Someone Somewhere

by GVBW

Atlantis is back from the bottom of the ocean and Rodney is back from his planetary grave, but things are never easy for this group.

4. Chapter 4

Someone...Somewhere... Part 4a

I had some real trouble with this final chapter but here it is. Sequels never satisfy me the way the originals do. Oh well. Hope you like it anyway.

SGASGASGASGASGASGA

"How about Ronan and I checking out these energy readings?" Rodney suggested. Hours of looking over the data had gleaned little more than some massive energy readings in a direction away from the quantum signature. "Look – we've been here for hours, we haven't been harmed, can it hurt to look around a little?"

"I doubt the Jeannie-bot will like that Rodney." Sheppard instinctively did not trust her and not only because she was a Replicator or the predecessor of one, but because she looked like McKay's dead sister. She even sounded like Jeannie and that was creepy on so many levels.

"What if I ask her - it? Maybe it'll take us there. We're not asking to see the engines – right? Maybe seeing whatever animal or plant life or whatever these readings are here is okay with her - it?"

"What if the readings turn out to a new mortal enemy Rodney?" Sheppard asked. "I think we've reached out quota for this century, don't you?"

"What if it turns out to be something that could benefit us? Turn the tables against the Wraith or the Replicators?" Rodney countered. "Come on colonel...we have a unique opportunity here..."

Sheppard felt the tension building in his back and his jaw and shifted his shoulders to ease it. "The last time we ventures into unknown territory, I wasn't all that crazy about the consequences."

Rodney swallowed and his flashed quickly to each of the faces of the other team members. The worry in their eyes - that he had missed up until this minute - was evident. "Nothing's going to happen to me John. This isn't some worm-hole experiment and I'm not going off alone somewhere." He insisted. "When are you going to cut the leash?"

Sheppard could not help but stare at the scientist, trying to quell visions of McKay vanishing before his eyes. Sheppard looked away to Ronan whose posture was tight and tense, anxious to make a move of any sort, and then back at Rodney whose face was far too eager to spend time with his fake and most likely deadly sister. But suppose he was right and the readings were something other than animal or flora? "I guess there's no harm in asking. I suppose the worst they can do is kill us."

Rodney reasoned it out. "Look, I doubt their intention is to kill us, at least not outright, or they probably already would have. And why send a "pleasing" Replicator, one we're familiar with, if all they wanted to do was hurt us?"

Sheppard nodded. "Honestly I can think of a few reasons, not the least of which is to distract us or to influence you but, fine, when it returns, we'll ask it."

Rodney protested "I am not being influenced."

"So you say." Sheppard responded but did not elaborate.

Ronan looked with sympathy to the little scientist. "No one would blame you if you were. You didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Jeannie."

His lips pressed into a thin line "Look – I admit that it's a little...disconcerting to see her, even as a Replicator, but I am not about to go over to the enemy or anything, okay? Jeannie is dead. I know that..."

Even Sheppard could spot the slight misting of his friend's eyes.

"...But it doesn't change anything." Rodney finished, swallowing the lump threatening to close up his throat. It went down hard.

Sheppard still looked unconvinced. "Are you sure McKay? You have to be sure."

Slightly upturned nostrils flared "I'm sure. How many times do I have to say it?"

Sheppard stared back at him, measuring the weight of his friend's assurances against the vulnerabilities of a man back from the dead only to learn the loved ones he left behind died in his absence. Sheppard nodded "Fine," he said. But his guts still told him they should be forgetting this whole idea of checking out energy readings and be instead sticking to their original plan; blowing the whole damn place and going home.

"Besides..." McKay added.

Sheppard threw him a look that said Hah! I knew you weren't finished. It did not escape Rodney. "Besides what if these readings are...what if the energy I've been reading is life...like an ancient or someone?"

At this juncture Sheppard felt the overwhelming desire to not give a shit. Damned ancients had bugged out of their own battle anyway, hadn't they? Skipped out on their own goddamn war by ascending their way to paradise or where-ever-the-fuck. "If there's an ancient or two still around – great - we'll do what we can for them, we'll deal, but a short time from now this vessel is space dust because no matter what this city cannot be allowed to reach Earth. I don't care how many ancients are sleeping their way through this galactic cruise."

Ronan nodded. "Agreed."

Rodney lifted his chin as though he dared anyone to assume he thought otherwise. "Absolutely."

XXX

"We have been aware of your scans of our vessel and the energies your equipment has detected." Jeannie-bot explained. "I should be glad to escort you there. They have been sleeping for a very long time."

Rodney and Teyla exchanged looks. They?

At first Sheppard said nothing and then forced an amiable smile to his lips. "We'd love to meet...them." Sheppard said.

As they followed the Jeannie Replicator through countless corridors and into several transporter rooms not unlike the sort in Atlantis, John kept a discrete watch on the Jeannie-bot and on McKay, who could not take his eyes off of her.

"Um, how long have you been traveling?" McKay asked.

"The ancestors began to create and program us ten thousand, three hundred-sixty-one years, thirteen days ago. Together we built this vessel so they could leave their planet and travel to other worlds and galaxies."

"So them mean your ancestors? They are the life readings?"

"Yes." Jeannie-bot said amiably. "We care for them."

"That's a long time to be traveling through space. Didn't the ancient- I mean ancestors have star drive? You know, faster than light speed?"

"In the beginning speed was never an issue between the stars. Our ancestor's goals were exploration and knowledge therefore our star drive, as you call it, was only utilized when traveling between one planetary system and another."

