This story takes place over the course of John's life, starting at the age of seven and continuing till the events of "SGA". Hope you enjoy, please R&R!

1. One time John wanted to ride a roller coaster but couldn't.

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1974

The first time he saw it, he was seven years old.

His father had taken the entire weekend off and escaped with his family to the small park near their house. His brother wanted to go on one of the water rides. Their mother was content to take a nature walk. Their father was stuck in the middle, boys clenching each hand and pulling so hard it appeared he would be torn down the middle.

But John Sheppard, even though he had never done it before, was utterly convinced he wanted to ride that steel roller coaster.

The woman standing at the entrance had tapped him on the shoulder as he passed through. "Need to do a height check, okay?" she said, smiling kindly at him.

He nodded eagerly and stepped up to the vertical ruler.

She moaned in frustration. "Sorry, hon, you're two inches too short. I can't let you on. I'm sorry."

"What if I stand on my toes?" he asked honestly, demonstrating for her.

Behind him, his father chuckled. "Thanks anyway," he said, starting to steer his son away with hands planted firmly on his small shoulders. "Sorry, John, maybe next year, huh?"

As the family moved on to another area of the park, John stared back over his shoulder.

"Yeah. I guess."

2. One time that John wanted to ride a roller coaster and got to.

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Inside the private school classroom, a straight A student with unruly hair stared at the blackboard, bored into infinity. And he actually knew what that meant. Every time that he tried to talk to the teachers and convince them that he needed to be put in a math honors class, there was usually some punk in the hallway that started picking on him and landed him in the principal's office for the wrong reason.

He was sick of hearing the same thing over and over again. "David was such a wonderful student. I don't understand why his brother is so different."

Because his brother has his own brain, that's why.

So now, in eighth grade, he was flying rapidly towards another repetitive math class. The same teachers that had taught Dave were now getting ready to drill all this useless information into his own brain as well, and he was frankly tired of learning algebra that he had learned at home in fifth grade.

But would the adults listen?

No.

He made a snap decision. It was a Friday. Even though math class was the last period of the day, he couldn't take it anymore.

He walked off the campus, dumped his book bag at home without anyone seeing him, and grabbed a ticket that had been gathering dust in his desk drawer.

Standing in line, wearing a black T-shirt, a worn pair of blue jeans, and his gray Converse sneakers, he handed the ticket to the man standing at the gate.

He accepted it, welcomed him, and John rode seven roller coasters that afternoon till the sun set.

With an air of victory, he left the park.

The depressing reality met him at his front door, disguised as his father.

3. One time that John wanted to ride a roller coaster and he did.

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1990

The few belongings he now had to his name were stored at a friend's house. He began boot camp on Monday. He didn't remember the technical term for it; all that centered in his mind was the fact that he was out of his father's house, not under his thumb anymore.

John cast a rebellious smirk to the sky. Try and stop me now, Dad.

This was his last weekend of freedom for a while. He was going to enjoy it.

So with another buddy of his, Drew, they headed to the park that felt like John's home away from home on particularly bad weekends.

He turned to Drew, hands stuffed in his pocket nervously. "No way, man, I'm not riding that."

"Oh c'mon! I bet if Melissa was here, and she wanted to ride it, you wouldn't be such a wimp."

Drew glared at him. "That was low. But true."

John laughed heartily, maybe louder than he should have.

The blonde nineteen year old looked strangely at him. "What? You're not that funny."

"My life is funny," John reflected as they slowly moved forward in line. "I can't stand taking orders from my father anymore, so I join the Air Force. Isn't that a little ironic?"

Drew shook his head. "No. You learn to look up to the men you serve under, and because of that, you feel that they deserve your respect and obedience."

"I grew up looking up to my father. Where does the comparison end?" John shook his head with a grimace, throwing the conversation out the window. "Never mind. Let's just ride a ton of coasters today, eat too much, and see if we can sneak some beer tonight."

Drew smiled. "Sounds like a plan," he replied, fist-bumping John.

As they went down the first loop, John was strangely silent as the consequences of his new career settled over him. By the end of the ride, he had a goofy smile on his face, thinking about how things could be worse.

Fourteen years later, he was a disgraced major flying helicopters in Antarctica. Sometimes, the wind shears made him feel like he was going through an inverted loop.

He sighed, then radioed the base.

4. One time that John wanted to ride a roller coaster … and persuaded someone else to come along.

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2005

"Seriously, it's not that bad. C'mon, Rodney went."

