I don't own Stargate Atlantis or its characters…MGM does as far as I know.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

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P3N-738's orbit brought it dangerously close to its sun during a month long period in the northern hemisphere's summer. During that time the planet would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, causing widespread sickness. At least it had until a piece of alien technology was left on the planet that would protect it during that hazardous time.

It had worked flawlessly for thousands of years…

------------------------

"And last year was the only time it didn't work?" asked Sheppard.

He was walking along a well worn path through some light foliage towards the small building that housed the machine. His companion, a local historian named Shara, nodded in confirmation. Sheppard liked the young woman, though not for the reasons that McKay and Ronon thought he did. True she was a young, beautiful woman with striking shoulder length blond hair and a figure that many women would kill for, but he simply didn't think of her that way.

And he was damned if he knew why, though he'd have to rethink that position if the plunging neckline of her pale blue tunic plunged any lower.

"For as long as my people can remember the device worked without any problems," Shara explained as she sidestepped a tree, forcing Sheppard to hesitate and let her pass by him. "During last summer it functioned properly as well, at least until the very end of the summer."

Shara kept the lead as the path wound into a small clearing, indicating that the building they sought was very near. "When the device stopped working, we assumed it was because the danger had passed."

"But then people started getting sick," Sheppard said.

"Yes," replied Shara. "The sickness was widespread, but treatable, and only a few who were very sick beforehand died from it."

The building came into sight as they neared the far end of the small clearing. Sheppard studied the structure: though it was two stories high with a domed roof, it didn't appear to be all that big.

They walked up to the door and stepped through, immediately finding themselves in a large, beige colored room with a single mechanical device situated in the exact center of the room. The room itself appeared to be the only room in the building, taking up as much space as two of Atlantis' mess halls…maybe a little more. The machine appeared to be a control panel of some sort, with three monitor screens and two different keyboard-like areas.

They approached the machine and Sheppard said, "So the radiation was still a danger when it shut down."

"Brilliant deduction there, Sherlock Mensa," groused a new voice.

Sheppard hid a grin while Shara looked perplexed at the barb.

Rodney stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in and gave a passing glance to Shara before turning his attention to Sheppard. "It needed to work for another three or four days to completely shield the planet," he explained, "according to the sensor logs I've managed to translate. It seems as though there was an interruption in the geothermal power supply that lasted for almost a week." He motioned to the device and added, "By the time the power was back up, the radiation from the sun had passed so it shut down until the next cycle."

With a brow knit with concentration, Shara asked, "So it should function properly when the time comes again?"

McKay glanced down at the screens for verification and said, "According to this it should." He pointed to one screen. "The power levels are at maximum," he pointed to another screen, "and the shield emitters are online," and he pointed to a third screen, "and I think this one says you're good to go."

"You think?" repeated Sheppard with a frown.

"I'm pretty certain," replied the scientist. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Sheppard a pointed glare. "It is an alien language, Sheppard, even if it is based on Ancient, and despite my massive intellect languages are not in my area of expertise."

Shara moved to stand next to McKay and looked to the screen that he had indicated. After studying the screen for a moment she looked to Sheppard. "Dr. McKay is correct."

Rodney gave Sheppard one of his patented 'I told you so' looks and sat back down in the chair. "You'll soon find out anyway." Rodney pressed one of the many buttons on the larger of the two consoles and motioned to a screen with his hand. "I think that this says the next cycle should start tomorrow or the next day."

Shara nodded in agreement, and when she did Rodney stood up and said, "Well, it's been a pleasure. You're welcome and good luck." He started walking towards the door and said, "Let's go, Colonel."

Rodney was halfway to the door before he realized that Sheppard wasn't following him. He turned around and saw that Sheppard was facing him with a small smile on his face and his hands resting on the butt end of his P-90, which was hanging on his stomach.

Rodney put his hand up. "No wait…let me guess." He lowered his hand and looked up to the ceiling. "We're going to stay and make sure everything goes smoothly," he looked down and gave Sheppard and sharp look, "because we haven't even come close to our risk-our-lives quota for this month."

Sheppard nodded and said, "Exactly right." He frowned as he realized what Rodney had actually said and added, "Well, not exactly, but yes, we're staying."

