Lt Col John Sheppard (ancientgene) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2022-07-10 18:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] cruise2022, ~2022 july, ~~~ john sheppard (ancient gene), ~~~~ jo harvelle (harvelle) |
Who: John Sheppard and Jo Harvelle
What: Good morning
Where: their room on the ship
When: Day 1
Warnings: nope
Status: complete gdoc
It was rare for John to wake up sharing a bed with someone. Sure, out in the field, if his team stayed in a tent, they might end up with some unintentional cuddling, but it was one of those things they never discussed. As the military commander on the base, all of the marines and airmen were off limits and the scientists weren’t exactly his type. His occasional dalliances were with their allies and they seldom had reason to spend the night.
So when he woke up and felt a body pressed against him, he knew something wasn’t quite right. He looked down and saw a head of blonde hair. That narrowed down the options considerably. It was either Jo, who he was kind of dating, he guessed. Or it was Carter, in which case he was a dead man walking. The idea that it might be a stranger didn’t even occur to him.
Being a healthy man, his entire body was awake and he awkwardly shifted his hips away from his companion. He had no idea how or why they ended up like this and he certainly didn’t want to give the wrong impression. He carefully disentangled himself and was relieved to realize that it was Jo next to him. That was considerably less awkward than the alternative. “Jo, wake up,” he said softly.
*
Jo was in the middle of a pretty good dream when she felt movement and stirred a little, but didn’t quite wake up. When a voice followed after, she stretched out slowly and snuggled into the pillow, muttering something about “ten more minutes”...but by that point, her brain had started to wake up and she realized one thing.
She’d gone to bed alone the night before.
Fighting her way through the sleep, she rolled over and dragged her eyes open slowly - and felt a little relieved that she recognized the bleary face staring back at her. “...John?” Jo didn’t think he was the type to break in and crawl into her bed, but maybe she’d read him wrong. Pushing her hair out of her face, she rubbed her eyes, then focused on him again.
“What are you doing here?” And then she felt the faint, rhythmic rocking and blinked in confusion. “Where’s here?”
*
“I was hoping you’d know that,” John said. Why he thought she might, he wasn’t sure. It was apparent this was some kind of dome shenanigans and no one ever understood those. “Guess this is another one of those weird things everyone’s been talking about since I got here.”
He was grateful he’d gone to sleep wearing a pair of boxers and a t-shirt or else this would be a lot more awkward. “Where we are, it’s pretty fancy.” It reminded him of the kinds of places his family went when he was growing up. The kind of place he wouldn’t choose now.
*
She blinked a few times, then slowly pushed her way up. Jo had thankfully worn a tank top and short shorts, at least, so she didn’t feel self-conscious about waking up this way. “We’re…moving,” she said after a moment as she looked around. Yeah, the room was fancy and she began to have a growing suspicion. Pushing off the sheet, Jo crawled out of the other side of the bed and went to the window, tugging aside the curtain to peek out, then looked back at John as she opened it the rest of the way.
“....Looks like the Dome sent us on a cruise.” And dropped them into a room together, apparently.
*
John had no idea what he was expecting the explanation to be, but Surprise Cruise was nowhere on the list. “Huh,” he said, looking around again and taking in the decor. “Guess that was nice of them?” Unless it was a trick and they were going to get attacked or find out they were on the Titanic or something.
Perhaps the dome had been kind enough to send clothes with them. John wandered over to the dresser and opened some drawers, finding some basics in there that seemed to be his size and what he assumed was Jo’s. “They gave us clothes, at least.”
*
Turning away from the window, Jo rubbed her forehead a bit, then shook her head. “It’s the annual “what the fuck” event, I guess. I forgot that was coming up. There was a cruise to the Mediterranean a couple years back.” Walking over to join him at the dresser, she gave a wry laugh. “That’s good, since neither of us packed. I wonder where the coffee is?”
*
“An annual ‘what the fuck event’?” John repeated. “I’m afraid to ask.” Especially since cruises didn’t sound all that bad. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt out of the drawer and set them on the bed before exploring the rest of the room.
