Second Verse, Same as the First
Mar. 3rd, 2010 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadelyntateAuthor: Jaded
Story: Second Verse, Same As The First
Disclaimer: I own the idea only. Joss owns Buffy, SyFy owns Stargate. No suing please!
Summary: When one life ends, another begins...
Warning: Contains slash pairings. Nothing adult, just know there will be homosexual relationships.
A/N 1: banner over on Twisting the Hellmouth requested a chart of some kind to see who is who's...the chart at the bottom has black spots for the Buffy/Stargate Characters that haven't shown up yet (which is why they're black). I'll post updated ones (with the black squares gone) in the chapter AFTER they appear.
Previous: Prequel - One - Two
We're not done yet
Not going quietly into the night, not me and my friends
We're not done yet, don't take us too seriously
It's just life we'll win in the end
And we walk on and on and on and we walk on and on
~ Superchick, “Not Done Yet”
Chapter Three
Getting the sixteen kids through the gate and into the city was a lot harder than it probably should have been.
For all their Earth knowledge, they didn't seem to realize they were on another planet until they left the confines of the ancient ruins and saw the two moons in the sky.
“Woah.”
John nearly tripped over Connor, who was staring up. All around his knees, the rest of the munchkins were doing the same. Finally, Willow started babbling something that sounded suspiciously science-y to John's ears.
Rodney's expression cycled quickly through surprise, intrigue, confusion, pleasure, and then, finally, pride.
“She's smart.” Rodney's observation was completely unnecessary but John knew better than to tell him that. “She's three and she already knows the different types of moons.”
“Look what I can do!”
John turned to Alexander, who started randomly punching the air and kicking. There was muffled snickers from the adults, including the watching military who'd come to help, when the four year old's all snorted in unison.
“That's not fighting,” Angel and William said at the same time. Alexander stuck his tongue out at them as Riley and Graham mimed the correct way to punch and kick.
“Is too!” Alexander insisted.
“Is not!” William shot back. Angel shot the blonde a look.
“Stop that!”
“I was talking first!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
Daniel and Carter lunged forward to grab the two boys when they made as if they were about to start punching for real.
“Boys are stupid,” Cordelia declared, flipping her hair. John looked down at her as the linguist and Atlantis CO scolded their sons. She looked up at John with a grin. “I can do flips!”
John watched, horrorstuck, as she took off running. She didn't actually do a flip as her legs were much too small. Instead, she sort of tumbled several feet. John raced to where she was sitting down, legs stretched in front of her and a dazed look on her face.
“Are you okay?” he asked, running a hand over her head and ignoring Rodney's comment that she was definitely his daughter. She blinked up at him and abruptly began crying. John had a brief flash of panic.
“Um, Cordelia, its, uh, its okay,” he stuttered, patting her hand. He was caught off guard when she threw herself at him, wrapping her tiny arms around John's arms.
“That was awesome!”
“Alexander!” O'Neill scolded. “That's not funny.”
“Yuh huh!”
“Nu uh.”
“Yuh huh.”
“Nu uh.”
“I think we figured out how old Jack is.” John didn't have to look up to know Jackson was smirking.
“Very funny, Daniel.”
“Kids, why don't you all save the, uh, acrobatics and fighting until we get to the city and the gym,” Mitchell suggested. There was a chorus of awe's and John studiously avoided looking at anyone's face.
~~~*~~~
“I'm almost afraid to ask,” Caldwell said when they had all gotten into the city. The lights brightened considerably as the kids looked around in awe. John caught O'Neill's eye.
“Well, at least one of them has the gene,” he said and the general nodded as he pulled Caldwell aside and gave him a speedy update. It was a mark of how crazy their lives had already been that Caldwell just nodded.
“Alright, kids, stick to your, uh, parents.” Half the kids giggled at the look on Keller's face as she said that. “We're going to the infirmary. We need to run some tests.”
“What kinda tests?” William asked suspiciously. Carter squatted down so she was eye-level with him.
“We need to take some of your blood and do some scans so we can make sure none of you are sick or could make anyone here sick,” she explained quietly and patiently, looking at all the kids, not just William. “We'll be doing it too, don't worry.”
“They're not going to 'speriment on me, are they?” he asked and John was sure he wasn't the only one with a horrified look on his face. Carter and Keller, in fact, looked downright sick.
