Beyond Breaking by Lionchilde

Beyond Breaking

By: Lionchilde

CATEGORY: Alternate Universe, Angst

WARNINGS: None

AUTHOR’S NOTES: This is a followup series to Rediscovered Hearts and The Promise of Thorns and takes place about 11 years after Beachead if Vala hadn't gone to the Ori Galaxy; for Atlantis fans, about 10 years after the events in The Return Part 1. On Earth, Vala has always known that the Ori would someday make another bid for the galaxy. On Atlantis, a fragile peace is broken by a scream that shakes Shep and Ronon to the core. Links to both the previous series' can be found above. Written for sg_challenges.

AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:

http://so-out-of-ideas.livejournal.com/

PART 1: Sunflowers

Raising kids under the threat of the Wraith wasn't something that either of them had wanted. The Wraith still believed that Atlantis had been destroyed, but the fear of discovery remained in the backs of their minds. Still, Ronon and John had to admit that on days like this, it was hard to keep believing that they'd been right.

"C'mon, Uncle Rodney, keep up!" John called over his shoulder.

"I fail to see why I had to come along anyway," puffed Rodney behind them.

"Somebody's gotta carry the stuff back," Ronon said without turning.

"Oh, right, like the two of you aren't perfectly capable of carrying sunflowers," Rodney replied. "Furthermore, why couldn't you just plant them somewhere in the city?"

"Because if we'd planted them in the city, Elizabeth and Teyla might have found them, I told you," John repeated.

Neither Ronon nor Teyla had ever seen an actual sunflower, but when Elizabeth casually mentioned them, Teyla's interest had been piqued. Unfortunately for Ronon and John, so had their daughters'. Elizabeth had described the bright yellow flower in detail, and the following day, four year old Melena and Regan had announced that they wanted not only to give some to their mothers but they wanted to plant and grow them first.

Rodney opened his mouth to complain further, but before he could actually get a word out, John's hand flew up in a signal for silence. A moment later, Ronon's muscular frame went tense, and both men strained toward the edge of the woods. Rodney peered after them, mouth hanging open, and whispered nervously,

"What?"

"I don't know, I heard something," John whispered back.

"So did--" Ronon started to say, but his words were cut off by Melena's piercing scream.

PART 2: Perspective

The Jacksons' back yard looked vaguely like a war zone. There was almost no grass left, and the entire area was covered in ugly, gaping holes and mounds of dirt. Carter O'Neill bounded off the back steps and then paused, sighing to himself before he carefully made his way around the holes to where Manda was digging. She continued scraping her way through the damp earth, completely oblivious to his presence.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to have, like, plants and trees in a yard?" he asked.

Manda jumped, then twisted and craned her neck up at him. "Huh?" she asked, one hand reaching absently to shove the dirty bandana higher up on her forehead.

"Well, most people kinda have those," Carter pointed out.

"My dad and I play back here all the time," Manda shrugged, turning back to her work. "And we have trees. Just no grass and junk."

"Yeah, well you and your dad have screws loose," Carter replied good-naturedly. He watched for another few moments, then hunkered down beside her. "What are you looking for anyway?"

"Dad found an 800 year old chalice last Thursday," replied Manda. "It was supposed to be a matched set, according to our notes."

"It was a cup, Manda," Carter sighed. "An old cracked cup that came from my house before my mom was gonna throw them out."

"You have no imagination," Manda pronounced haughtily.

"I do too--" Carter started, abruptly breaking off as Vala's frightened shriek met their ears.

PART 3: Fears

Ronon shoved John out of his way with a rough elbow and plunged through the tree line. Quickly recovering his balance, Sheppard followed, pulling his sidearm as he moved. The clearing was empty except for the two girls. There was no sound or scent to indicate the ambush that their fathers had been expecting. John heard Ronon holster his gun and slowly lowered his own weapon.

"Melena, what happened?" Ronon asked, his footsteps moving toward the girls.

"I felt something," the four year old replied with a sniffle.

"There's nothing here, Melena," Regan spoke up reassuringly, though John could hear the quaver of uncertainty in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Rodney asked, finally poking his head out of the woods.

"Something was," Melena insisted tearfully. "I felt it!"

"All right," Ronon said, swiftly moving to pick his daughter up. "I'm gonna take Melena back to the 'Gate."

"We'll all go," nodded John, leading the way back into the woods.

"But, Dad, what about the sunflowers?" Regan protested as she followed.