On the desk he found an itinerary for the trip and a room service menu. “Got a room service menu,” he said. “They can probably bring us coffee. And we’re in Canada, going to Alaska.” The cold wouldn’t bother him ever since his stint in Antarctica.
*
Since he pulled out clothes, Jo did too, grabbing a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. She then started to go through the rest of the drawers with a frown, then walked back over to the bed as he talked, checking under her pillow only to see no sign of her weapons that she usually left there. “Room service is great and all but - wait, Canada? Alaska? People really take cruises to go there?”
She looked over at him, utterly confused by the idea, then shook her head. “As I was saying…I can’t find any of my weapons. What about you?” She hadn’t had them on the last cruise either and while she hadn’t needed them, she still didn’t like that she felt a little defenseless without her dad’s knife.
*
The utter confusion about their destination was actually adorable and John chuckled. “It’s supposed to be beautiful up here,” he said. “I’ve never been, but I spent some time in Antarctica in the military and the scenery couldn’t be beat.” Snow, ice, and bitter cold wasn’t for everyone though even if it didn’t bother him that much.
“Ah, no, I don’t make it a habit of sleeping with my sidearm,” John said. “No weapons.”
*
“What the hell’s in Antarctica that the military cares about?” Jo shook her head and ran her hands through her hair to comb them, then started to strip off her pj’s to put on the fresh clothes. Since they’d already had sex, Jo didn’t really feel strange about getting naked in front of him, and it didn’t take long for her to get dressed.
“Guess we should probably take a look around. And get some coffee.”
*
John got distracted watching Jo change her clothes and didn’t answer her question right away. “Hmm? Oh… how much have I told you about my job?” he asked, unable to remember if he’d told her about the Stargate program or not. It wasn’t something he was used to talking about and even though things were different in this town, sharing it didn’t come naturally.
Once she was dressed, he realized he should do the same, and moved over to the dresser to see what was in there for him.
*
“Commanded a base in another galaxy, right? Not too much otherwise.” She was only loosely aware of the basics since she hadn’t really hung out with many from his universe. As she pulled her shirt down and slipped her feet into sandals, Jo turned and caught the look he was shooting her just before he turned to the dresser. She couldn’t help the grin, and after a moment she walked up behind him and slowly slipped her arms around his waist.
“Unless you’d rather stay here and order room service?”
*
“Right,” he confirmed. “We found some alien tech in Antarctica. That’s why the interest.” It was where he’d discovered his exceptionally strong ATA gene and gotten handpicked for the Atlantis mission.
Atlantis was the last thing on his mind though when Jo wrapped her arms around him. John chuckled and leaned down to steal a kiss. “That’s a tempting offer,” he said. They hadn’t quite gotten around to sleepovers yet and he supposed now that they were sharing a room, that was going to change.
*
“Well as far as hiding places for alien tech go, I suppose the Arctic tundra is a pretty good one,” Jo mused with a rueful shake of her head.
She returned the kiss lightly, then raised her eyebrows a bit. “Then I’ll let you decide. Stay in for another hour and get room service, or go out and check out the ship while hunting down food and coffee?”
*
It occurred to John that they probably ought to have a discussion about the nature of their relationship, probably sooner rather than later given the circumstances. As much as he wanted to stay in, his military nature won out and he gave her an apologetic smile.
“We should get a handle on the situation before we do anything else,” he said. It seemed unlikely that there was something lurking in the halls waiting to attack, but the last thing John wanted was to get caught unaware without pants. If this really was a simple cruise, they had plenty of time to enjoy it later.
*
Jo knew he was right, but she did take an extra beat to enjoy her arms around him. She seemed to not have a lot of luck with relationships in this second life of hers, despite giving her all for it every time, so maybe this time it was better to just back off a bit and see how things went. Plus, they really should check out the ship sooner rather than later.
“You’re right,” she told him as she dropped her hands and stepped back. “Go ahead and get dressed, I’ll just be a sec.”Jo ducked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and clean her face, and shove all her other feelings down as much she could for now.
*
John went to grab some clothes while she used the bathroom. By the time she was done, he was dressed and he popped in to use the facilities so they could head out and explore the ship. It was going to be an interesting trip and he was looking forward to seeing how it turned out.