John felt bad when his wife sighed, wishing there was something he could do to help her. The idea of her ex-husband coming here was one that he hated as much as he was certain he did, especially knowing what he had done to her. Part of him was glad, of course, that Mark had been stupid enough to let her go, considering he wouldn't be married to her otherwise, but at the same time, he despised that she had been hurt.
Knowing there wasn't much he could do, he walked with her in silence back to their quarters, holding her hand tightly. Once there, he got changed into his expedition uniform, then headed with her to Operations. He caught Carter's apology to Fred and swore silently, realizing what that had to mean.
Sure enough, Harris came through with a little rate of a man, he introduced as Mark Duncan. John certainly understood Jake's want to growl at him. He didn't like the way he looked at Fred, almost as though her being pregnant was something out of the ordinary. He bit his tongue, though, and simple nodded his head in greeting.
Then Harris started talking - very generally, he noticed - about what he wanted. He wondered why in the hell he wanted to accompany them on a planetary expedition, but before he could ask, Harris talked about him shooting someone.
That son of a bitch.
Clenching his hand at his side, he pushed down the want to punch Harris in the face for what he had just said. The asshole hadn't been there, so he had no idea what it had been like for John to do what he had done. But of course, it seemed everyone wanted to make assumptions. Never mind that he had done it for Sumner's own good.
"I'm sure that won't happen, Sir," he finally said.
Carter looked over at him then back at General Harris. "What happened last year happened under extraordinary circumstances, General. As you'll see, Atlantis and its residents have had to adapt to a great deal."
"Yes, well, I'm sure we'll see," Harris said, almost as though he didn't believe her. "We'll start tomorrow. Now, if you could show Doctor Duncan and I to our quarters?"
"This way," Carter said, casting a glance at the three of them before showing them out of the Gate room.
"Wow, what a couple of nozzles," Rodney said once they were gone.