"Of course we are," mumbled Rodney with an exasperated sigh.

Shara gave Rodney a look of appreciation, and then looked to Sheppard with a wide smile. "The Elders will be very pleased."

"Of course they will be," mumbled Rodney, though not quietly enough.

Sheppard cleared his throat to get Rodney's attention and gave him 'the look' that he always gave him when he was being out of line. He then put on a polite smile as he turned to Shara. "I should head back to the gate and let my people know that we'll be staying."

"I will keep you company," Shara said as she stepped around the machine and headed towards the exit.

When she reached him John began heading towards the door, saying as he passed Rodney, "Coming, Rodney?"

Catching the look of disappointment that crossed Shara's face when John had asked him, Rodney shook his head and said, "No thanks. I'll sit here and make sure we won't be fried instead of making the hike through the woods."

Sheppard shrugged and said, "Suit yourself. Be back in a little while."

Rodney watched as Shara edged closer to Sheppard as they passed through the door and grunted in amusement. "Yeah right."

------------------------

"Have either of you seen Sheppard?" asked Rodney as he unceremoniously plopped down into the chair next to Teyla.

Ronon and Teyla had remained in the village as Rodney tried to figure out what had been wrong with the device. Teyla had insisted on sharing information with the Elders, and Ronon had remained as inconspicuous as possible, and watched. After Teyla had finished with her discussions, the Athosian and the Satedan settled at a table that had an assortment of drinks and foods upon it.

"No," replied the Ronon from the other side of the table. "We thought he was with you."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "He was," he said as he reached over and poured himself a glass of water. He took a generous sip and kept the glass near his lips as he said, "He left about an hour ago to call home." He took another sip and placed the cup on the table in front of him. "Looks like we're going to be staying a couple of days to make sure the planet doesn't get burned to a crisp."

Teyla remained diplomatically neutral in response to the news that their stay was being extended, but Ronon had little compunction in showing some disgust at the notion.

"Did you fix the thing?" Ronon asked, and when Rodney nodded he said, "Then we should go home."

"We will go home," said Sheppard as he walked up behind Ronon, "in a couple of days." The Colonel sat down next to Ronon and tapped the big man on the shoulder. "Look at it this way: we get to relax and enjoy some pleasant company," he gave McKay a raised eyebrow, "because McKay fixed the shield generator and we have nothing to worry about, right?"

McKay's shoulders dropped. "For the last time yes, the generator should work. It should have worked last time but it didn't, which, by the way, would be a prime example as to why we shouldn't be here this time."

"Easy, Rodney," drawled Sheppard as he leaned forward. He lowered his voice and said, "Shara told me about some other objects that have been around for a while that you might be interested in."

"Shara, hunh?" said Ronon with a sly grin. "That's where you've been."

Sheppard backed away a bit as though he'd been offended. "Now it wasn't like that…"

"Save it, Kirk," interrupted Rodney as he abruptly stood up. "Where are these things I'd be interested in?"

Grateful for the shot at a graceful exit, Sheppard pointed to a rundown looking building a hundred meters behind Rodney and said, "There."

Rodney snatched his cup off the table and turned to head towards the building.

"Try not to blow anything up," Sheppard called to his back.

Without missing a beat Rodney replied over his shoulder, "I'm not making any promises."

All three team members at the table stared at Rodney as he walked towards the building, and when their teammate went inside Sheppard looked to Ronon and then Teyla. "Did McKay just make a joke?"

Teyla raised a perfect eyebrow and said slowly, "I'm not certain that Rodney was joking." She gave the two men opposite her a smile and said as she stood up, "Perhaps I will go with him, in case he requires some help."

John and Ronon regarded Teyla as he went after Rodney, and when she was out of earshot Ronon leaned closer to Sheppard and said, "So what happened with Shara?"

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Rodney rubbed the back of his neck in a vain attempt to rid himself of the terrible knot that had developed there sometime overnight. It was just one of the many reasons that he hated falling asleep in a sitting position. He caught sight of the shield generator building as he turned the corner and stopped for a moment and chided himself for letting his curiosity get the better of him. Again.

He was sore, tired and, thanks to the Shara's people's predilection for distasteful breakfast dishes, starving. He sighed and restarted his trek, walking through the building's door a moment later to find everything just as he'd left it the day before.

