The intel Jack O'Neill was talking about was indeed there. It wasn't long after the wedding when Landry gathered John's team to listen to all they had about a seemingly long deserted planet in the dominion of some minor Goua'uld. From all the reports it looked like one of the first and most outdated Ancient outposts in this galaxy but with some elements of the 'post-Atlantis' technology which in conjunction with a nice energy readings suggested at least a possibility of a still functioning ZPM. Since John's team was the most experienced with the Ancient technology of all the possible periods it was them that got the opportunity to check it out. They were given another SG team to ensure that any problems or resistance was taken care of. Even Teal'c was consulted about the lord of this planet. It looked many people seriously wanted Atlantis back in the Pegasus Galaxy. It was comforting to know.

Just before going through the Gate Teyla and Ronon shared with John that they were having bad thoughts about their home galaxy and were unnerved about it. They wanted to go home but, of course they knew the decision wasn't theirs to make. This made their mission's priority even higher since just before they went through the Gate Landry approached Sheppard and gave him a look on a document where the IOA officially approved of a new 'Atlantis mission' in an unlikely event that a fully functional ZPM was found. It meant O'Neill pulled enough strings and probably neglected to mention the intel about a possible ZPM… And now it was up to them to get the power source to go home. John left this knowledge to himself. If they didn't find the ZPM it would be cruel to let the rest know what was lost.

The planet seemed much more dangerous at first sight than it really was, as it turned out after a long scout with one of the jumpers that were transferred to the SGC to aid MALPs in reconnaissance. All the usual infrastructure buildings for Ha'tak landing were present, even some old settlement was there but all of it seemed long ago abandoned. There were no life signs detectable so John turned the ship to searching for unusual energy readings instead. And then Rodney, sitting calmly in the co-pilot chair, started to point to one of the areas on the screen.

"There! Look, it's just like that device on G7-something. There is a powerful energy disturbance near the end of the range."

"Is it dangerous?" Teyla asked remembering what happened at the beginning of the Atlantis mission.

"You serious?! It can even be a ZPM!" Rodney exclaimed with a wide smile.

"What Teyla meant, McKay, is whether or not it is wise to approach in the Jumper or should we go on foot the rest of the way from the beginning of the field?" John growled.

"I don't know, but it may be the case here."

"So, we're walking the rest of the way."

"Wait" Rodney shouted. "Maybe we should try first, maybe the field is off now… You know, it's a pretty long trip and …"

"Yeah, it would damage your knees or something." Ronon sneered from behind John. Marines in the back seemed to join in on the joke.

"Oh yeah, let's all mock me, shall we!?"

"Lace your shoes, McKay, we're not flying any further. I don't want to end like that ship." John pointed to a huge heap of rubble that at some point in time must have looked like a presentable He'tak class Goa'ould ship.

McKay obviously saw an interesting thing somewhere on the horizon because he immediately stopped talking and took out his data pad and started clicking something on it. Then, when John finally landed he stepped purposefully out in the direction of the ship.

"Ho, McKay, not so fast!" said Ronon catching his collar and pulling him back to a halt. "You sure you want to check if there is anyone alive down there by yourself?"

"Erm…" Rodney mulled over the fact with a grimace. "No."

"Just lead us in the direction of the power source, Rodney." John stated. "We're not here to sightsee. We're here to check the unusual energy readings. Whoever was here when the thing crashed it was obviously sometime ago and should have left long ago, but we don't want to provoke anyone who might have come here after or stayed for some reason."

"Right." McKay said and looked at his pad. And looked and looked… and looked.

"McKay!" Ronon growled.

"Yes?"

"MOVE!"

"Ah, yes, this way." Rodney started walking in the same direction they were flying before landing.

John looked where he parked, engaged the cloak ad followed his team with mixed feeling . There was something there, something that seemed to have enough power to suggest a ZPM, but they had seen it before and that ZPM didn't have enough power to maintain the Atlantis' shield for more than a few days much less to move the City to another galaxy. It might turn out his faith was in vain.

The ruins of the mostly underground city they literally stumbled into were quite extensive and well preserved but , on the other hand, completely deserted. They split into two groups to explore further. As always since coming to Earth, Rodney rushed in the direction he believed the power source was hidden and Teyla accompanied him as the only one with enough patience to stand all he was able to throw at his companion. John and Ronon started exploring the rooms closest to the entrance. It became very clear that the place must have been inhabited by the Ancients at least for some time, specifically to the point of abandonment. There were no signs of struggle and everything was in perfect working order, just like Atlantis was when they found it. The only difference was a little rust that covered the walls and all the mechanical part like doors which made opening them a slightly less fluid motion than in other Ancient structures.

