author's note: Whoo, the next chapter is up. I almost feel bad about not putting this one up sooner because it's been done for a while now, but I'm trying to get myself into the habit of posting only when I have the next chapter written or almost written. Does that mean that I have chapter 7 done, you ask? Why yes, it does, but I won't post that until I get chapter 8 going. And hopefully that will be soon.

I keep getting distracted by other things. There are so many new ideas that hit me and won't leave me alone until I get them down. Although, none of those are complete either. But, after taking a break from this story because it wasn't flowing as well as it had been I think that my inspiration may have come back. I guess I'll find out when I start working on chapter 8.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially the middle part. I'm pretty sure that one is my favorite bit. I'd tell you what it's about, but that would just ruin it. I'm fairly certain you can figure out which part I'm talking about.

Oh, and because I just like to pile work on myself for some strange reason, this story is going to end up being much longer than I had intitally intended. But, I was hit with an idea and I thought it was way too good to pass up. Anyway, I'm going to stop now so you can get on with the chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

disclaimer: I don't own Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis, but it would be so awesome if I did.

Chapter 6

Sheppard jumped to his feet and was running as soon as he heard the scraping of the door opening. He slipped through the gap and rushed over to the device. Daniel, Rodney, and Ronon were all sprawled on the floor and Sheppard quickly checked to make sure they were alive and breathing. Luckily, they all were, but they were unconscious. It was only a couple seconds later before Teyla and Beckett were there as well. Beckett began checking them over more thoroughly before confirming that they were all alright as far as he could tell. He wouldn't know for sure until they got them back.

"Well, I for one say we should get out of this room before the door decides to close again," Sheppard said.

And apparently everyone agreed with him. Daniel, Rodney, and Ronon were all quickly loaded on to stretchers, carried out of the room, and loaded into the waiting puddle jumper. It was only about ten minutes before they were all back in Atlantis. The three of them were quickly taken to the infirmary.

Elizabeth rushed down the steps to meet them casting a worried glance in the direction of the stretchers. "What happened?" She asked looking back at Sheppard and Teyla.

"They were able to find a way out of the room," Teyla answered.

"But I thought that there wasn't any way to open the door?" Elizabeth glanced between the two of them confusion swiftly mixing in with the worry that was still evident on her face.

"That's what we thought," Sheppard replied. "But a little over an hour ago I talked to Rodney over the radio and he said that they had a plan for getting out of the room."

"Well, it seems that the plan worked," Elizabeth commented.

"Yes, it apparently did."

They fell silent for a moment all three of them glancing at the hallway that led to the infirmary. Sheppard had no idea what had gone on in that room or what it was that they had done to get out, but he had a feeling that it was going to be bad and that he wasn't going to like it. And it had nothing to do with Rodney telling him so.

"John," Elizabeth said, finally breaking the silence. "You never said what the plan was."

"That's because I don't know what was," Sheppard said.

Elizabeth once again glanced between him and Teyla. "Rodney never told you what it was?"

"No, he did not," Teyla said.

"Why?"

"Because he said we wouldn't like it."

Elizabeth frowned slightly at that. She wasn't entirely sure what to think. Shaking her head she focused back on the people in front of her. "Well, I need to contact Earth and inform them of this. General O'Neill has been especially demanding the last few times we've contacted them."

"I bet he has," Sheppard replied.

Elizabeth just gave a brief nod before she turned and headed back up the stairs calling out to Chuck to dial the gate. Sheppard and Teyla quickly turned and made their way to the infirmary hoping that their friends had woken. And when they rounded the corner into the infirmary the first thing they heard were voices, easily recognizable voices. Sharing a relieved glance with Teyla, they made their way closer to the curtain that separated the small area from the rest of the room. Sheppard paused outside the curtain catching Teyla's arm so she would do the same so that they could listen in.

"I kept telling you, McKay, that it was going to work," Daniel was saying.

"I know you did, but it sounded incredibly ridiculous. You can't fault me for thinking that the plan was one that was just asking for something to go wrong," Rodney replied.

"Okay, fine, I admit that the plan as a little out there, but it was the only way we were going to get out of that room, which might I point out we wouldn't have been stuck in the first place if you hadn't pushed the button."

"Is all you two ever do is argue?" Ronon asked.

"It certainly seems like it, doesn't it," Sheppard said as he slipped past the curtain, Teyla following.

