SGA: Much Too Far Out
Title: Much Too Far Out
Author: Rokeon
Rating: PG, gen
Challenge: Swimming
Notes: First SG fic of any kind, be gentle. No beta. Spoilers for Before I Sleep.

Summary: John wonders when he stopped pretending to be a commanding officer and actually started becoming one.



I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
    - Stevie [Margaret Florence] Smith

John wonders when he stopped pretending to be a commanding officer and actually started becoming one.

He never expected to be in charge of anything but a chopper, never wanted to be responsible for anyone but himself. Getting sent to McMurdo after Afghanistan pretty much guaranteed that he was never going to be promoted again, and he was okay with that. They were still letting him fly.

But the three soaked Marines currently dripping all over his nice clean puddlejumper don't look like they're expecting him to get the joke; they look like they're expecting him to tear some strips off. Slowly, and with great precision.

He hasn't actually given an order to stay out of the ocean. Neither has Elizabeth. So far basic survival instincts have been enough to keep them all dry: no one really know anything about the water that surrounds them. The oceanographers have been working nonstop for months, but they've still barely begun, and they certainly can't predict things like riptides and undertows. The xeno-biologists have been so completely focused on the Wraith that the only source of information they have on potential marine life is Dr. Kahne's (almost completely discredited) sighting of the Loch Ness monster. What they do know is that the original expedition timeline saw almost every one of them killed as the shield collapsed and the city flooded. Until now, that's been enough.

It obviously won't be anymore.

Right now he can see himself in the three of them: bracing for impact as his CO works up a good rage is something he's done too many times not to recognize it in others. They don't know he got filled in as he flew the jumper out to pick them up: Jensen and some others were playing basketball a little too close to one of the balconies, Cortez and Harris got their Baywatch on after he went over the edge. None of which is surprising since he already knew that Jensen turns into a klutz once he's off duty, Harris was a lifeguard before he enlisted, and Cortez was the star of her school diving team. Those two just confirmed their places on the team he's been assembling in the back of his head, the one he thought might be a good idea to have around on the floating city they still don't totally understand.

He never pictured himself as the type who spends hours going through personnel records in search of just the right time on the 100 meter backstroke. He's always been the type who's first to suggest the ballgame in the corridors to begin with- maybe not the type who ends up dunking himself along with the ball, but certainly the type who chases it to the rail and shouts "Wilsoooonnn!!"

He's not supposed to be that person. He hadn't realized they already saw him that way. He's not sure if he should be happy to find out that he seems to be doing a good job.