Alternate

by Gillian Middleton

A last minute mission turns into a visit to an alternate reality one where Rodney never changed into a girl. Sequel to the Cute As... series.

Alternate

By Gillian Middleton

Part One

"Can't this wait?" Rodney said irritably, not looking up from her screen. "I'm trying to make sure the new monkeys they bought me on the Daedalus don't kill themselves and everyone in Atlantis in the next hour, and believe me, childproofing the Grand Canyon would be an easier task."

"Two words," Sheppard said from the doorway. "Star. Ship."

Rodney looked up, blinking. "That's one word," she said. "Really?"

"If you prefer I can ask Zelenka to come take a look. Seems to have crashed on PX4-827 and it's apparently emitting some kind of energy signature, according to Lorne's team..." Rodney was already grabbing her datapad and coat and rushing past him and out the door.

"Come on," she called back over her shoulder, curls bouncing as she fairly leapt down the corridor. "What are you waiting for?"

"Coming, dear," Sheppard muttered with a fond grin.

888

"Doesn't look Ancient to me," Ronon remarked casually as they stood on the lip of the crater and gazed at the overgrown remains.

"No, you think?" Rodney muttered, eyes on her scanner. Sheppard completely got the sarcasm because this ship had no resemblance to anything they had ever seen in the galaxy, Ancient or Wraith. Even through the heaped sand and rocks covering her where she lay half-buried, her gleaming black surface shone with a dull sheen, reflecting the azure sky and small, scudding clouds.

"Listen," Teyla said and they all paused and tilted their heads. "Nothing," she murmured. "Not even birdsong. Nothing living approaches this place."

"No trees either," Ronon rumbled and Sheppard nudged Rodney's shoulder.

"Radiation?"

"Not a trace," Rodney said, absorbed in her readings. "But there's something here, an energy pulse - I think I've seen it before, I just can't..."

"That's what we picked up in the jumper," Lorne confirmed, pushing his sunglasses back on his head and squinting in the bright sunlight. "We sure weren't expecting this."

"Any information from the local people?"

Lorne shook his head. "They didn't mention a thing, but I get the feeling they don't stray too far from their village and their fields. We're over a hundred clicks from their stomping ground."

"So they probably don't even know it's here. McKay, is it safe for us to approach?"

"No idea," Rodney said vaguely, then blinked and looked up. "No, seriously, I have no idea. I have no idea of the effects of this kind of energy."

Sheppard shot a glance at Lorne's team who were glancing at each other uneasily. "How about radiation suits, should we put them on?"

"I told you it's not radiation."

"So can we go take a closer look?" Sheppard demanded impatiently.

"Like I'm going to say no," Rodney retorted, rolling her eyes. "This isn't going to get any safer if we hang around debating, and since I don't know what it is, going away and arguing about it for a while won't change the situation. It's now or never."

Sheppard squinted, studying Rodney's face for a moment, turning it over in his head. The sensible thing to do would be to leave, take the energy readings back to Atlantis and let the science guys argue over them for a while.

But the sensible thing didn't mean much when the coolest alien spaceship he'd ever seen, all sleek black lines and gleaming metallic surface, lay waiting a hundred yards away.

"Right," he said, making up his mind. "Major, you and your team circle the ship, staying on the rim of the crater and keeping it in sight at all times. Maintain radio contact. Teyla, Ronon, you're our back-up if anything goes wrong. If you don't hear from us every three minutes, you two come in and pull us out, got it?"

"You should not go in there alone," Teyla objected.

"We're just gonna check it out, see if McKay's readings make more sense a bit closer in. That only takes the two of us. Stay here," Sheppard ordered his team.

"Sheppard," Ronon growled but Sheppard was already searching for the safest path down the rough slope. He caught Rodney's elbow and they stepped and skidded down the incline and stumbled to the bottom.

"So," Rodney said wryly. "We're really doing this?"

"Exploring the cool alien spaceship? Hell yes."

"You do watch television, don't you?" Rodney said conversationally as they approached the ship's hull. It looked even more impressive up close. "This is usually the part where the shot cuts to the bowels of the ship where creepy- scaly aliens are stirring in primordial goo and flexing their huge razor-sharp claws."

"Yeah, but I'm the hero and you're the cute babe," Sheppard said, eyes scanning the hull for some sort of hatch. "You know we're the ones who always survive."

"Unless Ronon and Teyla are the hero and the cute babe," Rodney suggested, then she caught Sheppard's arm. "Wait, look, there?"

Sheppard squinted and his eyes immediately made out the breech in the hull, a jagged tear in the gleaming surface. It was pitch black inside which was why the opening had not been immediately apparent.

"Looks like it broke open on impact," Rodney said.

Sheppard reported their status on the radio then turned and waved back over his shoulder at his team members on the ridge of the crater. He glanced at his companion and pulled out a flashlight. "Let's do it."

888

"No life signs," Rodney reported, her voice hushed. The interior walls were as black as the exterior, and the corridor was round, their boots skidding a little on the curves as it wound through the ship. Sheppard gingerly touched the wall, running his hand along its smooth surface.

"Feels like metal," he murmured. His watch beeped and he touched his ear piece. "Ronon, Teyla, you reading?"

"Loud and clear, Colonel," Teyla's voice sounded in his ear.

"We're approaching the source of the energy pulse," Sheppard reported. "Talk to you again in another three minutes, Sheppard out."

"No hatches, no panels, no doors," Rodney said, running her own hand along the wall. "Maybe people didn't use this section, maybe it's part of the engine or something. Presuming this ship was actually built by anything we would recognize as people anyway." She stopped and frowned down at her scanner. "It's close, just around this curve."

Sheppard gripped his P-90 and they edged around the curve, flashlight reflecting eerily off the walls. Rodney's light jerked and Sheppard's finger tightened on the trigger before they both relaxed a little and shook their heads at their own reflections staring back at them.

"Dead end," Sheppard observed while Rodney checked her pulse rate.

"I nearly had a heart attack," she muttered. "Damn shiny walls."

"I thought you said the power source was here."

Rodney looked back down at her scanner. "It should be," she said , sounding confused. "Right... here." She reached out to touch the wall and suddenly the surfaces around them seemed to heave, like a swell on the surface of a calm sea, their flashlights and their reflections distorting and rippling for a moment.

"What was that?" Sheppard said uneasily.

"I have no idea." Rodney frowned down at her scanner. "Whatever it is has gone anyway. The energy signature kind of expanded for a second, but it's back to its steady pulse now."

"I think we should get out of here." Sheppard tapped his ear piece. "Teyla, you reading me?"

"Uh, what?" Teyla said and Sheppard blinked in surprise. Rodney lifted a worried brow and Sheppard caught at her arm and tugged.

"We're leaving," he said to Rodney and then tapped his ear piece again. "Teyla, I asked if you were reading me."

"Uh, Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla said, sounding genuinely freaked now, which in turn was freaking Sheppard out in a pretty big way.

"Yes, it's Colonel Sheppard," he said irritably, slipping a little on the smooth, rounded floor as he increased his speed, automatically tightening his grip on Rodney's arm as s he slid with him. "Who were you expecting? Is everything all right out there?"

"Everything's fine, Colonel," Teyla said, her voice saying just the opposite. "I was just wondering how it is that I am actually talking to you."

There was light ahead and it was with enormous relief that Sheppard leapt through the breech in the hull and onto the sandy soil of the crater.

"What do you mean?" Sheppard demanded, squinting up the incline to where he'd left his team. "How you are talking to me?"

"She means when I'm actually standing right next to her," a dry voice said, and next to him Rodney was gaping in amazement. Teyla was there all right, pointing her gun at them, but so was another Colonel John Sheppard, gun raised, mouth tight.

Sheppard instantly lifted his weapon but before he could even aim it, he felt the shock of a stunner hit him and he went down.

Part Two

"I'm telling you, Elizabeth, he doesn't just look like me, he is me. My uniform, my dog tags, my scars for god's sake." Sheppard glanced over his shoulder at his doppelganger, who was just stirring awake. His hands were bound securely behind his back and Ronon crouched warily behind him, hand on his stunner.

"I don't know who the other one is," Sheppard continued, frowning at the still unconscious girl on the floor. "She's wearing a science team uniform but I don't recognize her. She's young though, in fact she looks too damn young to be any scientist I've ever seen."

"And you say they came out of the ship?"

Suddenly the bound Sheppard lifted his head and yelled. "Elizabeth! They're imposters, don't believe them!" Ronon grabbed his shoulder and covered his mouth, rolling his eyes at Sheppard in apology.

"Colonel?" Elizabeth's voice crackled over the line and Sheppard watched the bound man freeze as Ronon gazed balefully into his eyes.

"That was him, in case you didn't guess," Sheppard said dryly.

"And he's implying you're the imposter?"