John was just sorting through some ancient closets when he stumbled into a some kind of secret compartment.

"Sheppard!"

"I'm fine, Ronon, just surprised." John said from a big hidden room. "Looks like some kind of an Ancient lab, like taken straight from Atlantis."

"You need any help there?"

"Could use some." John stated and started seeking for a light switch. "Just push that reddish stain on the back panel of the closet in the middle. That's what got me here."

"Nothing's happening, Sheppard. You sure that's what switched the entrance?"

"Positive. Should work."

"Nope, doesn't" Ronon said matter-of-factly.

"Maybe it needs to be initialized by someone with the ATA?"Teyla suggested.

"Right." Rodney agreed. "Makes sense. I'll try. Stay close to me and get in if you can."

McKay pushed the right place on the panel but nothing happened. Then he started hitting it.

"Rodney!"

"Sorry." McKay let himself be stopped by Teyla. "Sheppard! This doesn't work. Must be something else than the ATA."

"Are you okay in there, John?" Teyla asked alarmed that they were not able to join him inside. "Can we help you?"

"I'm okay, Teyla. I'll try to get…" John pushed through the wall in the place he came inside and moved effortlessly outside "out. I can go in and out but no one else here can? That's weird."

"Maybe it's made so that only one person can get it?" Teyla suggested.

"Okay, I'm trying it now." Rodney declared pushing on the wall but nothing happened. "Nope, seems Sheppard is the only one who can get there."

"I'm going back." Sheppard said taking out spare data pad from Rodney's backpack.

"Hey! I may need this!" Rodney protested.

"That's how we can communicate. It's got camera, right?" Rodney nodded. "So… you can see what I see if you just link those two. And we can figure it out together."

"Right!" Rodney snapped his fingers and started typing on both devices. "I will get you a small window with a preview from the camera in the right upper corner… and the rest of the screen will be still usable…"

"Just get it working, McKay." Ronon growled.

When Sheppard entered the secret room again he instructed the place to light up and tried to film everything important so that Rodney could tell him what was worth further exploring. There were lots of consoles that lighted up when he came near but Rodney was looking specifically for some way to open the place for himself. John couldn't locate any display so it seemed to be a futile attempt. Then everything went dark and the tablet blacked out. Some kind of simmering barrier seemed to be put in place and John couldn't hear his team anymore. Touching the barrier sent a slight electrical-like jolt through his body and deterred him from trying further. Since everything went dark it was even hard to move.

"What the hell?!" John cursed. "Rodney? Teyla? Ronon?" He shouted trying to reach his friends.

"Don't be alarmed, colonel Sheppard." Said an unknown voice from behind him. "I want to talk with you for a minute. Then I will show you how to lift the blockade."

"Who are you?"

John saw a glimmer of light in the corner of his eye and turned towards what seemed to be the source. A male figure bathed in a soft glow was standing there smiling genuinely. The man was wearing a long white coat that reminded John of some clothes they found in closets in Atlantis when they arrived.

"Are you an Ancient?" John asked skeptically.

"I am." The figure answered circling him. "I came here to talk."

"Isn't it like against some great cosmic rules of your kind to talk to me?"

"I will not be interfering nor telling you anything you'd not be able to figure for yourself, Sheppard."

"So why bother?"

"I may have a 'soft spot' for you." The figure suggested and they both chuckled at that suggestion.

"Why might that be?"

"We had a mutual friend. Different times, but I think she was not really different in your timeline than in mine." The Ancient looked John in the eye provoking him to think harder. "I know she would have wanted you to came back to Pegasus."

"You're telling me you're Janus?!" John suddenly realized. "You're the Ancient that helped Elizabeth the first time and eventually saved all our lives?"

"When I realized you came back to Earth from Atlantis I knew my attempt at failsafes was successful."

"So you didn't know what happened in your home galaxy? I would have thought…"

"We're not all knowing, Sheppard. I chose to stay here. I considered going with back but I knew I couldn't stay away. I roamed here instead. I learned and learned. I tried to gather information."

"Do you…"John started but faltered not knowing if there was any way to say it less personally. "Do you know what happened with Elizabeth? Is there a possibility she ascended?"

"There were some of us travelling to and from Pegasus. I wanted to find out what happened to her but was unable." Janus waved his hand and the lights in the room came back on. "I waited for her to join us since we agreed to help her but her energy was not released."

"What do you mean?"

"Too ascend you need to shed your physical body so that all that's left is your energy. Hers was not released."

"You mean she's not dead?!" John asked hopefully.

