Confirming Carter Bk. 01 Ch. 06

"I'll take a beer if you got one handy."

"Got a preference?" She asked, as she started pulling different beers from a cooler behind the bar. "Say when."

"When." He laughed, grabbing a Foster's off the bar.

Keller made pitcher of drinks for herself, pouring half a bottle of gin in with a large container of juice. She filled a large glass with ice then topped it off from the pitcher.

"You're not planning on drinking that whole pitcher are you?" Sheppard asked as they moved over and sat on a long, low couch.

"No, but it comes out right almost every time if I do it that way. It takes three or four tries if I just try to make a glassful. So I end up using about the same amounts. I'll just put the rest in the fridge."

"I want to see her." He said softly.

"We'll go up in a little bit, but we nee..."

"No! I want to see her. Now!" he said as he stood up and started for the door.

"John, stop." Keller said. "I'll take you up. What I was going to say was, you have to shower and change first. We want to keep her apartment as clean an environment as we can. She's extremely sensitive to odors, and you have to be clean, and in fresh clothes when we go up. There's a shower just down the hall, and I'll get you something to wear. Come on."

She led him down a short hallway. "The shower is right here, just leave your clothes on the floor, I'll get them taken care of later." She said as they came to an open door. "Make sure you lather up at least twice, and use the brushes and scrub tools, they'll help loosen dead skin. I'll leave the clothes in the room across the hall. I'm gonna go shower too, so I'll see you in a few minutes."

He just nodded at her, stepping into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind him. Stripping down quickly, he turned the shower on full blast, and stepped under the spray. The water was already hot, so he turned slowly under the spray, wetting himself, then stepped back and started soaping up with the goo from the dispenser. Pulling a hand brush off the shelf, he slipped it on and put more soap on it, then spent the next couple of minutes scrubbing himself thoroughly. He rinsed, then repeated the process, then washed his hair twice.

Shutting the water off, he grabbed a towel off the rack and started drying himself. Jennifer stuck her head in the door, grinning at him. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing a short robe. "Take a couple towels into the other room with you, and dry yourself well before you start to dress. And make sure you get between your toes. Toe jam really sets her off."

He took a couple more towels off the shelf and walked across the hall. A set of clothes was folded neatly on the bed, with a pair of cloth slippers sitting on top. He tossed the wet towel to the side, dropped one on the bed, and started drying his upper body with the other. He bent his knees and ran the towel under his balls, cupping them in his hand through the towel and squeezing lightly. Turning, he put one foot up on the bed and dug into the crack of his ass, looking at the towel when he was finished, self-consciously checking for a skidmark.

Dropping the towel on the floor, he grabbed the last one and ran it down one leg, then the other, then sat on the bed. Raising one leg, he rested his foot on his knee, and carefully ran the edge of the towel between his toes. He repeated the process quickly on the other foot, then stood up and pushed the shoes out of the way. Picking up the pants, he shook them out, then lifted the shirt, shaking it out as well. He frowned, and stepped out into the hall.

"Hey, there's no underwear!" he yelled.

"So go commando," She yelled back. "The rest of us do!"

Sheppard grinned and went back over to the bed. He picked up the pants and stepped into them, tying the drawstring loosely. Scooping up the shirt, he saw that it had an open front, so he drew it on over his shoulders, and came to a screeching halt.

"How do you close this shirt?" he yelled again, sitting down on the bed and pulling on one of the shoes. It looked a couple sizes too big. "And the shoes are too...wait, nevermind." The shoe was shrinking around his foot, and the sole seemed to be thickening at the same time. He was pulling on the other shoe when Keller stepped into the room.

"Do you always whine this much? No underwear, can't figure out the shirt, shoes are the wrong size. The only thing you haven't whined about yet is the pants!"

"Oh, I like them. And these shoes are kewl! They shrunk to fit my feet! That is way kewl!"

"Okay, come're. Lemme fix that shirt for you." She waited as he stood up, then took one of the straps hanging from one side and slid it around his waist, feeding it through a hole in the back. She pulled the other strap around the other way, pulled gently on the one sticking out the back, and tied them in a loose knot. "There, all done." She said brightly, stepping back and looking him up and down. "Not bad, John. You could pass for an Atlantian, no problem."