"Dr Weir," Teyla said, and Sheppard watched as the bound man tried to twist his head to see her. "I assure you that Colonel Sheppard did not leave my sight the entire time we were on the planet."

"I concur, Ma'am," Lorne's voice sounded over the radio from the other jumper.

"She's right Elizabeth," Rodney chimed in, swinging his chair around and glancing over his shoulder at the prisoners. "Our Sheppard didn't leave our sight for a second."

Sheppard narrowed his eyes as the man under Ronon's hands jerked as if he had been stunned again, eyes widening in shock as he stared at Rodney. Interesting.

"That's a relief to hear," Elizabeth was saying.

"Yes." Rodney snorted. "My best guess is that they're from an alternate timeline, and they just haven't realised it yet."

But it's starting to sink in, Sheppard thought, as the prisoner's face went ashen beneath his tan.

888

"Ooo an et ee o ow," the prisoner tried to say around Ronon's hand.

"Let him go," Sheppard ordered and Ronon released him, wiping his hand on the front of the prisoner's flak jacket.

"Had tuna salad for lunch?" the other Sheppard quipped, before turning to face the front of the jumper. "It's a sad indictment of my life that I'm actually used to chatting to people with my hands tied," he said casually.

"Tell me about it," Sheppard returned. "We're taking you back to Atlantis where we can get this all sorted out. But maybe some introductions are in order?"

The Sheppard-prisoner nodded, his eyes drifting to back to McKay who was now starting to look a little nervous as his quick brain raced ahead as usual.

"I have a bad feeling about myself in that alternate timeline," he muttered to Sheppard, who nodded.

"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard," the prisoner said. "Military Commander of Atlantis. And I'm sorry I called you an imposter just now. I've never actually traveled to an alternate timeline before, I'm afraid it took me a little by surprise."

"You should have tried it from our end," Sheppard said wryly. He nodded down at the girl on the floor, who was starting to stir. "And your young friend?"

Alternate-Sheppard glanced down at the young woman on the floor next to him. "Maybe we should wait until we're back home," he said uneasily and Sheppard glanced back at Rodney who shrugged.

"Beckett should probably take a look at them anyway."

"Carson?" alternate-Sheppard exclaimed, then closed his mouth with a snap.

"Carson too?" McKay said incredulously. "You must be incredibly careless back in your timeline."

"McKay," Sheppard chided as alternate-Sheppard paled even further and subsided back. He sent his IDC through, waited until the signal indicated that the shield was down and let the jumper glide through the wormhole. "Well, we're home," he said, sketching a wave at Elizabeth through the windshield as the automatic system lifted the jumper up into the bay. "Home for some of us anyway."

A glance back over his shoulder showed him alternate-Sheppard leaning over the girl on the floor as best he could with his hands bound behind his back, concern evident in the taut lines of his body.

Hmm.

888

The jumper opened and Carson and his team were at the back hatch with two stretchers. The alternate Sheppard's eyes widened again as he saw the doctor, which was no more than everybody else's eyes were doing as they took him in, being helped from the jumper by Teyla. Ronon lifted the girl from the floor and again Sheppard noted as alternate-Sheppard's eyes followed every move Ronon made as he laid her on the stretcher.

"Well, well, Colonel Sheppard," Carson said jovially, leaning over the girl and lifting an eyelid to shine a pencil light into her eye. "I can always count on you to bring me something special back with you."

"What would you do without me bringing a little excitement into your life, Carson?" Sheppard drawled, watching as alternate-Sheppard let himself be led to a stretcher and sat down.

"I think I'm in shock," the alternate Sheppard said and Carson turned a mock frown on him.

"You let me be the judge of that," he said and when alternate-Sheppard's eyes moistened a little as he attempted a smile and a nod, Sheppard figured out that Carson at least was probably dead in that other timeline.

"It's good to see you, Carson," the alternate said huskily, and Carson looked surprised for a moment before nodding.

"Aye, and it's good to see you, lad," he agreed fondly. "Although I haven't seen double like this since my last dram of fine Scottish malt." He nodded at an orderly. "To the infirmary."

Elizabeth was at the doorway and she watched as the two newcomers were wheeled away, a detail of SO's following.

"It's uncanny," she said. "Do you think they're from the same timeline as our last visitor?"

"Rod," Ronon recalled.

"Possibly," Rodney replied. "If he is then Rod never made it back, because the new Sheppard was looking at me as if he'd seen a ghost."

"And Dr Beckett as well," Teyla interjected.

"And the alien ship has something to do with it?"

"That weird energy pulse I was picking up," Rodney agreed. "Although I have an idea now where I've seen it before." He turned a smug look at Sheppard. "See what would have happened if I'd let you race in there like you wanted? You'd probably be in some alternate timeline now with your hands tied behind your back."

"If I was really lucky it'd be one where you were still in Siberia," Sheppard jibed.

"Oh, you mean the one where you are all dead without me to save you on a daily basis?" Rodney smirked back.

"You should get to the infirmary for your physicals," Elizabeth ordered as Lorne's jumper glided into place nearby. "I'll be there shortly to hear your full reports. And find out how you plan to fix this!"

Rodney rolled his eyes. "By which she means how I plan to fix this."

"What would we do without you?" Ronon murmured, patting him on the back and making him stagger.

"Something you might remember when you're batting me around, you big lug," Rodney protested, rubbing at his shoulder.

888

They walked into a somewhat tense situation in the infirmary. The SO's were braced around the room and the young woman from the alternate timeline was clinging to Carson, her arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried against his chest.

"It's so good to see you!" she sobbed and Carson lifted bemused eyes to Sheppard and his team as he carefully patted her back.

"And it's good to see you too, love," he said. "But I think you should just sit back down now as you're making the nice soldiers nervous."

"Rodney, it's okay," alternate-Sheppard said, grabbing at her narrow shoulders and drawing her away.

Pretty much everyone in the room froze at that.

"Did he just call her Rodney?" McKay said loudly.

"Oh my god." The girl lifted her head as alternate-Sheppard drew her back, her wet eyes widening in shock. "Oh my god it's me. I'm still a man here."

"Okay," Sheppard said into the ringing silence. "That's not something you hear every day."

"So her name is Rodney?" Ronon said, brow wrinkling in confusion.

"Try to keep up," McKay snapped. "She is supposed to be me, from an alternate timeline, one that is clearly freakishly insane."

"Hey," the girl said indignantly. "Don't malign our, er, timeline. What happened was not our fault. It was the damn Ancients and their damn body-swap machine."

"Body swap?" Sheppard said, glancing back and forward between what were apparently two McKays, although that fact was still a little hard to grasp. Rodney looked curious and a little freaked, head tilted, his expression dubious. And the girl looked equally as freaked, her hands gripping alternate Sheppard's tightly, her soft brown eyes studying Rodney avidly.

"I'd forgotten how tall I was," she said.

Alternate-Sheppard seemed slightly in more command of himself, but then he'd had more time to get used to it. His shocked reaction in the jumper at least now made sense. McKay wasn't dead in their timeline. Just... altered.

"Body swap?" Sheppard said again and alternate-Sheppard nodded apologetically.

"This is Dr Rodney McKay. The new improved version."

"Improved?" Rodney screeched. "Are you crazy? You let me get changed into a, a, cheerleader, for god's sake? How the hell did that happen?"

"We'll have time for all the details later," Sheppard interjected as the girl-Rodney started swelling up indignantly, her face turning red.

"Cheerleader?" she repeated incredulously.

"So their Rodney turned into a kid?" Ronon said skeptically.

"Kid?" girl-Rodney said and alternate-Sheppard pulled her back against him and shook her a little.

"For god's sake, McKay, will you calm down," he hissed. "In case it's escaped your notice we're not exactly safe at home here. Let's try to keep this all civilized, shall we?" He glanced over at Sheppard, who nodded and then gestured for the SO's to relax. "Now let's just get through our physicals so we can sit down and discuss this like reasonable adults and try to get us home, okay?"

Girl-Rodney nodded stiffly, casting a venomous glance at Rodney, who was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Kind of hot-headed, isn't she?" he sneered and Sheppard shook his head in exasperation. Trust Rodney to pour oil on the flames.

"Just go get your blood drawn so we can figure this all out," he ordered. "Carson?"

The doctor blinked and turned to him, still looking bemused. "Oh, yes, Colonel, of course." He nodded to his staff who went back about their business, before turning to the newcomers with a kindly smile.

"My my," he said, eyes twinkling. "You're certainly a lot prettier than our Rodney."

The McKay on the other side of the room snorted and then huffed as the nurse plunged the needle home in his arm to extract a blood sample.

"I can't believe you're alive here," girl-Rodney said, rolling up her sleeve with a practiced motion, eyes fixed on Beckett's face.

"I gather I'm not in your timeline?" Carson said gently, drawing the blood sample with practiced hands. "You'll have to tell us how to avoid that here."

Girl-Rodney nodded and glanced at alternate-Sheppard on the adjoining exam table.