"So you have been in space all this time?" Teyla asked.

"Correct. This vessel has the capacity to continue on its journey for another fifty-two thousand years, although we will not require all of our energy to reach our final destination."

Rodney looked over at Sheppard whose eyes were now a little more alarmed. "Um, so where were they going originally?" Rodney asked while his face said Please not Earth.

"Their goal was to eventually travel to their ancestral home world via the exploration of many hundreds of other solar systems. To acquire knowledge was and is their primary goal." The Jeannie-bot stopped before another elaborately carved double door. This one was three stories high and depicted a variety of animals, trees, flowers and plants all twisting together in a kaleidoscope of colour. "But they also set a time to return home. They designed us to be their caretakers during travel between worlds, and we are here to awaken our creators when we arrive."

Sheppard stepped between McKay and the Jeannie-bot. The move was hardly a conscious one anymore. McKay looked irritated but said nothing.

Jeannie-bot pressed a series of lighted panels in the door-frame. These devices too, had the appearance of Atlantis but everything here was ten times as big and far more finely finished. Almost not a square foot of it remained free of decoration or controls of for things Sheppard could not even guess at. It was Atlantis plus a thousand times and much of it seemed to have been manufactured for purely esthetic reasons. Of course there are ancients here, Sheppard thought. Why would a bunch of Replicators care about the decor'?

"We have arrived." Jeannie-bot announced and the doors opened wide.

Sheppard and Ronan entered first. Before them was an immense series of rooms stretching out for a half mile in almost every direction, a fan of tall corridors stacked floor to ceiling with what appeared to be pods. Machines hummed softly in the background, the lighting was subdued, as though to encourage restful slumber. The atmosphere was oxygen-rich and fresh and smelled not unlike an early morning on a Colorado alpine prairie.

Sheppard felt his heart-rate rise sharply as his eyes took in the vast scene. He'd seen similar scenes aboard a Wraith Hive. It was to say the least unsettling only here there was no Wraith.

Instead, as evident by the pods closest to them, inside each one was a sleeping human being.

Sheppard, trying very hard to keep his voice calm and even, asked "You said something about traveling somewhere, to their ancestral home. Where exactly is that home?"

Jeannie-bot turned to address him and the others directly, her hands clasped before her. "We are taking them to the Sol system." It smiled sweetly "Our goal is Earth."

XXX

"Okay, this is big, this is big." The team was back in their host's visitor's room. The Jeannie Replicator had brought them some refreshments of simple sliced fruits and water stating she would bring them back once the chosen pod had completed its waking cycle.

But even Rodney, pacing back and forth, his hands never still, passed over eating. "This is so fricken' big."

Ronan rolled his eyes at the little scientist. "I think we got it, McKay, it's big."

Ignoring the hint to shut up - "There's gotta' be over a million ancients in that room. Don't you know what this means?" Rodney asked and then answered for them "It means these are the original Replicators that the ancients themselves constructed - and some of the first Ancients to ever explore the galaxy. They might even predate Atlantis! Imagine - the first generation of Replicators before they learned to replicate and before they got all angry at mommy and daddy and went nuts. Before they stuck all ancients and their offspring – namely us - on their killing list."

Teyla looked less than enthusiastic. "If that is true then it is unlikely they are even aware of the war with the Wraith."

Sheppard nodded, biting his lip. "No, they've been doing the tourist thing for the last ten thousand years. I don't imagine that breaking news flash ever reached them."

"No, no, no you're not getting me." Rodney said. "It means these Replicators are not self-programming - at least not yet. These Replicators are non-replicating. We don't have to do anything to them. We don't have to destroy anything."

Sheppard narrowed his look. "What are you talking about Rodney?"

"Don't you get it? They're not deadly - they don't want to hurt us or anyone else. All they're trying to do is get their parents home."

Not impressed "Yeah, home to Earth." Ronan reminded him.

"So we should let them, I mean not reach Earth of course but if we can negotiate with them, we may have time to study them, we might even be able to talk directly to an ancient - that is if the translator can interpret ten thousand year old Ancient. I mean we will be finally speaking with an Ancient who isn't a ghost or trapped inside some computer program or, you know, screwed up in some other horrible way. Think of the knowledge contained in the computers here, or in the ancients themselves? Those ancients had knowledge that spanned galaxies. We can't just wipe that out, it would be crazy."

Sheppard saw where McKay was going and was quick to squelch it. "You seem to be forgetting that the progeny of the Replicators did turnhostile and can now replicate at will, and which are warring with us right now. Maybe these Replicators aren't mad at us right this minute but that could change at any time, Rodney. These are Replicators, not some pile of junk."

Rodney blinked and Sheppard could see the little wheels rolling in the scientist's head. "What about if take a few of them, I mean the Ancients, back to Atlantis?" He saw Sheppard's face "O-or one? If we could take even just one of them? There might be knowledge locked in that brain we may never see again that could be vital to Earth's future. Do you know we've been on Atlantis almost five years and we still only understand about a tenth of their technology? If we could unlock the rest of their ancient tech' we could learn every potential mistake the ancients, I mean the other ancients, made against the Wraith, every wrong move, every miscalculation, and avoid them all. In the next skirmish we'd be on the winning side for a change. They might even give us control over this vessel."

It was a good point. Sheppard recalled all the mistakes Stargate Command had made so far, some of them biggies, and Atlantis was mostly just barely holding her own. The problem was there was no telling when a happy Ancient or a cooperative Replicator could change. Even one ancient with a mind full of ten thousand years of knowledge and experience was tempting but inside the moon sized vessel there were also at least several thousand proto-replicators traipsing through the stars on their way to Earth. That was also a problem and a whopping big one. Too big to ignore.

