Chapter 23

Felix grabbed his jacket and donned it, and then grabbed Sasha in his arms as he carried it to the weapons room.

Sheppard waited as Felix quickly secured Sasha in the rack, they closed and secured the door, and then Sheppard noticed that Felix still had camouflage all over his face and hands.

Sheppard said, "We'll go to my room real quick and you can wash there — no argument."

"Okay."

They walked quickly to Sheppard's room where Felix was directed to the sink and he washed rapidly. He took a moment to look at the amount of personal items that Sheppard had in his room and asked, "I take it you are allowed personal items?"

Sheppard finished changing his shirt and answered, "It would appear that way, wouldn't it? We'll see when we can get your stuff here if you'd like."

Felix replied, "That would be nice — be able to read my books again, work on models again. Are we allowed pets at all?"

Sheppard answered, "No pets unfortunately — operational necessity if we have to evacuate quickly — what happens to the stuff here? We've almost had to evacuate 3 times since we've been here, mainly because of the Wraith and once because of the Genii."

Felix looked at Sheppard angrily and asked, "The Genii almost took over this place?"

Sheppard was surprised at Felix's vehement tone towards the Genii but didn't say anything about that and answered, "Just about — it was a very near thing, Felix."

Felix finished drying his face and hands and said, "Let go have some growlies — I'm famished."

Sheppard and Felix left the officer's room and went to the dining area, where they joined the line-up waiting for what looked like chilli on a bun. Felix didn't blink as he stocked his tray with the main meal, a salad and two milk containers and a small bowl of pudding. Sheppard led the way to a vacant table where they sat across from one another.

Felix was about to start eating but put his fork down as Sheppard commented, "This looks revolting tonight."

Felix smiled and replied, "In your mess halls on your bases in the States — this is commonly known as 'SOS'."

Sheppard squinted and asked, "I have to ask — what is SOS?"

Felix kept the smile as he replied, "Shit On a Shingle."

Sheppard grimaced and said, "I had to ask."

Felix had a mouthful and once he swallowed he said, "It's good for the digestive tract — flushes the pipes and keeps you regular."

Sheppard snorted and replied, "You're just full of optimism about this food, aren't you? Right, sorry — I forgot — food."

Felix shrugged as he said, "It's okay - it's only been barely two days and I have to get used to things here as much as the people have to get used to me."

Sheppard poked at his food while Felix scarfed his down fast, munched his salad, tanked back the two milk containers and was about to start on dessert when he noticed his boss wasn't eating his food.

He asked, "Do you want your food?"

Sheppard offered his tray and Felix scooped the chilli over to his tray and promptly wolfed that down. Sheppard just looked at him and said, "I don't think I've seen a person enjoy food as much as you — except maybe Ronon. He was almost the same when we brought him in — at least you use the utensils."

Sheppard waited until Felix had finished everything on his tray and sat back to let it all settle. Sheppard leaned forward and said, "You seemed like you wanted to ask nor tell me something a short while ago. What's on your mind?"

Felix looked at Sheppard and asked, "Here or elsewhere? Do the walls have ears here?"

Sheppard replied, "Why don't we talk business in my room, then?"

Felix stood up and replied, "All righty then - shall we?"

Sheppard and Felix went back to Sheppard's room where they sat down on the couch and Sheppard grabbed a sheet of paper so they could jot down their ideas.