Archive of Our Own

John smiled as he walked into the control room and saw the group of technicians on top of and around a couple of ladders. Chuck let out a not so manly yell as he tried to regain his balance while Banks hurried to catch him. Fortunately, an accident didn’t happen but John's mind pictured the image anyway. Chuck on the floor with his legs up in the air, tangled with Amelia, both with Christmas lights intertwined blinking red and green, one lamp strategically placed in his mouth. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Careful there, Campbell. You wouldn't want to spend Christmas time in Doctor Keller's care, would you?"

"Uh… no, sir. I wouldn't want that."

Chuck resumed his activity, now supporting himself with a hand on the wall while the other tried to reach the nail that had been hammered in place by Peter Grodin during the first year of the expedition. At the time, Peter had claimed that the control room would be more festive with a little decoration during some of the Earth holidays. It had been a very good idea that had helped everyone with the home sickness from being cut off from Earth.

John smiled at the bittersweet memory. Elizabeth had laughed and agreed wholeheartedly while Ford bounced in excitement already coming up with the competition of who would be able to put the decorations highest up on the wall.

John's smile faded. Five years later, they still kept up with their tradition, but now so many people were absent.

John shook his head and continued his way towards Woolsey's office. Rodney was in there, smiling from ear to ear, making John brace himself for trouble. Maybe he had finally found that ZPM factory rumored in the Atlantis databank.

And just in time for Christmas.

"Thank you very much, Mister Woolsey," Rodney was saying as John walked in.

Woolsey smiled. "No problem. I'm glad to hear that you'll finally take a Christmas off. I've heard from my predecessors that you always liked to spend the holidays in Atlantis."

"Well, that was before I met Jennifer."

John raised an eyebrow. "You're going away for Christmas?"

Rodney turned around, not hiding his grin. "Yep. Jennifer asked me to spend it in Chippewa Falls with her father."

John nodded and tried to smile. "That's good, Rodney. But I'm afraid that means I'll have to eat Lieutenant Barros' Christmas special all by myself."

That didn't make Rodney's smile drop. "No problem. Jennifer told me her father can make a roast turkey like no one else. And she's going to try making her mother's secret pudding."

John nodded. "Good luck with that." John didn't know Keller could cook and the lack of any proof of that probably indicated she couldn't. Plus, there was the fact that Rodney said she would try to make pudding.

It would be interesting to watch them both inside a kitchen trying to have a normal holiday.

"Yes, well. I have a lot of things to do. Making sure the city doesn't fall apart while I’m gone and all." Rodney turned and started to leave.

John spun around. "When are you leaving?"

"Next week along with the first wave of personnel." He grinned.

John raised an eyebrow. "So soon? I was expecting to be able to…" He shrugged. "Do that… thing with you during the twelve days." John hoped he had been cryptic enough in front of Woolsey.

"Oh." Rodney's smile finally faded. "Right. I forgot about that. I think Ronon and Teyla could probably handle that." He looked up expectantly.

John bit his lip. It wouldn't be as much fun and John was afraid he would be left with all the work anyway since neither of them knew the complexities of Earth pranks. Not to mention he would have to deal with Teyla's disapproval of most of the things he meant to include.

Thinking about it, maybe it would be better to leave her out of the loop.

John sighed. "All right. Good luck, then. I hope you two have a good time." He managed a smile.

After Rodney left, he turned back to Woolsey.

"So, Colonel, are you thinking of going back home for Christmas?"

"Nah. We're usually spread pretty thin and I'd hate to leave someone behind to do all my paperwork while I enjoy myself." Well, not at the cost of Christmas anyway.

"That's very noble of you, Colonel."

John didn't think there was anything noble about it. Where would he spend it anyway? In Dave's? Nah. He would rather stay on Atlantis with Ronon and Teyla.

He decided to change the subject. "I have the initial rotation for December. That's probably going to change as I receive the late requests of leave." He handed over the pad he'd been carrying.

Woolsey gave it a look, nodding and humming. "That's very good, Colonel. Just keep me updated on the changes." He looked up. "It's already a nightmare around here without the extra load. With Doctors McKay and Keller leaving so early on I'm afraid I'll be left with handling the scientific and medical personnel late holiday requests." He sighed.

John grimaced in sympathy. It was hard enough dealing with the military rotations, but at least with them John had the luxury of command to deny such requests if it meant putting the safety of the expedition in jeopardy. Marines wouldn't stomp their feet or have any pissy mood attacks because of it. With civilians on the other hand… If they wanted out, then they wanted out and no amount of threatening and cajoling would get them to change their minds. This usually left Atlantis with less than the ideal staff load in many departments. John couldn't blame them for wanting to go back for the festivities but Wraiths didn't have holidays.

"You could always order Radek to sabotage the gate and tell everyone it's offline till next year."

Woolsey chuckled. "I’m actually tempted to do so…"

"Well, I have work to do."

"Very well."

John left Woolsey to brood over the personnel problems and went to the gym to see if Ronon and Teyla would be in for his plan.

The yells and grunts reached his ears almost as soon as the smell of sweat coming from the gym. And by the roughness of the hits down on the mat, it was probably hard trained marines Ronon was sparring with.

John entered just as the last man gave up and limped out of Ronon's way and into the arms of some comrades that assisted the poor soul out of the room and probably towards the infirmary.

"I'd be great if you let my men spend the holidays out of medical bay," John said as he leaned on the doorframe crossing his arms.

"They asked for it." Ronon shrugged.

He wasn't even sweating.

"I'm sure they did."

"Good morning, John." Teyla bowed her head.

"Morning." John approached them both. "So, Rodney will be spending the holidays on Earth and I was wondering if you would be game for this idea I have for the Twelve Days of Christmas."

"I'm sorry, John. Your holidays coincide with the Athosian celebration of life and it's very important that I spend Torren's first year with my people. I'll be away and inaccessible for the two weeks." She smiled slightly. "I'd love to help, but--"

John waved a hand. "No problem, Teyla. I understand. You want to spend it in your people's way and with Torren growing up, I know it's very important."

"Thank you." Her smile grew.

John looked at Ronon. "Big guy?"

"Uh… Am-Amelia asked me to spend it with her parents back on Earth," Ronon muttered.

John was taken aback. "Really? I didn't know you guys were so…"

Serious.

"Well, I could always say no." Ronon shrugged but his face said everything.