And then Sheppard remembered something else; the ancients, even with all their knowledge and technology and wisdom assailed against the Wraith...

Had lost. "It's too risky." Sheppard said. "There's no way we can know for sure that these Replicators wouldn't turn nasty as soon as they realise what their masters and guests are up to. And I for one am not willing to roll the dice on it."

Teyla added "And we cannot, no matter what, let this vessel continue on its way. Think of what could happen if even one Replicator made it to Earth?"

Ronan nodded. "And what if the other Replicators find out about it?"

Rodney knew they were all correct, but all that knowledge, all that potential to defeat a mortal enemy..."But colonel..." He was rubbing at his hands.

Sheppard glanced down. "Are they hurting?"

But Rodney waved away his concern. They were hurting and had been for a while. "They're fine...for now." He dropped his hands back to his sides, determined to ignore the pain. "John we cannot miss this opportunity."

"No Rodney. No way. We blow the ship as planned." He had to ask. "Are you with us or should I ask you to stand down?"

McKay straightened his back against that one. "Of course I'm with you but you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"Do you really want the deaths of a million people on your conscience?"

Teyla sighed. "I hate to agree colonel, but Rodney is correct. They may be ancient but they are still human. How can we justify killing them? There must be another way to destroy the ship but preserve the lives inside it."

Sometimes Sheppard hated his inner sense of morality. He hadn't planned on mass murder either. "Any suggestions? We can't transport a million ancients aboard the Daedulus."

"We try and talk to one, like I suggested," Rodney answered. "The Jeannie-bot will be bringing him or her any time now."

Sheppard sighed. "Okay. Well I hope you have a good list of questions Rodney because-"

The door opened and Jeannie-bot stepped in. "Doctor McKay." She announced. "The awakening cycle is nearly complete."

Sheppard looked at his team but in particular Rodney. "Time to meet and greet."

XXX

When they arrived back in the sleep chamber, one ten foot long pod made from a form of what appeared to be made of a silver colored polymer, had been brought forward and was resting on the floor, its lid still shut, but through the thick lid of glass a peaceful face could be seen. It was a female. But she was old, her skin sucked back against her skull like a wet cotton sheet over frame-work. Sheppard answered. "She's not waking up is she?" He said to the Jeannie-bot.

Jeannie-bot followed his gaze to the sleeping form in the pod. "The re-awakening cycle has been completed but thus far there are no signs of consciousness in our leader. Since we are aware of the similarities in the DNA between them and you, we hoped you might be able to help us determine and repair the problem."

Suddenly Rodney looked at Sheppard like he'd just been hit with a realization so obvious he wondered how he could have not considered it. "How long has it been since the last awakening?"

"Four thousand, nine hundred, thirteen years." Jeannie-bot explained.

Rodney's face fell and Sheppard had an inkling of why.

"It's been too long." Sheppard stated.

Jeannie-bot seemed unworried. "The design of the pods was perfect and time has no meaning in stasis."

Rodney tried to swallow his disappointment. "In theory that may be true, but reality is usually a bit different. Human beings were not made to live this long, even in stasis. A-as far as we've learned, about five and a half thousand years is the maximum any human body can survive, even when its cells are kept in a suspended state. The cells still break down, only at a much slower rate."

Jeannie-bot tilted her head in a surprising imitation of McKay's sister. "The ancients were perfect in their calculations. There was no error."

Rodney laid one hand on the pod. "No error as far as their knowledge went, but as with all new fields of study they had no hindsight. This was probably a new technology to them at the time. They could not know that the stasis field had limitations and their calculations probably reflected that." Rodney looked over at Sheppard, "and people make mistakes."

The Jeannie-bot blinked just once. "If you still wish to speak with her, there is an alternative method."

Sheppard was about to say no thanks when Rodney asked "What method?"

"I can integrate the living memory cells into my matrix and access what remains of her mind. It will only take a few moments."

Rodney stared at her and then down at the wrinkled remains of what had once been a living, thriving ancient. "Y-you can do that?"

Jeannie-bot nodded. "It is very simple. Her brain engrams will come into contact with my matrix interface. Although her body will no longer be able to articulate what her thoughts were, I will be able to access and speak them."

Sheppard looked a bit sideways at the Replicator. "What do you mean what her thoughts were?"

"In her body's present state there can be no current thought making, therefore only the retrieval of her once-mind is possible."

Rodney shook his head, suitably impressed. "Sort of like a tape-worm – a program that reboots a very old or corrupt hard drive." He mused more for the others than for himself.

"That analogy is simplified, but sufficient." Jeannie-bot explained. Without any more explanation she opened a small recessed port on the pod and placed the fingers of her right hand inside it. A small glow, blue-ish like St. Elmo's Fire, appeared around where her fingers penetrated the workings of the pod.

Suddenly the Jeannie-bot's voice and the voice of another announced "We are now here."

Rodney whipped his eyes back to the Replicator who looked, and now sounded, so much more like his sister. The memories of the near-death ancient seemed to be infusing the Replicator's vocals with a far more human sounding inflection. Softer, muted, and curious and the Jeannie-bot/ancient turned to him and said "Rodney. You are called Rodney by this unit and by your sister who used to be. This is interesting."