"Rodney has his head stuck in the toilet."

John shrugged his shoulders. "Heh. Hypochondriac like him, you'd think that would be the last place he would put his head."

Elizabeth only shook her head at him. "Can't we go and ride Montu again? It was so smooth!"

"Believe it or not, SheiKra is smooth. Except for the 200 foot drop when the air gets sucked out of your chest."

"It's like being fed on by a Wraith and surviving," Rodney replied deadpan, returning to the group from the bathroom.

"McKay, if you're gonna be such a wuss, go ride the carousel again. C'mon, 'Lizabeth. I'll hold your hand," he offered, waggling his eyebrows at her.

She laughed, and he knew that he had succeeded. "All right, all right. One time, that's it," she decided, holding her hands up in surrender.

John took advantage and grabbed one of her hands, starting to run for the line. "Hurry up!"

They made it to the end of the line, only fifteen feet from the immediate lines leading onto the cars. John turned his head to Elizabeth. "Front row?"

"John-"

"It's the most comfortable row out of any. I swear."

She sighed. "All right."

John had managed to schedule a day off for the team when they came back to Earth for a briefing with Landry at the SGC. Busch Gardens in Florida had a new sudden drop roller coaster that he had been hearing about, but due to his imprisonment in the frigid cold near the South Pole and the brief isolated confinement of Atlantis, he hadn't gotten to try it out yet.

But SheiKra had taken his breath away. Literally.

He screamed the first time down, while he glared sideways at Rodney, willing the scientist to hold his vomit till they exited.

Elizabeth had stood at the bottom, holding their coats and Rodney's water bottle, and smiled as she saw the boys coming off the ride.

Then John persuaded her to come along. They had already ridden Montu four times during their day at the park, but Elizabeth had been hesitant to try the new, monster coaster.

John had shrugged it off, and holding her hand while in line seemed to make her less apprehensive.

As her eyes widened, seeing that they were getting in the next car, her heart started racing. John could feel her pulse race as he grasped her wrist. "Hey," he said, starting to get a little worried, "if you really don't wanna go, we can go back down."

She gritted her teeth, then turned to face him.

The last thing he would have expected standing in line was for Elizabeth Weir to pull him closer, plant a very nervous kiss on his lips, and grin at him.

But she did just that.

"If I can kiss you in a public place, and I can ride this," she told him, smiling shyly as she looked around, "then I can do anything."

She squealed with delight through the whole ride.

5. One time that John didn't want to ride a roller coaster.

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2008

John stood at the entrance to Busch Gardens, smiling at his wife as she waited for the computer to recognize her ticket. Once in, they grabbed a bite of breakfast before they stopped serving it.

He was getting fidgety in his seat. She didn't seem to notice, still beaming at the sunshine that streamed down on them as they sat on the patio.

He kept glancing down at the map on the table, eyes darting between the coasters and trying to figure out the quickest way between them so that she didn't have to walk as much.

Elizabeth began to follow his eyes and then sighed heavily, laying her chin on top of her hands, fingers twined together. "Maybe we can take the train around once? Just to see all the animals?"

John nodded, pursing his lips. "Yeah, we could do that."

She nodded. "Good." She glanced back to her husband. "You can go ahead, if you want."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You want to go ride all the rides?" she said, more of a statement than a question.

Like a kid caught sweet talking his mom wanting a cookie, he hung his head.

She laughed. "I don't care! You can go ahead. I can walk through all the animal preserves. I don't mind," she told him, rubbing her four month along pregnant belly.

John stopped contemplating all the coasters at that moment. She was carrying their baby. She couldn't ride all the rides that they normally did.

Knowing that she couldn't share his elation, he made a very mature decision, ignoring what pleadings the five year old in him was throwing at him.

"No. I'll go with you."

She rolled her eyes. "John, I'm pregnant. Not crippled."

"I know, I know. But … I don't like to go by myself anymore. It's not as fun if you're not with me."

She narrowed her eyes at him, suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Besides," he told her, leaning forward across the table, "I still haven't gotten to see any of the animals getting it on around here."

"What are you, six?"

He chuckled, then reached over with his arm, moving an out of place curl behind her ear. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Exploring the wilds of Africa while in Florida, with Elizabeth next to him, was better than riding a thousand coasters.

At least, it was that day.

fin.

So ... whatdya think?