Unexpected in Common Hours
Feb. 10th, 2008 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nellacittaTitle: Unexpected in Common Hours
Pairings: Teyla, touch of John/Rodney, Ronon/Keller
Rating: PG (if that)
Words: ~1300
Notes: Written for 14 Valentines but, due to my own oversight, not posted there. Thanks to Thoreau for the title, and Norman Anderson's Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History for the italicized portions of the text. (They are bits and pieces of a letter describing George Ferris, "inventor" of the Ferris wheel.)
---------------------------------
Pairings: Teyla, touch of John/Rodney, Ronon/Keller
Rating: PG (if that)
Words: ~1300
Notes: Written for 14 Valentines but, due to my own oversight, not posted there. Thanks to Thoreau for the title, and Norman Anderson's Ferris Wheels: An Illustrated History for the italicized portions of the text. (They are bits and pieces of a letter describing George Ferris, "inventor" of the Ferris wheel.)
---------------------------------
In him you detect a little of the Western angularity, perhaps; for the rest, that bearing of easy confidence and mild cynicism.
Teyla doesn’t really remember the first words that John Sheppard spoke to her, worlds and years ago. She remembers that he found her necklace, and that he woke the Wraith and the reasons why. She remembers him leading her people to Atlantis, and the frantic hours and days that followed; and she remembers when he asked her to join his team.
So when she unpeeled the thin colored paper from the package that John handed her, she smiled at the brightly colored drawings, stroked the smooth white paper, and looked up to John to wait for his explanation.
Rodney had accompanied his gift (a glittering, twisting structure of metal and glass, a creation that Teyla thinks Atlantis would approve of) with warnings about small parts and sharp pieces and assurances that early visual stimulation would help develop the mental processes of her baby, “not that it won’t already be very intelligent, but it never hurts to cover all the angles.”
Ronon had given Teyla a blanket made from pilaz fibers (and not the tiny knife that John and Rodney had predicted). Charin had once told Teyla that she had been swaddled in such a blanket when she was born, and brushing the soft material between her hands, Telya came closer to tears than she had since she’d spoken to the dying seer. With the earth-toned blanket spread across her lap, she exchanged smiles with Ronon who’d simply said, “Should keep ‘em warm.”
But when Teyla raised an eyebrow in John’s direction, he just grinned and sat back. Teyla thought that he might have winked at her if Rodney hadn’t interjected.
“A history of Ferris wheels, Colonel? I suppose it’s better than fighter jets, but an introduction to physics or a history of wormhole study might have been more applicable. Though everything that’s published is sure to be eye-burningly mistaken, and it probably is a good thing to not start the baby off on the wrong track.”
And then Cadman slapped Rodney’s shoulder with one hand and with the other offered Teyla a package that contained what Laura called “Baby’s First Bomb Kit” and amidst Rodney’s exclamations and Ronon’s amusement, Teyla decided she could ask John about his gift another time.
When Teyla first noticed Keller and Ronon whispering in corners and giving her sidelong glances when they all sat together in the mess hall, she had assumed that the two had begun a relationship and were keeping it to themselves. Though she was unimpressed by Ronon’s efforts at secrecy and looked forward to eliciting the information from him in a sparring session, she found herself surprised at how easily she understood how a bond had formed between the two.
Later, after Keller shared her stories of baby showers on Earth and told how she had corralled Ronon into making it a surprise, and after she gave Teyla a bracelet with a tiny shoe, rattle, and pacifier, Teyla found herself surprised again, this time by a tinge of regret. She was not sure if the feeling came from so misreading the situation or from seeing a happiness within reach, and yet not grasped by her friends.
Rodney came to personally install his creation over the crib that Sergeant Laretes had constructed by hand.
“Of course, some people might call it a mobile, but it really does so much more than spin in circles and glitter that I think a more precise name is necessary to describe its purpose.”
He continued to talk as Teyla showed him where to hang the star-mobile, pointing out some of more interesting materials and telling stories about the trouble he went through to get them. At some point, he segued to the importance of a balanced early child education. Teyla let it wash over her, imitating the way she’s seen John sit with half an ear open and a content expression on his face.
She was just past seven months along now, according to Keller, and was tired all of the time, and was shamed and saddened when she looked at the crib and compared it to what Halling had always promised to make her, or what Kannan could have created out of the Rhelin trees that surrounded the most recent Athosian community.