Sheppard also detected the new humanness in the Jeannie-bot's words and stepped just a bit closer to Rodney who now seemed even more mesmerised than before. "We have questions for you..." He didn't know what to call the almost dead woman so he settled for "Ma'am."

""Yes, the one Rodney calls Sheppard and friend. I know you have questions. I only wish I could be here to answer them personally. These words you have heard are my Replicator's invention to ease your minds. She is only a machine but she see's Rodney's pain and your great worry about him. She knows these platitudes might facilitate communication between us."

Sheppard frowned. It was weird hearing the Replicator speak of itself as a machine in the third person. The machine who is imitating what an ancient might say in such a situation. "Yeah, thanks. So what we need to know are two things basically. Number one can we revive any of you ancient ones?"

Jeannie-bot blinked her eyes in a very concerted, and human, way. "This is Jeannie speaking. Rodney is correct. The life systems of these ancestors are too low to revive them to full functionality. Their bodies will soon perish."

Sheppard pursed his lips. It was what they figured. "And next question: Is there anything you ancestors might know, or maybe something you didn't do and should have, to help us defeat the Wraith?"

Jeannie-bot suddenly looked sad. "We have heard of the Wraith but in our day they are asleep. We know of no war with them and so have no answer for you."

"Figures," Ronan said in a quiet reflection of his colonel's more pessimistic side.

Rodney asked "Is there tech aboard this vessel that is salvageable? Energy cells, weapons...?"

The Jeannie-bot took a half step toward Rodney, though keeping her connection to the pod intact. "I am so sorry, Rodney, that we cannot help you. You have suffered much," she glanced at the others, "all of you. But you are like us. You are our children, our progeny and so you are strong." The last part she said directly to Rodney "You will survive. We regret we have nothing to give you but our dying selves. But we request that you keep alive our other children, these ones you call Replicators. They may not be life as we are but they wish to live none-the-less. And they will serve you well."

Then Jeannie-bot did something that made Sheppard's guts turn cold. She took Rodney's right hand in hers and said "We give this gift of Jeannie to you, Rodney, to thank you."

Rodney swallowed his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Th-thank me...?" He stared at the hand of the Replicator so like his sister's, so like Jeannie. This close she even smelled like her. He could feel warmth wafting off of her as though she were living flesh and not micro-machines imitating something alive. "Thank me for what?"

"For giving us this opportunity to join you. We shall all reach Earth together and for this we are grateful."

Sheppard lifted his P-90 a bit higher, just for assurances sake. "Okay, Rodney, this is getting a little weird." He looked at the Jeannie-bot. "And for your information we are not going to Earth."

"Jeannie" looked over at Sheppard for a moment her expression was inscrutable. And then she moved to Rodney, right up close, pressing her body to his and so quickly that none of them had even a chance to react. All in one smooth motion she reached out her free hand, her fingers stiff and uniform, and pressed it into Rodney's head, through his right temple, until her fingers disappeared up to the second knuckle.

Ronan drew his weapon and aimed it at her skull. "Step away – Now!" He snarled.

But "Jeannie" did not react except to say "If you fire, you will injure him as well."

Sheppard stepped closer but not too close lest the Replicator do any more damage. "You don't have to hurt him. Just tell us what you want."

"Jeannie" did not look at Sheppard but her words were for him. "I am not going to injure him, but I needed to know more."

"More?" Teyla asked. "Why?"

"In order to better integrate my being with that of Rodney McKay's sister, I needed to know more about her, so I am absorbing his memories of her."

"If you wanted to know more about Jeannie Miller all you needed to do was ask." Sheppard said not taking his eyes off Rodney's face. His features were clenched and strained as though he were in pain.

"This is for Rodney I do this. I know he wishes me to return with you to Earth. I know he misses his sibling. I understand how alone he is." She explained. "Even will the thousands of other units in this vessel, for much of the time I alone tended to its functions and those of the life-pods." Sheppard kept looked back and forth from Rodney to the replicator. She appeared almost fearful. "I understand...what it is to be alone."

Sheppard wanted this to end. "Look, if you want to spend some more time with you, we will, but we want you to let our friend go now."

Teyla admonished "This sort of penetration of our minds can cause damage if it lingers too long. You must know this."

The Jeannie-bot nodded. "Yes, I have calculated that irreparable damage will come in another thirty-three-point-four seconds. I will cease before then." Then she seemed to be speaking to Rodney himself "I sense the pain you are in now, both physical and emotional. You were once part of this unit of humans, and now you have no place among them. You offer your intelligence and hope to find a place among them once more. I know the pain of this. I comprehend the losses. Perhaps the wounds I sense in your heart through her will be healed by her presence in me."

Sheppard watched this monologue and realised something, whispering to Ronan and Teyla "I think we have a psychotic Replicator on our hands."

Teyla nodded. "She does seem oddly fixated on Rodney and his sister's death."

Ronan "Her ancestor's are all dead – pretty well anyway, maybe she's getting her first taste of it herself."

Sheppard shook his head at the bizarre scene. "Doesn't matter. This has gone on long enough." He was about to raise a hand and force the Replicator off Rodney but then the Jeannie-bot removed her hand herself, withdrew her arm and stepped away from McKay.

Rodney swayed but managed to remain on his feet. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head trying to dispel the cobwebs of whatever she had done inside his skull. "Oh man..." He groaned.

"Rodney...?" Sheppard asked softly, barely audible. "Are you okay?" When he didn't answer he said it louder "Rodney..?"

But it was enough that Rodney looked over at him, his focus now split between the Replicator and his colonel. Then he gently removed his hand from her grip and took a step back. "I...I'm fine...I think."

