Name: Not a Fan of Long Goodbyes
Word count: 2400
Pairings: Rodney/John, John/Elizabeth (a little bit of the last two)
Spoilers: none
Rating: NC- 17
Warnings: some swearing, mushy
Summary: The adventure as John is sucked into a parallel universe and has to find a way out.
Dedication: Lyssa
Keywords: Alternate universe, Rodney, McShep, Sparky, POV.
Chapter 1
"Colonel, I have something amazing to show you!" came Rodney's voice over the headset.
"Ever give a thought that I might be busy?" he replied. Excusing himself and getting off the desk.
"Just get down here" Rodney added before turning his headset off and returning to what he was doing.
"I gotta go and make sure that Rodney doesn't kill all of us or try sink half of Atlantis." John said with a mix of excitement for looking at some new Atlantis tech and sorrow, for having to leave and pick things up later.
"I understand, now go off and have some fun." Elizabeth replied, a smile in her voice.
"I will." he promised, before kissing her softly on the forehead and heading off to see what on Earth Rodney had found that could possibly be so important. Maybe a big laser that could destroy whole galaxies? A wave of sudden realisation hit him; Rodney had already found that, and it had almost cost Rodney and his team their lives. It wasn't a happy memory so he pushed it aside urging himself to think of something less traumatic.
--
When he reached the labs Rodney greeted him with a grin.
"It's amazing!" he said reaching for John's arm and dragging him to a table covered in junk.
"What is it Rodney?" John groaned before realizing that it was right in front of him.
"It appears to be a device that allows you sight into alternate universes. Similar to the quantum mirror that was kept at Area 51." He replied with a grin.
"Ok… Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we already have one then why is this one so important?"
"Because I discovered this one! And anyway the closest one is in another galaxy so having one here could be of great benefit."
"Ok, so why do you need me?"
"To activate it of course."
John raised his eyebrows and gave a Rodney the 'I really couldn't be bothered right now' look and turned to leave. Rodney grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"Come on, just give it one go."
John glanced once more towards Rodney and then thought 'ON' at the device. It hummed to life and a small picture of an alternate universe appeared over their heads.
"Ok so maybe that's kinda cool." John admitted. The picture quality was nothing short of remarkable and thoughts of watching the super bowl flowed into john's head. Although it was not surprising for something created by the ancients to look perfect.
"We have to find a way into there!" exclaimed Rodney, "There could be valuable information there that we ourselves are not yet aware of."
"What, you think we can just walk on up and ask them for their tech?"
"Of course not!" exclaimed Rodney, "I'll have to sneak in as one of them. I'll just have to hope that in their reality I'm not as famous as I am here." He added with a smile. John just glared at Rodney
"Rodney I'm not going to let you run off and become the next saint Sebastian!"
"The next who?"
"Sebastian! He was a Christian who joined the early Roman army. Once they found out he was catholic they killed him by shooting a thousand arrows into him!"
"See none of that even seams half way reasonable."
"Geeze Rodney don't you ever go to church?" John asked. Rodney looked at John, confusion in his eyes.
"Yes John I'm a leading astrophysicist in another galaxy experimenting with objects that can do things that forever change the way we think. No, I haven't been to church." he cried. John exchanged a blank glance with Rodney.
"Oh…" he mouthed before turning a shade of red.
Without thinking John reached out and touched the glowing orb above their heads. There was a blinding flash of light followed by his disappearance.
"McKay to Weir, Sheppard just vanished into thin air. I need you to order a city wide scan!"
--
"We have to find more ZPMs!" argued Rodney, "Without power this city is useless to us and we all know it."
"I understand your point of view, Rodney, but I must point out that after the loss of Dr Weir I don't think anyone is really ready for any kind of mission. Whether it's to get a ZPM or not." Replied Sam. Rodney wasn't going to give up without a fight.
"You can't understand the seriousness.." he trailed off as Colonel John Sheppard appeared in from of him in Sam's office.
John looked around, trying to take in his new surroundings as fast as he could before he got ambushed with questions.
"But you're dead!" Rodney muttered, staring hard.
'Ok, so more of a statement then a question, but I can work with it...' John thought before replying, "Well you see…" he trailed off "Wait. Did you just say I was dead?" John questioned. Rodney and Sam just stood in awe. "And come to think of it who the hell are you? Where is Elizabeth?" Rodney shot Sam a questioning look, and she nodded.
"Security teams to Colonel Carters office, we have a John Shepherd look alike."
"Colonel Carter?" John questioned. In the doorway appeared two guards with two more waiting outside.
"Sir, would you please come with us to the holding cells? Then we can discuss who you think you are." One started. John was about to argue, but soon realized this was just standard protocol. There was really nothing any of them could do, even if he could convince them that he wasn't dead and that he was the real Colonel Sheppard, or at least a copy.
The cells were not what you would imagine holding cells to look like, there were bars to hold people in, but they were far too thin to allow anyone of any size to escape. In truth however there were not only the bars that were made from an Atlantian metal Rodney was unable to identify as anything but clearly Atlantian; there was also an energy barrier encasing the cell. It was not damp and cold, but instead the prisoner enjoyed all the comforts that a free person would. Except eat, drink and walk around whenever they wanted to. In any case, John thought there were possibly worse places to be right now and actively started mentally naming them all.
"Damn Rodney and his need for me to touch everything." he thought aloud, knowing that it really was his fault for being such an air head. The guard gave him a funny look. "What? It's not like I meant it that way!" he added as an afterthought. The guard simply raised his eyebrows and turned around once more.
