Title: Kavanaugh's Redemption

Author: Psalm 136

Rating: T for violence and language.

Genre: Action/adventure, humor

Summary: Under much duress, an offworld team accepts Kavanaugh as their scientist. But when Kavanaugh's ponytail makes him king of a primitive culture, is he willing to get his team out or save his own skin?

Author's Note: This is somewhat of a sequel to "The Key to Atlantis", but the prequel is not required reading. I'm simply using a few of the same original characters I came up with, as well as referring to the things that occurred: Major Lorne is dead, Cadman and Leeds saved Atlantis together by spectacularly blowing up lots of Wraith Hive ships and John and Elizabeth are now together.

Also, Chad Henning, an OC, is a character I came up with to honor one of the young men (by the same name) from my community who went into the Air Force.

Disclaimer: You know what isn't mine.

"Permission to complain loudly about my team, sir?"

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard looked up as the door opened, and one of the ranking military officers on Atlantis, Major Brian Leeds, stepped into his office. Frankly, he was already frustrated with the younger man. John was already halfway through reading the latest mission reports that had piled up over the past two weeks, during which his team had been stranded off world, and he had no desire whatsoever to be interrupted.

Haha. Yeah, right. Like John Sheppard actually wanted to be driven crazy by the amount of paperwork he had to get through. In fact, he was considering giving the officer a raise, due to the younger man's impeccable timing and ability to save his commanding officer's sanity.

"At ease, major." John nodded, accepting Leeds' respect and letting him relax. "Permission granted." He knew that Brian wasn't the type of person to blame whatever might have gone wrong on a recent mission on his team, and therefore, whatever complaining he had to do came from an honest frustration. Actually, John already knew exactly what Brian wanted to complain about, but it was just fun pretending that he didn't.

Brian looked as though whatever fragile control he had on his temper would disappear if he weren't in front of the commanding officer he respected so much. His hands were clenched into fists, and his face was slightly flushed with anger. He really didn't get too angry that much, and he usually handled whatever was wrong with his circumstances rather well, but this was just…

"Really, sir? You're putting Kavanaugh on my team? I'm sorry, but isn't there some law that prevents cruel and unusual punishment? I know that that stunt I pulled on Major Lorne's team, the thing with the… you know, on P2Z-392, was pretty bad, but I think even this is pushing the envelope." Brian raked his hands through his short blonde hair. "I haven't even spent five minutes with the man, but I already want to strangle him, or just string up him by that sissy little ponytail he's got going on…"

Brian looked directly at John and his tone was dead serious. "I will do anything to not have to have him on my team. I will trade off Maddox; he's one of the best shots I've ever seen. Hell, I would give up Maddox AND Cadman. And why do I have to suffer a scientist, anyway? Most of my missions are purely military."

"Sir, please." He pleaded, and John was tempted to give in.

But he didn't. "Sorry, Leeds, I can't do anything to help you. Your next strand of missions are some nice meet and greets with the natives, and a physicist and scientist will be an asset to prove to the natives that they need us, and that they can give up some of their food for what we can give them." Sheppard was being honest. That was what had driven him to assign Kavanaugh to a team, and specifically Leeds' team.

"But why, sir?" Brian was desperate. He could be diplomatic and something of a people person, but asking him to deal with the ponytailed loser was stretching it. Cadman was already planning on taking her frustrations out on the unlucky marines who thought it'd be fun to prove that they were better than the woman, and Maddox, the calmest person Brian had ever met, got a little red in the face whenever he thought about Kavanaugh.

John got up from his seat and went to stand in front of the junior officer. "Look, major, I know he's aggravating, but you're just going to have to stick it out for a couple missions. Dr. Weir informed me he's leaving with the Daedalus in two weeks, and I'm sure you can survive until them." Brian nodded, resigned to the situation. "And…"

To his credit, Brian only made the tiniest grimace.

"I'm assigning Lieutenant Chad Henning to your team to make up for the lack of a fourth soldier. Don't worry, Major," John was too cheerful for Brian's tastes. "Henning's great. Reminds me of myself."