Ronan kept his weapon trained on the skull of the Replicator who merely stared back at them with wide open eyes. Then she turned back to McKay and said "Rodney...? I'm here now." She smiled sweetly at him but it was not the affected smile of the Replicator from before, merely following elaborately written software, this being looked - and now sounded - like the genuine woman. "I'm here now, Rodney, and we can be together."

XXX

"Rodney..." Sheppard said it as a warning. Of course McKay wanted to have his sister back but even Rodney had to understand that this thing was not Jeannie. "Step away from it."

Rodney was shaking and both Sheppard and Ronan stepped forward to place themselves closer to McKay and the Jeannie Replicator, their moves perfectly in sync and done without a breath of word. They just knew, in the silent soldier-speak, that now was the time to act because temporarily Rodney could not. They did not blame him. Who would not want their family back if given half the chance?

Sheppard said very gently but leaving no mistake in his intent "Time to go Rodney."

But Rodney was staring at the thing that appeared and sounded like his dead sister; that seemed so much like her even if he had to know it was not really her. He spoke now, his voice almost wistful. "Maybe she really can help us John." Rodney said in a soft whisper where hope floated. "Maybe help us defeat the other Replicators you know? She seems to want to stay with us. I-I don't think she wants to hurt anyone."

Sheppard's fingers tightened on the trigger of his P-90. "She's an it Rodney, and she just had her fingers in your brain." Sheppard nodded to Ronan who started a painstakingly slow circle around the replicator and their team mate. "Besides it's pretty obvious it's you she interested in, not us."

Rodney nodded but Sheppard suspected it was out of habit. After years of listening to orders and following them, at least most of the time, things become ingrained. Even if you didn't mean them. "Rodney, we're leaving now." He looked at the Replicator. "No offense."

But the Replicator seemed to have other ideas and in one smooth motion, snatched Rodney's side arm from its holster and aimed it at them. "I wish him to stay with me. This is what he wishes as well."

"Yeah," Sheppard said his stomach tensing, every part of him getting ready to act. The Daedulus would be frantic by now. Would they fire on the Replicator moon, he wondered, because it would probably not be a good idea. "I figured as much. Only thing is, we need him."

"He does not believe this." Replicator Jeannie said. "He wishes to have his sister back. He wishes things to be as they were, before the accident." She kept the weapon on the humans but turned back to the lone human who, in her mind probes, had revealed so much to her. "This one has affection for the deceased Jeannie unit and now I will be able to return that comfort. He will no longer be alone."

Sheppard could see the indecision in Rodney's eyes, and the mixture of sadness, defeat, hope, a mish-mash of emotions or wants, he wasn't entirely sure. "McKay already has a place with us."

"He must stay with this unit. We are needed each by the other. There is no more need for argument. The Jeannie replicator raised Rodney's Beretta higher, this time taking aim but Rodney also raised his hands out imploringly, seeming to come out of his momentary stupor. "Wait – no!" He licked his lips. "Look, I appreciate the gesture and believe me, if I could have my sister back, I'd do almost anything but the crucial word there is almost. Please don't hurt anyone."

She asked him with perfect calmness "But they are interfering with our unity."

"But not with mine." He said and lowered his right hand, placing it behind him and to the side with his palm turned up and his fingers open.

Both Sheppard and Ronan noticed.

"Please." Rodney said again. "They're my friends. If you're anything like my sister..." And Sheppard winced at the typical too much honesty that came after "although I doubt it, you won't hurt them because you'd be hurting me."

Without lowering her weapon "Jeannie" looked back at him, her McKay cornflower blue eyes wide and beautiful as his sister's had been, her loose curls framing her delicately pretty face. "I do not wish to harm you Rodney. I wish...I wish there was something I could do to stop your pain."

Rodney stared back and nodded. "Well there is one thing...you could let me say goodbye to her, I mean not to her but...I wasn't able to say goodbye. She died thinking I was dead."

The Jeannie-bot nodded back. "I know this." Then she lowered her weapon and stepped up to him.

Sheppard did not expect that Rodney would actually go through with it and let her wrap her arms around him. "Is this what she would have done to say goodbye Rodney?"

"Y-yes, she was the real hugging type." He leaned into the hug and closed his eyes just for a moment.

And then a blast of weapon's fire assaulted their ears and the Jeannie-bot's head of cascading curls and porcelain skin vanished in smoke and light. Her headless body slumped to the floor and its millions of tiny nano-parts began to separate, flowing out from its center mass like heavy soup.

The blaster Ronan had placed into McKay's hand he had pressed against her skull and Rodney had not hesitated before he pulled the trigger.

Sheppard put one hand on McKay's shoulder. "Time to go Rodney."

Rodney stared down at the deformed pile of nanites, and then he handed Ronan's weapon back to him. He looked at Sheppard's worried face. "I'm good." He said, staring down at the remains of the thing that had not been his sister. "Don't worry. I...I'm...fine. And I know now where the quantum engine is. The ancient...it was from her mind."

Sheppard decided that now was not the minute to play doubts. They were out of time.

"Come on." Ronan urged, "Let's blow this thing and get out of here."

Sheppard was only too glad to oblige. "Yeah, I think we're with you on that."

XXX

When the fire-ball was lit, the Daedulus was already swimming in the slip-stream and well clear of the mini-verse Rodney McKay had created with his destructive little fingers.

Sheppard and Ronan had both slapped him on the back appreciatively, Ronan muttering to Sheppard "Good thing he's on our side."