The door opened and in walked Rodney, Kate Heightmeyer by his side.
'Oh great, visitors!' John thought as he turned his back towards them.
"So are we calling you, John?" Kate asked.
"Whatever" Came John's tart reply. Kate looked over to Rodney for support. Rodney sighed and got down on his knee.
"John, do you remember anything about how you got here?" he asked, choosing his words carefully.
"Course I do! I'm not brain dead. And for another thing you should have heard what this guard said before. Implying that there was something between us! I mean talk about nerve."
Rodney sat there trying to hold back the tears that were welling in his eyes.
"You ok, McKay?" John questioned a little too tartly, but before he could get an answer Rodney ran out of the cell block. Kate looked again at John
"I think he needs me more right now." She said before letting herself out once more.
"Won't someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" he cried. The guard only looked at him once more determined not to give him any more looks that might spark a future argument.
--
After six days in the holding cells it was decided that John was in fact John, and that he was a replica from another universe. That day John sat in the meeting room, all eyes on him. It was unnerving to have everyone stare at him but he had expected it. Sam entered the room, laptop under her arm and Rodney by her side.
"I would just like to be the first to apologize for the way in which we treated you." she said, her eyes dropping to her feet. Rodney glanced up, for a second meeting John's, before looking back down and fiddling with the laptop for a second.
"Would it be too much to ask what's going on?" John asked. Sam looked across to Rodney as if to say. 'Why don't you field this one?'
"I suppose it would only be fair." Rodney admitted, "Anyway, I made a slideshow in case you had questions." Rodney smiled and sat the laptop next to John.
"We'll leave you to do this alone." Sam added before nodding to Rodney to leave the room with her. Rodney was reluctant, but he didn't actually want to be in the room when John found this kind of stuff out.
Once alone; John looked at the laptop with curiosity. He clicked the play button and up came what looked like a home movie. He didn't know much about this Rodney, but it looked like he had a pretty good sense of humour, which was a good sign. The first 20 minutes were Rodney and Zelenka rambling on about the scientific reasons of how he got here, Heightmeyer talking about the possible long and short term physiological effects of this sudden change of lifestyle and warning him to take it slow and a welcome to the city from Teyla, and an invitation to join any of her sparing sessions.
The next bit was about the current status of the puddle jumpers. John spent a good 30 minutes looking through all this. Followed by all the recent events in Atlantis. Including Elizabeth's death and the near destruction of Atlantis. He skimmed over the part about his death, although he was interested, it wasn't something he wanted to dwell on at the moment. Lastly there was a private message from Rodney. John had the feeling this is what he had added while he was talking to Sam. "John, I know that you don't understand the relationship we had and for that I am sorry, though I assure you it fulfilled both our lives."
'Wait up,' John thought as he pushed the pause button.
'Did he just say the relationship we had?' John turned around to check no one was around to hear the rest of the message, before hitting the play button again.
"I know that expecting you to just fall in love with me when clearly you are not that way inclined." He paused here and john noticed the mental face palm.
"Anyway even if you are a homosexual, I'm still a different person then the Rodney in your reality and so I know any hopes of your continuing any relationship with me in my counterparts place…" Rodney stopped again. And this time actually did slap his forehead.
"What I'm saying is that if a relationship with me is what you're looking for, then I guess I am willing to give it a try." he concluded. There was a slight cough before the camera was shut off.
"Fuck!" John cried. "So that's what the guard had been referring to, and that's why Rodney had ran away and…" it all fell into place as John made mental notes never to open his mouth ever again.
--
The next day John dressed and headed off to the mess hall; which he was pleased was still in the same place. It seamed that the layout like most things in this reality were similar. He grabbed a bowl of cornflakes and sat down at an empty table. Carson joined him.
"What do you think you'd think about becoming leader of a gate team?" Carson asked, "You've passed all the medicals and it would appear that everyone on base has taken a shine to you." Taken aback, John missed his mouth, and desperately tried to spoon the milk, that was running down his chin, into his mouth. Carson looked at him, his eyes sparkling like they always did.
"Yeah, ok I guess." John replied, "To be honest I'm kind of surprised by your forwardness." he added.
"Great! I'll inform the team." Carson said ignoring the end of their conversation. With a smile he left through the door. John smiled for the first time in weeks. A mission, a real mission, with his team back and… It struck that although they would no doubt look like his team, they weren't. Who was to know how much the team differed, perhaps he wasn't even the leader any more. He decided to head back to his room. As the door opened, the sty that was John's room was reveled. It wouldn't have been bad, had you been able to disregard the thousands of tight black shirts lying on the floor. Skillfully stepping over most of the mess he flopped into the chair beside his bed. He grabbed his laptop and opened it up. A small green envelope was flashing down the bottom of the desktop.
"Great! Mail already!" He thought sarcastically. It was from Rodney, a video message. He clicked the attachment. The computer did a quick virus scan and then loaded his message. Rodney's face appeared on screen, along with the back of Radek.
"Hi John, it's me again. I know we haven't been off to the best start, but i was wondering if you might like to watch a movie with me? I have Top Gun. I don't know if you like it, but my John did. He just loved the beach scenes!"
John smiled, the thought of him watching Top Gun just for the beach scenes was quite funny. He closed the laptop, and gave his underarm a quick sniff. It wasn't great but it didn't quite demand a shower. He picked up a tin of coffee that he had been keeping especially for Rodney, and headed out the door towards Rodney's lab.
Rodney was in his lab and had completely lost track of time when John arrived.