"And then there's the device that did this to you," Beckett continued, setting the sample aside and deftly pressing a swab to the tiny drop of blood. "You'll have to tell us where you found that, so we can avoid setting it off by mistake."

"Just don't trust the Genii and you should be okay," girl-Rodney said, pressing her hand to the cotton ball on her arm and bending her elbow.

Sheppard stiffened. Beside him Ronon had his hand back on his gun and Teyla was on her feet.

"The Genii?" Beckett said warily.

"Well you don't think this happened through my carelessness, do you?" girl-Rodney snapped back. "It was a Genii trap."

888

Sheppard and his team stood with Beckett and Elizabeth and watched the alien female sitting miserably on an armchair in the observation room below.

"She's definitely Genii," Beckett confirmed grimly. "Her body shows the signs of Chronic Radiation Syndrome, exactly as I saw in hundreds of cases when I was helping the Genii with their people."

"You mean she's ill?" Elizabeth said. "Like Laden's sister, and the ones who came here with her that time?"

"No, not as ill as they were, but I would suggest her chances of contracting cancer or some other serious radiation sickness are much increased. She's also infertile, something else I saw in very many of the young Genii patients."

Elizabeth nodded, eyes bleak. "And the alternate Colonel Sheppard?"

"Is identical in every way to our own Colonel Sheppard. DNA, scars. Unmistakable."

Sheppard moved to the other observation window and looked down at the alternate version of himself, pacing the room below. It had not been easy or fun separating the two of them but Elizabeth had decided that she wanted to question them apart and compare their answers. It had actually been quite unsettling, watching the nervous way girl-Rodney had clutched at alternate-Sheppard's arm as the SO's moved to separate them, watching himself as he turned over alternatives in his mind before finally bowing to the inevitable and squeezing her hand briefly before pushing her away.

"It will be okay," he'd said, and Sheppard had found himself looking away at the naked expression in alternate-Sheppard's eyes.

He found he didn't want to think too closely about that.

"We need to hear their stories," he said, watching his doppelganger pace the room below like a caged tiger.

888

"How's McKay? Have you talked to him?"

For a moment Sheppard thought alternate-Sheppard was talking about their McKay.

"You still call her a him?" he asked curiously and alternate-Sheppard shrugged.

"Mostly, no, not any more," he said. "I did for a long time though, so I still tend to forget now and then."

Elizabeth leaned forward. "A long time? Exactly how long ago did this happen to him? Er, her."

"Coming up for a year and a half now."

Sheppard thought about it for a moment. More than a year in that body might explain how at ease this alternate-McKay seemed to be. "More than a year and McKay still hasn't figured out a way to turn himself back?" Sheppard said dubiously. "Maybe yours isn't as smart as ours?"

Alternate-Sheppard looked away for a moment, then looked back, face shuttered. "There is no going back. The Genii rigged the trap so that McKay's body would die in the transfer. The idea was that we would send them back to their home-world with the girl they came with, and we'd take McKay home and bury him. They'd get McKay's mind trapped in this new body and we'd be none the wiser."

"Thus preserving the Genii alliance," Elizabeth said thoughtfully and alternate-Sheppard nodded.

"At the time we were still providing them with medical care and technological advice, so the alliance was pretty important to them. Not as important as getting their hands on McKay though," he added a little bitterly.

Sheppard tried to imagine what that must have been like. Tried to imagine how he would have felt if the Genii in this timeline had pulled such a stunt. Stealing McKay's mind and killing his body? How did anyone get past that and actually go on to stay on Atlantis, to stay a member of the team?

"When did you realize what had happened?" Elizabeth probed.

"We think we must have tripped something and alerted the Wraith to our presence on the planet. It wouldn't be the first time we've come across a trap like that. At any rate, they showed up and the Genii plan went up in smoke. Only time in my life I can honestly say I'm glad the Wraith tracked us down."

Elizabeth glanced at Sheppard and then back at alternate-Sheppard. "I have to wonder what was so different in our two timelines that caused the Genii to do such a thing. Since Laden took over from Cowan we have had fairly peaceful relations with them."

Alternate-Sheppard lifted his brow. "Took over, that's an interesting way to describe the coup Laden staged. It's always been fairly obvious to us that his control over his people is nominal at best. There are more than one group of renegades either loyal to Cowan or to their own interests, who are ruthless and vicious and hungry for Lantean technology and who don't particularly care who they have to trample on to get it. You did meet Kolya, didn't you?"

Alternate-Sheppard's eyes met his and for the first time it really hit home to Sheppard that this man was him. That he knew everything, every stupid mistake, every weak moment, every intimate detail of his life. This man had been there in that prison cell with the Wraith who had been forced to torture him. He'd endured that agony as his life was drained away from him one year at a time. He'd lain in the dirt, feeble and old, his strength and youth and vitality gone.

This man had lived through all that, it was in his eyes now, that knowledge, those memories.

Despite himself Sheppard shivered.

"They wanted Rodney's mind. Laden insisted it was an isolated plot hatched by scientists, but you..." Alternate-Sheppard rubbed tiredly at his eyes. "I mean our Elizabeth didn't believe them. We cut off all contact with them."

"You must be tired," Elizabeth said gently. "We won't keep you much longer and then you can eat and rest."

"Can I see Rodney?" he asked. "If we're going to be locked up can't you at least put us together?"

"Of course," Elizabeth said gently. "Colonel Sheppard, please understand that we do not consider you enemies, but that we must take into account the fact that you came here with a Genii who is unknown to us. We have no reason to doubt your story but we must spend some time verifying it first. I'm sure if this happened on your Atlantis that you would be following the exact same security measures."

Alternate-Sheppard studied her sincere eyes for a few moments, his own eyes narrowed and assessing. Sheppard knew the exact moment he chose to believe her; his shoulders relaxed fractionally and he nodded.

Elizabeth nodded back, then leaned forward. "Now, please. Tell us about the alien space craft on PX4-827. You were inside it?"

888

"There was nothing in there," girl-Rodney said in exasperation. "The walls were smooth and rounded, more like a tunnel than a corridor. I tracked the power source to a dead end but when I touched the wall the power fluctuated. I obviously activated something, because that's when Sheppard contacted Teyla and this whole mess started."

"All you did was touch the wall?"

Alternate-Rodney smirked. "Hey, all I did was touch an Ancient device and I turned into a girl. We live in a city where the right touch from a person with the right gene can command power previously unimagined by the human race. Yeah, all I did was touch the wall of an alien spacecraft and I ended up in an alternate timeline." She shrugged sarcastically. "Go figure."

"You might have thought of that before you touched it," Sheppard pointed out.

"Huh," Rodney snorted. "This coming from the guy whose eyes light up at the merest mention of a spaceship. I would have had to tackle you at the knees to keep you out of that thing and in case you haven't noticed, my tackling days are over." She blinked and shook her head. "I mean him, my Sheppard. I would have had to tackle him... Well, you know what I mean."

"You mention your transformation, Dr McKay," Elizabeth said, swiftly changing tack. "Can you tell us exactly how that happened?"

Girl-Rodney blinked at the change of subject. "It wasn't a transformation, it was a transference," she explained. She gestured eloquently. "Two bodies, two consciousnesses. Swapped."

Sheppard frowned at the familiar gestures as girl-Rodney mimed the swap. It was actually quite amazing how much like their McKay she was, despite the size, age and gender difference. That turned down mouth, the condescending drawl, those elaborate gestures. It was uncanny and Sheppard could see that Elizabeth also found it quite disturbing.

"It must have been quite a shock for you, adjusting to this new body."

Rodney stared at her. "You're kidding, right? A shock? I'm a girl! I was a 38 year old man and now I'm a teenage girl! Shock is not nearly a strong enough word for what I went through, let me tell you that."

"I'm sure," Elizabeth murmured.

"And let's not just speak in the past tense either," alternate-Rodney continued. "Okay, I've adjusted and things have turned out okay, as it happens. But that doesn't negate what the Genii did to me or why they did it. They essentially stole my life, pissed off Carter, traumatized my sister and forced me to officially become my own daughter to solve the problems with my assets and property. Any day now the SGC will probably declare Dr Rodney McKay dead. Do you have any idea how that feels? Knowing you are going to be officially dead to pretty much everyone you've ever met in your life?"

"Uh, no," Elizabeth began, but alternate-McKay barely let her get a word in before steamrolling ahead.

"Not that there'll even be the huge sense of loss there should be in the world's scientific community, seeing as how all of my work for the last ten years of my life has been classified and probably will be for the next five hundred years." Alternate-Rodney crossed her arms and slumped back in her chair. "I never get the credit I deserve anyway."

"Who did the body belong to?" Sheppard asked. "It seems a curious choice for the Genii."

"Why because she's a girl?" Rodney drawled. "I actually haven't noticed much sexism in the Pegasus Galaxy, unless you count that pervert on Rosmar who tried to buy me for ten bushels of grain."