"That's what I'm worried about." Brian muttered.

John smirked. "What was that, Major?"

Brian couldn't help but return the smirk. In the back of his mind, he thanked God for having such a lenient and relaxed commanding officer. With most anyone else, that little remark would have gotten him transferred as a worst case scenario and suspended from offworld duties for a month as a best case scenario. But Colonel Sheppard? He understood a soldier's need to be a little insubordinate now and then, and he, in fact, encouraged optimism and jocose attitudes as long as it was in the spirit of fun, and not true insubordination that would undermine his authority as military commander of Atlantis.

Brian coughed. "I said that's what I'm excited about." He lied pleasantly.

"Good." John nodded to the major. "You're dismissed, Leeds."

With a resigned sigh, Brian nodded and casually saluted his commanding officer. He left the office, and turned to the right, only to nearly run into Laura Cadman. He grinned, finally having some good luck (hey, she was hot, he loved running into her). She looked up at him anxiously.

"Well?" She asked. "What did he say?"

"We're stuck with him." Brian replied with a sigh. Side by side, they walked off towards the commissary. "But Colonel Sheppard said Kavanaugh plans to leave in two weeks, so we only have to survive that long, and then we won't need him. And we get Lieutenant Chad Henning."

Laura nodded, a grin forming on her face at the last piece of news. "Hey, I went to high school with that guy. Sweet."

"Sweet." He agreed. Brian knew that things always ran smoother when he and his team were friends off the field because there was trust. He trusted that Laura could take care of herself, and he trusted that young Lieutenant Maddox didn't need to be babysat and could take care of a bad situation if Brian was off somewhere else. With Henning, Brian was sure he would come to trust the young man as well. However, Kavanaugh was simply something he would have to endure.

Laura gave Brian a pat on the back, sensing his depressed thoughts. "Come on, Leeds, let's go get some coffee and then go for a run."

Brian groaned. "You tire me out, Laura."

"That's how I like it." She responded sweetly, and grabbed Brian's elbow, dragging him along behind her.

XXX

Dr. Kavanaugh couldn't believe how he would be spending his last two sickening weeks on Atlantis. Going offworld? He was a scientist, not a soldier! He was part of the research team, sent here to learn about another galaxy, and while he had been offworld with several geology teams, it wasn't the same. He'd be stuck with a military team.

First off, he'd not only met Captain Laura Cadman, he'd worked with her before. She was unprofessional and more focused on pointing out the fact that he was a civilian, and he wasn't military, as though it made him a lower class citizen. As for Lieutenant Maddox or Henning, he'd never met either men, but assumed they were the military stereotype: obnoxious alpha males with God complexes.

And then there was Major Brian Leeds. Kavanaugh could not stand the man. Major Leeds was the singularly most annoying man Kavanaugh had ever encountered. He lacked discipline and indulged in levity far too often. Leeds assumed he was a god and that nothing could happen to him because he was funny and all the girls liked him.

Of course, Brian Leeds had never done anything to Kavanaugh specifically, but the scientist knew better than to trust him.

All in all, Kavanaugh knew he would be counting down the days until he was on the Daedalus, out of this dump. He couldn't stand how the military still ran things, despite Dr. Weir's official title as leader. He wasn't stupid; he could tell how Sheppard manipulated his relationship with her and got ideas she would have normally turned down approved. And Dr. Weir… he could only imagine what someone could get to her do, as long as they were sleeping together.

With a snort at the thought, he found himself leaving the science labs and walking down to the commissary. It was several hours past lunch, and he hadn't even noticed the passage of time. He had been working with Dr. Simpson on possibly backwards engineering a puddlejumper for the defense of Earth (as a few of the broken down System Lords were getting a bit frisky), and he'd been so enthralled, he hadn't noticed until an airman delivered Colonel Sheppard's request that he temporarily join Major Leeds' team for a few meet and greets.

