everything else was too much of a bother.

“Probably still have some leftover wayloaf in the fridge.” He mused as he walked over to the small kitchenette, very much not in the mood to head down to the mess hall given the large amount of friendly ribbing that would likely follow.

His door chimed, and he let out an annoyed exhale as he turned back and walked over to tap the control crystal that would open the apartment's door.

“John.” Teyla greeted as the door slid open, her voice carrying just the smallest hint of relief in its tone. “I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?”

“Just getting ready to relax for a bit.” John offered as he stepped to the side and motioned for the Athosian woman to join him in the apartment. “And really wishing I had a toasted turkey sandwich.”

Seemingly in response to his words the small island in the kitchenette gave off a musical chime, drawing both of their eyes to it as a cubical portion of the counter rose up inside of which he could see a toasted turkey sandwich sitting on a white plate.

“Well that's new.”John muttered in utter bewilderment as he stared at the offending object.

“John.” Teyla began, sounding nearly as confused as he felt. “Is that a…?”

“Turkey sandwich, yup.” He finished for her, already able to smell the toasted bread and slightly melted cheese. “No beer or chips though.”

As if offended by his discontent, a particle like swirl of energy appeared inside boundary laid out by the four pillar like structures holding the counter portion above the cube before resolving itself into a handful of potato chips on the plate and what looked to be a bottle of beer.

“Should we perhaps call Rodney about this?” Teyla put forward as she eyed the food items with caution.

On one hand they probably should, because this was the city doing something moderately weird. On the other hand, Evan had mentioned they had done the whole election thing to turn on the city's production facilities, and if they called McKay in he'd probably just eat it all while claiming it was a test.

“I'll tell him about it tomorrow.” John said as be walked over to the island and grabbed the plate and beer.

“Want one?” He asked Teyla as he held up the bottle, recalling that she had been rather fond of the drink in the shared mental illusion they'd gotten stuck in earlier in the year.

“Is it… Safe?” Teyla inquired as she eyed the bottle with an odd look.

John set both down before grabbing half of them sandwich and taking a bite, chewing cautiously for a moment before frowning slightly at the flavor.

“Taste's a bit off.” He offered as he swallowed. “Not in a bad way, more like it didnt know exactly what turkey and provolone was and tried to find something close.”

“Mustard's spot on though.” He added as he twisted the top off the beer and took a cautious sip before his eyes went wide in surprise.

“And the Ancients apparently knew their beer, cause this is high end brewery quality.”

“Then yes.” Teyla said as the tension he could see in her shoulders relaxed some. “Some alcohol would be greatly appreciated right now.”

Nodding he turned back to the still open cube. “Another beer, please.”

Thankfully for his coolness factor that actually worked, and with another swirling particle effect a second identical bottle appeared inside the cube.

“Please be aware that excessive alcohol consumption can result in impaired judgment.” A toneless female voice echoed out from the general area of them cube as he reached down to grab the bottle.

He gave the device an odd look as he handed the bottle to Teyla.

“Thanks for the warning.” He offered to the cube. “But we're good.”

“So.” He began as he turned to Teyla with a grin. “How was your time on Taranis?”

“Trying.” Teyla admitted with a grimace as she copied his earlier motion to open the bottle and then took a deep drink. “The Chancellor was extraordinarily difficult to deal with, and Eventus was little help, often making things more complicated in his rush to finish repairs on the vessel.”

“Sorry for leaving you with that.” John apologized as he brought the food over to the coffee table and motioned for Teyla to join him on the couch. “Things kind of snowballed after the Kavanagh meltdown, and Weir didn’t have the free hands to send us back till after Everett showed up. At which point they figured Lorne would be a better choice for soothing bruised egos.”

“Major Lorne was quite skilled in dealing with the Taranians.” Teyla returned as she sat down. “I believe Norina was rather sad to see him go.”

“Huh.” John muttered as he considered that for a moment. “Good for him.”

“I will admit however that your presence was missed.” Teyla continued with a slight grimace. “When you left I was attempting to work out how to approach you about a recent discovery that could impact my ability to continue on as a member of our team.”

“Yeah, I had gotten the sense that you were distracted about something.” John confessed, really hoping whatever it was wasn’t as serious to them as she was making it sound. “Didn’t want to pry though cause I knew you’d bring it up when you were ready.”

“Thank you John.” Teyla returned as she took another deep drink of her beer before visibly steeling herself in a way that suggested she was afraid of what his response would be to whatever it was she was about to say. “You are aware of my gifts?”

John nodded. “Your ability to sense the Wraith and see through their illusions? Yeah.”

A brief flash of vulnerability flashed over Teyla’s face at that before the woman buried it with another drink. “My people believed it was a gift given to us by the Ancestors to help survive the Wraith. However it seems that was not the case.”

