Rating: T

Spoilers: Season Four: AU version of Quarantine and beyond

A/N: I don't own Stargate. Please read and review. Thank for your continuing support. Thank you to Shadows-of-Realm for the beta.


"How bad is it that they armed the self destruct?" Rodney was in full panic mode and he was back on his feet, pacing the room again. "This is to get back at me. I finally kiss her and this is what happens. Nice sense of humor," he said to no one in particular. The fact that he had idea how long before the city would explode increased his panic. He only knew it was somewhere between a half hour and an hour. "I'm sorry I kissed you, Jennifer. It was out of line. It won't happen again. Not that it could happen again as we will all be dead within an hour. Don't get me wrong it was really, really nice, but it shouldn't have happened. I got caught up in the moment. We're friends, right? Kissing you like that makes me a bad friend. I'm involved with Katie. Then that makes me a bad person that I think about you more than her. Never mind. Forget I said anything. I am going to shut up now before I get myself into more trouble." Rodney tried to get as far away from Jennifer as possible. "It's not that I don't find you attractive because believe me, you're quite attractive," he closed his eyes, trying to get his mouth to stop running, but his mind was racing too much. "Probably half the men on this base would have loved to do what I just did and I am probably the only one who is stupid enough to regret it." Rodney was too lost in his own rambling to hear Jennifer trying to get his attention.

Jennifer had called his name at least a dozen times before she had enough and had to stand in front of him and forcibly shake Rodney to get his attention. She was not sure what made her dizzier, his pacing or his babbling. She did not know how to take what Rodney said in his rant, but part of her felt hurt when he said that he regretted the kiss. At least he had stopped talking so she could get a word in, wondering if it was going to be one of her last. "Rodney, I wanted you to kiss me," she reminded him. "This wouldn't be the first time a friend felt something more than friendly feelings for another friend," Jennifer looked at him in the eye. She would not say she was in love with him, but her feelings could have become that if she had the chance to explore her attraction to Rodney. There was no denying that there was a big spark during the kiss; there was definitely something there. In their bleak situation it was now something she would never get the chance to find out. "We are really screwed, aren't we?" It was the first time since being trapped that she let panic seep into her voice.

"Totally screwed. Unless someone disarms the self destruct it's game over for us all." Her words were finally sinking in and it could not come at a worse time. Then John's words from earlier echoed in his head: If Keller showed one bit of interest in you outside of friendship you would be all over it. When those words were spoken he would have agreed, but now that it had happened it was not what he expected. They had kissed and he regretted it and she had just admitted that she had more than friendly feelings for him and right now he felt nothing. Rodney knew he should have felt something, but life in the Pegasus Galaxy taught him that good things only lasted a short while and in this case a very short while. "This timing really sucks."

Suddenly the alarm stopped and Jennifer looked relieved, "See someone shut it off."

Rodney was not so convinced, "More than likely they just turned off the alarm." He knew in the pit of his stomach that they were not going to get out of this.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. She should have known better that he would have seen the possibility of a negative outcome. "Figures you would say that," she sighed. "Can you at least sit down and stop doing your hamster imitation?" The frightened woman looked up at her companion and smiled slightly, "Sorry that came out wrong. You're not the only one who feels helpless here. You know this is not the way I pictured it ending. I always expected that it would be the Wraith."

"I guess there are worst ways to go. We could be tortured by a Wraith Queen or fed upon. Both ways are quite painful and at least this way should be quite painless," he sat next to her and smirked impishly.

"Because that makes it much better," she rolled her eyes again. "I know you regret kissing me, but I don't regret it. Katie is lucky to have someone like you." As much as it hurt to say that, she felt that he needed to know that.

Rodney laughed nervously because he knew she had no idea how wrong she was, "I'm not so sure about that. I've spend more time with John and you then I do her. I never told her about the night I spent with you our first night here on M35-117. That is not what I meant," his face was red with embarrassment.

"You mean when we both fell asleep on the couch in my office." If Jennifer had to trace the beginning of her attraction to him, it would have been the night that solidified it. It was a night that Rodney revealed a side of him that she thought not many people ever got to see. Jennifer had to wonder if it was an unrealized attraction that drew them together in the first place and the shared guilt of reactivating Elizabeth's nanites that created a bond that evolved into where they were now.


It had been after they reconnected the Atlantis gate to the Pegasus Gate Network and Jennifer was in her office working on some paperwork when she heard the knock on her office door. Upon opening the door she saw a mentally and physically exhausted Rodney.

"I need something to help me sleep," Rodney looked down, counting the tiles on the floor. With as exhausted as he was he knew there was no way he would be able to sleep without any help or without the nightmares he knew were to come. This was all too much too soon; first with Carson and now Elizabeth.

Jennifer looked at him with great concern. "Is everything alright?" She asked, knowing everything was far from alright. "I'll get you something," she said quietly.

The destroyed man nodded as he sat on the small couch in the office. "I just can't believe she is gone," Rodney said in a small voice when he heard Jennifer return.

"I know, but she gave her life to save all of us," she tried to put a positive spin on it, knowing it still didn't feel right.

