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"See you later, Sheppard?" Jack O'Neill asked as he was policing his tray at breakfast.
"Yeah," John nodded. "I'll meet your team at the armory." He looked at his watch. "I have a meeting with Woolsey shortly, and need to check into the office, but I should be ready in an hour and a half."
"Good enough," Jack nodded. "Come on, Daniel, things to do..."
"Jack! Let me finish!" Daniel protested, although he stuffed the last of the not-cherry muffin into his mouth and somehow inhaled the half a mug of coffee that was on his tray as he scrambled out of his chair.
"You've been dawdling," Jack sighed. "I'm going."
Daniel crammed everything on his tray and trotted after Jack.
John shook his head and went back to finishing up his own breakfast. The not-cherry muffins were always good and he was going to enjoy his.
"Where are you two off to today?" Rodney asked.
"It was in the weekly briefing," John sighed. "Jack's team is starting on that tower in the East pier."
"Oh, that!" Rodney said dismissively. "Didn't the engineers decide that it's essentially all living quarters? Not important enough for me to pay attention to."
"Oh, thanks, now you've jinxed it!" John teased. "You never know what you'll find anywhere."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Rodney waved a hand. "Even if the Wraith are less of a problem since we've come back to Pegasus, we still need ZedPMs before we can open up more living and working space."
"I know that," John held in his sigh this time. "But we'll never find anything important if we don't keep looking."
"You and Jack go ahead and look," Rodney said. "I'll be in the labs." Rodney piled his breakfast debris on his tray and left.
"Movie night tonight!" John called.
Rodney waved a hand to acknowledge he heard.
"What's wrong with him?" Ronon asked.
John shrugged. "Not sure," John admitted.
"Rodney has been... uncomfortable, for some reason, ever since General O'Neill and Dr. Jackson have joined us," Teyla offered. "At first, I thought Rodney was happy to have Dr. Jackson here to assist him in the labs. But, now, I am not so sure."
"Huh," John said. Teyla was right. Rodney had been ecstatic when Daniel first joined them. He wanted to hand Daniel oversight of all of the 'soft' sciences, but Daniel had pushed back and taken responsibility for only anthropology and linguistics. But Rodney had considered that a win, since anything off his plate was helpful.
John knew Jack had Daniel recruiting help from Earth for some of the other areas Rodney wanted to delegate, but since there was nothing concrete at the moment, John was holding that information to himself. Maybe he should consider sharing to cheer his friend up.
John's watched beeped at him to remind him that he had a meeting shortly.
"Okay, gotta go," he told Ronon and Teyla. "See you tonight?"
They both nodded and John dumped his tray on his way to Woolsey's office.
John hadn't been privy to the infighting that went on when Atlantis was on Earth. He kept his head down, did whatever was asked, completed endless reports, and went to innumerable interviews about what happened in Pegasus.
He had been relieved when word of declassification of the Stargate program came down. It made it easier -- and harder -- for everyone.
Rodney had been in nerd nirvana at that decision. John watched as Rodney, Sam Carter, and Radek Zelenka took turns saying "nyah-nyah" to just about every scientist on the planet.
The existence of a Wraith ship in the Milky Way was enough for TPTB to send Atlantis back to Pegasus, to hopefully prevent another incursion from the source. John's appreciation of Henry Hayes went up when Hayes wrested control of Atlantis away from the IOA. He was surprised, but appreciative, when it was announced that Richard Woolsey would be coming back as the leader for the Expedition.
Then General O'Neill called him in for a 'discussion.' Bring an overnight bag. Like that wasn't weird. The Daedalus transported John from Atlantis to a cabin in the woods.
"Sheppard, throw your bag inside and come and have a seat," O'Neill invited from his seat next to a pond. "Grab a pole."
"Umm... I don't fish," John stuttered when he came back to the deck.
"No big deal," O'Neill assured him. "There's no fish in the pond anyway."
"Oooo-kay..." John agreed, awkwardly holding the pole.
"Beer?" O'Neill offered.
"Will I need it?"
"Probably."
"Sure," John nodded. O'Neill took a beer from the cooler on the deck, used the arm of the chair to pop off the cap and handed it to John.
John looked at the bottle. "Local?"
"Yeah," O'Neill nodded.