Sheppard was running his eyes up and down over her at the same time. She was wearing a soft white wraparound dress with a delicate flower print on it. He could see quite clearly that she was naked underneath. She had a pair of dark blue, open toed flats on, and her hair was pulled to one side of her head. He had never seen her look lovelier.

"Wow Doc, You look..."

"Now he notices!" Keller laughed. "Too late bub. Shoulda thought of that before we got all gussied up. But if you're nice later, I just might be nice back." She laughed again, and took his hand. "But right now, we're off to see the Wizard. Or whatever the hell it is she's turning into."

She led him out into the hall, and out of the suite. Sheppard looked both ways down the corridor in confusion. "Hey, wasn't the porter we came in on the other way?"

"Yeah, we don't use them to go between floors." Keller said as she led him around a corner. She pressed a pad on the wall, and a panel slid aside, revealing a standard elevator. "This is one of the few buildings in the city that has these. We're on one thirty-one right now. This elevator won't go below this floor, some of the others will though, for safety reasons. There are some other one of a kind features too, but we can go into that later." She led him inside, and the door closed behind them. "This building has a hundred and forty-five floors, but you need a code to get to anything above one thirty. Our girl has been busy over the last few months. I don't know what she was expecting, but if you pull this building up in the city database, it only shows one hundred and thirty floors."

She entered a code sequence in a panel on the wall, and the doors opened.

Interior-Carter's Suite

1240 Hours

They were obviously on another floor. She took his hand and led him down a short hallway, across a large, well appointed living area, and through an arched doorway.

Suddenly, he was in the room with the window walls.

He froze, his hand clenching unconsciously on Jennifer's.

"It's going to be okay, John."

"No, that's not it. Deja vu, but not." He let go of her hand, and walked over to the windows. Walking down the wall, he stopped when he felt he was in the right place. He turned and looked at Keller. "More like deja vu on acid. I've been here, right here. Well, six inches on the other side of right here. I just didn't know that she lived here." He turned and looked at the huge bed, half again as long and wide as the biggest human bed he'd ever seen. He was turning to say something else to Keller when he saw her.

She was standing quietly to one side of the bed, her hands folded in front of her. She was wearing a long grey gown, and her hair was brushed back away from her face. She smiled when she saw that he'd seen her.

"Hello, John." She said softly, her voice carrying easily across the room.

He didn't answer, but moved toward her. She met him halfway, holding her hands out to him.

Taking her hands in his, he smiled. "That color suits you. Much better than OD Green."

Her smile faltered, and her chin quivered as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Come here." he said, pulling her toward him. Her arms went around his waist as she buried her face in his shoulder. He put his arms around her, holding her gently as her emotions overwhelmed her.

"Oh, John! I'm so sorry!" She whispered huskily as a flood of tears poured from her.

Sheppard had no idea what to say, so he didn't say anything, for fear of saying the wrong thing. He just held her as they stood in her window room, letting her cry herself out. She went on for several minutes, and he felt like a lifetime of pent-up emotion was pouring from her.

When he felt her starting to slow down, he leaned close, his lips brushing her ear. "Condition?" He asked softly.

She shuddered, and another paroxysm of tears soaked his shirt. He let her get it out, then pressed his lips to her ear again. "Condition? Respond."

She hugged him tighter, and moved her face over into the center of his chest. "No...nominal." She said softly, then looked up at him, smiling softly.

She stepped back, looking at him steadily, "Oh god, I must look terrible! I always do when I cry."

"You look wonderful! I've only seen you look better one other time."

He took her hand and walked over to the window with her.

"When was that?" She asked him.

"The day you took command here. Rodney and I were talking to you on video conference before you actually came to Atlantis. He thought he was going to get the job. You were wearing a long sleeved black T-shirt tucked into skin tight fatigues. Your hair was longer, and fluffier, well outside AFR-3510, by the way."

"My hair has always been outside regulations. Why didn't you report me?"

"To who? I reported to you. What was I supposed to say? Col. Carter, my bosses hair is non-regulation length. Oh, nevermind. That's you!"

Carter slid one arm around his waist, hugging him to her. A moment later, she punched him the ribs. "You still could have said something."