Rodney collapsed into the chair and sighed. "I'm getting too old for this," he complained out loud. He allowed himself a small smile at the thought of Sheppard jumping all over that comment and adding to it, then he shook his head and focused on the screens before him.

He hadn't mastered the language by any means, but it was a derivative of Ancient so he wasn't totally clueless, and that was why a certain set of symbols caught his attention right away.

Rodney leaned forward and peered at the information. As far as he could tell, the shield was moments from activating, which in itself wasn't unexpected, but what did come as a surprise was the appearance of the Ancient-like symbols for 'dimension'.

"What the hell?" Rodney asked as he pressed several keys.

New information sprung forth on the screen, and Rodney tried his best to read it, but ultimately he realized that if he wanted to know with absolute certainty what was going on, he would need help.

With another sigh he leaned back in the chair and tapped his earpiece. "McKay to Sheppard."

He waited and was rewarded a moment later with Sheppard's sleepy voice filtering through the miniature speaker in his ear. 'Go ahead, Rodney.'

"Good morning, Colonel," said Rodney with much more enthusiasm than he really felt. "Sorry to wake you up but I need some help."

There was a groan over the line followed by, 'Give me a few minutes, Rodney.'

"Not your help, Colonel," replied Rodney. "Shara's."

Rodney could almost hear John snapping wide awake at his insinuation, and when the Colonel's voice reached him again he could tell that Sheppard was now wide awake and in damage control mode. 'I'll…ah, I'll get ready and go get her for you.'

Rodney rolled his eyes and leaned forward against the console. "Spare me the sweet and innocent routine, Sheppard," Rodney replied impatiently. "Just reach over and poke her, or shake her, or do whatever you have to do to wake her up and tell her to come up to the shield generator building. I need help with some translating."

Rodney smiled smugly when he heard John clear his throat and then say, 'She'll be right there. Sheppard out.'

Rodney humphed and shook his head as he said, "It's just too easy sometimes."

Rodney checked the screens again and his brow creased when he saw that the power levels had spiked. "What is that?"

Before he had a chance to study the data flowing across the screen the building began to shake, and even as he jumped up and turned to run for the door he could see a field of blue energy rise from the floor and crawl up the wall. He spun around and saw the same thing happening to each wall and looked up just in time to see the bluish walls converge at the apex of the dome ceiling.

He clamped down on the fear that threatened to swallow him and tapped his comm. "McKay to Sheppard!" He waited for a response and then tried again. "McKay to Sheppard!"

After a moment of silence in his ear he tried, "McKay to Teyla!"

Nothing.

"McKay to Ronon!"

Nothing.

"Crap!"

As suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped, leaving the building eerily quiet. Rodney moved quickly to the console and looked for the power levels, and sighed in relief when they remained steady.

He stiffened when he heard footfalls on the hard floor in front of him, and after taking a breath he looked up and exclaimed, "It's about time you…got…here…"

Rodney stopped talking and took in the sight before him. An odd feeling developed in the pit of his stomach even as it dawned on him what was happening.

Rodney sighed again and looked one by one into four sets of eerily familiar blue eyes.

He watched as the newcomers regarded him and then each other. When all eyes settled on him again the only sound that could be heard in the room was a perfectly synchronized "Ah, crap!" as muttered by five Meredith Rodney McKays.

Rodney closed his eyes for a second and hoped that when he opened them he'd be all alone, but when his eyelids lifted he still saw four too many Rodneys.

"Just great," he said as he studied the McKays before him.

The one farthest to his left wore a black uniform similar to the uniform he was wearing, with identical tac vest and a standard issue nine millimeter strapped to his right hip. In fact, except for the pronounced scar on his right cheek, that McKay was identical to him from head to toe.

The second McKay was not. While he wore the same standard issue black uniform complete with sidearm, that McKay wasn't wearing a tac vest and wore an accessory that Rodney never would: a mustache that Burt Reynolds would have been proud of.

The third McKay wore a set of standard green-brown combat fatigues, nine millimeter weapons on each hip and a life signs detector clipped to his belt. What set that McKay apart from him and the others, besides his wardrobe and twin weapons, were the lines on the man's face- he'd seen hard times.