He took a drink. "Good stuff." He took another drink.
"So. First of all, you'll be going back as a full bird and as the military leader of the expedition."
John gave an internal sigh of relief. He had been worried that they'd put someone else in charge of Atlantis. The extra rank was a bonus he never expected. "Good to know."
"Cam Mitchell is going to be bumped up to General and put in charge of the SGC. Carter's getting the same and going to Homeworld. I think she and Cam flipped for it, but she'll be better in Washington than Cam."
"Interesting." John took another drink of his beer.
O'Neill fished another beer out of the cooler and handed it to John.
"I'm going to retire. Daniel's going to give up his work for the SGC."
"I suspect you deserve that." John finished the first beer and put the bottle on the deck. He took a drink from the second bottle. "And..."
"And we'll be coming back with you to Pegasus."
Ah! That was the other shoe dropping John had been waiting for.
"Did you have any... plans?" Another drink. "Sir?"
"Well, that's why we're here, just buddies drinking a couple of beers."
"Buddies?" John raised an eyebrow.
"Best buds," O'Neill assured him solemnly.
"Good to know." John wasn't sure there was enough beer for this conversation. He finished the second bottle. He held up a hand when O'Neill reached to the cooler. "Give me a minute, here."
"Sure."
"And what sort of things do best buds do?"
"Well, that's a good question!" Jack took a drink of his own beer. "Since we're best buds and braiding each other's hair, the honest truth is that I need to get off the planet. Mostly for my own sanity. If I'm easy to reach, I'll get dragged back into... into everything."
"It wouldn't be easy to reach you in Pegasus."
"See? You get that!" O'Neill beamed.
"Hmm..." John nodded. He almost wished he had taken that third beer.
"Daniel's willing to do his own thing," O'Neill added. "He'll be able to keep himself busy, so we don't have to worry about him."
"You two a package deal?" John blamed the two quick beers for asking that question out loud.
"Yup."
Huh. "I'll have that beer now."
O'Neill handed him a fresh bottle. John sipped at the bottle for a moment and O'Neill played with his fishing pole.
"You still gate certified?"
O'Neill winced. "Kinda. The knees are dicey, but I've kept up my weapons certification. I'd really rather not do routine Gate missions."
"I get that," John said, nodding. "I don't get to go out as often as I used to and, well, I don't mind when the youngsters you send us have to do some of those suckier missions."
"Yeah. I've done my share of slogging through mud and sleeping rough and would be glad to never do it again."
"And once Dr. Jackson gets his hands on the Ancient database, I suspect he won't want to do much else," John floated.
"Got that in one."
John took another drink of his beer. "Atlantis is a big city."
"I've heard that. Seen some of it. Although there are parts I wouldn't recommend to tourists."
John suspected they were both thinking of that flooded docking bay.
"Well, see, that's just it. We've been so busy going out and fighting Wraith, and finding trading partners, and exploring Pegasus in general, that we haven't had the time or energy to explore any more of Atlantis that we have an immediate need for."
"Huh. And I bet that exploration would be interesting."
"Oh, sure." John waved his beer. "Flooded docking bays. Labs left by Janus. Labs with energy monsters. Stray nanites. Bodies in stasis. Machines that induce exploding tumors. Yeah. I'm not sure interesting is a word I'd use."
"Bet you could use a slightly but justifiably paranoid retired General with a reasonably decent ATA gene to do some of that exploring for you."
"Only the best for my best bud."
O'Neill -- now Jack -- had laughed.
John smiled at the memory as he went into Woolsey's office for their daily check-in. A -- mostly, as schedules permitted -- daily check-in assuaged Woolsey's need for precision and information. Being a mostly verbal report let John keep it informal and didn't generate any additional paperwork.
"Good morning, Colonel."
"Morning, Mr. Woolsey." In this office, the proper protocol was observed. John didn't really care, but Richard liked it that way.
"Anything interesting happening?"
"General O'Neill and I are taking his team to Tower Seven on the East pier. We're hoping to open up some new living quarters."
"Yes, that would allow us to spread some of our population out," Woolsey said.
"We should think about identifying an area where we can house refugees, in an emergency," John said. "We have the space, and we're making new friends. The Wraith aren't the only dangers out there. Natural disasters happen all the time."
