Advice My Mother Gave Me

by Belladonna

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/belladonna/advicemy.php
Summary: New personnel arrive, and one of them finds out something about herself and follows her mother's advice

Atlantis. Ancestral home of the Ancients. Now home to brilliant scientists and brave warriors, all working to defend the Earth against the new enemy, the Wraith.

But even scientists and warriors need clean clothes, and that's why I'm here. My name is Shannon Fitzgerald, ex-Navy, newly arrived on the Daedalus and I'm going to Atlantis to do laundry.

I can see the look on your face, no, I am not kidding.

I was in the Navy, serving as a Ship's Serviceman, rank of Chief Petty Officer on board the U.S.S. George Washington, for those of you who don't know, she (all ships are called 'she', go figure) is an aircraft carrier. The GW was bigger than the entire city of Atlantis, bigger than even the Daedulus, and I was in charge of the laundry for the entire ship.

Blissfully unaware of life on other planets, the GW was my own little kingdom. I ruled with a benevolent hand, and my shipmates got the best laundry service in the fleet. (Hey, I'm modest, I'm also right all of the time...) My sense of safety was overturned by a boat full of bombs while we were in port in Naples.

I can't remember a lot, there was an explosion, and the GW was blown open like a sardine can above the waterline, to my laundry. There was the screech of metal, the hiss of broken steam pipes, the cries of the wounded, the flash of emergency lighting clashing with the bright sunshine that you'd never normally see down here...

I wasn't hurt, and you know those stories of adrenaline making you stronger, well, it's true because I found myself carrying my much bigger shipmates out of the carnage to safety. I was told I was a hero, a word I don't attribute to myself because I was doing what needed to be done.

I lost friends that day, and soon after I got out and was taking it easy. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depends on how you look at it, I gained the notice of people who said I thought well under pressure, and would I like to transfer to somewhere with a high degree of personal risk, but exciting opportunity?

Um. Hell no!

The General, his name was O'Neill, just laughed and said that meant I was smarter than a lot of people he knew. The man at his side, a Dr. Jackson, gave the General an evil glare that bounced right off.

Dr. Jackson sighed then he looked me in the eye. "Your country, your world needs you."

Okay, I'll say now, for the record, that having those gorgeous blue eyes aimed at me was dirty pool on the General's part, that and invoking the 'your country needs you' spiel. But hey, that's how I ended up on the Daedulus.

**

Big fan of Star Trek. BIG fan. Of transporters? Or whatever the Asgard called those damn things? Not so much.

So, I'm in Atlantis, and I've got to tell you, the steady hum that surrounds me sounds like a welcome, and a bad case of tinnitus. The city is amazing, just like you imagined the futuristic cities of Earth to be like. I spin slowly around, ignoring the chaos of arrivals as I look my fill. Damn, there are some hot guys here.

"Chief Fitzgerald?"

A small woman with dark hair comes up to shake my hand. "Call me Fitz, I'm out of the Navy now."

The woman smiles at me. "Hi, Fitz, I'm Dr. Elizabeth Weir, and I can't tell you how happy we are that you're here."

I smile back. Everyone loves clean laundry, I tend to be popular. "Nice place you have here, but what is that damn hum?"

A hot, (and I mean smokin') guy hears that and turns, and I see he's a Light bird, sorry, Lt. Colonel. He comes over, his hazel eyes bright with curiosity. "You can hear it?"

I nod. "Yeah, it's annoying but soothing at the same time."

Dr. Weir and the Colonel exchange excited looks while I wonder what in the hell is going on, then the Colonel glances over his shoulder. "Hey, Rodney!"

The man who walks over in response to his yell isn't classically handsome, but he's cute. Blonde, blue eyes that positively glow with intelligence and impatience, and a crankiness that's kinda endearing. "You bellowed, John?"

Dr. Weir smothers a smile and says, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Shannon Fitzgerald, she's going to be in charge of our laundry. Fitz, this is our military commander, Colonel John Sheppard and our head scientist, Dr. Rodney McKay."

Both men smile widely. See what I mean?

"Call me Fitz, and nice to meet you both. I also do haircuts."

Rodney shakes my hand enthusiastically. "I'm so glad that you're here, I hate doing laundry! I tried to figure out a way to bribe somebody to do it for me but no one would. And John here could use a haircut."

"Hey!" The Colonel says indignantly. "Just for that, I'm not going to tell you Fitz's secret."

I raise an eyebrow. I know for certain that the hot Colonel doesn't know any of my secrets. "What are you talking about?" I ask.

Dr. McKay narrows his eyes at the Colonel. "She's only just arrived, what secret about her can you possibly know already?"

I look at Dr. Weir and she just smiles, enjoying the banter.

Colonel Sheppard crosses his arms and looks smugly at Dr. McKay. "No, you'll have to guess."

