Bus Crash - Part 1

Posted on Thu Mar 19, 2026 @ 5:10pm by Lieutenant Commander John Sheppard & Lieutenant JG Suzanne (Suzie) Quinn M.D.

1,712 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S03E01 - Something about Tribbles
Location: Langley Station: Residential Deck, Suzie & Johns Quarters
Timeline: MD01

ON:

Quite a few months had passed since John had his life changing operation. The man had been placed in a medical induced coma inside a stasis field in order to prevent his condition from further damaging his body. The coma was a strange event to experience, his unconscious mind had lost track of time as there was no factual outside stimulus to tell him how late, what the date was or even if it was day or night. However he was able to occasionally pick up on parts of a conversation told by a familiar voice and feel somebody touching him but beyond that the outside world didn't seem to exist.

Maintaining a slow and firm pace as he moved through the corridors of the station that had taken the place of its predecessor with the difference being that this one was bigger, a lot bigger. There was enough space that even after all of the original crew had moved in and weeks after people were reassigned to this station that there was still enough room for not just crew.

The corridor he found himself in was buzzing with activity, with workcrews putting on the last dots on the i's and crossing the tee's to crew members and their families moving into their new quarters. They didn't seem to pay the man with the cane any mind but were careful enough not to bump into his fragile frame whenever people moved past him.

At the end of the corridor John entered a turbolift lift where he ordered it to go to the residential deck where he and his other half had been assigned quarters. While the lift moved he leaned with both hands on the cane John couldn't help but wonder why he still held on to the cane as he was fit enough to not need it anymore, perhaps it was out of habit.

John exited the turbolift, made his way to his home and upon stepping through the doorway was greeted by the unmistakable scent of black peppers and clove. And the soft sounds of a jazz record traveling through the air. The man smiled as he saw a busy Suzie behind a stove focused on the dish she was preparing, the man gently put his arms around the woman's waist. "Hey red."

Suzie smiled as she felt the touch, easily leaning back against Johns body as she allowed herself that moment to just close her eyes; feel and smell his presence. How many times had she wished for the same during all those weeks of begging and pleading to any entity listening to bring him back to her.

After the stations explosion; there had been a time she'd feared to hope they'd be unable to bring him back. The chaos of movement, could they keep his coma stable for transport; could they keep him alive on a foreign planet.

Even the memories began to make her body tense, her breath caught as the feelings threatened to overwhelm. "Your late John." The words were meant as a gentle tease as the doctor tried to grasp control of the rest.

"I'm sorry, the new view drew my attention longer than I thought it did." He whispered as he gave a soft kiss on Suzie's cheek then noticed that there was something off towards the sitting area. On the couch sat a young feline figure who was intently focused.

"Suzanne?" John started, paused to take in the details of the white furred youngling who wore pair of headphones, a big blue bowtie on the back of her head that matched her outfit. In front of her on the coffee table was an assortment of crayons, pencils & a mess of old fashioned pieces of paper. John really made sure that what he had just observed was real. "When did we adopt a Caitian?" He asked without actually thinking through about other possibilities.

Suzie's body tensed a little as her cheeks flushed red. "Im sorry...I should have said something earlier. The thing is, nobody is quite sure who she is. From what we can tell she's a young Caitlin in very good health but she won't speak to us; nor could we find any information on her family."

Wiping her hands on a dishcloth; the woman turned to look at John. "I kinda might have suggested I...or I guess I mean we, could look after her while security tries to get to the bottom of what is happening. I couldn't leave her on her own in sickbay or even worse...a cell."

"It's alright. No need to fret, I understand." Came his reply while cupping her cheeks in his hands and looked into her blue eyes. John smiled, putting others before herself was one of the selfless qualities that he loved her for. Suzanne had made the right call, John thought as the man embraced the woman in front of him to comfort her and gently rubbed her back. John also knew it wasn't easy for Suzy, even with everything that had happened before coming to Langley Station.