“No!” the colonel told him vehemently. “I promise, we're not going to experiment on you. On any of you. I'll die before I let that happen.”
That seemed to be enough for the group and they all started to the infirmary. Keller was already talking on her comm when they made it to the room and found Teyla calmly watching Ronon pace outside the entrance. He stopped only when they came into view, all twenty-five of them.
“Ronon?” John asked, frowning. Absently, his hand went to Anya's hair as Cordelia craned her head back to look up at the Satedan.
“Wow, he's eaten his Wheaties.”
John pinched his nose—he was starting to think he and Rodney had gotten their girls mixed up.
“John...Rodney?” Teyla looked confused and startled.
John sighed. “Ancient baby-device. Scheming Ascended. New kids on the block.”
The entrance was quiet for a minute as Keller went to get everything ready. Finally, Ronon looked at him, the oddest expression on his face.
“You too?”
~~~*~~~
The woman from Sateda, Janna Kalderash, had run into a Runner named Ketana Kia roughly two years ago. Ketana had been pregnant and looking for a place to have her daughter, someplace that would be relatively safe from the Wraith. When she found Janna, who, being former military had a similar marking as Ronon, it'd been like a blessing from the Ancients. Ketana hadn't survived the child-birth but had made Janna promise that if she ever found Ronon, she'd give him his daughter.
“Katana and I ran into each other on a deserted planet right before I met up with you. We didn't stay very long,” Ronon told them, looking the most tired John had ever seen him. “It was one night.”
“That's all it takes,” O'Neill said, looking sympathetic. “She's two?”
“Yeah,” Ronon swallowed. “Janna heard from Solen about me.”
“And contacted you from there,” John guessed and Ronon nodded. “Does Janna want to keep her?”
“Janna has four children of her own,” Teyla answered the question. “She believes it would be better for everyone if she remained with her father within the safety of the city.”
“She promised Ketana,” Ronon rumbled. “True Satedan's don't break their word.”
“So basically, we just added seventeen kids to the city, instead of sixteen?” O'Neill asked and Ronon looked at him funny. “We're not taking any of the kids back to Earth. Not a good idea.”
“Ronon, are you sure you're going to be able to handle a two year old?” Rodney asked, frowning. Ronon looked at him.
“You gonna be able to handle those two redheads?”
Rodney stared at him. “We'll help each other,” he finally said and John saw Teyla hide a smile.
A sudden squeal and pattering of feet caught the adults attention. A little girl, hair in neat cornrows and skin the color of mocha, dashed into the doorway. She looked around, taking in all the children for a moment with wide eyes, before running forward on her tiny legs to throw herself at Ronon. She cringed as Marie, the head nurse, stepped into the doorway, obviously flustered.
“I was trying to get a blood sample,” she explained when Ronon glared at her.
“Ronon,” Carter spoke up for the first time, watching as the Satedan soothed the girls ruffled feathers. “What's her name?”
Ronon paused and when he finally spoke, a shiver went down John's spine.
“Kendra.”
~~~*~~~
Getting seventeen kids plus way too many adults through the infirmary took a long freakin' time. Keller took blood from everyone, then had them all file through the various ancient scanners, which was a trial in and of itself since none of the kids seemed content to sit still. By the time it was done, night was swiftly approaching and they were all hungry again.
“Alright, mess hall it is,” O'Neill said dryly when Alexander announced his desire to eat something, anything, even if it was covered in anchovies.
“YAY!”
John winced at the chorus of voices. In Mitchell's arms, Molly whimpered, causing the colonel to make soothing noises. Rodney followed Mitchell's example with Vivian and Lorne did the same with Cassie. A tugging caught his attention and he looked down to find Anya holding her arms up. Since Cordelia was currently pestering Teyla about something (he heard something about pants), he obligingly bent and picked her up. She snuggled into his neck and John absently thought he could get used to this.
Getting food was an experience, since the entire city had heard about the kids but hadn't yet seen them. Walking inside, every table turned to watch them go through the line. John was trying to juggle Anya, plus two trays of food (piling the second with enough for both girls) when Caldwell suddenly came over and took Anya off his hands.