Rodney’s voice soothed her, the undulations familiar and kind, and when he finished, the star-mobile glittering and swinging in a breeze coming through her window, he clapped his hands once and said, “Well, that’s done.” He sent a half smile towards Teyla and was nearly to the door of her quarters when she reached an arm out to him.
Hands on his shoulders and his on hers, and Teyla felt more at peace than she had since before John had tossed her off the team.
“Thank you, Rodney,” she said, opening her eyes and straightening her back.
Rodney was blushing red, and gave a larger, softer smile and a wave-like hand motion on his way out the door.
When Dr. Jennifer Keller sat down at the table after they’d all been released from the quarantine, Teyla could not resist a small smile. Intuition was still her friend after all.
Eight and a half months and Teyla was so full of anticipation she had thankfully little time for bouts of nervousness or longing. Still, she found herself circling her room and counting up the care that those surrounding her now held for her. She counted the charms on her bracelet, spun the mobile in slower and slower circles, draped the blanket across her middle, and finally picked up the book from John.
Rodney was right in thinking it a frivolous subject. So much time and skill spent on a thing for play, and so many years of built up knowledge and technology. When she had first come to Atlantis, Teyla had conversed with many of the people of Earth, trying to understand what it might be like to have grown up in a world of such uninterrupted progress, and she wondered, now, why no one had mentioned the Ferris wheel.
It provided no forward motion, no practical application, and for the first two or three hundred years of its existence could do no more than lift its passengers a few feet up from the ground. And yet, as the designs progressed, she saw complex lattices of metal and wood that reminded her of Rodney’s inventing, and the watercolor of “A View from the Top” at the end of the book explained John’s fascination.
Red and pink sky, with ripples of water stretching out to the glowing orange sun at the horizon. It was a sight she had seen often from the puddlejumpers, and on each occasion they weren’t running for their lives, John had paused and seemed to breathe in the blue-orange light flooding the ‘jumper.
Teyla overheard it while Ronon was walking her to the infirmary for a checkup. She had just decided on a statement with the highest likelihood of causing Ronon to blush if Jennifer said hello to him when Rodney’s voice caught her attention.
“John, you know that I, I-”
“Yeah, Rodney, I know.”
“Oh! Oh, well, ok then, I guess I’ll-”
“Rodney. Me too.”
Teyla and Ronon rounded the corner in the next instant, in time to see their two teammates turning along the next corridor, fingers gently twining together.
After another couple of turns in silence, Ronon said, disparagingly, “Young love.”
Teyla surprised herself by snorting loudly. She lightly pressed a hand to her chest, the simple joy she felt for herself and for her family suddenly too much for her heart to contain, too dear to speak.
Teyla doesn’t really remember the first words that John Sheppard spoke to her, worlds and years ago. She remembers that he found her necklace, and that he woke the Wraith and the reasons why. She remembers him leading her people to Atlantis, and the frantic hours and days that followed; and she remembers when he asked her to join his team.
So when she unpeeled the thin colored paper from the package that John handed her, she smiled at the brightly colored drawings, stroked the smooth white paper, and looked up to John to wait for his explanation.
Rodney had accompanied his gift (a glittering, twisting structure of metal and glass, a creation that Teyla thinks Atlantis would approve of) with warnings about small parts and sharp pieces and assurances that early visual stimulation would help develop the mental processes of her baby, “not that it won’t already be very intelligent, but it never hurts to cover all the angles.”
Ronon had given Teyla a blanket made from pilaz fibers (and not the tiny knife that John and Rodney had predicted). Charin had once told Teyla that she had been swaddled in such a blanket when she was born, and brushing the soft material between her hands, Telya came closer to tears than she had since she’d spoken to the dying seer. With the earth-toned blanket spread across her lap, she exchanged smiles with Ronon who’d simply said, “Should keep ‘em warm.”
But when Teyla raised an eyebrow in John’s direction, he just grinned and sat back. Teyla thought that he might have winked at her if Rodney hadn’t interjected.
“A history of Ferris wheels, Colonel? I suppose it’s better than fighter jets, but an introduction to physics or a history of wormhole study might have been more applicable. Though everything that’s published is sure to be eye-burningly mistaken, and it probably is a good thing to not start the baby off on the wrong track.”
And then Cadman slapped Rodney’s shoulder with one hand and with the other offered Teyla a package that contained what Laura called “Baby’s First Bomb Kit” and amidst Rodney’s exclamations and Ronon’s amusement, Teyla decided she could ask John about his gift another time.
