Disclaimer: Don't own them. Probably never will.

Characters: Team fic, but the story mostly revolves around Sheppard, Teyla and Zelenka.

A/N: This story takes place in a fictional 6th season, and Atlantis is somehow back in the Pegasus galaxy (I leave it to others to think of how that happened). It's about six months after the incidents in my first story "Our Great Divide" and I suggest you read that first. However, this story will still make sense if you choose not to.

Underneath

Part 1

The planet was a winter wonderland. The snow was soft and crisp like powder, the hills and slopes were untouched – no one had ever gone skiing there before, at least not for thousands of years. It was the perfect place for off-pist, and John Sheppard just couldn't stop grinning with anticipation as he readjusted his goggles. He looked to his left at Dr. Nina Dahl, "You ready?"

"Oh yeah," the blonde woman replied, grinning back at him.

The weather was just as perfect as everything else. The sun was shining bright and high in the sky, and the wind was only a small breeze. It was several degrees below, but after spending time in Antarctica, the cold never bothered John, and apparently not the young woman to his left either.

"Alright," John said, and planted his ski poles in the snow in front of him, leaning a little forward, as Dr. Dahl did the same. "One, two, three – go!"

They both took off at once. The wind whistled past John's ears as he darted downhill, aiming for the little black spot that was the Puddle Jumper, and occasionally he heard what had to be Nina's shrieks of joy. The jumper grew bigger and bigger, and as they approached it, they separated and flew past it on either side. Then they both turned sharply to the left to come to a full stop, sending a wave of snow over a weird looking machine standing there. They both laughed.

Dr. Radek Zelenka's head popped up from a small trench in the snow next to the machine. "Excuse me, this is very delicate equipment!" he scolded, and gave them a disapproving scowl to underline the words.

"Sorry, Doc," John said, and put his goggles up unto his head.

"Yes, we're sorry," Nina added, smiling teasingly at John. "And I won."

"I beg to differ," John replied. "I believe I won."

"Hah!" she said. "I totally kicked your ass."

"You kicked my ass, alright, 'cause you were behind me."

She stooped down, grabbed a handful of snow and threw at him. He dodged with a laugh, and it just missed him. "Well, I guess we'll have to let the good doctor decide," he said and turned back towards Zelenka. "Radek, who got here first?"

"I have no idea," Zelenka mumbled. "I was – amazingly enough – working."

He climbed out of the trench and started tapping away on his machine. He was bundled up like an Eskimo, but the cold didn't seem to bother him much either. After all he'd been stationed in Antarctica too, and in Siberia before that.

"Come on, Doc," John said with a smile. "You need to kick back now and then, or you're gonna end up like McKay." Zelenka just snorted, without looking up. John grinned and looked at Nina. "Too late."

She smiled. "A rematch then."

"Absolutely." He looked around and his eyes came to a rest on the highest peak in the area. "From there?" He nodded towards it.

She turned around to have a look. "Oh, you're on, Colonel."

"Great." John looked towards Zelenka again. "Why don't you come with us, Radek?"

Zelenka looked up at him and then shifted his eyes to the peak, before he stared back at John with a slightly horrified look. "Oh no. I told you, I don't ski."

"Why not? You have some pretty nice slopes over there in the Czech Republic, don't you?"

"Mm, yeah," Zelenka mumbled and went back to his work. "Doesn't mean I use them."

John chuckled. "Alright." He clapped a hand to the Czech's back so hard that the smaller man almost fell face first in the snow. "See you in a couple of hours, then."

Zelenka shook his head and mumbled something in his native tongue. John could easily distinguish the word 'idiots', though. Knowing that the doctor would be preoccupied with his work and probably not need him or Dr. Dahl for some time, he decided it would be safe to leave him here by the jumper. "Have fun with… whatever it is you're doing."

"Yes, yes, yes, go break your necks," Radek mumbled.

John and Nina took off their skis and started trotting away towards the peak. "It's gonna be a long climb," John warned her.