John's smiled. "No problem. It was about time you hooked up with someone. Great to know it's working out."

"Thanks," Ronon said shyly. "You know," Ronon continued. "It's about time you hooked up with someone. You've been by yourself for too long." He smirked. "There's this new scientist that is very beautiful and she seems like your type. She also trains here with--"

"I didn't know you knew what my type is."

Ronon grinned. "She's pretty hot. Like the girls in that magazine you ha--"

John raised his arms. "I-I think I get the… picture," he blurted out. He swallowed and tried not to look at Teyla, but her giggles were hard to miss.

A very awkward silence settled for the next second.

"Well, anyway, I hope you guys have a good time." John managed a smile.

"John, if you want you could come with me to Athos."

"Thank you, Teyla, but I think it'd be better for me to stay. Too much work and all that. Besides, I really don't think I could handle fifteen days of Athosian Ruus Wine."

Teyla laughed. "I got my impression in the last several parties, that you were quite fond of Athosian wine."

"Yeah. Way too fond." Ronon grinned. "You could invite her to go with you…"

John shook his head. "Her who?"

"That cute scientist." He smirked. "Both of you enjoying Athosian drinks… I'm sure it'll put an end to your dry spell in no time."

Right now, John thought Ronon's toothy grin was the most annoying thing ever. "I'm not in any dry spell."

Ronon patted John in the shoulder hard enough to make him lose balance. "Sure, buddy."

oOoOo

So that was how, in just a few minutes, John had changed from spending Christmas with his whole team to spending it alone.

Just like that.

He sighed. It was probably a bit selfish of him wanting them to stay in Atlantis. After all, they were happy and doing what people were meant to do on these occasions: spend it with people they cared about. There was nothing wrong about that.

He gripped the railing up in the control room and watched as Rodney, Keller, Ronon and Banks, along with a dozen other people came into the gate room bags and all. He turned to Chuck who was getting ready to dial then went down the steps to meet them.

Rodney was smiling and giggling about something with Keller, their fingers interlaced while Ronon and Amelia tried not to look too happy but failed miserably. John smiled at them and took a deep breath.

"Okay. I hope you guys enjoy yourselves. Good holidays and all that." John hoped he hadn't sounded as breathless as he felt.

"Thanks." Keller smiled.

"I hope you can manage this place without us," Rodney said. "I still want to have a city to run when I get back."

John chuckled. "Sure thing. I’ll do my best not to get it blown up in your absence." John turned to Ronon and extended a hand. "I hope you enjoy your time on Earth."

Ronon took John's arm in a half embrace. "Sure you'll be okay without us?"

"Sure!" He smirked. "I'll enjoy not having anyone here to kick my ass."

"I'm sure you'll be glad not to spend another Christmas in the infirmary," Keller jumped in.

"I sure will."

The wormhole came to life from behind the shield and shed a blue hue on the faint morning lights that filtered through the windows. Rodney extended his hand and John took it to shake.

"Okay. I guess this is it."

John nodded. "Have a good time, Rodney."

And just as quickly as the news had come, they were gone. The problem now was that John had no idea what to do. His idea for a prank on each day closer to Christmas was out of the window. It wouldn't be fun without having someone there to share his laughs with. He gave going to Dave's more consideration, but soon changed his mind. It'd be awkward as hell and John hadn't been lying about him needing to stay in Pegasus. Especially now with Rodney, Keller, Ronon and Teyla being gone. It was never good to have so many vital personnel away for so long. He just decided to suck it up and try to get through the month as quickly as possible. Probably his whole time would be devoted to juggling the lack of personnel in the several areas they were needed and trying not to think about his team.

It worked fairly well because just a few days later, still in the second week of December, two teams came back with great news of newly discovered Ancient outposts with toys for nearly all areas of expertise. John got busy ferrying people in and out of Atlantis and rotating marines to keep them within sight. Having fewer people with the gene also meant that when John was not being taxi driver, he was either helping scientists to activate technology or putting out fires caused when they malfunctioned. All in all, not as bad as he had expected.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until the novelty of the discoveries ran out and John was stuck back in Atlantis. Most of the stuff they had found was either useless or too mysterious to be investigated without Rodney's help. Everything was now gathering dust in the labs waiting for January and the return of people and John was once again left with a pile of paperwork.

He sighed at the sight of a not even half full mess hall, a soft jumble of voices and laughter above the clatter of glass and utensils. He quietly made way to the end of the line, that is, if two people could be considered a line, and tried to remain invisible. It wasn't that hard since the place got more and more empty each day.

He got himself to his own private corner, sufficiently out of the way so people would take a hint, but close enough not to seem he was completely shutting himself away from everything. There were some annoying things about living in such a close knit community like Atlantis. For example, the gossiping and fast-spreading rumors. If he started being absent during meals, it would only be a matter of time before people noticed it and started knocking on his door wanting to know if he was all right.

Of course he appreciated people worrying and caring enough to come asking. He just didn’t want to be rude when he told them to get the hell out.

He swallowed his food quickly then slipped out of the mess hall before Woolsey could notice him and come asking about this and that. John managed to stay buried in paperwork in between various staff meetings. He remembered when he was supposed to make another appearance in public to catch some food before getting back for the second half of self-imposed catching up sessions with the pile of administration duties that always managed to get bigger regardless of the amount of hours he spent on them. These last few days, he was actually thankful for that.

He was sure Woolsey was appreciative too.

By the time he realized what the time was, it was already past midnight. The killer headache reminded him he should take a break. He rubbed sandy eyes then forced his legs to work long enough for him to get to his quarters to get some rest before he started the routine all over again in just a few hours.

Or so he thought. Things never really went as predicted on Atlantis and just a few days before Christmas, John was snapped awake in the middle of the night to report to the control room. Captain Ferguson's team had missed their check in.

"Dial it up," John ordered.

The gate came to life as Chuck dialed each chevron then the gate room exploded into blue.

"Captain Ferguson, this is Colonel Sheppard, come in."

Static returned from the open channel, so John tried again. "Captain Ferguson, do you copy?"

Chuck shook his head. "Sorry, sir. I’m picking up heavy interference."

"What’s the problem?" Woolsey asked as he walked into the room, sleep deprived but equally worried.

"Captain Ferguson missed his daily check in and Chuck is picking up interference. We can’t establish radio contact," John reported.

