A/N: This is a birthday gift for my friend, Atomdancerrr. Sorry it's late.
~Sandy
She's a mess of gorgeous chaos, and you can see it in her eyes.
~ Author Unknown
Gorgeous Chaos
Mount Olympus hadn't changed much in the years that Trevor had been gone. The sky was clear, it never rained or snowed, nor did the wind blow. After all his years as a mortal, Trevor found he preferred the changing of the seasons to no seasons at all. But now that he'd been made whole again, he was forced to leave his wife and daughter to put in an appearance with the family now and again.
He'd have brought Claire and Danae, but he couldn't allow their memories of being there to be removed though he doubted Hestia would approve. What if they took more than just the memories of Olympus and they no longer knew him when they returned to their home in Manhattan? He couldn't take that chance so his family stayed Earthbound while he visited with his mother, father, aunts and uncles.
"Ah, there you are, my son. Apollo told me you'd returned." Venus sauntered toward him, presenting her alabaster smooth cheek for a kiss.
"Just came for a quick visit then back to Manhattan and my job at Tres Equis."
"Not so fast. There is a problem with one of your couples. They've been fighting and are…what do the mortals call it? Ah. Taking a break."
Confusion crossed Trevor's handsome face. Due to his time as a mortal, he now appeared older than his mother. "Which couple?"
Venus waved her hand dismissively. "I don't remember. Randy and Jill. Richard and Jane."
"Rodney and Jennifer?"
She examined her perfectly manicured nails, plucked a nail file out of the air and began working on the forefinger of her left hand. "Whatever. Just fix it."
Closing his eyes, Trevor concentrated, his mind seeking out Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Jennifer Keller. Five minutes later he'd located the couple. "What are they doing all the way in another galaxy? Never mind. I have to let Claire know where I'm going before I head out."
"Fine." Again his mother's tone was disinterested. "You'll be back in time for dinner?"
"Of course." Closing his eyes again, he disappeared from Venus' side and reappeared outside the back door of the home he shared with his wife and child. He nipped inside then back out again.
~~O~~
It was nighttime in Atlantis and Jennifer had been trying to sleep for hours. And just like the night before and the six or seven before that she didn't, at least not much. The light from the moon tracked slowly across the ceiling highlighting the varying shades of green and rust, especially that one spot that looked like a broken heart. Her eyes were drawn to it every night. To her it was a symbol of where she and Rodney were headed in their relationship. Their fight less than two weeks ago had led them to take a break from each other.
Turning onto her side, she closed her eyes and thankfully drifted off. She'd only been asleep a short time when a sound jolted her awake. Her eyes darted around the part of her room she could see but didn't see anything. Sighing in relief, she relaxed until someone spoke to her.
"Don't pretend. I know you're awake."
Jennifer rolled off the bed, slapped a hand over the light sensor and scooped her radio up in one move. "Keller to…"
A congenial smirk greeted her across the bed. "Won't do you any good. No one else can see me but you." He pointed at her.
"How did you get in here?"
Shoving his hands in his pockets, her visitor shrugged. "Hard to explain."
Taking an aggressive stance, Jennifer hooked the radio over her ear, hand poised to activate the communications device again. "Try."
"I'm Cupid."
The medical doctor scoffed. "And I'm a fairy princess. How did you…wait! I know you. You're that guy."
His shoulders lifted and dropped. "Well, I am a guy."
Her eyes narrowed in annoyance that he seemed to be deliberately misunderstanding. "You're that guy, the one who hooked up my college roommate with a bulldozer mechanic."
"O-oh! That guy." His right hand rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda. How're they doin' by the way?"
Letting her hand drop to her side, Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Happily married. Three kids, two dogs, a bunch of cats, a house in the suburbs. Ally is head of Cardiology at Mercy Hospital in Denver and Jason owns the company he used to work for."
"Ni-ice! See? I told you they were perfect for each other." He came around the bed extending his right hand. "Trevor."
Jennifer took two big steps back taking in his appearance. "You still haven't told me how you got here. The last time I saw you was my first year of college." He didn't look any different than he had then except for the gold ring on his left hand. Over six feet, he had the olive tone and dark hair and eyes that told of his Roman background. At least that part fit with his story.
"I finally got that hundredth bead and returned to the bosom of my family on Mount Olympus."
"Family? Venus, Mars, Apollo, Ares, Zeus. That family?" Her tone was dubious.
"Yeah. And I'm happy to say that the last bead was I and the love of my life, Psyche. You might remember her as Claire McCrae though she's Claire Pierce now. And we have a daughter."
"Oh. That's…wonderful." Jennifer tried to sound happy certain that she was still asleep and having a very odd dream. "What…" The radio in her ear crackled.
"Dr. Keller to the Infirmary stat! Dr. Keller!"
"On my way." Pointing a finger at Trevor, Jennifer glared. "I know this is a dream so you better not be here when I come back." She didn't wait for him to answer as she turned on her heel and left the room.
