A/N: Welcome to 12 Days. As I post this first chapter, it is now twelve days before the premiere of Season 5. To help survive this painfully Stargate-free time, I have decided to re-enact the twelve days that Sheppard was missing while trapped 48,000 years in the future. The Last Man recounts Sheppard's side of the story, I thought I'd tell Atlantis' side of that missing time - in particular, as Sheppard's disappearance affects McKay and Ronon.

In addition, I humbly offer this story as my fullfillment of Trishkafibble's request for a "Rodney and Ronon" story as winner of my 300th Blood is Thicker review prize. I hope it is worthy of at least a few moments of entertainment for you.

The story and the chapters will unfold over the next 12 days, to be finished Thursday night or Friday morning before Season 5 airs. (I'm not promising a chapter every day, though, heh.) Honestly, this may not make for a great story, but it sounded fun to try, so I simply ask you to: Enjoy!

12 Days

"So, how'd it go, sir?" Lorne strolled over to meet his commander who was approaching the Stargate with lazy steps. Sheppard just kept walking, pausing only when he'd reached the DHD. The rest of Lorne's team were milling around in a standard perimeter formation, looking as bored as Sheppard did.

"The Genii contact didn't show up," Sheppard said with matter-of-fact nonchalance.

"Can't say I'm surprised." Lorne grinned as Sheppard adopted an expression of mock surprise.

"What are you saying, Major? The Genii can't be trusted?"

"Well, they did try and kill you and Doctor McKay along with that little girl."

"True, true – and normally that's the kind of thing I'd take personally, but Ladon claims he didn't order the hit. He's trying to get on our good side."

Lorne nodded, still amused. "You really think they know anything about where Michael took Teyla?"

"Well, they get solid intel. We're following up every lead, no matter how thin."

Lorne sighed noncommittally. "OK. So what do you wanna do?"

By way of answer, Sheppard shifted his P-90 and began punching at the DHD, looking at the Stargate as the familiar lights began to chase around its ornate ring. "I'm gonna go ahead. You stay behind for a few hours, tell me if he shows up."

"Will do."

The Stargate kawooshed as the last symbol engaged. Sheppard shifted his weapon to ready status again, then pivoted towards the flickering puddle that would whisk him home. Before he completed a first step, though, he tilted his head at Lorne, fixed him with a steady look.

"We're gonna find her, Major," he said, his voice firm, reassuring.

"Yes, sir."

As Sheppard stepped into the 'gate with the casual confidence he'd come to expect from his CO, Lorne just almost believed him. If anyone could find Teyla, Sheppard could.

Day 1

As it happened, Rodney McKay was in the Control Room when Lorne's team returned from M4S-587. As soon as Chuck announced Lorne's IDC, Rodney stood up, fired off a last burst of keystrokes, slapped his laptop closed, then turned towards the stairs. The idle chatter of the returning soldiers filled the sparkling Stargate's landing platform as he descended. Rodney scanned the crowd for Sheppard's signature dark hair and "I'm home" slouch, then frowned slightly as the gurgling wormhole collapsed into silence.

"Major, when is Sheppard coming back? A lead came in from the Athosians this morning and he'll want to see it before he packs his gear up." Sheppard wasn't one to dilly-dally on new information, and Rodney suspected he might turn right around and head back through the 'gate. Lorne, however, just shrugged.

"The meeting was a bust. Sheppard came back a couple of hours ago. Go look him up in the duty room."

"No, he didn't."

"He didn't what?"

"He didn't come back two hours ago. I've been in the control room all morning."

Lorne seemed to be stifling a sigh as he reached for his radio earpiece. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Lorne returning from 587. Come in, please."

"I could have done that," Rodney muttered. Lorne's expression shifted from annoyed to puzzled as he apparently received no reply.

"Colonel Sheppard, come in, please." He waved his hands in unconcerned resignation. "Maybe he's in the gym, doesn't have his radio on."

"No. He's not here, Major. I told you, he hasn't come in yet."

"I saw him dial the 'gate and leave M4S-587 two hours ago."

"So where'd he go?"

"He went HERE."

"No, he didn't."

"Yes, he did."

"No, he didn't."

"Yes, he –." Lorne cut himself off and waved the rest of his team off the platform to hit the locker room. "Let's go check the logs, McKay."