"Hmmm." Woolsey frowned. "He’s on M34-486, isn’t he? Where’s the interference coming from?"

"Don’t know, sir," Chuck answered. "Everything was normal yesterday when the Captain dialed in."

"Alright. Send a MALP through."

Woolsey walked over to the railing to watch as the machine was maneuvered into position while John stood behind the work station to have a look at the readings. The first images to come through were a blur of gray that barely showed any shapes. Soon, the screen of the MALP was dotted with heavy drops of rain and showed a green smudge that could have been a tree.

Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Woolsey walk to stand beside him. "Can you move forward?"

Chuck did as ordered and soon the image stated rotating, then tilting. Its angle continued lowering and Chuck’s rapid tapping of keys didn’t make it stop. Soon, half the screen was covered in brown mud while the MALP continued to be dragged downhill.

"Well, there goes that MALP," John said.

"Isn’t the village in the valley at the bottom of the hill where the gate is?" Woolsey asked.

Chuck turned around. "Yes, sir."

John scratched his jaw. "What about the gate? If there’s any change will it be dragged down with the mud too?"

"It’s unlikely, sir. Planetary gates are fixed deep into rock."

"But there is the risk of a mudslide covering the gate, isn’t there?" Woolsey asked.

"Yes, sir. As I remember from the earlier surveys, there is still a fair amount of mountain above the gate."

"If the village is in a valley, it’s probably flooded and Captain Ferguson’s team may be stuck there." John turned to Woolsey. "There could also be injured people in need of evacuation."

"Assemble a team to access the situation in a jumper. We’ll start prepping emergency support to help the villages in need. I’ll contact the Daedalus on their way from Earth to go straight to M34-486."

John nodded and hurried out of the room.

oOoOo

John hopped into the pilot seat and started his preflight. Lorne sat beside him, also prepping various controls while the marines in the back got settled into place. They all had their rain gear and John made sure the jumper was in prime condition to fly in bad weather. It was nothing he hadn’t gone through before.

He was made aware when the rear hatch was closed and communicated his intention to Control to descend into the gate room. Upon authorization, Lorne dialed the address and John started the flight, soon jumping into the puddle.

The other side was pretty much how the MALP had already shown. He could barely see anything beyond a blur of gray punctuated with the occasional blurry shape of green and brown and had to be quick to avoid the approaching tree line.

John heard Lorne’s whistle beside him and had to mentally agree with him. As soon as the jumper’s automated windshield cleared itself, the sight that met them was like the ones from a third world country disaster. The hill where the gate was placed barely had any trees to hold off the sludge of mud and water that came in torrents. It was like a river had taken over the mountain range, coming down with enough force to bring down the few trees that it encountered on the way.

The village quickly approached at the foot of the hill, or so John assumed from the few rooftops that punctuated a huge lake of brown water in the valley. He could see some shapes cuddled together on the roofs, entire families exposed to the rough weather while others waited by some rocky formations near the edge of the flood. John tapped his earpiece.

"Captain Ferguson, this is Sheppard, do you copy?" John repeated after a few seconds without response. "Captain Ferguson, please respond."

Lorne shook his head. "There’s too much interference, sir."

John sighed and cursed softly. Why would this galaxy make things easy for them even during Christmas? He did a flyby over the entire valley taking in the situation and making a calculation of the villagers.

"According to our earlier surveys, there should be six hundred people in this village," Lorne informed.

There weren’t nearly that many people that John could see. John called up the HUD and saw the dots interspaced around a large area surrounded by mountains and quickly calculated around two hundred or so on the islands of roofs and another couple hundred at the borders. At one edge, a group of men looked like they were getting on a few boats, soon setting off towards the isolated people. John maneuvered the jumper to hover next to them and signaled Lorne to take over the pilot seat.

John went to the rear of the ship and opened the hatch. The weather blew inside in gusts of wind and sprayed his face.

"Hey!" he shouted to be heard above the weather. "Who’s in charge here?"

"Ruldo is in charge of the rescue, but Vilco is the leader in our village. He’s still missing." The man pointed at one of the boats that had left towards the middle of the flood.

John nodded. "We’re here to help you."

"All help is welcome," a woman, as drenched as everyone was, said. "I’m Reine."

John squinted to see past the thin rain that was still pouring. "I’m Colonel John Sheppard. Have you seen Captain Ferguson and his team?"

Reine shook her head. "No. They were at the mines with Vilco, my husband. I haven’t heard from any of them since the rain started to fall more heavily early last night."

John pursed lips. That meant the rain had already been coming down for at least twelve hours. Inside a mine the team could have gotten cut off by the mudslide. The marines’ training would have told them to get some safe shelter until the worse of the weather passed but with the interference there was no way John could contact them. If they were inside the mine then the jumper’s sensors would also have problems locating the subcutaneous transmitters.

"Where is this mine?"

She pointed north. "Up the mountain range. Vilco was showing them our resources for trade."

John saw a rocky formation punctuated with brown mudslides that covered several hundred meters and broke some of the green and gray.

"The entrance is at the top. We can normally see it even from this far, but it is now covered by mud," she continued.

John nodded slowly. "Okay. Reinforcements are on the way to help rescue your people and give you all shelter, food and dry clothes along with doctors to help with the injured. It’ll be just a few minutes."

"Thank you." She bowed her head.

John went back inside the jumper and sat down on the seat Lorne vacated. He shook his hair now dripping from the rain and set off to check out the mine indicated by the woman. The mountain was rocky in some regions, but it lacked trees on the parts that weren’t. The earth was unstable probably from days of rain. John saw how many slides there still were, the brown coming down slowly, slipping away on rock and stone.

"It still looks too dangerous to go there, sir," Lorne said.

John nodded. "Yeah, if our people are under there, we’re going to need combat engineers to access the situation and maybe create a barrier to prevent any more slides."

"It’d be easier for the Daedalus to just scan the area and beam up any survivors."

"It would, but we’ll have to wait a couple of days until that happens. If there are people trapped in the mines they may not last that long. They could be injured."