He looked up at her with a hint of tears in his eyes, "Did we do the right thing?" Rodney quickly wiped them away, "My body is so tired that my eyes are tearing, but my mind won't let me sleep." He said with a nervous edge to his voice.

Jennifer handed him two pills and sat next to him, "At the time it seemed like the right move. We were losing her and I didn't know what else to do. Do you think that if we didn't do it we would still be here now?"

The astrophysicist shrugged, "I'm not sure. Chances are slim that we would." Rodney lowered his head and took a deep breath. "Every time I close my eyes I imagine what Oberoth is doing to her. With the way my mind works it's pretty horrendous. I shouldn't have insisted on changing their base code so they would attack the Wraith. All of us would have gotten out."

She knew now the reason he wanted the pills, to block out what ever nightmares he was going to have. Jennifer tentatively put her hand on arm. "Rodney, you can't think like that. It worked, didn't it? The Replicators are now attacking the Wraith."

Rodney sighed, knowing that she had a point. "Can we talk about something else?" he hoped that a change of subject would temporarily distract him.

After that the conversation shifted to a lighthearted mood. The two department heads talked for a few hours about everything from their childhoods to their mutual dislike of b-grade, bad science fiction movies. The talking only stopped when Rodney passed out from sheer exhaustion and Jennifer did not have the heart to wake him. She also did not want to leave him alone and watched him until she fell asleep herself.


The man she saw that night was quite different from the arrogant jackass people made him out to be. It was the baring of Rodney's vulnerable side that made her want to get to know him better.

Rodney nodded, "That's the one." He offered a weak smile. That night he had gone to her office under the guise of looking for something to help him sleep, but he had gone to her because it had been the two of them who got them who reactivated the nanites. Something that night pulled him towards her; perhaps it was to see if she shared the same guilt. What came from that night was not what he expected. It was never Rodney's intention to open up like that and when he did he had never felt better. He was not sure when he started to feel something for her, but in the weeks following that night he found himself making excuses to visit the infirmary: a minor burn to a finger or a deep paper cut. At first he just enjoyed the normal conversations that did not revolve around work and somewhere it evolved into more. Rodney had not gone looking for something to develop between them; it was one of those unexpected things that you suddenly notice was there. Now all he had to look forward was to die at any moment and in a strange way he was at peace with it. Rodney leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

Jennifer stared at Rodney as he got comfortable on the floor, "That's it? You are just giving up?"

Rodney lifted his head, "There isn't a whole lot I can do from here. No computer, remember. We can only wait and since this place doesn't work it is no use to us."

She made a face as his response was not what she was hoping for, but Rodney was right and there was nothing they could do. "Mind if I join you over there?" Jennifer asked in a soft voice. She thought she should get comfortable as well if there was nothing to be done.

"Okay," he replied. "There is plenty of space," Rodney knew that sounded lame, but he did not know what else to say.

Jennifer quietly nodded. She could feel the fear growing as she did not know how much time they had left. There was so much in her life that she would never get experience and the only comfort she had was that she would not be alone. The scared woman laid next to Rodney, her head resting on the edge of his shoulder. "For luck," she offered her hand.

Rodney's head started to get fuzzy as they locked hands. "We are going to need it," he squeezed her hand. It felt right and wrong to lay side by side. It's all innocent. We are just laying here and waiting to die. He turned his head and mentally cursed at how close their faces were to each other. "I didn't really regret it," the scientist spoke of the kiss. Rodney wanted to be truthful to her because he was not sure if he had hurt her feelings by saying he did.

A small smile formed on Jennifer's sad face, "You don't have to say that."

"It's the truth. It was still wrong of me to do, but I don't regret kissing you. Ever since that night in your office I felt like I gained a new best friend and as the months passed something changed. I didn't even see it coming and to be honest I don't know what it really is. I just know it's something different and special," Rodney was not sure if he could classify it as love, but it was different from anything he had ever experienced.

The words caused Jennifer's smile to grow as she knew exactly what he was talking about. "I know what you mean. It's the same for me too," she pressed her hand against his cheek. "I don't know how to explain it either."

He felt a flush overcome his face as their eyes locked. There were no words that needed to be spoken as the looks said everything that needed to be said. "Yes or no?" Rodney asked, wanting to see if the same intensity was there as before.

Jennifer nodded and waited for him to make the move this time. Her eyes closed as their lips made contact and she knew immediately that the first kiss was not a fluke. The same intensity was there as before and there did not seem like there was anything to stop them.

The duo did not break from the lip lock until they needed to catch their collective breaths. The separation of lips did not last long and the department heads started to kiss again. When faced with impending death sometimes people do things they would not consider doing normally.


Lorne looked at his commanding officer, "Why did you arm the self destruct?"

"I didn't," John looked to Chuck or Radek for an answer.

"Before the computers went out it said breech of quarantine," Chuck shook his head. "Most likely when the Colonel threw the plant through the door."

"Did you see how long we have?" the military commander glared at Radek, wanting answers from the scientist.