Rodney followed Lorne back up the stairs to the control room. A tiny voice of concern was starting to speak to Rodney's conscience. It wasn't like Lorne to pull this kind of prank, and if the Major truly thought Sheppard should be here…

Lorne acted as if it was Rodney who was messing around and had the air of someone humoring a soon to be proven wrong idiot. He walked right up to the 'gate technician on duty and slapped him on his back to get his attention.

"Chuck, pull up the 'gate logs. Find out when Sheppard 'gated home this morning."

"I don't think Colonel Sheppard has checked in since he left with you, Major." Chuck answered with some surprise. "You aren't together?" There was a moment of silent tension.

"Just check the logs, Chuck," Rodney urged watching Lorne apprehensively. The Major had gone tight-jawed and pale. Not pulling a prank, Rodney decided, and that niggling concern grew into a lump of anxiety. They both remained silent as Chuck tapped away at the computer.

"Nope. No 'gate activations at all since 0800 when your team left. Is there a problem?"

Rodney ignored the question and just looked at Lorne. The Major was shaking his head. "I saw him leave 587 two hours and 13 minutes ago. The Genii contact didn't show, and Colonel Sheppard left us to wait for another couple of hours, in case the guy came late. He said he was returning to Atlantis. I saw him leave!"

"And then he didn't show up here," Rodney murmured. His mind began to race into solutions mode. "The first thing to do is to confirm that Sheppard still isn't back on 587-"

"He's not there," Lorne interrupted. "We were on the planet for two hours after he left. I'm sure he's not there."

"I believe you, but we still need to confirm objectively. Can you arrange for a jumper recon team to return as soon as possible?" Lorne just nodded and turned stiffly away towards a console, his finger already in his ear to relay instructions. Rodney watched him with concern for a moment, then turned back to the curious technician.

"Chuck, get Sam and Ronon up here. And yes: I think there's a problem." He looked at Lorne again. Maybe a big one.

"Ok, let's think this through."

Rodney watched Sam Carter scrub her eyes, then rest her chin on folded hands. She sat slouched at her desk. Ronon was perched on one corner looking wary. Lorne sat in the soft chair opposite Sam, still dressed in his offworld uniform, although he'd ditched the P-90 and tactical vest. Rodney was in the other chair, his tablet computer on his lap.

"Sheppard left 587 at 1100 hours. At 1300 hours, Lorne's team returned and we realized that Sheppard had never arrived. Sheppard's not still on 587 –."

"Confirmed by the recon team, by the way," Rodney interrupted.

"We have no 'gate activations during that missing time, or since, so we aren't dealing with a 'gate malfunction. There was no surge of energy at the source that could have caused the wormhole to jump." Sam trailed off.

"So where is he?" Ronon shifted restlessly.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Rodney snapped, annoyed at the obvious question even though, deep down, he realized that Ronon was really asking for action, pushing the conversation towards solutions. Rodney usually had the patience to recognize that. OK, he sometimes had the patience to recognize it. Especially when Sheppard was hovering over him, ready to rein in Rodney's temper with calming snark. The lack of a Sheppardesque rebuke at that moment illuminated Sheppard's absence with painful clarity. Rodney rushed on to shake off the sudden feeling of unease. "If we're ruling out malfunction, which I haven't yet, then the next best explanation is misdial."

Lorne looked up and spoke for the first time since his initial debriefing. "You think Sheppard dialed a wrong number?"

"It's at least one possibility."

"If he dialed a wrong number, why didn't he just turn around and dial the right one?" Ronon had a bit of an edge in his voice, too, and Rodney bristled further.

"If we knew THAT, we'd know where he was, now wouldn't we?"

Lorne and Ronon scowled at the statement that seemed perfectly obvious to Rodney, but Sam at least turned thoughtful. "You think Sheppard dialed a wrong number, then stumbled into some trouble, unable to dial out again?"

"I think that's our best hypothesis at the moment. I'll go back to 587 and run a diagnostic on the DHD to rule out any problems that might account for Sheppard's disappearance. I'll pull the 'gate addresses it has in its buffer too. It won't tell us the order they were dialed, or how many times each one was dialed, but it will give us a starting place to search."

"You want to search all the addresses in the buffer?" Sam's voice was carefully skeptical.

"Hopefully we won't have to search them all. We can sort by similarity, try the addresses that are only a few symbols different, first."