"Why, you want me to carry your skis for you?" she teased.

John smiled, realizing he had been smiling a lot this last few hours. This woman was truly delightful – lively and adventurous and fun – and he wondered where she had been all these years. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed female company of this kind. She was so laidback and relaxed, qualities that unfortunately were rare among the Atlantis expedition members. Not that it was strange that one's nerves went to pieces out here. The Pegasus galaxy could shave years of anyone's life, because you – ironically enough – lived in constant fear of having exactly that happening to you.

But Nina wasn't touched by the Atlantis way of life, at least not so far. To John she represented something new and fresh, and yet something so familiar that it seemed he had known her forever. And yet it was only about twenty-four hours since he'd first laid eyes on her…

ABOUT TWENTY-FOUR HOURS EARLIER…

John had not seen this girl before, which was a little strange. He took pride in always checking out the new arrivals as soon as they came to Atlantis, at least the female ones, but somehow this particular woman had managed to slip past his observant gaze. He suddenly spotted her in the middle of the room serving as the Atlantis cinema, where she was jumping up and down, shouting to the screen, "Aksel, Aksel, Aksel!"

Apparently Norwegian alpine skier Aksel Lund Svindal was about to win the downhill competition shown on the big screen, but John paid more attention to the screaming girl now. She was quite attractive, tall – really tall, easily more than six feet – and slim, with blonde hair that was cut short. As Svindal crossed the finish line, she shrieked with joy and John didn't really need the flag patch to determine her nationality. "Yes, yes, yes!" she yelled. "Bode Miller bites the dust! USA sucks!"

Then she seemed to realize that most of the people in the room with her were Americans, and quickly added, "At downhill skiing, that is."

As muttering Americans scowled at her and began leaving the room, John got to his feet and approached the blonde. "I take it you're Norwegian?" he said with a teasing smile.

She turned towards him and smiled, then proudly showed him her flag patch. "Born and bred, sir."

She was even more attractive up close. Her eyes were big and blue as the ocean outside, with a sparkle in them that told him she probably could be really naughty if she chose to. He put on his most charming smile – the one that always made Rodney call him 'Kirk' – and reached out his hand. "Colonel John Sheppard."

She took it. Her handshake was strong and firm for a woman's. "Dr. Nina Dahl," she presented herself.

He noticed the yellow patches on her uniform jacket. "You with the Med Department?"

"Yes, bioengineering," she replied.

"Sounds interesting," he lied.

A short silence fell between them, as they both, not very discreetly, checked each other out.

"You been here long?" he asked, although he was pretty sure about the answer.

"Six weeks," she said.

Six weeks. The girl had been here for six weeks. Which meant she hadn't come with the last shipment yesterday, but the one before that. How could he not have noticed her if she'd been walking around Atlantis for so long? Then again, he'd been busy these last few weeks. Lots of work.

"You like it?" A lame question, but he really couldn't think of anything else.

"Of course. This place has everything! City's beautiful, interesting people, a whole new galaxy with a lots of new things to see and study…"

"Life-sucking aliens," he added helpfully.

She smiled. "Aah, I haven't met those yet. Well, I've studied parts of them in the labs back at Stargate Command."

"Not that I wanted to scare you," he quickly said.

She winked at him. "It takes more than that to scare me, sir."

"Please, call me John."

"Alright… John."

He tried to think of more to say. Somehow it was hard to think clearly with her blue, teasing eyes on him. "Congratulations on your countryman," he eventually said, nodding towards the screen now showing figure skating. Yesterday's shipment had brought DVD's of the latest winter sports competitions back on Earth.

"Thank you. I've waited three weeks to see that race, but it was so worth the wait."

"Do you ski?" he suddenly asked.

"I'm Norwegian, so yes, of course I do."

"You see, I'm supposed to escort Dr. Zelenka off-world tomorrow, to MX1-375. He's doing something with a machine."

He paused, and she looked curiously at him. "Yes?"

