Chapter 33

Morning came early for Felix, as he checked his uniform over just after the sun was up at about 7am or so; Laura Cadman was still asleep in the bed as usual. She was definitely not a morning person, so made a point of not bothering her or waking her. He would look over periodically to see if she was conscious yet or just to look and admire her features as she slept peacefully.

Finally after about ½ an hour of fussing with his uniform to his satisfaction, Felix got fully dressed in sweats and went to the dining hall for a light breakfast. As he was going out the door of his room he heard Laura rollover and snore lightly in her sleep — he shook his head and went to eat.

When he got to the dining hall there weren't too many people awake at that hour, so he had his choice of tables; he chose a corner one facing the dining hall. As he sat down he realized he was right back into certain habits from years ago — always keep an eye on your surroundings when possible.

Felix deliberately ate his two English muffins slowly and savoured the coffee as the occasional person came in for breakfast. After about 25 minutes of milking the time in the dining area he decided to head back to his room and try to relax with a book or an old crossword.

He dropped his tray in the drop-off area and went back to his room. En route he thought it seemed almost a bit conspicuous that the normal crew of people weren't at breakfast, and he got to wonder what was afoot.

He entered his room to find that Laura Cadman had departed for probably her room he figured; he shrugged his shoulders and looked at his pocket books until he found a Tom Clancy novel that he hadn't read in a long time. Before he lay down and fell asleep reading, he set his alarm on his wristwatch so he would be ready when Colonel Sheppard showed up.

So Felix lay on his bed and read about 4 chapters before his eyes closed and his thumb was in the book, marking where was stopped at. The book gradually fell down on the bed as Felix then rolled on his side and accepted sleep.

A couple of minutes later — or so it seemed to Felix — he woke to find Colonel Sheppard in his dress uniform standing near the bed, shaking him awake. Felix sat up and blinked like an own a few times and then registered that the Boss man was talking to him. Felix held up a hand and said, "Hang on a second, will you? I just woke up and my mouth feels like the cat shit in it — any water handy?"

Felix saw a water bottle flying at him from across the room and stuck up a hand to grab it, which he did and swallowed most of the bottle, and then said, "Thanks, Ronon." He looked at Sheppard and asked, "What — you didn't think I was going to skip again, did you? You bring the heavies to make sure I show up?"

Sheppard smiled a small smile and replied, "After further reading of your file last night and finally getting some answers about that missing two year gap — I wasn't about to take any chances. Besides, General O'Neill is showing up here for the ceremony — he's supposed to be promoting some people today I was told, so I have to make the effort to make sure things go as smooth as possible. So, why don't you get dressed — I'll just be looking at your books while you get ready, and then we'll go and get this over with. I'm not exactly fond of this uniform either, Felix - so if I have to get dressed up — you have to as well."