MGM owns all characters
A/N: Sorry to everyone who read this before, but I needed to pull the story and then decided to clean it up before I republished it. It was the first thing I ever wrote in the Stargate universe and I just had to change some things now that I know more. If you've read it, don't feel you need to read and review again unless you want to in which case they will be appreciated.
My beta, Betherdy, checked over some of this but a lot of it still has my mistakes so apologies to everyone.
Doctor Jennifer Keller stared in awe at the Stargate. After reading about it and seeing it inactive, to see the blue event horizon shimmering like a giant pool of water was incredible. She always felt that Earth could not be the only inhabited planet in the galaxy and she was happy to be right.
Her mind was numb from all the new information she gained in the last month: aliens, new planets, new galaxies, the Ancients, new medical techniques and technologies. It was almost too much for her to take in, but not really. She was a genius, after all. The mild-mannered girl from Wisconsin was not arrogant or boastful, so she would never admit she was a genius or that she finished high school at fifteen and then medical school, earning a PhD/MD by the age of twenty-one. Her second PhD was earned by the age of twenty-five.
When her friend and mentor, Carson Beckett, contacted her about a unique research opportunity, he went so far as to visit her Dad to ask if she could join him on an adventure of a lifetime. Her father worried that Jennifer was going to become a workaholic and never have any friends.
After her mom died medical research was the most important thing to her and her dad liked the Scottish doctor, so he made her promise to try to be more outgoing and have some fun after giving his blessing for her to go away for a year. Jennifer promised to try, but she was a shy wallflower by nature. Having been so much younger than all her classmates, she never fit in. Carson assured her that there were at least eight other geniuses and she wouldn't have trouble fitting in.
"Five minutes to go," came the voice of a technician in the control room above them.
Jennifer felt apprehension in her stomach at the thought of being beamed onto a spaceship and then shot through a wormhole once she was in Pegasus. Because she was the type of person who needed to have a lot of information about a subject, she read several papers written by Colonel Samantha Carter describing the Stargate, wormholes and Asgard beaming technology. It didn't provide the level of detail she wanted, so she asked to speak to Colonel Carter, but she was off world on a mission.
Jennifer was given some more advanced papers written by Doctor Rodney McKay since Doctor Lee was incapable of explaining much to her without getting tongue-tied. The new papers had a lot more information and made her feel more comfortable about being dematerialized.
When she found out the astrophysicist was stationed on Atlantis, she couldn't wait to talk to him in person. Even though she was a medical researcher, she was interested in all areas of science. When she told Doctor Lee that she was excited about meeting Doctor Rodney McKay on Atlantis, he said don't be. Rodney McKay was the smartest man in two galaxies and he knew it. His arrogant, egotistical, condescending, and mean nature turned most everyone off. Apparently he was tolerated only because he was a genius and could fix anything, having saved Atlantis numerous times over the last three years. His future scientists were warned that they should never approach their new department head no matter what they needed.
Jennifer decided she was going to give him a chance and not pass judgment before she met him. Since she was so much younger and smarter than her classmates, she was always misunderstood. Based on what she could tell by reading his papers, he was extremely intelligent. She imagined that he had no patience for people who couldn't keep up with his intellect. I know what that's like. Jennifer often wanted to scream at people who were slowing her down, but she just didn't have a volatile personality like her father.
The elder Keller couldn't stand people who took forever to grasp a concept. Maybe he's like Dad, gruff on the outside but nice underneath. She might be wrong, but at least she wouldn't dismiss him until she got a chance to meet him.
Jennifer smiled, sadly thinking about her Dad. She wished she could tell him about this. He'd love it: the space ships, new technologies and military weapons. Since her mother died, she felt responsible for taking care of her father and didn't want to leave him alone.
"I've got my work and lots of friends to keep me company," he had said as they waited for her plane at the airport. "I'll be sure to volunteer at a soup kitchen or something around the holidays, so I'll be doing something good with my free time."
Jennifer felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought about saying goodbye. She knew she would miss him dearly.
"There you are. I've been looking all over for you. Are you ready to go?" said Major Evan Lorne.
"I can't wait!" Jennifer said with excitement finally winning over fear and sadness.
The physician met Major Lorne at the base a couple weeks ago. He was on Earth for some time off they fell into a brother/sister relationship almost immediately.
Jennifer always wanted a big brother. She had wished for one every year when she was little until she discovered it was already too late for her parents to give her one. Evan said she reminded him of his younger sister and became very protective of her from the start. The female members of the expedition were warned that the Marines could get a little crude from time to time. Since Lorne was second in command of the soldiers on the expedition, he prevented that from occurring around her. It was as if he told everyone, Keller is off limits. This allowed Jennifer to be friendlier than she probably would ever have been for fear of sending the wrong signals. After a short period of time, she had most of the young Marines wrapped around her finger, so to speak.
Jennifer and Evan proceeded into the Gate Room with the others who would be traveling to Atlantis with them: four new medical staff, sixteen scientists, and twenty Marines. Evan and three others were returning from leave. It would be a three week journey on the Daedalus because the intergalactic bridge that was under construction wasn't ready for people to travel through, yet.