"You fixed it. And then you saved us. You were just what we needed, when we needed it." He paused, smiling down at her. "I don't know who fucked up and did that, but I'd like to thank them someday."

Reaching down, she took his hand. "Come on. There's some people I want you to meet." She led him out into the living room, then down the short hallway to the kitchen.

"Have a seat." She said as she let go of his hand and moved to a seat at the head of the table.

"Sit here, John." Jennifer said as she stood up and pulled out the chair at the other end of the table. She moved into the chair next to his on the long side. "Can I get you something to drink? Another beer? We're well stocked."

"I'm fine." He said.

"You know Jennifer already," Sam said. "This is Andi Samuels, my resident brain mechanic," She said waving toward an older woman. "And this is Tammy Ford, my chief nurse."

"Girlfriend." Tammy grinned at him. "She's in denial."

"Ignore her," Sam said, smiling warmly at her.

Sheppard noticed that they were holding hands, and they kept glancing at each other.

"This is my senior staff, John." Carter said lightly. "Susan Arbann, my other nurse is off right now, You can meet her later." She paused and looked at him. "I'd like you to join this group, John. I trust your counsel, and your knowledge of Atlantis, the IOA, and Stargate Command are going to be invaluable in the coming months as we get operations up and running."

She paused, giving him a moment to digest what she'd said. "I don't know who the IOA will put in command of Atlantis, but it won't be a military officer. I'm betting it will be Woolsey."

Sheppard nodded. "I think you're right. Now that the IOA has direct control of the gate, they won't risk putting the military in charge here again. It definitely won't be me even if they did, I'm too much of a loose cannon." He paused. "Leaving the Air Force won't be a hardship. What kind of position did you have in mind for me?"

"I don't want you to leave the Air Force, John. Not for a while at least. As a matter of fact, it's much better if you stay where you are. They won't replace you, at least not for the first three months or so. They'll need the continuity."

Andi stood up, looking around the table. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go do a few things downstairs. Give me a call if you need anything." She held out her hand to Sheppard. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, John. I look forward to working with you."

Sheppard stood and shook her hand, then watched her leave the room before he sat back down.

"Andi's going to be director of marketing once we get things going. She'll be resigning and going on my payroll once we have my package worked out." Carter said. "I want you to stay in place for now because I'm going to request, insist if I have to, that you be my liaison with the IAO. I'm looking at setting up an independent operation, under the jurisdiction of the IOA, to use Woolsey's words, but not under their direct control. They'll balk at first, but once they hear what I have in mind, they'll fall in line. My other bargaining chip is that they won't want to lose access to one of the foremost authorities on Atlantis and ancient technology. The foremost authority actually, but they don't know that yet."

"It sounds like you have them by the short and curlies. It also sounds like you've thought this through." He said. "Can you give me an overview of what you're planning? It sounds like you're going into business for yourself."

"I am. We both know that running this place costs a fortune. Our budget last year was a little over three billion dollars. What I'm going to propose is that we begin commercial exploitation of Atlantis, in both the Pegasus, and Milky Way galaxies. We'll meet some resistance trying to take Pegasus products to Earth at first, but they'll leap at the chance to sell, rather than give away supplies like we've been doing for the last three years. That one change cuts over a billion dollars off the budget, costs are offset by any revenues we take in, reducing the budget."

Jennifer slid a laptop over in front of him. He glanced at it, there was a spreadsheet open on the screen. He went over the numbers quickly, then looked up at Carter again.

"You're right, they'll jump on this in a New York minute. I'm not sure about showing a profit in the third year, it might be closer to five." He paused, glancing at the spreadsheet again. "And these numbers are really optimistic. It looks like they're based on direct gate transport from Earth."

"They are. But before I can say anything else, I need to know if you're onboard." She said.

Sheppard noticed that she squeezed Tammy's hand, making her fingers go white. He grinned and looked away, looking directly at Carter.

"I wouldn't still be sitting here if I wasn't. But you already knew that. But if you need to hear me say it, yes, I want to stay on your team. Satisfied?

"Almost."

Jennifer opened a folder, took out several sheets of paper and slid them over in front of him. She sat a pen on top.