"That is an interesting idea."
"Just something to think about." John knew it was useful to give Woolsey time to think about new ideas, especially something outside the Expedition charter. Taking refugees into the city was something they had done on occasion, in an emergency. Doing it on purpose would take some discussion over a few days -- or weeks.
"Anything else?"
"Not today," John nodded.
"Let me know how the work goes in Tower Seven goes."
"I will."
John swung by his office and stopped to talk to his aide, Major Etta James. It still felt weird to have an aide, but she had turned into an excellent buffer. She was able to re-direct even some of the original Expedition members who would come to John with their problems rather than going to the 'proper' resource.
"What do you have for me?" John asked.
"Colonel Lorne wants some of your time this week to discuss your refugee question," she said. "I've penciled him in for tomorrow afternoon. There's the usual stack of requisitions in your email. The usual sorts of things. There are personnel reviews Colonel Lorne has completed that need your review by the end of the week. There are a couple you need to look at, so don't put them off."
"Got it," John nodded. Etta had figured John out in about two days and knew what buttons to push to make sure the paperwork was done properly and on time.
"There was a small... altercation in housing, late last night. Master Sergeant Matias has already dealt with the miscreants, so if you encounter anyone you don't expect working in the kitchens, he'd appreciate it if you didn't notice."
"What happened?" John asked.
"New guy, old guy," Etta shrugged. "The Master Sergeant doesn't want to lose the new guy just yet, so he's keeping it off the radar for now."
"Ah! Okay, I'll see nothing," John grinned.
"And it's time for you to leave for your play-date with General O'Neill," she grinned.
"This isn't just fun!" John protested.
"Uh-huh," she nodded. "I'll believe that only if you find me an apartment with a spa tub like the one Dr. McKay is rumored to have."
"I've seen Rodney's tub, it is nice," John nodded. "I'd like one of those myself."
"Don't know why more of the apartments don't come with those tubs," she sighed. "You would think they'd be more popular."
"Rodney thinks we're currently using transient housing," John replied. "Like hotel space. So it needs to function, but it doesn't have to have all the amenities. I'm hoping this new building has more of those upgraded facilities."
"Good to know," Etta said. "Now scoot, you're going to be late."
"Call if you need anything," John said.
John hurried to the transporter and went down to the Armory. He checked out a full kit -- they never went into new space in the city without vests and weapons. Also, food and water. They had learned to be prepared for everything the hard way. Getting stuck in an intermittently working transporter for two days was not fun.
"Sheppard!" Jack called cheerfully. "Right on time!"
"Good to know!" John replied. He looked around to see Jack's usual team. Tech Sergeant Michah Walters and Dr. Loretta Smycyznski -- generally known as Dr. S -- were the 'brains' with expertise in Ancient systems and were both ATA negative. Lance Corporals Evelyn Lopez and William Smythers were the 'brawn' -- if you could call Engineers with multiple graduate degrees between them 'brawn', and Lopez had a weak expression of the ATA gene.
"Ready?" Jack asked, looking around. Everyone nodded. He looked at John. "Top or bottom?"
John shrugged. "Let's start at the top this time." Tower Seven was relatively short, only fifteen stories tall. So using the stairs was feasible, if not optimal, if there were problems with the transporters.
"Top it is!" Jack grinned. "Walters, Dr. S, lead the way."
Walters led the way to the transporter near the Armory. Once everyone was in the transporter, he pressed the map to take them to the base of the building.
The structural engineers had already cleared the Tower as being structurally sound. But they had spent no time doing anything else. Jack's group would be going through the entire building room by room and with a fine-tooth comb. Anything they couldn't identify or that looked the least suspicious was either tagged for later removal or for a specialized science team to take a look at.
John liked to go with Jack's team on the first go-through. If nothing else, it gave him a visual reference for all the reports that would be coming his way shortly.
"Top floor coming up!" Walters said. They used a transporter that was near the entrance to the building. The current theory was that purely residential buildings had city-wide transporters in or near the entrance and then internal-only transporters inside the building. Radek had explained about energy usage and efficiency but John had thought it was kind of weird if anyone could transport immediately to living space from anywhere. Having visitors need to change transporters made sense from a security and privacy point of view.