---------------------------------
He greets you easily, his demeanor is quiet, his tones low.When Teyla first noticed Keller and Ronon whispering in corners and giving her sidelong glances when they all sat together in the mess hall, she had assumed that the two had begun a relationship and were keeping it to themselves. Though she was unimpressed by Ronon’s efforts at secrecy and looked forward to eliciting the information from him in a sparring session, she found herself surprised at how easily she understood how a bond had formed between the two.
Later, after Keller shared her stories of baby showers on Earth and told how she had corralled Ronon into making it a surprise, and after she gave Teyla a bracelet with a tiny shoe, rattle, and pacifier, Teyla found herself surprised again, this time by a tinge of regret. She was not sure if the feeling came from so misreading the situation or from seeing a happiness within reach, and yet not grasped by her friends.
---------------------------------
As he speaks…you feel yourself in the presence of a man surcharged, teeming with ideas.Rodney came to personally install his creation over the crib that Sergeant Laretes had constructed by hand.
“Of course, some people might call it a mobile, but it really does so much more than spin in circles and glitter that I think a more precise name is necessary to describe its purpose.”
He continued to talk as Teyla showed him where to hang the star-mobile, pointing out some of more interesting materials and telling stories about the trouble he went through to get them. At some point, he segued to the importance of a balanced early child education. Teyla let it wash over her, imitating the way she’s seen John sit with half an ear open and a content expression on his face.
She was just past seven months along now, according to Keller, and was tired all of the time, and was shamed and saddened when she looked at the crib and compared it to what Halling had always promised to make her, or what Kannan could have created out of the Rhelin trees that surrounded the most recent Athosian community.
Rodney’s voice soothed her, the undulations familiar and kind, and when he finished, the star-mobile glittering and swinging in a breeze coming through her window, he clapped his hands once and said, “Well, that’s done.” He sent a half smile towards Teyla and was nearly to the door of her quarters when she reached an arm out to him.
Hands on his shoulders and his on hers, and Teyla felt more at peace than she had since before John had tossed her off the team.
“Thank you, Rodney,” she said, opening her eyes and straightening her back.
Rodney was blushing red, and gave a larger, softer smile and a wave-like hand motion on his way out the door.
---------------------------------
There is about him something of that native, almost boyish candor.When Dr. Jennifer Keller sat down at the table after they’d all been released from the quarantine, Teyla could not resist a small smile. Intuition was still her friend after all.
---------------------------------
In a quiet sentence he opens unexpected vistas or turns the corner upon an idea so novel that it is startling.Eight and a half months and Teyla was so full of anticipation she had thankfully little time for bouts of nervousness or longing. Still, she found herself circling her room and counting up the care that those surrounding her now held for her. She counted the charms on her bracelet, spun the mobile in slower and slower circles, draped the blanket across her middle, and finally picked up the book from John.
Rodney was right in thinking it a frivolous subject. So much time and skill spent on a thing for play, and so many years of built up knowledge and technology. When she had first come to Atlantis, Teyla had conversed with many of the people of Earth, trying to understand what it might be like to have grown up in a world of such uninterrupted progress, and she wondered, now, why no one had mentioned the Ferris wheel.
It provided no forward motion, no practical application, and for the first two or three hundred years of its existence could do no more than lift its passengers a few feet up from the ground. And yet, as the designs progressed, she saw complex lattices of metal and wood that reminded her of Rodney’s inventing, and the watercolor of “A View from the Top” at the end of the book explained John’s fascination.
Red and pink sky, with ripples of water stretching out to the glowing orange sun at the horizon. It was a sight she had seen often from the puddlejumpers, and on each occasion they weren’t running for their lives, John had paused and seemed to breathe in the blue-orange light flooding the ‘jumper.
---------------------------------
His conversation is fascinating.Teyla overheard it while Ronon was walking her to the infirmary for a checkup. She had just decided on a statement with the highest likelihood of causing Ronon to blush if Jennifer said hello to him when Rodney’s voice caught her attention.
“John, you know that I, I-”
“Yeah, Rodney, I know.”
“Oh! Oh, well, ok then, I guess I’ll-”
“Rodney. Me too.”
Teyla and Ronon rounded the corner in the next instant, in time to see their two teammates turning along the next corridor, fingers gently twining together.
After another couple of turns in silence, Ronon said, disparagingly, “Young love.”
Teyla surprised herself by snorting loudly. She lightly pressed a hand to her chest, the simple joy she felt for herself and for her family suddenly too much for her heart to contain, too dear to speak.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-21 03:14 pm (UTC)