Radek shook his head, "Didn't get a chance to, but McKay mentioned that it is somewhere been thirty minutes to an hour, depending on certain things which he never explained."

When they got out of this John wanted to have a long talk with Rodney about making sure he left copies of his plans in case something like this happened again. "How can we turn this off?" He was open to any ideas.

"The only way now is to cut the power from the main power room, but we have no way of getting there," Zelenka pointed out the obvious.

"I can climb back down the way I came," Sheppard suggested even though he was not keen on the idea, knowing it would be a lot harder to climb down.

"The power room is in the center of the tower. You are never going to make it with the doors sealed," Amelia had to burst the man's bubble.

John made a face as he felt the situation get bleaker. "What about C-4? Do you have any on you?" he asked Lorne who was still wearing his tac vest.

"A little," Evan pulled out the single block he had. "That's it," he saw the disappointment of his commanding officer's face.

"You've got to be kidding me," the colonel was deflated at the small amount available to them. "Come with me," he said to his second in command. "And the two of you," John pointed to Radek and Chuck.

The four left the control room with one brick of C-4 and big hopes of getting out of this alive.

"You really have no idea where Rodney is?" Radek asked. "I thought he would be all over this. He has been a little off since he came back."

John shrugged, "He was supposed to meet Katie for lunch, but he never made it there. She's in his lab with Teyla. So I don't have a clue where he is, but I'm sure his imagination is working overtime." Right now McKay was the least of his concern. They needed to get to the main power room before the city destroyed itself.

After blowing up several doors, there was only enough of the C-4 left to blow up one final door.

"This does not even get us close to where we need to be," John started to get angry. He was not sure who to blame for this situation if where was anyone to really blame. "Set the charge," he ordered the other military man.

"Sir, I'm sorry," Lorne looked like he had failed his commander and everyone on the base.

"This is not your fault Major," Sheppard pressed the button of the detonator and used the last bit of explosives they had.

John's reassurance did not do much for the major. His head turned when banging was heard from a nearby door of one of the transporters.

Radek looked surprised that someone was trapped inside. "Someone is inside?"


Ronon tried once more to get the door open to no avail. The anxiety of being trapped grew the longer the alarm and the fact the Sam seemed calm only agitated him more. "How can you be so calm?" the words came out as an almost growl.

Sam wiped the sweat from her brow, "After doing this for as long I have you learn to keep an even head in situations like this." She had lost count the number of times that SG-1 had been in situations where it did not look like they were going to survive.

"I'm used to shooting my way out of things like this, but I left my gun in my room," the Satedan smacked the door with his hand. "The alarm stopped," Ronon pointed out. "Does it mean they turned it off?"

The base commander shrugged, "Hopefully. Next is to get the lockdown cancelled." The doors had yet to open and that would only happen when the quarantine was over. Sam closed her eyes and took several deep breaths as the heat of the close quarters was starting to affect her. "If you stop moving it will seem less warm," she offered as friendly advice, knowing it was not going to work as the air seemed to be escaping.

"Has something like this happened to you before," Ronon inquired. He did not know much about the woman other than she been on an exploration team like his for a long time.

Sam nodded, "Once or twice." She recalled the number of times that the self destruct had been armed at the SGC to have it turned off at the last second. Carter jumped when she heard an explosion nearby. "Now would be a good time to hit those doors."

The trapped inhabitants started banging on the doors, hoping to alert whoever was on the other side.


The two stronger men went to the doors to pry them open. It took several moments, but John and Evan finally got them open.

"Colonel...Ronon," John got of the way to let the two out. It was an odd combination that had been stuck together, but he thought no odder than being trapped with Rodney's girlfriend.

"Are you alright, Colonel?" Lorne helped to support the woman.

"Thank you. I'm fine Major, "Sam leaned against the wall, enjoying the cooler air on her skin. "Did Rodney disarm the self destruct?"

John shook his head, "It hasn't been disarmed and I have no idea where McKay is. We were on our way to shut it off." He turned his attention to Ronon, "You okay?"

"Fine," the burly man shrugged. "McKay's missing?"

Zelenka nodded, "Hell of a time for it too."

"How much time do we have left?" Sam asked, trying to assess the situation.

"Don't know. All the computers went down before we got a chance to see," John looked for a way to get to the power room. "We were on our way to the power room to reset the power."

"What are we waiting for?" Ronon asked knowing there was no time to waste.

"We just used the last of the C-4. Do either of you have any?" Lorne asked.

"No," both answered simultaneously.

Radek looked around when something caught his eye, "The vent." He pointed to the grate near the ceiling. Blank stares from everyone told him that he needed to explain. "It should lead to the power room. Someone will have to crawl through to get there...Oh, why are you looking at me like that?" Zelenka did not like the looks he was getting.

"You are small enough," Ronon sized the small man up.

"You would fit nicely," John added. "And you get to be the hero for the day. Look at it this way; you can rub it in McKay's face that you saved the day without him," he hoped that would work to calm the scientist's nerves.

"Oh, alright," Zelenka reluctantly agreed before muttering select Czech curses under his breath.