A/N: Let out the deep breath now.

Thanks for all the reviews, they make me smile.


Chapter 4- Boy's Night In

He yelled as loud as he could to be heard over the water, "Rodney! Put it down!"

Rodney snapped his head around, "What?"

George approached cautiously but hurriedly, holding his hands out in front of him, "Nothing is worth it man, just give me the knife."

Rodney turned off the hot water, his eyes narrow, "Why?"

He was closer now, "Because killing yourself is never a good idea, just give me it." He held out his hand palm up, keeping his bred-military cool he inherited, but on the inside, he wanted to punch his best friend for even thinking about what he was about to do.

Something clicked in Rodney as he looked down at what he was holding, a long kitchen knife, "Umm, George," he held up a peeled potato, "I wasn't planning to slit my wrists at the kitchen sink. There are better and much more definite ways of killing yourself. Less painful too."

George walked closer, "You can't Rodney, it's not the answer."

"Who said I was going to? Can't I make some food without being accused of being suicidal?"

"But… I… huh?" He looked in the sink, there was a strainer with peeled potatoes and a pot that was waiting to be filled with hot water to boil.

"Dying is the last thing on my mind right now, trust me."

George let out a deep sigh, "Oh good. You scared me."

"Well sorry. I find it interesting that's the first thing you thought of." He yawned.

"Did you just wake up?"

"Yep."

"At six at night?" It wasn't like Rodney worked third shift or anything.

Rodney nodded, "Yep."

"Is that all you've been doing these past few days?"

"I've also been moping and being generally depressed." He paused as a tabby cat walked into the room, "and taking care of Eddington." The cat walked over to his remaining owner and leapt into his arms. Rodney caught the cat instinctively and petted him with care.

"Is it getting any better?"

"In a way. I'm not doing this anymore."

"What?"

Eddington wriggled out of his grasp and jumped back to the floor, weaving in and out of his legs, "Relationships, women… I'm done."

"What are you talking about?"

Rodney's eyes were no longer narrow, they were wide open. His face contorted into one of subdued rage that chilled George, "Women are full of shit, she just left, leaving a pathetic excuse for a 'Dear John' letter. All she said was she doesn't know how to say goodbye, so why did she go? Hmm? Nope, there's no answer to it. I'm done, that's it. Women are nice to look at, I'll deal with them for the obvious reasons, but never, ever will I trust one again."

George stood still and tried to reason with his friend, "I'm sure one day that will change, maybe one day you'll find yourself in a position where you have to trust a woman."

"I'd rather watch my head explode." Rodney turned back and scuffled into the kitchen, leaving George to his thoughts.

---

Rodney looked across to John and Carson who still looked like they were just told the universe was going to end tomorrow and there was nothing they could do about it. Was him being a married man really that unbelievable? By the looks on their faces, he assumed it was.

"How long were you together?" John asked.

"Three and a half years, including the six months we were married."

"You have no idea why she just…" Carson searched for a polite word.

"Left me? No, not really. Unless…" Rodney hid his face, during the whole conversation he could feel the tears coming, but they hadn't burst out until now.

Carson moved quickly, sat next to him and started to rub his back, "Let it out now, lad."

John also moved to sit on the other side of him, listening to the sobs, and patted his back, "It wasn't right, her leaving without explaining herself."

"For you to marry someone, it had to have been the real thing."

Rodney sniffed and mumbled, "You have no idea." He sat up, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

"I believe this calls for a drink."

Rodney nodded to Carson, "Best thing I've heard in two days."

He started to get up, but John stopped him, "In there right?" He pointed behind them.

"Yeah."

"I got it." John stood and went to the cabinet.

Rodney turned his head around, "There's a bottle of vodka and there should be some scotch left from the last time Carson was here."

John mumbled something in reply as he started to rummage.

Carson stroked his chin, "So I did leave it."

"Uh… yeah. Don't you remember?" Rodney sniffled.

"No, not precisely."

John returned and put the bottles and three glasses on the small coffee table. After he poured everyone's drinks, he sat down on the other couch.

Carson saw how visibly upset Rodney was and gently squeezed his shoulder, "Have you talked to her much about all this?"

