Chapter 28: Epilogue

Eight weeks later.

John stood by the gate with a sense of excitement, today was his first mission since he'd been returned to active duty. Although he had been on full duty for the last week, this was the first time he would be going through the gate.

His team was supposed to supervise Doc Keller and group of scientists heading to the giants home world to vaccinate the children against the Red Spot. The giants had also allowed them to look at some of their ancient ruins. It was only a babysitting mission, but still he was itching to get off Atlantis and this gave him the opportunity.

Two weeks ago Jennifer and Carson had finally developed an effective vaccine against the Red spot and they had started to vaccinate the children throughout the Pegasus Galaxy a week ago.

A lot had happened to him over the last eight weeks since he had been released from the Infirmary as well. He had moved into a new apartment with Teyla and Torren and things couldn't be better between them.

Teyla had voluntarily took herself off his team, as the IOA and Stargate command thought that it would be a conflict of interest, with him being the leader of her team. He wasn't very happy about the idea, but Teyla didn't seem to mind, as it gave her more time for the work she was doing with the coalition of planets and it gave her more time to spend with Torren as well.

He was expecting her to accompany them on the mission today though, because she was the official liaison between Atlantis and the Giants, which he thought was a good thing. Woolsey had told him of his dislike for the giants, but he knew that Teyla was a master at diplomacy and she could easily put on a beautiful fake smile even if she was about to kill you. That thought alone made him love her even more.

Mr Woolsey had given them permission to take Torren along as well. Torren had expressed great interest in meeting the giant children; he had actually asked Teyla how much bigger they were than him, being giants and all. Teyla had explained to him that they were not much bigger than him when they were young and that most of their growth came through their teenage years.

They had celebrated Torren's birthday a week ago with a big party. There were lots of gifts and all of their friends were there; including Mr Woolsey. John had actually given Torren a small remote control car and he had gotten a kick out of racing it with his daddy and Uncle Rodney; Rodney wasn't too impressed though. The cooks had made him a cake in the shape of a fighter jet form earth and Torren loved it almost as much as he did; Torren enjoyed eating it more than looking at it. John was surprised when Torren told him at the end of the evening that he wanted to be a pilot just like his daddy.

Despite still recovering from and injury the last eight weeks had been a wonderful time for him, but now all he wanted to do was get through the gate again and now he was beginning to grow impatient, because they were due to leave in five minutes and no one else was here.

A loud Scottish voice startled him out of his reverie and brought him back the present. "Hey laddie how are you feeling, are you ready for today's mission?"

"Carson what are you doing, Isn't Jennifer coming?"

"She had a bit of an emergency in the infirmary and was tied up, so she asked me to come in her place."

"Nothing serious I hope?" John asked with concern.

He felt relief as Carson smiled at him; that usually meant that it wasn't to serious, "Corporal Higgins has broken his arm, things in the gym, got a little out of control this morning."

"I hope Ronon wasn't involved?" he asked with a worried look on his face.

"No this time he wasn't, he was sparring with Sergeant Smith."

"What have I been accused of this time?" Ronon asked as he walked up to join them, two minutes before they were due to go through the gate.

John turned around and smirked at his friend, "don't worry big guy, you're not being accused of anything."

"That's good, as the only thing I did this morning was went for a run, by myself."

A little voice interrupted the conversation, "Daddy we see giants now?"

John looked towards the control room to see Teyla and Torren coming towards them, "when Uncle Rodney gets here T.J." he told him picking him up.

They stood around for another five minutes waiting for Rodney to turn up, just when John had given up waiting and was going to contact him he came running towards the gate; well what was considered running for Rodney.

"Sorry I'm late; one of my minions was conducting experiments with ancient technology that I hadn't authorised."

"Unca Wodney, you late." Torren chastised.

"Sorry," was all that Rodney said which was unusual for him, because normally he would have started a rant.

"Okay let's get this show on the road," John said, as he glared at Rodney.

He looked up at Woolsey and Chuck in the control room, as the gate began to dial. Finally the seventh chevron was locked at the wormhole sprang to life.

He knew that there was still a team of scientists to come, but they would come through with Lorne's team in and hours' time, so he looked back at Woolsey one last time and then he stepped through the gate, anticipating the adventure yet to come.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day was sunny and warm as Teyla stepped through the wormhole on to the giant's planet. Torren was still with John, so she was able to enjoy this moment alone. Although she had been off world may times over the last eight weeks and some of them she'd even been allowed to take Torren with her, it was the first time she'd been off world with John in that time.