McKay Number Four was wearing the standard beige and blue uniform that he'd worn the first year on Atlantis, as well as a pair of glasses that looked eerily similar to the ones Zelenka wore. Unlike McKay Number Three, this one had no worry lines at all.

Rodney shook his head and turned back to the console. Reams of data scrolled across the screens, data Rodney couldn't totally understand. He turned back to the McKays and said, "I don't suppose either of you knows how to read this stuff?"

McKay Number Two walked over to stand next to Rodney and looked at the screen. "It's power distribution numbers to the various shield emitters situated around the planet," he said. "The solar shield is up and holding." He touched a button and a different set of symbols began running down the screen. He sighed and said, "We're trapped by some sort of force field that's…oh."

"'Oh'?" repeated McKay Number One as he rushed over. "What do you mean 'oh'?"

"The geo thermal energy isn't the power source for the shield generator," replied Number Two with some surprise in his voice.

Rodney thought about it for a second and he snapped his fingers as he said, "The geo thermal energy is used to boot up another power source, a bigger one, like a dimensional power generator that in turn powers the shield generator!"

"And that would explain why we're all here at the same time," added McKay Number Four.

"And because of the force field surrounding this room," submitted McKay Number Three as he joined the rest of them, "the dimensional properties of the dimensional generator are confined to this room."

Rodney nodded. "We must have all been in this room in our own dimensions at the same time when the machine powered up."

"So how long is this going to last?" asked Number Four.

Everyone looked to Number Two, who rolled his eyes and pressed another couple of buttons on the console. "The computer estimates that the solar radiation will be at harmful levels for twenty-seven days."

Rodney moved and looked over Number Two's shoulder at the screen. "But look at that," he said as he reached around Number Two's shoulder and pointed at the screen. "That looks like a time lapsed indicator."

"It is," replied Number Two.

"But look at it," said Rodney. "It's going down way too fast and will be gone long before twenty-seven days are up."

Number Two pushed another button and read the new set of symbols that came on the screen. "The constant merging of dimensions is affecting time within this room."

Rodney studied the screen again. "Time is going faster outside than it is in here."

"Yes," replied Number Two. "Much faster. If this remains constant, we only have to wait an hour. Maybe less, though almost a month will have passed by outside."

There were groans of disgust and protest from the five of them, the idea of losing nearly a month more than a little irritating.

"What if we manipulate the power flow?" suggested Number One. "It would…"

"There's nothing we can do about it," interrupted Rodney, already one step ahead of his scarred twin. "We can't tinker with the power flow…we could disrupt the shield and irradiate everyone, ourselves included. Even a flicker in the shield and we're all screwed." He sighed and gave everyone a look of profound annoyance. "We're stuck."

"Well that's just great!" exclaimed Number Three. "The Wraith are running roughshod over the galaxy and I'm going to be stuck in here for a month!"

"It looks that way," said Rodney. He turned to perplexed look at his dimensional counterpart. "The Wraith are what?"

A look of anger flashed in Number Three's eyes. He turned away from the others and sat down on the floor at the base of the console and leaned back against it. "The Wraith are all over the place. We're fighting them with everything we've got, but we're losing." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Atlantis has been pretty much crippled. The shield has been permanently disabled, we've exhausted all our drones and the ZedPM is almost depleted." He opened his eyes and motioned around the room. "That's why we came here, looking for power sources and weapons."

"Too bad," said Number One as he sat down next to Number Three. "The Wraith are all but gone in my dimension," he said, oblivious to the looks of disbelief from the others. "Our problem is the Replicators. Every time we think we've come up with something to destroy them, they adapt and find a way to survive."

"How did you, ah…" Rodney didn't finish, pointing instead to his own cheek to ask how he'd received the scar.

"A replicator called Oberoth wasn't particularly impressed with a virus we were trying to introduce into them," replied Number One with a morbid smile, "so he turned his right arm into a sword and took a swing at me. Sheppard tackled him and he only got in a glancing blow."

Rodney nodded and turned to Number Two. "What about you?"

Number Two shrugged. "The Wraith are a problem, but we're holding our own. Same goes for the Replicators. My Atlantis has three fully powered ZedPMs."