"I tried but she won't tell me anything. I stormed out of her room yesterday. That was the last time I talked to her." He took a sip from his glass.

"How did you act with her?"

"How do you think?" Rodney snapped back and downed the glass, wincing as he swallowed.

"Perhaps if you were calm about it, she would tell you."

John agreed with Carson, "Being gentle is a good idea."

"Gentle?" Rodney scoffed as he poured another drink, "That's easy for you to say. I just… got so agitated when I talked to her. She said she couldn't tell me anything. What is that? Is it that hard to say why the hell she disappeared? I told you that I came home to a note the day she left, right?"

"Ooo… that's not good." John could almost feel the pain that would bring on.

Carson looked over at Rodney, "What did it say?"

"Hardly anything! Part of it was 'I don't know how to say goodbye, I can't think of any words.' What is that all about? Then why did she go!"

Carson shook his head, "She seemed like a reasonable woman today."

"That's just it. She was. Her leaving doesn't make any sense."

Carson sipped at his own glass, "There had to be some sort of hint or problem. Happy wives just don't leave their husbands."

"But there wasn't. Sure, we had disputes now and then, but we were good."

"Nothing at all comes to mind?" John asked.

"No… well… umm. Maybe."

John prodded, "Well, what?"

Rodney shifted in his seat, he started this whole conversation so he might as well tell them everything, "I keep thinking it has something to do with the whole baby thing."

-

Rodney heard the door to the apartment opening and automatically responded, "Hi hun."

"Hi, dear." Cora shut the door behind her and set her keys on the small table.

He smiled as he looked over from the kitchen, "What did you buy?"

"Oh, it's only a little something for you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Just because." She opened the paper bag, brought out two wrapped bars, and walked over to him.

He took one look at them as she handed them over and exclaimed, "The good chocolate!" He pulled her close and deeply kissed her, feeling her fall into it. "Wait, what's going on?"

She smiled innocently, "Nothing."

"Cora…"

She smiled, "You know me too well." She looked over to the living room nervously, "You might want to sit down."

He put the chocolate on the counter, "I don't like where this is going."

Taking his hand, she led him over to the couch and they sat down, "You might."

"Might?"

She hid her nerves, "Well, we have discussed this before, but about the future. The extremely distant future."

"Just tell me." He was starting to get impatient.

Cora shifted in her seat, "I'm pregnant."

Rodney's jaw flung open and if he wasn't already sitting down, he would have collapsed.

She added, "At least according to the home test."

"No, no… you can't be!"

"It's entirely possible."

"The test is wrong, they can be wrong, nothing's one hundred percent accurate, because this is… this is…" He waved his hand in the air.

"I'm scared enough and you're not making this any better." She crossed her arms.

"But we just got married, it's so early. We talked about someday, years and years… and years from now. We are so not ready."

"You mean you're not ready." She got up and walked a couple of feet away.

He followed and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, "You're right. I'm not."

"What are we going to do?"

"Nothing's positive yet. We'll… we'll go to the doctor and get a definite answer and then uh, then we'll deal with this."

"You sound as if this child is a traffic ticket."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?" She pried away from him.

With his voice raised he responded, "I just get back from campus, then you come home and all of a sudden tell me this? How am I supposed to react?"

She turned around, "At least a bit excited!" She ran into the bedroom and slammed the door.

He went after her and opened the door slowly to find her lying on the bed with her back turned to the door. He spoke quietly, "Cora…" He ran his hand over his flop of dark brown hair, "I just… I don't know about all this."

He heard her sniffle and he continued, "It's… more than a little sudden and I… I'd probably mess the kid up. You saw me with Jeannie's son at the wedding."

"What if I am?" She replied without looking at him.

He crawled on the bed and laid down behind her, cautiously tracing circles on her back, "Then I guess we'll be parents. There's nothing else to do."

She rolled to her other side so she faced him, "I know it's so soon and we haven't begun careers, but… would it be so bad?" She placed her hand on his chest and looked up into his blue eyes.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead, "It'd be interesting."

-

"What?" John practically dropped his glass.

"About uh… two months after the wedding we uh… we thought she was pregnant."

Carson questioned, "Thought?"

