Unpacking after any trip is time consuming. Unpacking after traveling to another galaxy is just short of ludicrous. For Colonel Samantha Carter, it was twice as hard overseeing not only the transportation of her belongings but also the shipping of some highly volatile experiments. After entering her new quarters, Sam couldn't wait to get unpacked so she could explore the rest of Atlantis. She thought she knew what was coming when Rodney walked into her room, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
"Hey, Rodney, come in."
"Ah, I brought you a little something to spruce up the place."
"Well, thank you. That's very sweet. There's a, a vase right there." She points to the top of her dresser. Rodney notices the fruit bowl.
"Oh, Colonel Sheppard dropped that off. Apparently it's a sampling of fruit from the various trading partners."
"Hmmm."
"I thought it was a really thoughtful gesture."
"That son of a….Anyway I just came by to welcome you to Atlantis, see how you're settling in and, you know, if you needed anything? And, did I mention I was seeing someone?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm seeing someone. I only bring it up now because we're here now and we'll be working together a lot more. And I just thought with out past."
"Our past?"
"Well, you know the unrequited lust that's been hanging over our head for what seems like forever. "
"Rodney!"
"I just don't want things to be awkward between the two of us. Kind of like they are now"
"Rodney I'm…married."
"Married!? To who? When? Why??"
Before Rodney had a chance to ask more questions, Ronan rushed in. Sam was happy to meet the Satedan and felt sorry that she couldn't have been of more help to him. Rodney left with Ronan, making Sam happy that she didn't have to answer any of his questions. Only a few people knew of her marriage and she wanted it to stay that way. While she had been the IOA's first choice as the new leader, they still had some reservations about appointing her. It wasn't because she was female or a member of the military. It was because she was a scientist. The IOA felt that having a scientist as the leader of the Atlantis expedition instead of a soldier could possibly hinder the expedition. Sam had to remind the IOA that while she felt the need for more scientific excursion they wouldn't be made if it was detrimental to the primary expedition.
Later that evening Sam wanted to speak to Ronan about the events of the day. She wasn't sure what kind of reception she would get. She was surprised to see Teyla leaving his quarters. They nodded at each other before Teyla walked away. Sam pressed the doorbell and waited for an answer. She was about the knock when the door opened allowing her entry to the room.
"Ronan?"
"Colonel Carter, I didn't expect to see you tonight."
"I just wanted to let you know that, while I may not understand what you're going through right now, I do appreciate the fact that you decided to stay with us. It's hard for anyone to give up their dreams."
"I heard congratulations are in order for you."
"Congratulations?"
"On your marriage. Rodney couldn't stop talking about it at dinner. He seemed surprised that you had gotten married."
"It only happened recently; just after the IOA chose me as the leader of Atlantis."
"So who's the lucky guy?"
"Jack O'Neill."
"Is that the same O'Neill that came here with Woolsey when the Replicators came back? That O'Neill?"
"Yeah, Major General Jonathon "Jack" O'Neill."
"Oh, that's great. I can't wait until McKay finds out."
"Ronan, I really don't want Rodney to know right away."
"Oh, why not? He really doesn't like General O'Neill. I think he feels like there's a competition between them."
"There never was a competition. His infatuation was all in his head. Short of being downright rude to him, I don't really know how to tell him."
"Why don't you invite your husband here to Atlantis? Sometimes rude is the only way to go with Rodney. He hardly ever takes offense and he can't really hold a grudge for long. It's his self-absorption that stops the rudeness from registering."
Sam couldn't contain the laugh that bubbled up. She really liked Ronan and was glad he'd stayed with the expedition.
"You know, Ronan, I think you, Jack, and Teal'c would get along fine. I like you too."
"You have my respect also, Colonel Carter."
"I'll let you get back to your unpacking. I have my own to do as well. Goodnight Ronan."
"Good night, Colonel." Ronan decided unpacking would have to wait. Instead he went to find Sheppard to plan tomorrows prank on Rodney.
The next morning Rodney, Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronan were eating breakfast when Sam entered. Rodney stopped shoveling food into his mouth to watch her. Ronan gave Sheppard a nudge and nodded in McKay's direction. John took the hint. Turning to Teyla he asked, "Did you hear that Colonel Carter got married recently, Teyla?" Rodney stopped staring at Sam and went back to eating his food. Looking as if he wasn't interested in the conversation but paying attention to it anyway.
"I had not heard that, Colonel Sheppard. Do you know who her husband is?"
"I heard it was another officer in the Air Force. The marriage only happened recently."
"I was under the impression that there were rules against officers marrying each other."
"Only if they're in the same chain of command, Teyla. If they have a different commanding officer or if they get married before they are assigned to the same CO then it's overlooked," John answered.
"So whoever Colonel Carter is married to is either not in the same command as she is or is no longer in the same command with her. Who do you think it is, Colonel?"
"I don't know but he's got to be very understanding to be okay with her traveling to another star system."
"Do you think her husband could be following her once things settle down here?"
"He's probably got things to take care of on Earth."
"You know, Colonel Carter mentioned that he was a Major General." Ronan finally spoke.
At this bit of news Rodney left the table, leaving his food behind. Ronan took a glance at Sheppard and couldn't help but break out laughing. Teyla look at both men, confusion written on her face. This caused the men to laugh even harder.
"What is so funny?" Teyla's expression changed from confused to mad when they wouldn't stop laughing. One look at the her new expression sobered the men instantly, though Sheppard would still chuckle a little every once in a while.
"Teyla, do you remember when McKay was trapped in the puddle jumper at the bottom of the ocean?"
"Of course Ronan. He didn't stop talking about it for weeks."