Elizabeth's brows shot up and she scribbled a quick note on the pad in front of her.

Sheppard kept his eyes fixed on alternate-Rodney's, noticing the way they shifted to avoid his gaze. "Actually I was thinking about the radiation damage. The doctor said it was quite serious."

Alternate-Rodney's mouth turned down. "That's none of your business," she said defensively. "I don't understand why we're being questioned like this. Surely you don't think this is all some elaborate scheme, do you? Because, believe me, if we were going to plan a scheme it would be a damn cleverer one that this!"

"It's not that we disbelieve you," Elizabeth said smoothly. "But by your own admission and the medical evidence you were born on the Genii home-world. And the Genii have proved themselves untrustworthy before."

"You're telling me? And it was this body that was born on the Genii home-world, not me. I was born in Canada, and believe me when I tell you I wish I was there right now."

"I believe you," Elizabeth said with a smile.

Alternate-Rodney set her mouth and leaned back in the chair, arms crossed defensively in front of her. "You know, I went through this all before," she said wearily. "Suspicion, SGC protocols, testing, answering question after question. Which isn't even an option here by the way, because how can I answer questions about the life of Dr Rodney McKay when I haven't even lived the same life as him in my timeline? So you know what? This all comes down to him." Alternate-Rodney pointed at Sheppard. "Lt Col John Sheppard. And whether you believe that John Sheppard, in any timeline, could be an enemy of Atlantis."

Elizabeth sat back in her own chair, gazing at the young woman in front of them. Sheppard glanced from her to alternate-Rodney, making up his mind in that moment. He'd learned a long time ago to go with his gut, and his gut was screaming at him now.

No matter what he looked like, this was Rodney McKay.

888

"Please," Rodney said, as they all stood up to leave the room. Sheppard paused in surprise. It wasn't often Rodney said please. "Can I see Sheppard? If you're going to lock me up, can you at least put me in with him?" She attempted a smile, but her eyes were wide and worried. She looked so damned young and for a moment Sheppard wondered how the hell alternate-Sheppard handled this kid in place of Rodney McKay.

"I don't see why not," Elizabeth allowed and girl-Rodney's face lit up, a dimple curving one cheek as she smiled.

Sheppard wondered how alternate-Sheppard dealt with that as well.

888

"Well?" Rodney demanded as they exited the briefing room.

"Well," Elizabeth repeated thoughtfully. "I'm inclined to believe them. Colonel?"

"It's hard to see how they could have set that incident on PX4-827 up. It seems pretty clear to me that they were as caught by surprise as we were."

"So we trust them?" Rodney said, mouth turning down. "Give them the run of the place like we did with Rod?" The way he sneered the name of the previous alternate version of himself spoke volumes.

"This is a slightly different situation," Elizabeth pointed out. "Rod McKay traveled to our timeline because events of our making were threatening his. And he was clearly you, Rodney. But this so-called version of you..."

"You think they're lying?" Rodney asked eagerly. "Not that I have a vested interest one way or another, it's just, I prefer not to have to imagine a timeline where I exist as some spotty youth."

Sheppard hadn't noticed any spots on that creamy skin, and he'd really been looking. But he got Rodney's point. He'd been slightly unsettled when Rod McKay casually mentioned that he was an arrogant jerk in another timeline, he could barely imagine how Rodney would be feeling about seeing himself as a teenage girl.

"Rodney," Elizabeth asked. "Any ideas on how to get them back?"

"Yes," Rodney confirmed, lifting his datapad. "We've been analyzing the energy pulse, and I was right, it's similar to the energy emitted by the Quantum Mirror SG1 discovered ten years ago."

"Shame you didn't remember that back on the planet," John said helpfully.

"Yes, thank you," Rodney said, glaring at Sheppard. "I knew enough to keep you out of that ship, didn't I? Anyway, I was recording the data at exactly the moment the energy flared, which is presumably when they crossed from their timeline to ours. See." He held out the pad where a regular pulsed line suddenly jumped like a seismograph registering a massive earthquake.

"Interesting," Sheppard drawled. "What does it mean?"

Rodney looked irritated. "It's obvious. Even when it spiked it maintained these two energy forms, a pulse. I think they represent our timeline and theirs."

Elizabeth frowned. "So you think it only goes to two timelines?"

"And if they go back in and set it off again they'll end up back in theirs?"

"Exactly. I mean, it's possible the thing can go to infinite timelines, it's even possible that's what the ship is designed to do. But right now, in the state it's in it is emitting two very clear and distinct forms. Here and there."

"That's quite a leap," Elizabeth said doubtfully.

"Considering you still don't even know what it is," Sheppard added.

"Well, I could make up a name for it," Rodney said acidly. "And to tell the truth if those two hadn't showed up I could have brought this data back here and studied it for a hundred years and not come up with a Quantum Ship."

"Quantum ship?"

"Well, the SGC called that mirror that traveled to alternate timelines a Quantum Mirror," Rodney pointed out. "And stop distracting me. What I'm saying is we know that these two came from an alternate timeline. Extrapolating from there we can conclude the rest."

Sheppard frowned skeptically. "It seems a bit thin."

"Thin?" Rodney said, looking outraged.

"As in, you're guessing," Sheppard pointed out.

"I am not guessing," Rodney protested. "I do not guess. I extrapolate, I reason, I speculate on the gathering of all the known facts." He frowned thunderously for a few moments longer, then Sheppard raised a skeptical brow at him and he collapsed like a punctured balloon. "All right, maybe it is a guess. But it's the best we have."

Elizabeth frowned down at the data pad as if it would suddenly offer up some new answers. "Rodney, would you walk back into that ship on the off chance that it would take you home, based on this... educated guess?"

"Honestly? I wouldn't be too keen," Rodney admitted. "But at this point we have just under twenty hours until entropic cascade sets in, in which case, they're in big trouble anyway."

"Okay, I read about that," Sheppard said. "The same two people can't exist in the same timeline? Something like that."

Rodney gazed at him pityingly. "Yes, if you want the dumbed down version of a highly complex set of -"

"Rodney," Elizabeth chided and Rodney closed his mouth with a huffy snap.

Sheppard smirked, but despite the teasing he was inclined to believe the man. Rodney was well known for his intuitive leaps and equally well known for being right 99 of the time. And since the other 1 hadn't yet gotten them killed...

"I'd like to debrief them at least one more time," Elizabeth said. "But perhaps we can do it together in slightly more friendly surroundings. I'd be interested in hearing about this trap the Genii set, and how their Carson died."

"Perhaps as a show of good faith I can give them some of our recent mission logs?" Sheppard suggested. "Carefully edited for security reasons, of course."

"Good idea," Elizabeth said, nodding briskly. "At any rate, I'm going to catch up on sleep. We'll pick this up in the morning. Gentlemen."

They watched her walk away and Sheppard glanced at his watch. Six hours until morning, and sleep sounded great. But he hadn't eaten since lunch and he was starved.

"Quantum Ship." John rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous that I came up with the cool name first."

888

"So, did you put them back together?" Rodney asked curiously.

"The girl asked so nicely. She has a dimple you know."

"Good for her," Rodney said sourly, helping himself to a tray. "Honestly, why is it always alternate versions of me who are weird? Why couldn't you have come here as the girl?"

"I don't know, Rodney," Sheppard said patiently, snagging a chair and sitting down to his meal with a sigh. "Maybe because you work with Ancient equipment and alien technology all day? Stuff like this is bound to happen."

"That explains the teenage me," Rodney complained. "But not that Rod. I hated that guy."

"You didn't hate him," Sheppard chided. "He just freaked you out, which I totally get by the way, seeing as how I have now met my own alternate self." He shuddered. "It's creepy."

"It really is." Rodney ate steadily for a few moments. "Those two..." he said, eyes firmly on his mashed potatoes. "You don't think they..."

Sheppard grimaced. "No way," he scoffed, ignoring his own suspicions. "Alternate-Sheppard is just a nice guy who's very protective of his team mate, that's all."

"So you'd be that worried about me if we were the ones who'd ended up in their timeline?" Rodney said skeptically.

"Absolutely," Sheppard said. Although he couldn't forget that look in his doppelganger's eyes as his companion was led away by SO's. Sure, he'd be just as worried about Rodney or Teyla or even Ronon if they were taken prisoner and then separated. But there had been something else in those eyes...

888

"You should probably see this," Carson said the next morning, trotting over to the isolation room windows and nodding down. Alternate-Sheppard and girl-Rodney were curled up together on one of the narrow beds, her head was on his chest, both his arms were wrapped protectively around her. They were both fully dressed but the intimacy of the pose was unmistakable.

"He's probably just comforting her," Sheppard said weakly, his brain unable to process that he was essentially looking at himself cuddling Rodney McKay.