Everyone turned disbelieving looks at him and he explained excitedly, "They were there when we got there!"

"Lucky bastard," grunted Number Three, and Rodney, Number One and Number Four nodded in agreement.

"What about you?" asked Rodney to Number Four.

Everyone turned to Number Four who glanced around and said, "We haven't been on Atlantis that long. The Wraith are trouble, but I don't know what Replicators are, unless you're talking about the Replicators that SG-1 had dealings with. Other than that, we're exploring the city and the galaxy and trying to figure out what everything does."

Rodney nodded and remembered what it had been like when they had first gotten to Atlantis. Exploration and finding ZedPMs had been the first orders of business. He was still thinking about it when Number Two tapped him on the shoulder.

"What about you?" asked Number Two when Rodney looked at him.

Rodney shrugged. "Atlantis is fine in my dimension. We have a couple of ZedPMs, but they're not at full power. We've managed to keep one step ahead of the Wraith, for the most part, and we've defeated the Replicators. We met some rogue Asgard a while back that we haven't heard from since then, but we don't expect it to stay that way."

Rodney leaned forward and braced himself against the console. He was watching the time lapsed indicator when something caught his eye, a flash of light near Number Two's hand. Rodney glanced down and his eyes bulged open when he saw what looked like…

He stood up straight and pointed at Number Two's hand. "You're married!?!?!?"

Number Two straightened up and gave Rodney a bewildered look. "That's what a wedding band on the left ring finger usually indicates, isn't it?"

Rodney stared at his mustachioed doppelganger. "Ha, ha," he said with blatant sarcasm. "Who?"

Number Two actually smiled as he fondly said her name. "Katie."

Rodney's mouth fell open in shock at the affection in Number Two's voice, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Number Four's face go from confusion, to realization and then to awe in the span of eight seconds.

"Katie?" Number One repeated with a smile. "I asked her to marry me once, but I lost my nerve." His smile turned sad. "She left Atlantis not long after that."

"Katie Brown?" asked Number Four as he took a quick step towards them. "I…we never…" He trailed off and shook his head in disbelief. "I haven't even…wow."

"My Katie died in a Wraith attack before I got the chance to ask her," said Number Three softly. "I had the ring in my pocket for weeks looking for the right time, but it never came."

Rodney was still trying to digest the shocking news when Number Three added, "I miss her, but I don't know how I would have gotten through some of the crap I've gone through without Laura."

"Laura?" asked Rodney. His eyes opened wide as a most unnaturally bizarre thought occurred to him. "As in Cadman? As in tap dancing, explosive expert Laura Cadman? Are you insane!"

Number Two whistled in appreciation while Number One gave Number Three a look that was an odd mixture of admiration and repugnance. Rodney was leaning more towards the second one. It wasn't that he hated Cadman, but she simply unnerved him with the simplest look and that was, well, unnerving.

"We've been through a lot together," explained Number Three with a shrug. "She knows me better than I know myself, which is very useful most of the time."

"Cadman!" mumbled Rodney, forcing the image of the strawberry blond Marine that always took great delight in torturing him any way she could from his mind. "How about you?" Rodney asked Number One as the latter shook his head and leaned back against the console.

Number One shot Rodney a scathing look before looking straight ahead at the shimmering blue force field. He was silent for a few moments before saying, "I'm not seeing anyone, and I don't intend to." He stopped and cleared his throat and then sighed. "I had feelings for, I mean, I was interested in Jennifer, but she was interested in someone else."

"Ronon," guessed Rodney, earning him a nod from Number One, and a look of bewilderment from Number Four who obviously had no idea who Jennifer and Ronon were.

"They got married and have a son," stated Number One in a neutral voice, but it wavered as he added, "They've been having some trouble lately, but I'm keeping out of it." He cleared his throat again and the Rodney McKay patented arrogance filled his voice as he said, "I've got far more important things to do than worry about their love life."

The room fell silent, and once again Number Two tapped Rodney on the shoulder. "I take it by the surprise on your face when you noticed my ring that you're not married."

