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That first week on Atlantis, Sam Carter ate alone.
It wasn’t that she minded, not really. Everybody had made her feel welcome, but commanding a base of this scale was still a steep learning curve. Most days, she was happy to have a bit of time on her own, a moment to sit and eat a meal in peace and quiet.
She did miss it, though—the effortless camaraderie she’d developed with her former team, the times they’d spent sitting around a table just goofing around. But being in charge was different. It set her apart, and she still had to get used to that.
“Mind if I sit?”
Sam jumped and looked up to find John Sheppard standing at her table with his right hand on the back of an empty chair.
“Sure,” she said quickly. “Sorry, I was miles away.”
“I get that.” Sheppard gave her a crooked half-smile and sat down on the opposite side of the table. “All this takes a bit of getting used to.”
“It sure does.” She glanced around at the bustling mess hall. “But you guys have made it easy, comparatively speaking. You were already a well-oiled team when I arrived. It must have been much harder for you in the very beginning.”
Sheppard shrugged. “I guess. Those first weeks were pretty crazy. None of us knew what to expect.”
“And you didn’t come here thinking you would be in charge of your team, did you?”
“No, I didn’t.” Now it was Sheppard who seemed to be miles away.
“It must have been difficult,” Sam said quietly. “I can’t even imagine taking command under those circumstances.”
Sheppard nodded curtly but didn’t reply.
“Did you find it…” Sam hesitated, unsure how much she wanted to admit about her own feelings. But something about Sheppard made her feel safe to voice her uncertainty. He could be after all be the one person on this base who could truly understand. “Was it lonely?” she asked.
Sheppard met her gaze. “Sometimes. But I never felt…I mean, if was different. Different than any other command on Earth, that’s for sure. We were all on our own. To be honest, I never really thought we’d be able to go home again. But we were in it together. Loyalty and trust develop quickly under those circumstances.”
“And friendships.”
“Yes.” Sheppard cleared his throat. “And friendships.”
Their eyes met, and Sam wondered for the briefest moment if she had given too much away, if he had shown more vulnerability than she could afford to in her position.
But then a smile crept onto Sheppard’s face. “I have an idea. How about you join us for movie night tomorrow?”
“Oh.” Sam had heard talk of those gatherings. “Yeah. I’d like that. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a movie.”
Sheppard clapped his hands on his thighs and got up out of his chair. “Great. I hope you like horror,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “We promised Ronon to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
That was in fact not one of Sam’s favorite genres, but that hardly mattered. She’d get to hang out with the others as one of the team, and right now, that felt like a wonderful idea.
“That’ll be fun,” she said. “Thank you, Colonel.”
Sheppard smiled back at her. “Please, call me John.”