They got out of the transporter and scouted the hallway before going into any rooms. This hall was relatively clear, with none of the dead plants they had encountered in the buildings they were using. John figured that alone was a win.
"The engineers reported one floor above this one," Dr. S told them. "It's essentially an observation deck with windows all around. The only way to get there is up the stairs at the end of the hall."
"It's empty?" John asked.
"That's what we were told," Dr. S replied.
"We're here to check things out," Jack said. "Sheppard picked the top, so we'll go check it out."
"Stairs are this way," Dr. S pointed off to their left.
The stairs were behind an almost-hidden door, which John thought odd. In spite of that, they were wide and well lit.
Walters and Dr. S went up first, followed by John and Jack in the middle. Lopez brought up the rear while Smythers stayed at the base of the stairs, propping a door open.
John looked around. "Nice!" The ceiling was pretty high and the windows went all the way around. He went toward the windows. "Make a note to see if these open. It's not as high as some of the towers and you may be able to get some fresh air here on a nice day. Although there's good air handling, since it's comfortable here."
"Noted," Dr. S said.
John went across the room to look out the windows on the far side. "Good view," he commented.
Jack came across the room to join him.
John felt something the moment Jack joined him at the window.
"Oh, fuck," Jack muttered.
"Agreed," John sighed.
They turned around to face the room to find there was a shield shimmering between them and the rest of the group.
John touched his communicator. "Sheppard to McKay."
Nothing.
They could see the others talking and John assumed Lopez was calling for help. Walters and Dr. S were examining the shield.
A podium came up from the floor in the middle of the room.
"This ever happen to you?" Jack asked.
"Not really," John asked, eyeing the podium.
"It does and doesn't want me to touch it," Jack admitted. "Like it's not ready yet."
"Yeah. Me, too," John agreed. "Probably a good idea to wait here."
"Yeah," Jack agreed.
They kept as far away from the podium as they could. John leaned against the window.
"Now what?" Jack asked.
"We wait."
"For anything in particular?"
There was a disturbance at the door.
"For that." John nodded at the door.
Rodney stood there, head tilted and hands on his hips.
John just shrugged helplessly.
Rodney reached out to touch the shield. With a snap he was inside the shield.
"Oh, great!" Rodney whined.
"Rodney! How's it going?" Jack asked.
"Good, until now," Rodney groused.
"Wait for it," Jack said.
"Wait for what?" Rodney asked. He looked around in a panic. "Oh my god! It's going to blow up!"
"Nothing quite as dramatic," Jack said.
"We don't know that, really," John put in.
"True," Jack nodded. "But..."
Daniel barreled up the stairs and, before anyone could stop him, he touched the shield. It made the same snap noise and Daniel was inside the shield.
"See?" Jack said, waving his hands in a what did I tell you motion.
"Damn," John agreed with a nod.
"See what?" Rodney demanded.
"Never mind," Jack said. He clapped his hands together. "So. What now?"
"We figure out how to get out of here," John said.
"What?" Daniel asked.
"It's evidently a one-way shield," Jack said patiently. "You got in, but I suspect you can't get out."
"What?!?!" Daniel said, immediately going over to the shield. He put a hand against it and... nothing happened. He pressed harder and there was a faint sizzling noise. Daniel quickly brought his hand back. "It bit me!"
Jack went over and took Daniel's hand, looking at it carefully. "Can't see anything," he said. "Does it still hurt?"
"No," Daniel admitted. "More of a small pinch, which startled me."
"Well, it doesn't want you to fight it," John said. He looked at Rodney. "And don't you try the same stupid thing. It might be worse."
"What? Like I want to get hurt?" Rodney snapped back, crossing his arms.
"No," John said. I never want to see you get hurt.
"Okay, now that we're stuck, how do we get out?" Jack asked.
"Have you looked at this very obvious podium in the middle of the room?" Rodney asked.
"No, because it's asking too nicely to be touched," John admitted.
Rodney cocked his head for a moment and considered. "I can't feel it reaching out to me. Jack? Daniel?"
Jack nodded. "It wants me to touch it. It wasn't so eager until you two got here. But it does seem to be asking nicely, if that makes sense."
"It does," Rodney agreed. "Daniel?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, I'm not getting anything."