"Or her form was unable to do that and kept her energy inside. I don't know what happened. She's not with us." Janus looked at John and saw the man's sour face. "This is not an answer you wanted, is it. I can't tell you what happened but I can help you speed up your return to Pegasus to seek the answer for yourself."

"You can?" Janus just nodded with a smile. "So? What can you tell me?"

Janus walked John to a console nearby. "You need to show your doctor McKay this one, he'll know what to touch to lift the barrier. The ZPM powering the place is half full but you'll find a fully charged one three door down the corridor you came from. It's hidden under a pillar."

"There's nothing there, no energy detectable."

"It's in a protective casing, you need to open it for the energy to be measurable." Janus looked ot the schematics of some tool that was hanging on the wall. "There is trouble in Pegasus. That's what was passed by one of us that just came back. You need to take care of it fast."

John wanted to ask another question but Janus was not there.

"Sheppard, just answer, will you?!" he heard panicked voice of Rodney McKay.

"I'm here Rodney, just preoccupied." He shouted through the wall. "I need to show you something. See if you can make anything out of it." With that John targeted the camera in his tablet on the console identified by Janus.

When asked not one of them would be certain what really happened on the planet but the result was clear. The one ZPM found in the room was nearly depleted, no doubt working for a long time supplying power to the field as well as labs. The other, found in a completely hidden place was full and ready to be plugged in. It was more than enough to guarantee the return trip to Pegasus and means to communicate with Earth on a weekly basis once back there. With that, Jack O'Neill's support and IOA's earlier official declaration there wasn't much to prevent returning Atlantis to it's place. The information spread like a contaigeus disease and soon requests for transfer to Atlantis mission started to flood Landry's and O'Neill's desks. The preparation began in earnest.

The last two weeks before the take off seemed to be endless. With the amount of work that needed to be done every single person was practically sleeping in their workplaces in the City. Atlantis, sitting outside San Francisco still cloaked, started bustling with energy and life again after all this months of darkness. With help of a slightly charged ZPM and backup in form of fully charged one waiting to be plugged in if need arise all the basic systems were fully operational and it was possible to check everything thoroughly before take-off.

"Are we there yet?" Asked Woolsey after he beamed into the control room.

"Almost, sir." Amelia Banks answered with a smile. "There are still some issues dr McKay and colonel Sheppard wanted to check the third time but other than that everything seems to be as ready as can be."

"Good." Wolsey grinned. "We just got an official 'go ahead' from the President himself, so…"

"Oh, you're here!" Sheppard said entering the control room. "What did they say?"

"We have a go. We can take off even now." Wolsey led them to his office. "We are all here so we could do it…"

"You know I would like that, but I think we should wait a week or so." Sheppard said sitting down in a chair opposite the desk. "We were all working pretty hard these past weeks to get the city into top shape before the journey and people are pretty much wiped out. We don't want any mistakes because they were working nonstop for weeks."

"What do you propose we do?"

"Four days leave. If we time it right we can get the city going with skeleton crew since it's fully operational now. Then we collect people, give them a day to manage their things and have a good night's sleep. Then leave with fresh and rested crew."

"What about the skeleton crew? When they have leave?"

"They should be the first to go. There are people with no real family that would agree to that way. Two days away, then back on duty and the last day free here." Sheppard clarified. "I would like to be in that group. I need two days to close everything here and can come back and man the ship."

"Good. Prepare the list and get it to me. I will arrange for beam transport so that no one looses hours to fly where they need."

As John suspected an additional day before the takeoff was a really great idea. Most of the people used all the time they could knowing visiting family and friends would be impossible for the next three months at least. They were sleepy and cranky and the real sleep came just after being back. On the other hand there was enough people to complete necessary crew for the vacation days so they were not really wiped out after their long shift. On the day Atlantis was to rise from the surface of the Earth everyone was there and anxious to get moving already.

"Atlantis, this is the Daedalus, have a nice trip. We'll be escorting you in your short trip from the surface to space."

"Nice to know someone is watching our backs." Chuck smiled. "Wish us luck."

"Good luck." Caldwell's voice could be heard in their earpieces.

"Thanks." Sheppard said sitting in the control chair and concentrating on making as little commotion as possible and drawing as little attention as possible. "We'll need it."

"We don't need luck." Growled McKay. "We need you to concentrate and do it right, Sheppard. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing but!"

"You think it's that easy to move the City then come here and do it yourself!"

Both Caldwell and Woolsey, as well as all the control staff smiled hearing the familiar banter. Everything was coming back to how it should be, how they missed it to be.

The City shook violently for a few seconds and then stilled for a moment. Everyone froze waiting for the final part. Then the vibrations and feeling of movement drove almost everyone out to the balconies. Atlantis started it's slow ascend into the air and then out of the atmosphere. The view took their breaths away. After they reached space the Daedalus came by their side and continued beside the City for a while when they were both putting some distance between them and Earth.