"We went to the doctor who confirmed she wasn't, but she… she wanted it, and I – I didn't. Not really. Not then. Kids bug me." Rodney took a deep breath.

John commented, "So we've noticed."

"It's different when they're your own." Carson took a sip from his glass.

"Yeah. Someday I'd like to pass along my genes. They're too valuable to die with me."

"A troop of mini-McKays?" John finished off his glass, "There's a scary thought."

"We've already had two." Carson commented.

"Very funny, guys."

"Do you think that's why she left?" Carson asked as he looked at his empty glass.

"She was gone four months later so… it's logical."

John set down his glass, "Did you guys even talk about it after awhile?"

"No. I thought the issue passed. We agreed to wait a lot of years."

"You both agreed, or you just said and she went along with it?" John poured them all fresh glasses.

"It was definitely a two-person decision."

John shook his head a little, "Then that really doesn't make sense."

"I know. And now she just shows up? With a degree in nanotechnology of all things? And with a different last name? Oh and let's not forget she's friends with Costello. She apparently knows exactly what I don't about all of this." He swallowed about half of his new drink.

Carson couldn't believe it, this was getting stranger and stranger, "Dr. Irene Costello?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It might be nothing."

"What is it?" Rodney asked after taking another sip.

"I'm not at liberty to say, it's about medical records."

John questioned, "Then why did you bring it up?"

"It crossed my mind."

"Can you at least give us something?" Rodney gestured, his hand moving in a circle.

"There's just a coincidence in their records."

John commented, "That's all?"

"Struck me as odd."

"This whole situation is odd!" Rodney exclaimed.

"You know, we haven't really talked about how you feel about her now." Carson commented as he sipped at his glass.

Rodney looked down, "I don't know. I guess I never let myself think about it after awhile. I don't think I ever really moved on."

"That doesn't surprise me, you never had any closure." The Scot replied.

"It was hard, you know? I really loved her and then bam she's gone. I remember one day I was driving a different way back to our apartment and I passed this little flower shop. So I stopped and bought some. She acted like I just bought her diamonds or something."

John edged a word in, "It's the little things."

"Aye."

John continued, "Especially when you buy them stuff without a reason."

"Yeah, I thought I was doing well. We had been friends for a while before anything happened so she knew a lot about me."

"She knew what she was getting into." John was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the thought that someone would really marry Rodney… not that he was a bad person or anything, hell he was John's best friend and saved his ass more than once, but with Rodney's previous exploits with women in the Pegasus Galaxy… he figured the man never actually had a relationship, let alone a marriage. That and Matthews was a brilliant woman, she had to be to get on the Atlantis Expedition, and she had stayed with Rodney so long… Rodney had his faults. Quite a few. Including being bad with people… really bad. It got them into more than their fair share of trouble with the locals on other planets.

"Well…uh yeah. How does someone just get up and walk away from a marriage?"

Carson shook his head, "I don't know lad."

John mused, "I wonder how she feels now."

"She had to know you were here." Carson added.

Nodding, John said, "So I don't think she can have too many negative feelings or anything."

Rodney scooted forward, the alcohol loosening up his tongue on his emotions, "You know something? Part of the reason I was so eager to get here, was the whole "Another Galaxy" thing. Start over, you know? I couldn't work at the SGC, not after making an ass of myself with Carter. And now Cora shows up. My plan is ruined."

John was also beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol, "Maybe now you can really get past it. You said you never did, right?"

Rodney nodded, "Heightmeyer would have a field day with me."

"Why's that?" Carson asked.

"I've effectively been suppressing all this, especially after the funeral." He wiped his eyes.

John cocked his head, "Whose funeral?"

Rodney averted his eyes from the two other men, "George's."

-

"I want you to be my best man."

"What...? You're really going to ask Judy?"

"It's time, I love her and that's not going to change."

"That's good. You've come a long way since undergrad."

George glanced over at Rodney as they climbed a flight of outdoor stairs. Rodney was rubbing where his wedding ring should have been. "I understand if you don't want to be."

"No, no. It's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Rodney walked first to the revolving glass door, George in the section right behind him.