“Thanks,” he told him, hiding his surprise at the action and his amusement to Anya's reaction to it. The blonde was staring at Caldwell incredulously, like she couldn't believe he'd just done what he had. Caldwell raised an eyebrow at her and she scowled.
Several people nearby snickered at the tiny girl's “Hmph!”
“Rodney, give her to me!” an exasperated voice demanded. John and Caldwell turned to find Cadman wrestling Vivian from Rodney's arms. Willow was holding a tray, looking dubiously at its contents. He knew how she felt.
“Cadman...”
“Please, Rodney, just shut up and accept help for a moment, would you?” Cadman demanded, running a hand through Vivian's soft red curls. “Get food and I'll go get one of the baby plates Keller had the kitchen prepare.”
She was gone with the one year old before Rodney could argue, leaving the physicist staring at the spot she'd been in. Finally, he turned to John.
“Did she just do what I think she just did?”
“Offer to help without calling you a controlling idiot?” John raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I think she did.”
Cadman and Caldwell's approach seemed to melt the ice for certain people. Heightmeyer hurried over to help Carter as Zelenka offered to carry trays for Lorne. He refused to touch the girls but would help with the food. Stackhouse, Marks (from the Daedalus), Miko, the new gate tech, two of John's captains, and most surprisingly of all, Kavanaugh, all helped them get settled in several tables squished together in the corner (Kavanaugh said something about seven younger siblings when Rodney demanded to know what he was doing).
They were half-way through dinner when John saw a tiny hand reaching hesitantly across the table. So far, they'd all shown remarkably good table manners, which was a blessing, so John was unsure of what was about to happen. Looking at the tiny redhead in between Rodney and Cadman, he saw her bite her lip in concentration as she picked up the cup of coffee with first one hand, then two. She shot a quick glance at Rodney before pulling it towards her. Rodney, busy with Vivian, didn't notice.
“I don't think so,” a voice said and John watched as Angel reached across Cadman and plucked the cup from the redheads grasp before she could bring it to her lips. He handed it to a startled Rodney before looking at the suddenly pouting Willow. He frowned at her. “You know better.”
“But--!”
“Willow!” Alexander cried. “You know you're not allowed to have coffee!”
There were several muttered agreements from the kids. “Why can't she have coffee?” Rodney and Jackson, like-minded coffee addicts, demanded at the same time.
“Besides the fact she's only three?” Mitchell muttered. He was ignored.
“She gets too hyper,” Alexander explained patiently. Rodney and Jackson looked at him blankly and he threw his hands in the air. “She starts going a zillion miles an hour.”
“Would you give a squirrel coffee?” Cordelia asked suddenly, looking at the adults. Many of them blanched or shuddered at the thought. She nodded smugly as the redhead's pout got bigger. “Willow and coffee are unmixy things.”
~~~*~~~
After the coffee fiasco, the eight adults realized they had no place to put the kids to sleep. John's quarters were out, as he hadn't cleaned in a while and his bed was practically too small for him let alone him plus two three year olds. Rodney's was covered in gadgets. Ronon's had weapons everywhere. Carter's had space but, like Rodney, had several projects in it.
“The gym,” O'Neill finally said when it was obvious the guest quarters weren't going to work either. “We'll take the kids, get them cleaned and brushed and...crap.”
“What?” John asked, eying his girls. They were whispering furiously at each other, which he was not sure was a good sign.
“We have no clothes for them,” O'Neill pointed out. John frowned and then looked at the Lantean style clothes the kids were currently dressed in.
“We can give t-shirts for the kids to sleep in tonight,” he said. “And they'll make do with their outfits they have now.”
“Kendra has several outfits from Janna that would fit Faith,” Teyla broke in smoothly. “And I know Halling has a chest of clothing from when Jinto was younger that would fit several of the boys.”
“That won't be enough,” John told her. “There are sixteen of them. Seventeen with Kendra.”
“Perhaps we can go to a trading world,” she suggested. “I know of a few where we could gather children's clothing.”
“That'll have to do for now,” O'Neill agreed. “Sheppard...keep on eye on my boys while I get a report ready to send in tonight's databurst. If their gene is anything like ours...”
John paled at the implications.
~~~*~~~
John watched as the kids all gathered around the gym with off-world sleeping bags. Anya and Cordelia had had another hair pulling fight just after John had talked with O'Neill, only with Anya as the pullee. They were currently standing on opposite sides of the room and glaring at each other.