"Okay, Sheppard, this is far enough for safe use of the wormhole drive." Rodney stated and looked waiting to Woolsey.

"Colonel Sheppard, take us home, please." Richard Woolsey's use of term 'home' brought a smile to a lot of faces in the city.

"With pleasure, sir." Sheppard said and concentrated. "See you in three weeks, Daedalus."

With a full ZPM the City slipped into the wormhole drive easily and without problem. Rodney and Radek spent days on end to polish this particular system for this one trip to be smooth and unproblematic as much as possible. It was still hard to navigate properly so after dropping in the general area Lorne changed John in the chair to guide the massive City towards the Lantean ocean's surface the rest of the way. John stumbled into the control room just as the newly promoted lt. colonel Lorne was descelerating over the vast ocean of the planet.

"Nice driving, colonel." Zelenka commented smiling. "Smooth."

"Thanks. You did great tuning it." Sheppard countered when Rodney started murmuring something. "Now Lorne drives, because no matter how much better it is, it's still overwhelming, this wormhole drive." With that Sheppard stumbled and sat in a chair that Amelia Banks moved towards him. "Thanks."

Lorne sat the City down on the water surface with ease and delicacy that prompted some jokes about there being a better driver than Sheppard after all. By the time the hero of the landing came into the control room and received congratulations Sheppard made his way out. The view from the balcony used to calm him and, strangely, ground him to reality of being there, in Pegasus, being alive, and being amongst friends. It was not the case now. The balcony was sad for the last years, a reminder of so many lost members of their family that were not there to see this return.

"You okay?" Ronon asked stepping by and nudging Sheppard on the arm. "Drivin' this thing must be taxing."

"It's not that. By the way shouldn't you be inside and share joy with Banks?" Sheppard tried to get Ronon to leave. He really preferred to wallow in self pity alone.

"Hey, she would have liked for you to celebrate." Ronon said looking over his shoulder to the entrance and smiled seeing all the people coming out to the balcony. "Someone told me that she made a party right outside on balcony on your first evening here."

"Yeah… she did. Opened the big bottle of champagne from O'Neill too." Sheppard smiled remembering. "The Athosians partied with us, cause they just lost their home and some of their own because of the Wraith. She told me to pick my team that evening. It was nice."

"Woolsey was taking out a bottle as I was leaving, everyone is gathering on those balconies two levels down, we're waiting for you, John." Teyla said putting her hand on his arm. "We all have a hard time being back here despite all the joy but I think we should concentrate on the good side. Come on."

Teyla and Ronon took John under the arms and took him with them towards the control room and down to the balcony where the coming back party was taking place. Surprisingly for John there were a lot of Athosians and some other Pegasus natives they met and befriended before. And this time it was not just a sip of champagne but a full cup for everyone, compliments of the President surprisingly.

"The president gave us a box of real champagne?" John asked with a smile talking with Woolsey and Teyla in a corner near the entrance. "That's new."

"The President was slightly opposed to the idea of letting us come here until I started to mention all the people who gave their lives to make this expedition – that expedition function. After that he mentioned doctor Weir, then things just started to roll themselves and he offered to provide means for a toast for all of those people. Who was I to decline the offer?" John must have imagined it but it seemed like Woolsey winked at him.

"So that where the toast came from? The President?"

"Not really, I planned on it before really." Woolsey said leaning on the railing. "I think it's something Elizabeth Weir would have done." Richard looked at him and saw question in John's face. "She took a lot of heat from the IOA but the truth is she kept it all together. She must have done something right – the original expedition and all the people from the first three years is a pretty tight bunch. This kind of chemistry doesn't happen on itself, it's usually guided by someone on top. You could see it in the SGC, especially after Hammond, and then here with Weir."

"She was a great leader, everyone here will tell you that."

"I know, even Caldwell took to her despite the initial hostility after your promotion. I know for a fact that even the crew of the Daedalus took her death very hard." Woolsey disclosed. "I would like to be able to lead this people as well as she did."

"You're not really bad, you know." John said sipping his drink. "There were some hard feelings at the beginning, but you did well. You're part of this family now, you know. You're one of us and this toast you proposed just endeared them to you greatly. Especially that you mentioned Elizabeth by name and at the beginning. That scored you some points, trust me."

"I hope enough to last me through the next years here."

"Up till the end of times. I hope to stay here permanently from now on."

"You and me both."

Woolsey clinked his cup with John's and they both gulped their drinks.

"To Atlantis." Proposed Woolsey.

"To being home and staying home." John said.