John called up the HUD but, just as he imagined, got too much interference from either the weather, the minerals from the mine or maybe both. He sighed in frustration. He’d need to prioritize. He turned his attention to the people the HUD did show. Several hundred people, cold, wet and hurt needed rescue, care and shelter. There weren’t enough pilots with the ATA gene qualified to fly in this bad weather and be part of a rescue operation of this magnitude. Many essential personnel were off due to the holidays, so John would need to administrate the resources he had. He rubbed his face with the back of his arm to get rid of the annoying dripping in front of his eyes then set off back towards the village.

oOoOo

The relief camp set up was a little far from the original settlement, off in some area two clicks from the gate. It was the only safe place with a large enough space to house all the supplies in a temporary area until these people could be moved to another location. Mostly people didn’t like moving to a different planet, but this place was clearly a dangerous place to stay. Going to a better region on the same planet would be an option if any existed close enough to the gate not to affect their trade relations. But for now rescuing those people was more important. John would have time to deal with other questions later.

The big red cross on the largest tent of the camp gave John a clue where he should go to find out how things were going with the rescue. He entered it and found there were dozens of people inside in various conditions that mostly included wet, cold, shaking and covered with mud. Children were crying, families held onto one another and some people stood alone in the middle of the crowd, eyes wide and frantic as they searched through the ocean of faces.

John soon heard a familiar voice tending to the worst of the injured on a few gurneys off to one side and walked towards it.

"Hey, Carson. How are things going?"

Carson didn’t look up from the patient as he set an IV line. "Busy as you can see."

John waited until he was finished then continued. "Will you need anything else from Atlantis?"

Carson turned from the woman and looked at John. "I most definitely will." His accent came heavy. "There are way more people than these supplies can handle. I’ll need more IVs, antibiotics, not to mention beds and blankets--"

"All right. I think I get the picture." John nodded. "Make a list and give it to Lieutenant Barros. He’s flying back to get extra supplies. Anything else?"

"Aye. I’ll need to transfer some of the worse off patients to Atlantis. They can’t have proper treatment here. I have a boy that may need surgery but I’ll only know once I put him under a scanner."

"Okay." John scratched his jaw. He would have to pull some personnel from the ferrying duty to cover the patient transfers. "How soon?"

"Soon. His leg is pretty swollen." Carson waved an arm towards a bed where a ten year old boy lay, eyes red and wet.

John sighed. "Okay I’ll call… Sergeant Neil. I’ll tell him to report to you as soon as he unloads his batch of refugees."

"Thank you, John. I’ll be ready to transfer him. Doctor Wilson will accompany the patient." Carson squeezed John’s arm and left to tend other patients.

John sighed and turned round to look for Lorne to find out how he was doing. He pressed his aching eyes from the early indications of a headache. It was going to be a long a few days…

John was walking to the edge of the camp when he bumped into Lorne. The major looked miserable under the ever present drizzle, half of him covered in brown, and the rest completely drenched and dripping.

"Colonel, I was just looking for you, sir."

"Yeah, me too. How’s it going with the combat engineers?"

Lorne sighed. "Not so good, sir. They say it’ll be at least a half a day until they have a result on whether it’s safe to start working on trying to find the entrance to the mine. I had a look at it myself and it’s slippery as hell." He showed the state of his BDUs under the raincoat.

"Is there any danger of more mudslides?"

Lorne nodded. "Yes, sir. They’re working on preventing that from happening before they do anything else. It’s their priority. Since we have limited personnel and the area is too large for us to cover, they’re focusing in protecting the part of the settlement where people are still stuck then they’ll move to other critical areas which include the gate."

John nodded. "It’d be bad if we got cut off from Atlantis. It’ll be a couple of days until the Daedalus shows up."

"Yes, sir, I told them that. They’re doing their best."

"I know they are. Keep me posted."

"Yes, sir."

John turned around and proceeded to where his men were putting up tents. Captain Blackwell was giving instructions to some villagers that seemed to be helping and approached John as soon as he saw him.

"Colonel, sir." He saluted.

Captain Blackwell was a Marine, a damn good one from what his file said, and was new to Atlantis. He had been part of the SGC for a short time but hadn’t joined any SG team. His wish to be part of one was what had led him to Atlantis but he was still green about the way things worked in Pegasus. This was actually his first real mission offworld but John had decided he was competent enough to be leading the efforts of building the tents.

John saluted him back. "At ease, Captain."

The Captain relaxed his posture slightly, but was still as hard as rock, or as John liked to put, as hard as a Marine.

"What's your progress?" John asked.

"We have already put up two dozen tents that are sheltering around fifty people, sir. Some of the strong men of the village have offered to help and I was instructing them on how to do it. This has increased our productivity a great deal."

"Good." John looked at the lines of green tents housing entire families and pursed lips. "We still don’t have enough supplies for all of them."

"No, sir. I’m giving one set per tent until we can get more."

John nodded. "Yeah, but we’ll need help." He looked back at the Captain. "I’ll ask Lieutenant Barros to inform Woolsey that we’ll need support from our allies."

"Yes, sir." The Captain pointed at a larger tent and continued. "We put up another camp center which is being supplied with emergency rations. I’ve got some of my men distributing them among the population."

"Very good. How many more tents have you got?"

"We’ll run out pretty soon, sir. Some villagers are coming up with alternatives using what they were able to salvage."

"Alright. Inform me when you run out of supplies."

"Yes, sir!"

oOoOo

After twenty-three hours of non-stop heavy work, John was ready to collapse. He rubbed his face as he entered a tent set out for him then gave it a look over. It was plain and empty except for a small bed and a nightstand beside it. John approached it and saw a note attached to a bottle of water and some pills.

"I thought you could use some. They are aspirins.

Merry Christmas,
Carson."

John chuckled and swallowed a couple of them with a gulp of water. How the good doc could always take such a good care of everyone in a place where hundreds of people needed him was still a mystery to John but he always appreciated it. John sat down on the bed and let his head rest on his hands.

He was exhausted and thought it was really unfair for him to be getting rest in a nice warm bed while there were still over half the village unaccounted for, missing, injured and in need of help. He had kept on working for as long as he could until he was ordered to stop and even then he had argued for a few seconds until he ultimately lost and faced the fact that he would be no good to anyone collapsing from exhaustion.

He raised his head and looked at Carson’s note again. Merry Christmas. John had totally forgotten about it and only now remembered it was already Christmas Eve. He looked at his watch as he lay down in bed. It was fifty-seven minutes past midnight on December 24th.

At the moment, celebrating a holiday seemed so far away. All the expectation, happiness, loneliness, rejoicing just faded and seemed irrelevant. People still thought it was important even though the real meaning had become lost in the excess of food, expensive gifts and complaints about how they got another videogame instead of a new laptop.