“I'm not sleeping by him!” Alexander declared, scowling at Angel.
“Neither am I,” William agreed. From there it dissolved into an argument about who couldn't sleep by who. Sheppard watched, slightly awestruck at the chaos the sixteen kids had created, when Mitchell let out a piercing whistle.
“We're all separating by family,” he declared firmly. “Understood?”
The kids all mumbled as John glared at his friend. “Thanks,” he said, watching out of the corner of his eye as Cordelia and Anya dragged their bags to the corner he tossed his own. They looked like they were going to their funeral.
Mitchell smirked at him. “Anytime, Sheppard,” he said then wandered over to figure out how to put Molly down to sleep.
John watched as Riley and Alexander were left in the center of the room, looking lost. O'Neill wasn't going to be back for a while. Just as he was about to go over and suggest they join him and his girls, a curious thing happened.
One by one, the older kids dragged their sleeping bags back to the center of the room and plopped down around the two boys. There was a brief spat between Willow, Cordelia, and Anya over Alexander that resolved itself rather quickly with Willow on one side and Anya on the other, with Cordelia between Willow and Oz as Tara settled curled up by their heads. Graham and Riley laid down together and were asleep within minutes. At the two groups feet were Angel, William, Faith, Connor, and Andrew.
In the end, the only kids not involved in the semi-puppy pile were Cassie, Vivian, and Molly, because they were too young, and Kendra, who refused to leave her fathers side. John looked at Rodney, a few feet from him.
“They're really ours, aren't they?” the physicist whispered in awe and John's eyes flickered back to his girls.
“Oh yeah,” he agreed. He watched as the kids drifted off with practically no fuss. “This should be interesting.”
“You're a master of the understatement, you know that?” Rodney grumbled. On Rodney's other side, Ronon snorted as Kendra fell asleep on top of him.
“Four years and you're just now figuring this out, McKay?” John wasn't sure if he should be amused or insulted by this.
“Ronon?” McKay started, curling carefully around Vivian.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and go to sleep.”
Giant ass table thingy can be found here
Story: Second Verse, Same As The First
Disclaimer: I own the idea only. Joss owns Buffy, SyFy owns Stargate. No suing please!
Summary: When one life ends, another begins...
Warning: Contains slash pairings. Nothing adult, just know there will be homosexual relationships.
A/N 1: banner over on Twisting the Hellmouth requested a chart of some kind to see who is who's...the chart at the bottom has black spots for the Buffy/Stargate Characters that haven't shown up yet (which is why they're black). I'll post updated ones (with the black squares gone) in the chapter AFTER they appear.
Previous: Prequel - One - Two
We're not done yet
Not going quietly into the night, not me and my friends
We're not done yet, don't take us too seriously
It's just life we'll win in the end
And we walk on and on and on and we walk on and on
~ Superchick, “Not Done Yet”
Chapter Three
Getting the sixteen kids through the gate and into the city was a lot harder than it probably should have been.
For all their Earth knowledge, they didn't seem to realize they were on another planet until they left the confines of the ancient ruins and saw the two moons in the sky.
“Woah.”
John nearly tripped over Connor, who was staring up. All around his knees, the rest of the munchkins were doing the same. Finally, Willow started babbling something that sounded suspiciously science-y to John's ears.
Rodney's expression cycled quickly through surprise, intrigue, confusion, pleasure, and then, finally, pride.
“She's smart.” Rodney's observation was completely unnecessary but John knew better than to tell him that. “She's three and she already knows the different types of moons.”
“Look what I can do!”
John turned to Alexander, who started randomly punching the air and kicking. There was muffled snickers from the adults, including the watching military who'd come to help, when the four year old's all snorted in unison.
“That's not fighting,” Angel and William said at the same time. Alexander stuck his tongue out at them as Riley and Graham mimed the correct way to punch and kick.
“Is too!” Alexander insisted.
“Is not!” William shot back. Angel shot the blonde a look.
“Stop that!”
“I was talking first!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
“Was not!”
“Was too!”
Daniel and Carter lunged forward to grab the two boys when they made as if they were about to start punching for real.