Rodney shook his head and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Now that his mind wasn't locked exclusively on the task of figuring out what the hell was happening, thoughts of Jennifer roared to the surface. "No. I asked Katie, but it didn't work out." He gave Number One a quick look before saying, "Right now I'm…" Rodney hesitated and shook his head. Why torment that McKay with the knowledge that he and Jennifer were together and in love? "You know what?" he said in a rush. "We'd be better off exchanging information that can help us when we get back to our own dimensions." He pointed to Number Three. "You! Go to a planet called…" A beeping noise began emanating from the panel causing Rodney to abandon his thought and demand, "What now!?!"

Number Four advanced towards the console as Number One and Number Three jumped up from the floor and turned to look at the screens.

Number Two studied the monitor and said, "The dimensional generator is beginning to power down, which means the dimensional merging is failing." He looked up and added, "We're almost out of time."

Rodney's left hand shot out and grabbed Number Three's arm. "Go to…"

Before he knew it, Rodney was thrown to the floor by what felt like an earthquake. The shaking continued as he reached over and grabbed onto the console, holding onto it for dear life as the floor continued rocking every which way. He looked around for the other McKays, but they were nowhere to be found.

He cursed and noticed that the blue energy field that had trapped him and the others in the room had disappeared.

A moment later the shaking simply stopped.

Rodney kept a hold of the console and pulled himself upright. After making sure he was all right he looked down to the screens. Everything appeared normal, with all the displays and indicators having gone back to the way they were when he first saw them the day before.

Or was it twenty-eight days ago?

"Rodney!"

Rodney's head snapped to the doorway and his shoulders sagged in relief when he saw Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon rushing towards him.

Teyla reached him first and put her hands on his shoulders, her eyes boring intently into his. "Are you okay, Rodney?"

Rodney nodded and managed to give her a small smile. "I'm fine."

"What the hell happened?" asked Sheppard. "I was on my way up here after you called and…"

"And the shield activated," said Rodney as Teyla gave his arms an affectionate squeeze and then released him.

"That was a month ago, Rodney!" exclaimed Sheppard.

Rodney sighed and nodded. "Actually Sheppard, it was twenty-seven days ago."

"Rodney," warned Sheppard. "Zelenka has been working himself into an early grave trying to figure out what the hell was happening in here! We couldn't even get any scanner readings inside the building, though he kept mumbling something about power. And then Shara said that her people never came near the place when the shield was up because of some…"

Rodney held up his hand and said, "Look, the geo thermal thing was meant the give a power boost to a dimensional generator, which is what actually powers the shield. To protect the planet from a whole bunch of things that I'm in no mood to explain, a force field encompasses the room."

"That's what kept us from coming in or contacting you?" asked Ronon.

"Yes," replied Rodney. "And even though it's been twenty-seven days for you guys, it's only been an hour for me…or a little less." He looked around and asked, "I assume the shield worked then?"

"It worked perfectly, Rodney," said Teyla. She reached over and placed her left hand on his arm and began to gently pull him towards the door. "Come. There is someone outside waiting to see you."

Rodney was too tired to object and allowed Teyla to lead him outside. When he stepped through the door, the bright light of the morning sun shone directly into his eyes, forcing them closed. Yet even as his vision blackened his ears picked up a sound that sounded oddly like…clapping?

Rodney eased his eyes open, and once they adjusted to the light he saw a sight that humbled even him. Dozens of Atlantis personnel and P3N-738 natives were standing around in the clearing- surrounded by portable lighting gear, generators and temporary workstations- applauding and smiling.

His mouth dropped open as his eyes scanned the many happy faces before him. Finally Radek walked up to him and clapped him heartily on the shoulder.

"Welcome back, Rodney," the Czech said with a wide smile.

Rodney nodded and said, "Thank you, Radek." Rodney motioned to the building behind him and added, "For trying, and whatnot."

"It was no trouble," replied Zelenka with a nod.

Rodney peered around Radek and scanned the crowd again, but frowned when the one person he wanted to see above all others was nowhere to be seen.

Radek leaned in towards Rodney and said in a low voice, "She's behind you, Rodney."

Rodney turned around so fast that he automatically reached out and grabbed onto Radek's arm for support.

Just as Radek had said, Jennifer was there, standing in front of his teammates and watching him with concerned eyes. He remained still as her eyes, those beautiful brown orbs that, no matter how much of an ass he was being, always looked at him with love, studiously examined him for outward signs of trauma or injuries.