"You're the least ATA positive person in the room," Rodney said. "If anyone touches it first, it probably should be you."
"I don't know about that," Jack put in. "Danny's got this weird Ascended-Descended thing going on, you know. Some things work, others don't."
"True," Rodney agreed.
"Any way we can poke at it without touching?" John asked.
"Poke at it?" Rodney snarked.
Daniel considered. "Maybe something we could use as a stylus?"
Jack brought out a pen. "Will this do?"
Daniel shrugged and took the pen. "We can try."
Rodney moved over to the podium, to watch what Daniel was doing. "Wait." He pointed to a screen. "Read that first. Tell me what you think that means."
John knew Rodney was good with the Ancient language, but Daniel was better with some of the nuances.
Daniel tilted his head in thought. "The task requires two... citizens... and their... other-halves?" Daniel shook his head. "That's not quite right. Let me think for a moment." John could see Daniel's frown. "Not other-halves... mates?" He looked up at Rodney. "I gotta go with mates. The task requires two citizens and their mates."
"What the fuck?" John asked.
Daniel turned. "While we know the ATA gene comes from the Ancients, we're confident that not everyone had the full gene. So, like you and Jack have a stronger gene than most, others like Rodney have a lesser expression of the gene. Others, like myself and... Radek, have no expression of the ATA gene at all."
"Okay..." John nodded. "I knew that."
"So in this case, the likely meaning of 'citizen' is someone like you and Jack, people that have the full, or at least fullest, expression of the ATA gene."
"Which is why it wants us to touch it?" Jack asked.
"It's looking to check that you can be considered citizens, would be my guess," Daniel shrugged. "Once it knows it has two citizens, it can go on to the next step."
"The next step to exactly what?" Jack asked.
"We won't know until you both touch it," Daniel replied.
"Wait, what about this 'mate' part?" Rodney asked.
"Well, the traditional meaning of 'mate' would be similar to a soul-mate," Daniel explained. "Soul-mates are mostly legends, but it means two people who are perfectly suited to each other. Some would say the other half of one's soul."
"That's pretty... squishy," Rodney said.
Daniel shrugged. "I'm thinking that it means two pairs of people, where each pair is made of two people who not only work together well, but they 'get' each other."
"Huh." Rodney crossed his arms. He frowned in thought.
John realized he was in a bit of trouble here. He held his breath.
Then Rodney turned to him, eyes wide but full of hope. He glanced at Jack and Daniel for a moment. "Excuse us, I think John and I need to talk for a minute."
Jack nodded and waved a hand at them. "Take your time."
Rodney herded John to the other side of the room. It wasn't all that large of a room, but it would give them the illusion of privacy.
"You idiot!" Rodney said softly. "Why didn't you say something?"
"What was I going to say?" John replied. "You're my best friend. I wasn't going to lose you because I wanted to get laid."
"Hey!" Rodney poked him. Hard. John winced. "It's got to be more than that. You and all those alien women..."
"Rodney, nothing happened." John had to shut that down. "It's been me and my right hand for a long time."
"Oh!" Rodney looked like he finally understood that.
"Besides..." John had to kind of poke back. And maybe clear up some misconceptions he had. "There was Katie. And Keller. What was I supposed to think?"
"Oh, right. Yeah, that doesn't look so good, does it?" Rodney winced.
"I was not going to hit on my obviously straight best-friend," John said carefully.
"I think I can fix that." Rodney moved closer. "May I?"
John's mouth went dry. He could only nod.
Rodney's lips were soft but warm.
John's brain went tilt! for a moment, then remembered to start kissing back. Strong arms came around him and brought them together. The kiss deepened. John wrapped his arms around Rodney's waist.
When they broke for air, John settled his forehead against Rodney's. "That was one of the best ideas you've had in a long time!" John teased with a grin.
"Hey!" Rodney protested but with a smile of his own.
"If you two are done canoodling over there, we have work to do," Jack called.
"Canoodling?" Rodney protested.
"Whatever," Jack said. Although he did smile at them. "About time is all I have to say. If I had to put up with any more manful pining, I'd probably have to do something about it myself!"
"Trust me, you wouldn't want that!" Daniel added.
"Okay, kids. What do we do now that we've solved one problem?" Jack asked.
They crowded around the podium without touching it.