"Well, I found him in the jumper bay one night, drunk on some of that Athosian wine that you like. He was talking about being trapped down there. He said that he'd had a vision of Colonel Carter and that she had been the one to save him. She kept his mind working and prevented him from passing out. He said that she saved his life."
"What does this have to do with Colonel Carter getting married?" Teyla asked.
"Well, you know that Rodney and the Colonel have worked together off and on for years, right. You see, Rodney has always had a major crush on her. He been under the assumption, since his near death hallucination of her that they are meant to be together. Now that she's married…"
"Rodney will be unable to realize his dream. That isn't very nice of you to make fun of him like that."
"Oh, yeah it is. From everything I'd heard about the Colonel and Mckay she has done everything short of bashing him in the head to let him know that she's not interested. He just can't seem to take a hint. "
"So do you know who she's married to?"
"I don't but I think Ronan does. He's the one who came up with the idea of hassling McKay."
"I do know but I've been sworn to secrecy from Colonel Carter herself. I will say that if you've ever read any of the reports about her teams missions during her time on Earth, it should be really easy to find the answers."
"No way! She didn't, did she?"
"Did not what, John?"
"Just after I came to know about the Stargate program I heard rumors about Colonel Carter's relationship with her commanding officer, a then Colonel Jack O'Neill. Some of the other Air Force officers believed that she and Colonel O'Neill were sleeping together. I'd met both Carter and O'Neill individually not long before that. Then I got to see them together in a relaxed environment. They were NOT sleeping together. There was too much sexual tension between them. There were sly little touches when they though no one was watching but I don't think it ever progressed beyond that. Not much later, General Hammond retired and O'Neill was promoted to General and placed in charge of Stargate Command. Colonel Carter and General O'Neill had worked together for eight years before he too was promoted to Head of Homeworld Security. No matter what happened, she was still an officer under his command. I guess now that she's the leader here and reporting to the IOA they must have decided that it was a good time to marry."
"That sounds quite romantic, to wait such a long time on the off chance that they might have the possibility to be together eventually."
"It just proves the old adage: 'Good things come to those who wait'."
A few days later in an unused section of Atlantis, McKay was working furiously on repairing a section of the city. He was typing something into a notebook when Sam found him. She could tell that something was bothering him. From the looks she'd been getting from Sheppard and Ronan in the cafeteria the last few days, she could take an educated guess at what it was.
"Rodney?"
"Oh, hey Sam." Rodney looked up from his pad for a moment and then went back to work. At least he pretended to work.
"What are you working on?"
"I'm trying to see if I can cut to a minimal amount of power for this area. Right at the moment everything is running and it's wasting a lot of power. I'm hoping I can cut everything but life-support and it should save us a substantial amount of power."
"You know this system better than I do, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Can you grab that tablet and read me the power measurements every once in a while?"
"No problem."
They worked in silence. It was only broken by Sam's relay of information. She knew that eventually he'd talk about what was bothering him. It was just a matter of patience. It was another fifteen minutes of work before Rodney broke the silence.
"So you and O'Neill, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Was that an ongoing relationship or did it just happen?"
"It was a little of both. We knew how we felt about each other but because of the fraternization regulations in the Air Force we couldn't do anything about it unless one of us either transferred or retired. I wouldn't let Jack give up his career and he wouldn't let me transfer to the civilian section. Not long after Dr. Weir took command of the Atlantis expedition Jack and I sat down and had a real personal conversation. We talked about a lot of things. Our lives, our feelings, and whose career was more important were just a few. We both knew that we wanted to be together but both the rules and our stubbornness got in the way. Jack was actually planning to retire next year but when I was recommended to take over for Dr. Weir we both saw it as a sign that it was our time."
"Why did you guys wait so long?"
"Jack didn't want me to give up my job. He felt that I was needed more than he was. I felt the same was true about him. There are many things that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Jack. We were both too stubborn to compromise."
"I'm happy for you, Sam. I really am."
"Thanks Rodney. I think for the first time in my life I'm really, truly happy.
"Well, I think we've done about as much as we can to reduce the power output in this area. There'll be less drain on the system now. We should be able to make the final ZedPM last a little longer now."
"Then I'm going to take that as my cue to go write a letter to Jack. "
"How are you planning on staying in contact with the General now that you're on the other side of the galaxy?"
"I'll be sending an email every time we upload information to Stargate Command. It'll first go to Teal'c and then he'll forward the attachment to Jack. The same thing will happen in reverse when he replies. He's thinking about taking some time off during the holidays but there are a lot of variables that could affect that. We'll make it work. The President has already told Jack that he can retire next year and that he'd have his choice of worlds to retire to. He's thinking about coming here. He wants to stay active so he's going to propose a training facility here in the city."
"Does the President know about you two yet?"
"I do believe that the President was informed of that little kernel of information sometime yesterday afternoon. I'm sure Jack had a wonderful time relating that piece of news."
"Do you think there's going to be a problem?"
"I'd like to think that there won't be but who knows."
"Well, if they do make a big deal of it, you can always divorce O'Neill and marry me. I'm the better catch anyway"
Sam couldn't believe how right Ronan was. Rodney was back to his egotistical self. She hated to burst his bubble but she had to. "Rodney, even if the IOA, the United Nations, and the President himself decide that my marriage is a detriment to Stargate Command, Homeworld Security, and this mission I would still stay married to Jack. There's really nothing they can say to make me change my mind."
"Patience is a virtue or so I'm told. I can wait."
"Rodney!" Sam's voice was infused with exasperation. Rodney's mind was set on one path and there was no chance of diverting it unless his life was diverted also. It was easier to just go along with him. Once Jack came to visit, Sam was sure Rodney would give up. Until then she'd just have to make sure that his delusion didn't become counter-productive.
"You know Rodney, you're right."
"I am? About what?"
"Patience is a virtue."