~~O~~
The god of love let the door close, chuckling softly. "Not a dream, sweetheart. I'm gonna be around until you and your true love are together again so get used to it." He followed in Jennifer's footsteps passing through the closed door. Out in the hall, he watched the Atlantis staff moving around as if nothing were out of the ordinary. And to them, there wasn't. No one saw him cross the corridor and pass through the wall on the opposite side. It was time to spend a little time with the male half of this couple.
Trevor exited through a wall and stopped in the middle of a corridor to get his bearings, but didn't have a clue where he was going. Deciding to chance asking someone for directions, he shimmered into the here and now. A young woman came around the corner and almost ran into him.
"Oh! Sorry."
"No problem. Say, I'm kinda new here. Where can I find Rodney McKay?"
"You work for him? Good luck."
"Don't need luck, sweetheart."
The woman smirked. "Yeah. That's what they all say. Dr. McKay's team just returned from a mission. He usually sleeps for about twelve hours after that. Cross the atrium, the third hall down, on the corner."
"Thanks." She turned to go stopping when he spoke again. "Anna?"
"Yeah?"
"He's almost ready to pop the question. Give him a little more time."
"I beg your pardon? And how do you know my name?"
Trevor waved her questions away. "Mark is just a little…uncertain at the moment. He just needs a little time and space to think it over. But don't worry. He'll make the right decision. See ya around." And while she watched, he faded from sight again.
Moments later he was standing outside Rodney's room. He grinned and stepped through the door.
~~O~~
Lying face down on his bed, his face pushed into the pillow, Rodney snored softly. Before he and Jennifer had become a couple, he would've just slept in his clothes but now he'd showered and changed into his pajamas for her benefit. Not that it mattered at the moment. He was sleeping and that was all that counted.
In the middle of a dream where he was once again running for his life through a thick forest with a whale crashing through the trees, a tall, dark-haired man appeared in front of him.
"Get out of the way or he'll eat me!"
Unconcerned, Trevor looked over his shoulder with a bored expression. "It's just a dream, Rodney."
Rodney gripped his arms to push him out of the way. "No-no-no! He's-he's…" he chanced a glance over his shoulder and the whale stopped in mid leap, turned into a stuffed version and flopped to the ground. "Wh-how'd you do that?"
Trevor shrugged, gestured to himself. "I'm a god. Not the God, but a god." He grinned gleefully. "The name's Cupid."
"Cupid? As in…"
"The god of love. You can call me Trevor." He picked up the stuffed whale, passing it to Rodney who clutched it to his chest.
"Well Trevor, thanks for…" he waved the whale. "I just have one little question. Minor, really. I just need to know…what the hell are you doing in my dream?"
"Talking to you about Jennifer. You and she need to make up and soon."
"Yeah, well that's not gonna happen." The woods scene changed to a trendy coffee shop. They were sitting at a table on the patio with cups of coffee in front of them, Rodney still holding the stuffed whale. "I'm not even sure what started the argument, but at the end when she stormed off, we'd agreed on a break. We haven't spoken one word to each other in two weeks."
With supreme confidence, Trevor leaned back in his chair and took a long drink from his cup then set it back on the table. "This I can fix."
"You can't fix it. It's…unfixable."
"Not true my friend. Helping couples find love and fixing love is what I do." Pastries materialized in front of both men. Trevor took a big bite, talking around the food. "You still love her, right?"
Rodney looked down at his plate. "Yes."
"Then you should be together. It's as simple as that. And you, Jennifer and your progeny will live happily ever after."
"Why are you so eager to have us get back together?"
"Because Jennifer is a mass of gorgeous chaos and just the thing you need to make your life complete." Trevor emphasized his point by poking Rodney in the chest.
Not knowing what else to do, Rodney sighed in resignation. "Fine. How do we do this?"
"You don't have to do anything. Just go back to sleep. Oh, and going forward, you won't have that dream about the whale anymore."
Trevor snapped his fingers and suddenly Rodney was sitting up in bed. He looked at the clock seeing that he'd been asleep for nearly ten hours and had awakened feeling refreshed and better than he'd felt since the night he and Jennifer had fought. Going to his closet he pulled out clean clothes.
~~O~~
After seven hours of delicate surgery, Jennifer dragged herself back to her room undressing as she headed for the bathroom. At the last second, she changed her mind and just flopped onto the bad, the pillow scrunched up under her head. Rodney slept on the right side of the bed because she preferred the left. It was closer to the door in case of emergency. It was all the same to her, but he insisted.
That lead her to think about the first time she met him. She'd just transported down from the Daedalus and while she was standing there staring around at the wonder of the city of the Ancients, he and John had introduced themselves. All she could do at first was stare at them in awe. Especially Rodney. She'd heard so much about him, about how he'd saved the city and the lives of her people as well as the lives of millions in the Pegasus galaxy that she could barely put two words together when he smiled at her and shook her hand. Little did she know that they would have wonderful adventures together and even one day fall in love.