Sheppard had said back in a whisper "No shit."

Teyla had chosen to stand beside their scientist friend as he watched the slip-stream surround and engulf the Daedulus; overhearing Rodney's softly spoken "Bye Jeannie." as she approached. She slipped her arm through his and spent a moment simply being with him, to help center him, she hoped, knowing that he would not want any words. She had found that with Rodney her company was often enough.

"That's another little blip on the space map I've managed to remove." Rodney suddenly said.

Teyla sighed. Perhaps this time he needed words. "It was necessary Rodney. And no one remembers Doranda or holds it against you in any way. Surely you know that we have all made mistakes during these difficult years. Some of them terrible mistakes that we cannot erase; others..." she tightened her grip on his arm. He had been quiet since returning to the Daedulus and now seemed overtly sad, "are ones we forgive."

"I've never been very good with that forgiveness stuff."

"I disagree."

"I guess I should talk to Radek." He said suddenly in a small vice as though it was a confessional and Teyla wondered if perhaps his temporary emotional weakness over the Jeannie Replicator had softened his heart over Radek's own terrible mistake that had cost Rodney three years of his life. "I mean really talk to him."

"It was my understanding that you had already resolved things between you."

"Sort of, but he avoids me now. He probably still feels terrible over almost killing me with his worm-hole experiment thing."

"Undoubtedly and I am sure he would welcome such a conversation. He respects you greatly, Rodney, as do we all." She took his right hand in her own. "Now I believe the others are gathering in the Briefing room. I am sure General Caldwell has many questions about this mission."

"Yeah, I suppose he does."

After a short briefing, and a firm dressing down regarding their tardiness by General Caldwell, the Daedulus returned to Atlantis.

XXX

Radek turned when he saw his former boss enter the Lab. "Oh, Rodney thank god..." He turned his computer screen so Doctor McKay could see his formulas. "I've been banging my head against the wall for hours with this, can you check my calculations and tell me where –"

"Radek, I'm leaving soon."

Zelenka stopped his mouth and stared up at his mentor with some surprise. "Sorry, what do you mean leaving? Where...where are you going?"

Rodney raised his eyebrows as though it had to be obvious. "Well back to Earth of course. You're chief scientist now, there's no place for me here now."

Radek pushed his glasses up his nose, a nervous tic when he was agitated. "That's nonsense, of course there's a place for you, trust me, as far as I am concerned you can have your old job back, believe me -"

"Radek I'm trying to be magnanimous here, stop interrupting me."

Zelenka sunk a little in his seat and looked, if it was possible, even shorter. "Sorry."

"And I want you to know that I...I forgive you for what happened to me, okay, so I hope you're not going to all Polish guilt on me and stew over it for years or something because that would just be...wimpy and I expect more from a former assistant than misplaced guilt. I mean it was you who lost me and it was you for found me in...in an impossible place really. There were so many things that had to occur to make that happen and bring everything, to bring me, to...right now. Mathematically it was ridiculous to even entertain the ridiculous idea that it could ever happen...but somehow it did. When I was on Gobi Prime you'd think I would have...you think I would have hallucinated about my mother or father but I didn't. Instead I hallucinated about Atlantis and the people here... John, Teyla – even you. I thought that was a bit weird until I figured it out, you know..."

Who his true family really was Radek thought but knew better than to probe for more details. "Assistant?"

"What I'm trying to say is that I don't blame you for what happened and, well, maybe you were partly right about all that universe unfolding stuff. Maybe there's something to that. Anyway I just wanted to say that Atlantis is yours now so you'll...you'll just have to man-up and take the horns and lead her into the future because everyone here will be depending on you."

"I know Rodney but listen to me I-"

"No, no buts. She's yours."

Radek gave in for the moment and nodded politely. ""Man-up" - right. I promise, Rodney, that I will try not to act like a wimp."

Rodney stared at him, looking for any fibbing. Finding none he added "Good. And you'll take care of my city and these people for me – right? Because if you don't-"

Zelenka threw him a half salute. "Yes, I will take very good care of her Rodney. You have my word."

Rodney stared for a moment and Zelenka knew better than to try and extend the conversation any further. He could readily see the don't-you-dare behind Rodney's stormy eyes. The man never could stand too much emotion, unless of course it was spewing from himself.

After Rodney left Zelenka activated his radio on a private channel. "Elizabeth – may I see you for a moment?"

XXX

"Rodney." Weir gestured to a chair. "Please sit down."

As he took his seat he began speaking "Look, Elizabeth, I know why you wanted this meeting. I know I was brought in to eradicate the Eratus bugs and, well, then when we found the Replicator moon I was able to, you know, basically save all of us from that..."

Weir let a tiny smile crease her lips but she let him continue, not that he had paused in his speech other than to gather another lung full of air anyway.

"...But I'm aware that I have no official position in Atlantis anymore and I just wanted to let you know that I understand that. I'm packed and can leave for Earth whenever you say the word. I also wanted to say how much I appreciated all your hard work here all these years and how you and John never gave up looking for me, I mean at least not until you were forced to. As leader you always did your best and personally I think your best was pretty outstanding actually."

"Thank you Rodney." She tried to keep the rush of warmth to her heart under control but it was tough.

"And there's one more thing...I really hope that maybe, if the IOA allows it and SG Command – and of course when my health improves – that I can come back someday to, you know, visit or something. I really love it here and I'd really like to...to come back n-now and then...if that's okay with you?"

She smiled then, just a hint of the joy she felt in inside. "May I say something now?"