As he took a sandwich and some fruit, Kavanaugh considered the idea of being on an offworld team. Of course, there was a lot of good he could do for these primitive people. He was a scientist, and he'd always been a bit of an engineer. He could teach them how to irrigate their crops or whatever in a better fashion than how they were doing it already. He could even show them how to properly build houses.

You know, maybe him being out on the field wouldn't be too badly. He could do a world of good, after all.

Well… there were the Wraith to consider.

Kavanaugh really didn't want to be closer to harm's way than absolutely necessary. He'd come to Atlantis because he had had it up to his "sissy little ponytail" with the military running things (not to mention the fear of being Goa'ulded), only to come to this galaxy and find that there was an enemy a heck of a lot worse than any snake that could reside in someone's head.

Hence why he was leaving in two weeks.

However, he was a civilian, and he didn't really have to do what anyone said. But then again, there was the small problem of Dr. Weir. She could tell him what to do, since she was the civilian leader, and she had this immature thing where she felt it necessary to rip him a new one any time he came to her with a genuine concern. It was as if she simply didn't care that he was suffering. Of course, none of the military actually ever bullied him, since Sheppard would rip them several new ones (Sheppard was, after all, the only one he could really stand; the commander made his people pull their weight, do their duties, and be nice to the scientists, even if Kavanaugh found his ability to manipulate Dr. Weir sickening), but there was an unspoken hatred of him. He was sure of it.

And why not? He was the most brilliant person in this joint. McKay was just lucky he was friends with Dr. Weir. No one actually thought Rodney "I'm So Arrogant I Could Kill You With My Presence" McKay was the one who would save Atlantis.

As Kavanaugh was looking around the mess hall, absently popping grapes into his mouth, he saw a brightly smiling Laura Cadman and an annoyingly grinning Brian Leeds enter the mess hall. To her credit, Laura's smile only faltered slightly when she spotted Kavanaugh, and Brian's completely disappeared, and Kavanaugh found himself fixed with a hard stare, a warning that any arrogance or bad behavior wouldn't be tolerated, since Leeds was technically his 'commanding officer'.

The two soldiers quietly had a conversation as they got their food, and Laura led Brian to where Kavanaugh was sitting and sat down. She greeted the scientist with a wavering smile and she focused on her food.

"So, Kavanaugh," Brian began, opening up his Gatorade. "We're shipping out for M4X-227 tomorrow. Report to the armory at 0830 so we can get you suited up with a firearm." He honestly tried his best to not sound as though it was a militant order, but it was what it was, and Kavanaugh grew to resent him further because of it.

"Very well." He responded condescendingly. "What's M4X-227 like?" He asked in a bored tone of voice, when he was anxious to know what he was up against.

"Ah," Brian's mood was immediately lightened. "Just your run-of-the-mill backwaters planet. There are some weird natives that were passing by the Gate, all with really long hair. Lieutenant Daniel-Jackson-Wannabe… otherwise known as Keegan Maddox… thinks that they use the Gate in their religious ceremonies. They're pretty primitive, but Sheppard warned me that we should try not to get arrows shot at us." He shrugged, as Laura snorted. "I don't really know what he was talking about."

Kavanaugh sniggered inwardly. McKay was such a loser.

"Anyway, just a regular, old meet and greet. Try to swindle them out of twenty percent of their harvest in case ol' Murphy's Law thinks it'd be funny to make the Daedalus break down." Brian shrugged, taking a large bite out of his ham sandwich and washing it down disgustingly (in Kavanaugh's opinion) with purple Gatorade. "Don't worry, Kav," The named shuddered; he hated that nickname some military honcho had given him and the others had adopted. "I won't let any of the scary natives pin you with a spear. Use you as a sacrifice, maybe, but I swear, it'd only be for a good cause."

Kavanaugh rolled his eyes, and stood up huffily. "I don't have to endure this abuse!" He exclaimed, and stormed away, muttering about incompetent and stupid people.