Having the full force of Dr. McKay's regard on you is a fearsome thing. It's like he's trying to glare into your soul, or at least under your shirt to your breasts. I stare back impassively, then the hum gets to me and I rub my ears.

His eyes widen and he grins, looking at the Colonel. "You've got to be kidding me! They don't test for that?"

The Colonel shrugs. "I guess they didn't figure that the lady doing laundry would have it. Looks like another guinea pig for you, Rodney."

Confused, and a little peeved I open my mouth to ask when I hear what feels like a mechanical whine building up and ask, "What is that noise? Sounds like an engine belt squealing!"

Both Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard, followed closely by Dr. Weir rush to a bank of consoles and the Dr. begins to punch buttons. "It's the north tower, its containment field is failing. Shit!"

I feel the whine get louder and I scrunch my eyes shut and wish, hard, that whatever is broken on the containment field would fix itself already, my head is starting to hurt.

And the sound has an upswing, and abruptly stops. Dr. McKay stares down at the console with perplexity. "It's fine."

The Colonel slaps him on the back. "Good job, Rodney."

"It wasn't me!"

Dr. Weir shakes her head, "So, Fitz. Welcome to Atlantis, and the cryptic talk about you the fact that you apparently carry the A.T.A. gene. Did they explain what that was in orientation?"

I nod, though truth be told I doodled through that part of the presentation. Scientist I am not, and I didn't think it applied to me. Goes to show you what happens when you don't listen. It bites you in the ass.

*

So, I'm assigned quarters. They're nice, and I discover that I can activate everything in there with my mind, which is wicked cool, if I do say so myself. I get settled and I start to wander, smiling politely at people as they walk by me in the passageway. After a few minutes I decide that maybe I need a map, when a panel on the wall bleeps and pops up, and low and behold, it's a map! Did I say this gene thing was wicked cool?

"I see you're figuring it out," a voice from behind me says, and I'm not ashamed, I squeal like a girl and spin around to see hottie Colonel grinning at me. I smile back. "It seems like its pretty simple. I ask for something and it happens."

He nods at me. "Yeah, it's cool. I've got it too, how's the hum doing?"

I listen for a minute and find that it's dulled to a background noise that's actually pretty soothing. "It's not so bad. I guess I'm tuning it out."

"Yeah, so, can I show you around?"

He's flirting! I squint at him, and my training of how he's an officer, and I'm enlisted and 'n'er the twain shall meet' comes up, but then I realize, hey! I'm a civilian now. I smile at him. "I'd like that."

*

So, it's been a couple of weeks and John and I have been, well, not dating exactly, but seeing a lot of each other. I like him, he's charming, funny and well, hot, but I keep feeling that there's something missing. He's come close to kissing me, once or twice, but there's been something that's pulled us both back at the last minute.

It's weird. Normally I'd be all over him like white on rice. It just ain't happening.

*

I'm in the laundry. My kingdom. We've found that with me having the gene, I could use the Ancients laundry system which is much more efficient and according to Rodney, takes up a lot less energy than if we'd added the laundry machines from Earth.

Rodney is quiet around me, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. He was so demanding, and bubbly and wickedly funny, and now he's just quiet.

My mom told me if I wanted to figure out what was going on in a man's mind, I need to watch him carefully. I smile. The memory that the advice brings up is a good one.

*

I'm the youngest of six girls. Yeah, pity my poor dad. He had to build himself a bathroom in the garage to have some peace. And to shave.

Anyway, we were all seated around the enormous dining table, Kate, Wren, Judy, Paulette, Robin, me, my mom and my dad. Kate was a senior in high school and was complaining how she didn't understand boys at all.

I shrugged. "What's to understand? They stink and they're stupid!" Of course, I was nine and the tomboy in a house of overflowing hormones.

My dad chuckled. "Does that include me, Shannon?"

I worshipped my dad. Still do. "No daddy! You're not a boy!"

Now my sisters began to laugh and I kicked the ones nearest me, which made for yelping, hair pulling etc. until my dad cleared his throat and we all straightened up.

My mom smiled at all of us. "The thing about boys, or men, is that they're very simple creatures."

This made my dad snort as he forked up some more chicken.

Mom laughed. "Not you dear. Anyway, if you watch them carefully, you'll figure them out. Don't try to change them, they'll just run the other way. Accept them for who they are, and you'll find that they make great friends, and even better boyfriends, or husbands."

Kate looked at mom thoughtfully. "Ray's parents are divorcing, and I can't make him talk to me about it."

Mom exchanged a look with dad, then shook her head. "Don't. Just be there for him. Watch him closely, don't be pushy, and you'll know when he's ready to talk," she looked at all of us girls seriously. "Watch boys carefully. See how they treat their parents, their friends, even their pets. If they pass all of those tests, then he's someone worth knowing. Maybe even dating."