"It still wants me to touch it," John admitted.
"Me, too!" Jack added.
"Let me read this some more," Daniel elbowed Jack in the ribs.
"Over here," Rodney pointed. "That screen has changed. And I'm seeing Potentia."
Daniel frowned. "So am I." Daniel hummed to himself for a moment. "Okay, it wants all four of us to touch the podium. Here, here, here and here." He pointed to four different places around the edges.
"And..." Jack asked.
"And... Potentia, I guess," Daniel shrugged.
"It's a ZedPM generator?" Rodney asked.
"I can't tell if it creates one or recharges one, to be honest," Daniel replied.
"And what happens to us while it does whatever it does?" John asked.
"I think we're more the... key? We unlock the process," Daniel said. "Rodney, see this?"
Rodney peered at the section Daniel indicated. "Yes. Unlocking seems to be what happens."
Jack took a step back. "Okay, let's breathe for a moment. Do we think this thing is harmful at all?"
"Not as far as I can see," Daniel asked.
John could see Rodney tamp down his eagerness and consider the question properly.
"No, I agree with Daniel. I don't think it's dangerous," Rodney nodded.
"We can't call for any help, with that damned shield," Jack waved a hand toward the shield. "I need you to be sure this is safe."
John noticed that both Walters and Dr. S were both on the other side of the shield. Radek Zelenka had joined them at some point and had a small grin on his face. John reddened as he realized that they had to have seen John kissing Rodney.
"As safe as anything gets," Rodney sighed. "Not sure we're getting out of here until we do this."
"So. Do we do this?" Jack asked.
Rodney bounced on his toes. "If it means we get a ZedPM out of it, I'm willing to try."
"I think this setup is to keep most folk out of here," Daniel said. "They can use the room as a room, but the advanced stuff takes two citizens and their mates to get the ZPM, if that's what it is. I'm guessing the mate thing isn't very common, so it limits access by that factor alone."
"Sheppard?" Jack asked.
John shrugged. "I'm willing to try it."
"Way to be enthused," Jack teased.
"It's been an... interesting day," John replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Cut me some slack here."
Jack grinned for a moment, then clapped his hands together. "Okay, then let's try it. Where do I stand and what do I touch?"
Daniel pointed to one side. "Over here, and if you look, there are indentations for your fingers to slide into. John, you're over here." Daniel pointed to the opposite side. "That leaves you opposite me, Rodney."
They all moved into place.
"Do we have to touch it at the same time?" Jack asked.
"We just have to be touching it at the same time, but I don't think we don't have to coordinate anything," Daniel replied.
"Okay then, let's do this," Jack directed.
John reached out to the machine and got a sense of finally from it. Then there was a bright light for a moment. A previously unseen door slid open on the top of the podium and a ZPM slid out. The door was closed immediately.
"Well, that worked," Jack said.
At that point, the shield must have dropped, since John could hear Zelenka and the others talking from the far side of the room.
Rodney reached out and reverently took the ZPM. "We'll have to test this before we do anything. But... when can we do this again?"
Daniel peered at the top of the podium. "Ummm... There's something that looks like a date, but I'll have to play with an Ancient calendar to figure it out. Not immediately, that's for sure."
"Okay, we'll take what we can get," Jack said. As he stepped away from the podium, it sank back into the floor and the opening closed. If they hadn't seen it, one wouldn't even know it had been there.
"I suspect we have a long, dreary afternoon in medical ahead of us," Jack said, resigned.
"Yes, we do!" John said firmly as Rodney was about to protest.
Rodney handed the ZPM off to Radek. "Don't do anything until I get there!"
Radek nodded. He leaned into Rodney and asked softly. "First kiss? Good?"
Rodney blushed. "Yes, and yes it was good."
"Excellent. And I have to check to see who wins pool." He grinned.
"Pool!" Rodney squawked. "On me and..."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, it's like the two of you are the only ones who didn't see it," Jack said.
John figured that it would be easier to not say anything at that point. He put a hand on Rodney's back to guide him to the transporter. They made their way back to the central tower, stopped briefly at the armory so John could hand his weapons and tac vest in, and then to the infirmary.
