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Rodney sighed as he stepped off the plane at Denver. The first leg of the flight, from Edinburgh to Heathrow had only taken an hour and a half but the second leg, from Heathrow to Denver had been almost ten hours and Rodney felt exhausted, despite being able to relax on the return flight as he hadn’t been able to do on the flight to Edinburgh.
Rodney collected his luggage and made his way through customs, on the lookout for the mindless marine who he guessed had been sent to collect him. It took him a moment to recognize the person slouching against the wall ahead of him. Dressed casually in jeans and black tee shirt, aviators in place despite being indoors, John Sheppard was almost lost amidst the rushing crowds.
Rodney frowned as he walked over to John.
“I thought you were going back through the Stargate on Tuesday.” Rodney commented as he reached John.
“Change of plans.” John pulled off his sunglasses and ran a hand through his hair before reaching out and taking one of Rodney’s bags. “O’Neill arrived on base a few hours before we were scheduled to dial in. When he received Elizabeth’s report he decided to fly in and have a catch up in person before I went back, somehow I missed the dial in.” He ducked his head and turned to lead Rodney through the crowds.
“Hey wait, coffee first,” Rodney grabbed John’s arm to steer him in the other direction, not missing the weariness and the dark shadows under John’s eyes. “I’m not buying that Sheppard, they wouldn’t have dialed Atlantis without you unless they were told you weren’t going. What’s going on, you look as exhausted as I feel?” He asked sharply.
John stopped and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Apparently O’Neill thought it would be a good idea if you and I had a little extra time away from Atlantis, so we have a two weeks off, and I quote ‘to grieve and get your shit together before you’re faced with the daily life and death routine of the Pegasus Galaxy’ as O’Neill phrased it.” John slipped his sunglasses back on and started walking again.
“So why are you so exhausted?” Rodney asked again, not letting John off the hook. “I have the excuse of a twelve hour flight, what’s yours?”
John ordered and paid for the coffees and turned back to Rodney as they waited for the barista to make their drinks.
“Just haven’t slept well. You know what it’s like when we come back to Earth, it’s worse than jetlag, especially when you’re stuck under the mountain.” He confessed. “O’Neill monopolized my first two days and then Landry decided he wanted to be briefed on some of the reports while I was there. Mitchell and Jackson had to come and rescue me in the end on O’Neill’s orders. Jackson took me out to O’Neill’s cabin two days ago, said we could stay there if we wanted to. It’s in the middle of nowhere and is really peaceful, and yes, it does have internet and a decent coffee maker.”
They took their coffees and made their way out to the rental. John was quiet once he started driving and Rodney was content to doze in the afternoon sun. He still wasn’t convinced John was telling the full truth and was pretty sure that the answer lay more towards Carson’s death than anything else.
Rodney would openly admit he wasn’t good with people, but three years working as closely as he had with John Sheppard had allowed him an understanding of the man that few people were allowed. Despite, or maybe because of his military training, John didn’t deal easily with loss. Since arriving in Pegasus Rodney knew that John had taken each death personally from Colonel Sumner who’d been the first to Carson. Sheppard felt the guilt of all those lives as if he’d been the one who’d taken them.
So Rodney sat back and relaxed as John drove from Denver to the cabin, located at the edge of Cheyenne Mountain State Park. They had two weeks, it was plenty of time to get John to open up talk about what Carson’s loss meant to him.