“Boys are stupid,” Cordelia declared, flipping her hair. John looked down at her as the linguist and Atlantis CO scolded their sons. She looked up at John with a grin. “I can do flips!”
John watched, horrorstuck, as she took off running. She didn't actually do a flip as her legs were much too small. Instead, she sort of tumbled several feet. John raced to where she was sitting down, legs stretched in front of her and a dazed look on her face.
“Are you okay?” he asked, running a hand over her head and ignoring Rodney's comment that she was definitely his daughter. She blinked up at him and abruptly began crying. John had a brief flash of panic.
“Um, Cordelia, its, uh, its okay,” he stuttered, patting her hand. He was caught off guard when she threw herself at him, wrapping her tiny arms around John's arms.
“That was awesome!”
“Alexander!” O'Neill scolded. “That's not funny.”
“Yuh huh!”
“Nu uh.”
“Yuh huh.”
“Nu uh.”
“I think we figured out how old Jack is.” John didn't have to look up to know Jackson was smirking.
“Very funny, Daniel.”
“Kids, why don't you all save the, uh, acrobatics and fighting until we get to the city and the gym,” Mitchell suggested. There was a chorus of awe's and John studiously avoided looking at anyone's face.
~~~*~~~
“I'm almost afraid to ask,” Caldwell said when they had all gotten into the city. The lights brightened considerably as the kids looked around in awe. John caught O'Neill's eye.
“Well, at least one of them has the gene,” he said and the general nodded as he pulled Caldwell aside and gave him a speedy update. It was a mark of how crazy their lives had already been that Caldwell just nodded.
“Alright, kids, stick to your, uh, parents.” Half the kids giggled at the look on Keller's face as she said that. “We're going to the infirmary. We need to run some tests.”
“What kinda tests?” William asked suspiciously. Carter squatted down so she was eye-level with him.
“We need to take some of your blood and do some scans so we can make sure none of you are sick or could make anyone here sick,” she explained quietly and patiently, looking at all the kids, not just William. “We'll be doing it too, don't worry.”
“They're not going to 'speriment on me, are they?” he asked and John was sure he wasn't the only one with a horrified look on his face. Carter and Keller, in fact, looked downright sick.
“No!” the colonel told him vehemently. “I promise, we're not going to experiment on you. On any of you. I'll die before I let that happen.”
That seemed to be enough for the group and they all started to the infirmary. Keller was already talking on her comm when they made it to the room and found Teyla calmly watching Ronon pace outside the entrance. He stopped only when they came into view, all twenty-five of them.
“Ronon?” John asked, frowning. Absently, his hand went to Anya's hair as Cordelia craned her head back to look up at the Satedan.
“Wow, he's eaten his Wheaties.”
John pinched his nose—he was starting to think he and Rodney had gotten their girls mixed up.
“John...Rodney?” Teyla looked confused and startled.
John sighed. “Ancient baby-device. Scheming Ascended. New kids on the block.”
The entrance was quiet for a minute as Keller went to get everything ready. Finally, Ronon looked at him, the oddest expression on his face.
“You too?”
~~~*~~~
The woman from Sateda, Janna Kalderash, had run into a Runner named Ketana Kia roughly two years ago. Ketana had been pregnant and looking for a place to have her daughter, someplace that would be relatively safe from the Wraith. When she found Janna, who, being former military had a similar marking as Ronon, it'd been like a blessing from the Ancients. Ketana hadn't survived the child-birth but had made Janna promise that if she ever found Ronon, she'd give him his daughter.
“Katana and I ran into each other on a deserted planet right before I met up with you. We didn't stay very long,” Ronon told them, looking the most tired John had ever seen him. “It was one night.”
“That's all it takes,” O'Neill said, looking sympathetic. “She's two?”
“Yeah,” Ronon swallowed. “Janna heard from Solen about me.”
“And contacted you from there,” John guessed and Ronon nodded. “Does Janna want to keep her?”
“Janna has four children of her own,” Teyla answered the question. “She believes it would be better for everyone if she remained with her father within the safety of the city.”
“She promised Ketana,” Ronon rumbled. “True Satedan's don't break their word.”
“So basically, we just added seventeen kids to the city, instead of sixteen?” O'Neill asked and Ronon looked at him funny. “We're not taking any of the kids back to Earth. Not a good idea.”