Turning his head towards the couch, John couldn't help but wonder. Why someone would desert a child like that, who are her parents, obviously Cait but why she wasn't even in the system was probably the biggest mystery attached to this child. "Well, you always did want one." He softly and vaguely mused referring to both the animal and the human.

Closing her eyes just to enjoy the embrace and breath in John for those moment; Suzie tried to enjoy the moment before she remembered the other person in the room.

Stepping away with a slight cough, her cheeks turned redder again as she indicated her head towards the Caitlin. "Dinner's nearly ready...do you want to see if you can get her to talk while I serve?"

"Oh, right, yes." John replied while clearing his throat and casually made his way to the sitting area where the girl was still scribing away on the pieces of paper that were in front of her. The man gently kneeled down next to the little girl who appeared unfazed or was simply ignoring him, which John could understand.

"I'm John." He said while putting a hand on his chest. "What's your name?"

For a moment the girl stopped as if contemplating a response but before she could even make eye contact with the adult that had addressed her, the pencil had already continued it's work.

"Do you want something to eat?" John asked trying a different approach to get the girl talking. "Suzy is a great cook, I'm sure you will like what she made." This time the girl did not even pause an just continued drawing, ignoring him like he wasn't even there.

While finding the interaction difficult and even a bit frustrating as he was used to dealing with those who were a lot older than the child before him, John nevertheless showed patience with the child, he knew she didn't ask for any of this nor did he or Suzy. "Tell you what, we'll keep a plate warm for you should you decide to eat." He suggested while to his surprise, that even gently patting her back the Cait did not flinch or react to him.

Watching the interaction between man and Caitlin; Suzie couldn't help but smile. As she began to place food onto plates and move them to the table; questions tumbled through her mind. How long had they been together now? 2 years? Did the time John spent in the coma count? Had they spoken yet about the future they saw together?

As Suzie placed down the dishes on the table she just took that minute to allow the memories. How she almost lost this man; how health and time had stolen from them the moments that they were getting now. Would they be trying for their own child by now if things had been different?

Caught by the last though, Suzie realized that it wasn't as scary a thought as she might have feared before. Shouldn't that be the natural evolution to their relationship? And seeing how kind and caring John was to this young Caitlin; didn't it show that maybe it was something he might have thought of too?

Realizing the time lost to just standing there watching the two; the young Doctor cleared her throat. "Dinners ready. I've done some research on Caitlin's favorite food of choices should you wish to join us young one."

Slowly rising to his full stature and walked over to the table where Suzy had laid out all of the food. John took a deep breath trough his nose to try and take in all the different aroma's coming from the different dishes. It smelled amazing, he couldn't help but smile and feel a sense of pride.

"Smells... Oh hello." He interrupted giving Suzy a surprised look as the Caitlin had quickly scooted past the man and just as quickly the white furred girl stood next to Suzy, curiously looking at the dishes while letting her sensitive nostrils work, taking in all of the aroma's all while still holding a pencil in her paw.

Suzie smiled widely; looking over at John with excitement in her eyes as she realized that unwittingly she make have had a breakthrough. "Please...help yourselves. I always make more than enough so there's leftovers for the next day."

Sliding a seat back from the table and taking place in it John gave a approving nod towards Suzy acknowledging her attentiveness just before he started to fill his plate with a Salmon looking dish.

Her eyes seemed to follow the knife and the piece of food with interest and gazed at Suzy then drew a face of disgust and ran back to the couch.

Suzie felt her face fall as her eyes followed the retreating Caitlin. "Oh no...I've done something wrong? Is she ok? Do I need to get her back to sickbay? Have I poisoned her!!?" The young Doctor was half way out of her seat, looking back to John with near tears in her eyes.


:TBC

Lieutenant Commander John Sheppard
Assistant Chief Engineer
Langley Station

Lieutenant JG Suzie Quinn M.D.
Medical Officer
Langley Station

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