"Aye," Carson agreed uncomfortably. "And when I checked on them last night that comforting included quite a lot of kissing as well."

Both Carson and Elizabeth stared at him and Sheppard felt a flare of resentment. What did they expect from him? Rodney had obviously been right, the pair of them clearly came from some insane alternate timeline where everything was freakish and just plain wrong.

"Oh, that's just plain wrong," Rodney said and Sheppard started. He hadn't even heard the man enter the room.

"Can't you hose them down or something?" McKay said to Carson, not taking his eyes off the sleeping couple below.

"They are consenting adults, Rodney," Carson said blithely.

"Barely," Rodney muttered, then finally lifted his head and turned a scathing look Sheppard's way. "You really are unbelievable, you know that?"

"Me?" Sheppard repeated defensively. "What did I do?"

"Anything even remotely female and you jump it."

"Rodney," Elizabeth said, trying, and failing, to hide a smile. "That's hardly fair. Our Colonel Sheppard hasn't done anything wrong."

"Aye, and who's to say the alternate Colonel Sheppard has either?" Carson said stoutly. "After all, you and the Colonel are good friends. Maybe if this had happened to you in our timeline the two of you might have found yourselves..." He trailed away as they both turned outraged stares his way. "What?" he said defensively. "I think you make a lovely couple."

"Oh, yes, very funny," Rodney said bitterly as Elizabeth chuckled into her hand. "You know you're dead in their timeline, don't you, Carson? I wouldn't be so quick to defend people who probably let you get eaten by a Wraith or something." He stomped out and Sheppard wished he had the freedom to stomp away as well.

888

"So are we still prisoners?" girl-Rodney said coolly.

"Rodney, be nice," alternate-Sheppard said, running his hand through his sleep mussed hair. They both seemed remarkably unbothered at being discovered curled up together in one of the narrow beds. Girl-Rodney was shrugging into her jacket and alternate-Sheppard idly straightened her collar as she tugged her curly hair free and fluffed it around her shoulders.

Rodney had long, curly hair. Huh.

"I would like to apologize for any distress we may have caused you," Elizabeth said genially. "But I'm sure you understand our security concerns."

"Of course we do," alternate-Sheppard said as girl-Rodney opened her mouth to reply. He cast her a meaningful look and she subsided, crossing her arms and frowning.

"I don't suppose it occurred to anyone here that entropic cascade failure will probably be setting in soon?" girl-Rodney muttered sulkily. "If we don't figure out a way to get us out of here we are both going to die."

"Yes, thank you for the obvious update," McKay said flippantly. "That had occurred to us, and as it happens I think I've figured out a way to get you back to where you both belong."

"You figured out a way?" Girl-Rodney snorted. "You mean you remembered that the energy pulse was similar to the energy emitted by SG1's Quantum Mirror, right? After that anyone could figure out that the regular pulse probably means the door only goes here and there. All we have to do is go back in the ship and reactivate it. Right?"

McKay gaped for a moment, then recovered himself. "Well, yes, as you say. Anyone could figure that out."

"You two do realize you're bickering with yourselves, don't you?" Sheppard said.

"It's kind of interesting actually," alternate-Sheppard remarked. "I always wondered what would happen if Rodney met someone as smug and self-satisfied as he is."

"Possibly they might cancel each other out," Sheppard mused.

McKay and his female counterpart turned outraged glares on their respective Sheppards, Rodney's saying Sheppard would probably be paying for his remarks in cold showers for a week, and girl-Rodney's saying something harder to make out that probably meant alternate-Sheppard could forget the kisses and cuddles for a while.

Obviously alternate-Sheppard wasn't quite whipped yet, as he only grinned and lifted an insolent brow.

"Gentlemen," Elizabeth said in her best school-marm voice. "If we could just adjourn to the briefing room, I'm sure we can discuss this like reasonable adults." That's not what her exasperated look said, but the three gentleman and the one former gentleman all nodded and obeyed.

888

"Explosive tumors," Carson said for the third time.

"Yes, Carson," girl-Rodney repeated patiently. "I can show you the exact machine if you like."

"I suggest a sign placed near it," alternate-Sheppard said helpfully. "DANGER. In big red letters."

"Explosive tumors," Carson repeated. "Good lord."

"So Houston and Watson never found the machine in this timeline?" girl-Rodney said and Sheppard shook his head.

"Pretty sure we would have remembered people blowing up in the city."

The young woman nodded soberly. "Yes, you would have."

"I told you it's not because this McKay actually went fishing," alternate-Sheppard assured girl-Rodney.

"Fishing?" Carson repeated, confused.

Girl-Rodney turned to McKay. "If he ever asks you to go fishing, for god's sake just go," she said fiercely to the startled scientist. "I don't care how much you hate slimy worms, you can spare a few hours out of your life, you selfish prick."

McKay opened his mouth to respond but alternate-Sheppard leaned forward and patted him on the arm. "That's directed more at herself than you," he advised. "Please don't take it personally."

"Uh, not at all," McKay said, glancing at girl-Rodney's pale, set face. "I'm quite often called a selfish prick by even my best friends."

"He is," Sheppard confirmed.

"Colonel Sheppard has compiled the highlights of some of our missions," Elizabeth said. "Outlining some of our successes and failures. I hope you find it useful."

"I actually jotted down a few things last night," alternate-Sheppard said, pulling some pages from his pocket. "Planets with hostiles and friendlies. One planet with giant Ancient greenhouses, please take note of the night-blooming flowers that release narcotic toxins."

"Seriously," girl-Rodney muttered.

"Oh, and this one." Alternate-Sheppard exchanged a glance with girl-Rodney. "It's the planet the Genii led us to, the one with the body-swap machine."

"I doubt that device is there," Rodney volunteered. "The Genii moved it there as part of their trap."

"But the bait they used to get us there probably is."

"As I don't think they planted that," Rodney added.

"A ZPM." Alternate-Sheppard laid the paper with the eight symbols and list of instructions on the table and Sheppard almost snatched it up. He glanced at it and handed it to Rodney.

"A ZedPM?" Rodney said reverently.

"Look out for Wraith though. We might have tripped something when we were there, alerting them to our presence."

"A ZedPM," Rodney repeated. "Full?"

Girl-Rodney grinned and nodded, showing off that dimple again. "Oh, yeah."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said sincerely.

Part Three

"So," Sheppard said casually as they made their way through the bowels of the city. Girl-Rodney and McKay were strolling along in the lead, flanked by a fascinated Teyla and Ronon. They appeared to have bonded over the whole ZPM thing, and McKay was gesturing wildly as he talked about everything he would do with a fully powered ZPM.

"So?" alternate-Sheppard said, hands twitching as he automatically reached to rest his hand on his weapon, only to find the empty holster at his side.

"You and..." Sheppard tilted his head and indicated girl-Rodney who was fairly bouncing along ahead as she talked about shield levels and weapons systems.

Alternate-Sheppard glanced at him quizzically. "What gave it away?"

"Hmm, the whole cuddling in the observation room thing was a hint," Sheppard said dryly. "You must have known you would be observed."

"We knew. We'd have been doing a hell of a lot more than cuddling if we hadn't been." Then he snickered a dirty laugh and Sheppard stared at him in amazement.

"McKay?" he whispered incredulously. "Seriously?"

"I don't blame you for being surprised," alternate-Sheppard said easily. "I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been there."

"I'm mean, she's pretty enough," Sheppard allowed, running appreciative eyes over a trim back and sweet, rounded butt. "A little young for my taste, yeah, but she's cute. It's just... McKay?"

"Come on," alternate-Sheppard murmured back. "I'm you. I know wild horses couldn't drag it out of you, but you care about the man. He's your friend. And you respect and admire him."

Sheppard cast a hasty glance at his McKay, who was luckily still absorbed in his discussion, although it sounded like they were arguing again. "For god's sake don't tell him that."

"You should tell him," alternate-Sheppard advised soberly. "Believe me, the time may come when you wish you had. And... He's kind of earned it."

"Maybe," Sheppard said dubiously. "But to go from there to..." He wouldn't have asked anyone else this question, but technically this was him, and it was strangely easy to say. Anyway, he knew himself well enough that he pretty much already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear it out loud. "You're in love with her, aren't you."

"I think I always was," alternate-Sheppard teased, then ginned when Sheppard made an appalled face. "Seriously. Once he became somebody I could fall in love with, it was surprisingly easy."

Sheppard absorbed this.

"And the fantastic sex was just a bonus."

"Please," Sheppard objected with a grimace. "Too much information."

Alternate-Sheppard smirked.

"I am quite happy with my team just the way it is. It's hard enough dealing with two aliens and an hysterical hypochondriac with delusions of godhood. I don't need any of them changing gender on me anytime soon."

Girl-Rodney had stopped and was glancing back down the corridor at them. "We're here. Why are you hanging so far behind?"

"Coming, dear," alternate-Sheppard drawled and they quickened their pace a little.