John sighed, then waved absently toward Rodney. "Uncle Rodney, you stay and pick the flowers."

"Me?" Rodney cried. "But what if I get attacked by something?"

"By what? A giant sunflower?" John retorted.

* * * *
"Do you think it could have been the Wraith?" Elizabeth asked. She idly reached a finger to toy with one of the sunflowers now decorating the table in the Sheppard's quarters, and glanced toward her husband.

"I dunno. Melena's never shown any sign of having Teyla's Wraith-sensing thing."

"It was prolly an aminal or somethin'," spoke up a sleepy voice from the doorway.

"Animal," Elizabeth corrected automatically.

"What are you even doing awake?" John asked.

Dylan Sheppard shrugged and crossed the room. He pulled out a chair and knelt on it, eyeing his parents hopefully. "Can I have some popcorn?"

* * * *
"She is asleep," Teyla said quietly.

Ronon responded with a grunt and continued to stare unseeingly at their bedroom wall. Teyla watched him for a moment, then made her way across the room and knelt on the bed behind him. Her arms slid around his chest , and she dipped her head to leave a kiss on his bare shoulder. "If it was the Wraith that Melena felt, I would have also sensed something by now."

"I still don't like it. It's not like her to get scared over nothing," Ronon replied.

Teyla nodded. "Perhaps it was merely an animal that brushed her leg in the grass," she offered.

"Maybe," Ronon agreed.

"Whatever it was," Teyla said, "if it returns, we will be ready for it."

Ronon allowed a slight smile and turned to face her. His hand reached up gently to tease the sunflower she still wore in her hair, and he nodded once as his lips met hers.

PART 4: Bitten

Manda sprang out of the dirt and bolted toward the house with Carter only a half step behind. Their sneakers pounded up the back steps as they charged through the kitchen door then skidded abruptly to a halt. Vala stood with her back pressed up against the island counter, both arms wrapped frantically around Daniel's neck.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Manda cried.

Vala's only response was incoherent sobbing, her voice muffled against her husband's shoulder. Manda shot a fearful glance toward the kitchen doorway, where her brother, Nicky stood wide-eyed with shock and fear. There was something cupped in the five year old's hands, but from where she stood, Manda couldn't tell what it was.

"Get it out!" Vala screamed as Teal'c and Cam appeared in the doorway. "Get it out of here!"

Nicky started toward the back door, only to have her shriek in protest as he came toward her. He froze mid-step, his eyes darting frantically from his parents to Cam and Teal'c. The Jaffa's eyebrow shot up questioningly.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know," Nicky replied. "It's just a baby garter--"

"Nicky, get that out of here!" Vala told him. "Daniel, make him take it out!"

"I can't!" Nicky exclaimed, his face contorting with confused and frightened tears of his own.

"Nick, take it out the front!" Jack said urgently, pushing his way past Cameron from the hall. "C'mon, go!"

Nicky squeezed his way past the growing crowd of people in the doorway and raced out the front door, but it was still several minutes before Daniel could quiet Vala and coax her to sit down at the table again. Though she had stopped crying by then, she was still breathing raggedly, and he knelt beside the chair.

"Carter, Manda, why don't we go inside?" Cam suggested.

"I want to stay with my mother!" Manda shook her head.

"It's all right, Mitchell," Vala said shakily. "Someone--someone go outside and get Nicky."

"I will go," volunteered Teal'c. Daniel and Vala nodded their thanks, and the Jaffa quickly walked back through the house to the front door.

He found Nicky hunched under a tree in the front yard, knees drawn up to his chest. The boy looked up as he approached, and hurriedly wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Is my mom okay, Teal'c?" he asked.

"She will be fine," Teal'c nodded, clasping his hands behind his back.

"I didn't mean to scare anybody," Nicky said. "It was just a little garter snake. I found it out here."

"You could not have known that your mother would be frightened," Teal'c said in what, for him, was a reassuring tone.

"I didn't think Mom was scared of anything," Nicky said.

"Your mother was once…attacked by a large snake," Teal'c said. None of his friends' children had any knowledge of the Goa'uld, and he hoped to make sure that their ignorance remained intact for as long as possible.

"Was she hurt bad?" Nicky's eyes widened.

"Indeed," nodded the Jaffa. "Seeing snakes now causes her to have vivid memories of that event."
Nicky frowned, then slowly nodded in understanding. "Bet everybody's mad," he bit his lip.

"They are not," Teal'c replied.

"You sure?" Nicky asked uncertainly.