When Jennifer was beamed into the Gateroom on Atlantis, she had two immediate thoughts. The first was that she was on an alien planet and the second was sense of coming home.
Evan was busy catching up on briefings during their trip, so she didn't see him much. This gave her a chance to work on her people skills, which really surprised her. She would randomly sit with new folks in the mess hall; smiling and talking to everyone she met. By the time she arrived at Atlantis, Jennifer was laughing and joking with all the newbies and a lot of the Daedalus crew as well.
"Jennifer!" She heard the familiar Scottish brogue of Carson Beckett over the buzz of conversations. He was hurrying down the staircase ahead of several others. Jennifer smiled and waved as soon as she saw him. His grin looked like a kid's on Christmas morning.
Putting out her hand to shake his, he captured her in a bear hug instead.
"Ahh…Carson, I don't think you should be hugging your newest staff member in front of everyone," she said quietly to him, feeling heat rising up her neck.
"You're not my employee! You're my partner! I could never possibly tell you what to do. You're so much smarter than I am," he said.
He quickly spun her around to see a woman and two men approaching. One man was a military Colonel and the other had a basic uniform with blue trim for the science department. The woman had red trim on her uniform putting her into the Operations' group. She had a large smile on her face and her hand was already outstretched. "I think I know who you are. Doctor Jennifer Keller, I presume?" the brunette said as she firmly shook Jennifer's hand.
"Jennifer, this is Doctor Elizabeth Weir," Carson interrupted.
"Doctor Weir…the expedition leader?" Jennifer was shocked that their leader would know who she was. "I-I didn't expect to meet you right away. It's a great pleasure." Jennifer hoped she covered up her shock and confusion.
"Carson hasn't stopped bragging about getting you to join us. I was beginning to think you were a figment of his imagination." Doctor Weir smiled at Carson, who looked like a proud father.
"I needed to get my own genius. I'm sick of Rodney bragging about how there are eight in his department, including himself."
The Colonel laughed a great deal at that. He stood to Elizabeth's left and the other man, who did not laugh, only shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Ha Ha, Carson. Very funny." He was looking at her with a strange expression on his face.
When he left Weir's office to greet the new arrivals, Rodney was annoyed. He hated these things. What should I care about the new people? They were just more people to get in my way and ask stupid questions.
When he looked down and saw her golden hair in the middle of the crowd, he couldn't take his eyes off her. It was only because he knew the gate room layout like the back of his hand that he didn't fall down the stairs.
"You only tell us you're a genius four or five times a day, McKay." Evan's voice sounded over Jennifer's left shoulder.
"Colonel Sheppard," Evan said as he saluted. Jennifer knew Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard was the base military commander, but he didn't look like she expected him to. He had boyish good looks that Jennifer imagined endeared him to many women and unruly hair that stuck up a little longer than she thought the military allowed. The medical genius had never been interested in pretty boys, so he didn't impress her.
"Major, welcome back. I hope you brought me some chocolate." Sheppard said with a grin.
"The Colonel always has everyone bring chocolate back for poker nights," Evan explained. "Colonel, this is Doctor Jennifer Keller. Jennifer, Colonel John Sheppard."
"It's nice to meet you," she said shaking his hand.
"The same here, Doctor Keller," Sheppard replied.
Jennifer could tell he was giving her the once over with his eyes.
"Sorry, Colonel, but Jennifer is much too smart for you," Carson stated to him as he put a protective arm around her shoulders.
She felt her face grow ten times redder than it already was. "Carson!" she hissed, looking at him with a wide-eyed, horrified expression.
Colonel Sheppard only laughed. She looked really young, like she just got out of school and was not his type.
"Jennifer, this is Doctor Rodney McKay. Rodney, Doctor Jennifer Keller," Carson said, turning to the man on Sheppard's left.
"It's nice to meet you." Jennifer reached her hand out to shake his and when they made contact she suddenly felt very shy. He has the most beautiful blue eyes.
"Yes. Nice…meeting you… is…um…I mean nice... I mean… it's nice to meet you." Rodney couldn't get anything to work properly. His hand held hers much longer than it should have and his eyes didn't leave her face. Her hand's very warm and soft. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met: long, golden hair pulled back into a braid, tawny eyes that sparkled with the lights coming into the tower and the most amazing smile he'd ever seen directed totally at him. He always preferred short blond hair, but would make an exception for her. She was his perfect woman come to life.
A cough from Sheppard pulled him out of his stupor.
"Well…I gotta get…go get… my new staff…and beat them …uh…I mean…whip them into shape." He took the opportunity to glance at the others and groaned inwardly. What a fool I just made of myself.
Sheppard and Beckett could barely contain their laughter. Weir and Lorne did a little better job of hiding it, but Doctor Keller only smiled.
"I'm sure you have a lot of important work to do. I hope we'll get a chance to talk some time." Oh, that sounded lame.
"Yeah…Gotta go." What a complete moron, McKay. Humiliation was rising through him, so he did the only thing he knew how to do. "Radek!" he barked.
His assistant was greeting the new scientists and jumped when he heard Rodney's tone.
How did he embarrass himself now? Radek wondered.
TBC
A/N: I'm breaking up the first chapter, which was really long.