And then there were the people that had no idea what Christmas was, who Jesus Christ had been and what He had taught over two thousand years ago but still stood close together, helping each other out, hugging their families, happy to just be alive and well in the middle of a natural disaster.

John had seen a child giving his only blanket to a mother who was carrying a baby in her arms. He had seen Atlantis’ offworld allies coming over to help total strangers, offering their own beds and tables to the ones that most needed them.

And then he remembered how miserable he had been for being away from his team during the holidays. But they were fine, even though far away. John chastised himself for being so selfish when he was actually so lucky.

But he did miss them. He missed having Teyla coordinating with their offworld allies on how to best help these people. He missed having Ronon helping out in any way he could even if it was just to carry large boxes of supplies. He missed having Rodney telling him how to best prevent the imminent collapse of the mountain or how he could use some obscure technique to be able to get readings from inside the mountain to know if Captain Ferguson’s team was still alive.

Without them, John felt like he had too much to deal with at the same time. He trusted them so much he could simply leave a task in their hands and know he wouldn’t need to go back and ask about it. It wasn’t that others weren’t competent as well, but they weren’t his team.

The good thing was that they would be back in just a few days.

oOoOo

John felt his head had been on the pillow for just a few minutes when the radio cracked to life and woke him up. He forced sandy eyes to open and it took a lot of effort, not to mention a few calls of "Sir" through the open channel, for them to actually obey. He looked at his watch and confirmed that it had been just fifty minutes.

He felt that he would regret responding to the call immensely, but the voice was insistent and probably wouldn’t let him go back to sleep anyway, so he clicked the radio.

"This is Sheppard. What is it?"

"Sir, we have a situation that needs your attention."

John didn’t recognize the voice. "Okay…"

"We’ve picked up a faint distress signal coming from the mountain. My team was working on stabilizing the area when we heard clicking noises coming from our comm. It was an SOS signal, sir."

John got up straight away and sat on the edge of the bed. "Captain Ferguson’s team. What’s your location?"

"Three clicks from the relief camp up the northern range, just below the danger area, sir. Doctor McKenzie is now trying to narrow it down. The signal is barely coming through but she thinks they may be transmitting it from somewhere close enough to the surface where we could dig through."

"Is the area safe?"

"Seems a bit dodgy but it’ll hold if the rain doesn’t start again. We’d have to work quickly though. I can pull some men off the work we have been doing but not too many or we’ll be in danger of a mountain collapse in the most unstable areas. The problem is accessing the entry point, sir."

John was seeing where this was going and began putting on his boots.

"It’s very narrow and it doesn’t have a lot of space to maneuver in order to land a jumper. We’d need--"

"I'm on my way." John put on his earpiece and clicked it, hurrying out of the tent.

oOoOo

John soon figured out that the voice belonged to Sargent Gomez leading the second shift team of engineers and met them on the edge of a cliff, already fully geared and prepped for the mission along with Doctor McKenzie and her bag. He landed the jumper and opened the rear hatch to let them all inside, a trail of mud following their footsteps.

"Where to, Sergeant?"

Gomez approached the front section of the jumper while his men loaded in the pieces of equipment. "Sir, the location is on the other side of the mountain. Doctor McKenzie will upload the coordinates."

With that, Gomez stepped back and McKenzie approached with an open laptop walking over to the co-pilot seat. She was small, but strong and John had seen her working out at the gym many times before, so she was probably handling herself well in these working conditions. That was probably the reason Gomez had brought her to assist his team.

"This won't take long at all, Colonel," she said as she hooked up some cables. A few seconds after that, the HUD appeared on the front screen and showed a detailed map of the mountain that included updates on all the working engineers and their progress. The map circled around until it turned to the other side of the mountain. "There, sir." She pointed at a blinking blue dot.

John analyzed the area, checking altitude drops and distances. It was rocky and barely had any mud below, but the top could be a problem if it rained more, just like the Sergeant had said. The point was in the middle of a network of cliffs and sharp pointy rocks that looked like a maze. The map then circled down and showed a network of tunnels.

"I made this map based on the instructions of some miners I was able to talk to." She indicated a spot just below the surface, near a corner of the mine. This is the closest spot to the surface and is where the signal is coming from. Since it's SOS in Morse code and it's coming in on our channel, it's safe to assume it's the Captain's team signaling."

John nodded and smiled slightly. "Well done, Doctor."

"Thank you, Colonel." She smiled.

"All right, everyone. Settle down. This is going to be a bit tricky."

oOoOo

Tricky proved to be an understatement. John had flown in many complicated terrains with his chopper back in Afghanistan, some of those times in covert ops relying on gut feelings alone, so it wasn't all that new to him. The jumper provided incredible maneuverability and fast reactions and it was great using his thoughts more than just his instruments. He had to trust the sensors since a faint drizzle had started and the early night provided fog and darkness beyond what the jumper could compensate for, but still it wasn't anything too impossible for an experienced pilot like him. At least this time he wasn’t under heavy Taliban fire.

The real problem was the fact that once someone entered the maze with a jumper, they couldn't come out unless they retraced the whole way back. It was like flying a ship through a labyrinth without being able to tip toe and peek at what was on the other side because there was a ceiling of rock above. The distance and the curves made going on foot nearly impossible unless John wanted to risk their lives. If anyone got trapped or lost there in this weather it would be bad.

Thank goodness for Doctor McKenzie's map.

John found out that landing was an equal challenge and there weren't any large enough spaces to fit a jumper with the easiness he would have liked. If he put the ship down they would be trapped by rock on three sides and the jumper covering their only exit. John examined the passages that were showing on the HUD and cursed under his breath. Getting out of that spot was going to be just peachy, especially considering his lack of sleep.

"It's the only spot in miles, Colonel," McKenzie said, apparently reading his thoughts.

"Better hold on," he warned as he started to make the jumper touch down.

He failed to avoid a couple of rough edges and the landing was bumpier than a ship with inertial dampeners should allow. When they finally stopped moving, John found his weight inclining to the side as he discovered the ground wasn't exactly horizontal.

"Well, that's about the best I can do."

He turned around and saw Doctor McKenzie smiling at him.

"That was quite impressive." She nodded.

John returned the smile easily. "Thank you. Just wait until we have to fly outa here."

He opened the rear hatch and watched as everyone got out of the ship. John left last to check out the area and have a look at their plan in action before he decided to go back inside and take a nap on those nice comfy benches.