Sheppard cast alternate-Sheppard a glance, but he couldn't resist asking. "Really? Fantastic?"

Alternate-Sheppard just smirked again.

888

"It's pretty damaged down here," girl-Rodney commented as they picked their way through the remains of a door.

"Yeah, we took a couple of dart hits here during the first siege," Sheppard explained, flashing his light around the large room.

"Huh," girl-Rodney said absently, waving her own flashlight around. "Well, that explain why the tumor device was never discovered in this timeline." She nodded towards a blackened, corroded corner of the room. Twisted lumps of metal and broken glass littered the area. "It's road-kill."

"The darts that hit us in our Atlantis were closer to the East Wing," alternate-Sheppard reported. "Rodney, don't touch anything," he said uneasily as girl-Rodney crouched and picked up a small shard of metal.

"There's no power down here," she returned over her shoulder. "This whole place is -"

But they never got to hear what the whole place was, a beam overhead was creaking, Ronon was yelling something, and Teyla was crash tackling him to the ground as half the room seemed to fall in on itself, metal screeching as a ceiling support gave way, the floor above smashing in upon them.

888

There was dust in the air, and John recognized the smell of the salty mud that had plastered whole areas of the city previously flooded. The rooms above must have been covered with the dried silt, he thought groggily as he coughed and tried to lift his head.

"Colonel, are you all right?"

Teyla was on top of him and he breathed out a relieved sigh as she slid aside, glass and stones showering around her as she shifted.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, swiftly cataloguing his injuries. Sore butt from the hard landing, cuts and bruises on his arms, and, yeah... He felt gingerly. His face was pretty beaten up.

It was minor stuff and he shook it off, climbing painfully to his feet as he peered through the dusty gloom.

"Rodney?"

That was his voice but not coming from him, his alternate self was emerging from the rubble, blood darkening his hair down one side, running down his neck and already soaking his shirt.

The sight galvanized John and he groped for his headset, righting it against his ear and tapping to activate it.

"Medical Emergency in sub-level five!" he said urgently, knowing the message would be directed to Carson, the entire infirmary staff and Elizabeth as well. "We've had the ceiling collapse on us, we need multiple med-teams down here, stat!" As he spoke his eyes quartered the room, and he breathed out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. There was his Rodney, being helped up by a dust-covered Ronon. Teyla was limping across the rubble strewn floor, crossing to the alternate-Sheppard, who was stumbling a little, eyes squinting in pain.

"John?" Elizabeth said urgently into his ear.

"Gimme a minute, Elizabeth," he said. "Teyla?"

"We can't find the female Rodney," Teyla called back over her shoulder.

"She was in the corner," McKay was saying, wiping at his dust-reddened eyes with a bloody hand. "Over here."

Everyone began to dig, pulling at shards of metal as sharp as razors, Ronon and John lifting a section of flooring a meter across and heaving it into an empty corner.

"Be careful," McKay advised sharply. "This room is still unstable, what's left could come down on our heads again. God, don't let it be broken," he mumbled, groping in his jacket. His bleeding hand emerged from his pocket and he peered down at the life signs detector. "Everyone hold still!" he snapped, then squinted at the screen, obviously trying to get his bearings in the decimated room.

"Please," alternate-Sheppard was mumbling, and John felt his insides clenching with fear. Could anyone be alive under that tangled mess?

"I have her!" Rodney said triumphantly. He strode across the room, stumbled on wreckage, then righted himself impatiently. "There," he said, pointing, and everyone set to work with a will.

888

Carson and his team arrived as they lifted the last of the rubble away, and for a moment the rescuers paused as the teams bustled in, bags and stretchers at the ready. The alternate Rodney lay crumpled on the ground, almost unrecognizable through the blood and tumbled detritus encasing her.

"God," alternate-Sheppard muttered, scraping at the rubble on her legs, heedless of his already bleeding hands.

"Clear away there now, lad," Carson said kindly, climbing over the rubble to her side.

Everyone stepped back but alternate-John, who crawled on his knees to her head, trembling hands touching her swollen face.

"Rodney?" he was whispering as he stroked back a bloody clump of hair. "Baby, please, open your eyes. I'm here, you're going to be okay."

"Christ," Carson muttered as he groped for her pulse, fingers pale against the grime and gore on her skin. He cast a grim look over his shoulder and Sheppard's heart sank.

He knew that look.

888

"The internal damage is massive," Carson said wearily, rubbing at dark circles under his eyes. "Frankly, I'm amazed she's survived this long." He turned sorrowful eyes on alternate-Sheppard. "I'm sorry, lad. There's nothing I can do."

"No," the alternate said hoarsely. He had refused any more than the most basic treatment, and blood had already soaked through the pressure bandage on his head. "I refuse to accept that. There must be something more you can do. Surgery -"

"She'd never survive surgery," Carson interrupted gently. "I'm sorry, son I truly am. It's not just the blunt chest trauma, she's also suffered a severe head injury and her spine..." He shook his head as alternate-Sheppard swayed. John reached out and steadied his other self, feeling the trembling in the thin limbs, and the cold clamminess of shock on his skin.

"All right, Carson," Sheppard said quietly, helping his double over to the female Rodney's bedside. The young woman lay on the narrow gurney, an tube taped to her mouth, IV's emerging from her splinted arms, both legs also splinted and hastily wrapped.

"Sit down before you fall down," Sheppard said quietly, helping the stumbling man into the bedside chair.

"There must be something we can do," alternate-Sheppard said shakily, eyes fixed desperately on the still form on the gurney, her narrow chest rising and falling at the will of the machine she was hooked to.

Behind him doctor's soft burr sounded, John could hear the despair in Elizabeth's voice, the deep sorrow in Carson's. The man was surrounded by the most amazing technology ever created, but he couldn't pull off miracles.

John cast a look over his shoulder at his worn team, standing out of the way at the side of the room. Their faces told their own stories, shock and grief and worry. Rodney's face bore a myriad of tiny cuts, his cheek was puffy and bruised, and like everyone else who had been there, his hands were heavily bandaged.

Under his hand the alternate John was trembling, his own bandaged hand reaching out, stroking over his McKay's arm, the one, tiny patch that wasn't bleeding and broken or attached to some life-saving device.

How many times, John thought, a shiver of his own running over him. How many times had it been his Rodney there, or Teyla or Ronon. His friends, his family, his team? And how much worse for this alternate John, who loved Rodney, whose face lit up at the mention of her, who had worn a sweet, smug little smile when he talked about her. A smile that John had secretly kind of envied.

The alternate's hand stroked again, snow-white bandages against blood smeared skin, against a background of the life-saving machines, of wires and cords and Ancient technology...

The sarcophagus!" John said suddenly, and his alternate twisted his head and frowned blearily.

"What?"

"John?" Elizabeth said.

"The Ancient device that Dr Lorenzo has been studying. He said it worked like a Goa'uld sarcophagus."

"He also said he wasn't entirely sure of its effects on the second person," Rodney added, crossing the room to his side. "It could be lethal."

"What are you talking about?" Alternate-John interjected desperately.

"Even the Ancients wouldn't create a healing device that cost someone else's life to use, you said that yourself, Rodney," Sheppard reminded him. "Come on, what better time to test it? And what do we have to lose?"

"You," Rodney returned bluntly and Sheppard stared at him. "Oh, come on, do you think we can't all read you like a book? Opportunity number 3467 for Colonel Sheppard to throw his life away to save others."

"It would be a calculated risk," John began.

"Enough!" alternate-Sheppard bellowed, pushing himself up from his seat and swaying in place. "Just shut the hell up and tell me what you two are talking about."

John opened his mouth but Rodney beat him to it.

"Dr Lorenzo, not the the Dr Lorenzo from biology, the one who's an engineer, he's been studying this Ancient device we found last year, and he's pretty sure he's figured out how to use it."

"He has?" alternate-Sheppard said. "Our Dr Lorenzo couldn't figure out the one he found."

"Actually, I helped him," Carson interjected. "I stumbled across something about it in the database when researching Ancient medical equipment."

Alternate-Sheppard nodded, rubbing wearily at a spot on his forehead. "Ours was discovered after our Carson died. So, how does it work?"

"It takes two people," Rodney said quickly. "That's why we thought it was for stasis at first. Two people, one injured or ill, the other healthy."

"Both with the gene of course."

"How we think it works," Rodney began, but alternate-Sheppard cut him off with a gesture.

"Never mind," he said bluntly. "Where is it? Hook us up."

"What?" Carson said. "No, I can't authorize that. You've been injured, man."

"I'll do it," Sheppard volunteered, and Rodney shook his head grimly, but forbore comment this time.

"No," alternate-Sheppard insisted. "I have the gene, Rodney can have as much of my life as she needs to recover, if that's what it takes.

