“I know that,” Jennifer said.
“Good,” Jeannie said. “Because I know how hard it is for him to actually try dating someone. He apparently thinks the idea of winding up in a house in the suburbs and coming home every evening to a wife and kids is some kind of horrible fate. You should have heard him on how I was wasting my life and was going to end up drinking all day and leave Madison with permanent emotional scars because of my resentment of her. Which is really not about me, needless to say.”
“We were more at the getting an apartment stage,” Jennifer said. “Although I wouldn’t rule out a house in the suburbs.” Not the way she’d had to rule out small towns, unless you counted a military base, which she didn’t. But teaching hospitals and secret military research facilities both required living somewhere convenient, and ignoring the little part of her that said she’d like to live somewhere where the sky wasn’t broken up with buildings and where the neighbors all knew her parents’ names.
“The suburbs might be good for him. You know, taking part in normal life more. But it’s good that if he never actually gets that far, that he’s got someplace like this that makes him happy.”
“It’s an interesting place to live,” Jennifer said. “I don’t regret coming out here. But it is sort of like being in college forever. In kind of unfortunate ways, sometimes.”
“It’s a nice place to visit,” Jeannie said. “It would also be nice to see Meredith when something isn’t horribly wrong.”
“We were going to come to see you when we were on Earth,” Jennifer said. “It’s just we got caught up in moving, and everything was in boxes — ”
“I know. He told me. I figure at least I got to talk to him on the phone.” She looked dangerously like she was going to cry.
“It’s going to be all right,” Jennifer said quickly.
Jeannie looked at her like she saw through her. “Do you really believe that?”
“I know his team would do anything to get him back. They kind of define stubborn.”
Jeannie smiled ruefully. “It’s good that you’re an optimist. Meredith is enough of a pessimist for any two people.”
“He is,” Jennifer said, wishing she felt more like she was holding up her end of that bargain right now.
Chapter Five
Recall
Dick waited until it seemed remotely possible that he might have a few moments of peace and quiet before he retreated to his office to open the email from the head of the IOA that had arrived in the databurst. He certainly felt retreat was the word for it. He tried not to think of himself as defeated before he even opened the email, but there was no way this boded well. He didn’t think they’d dropped him a friendly message to ask how the weather was in Atlantis.
He opened the file and read it quickly, braced for the worst. It wasn’t, in fact, the worst. The IOA requested his attendance at a hearing to review his decisions while in command of Atlantis. He wasn’t fooled for a minute by the requested into believing it was optional, but on the other hand, if they were calling a hearing, it meant they hadn’t already made a decision. Or that whatever decision they’d made was unpopular enough with one or another IOA member that the majority wanted more evidence on their side.
He closed the file and sat for a moment considering the blank screen. The next thing to do was tell Sheppard. Instead, he hesitated, not yet activating his radio. He walked outside, ducking quickly out onto the balcony before anyone could find him and raise whatever their next problem was.
The sun was shining brightly for a change, although the piers still glittered white with accumulated snow. It was warm enough with the sun shining that he wasn’t uncomfortable even without having put on a heavy coat. The water stretched out to the horizon, a deep and unbroken blue.
He walked to the end of the balcony where he could see the city. The towers rose against the sky, blue and silver, catching the afternoon sun. It was truly a magnificent sight. He hadn’t spent much time appreciating it. There had always been something to do that would keep him at his desk. There always was, if you looked hard enough.
When they’d been on Earth, he’d kept busy, too, scheming and playing politics, pulling every string he could find that might get Atlantis back to the Pegasus Galaxy. He’d made impassioned speeches about what it would mean for the residents of Pegasus if they never returned, without ever having time to think about what it would mean for him. Ultimately that wasn’t what was important. Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy would both get along without him.
He would get along without Atlantis, if it came to that, but the words rang hollow even as he thought them. He couldn’t think of anything on Earth that had actually made him feel a sense of… It made him feel overdramatic to say it, even in his head, but a sense of wonder. And if it was overdramatic to say that the legendary city of the Ancients inspired wonder, then he wasn’t entirely sure what the word was for.
He’d seen it. That was something. He’d been in some small part responsible for preserving it, and in larger part responsible for returning it to where it belonged. It probably wasn’t very reasonable to ask for a bigger role in history, but he couldn’t help feeling like a chance to do something that mattered was slipping away from him, and might never come again.
He shook his head. He could indulge in maudlin thoughts later, when he was back on Earth, but there were all too many things to be arranged first. Starting with informing Colonel Sheppard.
Sheppard arrived in his office not long after he called, looking like he had a headache. Dick couldn’t say he was surprised. It had been that kind of day all around. “What’s up?”
“Come in and shut the door,” Dick said.
Sheppard did, frowning. “That’s never good.”
“No,” Dick said, trying to smile but not sure how well he succeeded. “The IOA has requested my presence on Earth at my earliest convenience. They would like to discuss my recent decisions.”
“Ouch,” Sheppard said. “That doesn’t sound like fun.” He paused, his eyes searching Dick’s face, probably trying to judge how worried he was. “They made Elizabeth go ‘discuss her decisions’ a couple of times, but she always came out of it all right.”
“I sincerely hope I can manage the same,” Dick said. “But it won’t help to start by making them wait. I’m leaving you in charge of Atlantis while I’m gone. I trust that you’ll make every effort to continue securing the city.”
“Believe me, it’s at the top of my list,” Sheppard said. “We were scheduled to go check out some new planets in the next couple of days, but we can call those missions off.”
“That might not be the best thing to do,” Dick said. “I think it would be better not to suspend all our regular operations while you wait for me to get back.”
“Right,” Sheppard said. “Just how long are you expecting to be gone?”
“In the best-case scenario, General O’Neill will agree to recall Odyssey to Earth as soon as I go through. We’ll have a couple of days of fairly unpleasant hearings, and then when Odyssey arrives with her ZPM, I can come back through the Stargate. If that happened, I would think I’d be back in no more than a week.”
“That sounds a lot like ‘we’ll be home for Christmas’,” Sheppard said.
“Something like that.”
“Realistically speaking.”
“Realistically speaking, it could take significantly longer than that, and if I have to wait to return on Daedalus or Hammond…”
“They’re both here,” Sheppard finished. “Which means it’ll be at least a month before either of them can make the round trip.” He was beginning to look distinctly unhappy. “I’d really rather not be in charge here for a month.”