"Ran into an Ancient lab thingy," John said as they entered the infirmary. He ignored Rodney's protests at the Ancient lab thingy description. John figured the existence of a new ZPM shouldn't be made public knowledge as yet. "No one is hurt, so we're here for a basic check. Jackson and O'Neill should be right behind us."
"You know the way," Nurse Bending pointed to their 'usual' beds. "Change into scrubs."
"Yes, ma'am," John grinned. John kept an eye on Rodney as he changed. When Rodney hopped onto the bed waiting for his exam, John handed him a granola bar he had taken from his backpack. "Figured you could use this."
"Oh, yes!" Rodney's eyes lit up. "Thanks." He unwrapped the bar and took a bite of it.
Since no one was actually injured, it didn't take too long to get released.
Not quite sure what to do at this point, John asked. "Food?" If Rodney went back to the lab, he wouldn't see him for hours, if not days.
"Maybe we can grab some things to take back to the room?" Rodney suggested.
Mouth suddenly dry, John nodded.
In the mess, John and Rodney separated, each choosing different parts of a meal. John got carafes of both coffee and fruit juice. He took some fruit and cookies as Rodney got the main course.
"Your room or mine?" John asked.
"Please. You have a child-sized bed. My room," Rodney said firmly.
John gave a small laugh. Rodney punched the controls of the transporter and they went into his room.
"I always wanted to ask how you got a king-sized bed?" John asked.
"I got it when we were on Earth," Rodney grinned. "It was part of the supplies we got when Jack was helping us organize to get back to Pegasus."
"Huh, didn't think of that sort of thing."
"There should be more mattresses in storage, if you want one," Rodney offered. "You should know what's there, I would think."
"I have people for that," John grinned. "I guess I know in theory there are furnishings, but I haven't need any myself and I've left the supply folk to take care of it."
"Look at you, delegating something," Rodney snarked.
"Ha! Like you pushed everything you could on Daniel," John retorted.
"Soft sciences are the worst, and he understands them way better than I do." Rodney lifted his chin in defense.
"And we've done good things since we've come back," John said softly. "Let's eat first."
Rodney huffed. "Food sounds good." He looked at what John had brought. "Coffee!" They moved to sit at the table Rodney had at one end of the room. It wasn't quite a kitchen, but one could do minor food preparation if one was inventive about how they did it. They had hoped to find apartments with better kitchens, especially since they would likely have small families soon.
"Not as good as what you brew in the lab, but I figured caffeine would be good." John pushed the carafe toward Rodney.
"That the weird fruit juice you like?"
"Yeah," John nodded.
They ate the food Rodney had selected and John noted that Rodney had picked some things for him that Rodney didn't like. Huh. Looks like that paying attention thing went in both directions.
"I probably should clear up some misconceptions you seem to have," Rodney said as he finished his meal. "While I've openly dated women here on Atlantis, I really consider myself bi. I dated, and slept with, men in college but I mostly avoided that at the SGC because of your country's backwards attitudes towards same-sex relationships."
"Mostly?" John had to ask.
Rodney huffed. "Of all things, you picked that out of what I said! Okay, if you must know it was Cam Mitchell."
John snickered. "I'll agree, he's quite the fun time."
"That slut!" Rodney laughed. "Okay. What do you think that 'mate' thing means?"
John was silent for a moment. "I think it means whatever we want it to mean. I don't feel the need to define it, but... well, I'd like to try that kissing thing again."
"Oh my god! Kissing thing! That's almost as bad as Jack's 'canoodling'!" Rodney stood. "Come on."
"Where?"
"To my king size bed, of course," Rodney said plainly. "It doesn't have to be anything more than kissing but I'd like to be comfortable while doing it."
"Oh. OH! Yes!" John followed Rodney to the bedroom. He kicked off his boots and sat on the edge of the bed. Fuck it. He took off his uniform shirt and pants and was down to his underwear. He turned and his mouth went dry. Again.
Rodney was naked on the bed. John stared.
"What? I got comfortable!" Rodney defended. But John could see that tic next to Rodney's left eye that meant he was worried.
"Just enjoying the view," John drawled as he dropped his boxers and stripped off his t-shirt in the same motion. He crawled across the bed and dropped down next to Rodney. He propped his head up on one hand.
"Hi!" John said. He bounced a bit. "Nice bed."