“I remember you mentioning the first before.” John offered as he took a deep drink of his own, the distinct feeling that he might very well need it settling over him as he did.

Teyla gave him an acknowledging nod. “The day we arrived on Taranis I had a conversation with Eventus. And he explained that this was not the case, and instead our gifts originated from the fact that I was part Wraith.”

Her earlier vulnerability back in full swing at the admittance, John immediately clamped down on his instinctual response to try and drag her to Beckett to get checked over. This wasn’t something new after all, so it wasn’t like it changed anything about her, though now he had to figure out how to break it to Caldwell in such a way that he wouldn’t jump the gun and try to exclude the Athosian woman from various operations.

“I can see how that might be a shock to find out.” He said instead as he shot Teyla the same friendly grin as always to reinforce the fact that she was still just Teyla to him. “But hey, being a descendant of your worst enemy and using your powers to fight them instead isn’t the worst superhero origin to have.”

The tension bled out of her at that, and she let out a clearly relieved giggle at his words. “I fear I will not be dressing up like a bat any time soon.” 

“That’s fine.” He shot back with a chuckle. “You’re more of a wonder woman anyways.”

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The throbbing of a hangover in full swing dragged John back from the blissful realm of unconsciousness, and he tried to raise his arm to block out the light that was making it past his eyelids only to discover a heavy weight pinning it down.

Cracking an eye open, he saw the back of a vaguely familiar female head of hair. And it took his still waking mind a moment to even start to put things together before the form shifted slightly and everything ground to a halt as he noticed the distinct feeling of naked skin on his own.

“What the hell happened.” John muttered as he raised his other hand to try and massage away the throbbing in his temples.

“Please close the flap.” Teyla groaned, the woman sounding nearly as hungover as he currently felt as she rolled over and tried to all but bury herself into the crook of his arm to keep the light out.

That sent a surge of adrenaline racing through him, and he snapped into a more awake state as memories began to return and a feeling of panic settled over him.

“Teyla?”

“Please.” She mumbled into his chest, clearly not any more coherent than he had been moments ago. “I just wish to…” 

He felt the moment the realization hit the Athosian woman as her whole body tensed up, moments after which she practically shot up into a sitting position freeing his arm and clutching the sheets to her otherwise naked form.

“John I… We…” It was clear Teyla didn’t know what else to say as John pulled himself into a sitting position. 

“Yeah…” John returned somewhat lamely, taking an odd comfort in the way the Athosian woman's eyes took a moment to trail up and down his own now partially covered form. “From the feeling of my head we probably shouldn’t have had that second beer.”

Ancient beer was apparently high in alcohol content, good to know for the future.

“Apologies.” Teyla suddenly put forward, sounding oddly disjointed compared to her usually put together self. “You must think me…”

“Hey now.” He told her, getting the sudden and distinct feeling he might have stepped in something a lot more complex than just a drunken hookup. “It takes two to tango. And I’m pretty sure I was the one who came onto you first.”

The fact she visibly relaxed at that was odd enough he made a note to quietly ask around about Athosian cultural expectations related to sex and relationships later.

“In fact, I distinctly remember saying that you were beautiful.” John went on as he tried to work out where he should be looking now that Teyla had somewhat loosened her grip on the sheets allowing the fabric to slip down just far enough that he could see a glimpse of breast. “And then talking about how I was surprised you were still single given everything you've got going for you.”

“That was when I began telling you about how the fear of those with the gift often makes finding an acceptable partner rather difficult.” Teyla added in with a nod.

The alcohol must have been in full effect then, as John could blurrily recall the feeling of outrage that had flashed over him at hearing her words. “And then I started to go on about how those people were stupid, and I’d have been happy to have you.”

“At which point I kissed you.” Teyla confessed with a flush of embarrassment in her cheeks.

The memory of lips that tasted like strawberry briefly flashed across his mind before he shook it off.

“Then we…” John trailed off, not sure how to say it that wouldn't be even more embarrassing for them both.

“Several times.” Teyla confirmed, her lips quirking into a small smile. “You were quite satisfactory.”

That wasn’t exactly the sort of compliment John was used to hearing after the fact, however he’d known Teyla long enough at this point to tell it was just her honest appreciation of his efforts.

“Yeah… I…” He started, trying very hard not to focus on the memory given their current state of undress was already giving him a hard enough time with certain issues.

“Believe there is a talk we should have.” Teyla finished for him as a wry smile graced her lips.

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Author's Notes: Teyla feeling the need for self validation and beer with an alcohol content calibrated for Ancients equals a fun night and several morning regrets.

And before anyone asks, no, there is no QQ version of this one, things worked better story wise in this case with a transition from drinking and talking to waking up in the aftermath. Because comedy.