Team Sheppard

[ooc: this takes place shortly after "Sunday". For our purposes the role of Doctor Jennifer Keller will be played by Jessica Alba, and not Jewel Staite, because frankly, it's less head-hurty that way.]

John trudged down the hallways, trying to scrub the images burned into his visit to the infirmary just now. Carson was in somewhat stable condition and Teyla was sleeping peacefully. The new doctor, Jennifer Keller, was monitoring both of them, as well as taking care of the rest of the aftermath of recent events. While John was thankful that Carson managed to clear much of the blast, the poor Marine on the bomb-squad wasn't so lucky. The Colonel had yet another letter to write to another family, explaining without somehow managing to breach security clearance that their father-brother-husband-son had been killed in the line of duty.

He hated this part of his job and wished like hell that Elizabeth would do it. She had, during that first year, but only because he was too busy scouting out Alpha Sites and doing Recon missions to prep for the arrival of the Wraith. Since then, it had fallen to him, another pile of paperwork to go with all the beauracratic red-tape dodging that came with the job. Hence, the trudging, and the semi-shuffling of his feet as he made his way back to his room, hand trailing absently along a wall here or there, eyes unseeing as he passed friends and collegues. Everyone had been through the same torment and trauma as he had, and it showed. Repair teams were busy fixing both hallways, the Science Department was down closing off the room with the tumour-making machine so no one else would make the mistake of going in there and messing with things. Rodney said that the schematics were in the database, so they'd study the thing inside and out and find a way to dismantle it.

And outside of all that, life went on within the city. John had a feeling that Doctor Heightmeyer would be incredibly busy in the coming weeks, as folks began to deal with the on-set of post-traumatic stress. He knew it was only a matter of time before Elizabeth ordered him to do the same, so he had booked an appontment for early next week. No harm in being pro-active, after all. And it may just put him in Elizabeth's good graces for a while to come.

He stepped into his room and fell backwards onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his uniform. Everything was still set up as he and Ronon had left it, and gosh that had seemed like years ago...

Sigh.

This was it, he decided. They'd been together long enough for him to be certain of a few things, and, also? It just felt right.

He had nothing planned save for the where, and the presentation of the where. He decided that several candles on the dresser - the surface of which had been cleared of just about everything - would suffice for lighting. Not too many, because that was over-kill, and besides, he had no idea how candles played a role in those rituals she mentioned and the last thing he wanted was for her to be reminded of that. Somehow, he didn't think it would matter, but still. The thought was there. And he banished it.

The awkward part came when Teyla discovered him smuggling the candles to his room. She raised a brow and he stammered something incoherent and fled for the sanctuary of his room. He had gone for lunch with McKay, and when he had returned, his modest supply of candles had been augmented to provide an artful, yet sensual display, and a bowl sat in the middle of a semi-circle of candles of various sizes on the dresser, with a bottle of scented rose-water and a strange flower that reminded him of a lily on a lilypad. Peeking out from under the bowl was a folded piece of paper, which he snatched up and read eagerly.

The proper Athosian custom for this particular event of courtship requires candles placed in a specific array around the room. The centerpiece of a floating flower is to represent the eternalness of your union, as the flames represent the strength of your passion.

I will be by to light the candles and set the flower when the time comes.

I wish you both the best.

T.

He smiled and pocketed the note. He looked around his room and figured that, incongruous as the candles would be with the rest of the decor, it was somehow fitting. Thanks, Teyla. I owe you one.

Now, all he had to do was wait for Inara to arrive for her visit and reherse the excuse he had to force her to use the guest chambers to freshen up.

...He just wished he wasn't so damned nervous.