"And if it takes it all?" Carson said gently, and Alternate-Sheppard stared back at him mutely, the stubborn expression on his face obviously familiar to everyone in the room, as well as to John.

"Worst case scenario here," Rodney said grimly. "Is that the device does nothing and it costs both their lives. Does anyone here really doubt what choice he's already made?"

"I'm doing this," the alternate said harshly. "It's my right, it's my responsibility, Rodney's my... well, Rodney's mine," he finished. He turned his eyes on John, knowing that despite Elizabeth being in charge and Carson being the doctor, that it would come down to him. "If it's going to cost a life, let it be mine. Without her... I..." He sat back down in the chair with a bump, as if his legs had suddenly given out on him. "I just can't lose her."

John studied the pale, weary face for a few moments, knowing himself well enough to understand and believe his double's words. Then he met Elizabeth's worried gaze, and Rodney's wide blue eyes. Finally he glanced at Carson, who met his gaze head on, worry and determination and fear in their depths.

"Elizabeth?" John said, but the decision was made, it had already been made, as soon as there was some faint chance at life rather than none at all.

Elizabeth nodded grimly and John sprang into action. "Get her unhooked from anything that's not portable. Ronon, go on ahead and clear the corridors, Rodney, get down there and fire the damn thing up, Teyla, find Lorenzo and fill him in."

Carson just stayed staring at him for long moments more, as the room exploded into action around them. John met his stare and shrugged, wordlessly. What else can we do? his eyes said, and Carson nodded slowly, and began to play his part.

888

"We have no way of knowing what this will do to the healthy person," Lorenzo protested, even as he ran his fingers over the control panel, pushing crystals into place with practiced skill.

"We know," Rodney said, crouching by an open panel.

"It could take actual years off the life of the donor," Lorenzo continued worriedly. "It could kill him."

"We know," Rodney said again. He stood and stepped back, nodding grimly at John and Carson, who carefully lifted the girl's broken body and laid it into the stark, white interior.

"You need a hand?" Rodney said quietly to alternate-Sheppard. The man's face was gray under his bandages, but his eyes were shining with determination. He took the hand Rodney offered, but didn't take the step up into the gleaming interior.

"It was good to see you, Rodney," he said hoarsely.

Rodney's mouth crooked unhappily, but his hand tightened on his friend's double, squeezing it gently for a moment.

"Ready," Lorenzo announced nervously.

John took the injured man's other arm, and with Rodney's strength helped him into the coffin-like structure. They then stepped back as he eased himself down, hands reaching to gently gather the female Rodney's still form against him.

"If it doesn't work," alternate-John said as the lid began to close. "It's okay." His eyes stayed on his Rodney's face, one bandaged hand running gently down her arm. "We're together, and it's okay."

With a dull thud the lid fastened and the lights of the machine dimmed and then brightened gently.

Lorenzo looked up from his monitor. "Eighty minutes."

888

No one left. The room was small, but everyone found a space to sit, or in Teyla and Ronon's case, to squat. Lorenzo and Rodney monitored the energy output of the device, but there wasn't much they could do. If it was working, they would find out soon enough. If it wasn't...

Lorne showed up with a corpsman and a tray of coffee, and Rodney grasped his like a lifeline. John led him out into the hall to a bench seat in front of a long-abandoned fountain. Rodney sipped at the steaming brew, eyes dark and brooding.

"What if he's too weak or hurt himself for it to work?" he said abruptly.

John shook his head. "He wanted to do it, Rodney."

"Yeah, and he was obviously in his right mind," Rodney retorted sarcastically. "If this kills him." He broke off. "If I'd let you do it..."

John quirked a brow at him. "Do you really think you could have stopped me, if I'd been determined to do it?"

Rodney lifted his chin. "Yes."

John snorted a little but didn't argue. Rodney drained his mug and set it aside on ancient tiles, their once bright blues and golds faded by time and ill-use.

"I guess we couldn't stop him," Rodney said, heaving himself to his feet. "He is you after all." He was starting to look a little gray himself, he grimaced and looked down at his hands, flexing the bandaged fingers painfully. John stared at them as well, seeing the traces of blood seeping through, the nicks and cuts and bruises.

You should tell him. Believe me, the time may come when you wish you had.

Yeah.

"Rodney," John said, then trailed off. Crap. He'd always been so bad at this.

Rodney turned, blinking tiredly. His face was still streaked with that damn gray dust, his eyes were dull and tired, his big, clever hands were bruised and bleeding. But he was alive and inches away, head starting to tilt curiously as the silence lengthened.

"Sheppard ?"

Despite everything swelling in his heart, John couldn't find the right words, but oddly it was easy enough to reach out, to wrap his arms around sturdy shoulders and hug his friend tightly. Just a moment, enjoying the unfamiliar closeness of another human being, letting the warmth and strength lend strength to his own weary body.

And then he let go, patted clumsily at one broad shoulder, and brushed past McKay and down the hall.

It was another minute or two before Rodney followed him, but the other man just sent a curious look his way and hurried to Dr Lorenzo to recheck the device for the dozenth time.

888

A ding or something would be appropriate, Sheppard thought. Like that little sound the microwave made when your popcorn was ready. Idly he rubbed at his forehead, wondering if shock was finally starting to set in. The lights on the sarcophagus were fading gently and the faint humming sound slowed and died.

"It should just open auto-" Lorenzo said into the silence, breaking off as the tiled lid split back down the middle and eased its way open. The light inside was still brilliant white, and for a moment Sheppard just squinted against the glare.

Carson had no such hesitation, he was already reaching inside, sensitive fingers finding two limp wrists, head tilted as everyone in the room held their breath.

"They're both alive," he confirmed, but by then the light had faded and it was clear that at least part of the promise of the healing machine had been kept. Girl-Rodney was still dirty and covered with her own blood, but under the grime and gore her skin was pale and pink, and beneath her tattered science uniform her chest rose and fell with even breaths.

Alternate-Sheppard however still bore his bloody bruises and swellings, and Carson left the girl to the other doctor and turned his attention to the man.

"How is he?" Rodney whispered.

Girl-Rodney's eyes flickered open as one of the doctors slipped a stethoscope under her shirt.

"Cold!" she muttered loudly, opening her eyes and grimacing. "What's going on?"

"He's alive," Carson said. "But his pulse is thready and I don't like the sound of his heart."

"Sheppard?" girl-Rodney whispered, shaking off the hands examining her and turning to her side in the narrow chamber. "John?" She tore her eyes from her lover's face and scanned the room, her quick mind taking everything in in an instant. "John, you idiot,." she muttered tensely. "What the hell have you done now?"

888

"Opportunity number 3467," Rodney said to his female self, relaxing back into the hospital chair. "The man makes sacrificing his life for others into a hobby, seriously."

"You shouldn't have let him do it," Girl-Rodney said fiercely, her hand holding alternate-Sheppard's limp one firmly.

Rodney snorted derisively. "Yeah, right. Easier said then done."

"He's fine, lass," Carson said gently. "Just bone tired and weak as a kitten. But he's done himself no permanent damage."

"And if he hadn't done it you'd be dead," John pointed, feeling that he should step up and defend his double while the man couldn't do it himself. Besides, he wasn't exactly thrilled with the tone of the Rodneys conversation. A man didn't expect to be hailed as a hero just for doing his job, but he didn't exactly expect to be derided constantly for it either.

Rodney was rolling his eyes, but girl-Rodney's lips were quivering and her big brown eyes were welling with tears. John resisted the urge to step back, because, seriously? He could handle the hero bit, but crying women were not his forte.

"Thank you," girl-Rodney whispered. Suddenly she turned and grabbed Rodney, engulfing him in a huge hug, then she was turning to John and grabbing him up, squeezing tightly and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Hey, did anyone get the number of the Wraith that hit me?" a weak voice from the bed said, and the girl spun so quickly that soft curls brushed John's chin and he stood, shocked into silence as girl-Rodney flew to alternate-Sheppard's bedside and bent over him. Wide-eyed, John could only stare at Rodney, who was also looking pole-axed.

"Perhaps we can give them some privacy," Carson said, and the obvious repression of mirth in his soft brogue snapped John out of his shock.

"Uh, yeah," John said, dragging a still pop-eyed Rodney out of the cubicle as Carson swept a curtain around the couple. His last glimpse as the curtain was twitched into place was a small pale hand cupping a bristled chin as the girl rested her forehead against the man's, and the long sweep of lashes as their eyes closed in contentment.

"Okay, I can go months without a hug and now I get two in one day," Rodney babbled and Carson lifted a brow.

"Who else has been hugging you, Rodney?" he asked curiously, but Rodney just twitched his shoulders and marched stiffly out of the infirmary.

"I think the real question here," Carson said mournfully. "Is why wasn't anybody hugging me?"

Sheppard decided to beat a hasty retreat before Carson got any weird ideas.

After the last couple of days, nothing would surprise him.