"Your mother requested that I bring you back inside," explained Teal'c. "She is concerned that you were frightened."

"But I scared her!" Nicky frowned. "How can she be worried about me?"

"She is your mother," Teal'c said. "Her first concern will always be for your well-being."

PART 5: Playground

Rodney's lab was the best place to play on Atlantis. The problem was that breaking anything there consistently resulted in a lecture--and while Rodney's lectures were usually entertaining, sometimes they were tedious. Yawning during a lecture was to be avoided at all costs. Occasionally, though, Rodney didn't lecture. He just got mean.

Melena was the first to notice that the strange orb on his workbench had started to take on a faint red glow. "Hey, look!" she called.

Regan and Dylan looked up from the other side of the bench where they had been using the scientist's laptop to play Chuzzle and ran over. Dylan reached to grab it, and the girls' hands quickly shot out to stop him.

"You know what he says about touching his stuff," Regan reminded him.

"I just want to figure out what it is," Dylan said.

"Maybe it's a dragon egg," suggested Melena.

"A dragon egg?" the other two exclaimed in unison.

"Like the ones your dad told us about!" she nodded.

"Dragons aren't real," Dylan rolled his eyes.

Melena opened her mouth to reply when they heard the door slide open behind them. Rodney stepped inside with a sandwich and coffee, and his mouth popped open.

"What are you little--people--doing now?" he demanded as a sudden, high pitched whine began to issue from the glowing object.

PART 6: Shattered

Despite the passing of another birthday, Daniel was looking forward to the annual barbecue that Jack held in his honor. Although he and Vala were still actively involved with the SGC, both had left SG-1 around the time that Manda was three. Up until then, his grandfather, Nick, had been acting as their children's primary caregiver while SG-1 was offworld, but both of them had wanted more flexibility in their work schedules and, with Manda to start preschool the following year, jobs that would give them fewer offworld absences to explain. Sam had gone back to her work with R&D in order to be home more with her son, leaving the SGC's flagship team in the hands of Cam, Teal'c, and a succession of replacements who, for one reason or another, never stayed more than six months as part of SG-1. Other get-togethers might be cancelled or postponed at a moment's notice--often at least by Cam and Teal'c, who were required to be elsewhere--but the entire team made a point of spending July 8th in the O'Neills' backyard.

They had sent the kids outside to play more than an hour ago, but the team was still gathered in the air conditioned living room. Daniel stepped out of the kitchen with a beer swinging lightly between the first two fingers of each hand. He walked over to the couch where Jack and Vala were arguing the merits of the Simpsons and handed one to each of them. Then, he half sat on the arm of the sofa, smiling as Vala appropriated his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders.

A moment later, he frowned at the familiar, loud bark of Teal'c's golden retriever. The kids had taken the dog out to the yard with them, and while the barking wasn't uncommon, it was usually accompanied by shrieking and giggles. Teal'c and Cam looked up from their game of Go Fish and turned toward the sound.

"Chewie!" Cam yelled in the direction of the back door. "What's eatin' you?"

"The children have most likely gone to play in CarterO'Neill's treehouse," said Teal'c.

"We're gonna have to build a doggy elevator or somethin'," Cam sighed, shifting his attention back to the cards.

Chewie did settle down, and Daniel knew that the dog would be lying sullenly under the tree, his forlorn gaze never moving until all three kids had emerged and climbed the rope ladder back to the ground. He shook his head fondly and looked back over at Vala and Jack, who had somehow moved from the Simpsons to Scooby Doo. He smiled again and got up to help Sam in the kitchen, deciding it would be better not to try to follow the thread of that conversation.

Twenty minutes later, the barking began, a second time. Daniel walked over to the window and peered through the curtains, but saw nothing amiss and shrugged. After a few minutes, the dog's barking became louder and took on a definite agitated note. Finally, Sam rolled her eyes and picked up the bowl of potato salad she'd been making. Daniel quickly moved to open the fridge for her, but she sighed in annoyance at Chewie.

"Daniel, will you go out there and tell them to--" she started, breaking off as the back door banged open behind her.

"Mommy!" Manda shrieked, completely ignoring Sam and Daniel as she raced for the living room and her mother. "Mommy, Carter's hurt! Carter's hurt bad!"

Oh, housekeeping note: As with RH, all fics in the series will be tagged for all the main pairings. So if you happen to click a tag and find yourself reading a fic that seems relevant to the wrong pairing, this would be why.

To be continued…

Feedback to: lionchilde@msn.com

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