A/N This is my very first Stargate story, so I hope I got all the details right. I am currently in the search for a BETA reader so if there's anyone out there interested let me know!
This story is Ronon/Keller cause I am currently obsessed with those two. Don't know if I should continue and write about the arrival back on Atlantis. Let me know what you guys think :)
It took her a moment to adjust her eyesight to the all too familiar Stargate Command center. The blandness always seemed to bore her and she wondered how people could work here every day of the year without going completely nuts, if not for the multiple balconies Atlantis had to offer she surely would have gone crazy. If it was up to her she would remain in the Pegasus Galaxy and completely avoid the three week Deadalus ride back to Earth, but alas she was a doctor and her Board Certification was starting to be well overdue; hence her recent trip to Stargate Command. After the disastrous first date with Rodney and all of those physicist a few days ago, she was starting to get anxious to get back home to Atlantis and finally sleep in her comfortable warm bed. Sure it had given her an opportunity to see her father and that was worth the trip, but it had also made her realize something very important: she just might have made the wrong choice.
"Welcome back to Stargate Command Dr. Keller." greeted an all too familiar voice, dragging her out of her pondering. A few seconds passed by as she stared at the ex-leader of the Atlantis expedition.
"What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously. "I mean, Colonel Carter. Nice to see you again, I didn't know you were Commander of the SGC. I mean obviously you would have a job after leaving Atlantis, since you are very competent and all, I just didn't think it would be it. Not that you're not qualified... And I'm rambling..." she ended slightly flushed.
"It's good to see you to Jennifer, and your previous assumption was correct: I am not in charge of the SGC. I'm simply standing in for General Landry while he's in Washington." she answered before moving in to give the young doctor a quick welcome hug. "But there will be time to talk about everything once you come back, there's a car outside waiting to take you to your examination."
"Thank you Sam, make time for me when I come back!" she answered before being rushed out by airmen escorting her to the car.
Hours later, when her certification was finally finished and she was back at the SGC, Jennifer let out a sigh of contentment as she ate for the first time since she left the Deadalus that same morning. After some small talk with the Colonel they had sat down to grab a bite before the doctor was called back onboard to head back to Atlantis.
"So you're with Rodney now?" Sam casually mentioned before taking a bite. As she heard the sentence Jennifer started choking on her own food, it took a few seconds and multiple apologies from the blonde before she could regain her composure.
"Sorry, guess you caught me by surprise. I was definitely not expecting that kind of question, you know since your default is usually work." she added a little teasingly, not wanting the Colonel to feel bad for asking.
"I should be the one to apologize!" she added still laughing at the other woman's reaction. "My husband keeps telling me that I'm too tense and should take things a little easier and stop talking about work all the, that and I am quite curious myself if I may add."
A moment passed until Jennifer realized the implication of what Sam had just said, and berates herself for not noticing the obvious rings on her left hand. How could she possibly not have noticed it?
"You're married?! How? When? I though you said there was this thing with a man in Washington and that it was complicated?" She exclaimed unable to contain her shock.
The other woman couldn't help the hearty laugh that came out before answering. "It was complicated, we were just married and I was shipped away to Atlantis while he had to stay in Washington. " she ended with a dreamy smile.
For the first time since she'd arrived on Earth Jennifer took a second to examine her ex-commander and finally noticed how radiant she looked. Well I don't think I've ever since her smile this much, or laugh for that matter! she thought.
"So you've been married for what three-four years? Wow, did not see that coming... I mean congratulations! You look very happy." she added reaching across the table to give the older woman a small hand squeeze.
"Thank you, it was a very small wedding with mostly SGC personnel and some other close friends. Although I was initially sad to leave Atlantis I figured it was for the best, and I am glad to be able to be home you know... But enough about me, tell me about you and Rodney!"
"Ah... thought we could skip this subject. Wait." she stopped talking a second to think about something. "How did you even know about Rodney and I, we weren't together when you left and I'm pretty sure it hasn't come up in any data burst."
"I have a very reliable source keeping me up to date." she replied enigmatically with a grin, not really answering Keller's question. "Although, I have to admit at first I thought he was pulling my leg; would have never imagined you with someone like Rodney. It's only when I learned about what happened with the other scientists at that secret facility."