She looked up ahead and realised that everyone else had started walking, it was only a fifteen minute walk to the settlement, so she wasn't worried about taking her time.

For the next fifteen minutes she wasn't aware of anything except her surroundings, there were green fields with wildflowers to her left and wooded forests to her right, in the distance there was mountain peaks with a river flowing through them.

She came upon the giant's village and was surprised to find that John and Carson were already in deep conversation with them.

"Colonel Sheppard, Doctor Beckett, It is good to see that you are here to help us." Jonah said in a condescending tone completely ignoring Ronon and Rodney.

Teyla walked up to address the head of the giant council; she knew that he could be a little hard to handle, "Jonah it is so good to see you. Is there a place where Dr Beckett can set up his clinic? I am sure that Ronon and Dr McKay would be happy to help. In the meantime is it all right for Colonel Sheppard along with myself to take Torren to meet some of the children."

She felt Jonah's stare and she knew that he was not impressed with the idea, "Only if he doesn't have any illnesses that could affect the children in an adverse way."

John's face reflected his indigence, a look that she'd seen many times before, so she thought that she'd better reply, before he said something that everyone would regret. "I assure you Jonah that Torren is 100% healthy, I will ask you again would it be okay for Torren to see some of the children."

She watched his face and suspected that he wanted to say no, but in the end he acquiesced and said that it would be okay for a little while.

As Carson, with the help of Rodney and Ronon set up the clinic, Teyla, John and Torren went to find some of the children.

Teyla watched the absolute joy on her son's face as he saw the children, playing with a ball in the distance. They appeared to be the size of ten year old children, but from what Teyla had gleaned from the giant council they were only about five.

Torren ran up to them and shouted a greeting, "Hi I am Torren." Teyla was proud of how well he spoke for a two year old.

One of the girls shouted back, "Hi I'm Liana, do you want to play?"

Torren nodded and looked at her before running off to join the other children. She looked at John and saw him smiling at their son. It was good to see Torren having so much fun and despite the fact that some of the adults were a little arrogant, it was good to see that their children were friendly and inclusive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John stood and watched his son playing with the giant children, they were huge in comparison to Torren, but despite his small size Torren seemed to be just as co-ordinated as the other children when it came to throwing the ball, but catching it was a different matter. He watched as he fell over time and time again, but got to his feet laughing and smiling every time.

Looking over at Teyla he noticed that she seemed to enjoy watching Torren as much as he did and it warmed his heart to see her enjoying herself so much. Life in the Pegasus galaxy was hard and for Teyla she had lived most of her life with hardship and adversary, but to see her now, you would never guess.

He took her by the hand and walked over to the nearest tree and sat down and spoke to her in a gentle voice, "Teyla it's so good to see you having such a good time, I can't imagine the hardships you've endured in your lifetime."

"John why are you thinking of that at a time like this, the past is in the past and that is where I would like them to stay. Right here right now is what matters and today, I have the man I love sitting next to me and we are watching our son play with a group of giants."

That almost brought him to tears he couldn't believe how lucky he was. For a long time he didn't think that family mattered, but now he knew that it was one of the most important things in his life. That and the freedom he was fighting for throughout the Pegasus galaxy.

Today wasn't just about him and his family and the joy it brought him, it was also about others. It was about bringing a vaccine to a group of people and offering them hope for the future. It was about building relationships with these people and although they were condescending and arrogant at times, they were still human and that meant that they were all connected in a deeper way than they could possibly imagine.

He lay on his back and looked at the sky and saw the birds flying overhead and he decided that no matter what he faced in the Pegasus galaxy that there was beauty all around him and he knew that even in the difficult times he needed to remember that. That is the reason he got up in the morning and that is the reason he kept fighting.

Fin…

I've decided to end this story on a positive note, with a vaccine being available for the Red Spot. When I began this story, most of the world hadn't heard of Covid 19 or they had no idea how it would sweep across the world.

I do know that it is the hope of all of us that this will end the same way with a cure and a vaccine.

Thank you to everyone who has stayed with this story until the end and for all the positive comments and reviews.

It is my hope and prayer that all of you will remain safe during these uncertain times.