"You weren't stuck inside a room with them for hours," Ronon replied.

"It cannot have been that bad, Ronon," Teyla said. But the look Ronon gave her said otherwise.

"Maybe they just don't like each other," Sheppard suggested.

Daniel it seemed was about to nod in agreement when Rodney spoke up.

"No that's not true." He ended up with three people staring at him in bewilderment. Teyla just cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. "When the room started shaking and I fell you came back for me," he said pointing at Daniel.

"That doesn't prove anything," Daniel said in response.

"Yes it does."

"No it really doesn't."

"Oh, would you two just admit that you're friends," Ronon cut in.

Sheppard just shook his head. It had to have been an interesting experience to have been in that room. "So, that plan that you didn't want to tell me about before, the one that got you out of the room, what exactly was it?"

All three of them shared a glance and Sheppard could have sworn that they were having some sort of silent conversation. It was kind of weird. He glanced at Teyla seeing that she was just as nonplussed as he was.

"Well, you see after we got stuck in the room, Daniel touched the device," Rodney began.

"Which then either downloaded or unlocked a whole bunch of Ancient knowledge," Daniel continued.

"And the only way for us to get out was to share that knowledge," Ronon finished.

"So we did," all three then said in unison.

"That was creepy," Sheppard said after a moment of stunned silence.

"What was?" Rodney asked at the same time Daniel and Ronon said, "A little bit."

Sharing yet another look with Teyla, he had to wonder if he had just heard right. Sheppard shook his head again this time trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told. "So, you're saying that Daniel touched the device and ended up with a download of Ancient knowledge and in order to get out of the room you had to share the knowledge."

"Isn't that what we just said?" Rodney asked.

"So," Sheppard said ignoring Rodney. "What it comes down to is that the three of you have some Ancient knowledge now."

"Yep," Daniel answered.

"And you're not worried about this?"

"Well, Beckett's been running around performing every test he can think of on us just to make sure that we're not going to suddenly get the urge to do or build something before we suddenly die, but I know for a fact that we're all fine," Daniel said.

"And you are sure about this?" Teyla asked.

Daniel let out and exasperated sigh. "Like I've been telling Rodney, and Beckett, and pretty much everyone else since I came too, the amount of knowledge that we have isn't enough to kill us, so yes I'm sure."

Teyla nodded, but didn't seem entirely convinced, and she wasn't the only one. From the tone of Daniel's voice it was obvious that he had been repeating himself over and over again, but if what he said was true and they did possess Ancient knowledge then no one would really take them saying that they were fine at face value. It had happened with General O'Neill the first time and if it hadn't been for the Asgard he would have died then.

"Okay," Sheppard said, but he knew he didn't sound convincing. He'd wait for the test results before he fully relaxed. But at least they were out of the dang room. That had been very annoying.

The next day Sheppard found himself and Teyla in Elizabeth's office seated in the chairs across from her. Sheppard could tell by the look on her face that what she had to tell them was not something that he was going to like. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"I just contacted Earth and updated them on the new information that we have," Elizabeth began.

"I'm surprised you didn't immediately after I told you what Rodney, Daniel, and Ronon told me," Sheppard commented.

"I wanted to be sure so I waited until Dr. Beckett's tests confirmed it," Elizabeth replied.

"Makes sense," Sheppard said.

"And what was the response?" Teyla asked.

"Well, to say that they were surprised would be an understatement," Elizabeth said. "And now, of course, General O'Neill is even more adamant in his demands that Dr. Jackson return to Earth."

"Well, that's not gonna happen until Beckett releases them and that won't be for a few days yet."

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, but General O'Neill's increased demands are not our biggest worry."

"I knew I wasn't going to like this," Sheppard muttered, although not quietly enough because both Teyla and Elizabeth heard him.

"Believe me John, you're not the only one," Elizabeth said.

"What is the news?" Teyla asked. She too agreed that this was turning into nothing but a time where all they were getting was bad news quickly followed by even more bad news.

"The IOA has requested that Dr. Jackson, Rodney, and Ronon return to Earth as soon as possible." With the way that Elizabeth had stressed the word requested it was clear to both Sheppard and Teyla that is was not a request, but an order.

"They wish to gain access to knowledge that they now possess," Teyla said.

"There's going to be a lot of people who will want to get their hands on it," Sheppard stated.