"John Sheppard! If you don't---" John stopped whatever Rodney was going to say by the simplest method. He kissed him.
Rodney's hands were all over him. Warm, wide hands. John found himself on his back with Rodney hovering over him.
John wiggled a bit. "This is comfy."
Rodney wiggled a bit and moved their cocks together. "Yes, it is," he said with an evil grin.
John took that grin as permission to drop his hands onto Rodney's ass.
The kissing turned hot and heavy and it was mostly the fact that he was kissing Rodney! that made John come without warning. He vaguely noted that it didn't take Rodney too long to follow him over the edge.
The kissing got soft and breathy at that point. Warm hands moved gently.
"Hey--" John said softly.
"Hey back at you." Rodney gave a small grin.
"If we clean up, maybe we can canoodle some more," John said. "I'd like to stay."
"Of course you're going to stay!" Rodney replied. "Not going to let you go."
As they took a quick shower, John decided maybe next time he'd like to see what they could get up to in Rodney's spa tub.
But he had time for that. As he looked into blue eyes looking back at him, he knew there would be lots of time together to look forward to.
Crawling back into bed together felt... natural. They had shared a tent off-world regularly, but sleeping together on purpose was new. It didn't take John long to decide it was one of his more favorite things.
Waking up with Rodney wrapped around him was another good thing. He didn't want to move, but he heard his communicator 'ding' at him.
"Sheppard? Where are you?" Ronon asked.
"Sorry. Going to skip running today," John murmured. "Late night."
"Tell McKay you need to get to bed earlier," Ronon said. John could hear the grin. "Tomorrow. No excuses."
"Tomorrow," John promised.
"What time is it?" Rodney grumbled into the back of John's neck.
"Too early," John said. "You can sleep in."
Rodney snuggled up to John. "Okay."
They got up eventually. John looked at his crumpled clothes and decided he really needed to get a fresh uniform. He leaned into Rodney's space. "I'll meet you at breakfast? I need some clean clothes." He kissed Rodney lightly.
"You could... move some things in here," Rodney offered.
"I'd like that," John admitted. "I'll do that later."
"Good!" Rodney nodded. Then looked slightly panicked. "Okay, I'll make you some space."
John laughed.
In the mess, John could see Jack and Daniel already eating. He filled his tray and joined them.
"Morning," John nodded.
"A good morning, I would think," Jack teased.
Daniel looked around. "Really? What makes it so good?"
"Eat your breakfast, Daniel," Jack sighed.
John found himself blushing but admitted. "Yes, a good morning."
"Where's Rodney?" Jack asked.
John shrugged. "I... umm... needed some clean clothes, so I was going to meet him here."
Daniel looked up. "Oh! If you see Rodney, tell him Radek was looking for him. Evidently he was off his communicator last night and there was something about the ZPM that Radek wanted to ask about."
John waved a hand. "And that answers that question. Rodney's in the lab. I'll take him some breakfast as soon as I finish."
"I'll be interested to learn what Rodney finds," Jack said.
"I'll let you know," John promised. He quickly finished his breakfast and went back through the line to get a tray of food for Rodney. He knew the labs had their own coffee but he took a thermos anyway. He'd drink it if no one else would.
Rodney and Radek had locked themselves in Rodney's private lab to study the ZPM. John easily broke in and pushed the tray in front of Rodney.
"Hey, eat something," John said.
Rodney looked up, startled. "You! You distracted me last night! I could have been working on this long before now! You and your... canoodling!"
John grinned. He winked at Radek and leaned in to kiss Rodney. "Make sure Daniel works on figuring out when we can go back there to get another."
"What?" Rodney muttered, looked faintly dazed. John decided it was a good look and kissed him again.
"I'll see you later," John promised.
"ZedPM full," Radek said. "Just needs to be checked again and we can plug it into city."
"Good to know," John said. "Let me know when you're ready for that and I'll sit in the chair for you."
"That would be good," Radek said. "Probably day after tomorrow."
"Hey!" Rodney said. "Still here."
"Good, go back to testing," Radek said.
"Eat first," John said.
"Da. Eat first. Then go back to testing," Radek said. "And go away, Colonel. You are too distracting."
"Okay," John agreed. He resisted kissing Rodney again and left.
It really was a good day.