Sheppard looked at them. Both were confidentiality agreements, one printed on IOA letterhead, the other on something called 'Pegasus Enterprises' letterhead. He read them quickly, then picked up the pen, signed the first one, and slid it back over to Jennifer.

"Don't date the second one, we'll have to post date that." She said as she laid the first form in her folder. She took the second one, closed the folder, and stood up. "I'll go copy and file these." She glanced at Carter. "Will you need me to come back?"

Carter shook her head, and Jennifer smiled at Sheppard, and patted him on the shoulder as she went behind him.

"I'm down on forty-two if you want to drop by before you leave, John." She said as she went out.

"Is that offer for something to drink still open?" He asked as he stood up. "Just point, I can get it."

Tammy got up and went over to a cabinet, and took down some glasses. She handed one to him as he came over, then opened a panel and filled one of the others with ice, and sat it in front of Sam. She pulled the refrigerator door open. "Take your pick. There's beer and alcohol in the other fridge, right next to you." She took out two cokes and sat them in front of Sam, then filled her own glass from the tap.

Sheppard filled his glass with ice, grabbed a couple cokes, and sat down across from Tammy. "So what's the deal with you two?" He said as he opened a coke. "Until she got up to show me where everything is, you haven't let go of her hand."

"She..." Carter glanced at Tammy, then looked down at her lap.

"I help keep her...stable." Tammy said, looking at him. "And she finds my presence comforting. I also stimulate her as she needs it. We've discovered that Sam needs to be masturbated to ejaculation several times a day. The process releases hormones and endorphins into her system that allows her to maintain a semblance of control."

"She's my girlfriend," Sam said, looking up at Sheppard. She glanced at Tammy, squeezing her hand gently. "I can't live without her."

Tammy grinned. "Tease." But she squeezed her hand back.

"Thank you." He said, looking at Tammy. She nodded and smiled at him.

"Tell him the rest. We might as well get it out of the way." Carter said.

"What Jennifer said in the briefing was accurate to a point. But we intentionally misled them to ensure that they wouldn't try to get at her and see if they could treat her on Earth. There is no threat of contagion, we fed the consulting groups false information that will stand up when the IOA goes digging into it."

She took a sip of water, and looked at Carter.

"Are you okay, Sam? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine." She said as she stood up and got a spoon from a drawer, then took a carton of ice cream from the freezer. "I was crying earlier, and I think my blood sugar is down a little. Let's see what this does, okay?" She sat down and opened the ice cream, digging out a spoonful.

"Okay, but you tell me if you don't feel better."

Carter nodded.

Tammy turned back to Sheppard. "All the rest about the exposure to korathis, the effect it's had on her, that's all true. The fact that we've managed to discover ways to manage it for her so quickly is a miracle. But this is a permanent condition, it has affected her DNA and her brain, and there is no possibility of a cure." She paused, giving him a moment. "Do you have any questions before I go on?

"No, you give a good briefing." He took a sip from his drink. "Is there more, or can we talk about what's coming at us?"

"He said us...told you he would." Carter grinned at Tammy. "But can we take this downstairs? I want to show John his new suite. Or let him pick one."

"Suite? That sounds interesting." He said. "But I want to hear more. About everything."

"You will, but we've been sitting for a while now, and my butt is getting numb."

They got up, taking their drinks. Tammy carried Sam's, she was carrying her ice cream.

They went down to forty-three, and Sam configured the pad and had him put his hand on it. When the door opened, they stepped inside.

"Jennifer passed on this one, she took a eurotrash suite down on forty-two. I think this one is nicer. There's another one open on forty-two if you don't like this." Tammy said.

"This is fine," Sheppard said as he walked over and sat on a long, low couch. "Is this one of the perks of working for you?"

Carter took a seat opposite him on another couch. Tammy stretched out on the couch, laying on her side, her head in Sam's lap.

"Yeah." Sam said. "We'll work out a compensation package when you transition over, but I'm going to want access to you while you fill the liaison spot."

"This is going to take some getting used too. I haven't had it this cushy since I moved out of my father's house." He said, then stretched out, laying his head on the armrest. "You know, you two look good together. Natural." He looked over at Tammy. "You want to continue your briefing?"