"And that more than anything else is what has me so worried," Elizabeth said. That was all she had to say because Sheppard knew that there were powerful people on Earth and if they could steal the Stargate right out of Cheyenne Mountain then they could definitely kidnap three people.

About a week had passed before Beckett was fully satisfied that they were in fact just fine. So, they were finally let out of the infirmary, but he wasn't comfortable with sending them back to Earth yet. He still wanted to keep an eye on them.

Over the next several days it became a common occurrence to see the three of them together. In fact, it was seemingly rare to see any of them on their own. They had also spent quite a bit of time in Rodney's lab doing something. No one knew exactly what until Rodney had proudly presented a brand new fully powered ZPM to Sheppard and Elizabeth.

Sheppard held the ZPM at arms-length wondering if this was some sort of joke.

"You built this?" He asked still staring at the ZPM.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard really," Rodney said.

"No the hard part was finding the right materials to build it with," Daniel added.

"And then, of course, a way to get it properly powered," Ronon finished off.

And now Sheppard was staring at them. This was another thing that he'd noticed. They finished each other sentences almost like they were thinking the exact same thing at the same time. And the weirdest part was that they did it with everything it seemed. It was like they were three different parts of the same brain.

"Oh, and we made some improvements," Rodney declared with yet another smug smile.

"Improvements?" Elizabeth asked as she took the ZPM from Sheppard.

"Yeah, this one is rechargeable," Ronon said.

"We have a rechargeable ZPM?" Sheppard asked.

"Not just one, we built four," Daniel said.

"Oh." Sheppard and Elizabeth shared a glance. Neither of them knew what to think about any of this.

Another week passed and it came time for the three of them to head back to Earth. Of course, it hadn't really gone over well when Sheppard had told them the news. All three of them argued saying that it was pointless as they could just record the information and send it to Earth that way. Sheppard had thought that that was a fairly good idea as he secretly wanted them to stay in Atlantis also. For one, Rodney and Ronon were members of his team, and two he had gotten really used to seeing Daniel around the place. That and he wasn't entirely sure that Ronon and Rodney would have actually let the archeologist leave.

They had taken their complaints and suggestions all the way to Elizabeth, but apparently she had already thought of all of that. Unfortunately, the IOA had shot everything she suggested down. They weren't going to be happy until Rodney, Daniel, and Ronon were in their clutches on Earth.

It had taken an extremely long time for them to gather their things, mainly because they were doing everything in their power to stall their departure. Unfortunately, they could only drag out their packing for so long. Now, they were stood in front of the gate with bags at their feet. Sheppard, Teyla, and Elizabeth stood with them. And none of them looked all that happy about it.

"Well, I suppose this is good-bye," Rodney said.

"What are you talking about, Rodney?" Sheppard asked. "We'll see you again."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Rodney, you're just going to Earth to talk with the IOA and give them whatever it is they want. After that they'll send you right on back."

Rodney gave him a funny look, one which Sheppard couldn't decipher. He knew Rodney was a pessimist by nature and so he focused on the negative of every situation, but Sheppard was hopeful that this would turn out alright in the end.

"McKay thinks that they're going to 'study' us," Ronon said. And Sheppard couldn't help but stare and he was positive that others were too. Ronon had just used finger quotes. And he thought things couldn't get any weirder.

"And by study he means chops us into bits and examine the pieces," Daniel said a tad sarcastically.

Rodney nodded enthusiastically. And Sheppard had to admit that he wasn't the least bit surprised that Daniel and Ronon had known what was bugging Rodney. Not much, if anything, happened to one of them without the others knowing about it.

"I am sure that will not be the case," Teyla said reassuringly. "Colonel Sheppard is correct. When they are done questioning you, you will be sent back to Atlantis."

"I hope so," Ronon said.

"Me too," Rodney agreed. He then turned to face Daniel. "Hey, do you think they'll let you come back with us?"

"I have no idea," Daniel replied with a shrug.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Elizabeth interjected before another conversation got started. Not that she was happy that they were leaving, far from it. But orders were orders and this time these orders had to be followed. There was nothing any of them could do to change that.

The others only nodded, none of them knowing what else to say.

Elizabeth turned to look up at the control room. "Dial Earth."

There was only a slight hesitation before the first chevron was locked into place. After what seemed too short a time the eighth and final chevron locked and the wormhole surged to life. Then a round of hugs and handshakes were exchanged before Daniel, Rodney, and Ronon all picked up their bags and stepped through the gate.