“Ronon, are you sure you're going to be able to handle a two year old?” Rodney asked, frowning. Ronon looked at him.
“You gonna be able to handle those two redheads?”
Rodney stared at him. “We'll help each other,” he finally said and John saw Teyla hide a smile.
A sudden squeal and pattering of feet caught the adults attention. A little girl, hair in neat cornrows and skin the color of mocha, dashed into the doorway. She looked around, taking in all the children for a moment with wide eyes, before running forward on her tiny legs to throw herself at Ronon. She cringed as Marie, the head nurse, stepped into the doorway, obviously flustered.
“I was trying to get a blood sample,” she explained when Ronon glared at her.
“Ronon,” Carter spoke up for the first time, watching as the Satedan soothed the girls ruffled feathers. “What's her name?”
Ronon paused and when he finally spoke, a shiver went down John's spine.
“Kendra.”
~~~*~~~
Getting seventeen kids plus way too many adults through the infirmary took a long freakin' time. Keller took blood from everyone, then had them all file through the various ancient scanners, which was a trial in and of itself since none of the kids seemed content to sit still. By the time it was done, night was swiftly approaching and they were all hungry again.
“Alright, mess hall it is,” O'Neill said dryly when Alexander announced his desire to eat something, anything, even if it was covered in anchovies.
“YAY!”
John winced at the chorus of voices. In Mitchell's arms, Molly whimpered, causing the colonel to make soothing noises. Rodney followed Mitchell's example with Vivian and Lorne did the same with Cassie. A tugging caught his attention and he looked down to find Anya holding her arms up. Since Cordelia was currently pestering Teyla about something (he heard something about pants), he obligingly bent and picked her up. She snuggled into his neck and John absently thought he could get used to this.
Getting food was an experience, since the entire city had heard about the kids but hadn't yet seen them. Walking inside, every table turned to watch them go through the line. John was trying to juggle Anya, plus two trays of food (piling the second with enough for both girls) when Caldwell suddenly came over and took Anya off his hands.
“Thanks,” he told him, hiding his surprise at the action and his amusement to Anya's reaction to it. The blonde was staring at Caldwell incredulously, like she couldn't believe he'd just done what he had. Caldwell raised an eyebrow at her and she scowled.
Several people nearby snickered at the tiny girl's “Hmph!”
“Rodney, give her to me!” an exasperated voice demanded. John and Caldwell turned to find Cadman wrestling Vivian from Rodney's arms. Willow was holding a tray, looking dubiously at its contents. He knew how she felt.
“Cadman...”
“Please, Rodney, just shut up and accept help for a moment, would you?” Cadman demanded, running a hand through Vivian's soft red curls. “Get food and I'll go get one of the baby plates Keller had the kitchen prepare.”
She was gone with the one year old before Rodney could argue, leaving the physicist staring at the spot she'd been in. Finally, he turned to John.
“Did she just do what I think she just did?”
“Offer to help without calling you a controlling idiot?” John raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I think she did.”
Cadman and Caldwell's approach seemed to melt the ice for certain people. Heightmeyer hurried over to help Carter as Zelenka offered to carry trays for Lorne. He refused to touch the girls but would help with the food. Stackhouse, Marks (from the Daedalus), Miko, the new gate tech, two of John's captains, and most surprisingly of all, Kavanaugh, all helped them get settled in several tables squished together in the corner (Kavanaugh said something about seven younger siblings when Rodney demanded to know what he was doing).
They were half-way through dinner when John saw a tiny hand reaching hesitantly across the table. So far, they'd all shown remarkably good table manners, which was a blessing, so John was unsure of what was about to happen. Looking at the tiny redhead in between Rodney and Cadman, he saw her bite her lip in concentration as she picked up the cup of coffee with first one hand, then two. She shot a quick glance at Rodney before pulling it towards her. Rodney, busy with Vivian, didn't notice.
“I don't think so,” a voice said and John watched as Angel reached across Cadman and plucked the cup from the redheads grasp before she could bring it to her lips. He handed it to a startled Rodney before looking at the suddenly pouting Willow. He frowned at her. “You know better.”
“But--!”
“Willow!” Alexander cried. “You know you're not allowed to have coffee!”