Brian couldn't help himself as he snickered and continued to eat his sandwich. A swift smack on the back nearly made him choke, and he turned to Laura. "What?" She glowered, and he rolled his eyes. "Geez, Laura, it's not that big of a deal. It's not my fault he's an idiot."

"I told you to be nice." She slapped him on the arm, and got up.

He sighed. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll be nice next time. He's just so insufferable."

Laura rolled her eyes at him, and threw what little garbage she had away, and took her sandwich and drink with her. "Whatever, Major. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to go visit Carson in the infirmary."

"Laura and Carson sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes loooooove," Brian drew out the vowel dramatically. "Then comes maaaaarriage. Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" He grinned to himself as Laura disappeared from view, and gave his whole attention to the sandwich in his hands. At least for now, the meat was still something he could recognize, and not some very odd Pegasus protein-enriched bread/meat/fruit thing.

Suddenly, a dark-haired blur appeared at Brian's side, nearly causing him to choke once more. He looked up to see Lieutenant Keegan Maddox staring back at him with a bewildered expression. Brian put his sandwich down sadly, and faced the younger member of his team.

Keegan couldn't even focus enough to snap to attention. Sure, when he and his team were off duty, Brian didn't care to be called "Major" since he was relatively new to the higher rank, and he and his team had decided they could handle being friends off duty, but this was weird for Lieutenant Maddox. He was out of breath, and his eyes were wide. And Keegan was one of those all too serious kids who had fought the Goa'uld back in the Milky Way and seen way too much to ever really be fun-loving again. So the show of emotion, no matter how small it seemed, concerned Brian.

"What's up, Keeg?" He asked.

"Are you… I mean… really, Kavanaugh?" He spluttered, raking his hands through his hair. "I dunno, Major, I don't think I can handle that. He's arrogant, narcissistic, condescending, rude… and I swear, if Sheppard could just turn a blind eye…"

Brian raised a hand, effectively quieting Maddox. "I know. I know. I talked to Colonel Sheppard, but we're stuck with him, only for two weeks. And hey, if we're lucky, he'll get roped into helping out the natives, so we won't hardly need to see him." He tried to sound hopeful, but he wasn't feeling the optimism at the moment.

"But it's Kavanaugh, sir!" Keegan complained.

"I feel your pain, Lieutenant." Brian stood up, realizing all this talk of Kavanaugh, the most dreaded and feared scientist on Atlantis, had made him lose his appetite. "Come on. We don't have to deal with him at all until tomorrow. M4X-227, another primitive planet. It's going to be great."

Maddox grumbled as Brian threw his trash away, and the two Air Force officers left the commissary. "Is movie night tonight?" The junior officer asked. He was a big fan of Movie Night, as was the entire expedition. On one night during the week, whatever teams weren't offworld would get together and watch a movie. Sometimes it was a cheesy chick flick, sometimes it was a hardcore action movie (like Die Hard, compliments of Teal'c), but it was usually a bonding time. Sometimes, there was even popcorn, which just got everyone all riled up.

"Yup!" Brian reported happily. "They're showing that cartoon Atlantis movie."

"What?" Keegan raised his eyebrows.

"Well, yeah." Leeds shrugged. "General O'Neill sent it. Apparently it's some inside joke between him and Dr. Jackson. Which would make sense. Have you seen that movie? It's a total rip off of the beginning of the Stargate program. Some guy is laughed out of the academic world because of his theories, which turn out to be true, and he's approached by some old woman with a proposition… besides, the main character acts a lot like Dr. Jackson anyway."

And so, the two soldiers parted ways. Maddox went to meet with a few of his off duty marine friends to play their weekly game of tackle football. Brian knew he had a few rigorous hours ahead of him, as he still needed to write a mission report for the last mission his team had been sent on. It was a hard process, writing a report. Maybe if he procrastinated enough, he'd be forced to simply copy an old report, but change the name of the planet. Considering his Kavanaugh stress level, that might just do him well.

Even with their exciting night ahead (Movie Night always was), none of them could possibly know the dangers that laid ahead of them in the morning.