John was standing on a balcony leaning over the railing. He was staring out at the ocean spread below the morning sky. He was watching the sun slowly rising on his right and was inhaling the cool breeze blowing around him. It all seemed so peaceful and restful after what had happened during the previous days but, suddenly, the door to the balcony opened and he heard someone come in. He didn't acknowledge him because he wanted to profit from the last calm morning moments before the visitor's infinite monologue would take them all away.

The visitor stopped dead at the threshold wondering how to approach John as he'd never been good at this. John recognised him thanks to how he arrived because the only people who would disturb him here were his team. Teyla was so gracefully quiet that you weren't able to hear her before she stood right next to you. Aiden was always cheerful so you could distinguish him by a laughter or a chatter echoing through hallways long before he even came near you. And the last one, the always morose scientist who had social graces of a bull in a china shop, was either arguing with or speaking to someone. This scientist was the one who paid John a visit and finally greeted him with: "Hey, I was looking for you."

John sighed before stating: "You've found me."

An uncomfortable pause stretched between them and Rodney coughed slightly to get John's attention.

"May I help you somehow, Dr. McKay?" John asked kindly, not turning at him. He wondered why Rodney came to him so early in the morning when many other people were still fast asleep.

Rodney didn't answer him immediately. Instead, he copied John's posture and looked over water masses surrounding the city. He still had a lot on the mind; the fact that he didn't manage to save those dependent on him was stabbing him like Kolya's knife. Fortunately, he got a second chance and he wanted to use it right. Moving his sight to the sunrise, he started speaking: "Captain Jorgenson is taking his team to M1X-808. They did an initial check yesterday and spotted some rather promising ruins. I figured I'd go with them when there is a chance of finding a ZPM there."

John was astonished and asked himself if this was their Dr. Rodney McKay. Then again, it hurt him that Rodney didn't want to spend time with his own team and went off-world with another.

But Rodney wasn't done. "It's the first planet from the list, you know. They could use the help. Thought, maybe, you'd like to come, too."

"Ruins," John muttered. "I think I've seen plenty of those already." He did register the first sentence but still, it didn't catch his interest because he didn't put two and two together.

Rodney looked at him surprised. "But it might be interesting. Who knows what we'll find there? A ZPM would be…"

John sighed tiredly watching waves crashing below them against the northern pier. "But it's our day off."

Rodney was upset. "But I don't have any project going on in my lab and there's nothing broken that needs my immediate attention." He spread his arms in exasperation. "And you know how unhappy I am when you arrive in a middle of my experiment to tell me that we have to go on some godforsaken planet for a trading mission."

John looked at him intently. "Yeah, I know. But I still don't get what makes this planet any less godforsaken than most."

Rodney started to be a little aggravated that John still didn't understand the importance. "The Ancient ruins…the possibilities. Come on, it'll be fun."

"It's our day off," John said again. Then he made up his mind, pushed up to a standing position and added: "In fact, I've just decided. I'm taking out a Puddle Jumper."

"Puddle Jumper?" Rodney repeated in wonder. "Going to fly around for a bit?"

"Yeah," John replied, nodding his head decisively. "A calm relaxing trip around the planet would be nice. Maybe I'll check out the lake I saw last time on the mainland. Looks good for swimming. Today's going to be nice for swimming."

Rodney hesitated because this was more tempting than studying some remnants of past times which may hide nothing but spiders and insects. Oh, he hated those as much as he was allergic to citruses… Due to this, he asked: "You wouldn't need a co-pilot, would you? I like swimming…"

John could see how tempted Rodney was and how much he would love him to say yes. Nevertheless, he responded: "I think I can handle it."

But it didn't stop Rodney who kept talking. "Because, maybe, I could use some more flight time," he continued. "Might be more productive to me than…"

"You've already committed yourself, remember?" John said with a grin. "See what happens when you schedule yourself for work every day? No time for plays. All work and no play for our brainiac."

"Fine," Rodney responded sulkily. "If I find any goodies, I'll keep them for myself."

"You do that," John said with fake cheerfulness. "I'll go find Teyla and Ford."