He sat back, realising he had been going on and on rather rudely considering it was she who had called this meeting. "Oh sorry, um, sorry - yes."

"There's a post opening up on Atlantis that I think is perfect for you. Chief Scientific Advisor for Ancient Tech' and Off-World Missions and I was hoping you'd be interested." She tried to keep the humor from her eyes. "I realise the title is a bit cumbersome but we really could use the best, that is, if you want it."

He stared at her dumbfounded. "But Zelenka...he's...did he put you up to this out of some guilty conscience because I cannot accept charity - it's demeaning."

She overrode his pride with her best no-nonsense voice of authority. "This is not charity, Rodney. Doctor Zelenka has requested that I take some of the burden off his shoulders. He enjoys his work maintaining Atlantis's systems but he has never had any interest in off-world missions as you know. And he doesn't have the gene anyway so working with ancient tech' has always presented a problem as I'm sure you also can recall."

McKay looked away and then back. "I'm not sure I'm qualified anymore." He then almost stammered, 'fessing up what he saw as a critical error on his part, something he had not put into his report the previous day. "I...I froze up on this last mission. I lost my objectivity at a crucial moment."

"But you regained it did you not?"

"Yes of course but-"

"But nothing. John explained to me what happened on that vessel and as far as I am concerned that mission is closed." She leaned forward, resting her arms on the desk. "Rodney...I have never wanted a bunch of automatons running this city or mindless robots going off-world. I need, I want real people who really care and if there's one thing I've learned about you, Rodney McKay, it's that you care. You care about Atlantis and about all of us here.

"So there is only one thing you need to think about and that is if you choose to reject this offer the only thing that is going to happen is you'll go home to Earth and I guess I'll be forced to hire someone else." She added "Doctor Becket by the way has approved you physically for the job as long as you maintain you pain medications and see him regularly if you encounter any additional problems with your health."

He stared back for a moment, stunned to silence. It was a rare and endearing sight. "Um...how regularly?" He asked.

Well acquainted with Rodney's hatred of all things medicine, despite his hypochondria, she said "Weekly at first for a while and then monthly until he's satisfied that you are completely recovered from your ordeal." Three years alone, hurting, starving, in fear and loneliness...quite an ordeal. No, Doctor Beckett, nor any of them, was likely to let anything bad happen to their favorite scientist again, at least not if they could help it. She smiled, genuinely this time, letting the warmth inside her and the restful expression upon his face light up her own. "Well Doctor, what do you say?"

He cleared his throat and she heard the hopeful, and perhaps a little playful? lilt in his voice when he asked - "Can I have a pay raise?"

Still smiling - "Absolutely not."

Rodney stood and looked at his hands for a moment. It was a startling vulnerable mannerism and she wondered if he had always done so and if so how had she missed it all these years. The he stretched his right hand across her desk. "Then I accept." He said.

She stood and took his hand in hers, firmly shaking on the deal. "Welcome home Rodney."

"Thank you Elizabeth."

XXX

"Are you coming to the celebration colonel?" Weir asked.

Sheppard turned to see her descending the stairs to the Gate room. The mid-length dress she wore of vibrant blue, and that clung to all the best parts of her, was a new look and one he had not seen on her before. She looked beautiful. "Uh, yes, yes, but listen, stick around for a few minutes. Teyla has a surprise for Rodney."

"I thought Rodney had decided not to join us."

"True, but I know Teyla will be able to talk him into it."

Curious now - "What's going on John?"

"Rodney's settled in well at his new post and all but he's still feeling the sting of losing his sister I think and because this Athosian celebration is sort of family oriented he's thinks he sort of a fifth wheel."

"That's nonsense."

"Well I know that and you know that but Rodney's being...very Rodney about it and hidden himself away in his rooms. Teyla's gone to call him out."

"I see."

As they were speaking Ronan showed up and nodded a greeting. Soon Chuck appeared and then Radek and most of the senior staff including all of the members of Rodney and Zelenka's junior science teams. Weir looked impressed. "Looks like this is going to be a real party."

Sheppard smiled knowingly. "You aint' seen nothing yet."

It was only a moment later that Teyla, dragging a protesting Rodney to the middle of the crowd, smiled at them all and then took Rodney's two hands in hers, standing face to face with him at the center.

When he saw the large crowd that had gathered he looked ready to bolt. "Okay, okay, Teyla, I'm here, are you happy? Now can I please get back to my work? I have a lot of simulations running."

She spoke kindly but firmly. "They can wait, Rodney."

He made a rudely impatient noise. "Wait for what?"

She looked him in the eye and raised her hands, taking his along in hers so that they were clasping hands between their torsos as though in prayer. "Meredith Rodney McKay, you were lost to us for a long time, and then when we found you, we feared you would be lost to us forever. When we believed there was no hope and that you would be taken from us once more, I and my fellow Athosians, along with the approval of your friends here, enacted a ceremony that made you, posthumously, my relation – my brother."

At the mention of his almost death and her words that followed Rodney swallowed thickly but he was rendered speechless, stunned to silence, on what he heard next.

Teyla continued "When you were returned to us, awakening in life, we rejoiced and then when we learned that Jeannie had died our hearts grieved with you."

Rodney could not look away from her ochre eyes that seemed to speak to him without words at all. He found himself falling into them for a moment as she made her request. "I have brought you here today, Rodney, to ask you for the honor to become your sister, if not in flesh, then in word and mind and heart and act. If you accept I shall become your sister and you shall become my brother in every way under Athosian law. And though our flesh may not be family, the blood we each have spilled in our service to each other will stand in that place as a testament."