"Why not? I mean everyone else seemed to expect it, didn't come as much as a surprise there. You know how it goes; two geniuses getting together isn't really big news: it's the norm. I mean sure he can be super arrogant most of the time, never likes to admit he's wrong, always puts the blame on others, and is quite the hypochondriac; but he's still a nice guy!"
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" came the response from the blonde sitting in front of her. Jen was slightly taken aback by the comment not expecting the other woman to notice what was wrong with what she was saying.
"No really, it's going good. I mean we've had our first date a few days ago, and we've spent most of our vacation together before heading back home and during our visit with my father he managed to insult him only a handful of times. He's back on the Deadalus right now actually, because really why would he accompany me to one of the most stressful thing in my life. Not like it matters or anything... " she started, quickly noticing that it still sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. "Anyhow, it was the right choice; the safe choice. It's going to take some adjusting and getting used to but we can make it work, I mean obviously with time things will probably (hopefully) change. Anyways, I'm sure you of all people can understand, your husband is probably some super smart scientist working for the Pentagon or something."
"Well you are not entirely wrong." Sam answered taking in what the other woman had just said and noticing the look of satisfaction cross the young doctor's face. "Oh wipe that grin of your face Keller, I said not entirely wrong." she responded amused. "The only thing you got right in that whole statement of yours is that he works at the Pentagon."
"You mean he's not-"
"A super smart scientist? No, not at all." she finished the question with a small laugh. "Actually, he's pretty much the complete opposite of me and, by definition, who people expected me to end up with. He's brash, almost always jumps in a situation without a concrete plan and having thoroughly thought thinks through. He loves humor, uses it a little too much even in situation he shouldn't. He has this uncanny ability to piss people off because of it or because of his lack of finesse, usually the bad guys or the last person he should insult. As I mentioned, he's not super smart, though quite smarter than he lets on, doesn't have any PHD's. Most of the time he doesn't understand a word I'm saying and I have to explain it in easier words." She stopped to catch a breath and glimpse at the confused doctor sitting in front of her before continuing: "Not a scientist, as you've probably guesses, he's military actually. And before you say anything it's not the same as me at all: he's ex-black ops; completely out of my league. Loves hockey, football and The Simpsons a tad too much for anyone's liking. Lastly loves red jell-o when blue is clearly the better flavor."
The doctor sat still completely baffled by the astrophysicist's confession. "I-I did not expect that."
"I figured as much. But you know, all of that doesn't matter in the end. So what if we have a lot of differences, the most important things is what we have in common: I love him and he loves me. In the end that's really all that matters, you can't hope the other person will change and suddenly fit in with you. A relationship is not about changing the other person, it's about accepting them, flaws and all." she added with a content smile.
"But what about the judgment? I mean don't people look at you with that look in their eyes?" She asked genuinely curious as to how their relationship works.
"Oh we have loads of that, it's actually one of the reason why it took us so long to get together; I was scared. He personally didn't really care about what others thought and their opinion, but I couldn't let it go and it took me a while to get over it. Eventually I realized that the biggest judgment came from me, most people were happy for us and those who weren't well... in the words of my husband: They can go screw themselves!" She ended with a laugh at the memory of that particular conversation with her significant half.
"Wow." Answered the, slightly, speechless doctor. "I mean, I guess I never thought about it that way. I picked Rodney because he seemed like the safe and expected choice at the time..."
"Picked?"
Oh crap.
"Did I say pick? I didn't mean pick. It's not like there was another man that I was interested in. I meant to say chose, no that sounds just as bad. I meant ended up with. Yup, I ended up with Rodney..." She rambled off.
"Jennifer stop. I know exactly what you meant. So now, tell me about this other hypothetical man. He wouldn't happen to be same guy you had a moment with?" She asked, although Jennifer had a feeling that she already knew the answer.
"There's nothing to say really. Maybe at first it wasn't nothing, I might have been kind of interested and I might have thought for a moment that he was too but that was it. Either way he's not interested anymore and of that I am sure." she answered with a sadness in her voice.
"Why would you say that?"
"Well, hypothetically speaking of course, I might have told him I was interested in someone else because I figured we didn't fit together and Rodney was the better and safer option. He kind of told me he wasn't interested anyways and now he's seeing someone else; someone much more suited for him then I would have ever been."
"If he was really interested as you seemed to think, and from what I've gathered he was, he still is very much interested in you. It took my husband and I eight years before we admitted our feeling for each other. The feelings were always there, pretty much since the first time we met, but we tried to move past them for many different reasons. We go into different relationships, heck I even got engaged at one point; but in the end we found our way back to each other and everything that had happened in the past didn't matter anymore."