It was dark and the flashlights the team were putting up were barely enough to make the place recognizable. All John could see was rock and the fierce drizzle cutting through the beams of light.

The equipment was quickly set up, along with a tent where the doc settled to take some readings and analyze data. John helped unload the supplies but did little beyond that since digging through solid rock in dangerous locations was a little beyond his area of expertise. He tried staying out of the way as much as possible and let the men work without the shadow of their CO hanging over their shoulders. Pretty soon, John was bored out of his mind, fighting against sleepiness, his yawns almost popping his jaw.

He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned his back on the hull of the jumper, trying to convince himself that nothing would happen in several hours and that it would be okay to take a nap until morning.

"Tired, huh?"

Her voice startled him and John snapped his head down to see Doctor McKenzie looking up at him. He hadn't seen or heard her coming over.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's all right. It's just been a very long day."

She nodded. "I bet. It's going to be a very long night too."

"I guess." He suppressed a yawn and looked over to the working men.

"What I mean to say is that this planet's rotation makes days and nights very long here, or haven't you noticed that it took almost twenty hours since you got here for night to finally come?" She smiled.

John chuckled. "Yeah, I noticed that." John cocked his head towards the combat engineers. "How long do you figure that's gonna take?"

She shrugged and glanced at them. "Hard to say, but they are making some slow progress. This mineral is way harder than anything they have ever encountered. It's using up a lot of drills. It's probably going to take the whole night." She looked back at him. "You should probably get some rest. I hear the Sergeant woke you up."

"Pretty used to that by now." John smiled and noticed how beautiful her eyes were in the faint light. "But you're right. No use in me to just hanging around doing nothing."

"I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Thanks."

John entered the jumper and settled down on the bench, pulling a blanket over his wet uniform. He was asleep in seconds.

oOoOo

For the third time on the same day (or maybe not really the same day in Earth standard time, but he was on another planet), John was snapped awake just minutes after settling down. It took a few seconds for him to realize the jumbling and jostling wasn't coming from anyone shaking him awake, but from the jumper itself.

"What the hell?" he muttered as he tried to get to his feet.

At that moment, McKenzie along with Lieutenants Anderson and Souza stumbled into the ship half covered by mud and followed by a brown avalanche entering the jumper. Anderson slammed a hand on the control to close the rear hatch as McKenzie yelled for them to take off.

The ship shook and the ground turned wobbly as John tried to walk away from the coming landslide. He watched as the hatch slowly closed and left the outside encompassed with earth then hurried to the cockpit and started flight as fast as humanly possible. He watched in horror as the controls slipped and hammered stubbornly trying to follow the path of the landslide but was able to force them to obey with a lot of internal yelling and cursing. One of these curses made it out of his lips as a loud alarm from the jumper screamed at him that they would be buried alive by an imminent slide from the top slit of an opening.

John accelerated his pace, his curves sharp and dangerous until the realization that he wouldn't be able to make it far enough to be ahead of the coming avalanche and he turned abruptly in a different direction trying to find a safer area to land, somewhere where the strength of the slide wouldn't break the windshield into pieces.

His fierce grip on the controls made his joints ache until they snapped away from his hands as he was violently thrown across the console in an explosion of pain. For a few moments all that he could hear was loud breathing and the deafening sound of earth moving all around them. The jumper squeaked and started to move slowly until it tilted slightly to the side.

When everything seemed to finally stop, John got up from his sprawl across the panels with a painful wince. He started making a count of his injuries but a loud crack, the sound of soil and a squeal from the hull made him snap his head towards the windshield. The initial fissure spread to spider web within milliseconds and John barely had time to jump up and shove everyone to the rear before he was overtaken by mud. His lost his balance, felt his body being pushed forward and, before the others would get buried alive, John slammed the door shut and locked himself in the cockpit to be enveloped by darkness.

oOoOo

Consciousness was slow coming. Just when its edges started to envelop him, blackness lured him back in and John didn't have the strength to resist it. He didn't know how many times it had happened or how long had passed. John felt that the only thing he wanted to do was to sleep. When he finally woke up enough to realize his situation, panic began to flow as he desperately tried to move without success. His heart hammered fast in his chest and the gulps of air felt like agony washing through his body. He forced stilled hands and arms to try to break free from their enclosure of earth, his breath hitching faster and faster until he was so lightheaded he almost sunk back under the pull of sleep.

He opened his eyes again slowly as the panic ebbed away. He saw nothing beyond darkness and only felt earth on every inch of his body except his face and right shoulder. The soil was wet but applied enough pressure confined inside the cockpit to make his chest feel like it was being ripped apart each time he took a deeper breath, the pain probably amplified by a few cracked ribs. He figured he must be breathing in a pocket of air and felt himself slipping away in hyperventilation when he began considering how long it would last.

He willed himself to calm down figuring it would be even worse if he used up the little air he had left with useless panic. He took a few long breaths and quietly wished for some hope.

"Doc-- dammit," he breathed out when the pain spiked with the effort of speaking. He took a few seconds to try a second time. "Doc, Lieutenant… anyone… anyone there?" He figured his voice was too weak for him to be heard and after a few seconds without response, he called again. "Anyone?"

Shouting left him breathless but that sparkle of hope he had wished for finally hit.

"Colonel?" a faint voice came over muffled by layers of mud and the bulkhead.

He released the breath he had been holding. "Yeah." His voice was strained and he didn't know if it had been heard.

"Colonel?" a graver voice called.

John grunted. "I'm here." He bit his lip and tried to control his breathing. "God…" he muttered softly. "Hurts… hurts to speak…" he let his voice trail off.

"What's your condition?"

John focused on his body and tried his limbs. Nothing hurt too badly when he tried to move them, but he wasn't able to shift one inch. His chest was a whole different story. He didn't even need to try to think about it for it to turn to absolute torture. His head also felt light and throbbed incessantly. There was a definite sharp twinge somewhere above his forehead and only now he felt a sticky wetness covering it.

"Can't-- move… chest tight and…" He took his time to catch his breath. "Feel… lightheaded..."

John shook his head as best he could and let the pain help him fight off the sleepiness. A few louder thuds on metal snapped him from the haze.

"Colonel, try to stay awake," a voice that he recognized as McKenzie's said. "I'll see if I can find a way to increase the ventilation in the cockpit."

