I started this in June. I just finished it today. I own nothing.
Rodney eyed the copper ring with three small red stones. "Huh. Sheppard?" The astrophysicist nudged the soldier who was chatting up a very pretty local girl.
"What Rodney?"
"Do you know what the rings are for?" Rodney held the ring up and John shrugged and gave him a dismissive wave before turning back to his date who was obviously infatuated.
Rodney rolled his eyes and slipped the ring over his finger while looking around to see what everyone else had. He found an identical ring on the finger of one Jennifer Keller. Rodney tapped her shoulder and gestured to the ring. "Jennifer. Do you know what the rings are for?"
She shook her head and saw his. Snatching it up he blushed as she got close. "We have matching rings don't we? That's awesome." She beamed at him and Rodney felt his heart start hammering into his rib cage.
A man with messy brown hair who was sitting across from them grinned and looked at the blond woman sitting next to him. Turning to look at the two of them he extended his hand across the table. "Hello. I'm the Doctor and this is my wife, Rose. Where are you two from?"
Rodney took his hand. "I'm Rodney McKay. And this is Jennifer Keller." Rodney gestured to Jennifer with a smile.
The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Rodney McKay? Meredith Rodney McKay?"
Rodney frowned at the use of that god awful name. "Yeah."
The Doctor's face broke into a high velocity smile. "Oh it is a pleasure to see you again. First time for you. Second time for me. Did you get invited to this hootenanny?"
Rose rolled her eyes and refilled the Doctor's glass before refilling her own. This new body of his sure was a light weight. So many things to learn about it, so little time. "Would like another one Jen?"
Jennifer jumped as the woman across offered her the pitcher. "Um. Yes. Sure. Love some."
Rodney stared at the man. 'Who uses the term hootenanny anymore?' "Um, yeah. We were helping with some medical care and engineering things when they asked us to come."
The Doctor smiled. "Well, we were here last year. And as a little anniversary present we decided to come back and visit." He butted his forehead against Rose's and kissed her gently.
Rose giggled as the Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him so her legs were across his lap. "Doctor. Not here."
Jennifer blushed at the intimate moment and Rodney reached for the wine. If he was going to be spending time with a horny couple while sitting next to the woman he adored he was going to need to be very nearly wasted.
The Doctor smiled as he tucked Rose against him. "It is so great to see people so in love." He slurred out as he watched their two new friends dance. It had taken a lot of convincing on Jennifer's part to get Rodney on the dance floor but she had done it.
Rodney stumbled and tripped over Jennifer's feet. He didn't remember how he got on the dance floor and holding Jennifer but he was and who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had never been good at dancing and it was not something that you learned with age.
"Rodney. You need to straighten your back." Jennifer giggled as Rodney stumbled, his head pressing into her shoulder.
"I don't think I can." He mumbled into the crook of her neck, trying to stand but his feet tripped him up and Rodney fell to the ground.
"Rodney!" Jennifer was holding him up by his arms as he lay half on the floor.
"Is your friend alright?" One of the local women came over, hustling and bustling with worry.
Jennifer checked his vitals and sighed in relief. "Yeah. He'll be fine. He's just had a little too much to drink."
The woman laughed silently as Jennifer helped Rodney up and dragged him back to the table. The Doctor snickered. "He's a real light weight isn't he?"
Rose looked at her husband and smirked. "Look who is talking."
A hurt look crossed the Doctor's face. "I have no idea what you mean Rose."
"You got drunk off of a banana dajuri."
"Well-"
"And it wasn't even alcoholic!"
Jennifer poured the liquid into a cup before giving it to Rodney. "No. He just drank a lot." Jennifer caught a glimpse of the ring that she had completely forgotten about. "Do you know what the rings are for Rose?"
The blond smiled. "They pick your partner for the night and for the crystal."
"And what does the crystal do?" Rodney asked absently as he gulped part of the drink
The Doctor smiled and began to search his pockets. "It tells you if you're getting married or not. AH! I knew it was in this pocket."
Rodney stopped and began to chock and sputter. "Married?!"