When she smiled up at him, Rodney felt his body go weak and he could not form a single word.

"I brought you here today Rodney, in the sight and hearing of these witnesses, to ask you for the honor to become your sister."

He had to fill his lungs a few times as he absorbed the words, so many kind and loving words that he could feel soaking into his cells, filling his marrow and easing an ache that up until that moment he had not been able to pin down. Sorrow over his sister he knew of course, but pain with a power that he'd had no idea of until he had learned of her death, a pain he had buried deeply until this moment. He had to look away from Teyla's generous gaze so he could keep the tears in check. He hated blubbering.

"You mean, you want me to be your sis-I mean you want to be my sister? Really? You really want to do this?"

"I have already taken the vow, Rodney, shortly after we found you. I did so, not to replace your sister as I could never do that nor would I wish to, but to bring you peace and protection when you needed it. And now I do so because we have you home again where you belong. And because we love you. Now it is for you to decide if you wish this as well. Would you do me the honor, Rodney McKay, of becoming my brother?" She leaned in and whispered. "I realise this was sprung on you rather suddenly but no one will think ill of you if you do not."

He looked around at the other faces, some of them watery-eyed. Was that John rubbing his eyes? "Wow...I - really? Me? Wow...this is...I don't...I-I don't know what to say Teyla."

She gently suggested "Then please say that you accept."

He stared down at their entwined hands for a moment and then nodded. "Okay." He said, "I accept. I would love to be your sis –er – brother. Yes, yes, I accept."

A ghost of a shy smile lit up his face. Teyla had always liked that smile and was a thing seen too rarely of late. "As do I." She said.

A cheer went up and Teyla hugged him. "Welcome to my family Rodney." She announced.

He returned the hug but asked "That's it? That's all we have to do - I'm your brother now?"

"Only under Athosian law but yes, that is all."

A thought struck him. "This doesn't mean I have to adopt your last name or something does it?"

She laughed. "No, you keep your own name, but you must join us in the Family and Friends celebration on Calissa. All of my people and our friends here are attending."

"Okay. I'm good with that, just as long as I don't have to eat all that weird Athosian vegetarian food. They're going to have meat of some kind aren't they?"

Teyla linked her arm through his. "Yes, Rodney, there will be meat, and perhaps cake as well."

Ronan walked over and slapped McKay on the back, nearly knocking him over. "Congratulations Rodney and yes you are going to try some Athosian food. Some of it's pretty good."

"That's no endorsement - you'll eat anything." McKay said but followed the group through the Gate to the celebration.

XXX

"I heard Weir gave you a new post." Sheppard said. He had practically run all the way to McKay's quarters after Weir had told him the good news.

Now at his doorway he collected himself into neutral but content Sheppard mode and looked around Rodney's quarters. McKay's bags still sat by the door. The hours spent at the celebration had meant no time to unpack yet. Sheppard also noticed that beside a framed photo of Jeannie Miller sitting on his desk, Rodney now had a smaller one of Teyla from some years ago, just after she had joined the team. Sheppard recalled the day of Teyla's induction into the Alpha team. Bates had taken that photo, one of the four of them; himself, Ford, Rodney and the newest team member Teyla.

Rodney must have trimmed away the rest of the photo just leaving a small but clear portrait of Teyla to put into a frame of its own. Teyla now held a grand place in his room, and in his life, right beside his late sister Jeannie, both photographs sitting in a spot where he could look at them every day.

"Yeah, I'm officially a member of the expedition again." Then he confessed "I was a bit worried where I'd end up, I felt sort of like a man without a country. Didn't know who or where I'd be by this time tomorrow."

Sheppard nodded, trying not to show too much of his own good feelings on his face which would send Rodney scurrying for cover but during the groups many rounds of drinking Athosian ale, after their many shared toasts to the land, to friends and to Atlantis herself, Teyla had raised her mug and spoke the truest words of the evening: "To you, Rodney because you were brought home to us where you belong."

"That's good Rodney. By the way I'm here to let you know we have a mission six hours from now."

"Six hours?" Rodney exclaimed. "But I haven't slept yet."

"Well then I suggest you get some sleep. We're going to a pretty planet to look for tech'. No sign of Wraith activity at all. Come on, it'll be fun." The previous night their physicist had stepped through the Gate without hesitation and that had told Sheppard well enough that Rodney was back in every way. It was old times again, with the right people. Having McKay back in the fold was practically a miracle and he made a silent vow never to take that, or him, for granted again.

"You know you could have told me about this several hours ago at the party."

"Sorry but I didn't want to spoil everyone else's fun of watching a drunk Rodney."

Rodney threw him a sour look. "You realise I could get my new sister to beat you up?"

Sheppard wasn't foolish enough to think that she wouldn't win it. "I'll keep that in mind. So how does it feel to be a brother again?"

He tilted his head and nodded, as though weighing his answer. "Good, it feels good. A bit weird. I've always thought of Teyla as a friend or a team mate. You know, my really hot team mate who could mop the floor with me. Somehow I've got to get rid of those images."

Sheppard understood. Teyla always turned heads before she kicked asses. "Good idea." He turned away, tired himself and in need of shut-eye before the mission. "I'm going to go to bed so I'll see you in the morning. Good to have you back buddy."

"Thanks John." He said after his retreating back, and then when the door closed and he was once again alone "Good to be back."

Rodney got undressed and crawled into in his own bed.

He dreamed of Atlantis.

XXX