At this point I began to pretend vomit, and that was the end of the serious discussion, but it had stuck in my head all of these years.

So, I wasn't going to date Rodney, I was just trying to figure out what was wrong.

It took a solid week for me to get a clue. He was always busy if John and I were going to do something and we asked him along. His blue eyes would be dark, and I had a crazy idea that he was jealous.

Okay, let's take that a step further. Did he like me? Well, he was always nice to me, but I didn't see the first thing to say he was attracted to me.

I'm not model gorgeous, though I'm no pound puppy either. I'm 5'7", dark brown hair that curls crazily in response to living right on the water. I'm neither thin, nor fat, and have respectable boobs, but can still see my feet. So, if he wasn't jealous over me, then what, or who, was he jealous about?

Over the next few days I made excuses to John, saying I needed to write letters homes or whatever, and watched Rodney. Without me around, he and John fell into this camaraderie that I had witnessed when I first arrived, and I realized that Rodney was jealous of me!

Hmm. I wasn't going to get between friends, it wasn't fair to anyone. So, I decided to talk to John.

I asked him how long he'd been friends with Rodney, and he leaned back against the railing of the balcony we were on, eyeing me thoughtfully.

"Three years."

I nodded, staring out over the ocean. Then I sighed. "John, I think you're great, but it's like you're my brother or something."

John laughed softly, relieved I think, that I'd brought it up first. "You felt it too? To be honest, at this point I thought we'd be eating breakfast in each other's quarters."

I turned to face him. "I know! I mean, I can't even kiss you! How weird is that?"

He gave me that quirky smile, and I knew we'd still be friends.

"So, what about Rodney?" I asked him, and was surprised to see the shock on his face.

"Rodney's a guy!"

I pursed my lips, not understanding what was causing this reaction. "Ye-es. Last I knew anyway."

"You were former military! What about don't ask, don't tell?" he sputtered.

Enlightenment! Now I understood. Rodney is attracted to John but doesn't know it, and apparently it's the same for John, except he knows it and he's bound by military convention.

How hot is that? Oh, wait, let's keep my prurient fantasies out of this.

"Well, I wasn't suggesting that you date Rodney," I said carefully.

"Oh." John blushed slightly. "I mean, we're just buddies."

Hmm. I think the Colonel doth protest too much.

"Gotcha. Listen John, I've got a million and two things going on. I'll see you."

John stood up and surprised me by giving me a quick hug. "Thanks, Shan. Most girls would have flipped out."

I shrugged. "Hey, my momma didn't raise no fool."

*

So, I'm back in the laundry and about a week later Rodney comes to the window.

"Hey, Rodney. No starch in the underwear, right?" I tease.

Rodney smiles hesitantly. "I, um heard that you and John..." he trails off awkwardly.

I make sure no one's around, then lean on the countertop. "I'm okay Rodney. But now that I think about it, I think you should go for it."

Blank face.

"Go for what?"

I smile. "Go for John."

Watching the brilliant scientist sputter and blush is vastly entertaining. "C'mon, I think you and him would be happy together. So go for it."

"I...I.." and he stops, blue eyes wide as realization strikes like a lightening bolt. "Ohmigod, I'm in love with him!" Rodney all but wails it.

I sort through his laundry, smiling wickedly. I've never witnessed an epiphany before.

Rodney looks like he's ready to hyperventilate, then his face falls. "He's military."

Okay, I never understood the military's stance on same sex relationships. I'd known scores of gays and lesbians who'd served their country with distinction. And damn it, we weren't on Earth.

"Rodney."

No answer.

"Rodney!" I said sharply.

"What?" he asked me dazedly.

"Look at me."

Rodney looks at me.

"Come here," I order.

He obediently moves closer.

Double checking to make sure no one's around, I lean forward. "You're not on Earth. Neither is John. Go for it."

I'm emphatic enough that it breaks through the wall of disbelief, and his eyes slowly widen.

"Really?"

I smile. "Hell, yeah."

*

I'm eating lunch and reading a book when a pair of legs enters my field of vision. Normally when I'm reading, a bomb could go off and I wouldn't notice, but there was something...I look up and into John's sparkling eyes.

"Hey!"

"You're a brat," he replies to my greeting, sitting down across from me. He's radiating contentment, and he has that well laid look.

I grin. "I don't know what you're talking about, Colonel."

He leans forward on his arms. "Thanks, Shan." His eyes are serious, but happy.

"No idea what you're talking about!" I say breezily. A minute later a very happy Rodney plops down his tray beside John, a hickey just showing above his collar. I raise an eyebrow at the men and receive blushes.

They finally leave and another pair of legs enters my field of vision. I look up and find the scrumptious Major Lorne.

Oh yeah, my day just got better. Did I tell you there were a lot of hot men on Atlantis? Believe it. .