A blast of cool air hit them as they entered the bank. George slapped Rodney's back, "Thanks, man. Now all she has to do is say 'yes'."

"You asked me before her? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"We've already discussed if I was going to ask her, and it's pretty much obvious that I would want you to stand up with me."

"Well if she's smart she'll say yes, you being a future Nobel Prize winner and all. After I get mine of course."

George rolled his eyes, "Of course."

They walked across to the center counter and George took out his bankbook and a deposit slip.

Rodney whispered, "Be careful."

"With what?" He started filling out the slip as Rodney stood next to him.

"Judy. Women are evil."

"Not this one."

"Cora didn't show her true colors for a long time."

"It's been what, a year man? It's time you stop being so angry."

"I can't."

"One of these days, that will change. Be right back." He went up to the cashier as Rodney stayed back.

Rodney rocked on his heels, observing around him. There was a large open area right where you walked in. The outside wall was all glass, giving a good view of downtown and the security guard stood by the doors. The bank wasn't extremely busy, but there were enough people so the tellers wouldn't be bored - a woman and two kids, two men in black suits and ties carrying briefcases, one elderly woman in a bright yellow blazer, another in orange, and a middle aged man with rolled-up sleeves.

His attention was diverted as George stepped up beside him, "Ready?"

"Yeah." They started to walk the twenty feet to the revolving glass doors when another man walked in, dressed in a black suit.

"Everyone down!"

Rodney and George snapped their heads around to see the other two suited-men aiming handguns around at the customers.

As they spoke, the man who just entered hit the distracted security guard in the head, knocking him on the ground.

"Crap." Rodney muttered.

George responded, "You can say that again."

"Move! Over in the corner." One of the suits commanded to everyone as one of the others closed the shades to the street.

Without seeing much of a choice, George and Rodney huddled on the ground, hands on their heads, with the other customers. They watched as the suit who took care of the guard also immobilized the revolving door, preventing anyone from coming in.

The one who lowered the shades was busy interrogating the three tellers at gunpoint, "Where is the manager?"

A brunette-haired teller quietly pointed to the right side of the bank, to where a hallway was. The suit ushered the three women over by the others and after a nod from the third suit, went to the hall.

George whispered, "That one has to be the boss."

"Oh, what gave you that idea? The fact that he's telling the other two what to do?" Rodney replied, keeping his voice quiet.

The children were crying, while their mother was trying desperately to keep them quiet. The elderly women also had frightened faces as the man gently attempted to comfort them.

"If they do anything, I'll fix them."

Rodney saw how George was clenching his fists behind his head, "Are you insane?"

"Possibly." He clenched his jaw.

The boss-suit heard the others making noises and aimed his handgun at the family, "Silence them or I will." He swerved it to the two women, "Same for you."

The mother and children whimpered.

"We have to do something." George said almost without volume.

Rodney snipped equally as quiet, "Like what?"

The boss-suit walked over to them, "Don't get any ideas, young men. Heroes do not live long." He kept his weapon pointed at them.

"Why do think we'd try anything?" George answered as sweetly innocent as he dared.

"I have ears." Boss-suit walked, without turning his back to them, to where the other suit had disappeared with a briefcase to a back hallway.

Rodney muttered as he looked over at the suit by the door, "Shit. I cannot believe this."

"I can't either." George's face fell into an eerie calm.

Rodney nudged him, "Don't do anything stupid." If there was one thing he knew about his best friend, it was his bravery and a complex for helping people.

"I won't."

Boss-suit stared at him, "I said silence!" The children continued their crying.

"Arrogant ass." Rodney said louder than he should have. The next thing he knew, he had the butt of a gun coming down on the back of his head.

Reality seeped back into Rodney's mind by way of screams and scuffles. He forgot where he was until he opened his eyes and saw George's jeans too close for comfort to black slacks.

Crap

He sat up too quickly and blinked the majority of blurriness from his eyes. There was radiating pain from the back of his head, but he ignored it as he struggled to his feet and failed, the blow had knocked his balance off.

He caught sight of George and boss-suit struggling with something in between them, their hands and arms wrapped up in each other's.

He heard a shot coming from the door and saw the suit aiming at the duo, and another shot coming from the duo themselves.