"Okay…" He knew his voice wasn't loud enough for her to hear, but he wasn't in the mood to shout.

"I turned both the ventilation and the heaters on several hours ago but kept it low because we thought you were dead. We're trying to make the hull of the jumper warmer to us. We didn't hear from you for over twelve hours," she continued.

"Twelve hours?" he repeated. "How… how are you guys?"

"We're fine, sir. Not much of the slide made it to the rear section. We have air and a few supplies. We think we can manage until the Daedalus arrives," Lieutenant… was it Anderson or Souza that said it?

"That's… that's very good." John just hoped he would last until then.

oOoOo

The lack of any distraction except overhearing the conversation taking place on the other side of the bulkhead was taking a huge toll on John's ability to stay awake after a few hours. McKenzie had started a prime/not prime game with them and both Anderson and Souza were pretty good at it, but then they were engineers. John got some answers right, but a whole lot of them wrong. He blamed the concussion and the fact that he was barely able to keep his eyes open. He gave up trying any kind of mental puzzles since they were making his headache increase.

They kept constantly checking up on him, but John missed a fair amount of the calls and only noticed when the frantic tapping and increased yelling snapped him out of the haze. He was getting weaker and responding loud enough to be heard was becoming quite a task. John tried to find a way to tell them he was still there without speaking, but his arms were still trapped and unable to tap any kind of surfaces. He felt an increasing edge in all three voices as time trickled by but there was nothing any of them could do. If anyone opened that bulkhead, they would be swallowed by dirt. His best chance of escape was a miraculous beam out from the Daedalus.

He lost track of time and eventually lost his battle to stay awake. The next time he woke up, he felt increasingly crappier. He was shaking with cold and figured the heaters weren't doing much good anymore. The air around his face felt colder and his head touched the tip of his chest above the ground. Lifting it felt like an impossible task.

The back of the jumper was too quiet and John wanted to call them out so badly, but didn't find his voice. He could barely open his eyes without having them close again of their own accord. He fought tiredness as long as he could, forcing limbs to work, trying to get some exercise from his body but failed miserably and sagged exhausted.

"Guys?" he whispered faintly.

His chest tightened with the lack of any sound at all.

"Anyone?" he breathed out.

They must be sleeping. Only sleeping.

Silence stretched. John tried to keep droopy eyelids open but it was a losing battle. He eventually gave in and figured he wouldn't feel as cold if he just fell asleep.

Static woke him up. John peeled his eyes open and figuring it wouldn’t make much difference in the dark, decided to close them again. He almost sank back to oblivion but a loud hiss coming from his ear snapped him back awake. He furrowed his brow wondering where the hell the sound was coming from when his brain finally registered the fact that, somehow, he still had his earpiece on.

"Co--onel?" John heard Anderson's voice. "Are you there?"

John's heart stammered thinking maybe it was rescue finally reaching them. He opened his eyes. "Yeah--yeah, I'm here."

John heard a collective sigh coming from the channel.

"Colonel, I was able to get our radios working again," McKenzie said.

"But--" Souza cut in. "We're still not able to contact anyone. I supposed we're too far out of range."

"At least we can talk to each other," she added.

John felt his heart sink. "Yeah…"

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Tired…" He let his eyes fall closed.

"John?"

He snapped them back open with the sound of his name. "Sorry.... It's… hard…"

"But you have to keep trying," she insisted.

"I know… cold…"

There was a pause. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "I had to turn down the heaters a little to conserve power. I'm leaving them on around your location, but it's a lot of earth to heat up and--"

"It was my order, sir," Anderson interrupted.

"It's okay. You have a way better chance of getting out of here." John's voice was low and soft. "Do whatever you can to survive. If you need it…" John swallowed and took a moment to muster some strength in his voice. "You can cut off my air if it's necessary. That's an order." John breathed out. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"We won't need it," McKenzie interjected.

"But if you do." John tried to put as much command in his voice as he could in his condition. "Don't hesitate."

Silence took over for several moments.

"How long… how long has it been?" John asked, trying to keep the shaking from his voice.

A few seconds passed. "Twenty-one hours," she answered.

John swallowed. He had no idea it had been that long.

"It's going to be Christmas in the East Coast in just a few minutes," she added softly.

John had to take a deep breath to compose himself. He blinked a few times thinking of his team. Maybe they were eating dinner, maybe they were sleeping, maybe they were drinking and having fun.

This had to be the crappiest Christmas he had ever had.

"Merry Christmas, John."

"Merry Christmas…" John's voice came heavy and shaky and it didn't have anything to do with cold.

"Laura. My name is Laura."

John smiled slightly. "Merry Christmas, Laura."

"Yeah, Merry Christmas, sir!" came both Lieutenants voices combined.

John had to chuckle at their energy but it soon turned to coughing. When he was done, it took a few moments for his voice to return.

"Doesn't feel very merry at the moment but… Merry Christmas back," he said.

A few seconds passed.

"They're going to get you out of here, John" Laura said softly.

John blinked a few more times. "I know they will."

John took a deep breath and ignored the fierce protest of his ribcage. He closed his eyes and thought about Rodney, Teyla and Ronon unaware of what was happening to him.

Soon, Anderson's and Souza's voices cut through the silence and broke his moody humor by telling funny stories of previous Christmas. They talked about their families, the food, their favorite presents growing up. They shared experiences that had turned out great and some other that hadn't. Burned family dinners, torched trees, and an electrical burn out that cut off the power in the entire neighborhood… It was a true miracle they had managed to get past childhood.

John did little beyond just listen.

Laura also told some of her stories. She told them about the way her father liked to roast lamb, pork, rabbit, or anything that wasn't a turkey. She told about her mother liking to decorate trees with candies when she was a kid and how she would slip out of her bedroom at night to steal a couple of them every night. She chuckled as she said those trips had been responsible for a number of cavities in her baby teeth.

Souza cut in and told about his Christmases in South America. He told them about the summer weather and how he had never seen a white Christmas until he turned twelve and his parents moved back to the States.

Anderson told them about the time he had gone fishing a week before the holidays and had gotten lost in the forest with his little brother. Even though it must have been scary as hell for a child, Anderson put such an edge in his tale that everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud.

John felt more and more like sharing something of his own, but was at such loss for words he just kept on listening.