There were several muttered agreements from the kids. “Why can't she have coffee?” Rodney and Jackson, like-minded coffee addicts, demanded at the same time.
“Besides the fact she's only three?” Mitchell muttered. He was ignored.
“She gets too hyper,” Alexander explained patiently. Rodney and Jackson looked at him blankly and he threw his hands in the air. “She starts going a zillion miles an hour.”
“Would you give a squirrel coffee?” Cordelia asked suddenly, looking at the adults. Many of them blanched or shuddered at the thought. She nodded smugly as the redhead's pout got bigger. “Willow and coffee are unmixy things.”
~~~*~~~
After the coffee fiasco, the eight adults realized they had no place to put the kids to sleep. John's quarters were out, as he hadn't cleaned in a while and his bed was practically too small for him let alone him plus two three year olds. Rodney's was covered in gadgets. Ronon's had weapons everywhere. Carter's had space but, like Rodney, had several projects in it.
“The gym,” O'Neill finally said when it was obvious the guest quarters weren't going to work either. “We'll take the kids, get them cleaned and brushed and...crap.”
“What?” John asked, eying his girls. They were whispering furiously at each other, which he was not sure was a good sign.
“We have no clothes for them,” O'Neill pointed out. John frowned and then looked at the Lantean style clothes the kids were currently dressed in.
“We can give t-shirts for the kids to sleep in tonight,” he said. “And they'll make do with their outfits they have now.”
“Kendra has several outfits from Janna that would fit Faith,” Teyla broke in smoothly. “And I know Halling has a chest of clothing from when Jinto was younger that would fit several of the boys.”
“That won't be enough,” John told her. “There are sixteen of them. Seventeen with Kendra.”
“Perhaps we can go to a trading world,” she suggested. “I know of a few where we could gather children's clothing.”
“That'll have to do for now,” O'Neill agreed. “Sheppard...keep on eye on my boys while I get a report ready to send in tonight's databurst. If their gene is anything like ours...”
John paled at the implications.
~~~*~~~
John watched as the kids all gathered around the gym with off-world sleeping bags. Anya and Cordelia had had another hair pulling fight just after John had talked with O'Neill, only with Anya as the pullee. They were currently standing on opposite sides of the room and glaring at each other.
“I'm not sleeping by him!” Alexander declared, scowling at Angel.
“Neither am I,” William agreed. From there it dissolved into an argument about who couldn't sleep by who. Sheppard watched, slightly awestruck at the chaos the sixteen kids had created, when Mitchell let out a piercing whistle.
“We're all separating by family,” he declared firmly. “Understood?”
The kids all mumbled as John glared at his friend. “Thanks,” he said, watching out of the corner of his eye as Cordelia and Anya dragged their bags to the corner he tossed his own. They looked like they were going to their funeral.
Mitchell smirked at him. “Anytime, Sheppard,” he said then wandered over to figure out how to put Molly down to sleep.
John watched as Riley and Alexander were left in the center of the room, looking lost. O'Neill wasn't going to be back for a while. Just as he was about to go over and suggest they join him and his girls, a curious thing happened.
One by one, the older kids dragged their sleeping bags back to the center of the room and plopped down around the two boys. There was a brief spat between Willow, Cordelia, and Anya over Alexander that resolved itself rather quickly with Willow on one side and Anya on the other, with Cordelia between Willow and Oz as Tara settled curled up by their heads. Graham and Riley laid down together and were asleep within minutes. At the two groups feet were Angel, William, Faith, Connor, and Andrew.
In the end, the only kids not involved in the semi-puppy pile were Cassie, Vivian, and Molly, because they were too young, and Kendra, who refused to leave her fathers side. John looked at Rodney, a few feet from him.
“They're really ours, aren't they?” the physicist whispered in awe and John's eyes flickered back to his girls.
“Oh yeah,” he agreed. He watched as the kids drifted off with practically no fuss. “This should be interesting.”
“You're a master of the understatement, you know that?” Rodney grumbled. On Rodney's other side, Ronon snorted as Kendra fell asleep on top of him.
“Four years and you're just now figuring this out, McKay?” John wasn't sure if he should be amused or insulted by this.
“Ronon?” McKay started, curling carefully around Vivian.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and go to sleep.”
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-04 09:59 am (UTC)