A long silence ensued as Jennifer mulled the words over and Sam finished her blue Jell-O. The young doctor suddenly found herself second guessing her decision, not for the first if she was truly honest. Those doubts had plagued her mind more often than it should've, but she always found an excuse to dismiss them and keep moving forward. But now...
"Doctor Keller to the briefing room, Doctor Keller to the briefing room. The Deadalus is ready to depart."
"Guess it's time for you to head back home." Sam answered eating the last bite of her Jell-O.
The walk back to the briefing room was silent, Jennifer pondering the words that Sam had told her and the latter giving her the space she needed.
"Colonel, the Deadalus is ready for Doctor Keller and Doctor McKay is getting quite impatient and keeps saying we need to hurry up since he has better things to do. I suggest you hurry things up before someone makes him shut up." Finished Walter with a smile suggesting he was the one that would shut him up if this continued.
"Thank you Walter, you can tell them Doctor Keller is ready to go." She said before turning back to Jennifer. "Well you have a three week trek back home, I think you should take this opportunity to have a discussion with Rodney. Oh and speaking of him, please don't tell him I'm married: someone already shot-gunned that honor." She finished before giving a quick goodbye hug to the small doctor.
"Someone shot-gunned? I presume you mean your source... Wait, I never did ask who it was; I never asked who your husband is!" She exclaimed.
"Well you see-"
"Colonel O'Neill, Homeworld Security on the first line for you. Doctor Keller be ready to be beamed up." came Walter's voice.
"W-Wait?! O'Neill as in General Jack O'Neill? Sam-!" The sentence staying unfinished as the young CMO was beamed back up the ship.
Sam gave her a small wave before turning back to her temporary office to answer the phone.
Guess now she knows...I should probably write an e-mail to Evan to let him know what happened here. She pondered as she sat down and answered: "Colonel O'Neill."
"God I love hearing that." Came the teasing answer from the other side of the line.
She took in her surrounding as she was beamed back up the Deadalus and was a little disappointed, yet not really surprised, to notice that the great Doctor McKay had not deemed her arrival worthy enough of his presence. She couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as she made her way back to wherever the scientist could be, not before tripping and falling flat on her face in front of the airmen on guard. She looked at the object that was the cause for her embarrassment and noticed for the first time a small cardboard box with the name Evan Lorne and the SGC tag on it that must have been beamed up at the same time as her.
"What the-?" she mused out loud as she got back up with the help of the on duty airmen.
"Sorry Doctor Keller, you okay?"
"Yes, of course. Guess I just didn't notice the box."
"It was the last items that Major Lorne had left at the SGC, we were asked by Colonel O'Neill to bring them back to him on our way back to Atlantis."
She quickly bent down to pick the small box and assured the airmen that she would get the box to Major Lorne as soon as they got back to Atlantis. She contained her curiosity to look what was in the box, knowing Evan would see the ripped tape and know that she took a peek.
I have better things to do anyways, I need to go see Rodney. she thought after dropping the box in her assigned quarters. With a resolved look she headed to the lab where she was sure Rodney was. Surely he'll think this conversation is important enough to stop working. She thought bitterly.
"Hey Rodney."
Silence.
"Rodney."
Still reading.
"RODNEY!" She said more forcibly startling him.
"Oh Jennifer, hi. Didn't know you were back already. How did your eum- thing go?" He said still distracted by whatever it was he was reading.
"My Board Certification? It went great actually, but you would know that had you decided to come down with me instead of staying here." she spit out.
"You know I would've, if we didn't need to pass by that damned command center. Every time I go to the SGC they have some sort of crisis I need to solve."
"Well I'm sure whatever crisis there was Sam could've dealt with it."
"Sam? As in Samantha Carter? Guess I could've come down actually, you know to see how she was and all." he said suddenly very attentive to what Jennifer was saying. Oh great, that gets his attention! Honestly this man has a very unhealthy obsession with her. God I'm envious of whoever shot-gunned telling him she was married to General O'Neill no less.
Trying hard not to snort, Jennifer regained her composure and stared at Rodney before uttering the words every relationship dreaded. No longer second-guessing her decision this was one conversation they needed to have, and no time like the present.
"Rodney, we need to talk."
Thank you all for reading! xxx :)