"Yeah. I had the same reaction when I first heard it. We are very lucky they recorded it though; otherwise we wouldn't remember it ever happening. The drink here is very strong." Suddenly out of the blue light at the end of the sonic screwdriver came a hologram of the exact same main room. Two people, Rose and a tall, big eared man stood side by side, a scarf attaching their wrists and they both held a monorah with four little candles lit up. Pink, blue, blue pink. They swung hands and the man smiled and his words slurred slightly. "Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler." He paused and thought of what he was going to say next. "You are fantastic. I have never met someone as fearless and kind as you. You make the world seem as much softer and bright. I love your smile and your laugh. You feel with your whole heart and I want so badly to be the only one in there. I hate the fact that men can't take their eyes off of you when you walk into a room. I have to fight Jack for your attention and affection. I hate that I have to share you. I want to keep you completely to myself but I don't think that you would appreciate that. If you love me, I don' care why."
The hologram Rose looked up at him, clutching his hand. "I love you Doctor. I love you because you are a good man. You always help no matter what is going on or where we are or who they are. I love your ears and your smile. Your real one, mind you. I love how you smell like leather and stars. I love your hugs and how it feels to be completely wrapped up in your arms. I love that you need me. I see all these women who look at you and flirt and you never seem to really notice. But I can't help but be afraid that you are going to find someone better than me and then drop me back off back at Mum's. I just want to be with you forever."
The person standing in front of them unwrapped the scraf from around their hands. "You are together bonded. You may have your first kiss."
The Doctor quickly shut off the hologram. "No need for you guys to see the kiss."
Several Drinks Later
Rodney blinked and stared at his hand. There was a ridiculously long scarf wrapped around his wrist, and that of Jennifer Keller. His other hand was holding a monorah that had 7 candles in it. (In order forth left to right: Blue, pink, pink, blue, pink, blue, blue). There was some giggling, laughing, cheers and crying from the back. Jennifer was smiling at him and looked less drunk then him.
The short woman in front of him motioned to him. "Tell her."
"Tell her what?"
"Tell her why you love her."
"Oh." Rodney looked at Jennifer and thought for a few seconds. "Jennifer. I love you. I have for some time now. I cannot tell you the day, or the time I reliezed it but I am. You never laugh at my allergies. You never hurt me when you take blood. You are beautiful. You are all round amazing. I have no idea why you chose me when you could literally have your chose of any guy in Atlantis. You are the smartest doctor I know," A indignant cry from Beckett could be heard but Rodney ignored it. "Even though you practice voodoo witch magic." Rodney nodded satisfied with his speech.
Jennifer took a deep breath. "Rodney, I love you because you don't pretend to be something you are not. You try and distance yourself from other people but you will not do that to me. I won't let you. You do what you believe is best even if it is a life or death situation. Hell, you make your best plans when you are facing death. You always carry the weight of the world and you try to save everyone. You deal with stress like a pro and I know that you are a good man no matter how hard you try and hide it. You are so adorkable and you have no idea how many people would agree with me."
"You are together bonded. You may have your first kiss."
They leaned forward for the kiss with clapping and cheering along with several wolf whistles. Before they could break away though, the two men on either side, dumped the blue wine all over them, causing the two to break apart. The Doctor snickered as Jennifer tried to wipe her face and Rodney sputtered. Rose looked over at his friends and leaned over to John. "It doesn't look like you are surprised."
"I'm not really. I had feeling this was going to happen for a while." John laughed as Rodney glared at the wine-throwers. "I owe Radek 5 bars of chocolate since he guess the date."
The Doctor turned. "Can I guess the date of the first child?"
"Sure, why not." John took out a piece of paper. "What is it?"
"May 23 of next year. Twins, a boy and a girl." The Doctor smiled, thankful for his traveling abilities.
Rose glared at him before pulling him in to whisper. "You are the one saying we can't do that for lottery tickets and games. You can't do that."
"But Rose, we already know that we did it because we got the money in the first place." The Doctor beamed at her. "So it is okay."
The Doctor shook Rodney's hand as Rose stood in front of the TARDIS. "Well, we will be seeing you in about..." He paused before turning to Rose. "Rose when did we meet them?"
"In 4 years Doctor." Rose rolled her eyes before looking at the monorah sitting on a shelf in the control room. "Come on Doctor, We can visit them later."
The Doctor nodded before running back to his wife in their ship.
I'm done. I cannot write this story anymore. All reviews, favorites and alerts are appreciated. And hints on writing and consructive critism is loved. Thanks.