As the two men backed away from each other, Rodney finally got to his feet, the past few seconds blurring together.

George looked down at his left hand, the small pistol gripped tightly in it.

Boss-suit smiled as he looked at George's torso.

George followed his gaze, rubbed his shirt, and looked down at his red hand. With his grip weakening on the gun, he raised and aimed it. Before door-suit could get in another shot, he fired at boss-suit with deadpan accuracy.

Boss-suit flinched back, clutched his chest, and promptly collapsed as George fell to his knees. Rodney launched over to him, not paying attention as door-suit fired hitting his mark or to the third suit strolling in from the back with two suitcases.

Rodney caught George as he fell the remaining way to the ground, amazed at the amount of blood that can come out of a person. Horror flooded his face as he tried to get George to respond, "George, come on, stop playing… …"

The surroundings went unnoticed as he shook his friend and pushed away the middle-aged man who had been keeping the elderly women calm, "You can't make Judy a widow before the wedding…" George was unresponsive as his eyes stared blankly and Rodney instinctively knew he was gone.

He refused to believe it.

He paid no attention to the two remaining suits carrying their boss, who George had shot in the heart, as they snapped pictures, without using a flash, and left calmly.

-

"Oh no." Carson whispered, realizing just how much Rodney had been through in his younger days.

John thought about it too, "When was that?"

"A year after she left."

"How'd he…" John didn't want to say.

"Die? Would you believe a bank robbery?"

Carson raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

"Yeah. Bastard tried to play hero and everything. Went for the robber's gun and took one to his stomach. Another guy shot him twice, one hitting his heart. That's the one that killed him." Rodney could feel the tears bubbling back.

Carson rubbed his back, "That must've been terrible to hear about."

Rodney looked up with haunted eyes, "I was there. He died when I was holding him. He bled to death in my arms, without a word. But he got that one guy, the one he was struggling with. Shot him in the heart after he already had the first two bullets in him."

John's ears perked up, "Sounds like he was one hell of a man."

"Army bred. Figures right? His dad was a Colonel the last I knew. George got kicked out of the academy." Rodney shook his head, "He was too much for them, so he switched over to MIT. His dad wasn't too happy about that."

"Kicked out?" John went on, "I would have liked to meet him."

"You would have liked him. He loved the army, he grew up with it, you know?"

John nodded, "Yeah."

"It just isn't for some people, though. I can't see myself going back to the navy as much as I liked it."

John and Rodney turned to Carson and simultaneously yelled out, "What?"

Just then, the door decided to chime.

"Who's that?" Rodney asked.

Carson shrugged, "It's your quarters."

"Dr. Z, maybe?" John suggested.

Carson nodded, "We did leave him that message."

It chimed again, but twice in a row.

Carson commented, "Whoever it is, they're getting impatient."

"What if it's 'Lizabeth?" Rodney asked a little frightened.

John grinned, "Then we'll invite her in for a drink."

"We have a mission tomorrow!"

The door chimed again.

"Oh, I'll answer it." Carson thought the door open.

Radek peered in, "Hello."

"Got our message?" John waved him in.

"Yes, the large note on door saying 'Meet it Answer-Man's room' was hard to pass up." He sat down next to John, "So, what did I miss?"

The three men that were on their way to being drunk erupted in laughter to the vexation of the Czech. He promptly stood up and went to get a glass for himself from Rodney's cabinet.

He sat back down, allowing his three friends to settle before commenting, "Whatever it is, I assume we'll all be needing my hangover cure in morning?" He poured himself a drink.

"You have no idea." John held his side. "Rodney, I think you should tell him."

"What? That I'm married to Dr. Cora Matthews?"

Radek, who had been taking a sip of his drink, spit it all over, "What!"

Carson nodded, "It's true." He gestured to the blackened photo album on the coffee table.

With his face in full shock, Radek adjusted his glasses and looked closer at what Carson had pointed to and saw the label. "Unbelievable."


A/N: The night is hardly over… the girls next.

I just can't see Rodney truly being suicidal, too much of a survival instinct. That's just my view anyway.

Click the little button and leave me something, thanks! Keep the little bunnies fed.