Trust Once Broken | SGA John Sheppard

0.91.0

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Happy Reading!

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John and Kai set up a small camp while they waited for Beckett to finish his withdrawals. John had only brought the basics, but he built them a fire as Kai worked in the jumper on the sensors. He started heating water over the flames and pulled out protein bars for them all. There was no telling how long it would be before they had a decent meal again. Once Kai made the necessary changes to the sensors she came down the ramp to see John crouched in front of Beckett.

"How are you feeling buddy?" John asked.

Beckett frowned up at him. He looked over John's shoulder to Kai and back again. "What-?" he started to ask and shook his head. "Show me the data. I doubt we have much time."

The three of them waded through McKay's research together. They had all eaten their protein bars and all that was left was the emergency rations of tea and coffee. They were on a clock, there was no telling how long it would be before Lucius sent people after them.

John took a sip of warm tea and without looking up from his tablet held the cup out to Kai. Kai took the cup without looking up, her fingers gliding over his. She wrapped her hands around it's warmth and took a sip. She shifted and her thigh rested against reassuringly against John's as she focused on the laptop in front of her.

Beckett watched the two of them from across the fire. He wondered if they even realized how easily they worked together. When they didn't think they were being watched there was something incredibly natural about them together. He hoped one day they would allow themselves the opportunity to be happy. Beckett however, knew the Colonel well enough to know it was rare for him to allow himself to be vulnerable emotionally, and Kai would never believe she deserved a chance at peace. They were both so caught up in their past it seemed they were missing what was right in front of them.

Kai opened a second tab on the laptop and tried to decipher McKay's final research. It seemed as the drug took affect his focus had waned. He seemed to have been recording symptoms he may or may not have been experiencing. It was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't as McKay was a hypochondriac but Kai did remember experiencing a headache for a couple hours before she became one of Lucius's puppets.

She tried not to think too hard about what it had been like to be so compliant to Lucius's every request. She had wanted nothing more than to please him, she had even led her friends into danger on the wraith planet without a second thought. Beside her John seemed to realize she was upset. He reached over and tangled his fingers with hers, giving her hand a squeeze. 

A steady beep started from inside the jumper. Kai jumped up and jogged inside. She activated the HUD as John came up behind her.

"Looks like they're coming," she said grimly. Kai shrugged out of John's jacket and rested it over the back of the co-pilot's chair. She shivered in the cold night air. The revealing halter top covered very little. She wrapped her arms around her midsection, trying to cover as much of her bare skin as possible. Even with John she was self conscious about the silvery scars that marred her skin. 

John hated how uncomfortable Kai was with so much of her skin exposed and he was conscious of keeping his eyes firmly on her face. Her eyes flashed over John's shoulder where Beckett was hovering. Unable to resist the protective swell in his chest, he shifted so he was blocking her from Beckett. "Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked quietly.

Kai's jaw hardened and she nodded. As far as she was concerned this was their only option. She put her wrists together and held them out to him.

John swallowed as he reached into his flak vest and pulled out zip ties. He hated doing this. Kai stepped up to his and held her hands up to him, absolute trust shining in her eyes. "I don't like this," he told her grimly.