First and foremost she was a doctor, a caring doctor whose first priority in any situation would be her patient's safety and wellbeing and, whether he liked it or not, right at that moment he was her patient until she was satisfied that he was uninjured.

It wasn't until her eyes met his and a small smile formed on her beautiful lips that he began to move towards her.

No words were spoken as he approached her, no voicing of concern or words of greeting, and when Rodney finally reached Jennifer he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her to him.

As Jennifer's arms closed around his waist, Rodney noticed Sheppard motion to everyone to leave them alone. Ronon and Teyla walked past him with small smiles on their faces and Rodney managed to catch Sheppard's eye and give him an appreciative nod as his friend walked by.

John returned the look with a smile and said softly, "We'll wait by the gate," before moving on.

It wasn't until all the retreating footfalls had faded away that he felt the first shudder from Jennifer's body. There was once a time when would have pulled away and run for the hills, but now his first instinct, and the correct one apparently, was to tighten his embrace and as soon as he did the floodgates opened up.

Jennifer began shaking in his arms, her hands clutching at the jacket covering his back as sob after sob tore from her mouth into his chest. Rodney closed his eyes and held onto Jennifer as she released twenty-seven days worth of fear and worry, and cursed himself for getting into a situation where he caused her such grief.

It took several minutes for her sobbing to ebb away, and when she stopped completely she softly said, "I thought I'd lost you."

Rodney rested his chin on the top of her head and said, "Not a chance."

Jennifer cuddled into him and he thought about the other McKays: Number Four, the McKay that had yet to see the dangers and experience the evils of Pegasus that he'd dealt with and was all about the work; Number Two, the man who married Katie and seemed to be more than happy with that choice, though history had proven that Rodney and Katie were not meant to be in this reality; Number Three, the man who had seen terrible things in Pegasus, and had found comfort in a woman that in his reality didn't creep him out whenever he saw her; and Number One, the one most like him, the one who found love in Jennifer Keller but lost it to another man and threw himself into his work to hide from the pain.

He was none of those men; he couldn't see himself with Katie or Cadman, nor could he go back to being totally alone as he used to be. The reason for that was the family he'd found on Atlantis, and the biggest part of that family was the beautiful woman he was holding. He was simply a better man with her in his life.

He heard a sniffle from Jennifer and looked down as she leaned back to look at him.

"I've missed you," she said with a quiver in her voice and eyes red from crying. "We weren't sure what had happened to you or what was happening inside the building."

Rodney gave her a small smile, and then leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Even though to him it had only been a couple of days since he'd kissed her, it felt as though it had been the first time in a very long time.

He stopped the kiss and looked at her questioningly. "I love you. You know that right?"

Jennifer smiled, though her brow creased in question. "Of course I do." Her right hand released his jacket and snaked its way up to his cheek. "What happened in there?"

Rodney sighed as her hand cupped his cheek and said, "Later." He kissed her again and then said, "I want to take you home."

Jennifer released him and smiled when he took her hand in his and began leading her along the path towards the gate.

"You sure you want to wait to tell me what happened?" she asked as they quickly moved along the path.

"Yeap," replied Rodney.

He stopped and gave her a kiss which surprised her both in its suddenness and its intensity. She was still recovering from it when he started again along the path.

Jennifer stopped and gently pulled on Rodney's arm to get him to stop as well. When he turned to look at her she asked, "Did you have some sort of epiphany or something?"

"No, not exactly." Rodney glanced back along the path towards the building and then looked into her eyes. "Let's just say that I've been reminded of just how fortunate I am that you're in my life." He edged closer to her so that he could hold both her hands. "And now I want to go home so I can remind you how much you mean to me," he said quietly, though there was an underlying current of confidence in his voice as well.

Jennifer's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Remind me how much I mean…" She stopped and a rosy tint settled into her cheeks as she caught onto his not so subtle intimation. "Oh."

Rodney swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat and said, "If you're feeling…"

He stopped talking when Jennifer squeezed his hands and motioned down the path with a nod of her head.

"Let's go home," Jennifer whispered huskily, leaving absolutely no doubt that she understood exactly what he meant, and that she had no objections at all.

Rodney nodded and said as they started walking again, "Yes, let's go home."