"Enjoy," Rodney stated as he shook his head unhappily, rather regretfully, then turned on the balcony and disappeared to find Jorgenson's team.

For a moment John watched the empty doorway wondering if it were too late to follow him because he finally realised what list Rodney had meant. It was the old Elizabeth's one. They might find a ZPM there and Rodney would return with an I-told-you-so grin if he discovered it himself. And he would gloat about it for months.

But Rodney was already gone and John had never been the one who would run after someone else. And a flight with a Jumper would surely be much funnier than another trip to another planet to investigate other ruins, although this one may not be futile. John didn't want to blame himself so he quickly left the balcony in search of his other teammates to enjoy the day and fly around the planet he'd seen dozen times already.

– – – – – – – – – –

Rodney walked to the Gateroom with all the necessary gear but his enthusiasm was long gone. He had never been good at socialisation and being smart hadn't given him any possibility to try because people had avoided him rather than talked to him. So his only sanctuary was his science whose victim he had become long ago. He sighed deeply, unhappy about the situation he had got into as he started to like his team and to care about them more than about all other people in his life, except for his sister Jeannie. He allowed himself to return to his youth when they created an unusual bond because their parents…

His train of thoughts stopped abruptly when he heard Allan Jorgenson's voice: "You ready, Doc?"

Rodney blinked fast and noticed that he had managed to arrive at the Gate without even noticing. The Gate was engaged, Allan's team was ready to step through. Rodney shook his head and answered: "Yes, of course."

He looked at Elizabeth's office where she was working, maybe reading another mission report. She frowned a little, then covered her eyes with her left hand and sighed. Rodney felt sorry for her; she was buried under work and still had to remain strong and calm facing the new pieces of information.

Jorgenson touched his shoulder to inform him that they were the last to go and so the pair left for M1X-808 as well.

– – – – – – – – – –

Meanwhile, John had found Aiden and Teyla sparring in a gym. She won the round although Aiden gave her hard time. John realised enviously that Aiden was much better than he was and Teyla didn't need to use only half of her real strength. She ended up atop of him with her stick pressed against his throat. He held her tightly around her waist so she couldn't move. Had they had a fairer complexion, they would have been as red as Cupid's symbol. He tickled her until she started to giggle and released the pressure, and turned them so he was lying atop of her and then he started to lean down. John watched all this from the doorway and chose this particular moment to announce his presence by saying: "Hopefully I'm not disturbing."

Aiden froze in motion and looked at Teyla whose eyes showed as an enormous surprise as his own. They untangled themselves, released the hold and got up quickly embarrassed. John did enjoy their discomfort and laughed internally. Aiden was the one who responded: "No, sir."

"That's good." John smiled at the duo. "I thought we could go on a trip. Are you in?"

Teyla looked at Aiden and shrugged. "We'd love to," she said politely, her eyes betraying her insecurity after what had happened.

John clapped his hands. "Great. See you in the Bay in twenty." He started leaving but, suddenly, he stopped and turned back at them as he remembered one detail. "Don't forget to bring your swimsuits and towels. We're going swimming," he added cheerfully.

Teyla's brows went up as she asked: "What are swimsuits?"

John and Aiden were taken aback by her question and exchanged unsure glances. It was John who spoke up. "You know, the garment you use when you want to swim in a lake or elsewhere."

Teyla still didn't understand what he meant. Why should she wear clothes for something as natural as swimming? She voiced her thoughts: "But I have never used a swimsuit before. I have always swum naked without a problem."

John went red a little. Aiden noticed and tried to hide his smirk. In vain. "Well," John said, "we-we usually wear one. Uhm… I think it would be inappropriate…"

Teyla noticed his apparent discomfort and interrupted: "Fine, I get you. I'll ask Hillary if she has one. Don't worry, I won't embarrass you."

She smiled tightly and left the room. From the hallway her sigh 'Oh, these men and childish Earth customs!' was heard and stunned the men a little.

John was looking at her retreating form while Aiden was watching him carefully for any sign of unhappiness or anger. Then John looked straight in his eyes and said: "Don't ask, don't tell."

And with that, he promptly left the room leaving Aiden staring and gaping with mouth wide open at his back.