"And if we don't find him at those addresses, we will search them all." Lorne spoke a little too fiercely and everyone turned to look at him. Sam cocked her head.

"You aren't assuming responsibility here, are you Major?"

"No, ma'am. Well, not exactly. I mean Colonel Sheppard was with me just before he walked through that 'gate and then, poof! He's gone. I just feel like…" Lorne looked away quickly and Rodney saw his fists clench.

"You feel like there's something you should have done, even though we still don't even know what really happened," Sam prodded.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Save it for your bunk, Major." Rodney saw Lorne blink in surprise just before he, too, turned to Sam in astonishment. He'd never heard Sam speak so brusquely.

"Ma'am?"

"Until Colonel Sheppard is found or returns, you are acting base commander. You don't have time for pity or 'what ifs'. You have a job to do. That includes running this post, continuing ongoing investigations, AND assisting in the search for Colonel Sheppard who I am, as of this moment, classifying as missing."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorne answered crisply enough, but Rodney thought he still sounded frustrated.

"Good. And Major? We will search every address on that list if we have to. Just like we will follow every lead we have in finding Teyla." Sam finally allowed a smile onto her lips. "I was in Colonel Sheppard's shoes once. Went missing after a routine dive through the 'gate under fire. Took days for Stargate Command to figure out where we were and how to rescue us. But they did. And so will we."

Lorne looked convinced at last. Sam waved him off. "Go prep a team to escort McKay back to 587, then start familiarizing yourself with Sheppard's current projects."

Once Lorne had left, the bounce back in his stride, Rodney stood up and tucked his computer under his arm. He was about to leave himself, but hesitated when Ronon twisted around and cocked his head at Sam.

"What happened when you went missing? Could the same thing have happened to Sheppard?" Sam shook her head.

"No. That happened when the Stargate took fire after my team entered the wormhole. Two of us made it home, myself and Colonel – now General – O'Neill were sent to another nearby Stargate when the wormhole jumped. It was a hell of a ride. O'Neill was badly injured when we were flung out at the new location."

"No one was firing at the gate when Sheppard dialed out. The wormhole wouldn't jump in a stable situation," Rodney added, feeling himself impatient with Ronon again.

"But maybe something we don't know about could have made the wormhole jump. Crazy stuff happens all the time around here. We should also search nearby Stargates." Ronon stood up and thumped his fist on Sam's desk as he spoke the last, as if trying to convince her of his opinion with intimidation. Rodney beat her to a reply.

"That would be a colossal waste of time. It wasn't the wormhole so –."

"Carter just said that when the wormhole threw her to the wrong gate, she went missing. Sounds pretty similar to me."

"It would! But those of us who actually know what we're talking about know that since there is no way for a wormhole to jump without a surge -."

"No way that we know of! Seems as likely as Sheppard dialing the wrong number."

"The laws of physics are infinitely more reasonable. Human error is by far the most likely explanation here."

"McKay if you -!"

"Gentlemen!"

Sam bellowed the word, interrupting the argument long enough for Rodney to realize that he was standing toe to toe with Ronon who was towering over him with a snarl on his lips. Rodney quickly backpedaled three steps and crossed his arms over his chest, still holding the computer.

"I know this situation is unsettling. But as the remaining members of Sheppard's team, I'm depending on you to work together to spearhead the search for the Colonel. Lorne won't be happy, but I want him concentrating on Teyla." She fixed Rodney with a piercing look. "McKay, Ronon's right that we can't rule anything out at the moment, and we'll start searching nearby gates if the list from 587s buffer doesn't turn anything up."

"But, Sam," Rodney began, shocked that she seemed to be taking Ronon's side. And that comment about being the "last remaining" team members had jolted him a bit too. Sam cut him off, however and fixed her glare on Ronon next.

"Ronon, McKay is right that we should prioritize the most reasonable explanations first, then expand our assumptions. We won't close any doors without checking behind them, but Rodney will call the shots on what is and isn't the most technically realistic."

Ronon just cocked his hip and tilted his head. Sam didn't smile.

"Good! Now get going. I need Sheppard back here. There's too much going on right now, and Sheppard was gaining some momentum on finding Michael. I don't like thinking about what Michael's got in mind for Teyla and her baby, and Teyla's time is running out." She sat down, propped her elbows and scrubbed her eyes again. Rodney and Ronon just stood there until she looked at them again. Her expression was fierce.

"We all need him back here," she said.