"The planet is in its ice age, which means there's constant winter there. It's got some pretty nice slopes and I'm planning to take advantage of them. Would you care to join us?"

"Are you serious?" she smiled.

"Yes," he said.

"I would love to."

"Good, I'll have you assigned to the mission, then." He winked at her and left, a little surprised at his own spontaneity. Just as he turned a corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. Why? Why was this surprising? Wasn't he a spontaneous person? Hadn't he always been?

He looked to his left, out at a balcony and – beyond it – the big, blue ocean of New Lantea. Where had John Sheppard gone? What had this place done to him?

PRESENT…

They finally reached the top of the peak. It was exhausting making one's way uphill in the deep snow, and the climb had taken them several hours. "A ski lift wouldn't be such a bad idea," John said at one point. "Maybe we should have the engineers put up one?"

"Or maybe install Asgard beaming technology," Nina said. "That would be cool."

"Definitely. But I guess the Asgards wouldn't find our spare time comfort important enough."

"Not the engineers either," she added.

"Next time I'll at least bring a second pilot," he concluded.

The view on top was breathtaking. The world was gleaming white as far as the eye could see in all directions. Far, far below them, a little to the right, they could spot the tiny black object that had to be the Puddle Jumper. John smiled. The slope was steep. This would be one hell of a ride.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked with a teasing smile.

She just laughed. "Bring it on. This would be considered a beginners' slope back home."

"This is not a competition, you know," he said. He wanted to make sure she didn't feel like he was forcing her.

"Hell it is! Are you scared or anything?"

"No."

"Let's do it then!"

They put their skis back on and adjusted their goggles. "Let's try and steer clear of the jumper, shall we?" John said. "We wouldn't want to hit the good doctor. Or his precious machine."

"You got it," Nina replied.

"So… you ready?"

"Yes!" she cried and took off.

"Cheating!" he yelled, but of course she couldn't hear him now, and with a loud curse he went after her.

The speed was incredible. He could see nothing but white. He felt the wind in his face and it almost made him lose his breath. Then he spotted something dark ahead of him, a little to his left, and realized it was Nina. He bent down to gain more speed.

He was about to catch up with her when he heard the rumble from behind…

Radek Zelenka was puzzled by the strange EM-readings he was getting from his machine. The machine was however not equipped with sensors, and so there was no way he could determine where the radiation came from or what was the cause of it. But whatever it was, it had to be something big, he realized.

"Colonel…," he began before he remembered that Colonel Sheppard had taken off with the tall blonde. Why had he brought that woman along anyway? Radek wondered. Probably for his own amusement, he answered his own question, and snorted. The man was such a womanizer. No wonder Rodney always called him 'Captain Kirk'.

He glanced at his watch. The others had been gone for several hours now. He popped his head out from the trench and tried to spot them on the hillside, but he couldn't see them. Then he glanced around at all the whiteness, suddenly feeling exposed and very alone.

Muttering a little to himself he bent down over the machine again, looking at the readings. He suddenly noticed something else. The scale showing the measured seismographic activity suddenly peaked, far above the normal levels. How very odd…

Then he felt the ground beneath him shake. Very little and hardly noticeable at first, then more and more. Earthquake? His heart began beating frantically as he popped his head up from the trench once more. And then he saw it…

An avalanche. Tumbling from the highest peak in the area came tons and tons of snow, whirling up into the air like a thick fog. It made a deafening sound, and just in front of it Radek could make out two tiny dark spots racing downhill. He swallowed hard, but realized he himself was out of harms way. He just stood there – paralyzed, watching the two skiers apparently trying to outrun the massive wall of snow closing in on them, but Radek knew the attempt was futile. And still, when the tumbling snow finally caught up with the two dark spots and consumed them, he felt his pounding heart sink.

The snow roared past him and the jumper like a flooding river, and crashed into the valley below. And suddenly everything was very quiet, and all Radek could hear was his own heavy breathing. "Ježišmarija," he muttered, and ran as fast as he could in the deep snow over to the jumper to call Atlantis.