888

"We could just let another team take them back," Rodney said, carefully buckling on his flak vest, ouching a little as he bent his bandaged fingers.

"You don't have to come, McKay," Sheppard said, strapping on his thigh holster.

"It's not like I'm going to get any work done anyway," Rodney said gloomily. "Try typing like this."

"Try peeing like this," Ronon added, still managing to twirl his gun before tucking it into his holster.

"Yes, thank you," Rodney said acidly. "We've all figured that out."

"They're on their way from the infirmary," Carson radioed, and Ronon and Teyla walked down the ramp and into the jumper bay to wait for them.

"I'll just be glad when they're gone," Rodney said, taking the shotgun seat and leaning back into its soft backrest. "I mean, great news about the possibility of a ZedPM etc, but seriously. I would be really happy never to meet myself from an alternate timeline ever again."

John ran through his preflight, glancing up at the HUD with a practiced eye.

"Nothing to say?" Rodney said curiously. "I thought you'd be as glad to see the back of them as I am."

"I'm glad we get to send them home in one piece," Sheppard said. "Mostly. I'd like to think they'd do the same for us if we got sucked through to their timeline."

"Yeah," Rodney agreed. "It's just... The implications of the whole thing. If those darts had crashed a little further east back during the siege, then Carson would be dead now. I mean, if every life is a pebble in a pond, then Carson's life is like a boulder. How much of the other changes in their timeline happened afterwards because he wasn't there? Just the smallest difference could change... everything."

"You mean like you could be a girl now?" John smirked.

"Yeah, and you could be in love with me," Rodney threw back bluntly and John grimaced.

"Okay, I asked for that," he muttered.

"Of course, after that manly hug you gave me yesterday," Rodney went on idly, flicking a few switches on his console. "Maybe that's not such a big leap."

"McKay," Sheppard growled.

"No, no, it's fine," Rodney said, waving a hand airily. "I totally get it. The unspoken bond of comrades, forged in fire and all that."

"Sheesh," Sheppard said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it," Rodney said and patted him on the arm. Sheppard risked a glance and regretted it at the wide, smug smile on the other man's face.

"And people wonder why I don't share my feelings," Sheppard muttered, and thankfully something actually went right and the rest of his team arrived back with their charges.

888

"Okay," McKay said, consulting his life signs reader. "I suggest we all stay back and let these two go in and do just what they did before. If it works then the life signs detector should tell us, and if it doesn't..."

"It will," alternate-Sheppard said, arm still firmly around girl-Rodney's narrow shoulders.

"Let's hope so," McKay said.

"Ditto," his female counterpart said, just as fervently.

"What are you going to do about this place?" alternate-Sheppard asked curiously.

"My first instinct is to blow it up," Sheppard said thoughtfully.

"Oh, of course it is!" both Rodneys exclaimed, and then smirked at each other.

"But I figure the science boffins will want to come and pore over the damn thing," Sheppard continued as Teyla and Ronon laughed at the McKays matching eye-rolling.

"Well, it was interesting meeting you," alternate-Sheppard said, holding out his hand. Sheppard shook it firmly. "Thanks for everything."

"Likewise. Now please take your Rodney home, mine prefers to be unique."

"I'm still unique," McKay said huffily.

Girl-Rodney tilted her head and surveyed Sheppard curiously. He stared back, enjoying the intelligent shine of her eyes and that elusive little dimple. "You kind of freaked me out at first," she admitted. "I can barely cope with one Sheppard and then there were two."

"If it's any consolation you completely weirded me out as well," Sheppard said honestly.

"But I know you were willing to risk your life for me," she said soberly. "And I want to thank you for that." She flushed a little, then met his eyes again boldly. "Sorry if I surprised you with that kiss."

"Kiss?" alternate-Sheppard repeated.

"Anytime," Sheppard drawled, more because Rodney was glaring at him than because he really meant it. He regretted it a moment later as girl-Rodney just kept gazing at him thoughtfully, a small, pink tongue running over her lush bottom lip.

"Rodney," alternate Sheppard muttered, turning her in his arms and towing her towards the ship. "Jeez, I can't take you anywhere."

Ronon was looking at him with narrowed eyes and Teyla had one brow raised and was gazing at him thoughtfully.

"Huh," Rodney said, looking nonplussed.

Sheppard unaccountably found himself remembering those lips against his cheek and the brush of curls on his skin, but he just shrugged carelessly. "Life signs detector?" he prodded.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Should we not get up on the ridge?" Teyla said, still looking at him curiously.

Sheppard nodded and his team scrambled up the hill, but he lingered for a moment, watching the pair climb carefully through the ragged hole, and wondering, just for a moment, at what might have been. Then he shrugged and started climbing.

Part Four

"Kiss?" Sheppard said, his voice echoing weirdly down the corridor.

"Huh,?" Rodney, said absently, studying his life signs detector.

"You kissed him," Sheppard said evenly.

Rodney glanced at him. "Is this really the time to talk about this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," John said sarcastically. "I'm just wondering, for future reference, if every time we meet another version of me, you're going to make out with him?"

Rodney stopped dead. "You're serious?" she said incredulously. "John, I almost died a few hours ago. You almost died a few hours ago. And you're freaking out because I gave an alternate version of you a tiny peck on the cheek in thanks? I hugged my alternate self too, are you going to freak out about that?"

Sheppard shrugged awkwardly, then winced as it pulled one of the stitches in his arm.

Rodney's face softened and she stepped closer, one hand snaking back around his waist until they were pressed together again. "So, I never would have guessed. You're the jealous type?"

"I am not," John defended feebly. "I just... I prefer it when I'm the only guy you kiss, okay?"

Rodney huffed a laugh. "Well, technically, you're still the only guy I've kissed."

"You were thinking about a lot more than that though," John accused, without heat. "I know that look on your face."

Rodney got that look again, this time tinged with a flush of guilt. "Okay, I admit it. I had this brief, teeny tiny moment when I thought about two yous..."

"McKay!" John began, pretty sure he was appalled at the very idea, abut at that moment his radio beeped.

"Uh, Sheppard?" the other Sheppard said. "You there?"

"Nearly."

"We'll be standing by for the power fluctuation. Good luck. Sheppard out."

"Maybe we should finish this thought later," Rodney said, and Sheppard let her support him down the slippery corridor to their goal, saying nothing.

888

"So, anything helpful in their mission reports?" Elizabeth asked.

"Actually there is one world they've flagged to avoid that we had scheduled for a team next week. I've scrapped the mission."

"So, it was worth the trip then."

"Oh yes, it was practically a vacation," Rodney drawled. "Sun, sea air, all the MRE's we could eat."

"And Carson," Elizabeth said gently.

Rodney smiled sadly. "Yeah, Carson. It's kind of nice to know, actually. That somewhere out there he's... you know."

"Yes, I know. Anyway," she said briskly, standing up. "I sure the SGC will be very interested in your report about the alien ship. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a whole team sent back with you two when you return from Earth, just to study it."

"They're welcome to it," Rodney said with heartfelt sincerity. "I will travel in starships and through wormholes, but I draw the line at alternate timelines."

"And alternate versions of ourselves," Sheppard added.

"You got over your snit yet?" Rodney asked casually as Elizabeth left the infirmary.

"No," Sheppard said bluntly. Despite his protests he was tucked up neatly in a hospital bed, freshly washed and bandaged and pleasantly doped up on pain killers.

"Come on," Rodney wheedled. "It was a spur of the moment thought. And he is you after all, in a way."

"So if we do meet ourselves again in another timeline, and this time they have a girl-Rodney, I get a free pass to mack on her?" John teased, and it was totally worth it to see Rodney's black look.

"First of all I didn't 'mack' on anyone, it was a kiss on the cheek, the merest buss, as one would give, say, one's grandmother or favorite aunt. And second of all, you're not kissing anyone else, buddy, any time soon. And third of all -"

"Maybe we should just drop it?" John suggested. "As in, forever?"

Rodney wound down, narrow shoulders relaxing as she huffed a few breaths. "I know you do that on purpose," she muttered, but then she slipped her hand in his and squeezed gently, mindful of his cuts and bruises. "It doesn't seem fair somehow," she said quietly. "That I was completely healed, and you're still all beat up."

John squeezed back, feeling every wound and not minding one of them. "No complaints from me," he murmured, and Rodney got that misty look she'd been wearing on and off since he woke up back in that other Atlantis. He didn't complain too much about that either, especially when she leaned over him and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth. Fragrant curls tumbled around his face and he reached out and gathered a handful as she carefully anointed each and every mark on his face with soft kisses.

John breathed in her delicate scent, relaxed sleepily under her caresses, stroked his hand down to take a hold of her hand where it lay softly on his chest. The minutes where Rodney had lain dying under his hands faded in his memory, although he would never ever forget them. Rodney was alive and well, warm and vibrant in his arms and his heart.

He smiled under another kiss, eyes drifting closed.

The End