Author's Note: I hope you guys are still reading and liking this story! To be honest, I totally thought this story would get slammed, cause not even I liked it when it was finished. But I decided to give it a chance and did some major revision. Lucky for me, I couldn't go through with burning it (literally). Review! Oh yeah, just one more chapter to go, but it's a big one.

Major Sheppard sat on the city's East Pier, watching as the moon seemed to rise from the water on the horizon. It was one of his favorite places to just sit back and think. But he wasn't thinking tonight. He was just trying to unwind enough to get to sleep.

His day had been rather uneventful. Well, not really. He'd been running all day trying to keep up with his duties on Atlantis. It had seemed everyone had a problem that only he, or his gene, could fix. No, his day had not been uneventful. It had seemed like it though, because he had seen neither hide nor hair of Rodney McKay all day. In fact, the last time he recalled seeing him was yesterday at lunch. And since he usually ended up seeing Rodney at least 2-3 times a day, his absence was very conspicuous. Did my parting statement yesterday really scare him off that much? But that didn't make any sense. What he had said had been a very John Sheppard thing to say. Maybe Rodney just got started on a new project, he thought to himself.

He had no idea how right he was.

Rodney stood nervously holding two bottles of the amber colored alcoholic beverage that the Athosians made on the mainland. Well, actually, only one was the actual beverage. The other he had marked with a black dot near the top so he knew to drink only from that one. He'd claim germs and something impressing sounding about contamination to make sure they didn't drink from each other's bottle. Because if they did, John would surely realize that Rodney was trying to pull a fast one. For in his bottle was simply water with brown food coloring and even vanilla extract to give it the right smell. As long as he kept John away from his bottle, the Major would never know the difference.

Rodney had located his friend on the pier by asking around in the control room, but he was still hesitant to disturb him. He waited as patiently as possible, for Rodney anyways, until John stood and stretched. Well, now I have to go through with it. It would look really suspicious to be wandering around at night on the furthest pier with two bottles of liquor. He would just have to suck it up.

John was now making his way toward the doorway, and coincidentally, Rodney as well. Okay, now I just have to get him to go along with this.

When John was close enough to almost be able to see him standing in the doorway, he started walking forward like he had just arrived. Looking John in the face, he schooled his features to look both surprised and pleased.

"Oh, John. Just the man I was looking for."

"You were?" John asked skeptically. It looked like Rodney was looking to party with the bottles of booze and the shit-eating grin on his face. Though why he would have sought out John instead of Zelenka, his preferred drinking partner, puzzled John.

Rodney frowned at the tone, but decided to ignore it, seeing how the situation would look to John.

"Yes, surprising as that is. I was wondering if you wanted to join me for a drink in my office."

John's eyebrows rose.

"You have an office? I thought the lab was your office?"

Rodney grinned proudly.

"As of this morning, I claimed one as my own. It's still pretty messy, but I figured you wouldn't mind. And besides, I feel like toasting our new ZPM and my new office. It's not far from here. Well, not as far as your quarters." He amended.

John thought for a moment and then smiled.

"Sure McKay. It's been a long while since I got shit-faced with a friend."

McKay gestured down the corridor in a 'no, you first' motion. As soon as John was ahead of him, McKay smiled devilishly at his back. Gotcha.