The Ambien and exhaustion kicked in and she was asleep in a few minutes. A few minutes later, she began dreaming that she was walking through the streets of Chippewa Falls, a caramel macchiato in one hand and her phone in the other as she checked her email and sent a response.
"Mornin' beautiful."
Jennifer stumbled to a halt, her eyes coming up to see a wide expanse of black T-shirt covering a man's chest. Tilting her head back, she looked Trevor in the eyes. "I told you not to come back."
"No. You told me not to be in your room when you came back. This isn't your room."
She went around him and he fell into step next to her. "Will you please go away?"
"Can't do it, sweetheart. I'm here to get you and your one true love back together."
Taking a sip from her cup, she slanted her eyes at him then back to the sidewalk at her feet. "Not happening."
"Funny. That's what he said."
"Who are you again?"
"I'm the god of love. I fix broken hearts."
Snorting in disbelief, Jennifer came to a stop and faced him. "You can't fix this. Rodney and I are…"
"Meant to be together for all time. In fact, repairs are already in progress."
"What do you mean?"
Trevor crossed his arms and smiled down at her. "I mean, you and the love of your life will be huggin' and kissin' before the sun comes up over New Lantea in the morning."
She thrust a hip to the side and tapped the heel of one foot. "What the hell are you talking…"
The god of love snapped his fingers and just like that, Jennifer was looking up at the ceiling in her room, that broken heart glaring down at her just as it always did. No, it was different now. The heart was whole again and as she watched an invisible hand wrote inside it.
Rodney loves Jennifer
4-ever
Her mouth dropped open as the words faded away to be replaced with more writing.
He's waiting for you.
Go to him.
"Go to him? Where? Where is he?"
This time the writing seemed to be absorbed by the ceiling's material, again to be replaced.
Your secret place.
"Our secret place?" With a start she realized he must be talking about that balcony on one of the upper floors that only they knew about. She threw back the covers, grabbed clothes from the closet, tossed them on the bed then went to shower. In less than thirty minutes she was standing outside the door of their place, hers and Rodney's.
Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand to touch the sensor her hand stopping in midair when she heard soft music coming through the door. A shape moved back and forth behind the pebbled amber, crimson, sea green and cerulean glass. She recognized both, the man and the song. Rodney was waiting for her just as she'd been told in the dream and that was their song, the song that was playing on the radio the first time they'd become one. Just the thought of that night caused a change in her body. Warmth started in the region of her heart and spread throughout, streaking along her nerves and bloodstream to every nook and cranny.
She took another deep breath, held it and slapped her hand over the sensor. At the sound of the door, Rodney spun around, a look that was part panic and part expectation in his blue eyes.
"You-you're here." His voice was soft, barely audible. "How did-how did you know?"
"A little bird told me." An enticing scent whispered past her nose. Turning her head, she found a table and chairs set up with a tablecloth and real china. Flames flickered from the ends of white tapers. "Oh, Rodney. It's beautiful."
"I'm sorry about…"
She pressed two fingers over his mouth, stepped close enough that their bodies touched. Her hand left his mouth to cup his cheek, joined by her other hand to cradle his head. Lifting up onto her toes, she pressed her lips to his. His hands came to rest on her waist holding her to him and sighing into her mouth. "Let's forget about the past, Rodney and just start from today."
"Anything you want." And before he could say another word, she'd captured his lips with her once more.
~~O~~
"Mother! Father! I'm back." Trevor's voice bellowed across the luxuriously appointed dining room.
"You don't have to shout, my son. We can hear you," Mars, the god of war, called out in a bored tone.
"Come sit with us." Venus' tone matched her husband's.
"Sorry. Can't. Gotta get back to Claire and Danae. I just stopped in to say that I've taken care of that little situation."
Venus waved her fingers dismissively. "Whatever, darling."
Trevor bent down to kiss his mother on the cheek then quickly did the same to his father. "Ciao, mama and papa. Love you both." And moments later he was gone.
Mars chewed and swallowed then took a drink of wine from a golden goblet. Wiping his mouth with a satin napkin, he turned to his wife. "My love, what has gotten into that boy?"
His wife sighed and laid her fork beside the plate. "I have no idea. He just hasn't been the same since he became immortal again."
"Oh, well. I'm sure he'll get over it." Again Mars drank deeply from the goblet. "Zeus will be here soon."
Rolling her eyes, Venus stood, the rich silk fabric of her gown falling in folds around her, a short train following her across to the sofa. "He's always welcome as long as he leaves Mercury at home." She looked up as Mars came to sit beside her, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her on the neck.
"I've changed my mind. Let's spend the evening alone."
"Mmm. You read my mind, my love."
And the parents of Cupid spent the night together basking in their love for each other.
The End