In the end, their voices lured him back to sleep and before he finally gave in, he prayed for them to be okay after all of this. It was Christmas after all, and it would be really crappy if they died under his watch and let those families mourn on such a festive date.

oOoOo

John woke up with a muddled brain and a warm softness around him. He noticed the pressure in his chest was gone then felt a familiar smell and a familiar beeping. His eyes fluttered before they finally opened and a bright white blur took over his senses. He squeezed his eyes and tried to open them again when he felt the light was gone.

The blur that took place turned out to be Carson with a smile on his lips and a very gentle pair of eyes. John looked above and didn't recognize the ceiling of the infirmary. He felt a hum around the walls and realized the gray bulkheads belonged to the Daedalus.

"Hey, John. Welcome back to the land of the living."

John smiled and let his eyes fall close. "I suppose that's your doing," John muttered but doubted anything intelligible made it out of his lips.

Carson chuckled. "Yeah, but you did the fighting yourself." He squeezed John's arm. "Guess who's here to see you?"

John opened his eyes, really more hoping than expecting that Laura had decided to pay him a visit. Carson raised his bed slightly and John couldn't help but gape at the sight before him.

"Guys?"

They stepped closer to his bed, smiling.

"It is us, John," Teyla said, her grin brightening up the whole room. She stood by his side and took his hand, interlacing their fingers.

"Yeah, of course it's us. Who else did you expect?" Rodney replied. He stepped closer, dressed in civvies.

"Yeah. How you doin'? “Ronon's rough voice added.

John's smile was beginning to make his face hurt and he figured he must be looking a little stupid, but he didn't care. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Mister Woolsey called in the Athosians to help with the rescue," Teyla answered.

John nodded and turned towards Rodney and Ronon that were supposed to be in a different galaxy.

Ronon shrugged. "They called us and told you were missing for over 24 hours. Thought I should come and beat the crap out of anyone that had been responsible for it." He grinned.

"Only you would get in trouble on Christmas day and make us lose one of the most important meals of the year." Rodney crossed his arms and made it look like it had been entirely John's fault. "Anyway, I couldn't just stand around trading presents when a friend was in need and since my Christmas had already turned to crap anyway I figured you needed us more than we needed to celebrate. Not much to celebrate when a friend is in mortal danger."

John's smile softened. "Thanks, guys."

"Besides…" Rodney's face softened. "It didn't quite feel the same, you know… being away from..." his hand moved around. "You guys."

Ronon slammed a hand on Rodney's back and nearly made him fall on top of John's bed. Rodney looked at Ronon awkwardly and nodded but soon his soft face fell and he yelled something about a Hulk slap and Conan manners.

John chuckled. "Not to dampen the mood, but what about the people from…"

Rodney nodded. "Rescue is under way. With the Daedalus' help we've been able to locate nearly all missing villagers not to mention Captain what's-his-name with his team and that… other guy."

"That's good."

"And Doctor McKenzie, Lieutenant Anderson and Souza," Carson cut in. "They are mostly uninjured except for a few bruises that will pass in a few days."

John was really glad for that. "Good to hear." He nodded.

"We have a few things to show you, if you feel up to it." Teyla looked at Carson who smiled and nodded.

"Of course, love. He's well enough for a few extra minutes, aren’t you, John?" Carson rubbed John's shoulder.

John wasn't feeling tired anymore and in fact felt quite energized. "Sure!"

"I'll go first." Rodney lifted a finger and lifted a package John hadn't seen him carrying. He placed it on John's lap and rolled his eyes when John simply stared at it. "I think you're supposed to open it?"

John tore away the green and red wrapping and found a remote control inside. He took it in his hands and looked puzzled at Rodney.

"It's a new racing car model with increased range and speed limit. I took the liberty of modifying yours slightly so you can, you know…" he grinned. "Keep up with my new baby." He chuckled.

John smirked. "We shall see who will have to keep up with who."

Teyla went next. John gently pulled the golden string that kept the silk-like cloth in place and took a handcrafted book into his hands. The cover was made of dark brown leather and the pages inside were crafted paper. When he opened it he saw pictures of all of them, all framed and decorated by Teyla's handwriting. It had photos from each year of the expedition, including the ones taken with Ford, Grodin, Elizabeth…

John didn't know what to say. He looked up and saw Teyla's smile and settled for a simple "Thank you".

She bowed her head and joined her forehead with his.

Ronon's package was just a wrinkled brown paper that John had no problems tearing apart. He raised his eyebrow and looked at Ronon.

"Merry Christmas," Ronon said with a grin.

John picked up what had to be the coolest present he had ever got and tested its grip. It didn't have the Wraith hair on the handle like Ronon's had and it was identical to the ones Larrin's people carried.

"How... did you?"

Ronon shrugged. "I talked to that Captain lady when she showed up when the gate blew up and Todd took over the Daedalus..." He smiled. "Managed to get a pretty good deal. I have been saving it since then."

"Wow. Uh, thanks." John was rendered speechless and felt tiredness beginning to creep in. "I-I really, don't know…"

"Well, you don't need to," Rodney cut in. "After all, Christmas is about family and, for me personally…" Rodney took a deep breath and smiled. "Well, family is where you feel at home." He nodded. "And I'm definitely at home in Atlantis. Way more than I ever was back on Earth."

John smiled. He totally got what Rodney was saying. "Yeah. I… don't really have your presents here."

"We are just happy that you are all right, John," Teyla said.

Rodney snapped up. "As long as you didn't forget any of us. You know that I've been wanting that, uh…"

"Not now, Rodney," Carson interrupted. "He needs to rest now."

"Yeah, right." Rodney shut up.

"You didn't have to, you know. You guys being here was more than enough," John said.

Teyla squeezed his shoulder "We know. Rest well, John." John nodded and she turned around to leave.

"Do you…" a voice said from the infirmary door. "I mean, I could come back later…"

John's breath caught in his throat and he snapped up to a better sitting position. "Uh…" John looked at Carson with the best begging eyes that he could manage.

"Why not," Carson said. "But just a minute, dear." He jerked his head at John's team, indicating the door.

Laura smiled and blushed slightly. John's face felt hot as he stared at his team and he figured he was mirroring her expression.

Teyla left with a bow of her head and Rodney had to furrow his brow in confusion until Ronon dragged him out. The big guy gave one last look at John before he left, a dirty smirk on his lips. John rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Families were like that sometimes. They knew things even before you told them anything.

The End