Author's Note: This is the last chapter of this story. I am very doubtful of doing a continuation/tag/tangent/whatever for this story, mostly cause I have no idea what it would be about and I'm really kinda lazy. Please give me one last review though, of how the story as a whole was done. I probably won't write another story for a while, again, because of the laziness issue. However, I want you all to know how much I have appreciated the reviews I have gotten! They really motivated me to actually finish this in a reasonable amount of time.

After the 7th round, John's tongue loosened and he started telling Rodney things he never would have, had he been sober.

"I didn't mean to dye her underwear tie-dye, but it was too funny to tell her that. So I told her the Easter Bunny did it!"

Rodney shot some his drink out of his nose he was laughing so hard.

"And Teyla believed you!"

"Well, not at first. She asked Ford if dying things was part of what the Easter Bunny did, and he tells her, 'sure, he does it for kids around the world, leaving chocolate and colored eggs behind.' Her eyes got huge and she's like, 'he will return?' and Ford's all, 'yeah, every year if you've been good.' She took off at a sprint all the way back to her quarters to see if the Easter Bunny had left her anything else!"

This time, Rodney fell off his chair from laughing so hard, hitting the ground and bringing the chair toppling onto him, laughing even harder at this. John joined in as well, terribly amused at his friend's supposed drunken antics.

McKay couldn't believe some of the things John had done, especially on Atlantis. Who knew his sarcastic, serious-minded friend was such a troublemaker and practical joker? He was also a lot funnier than Rodney had ever suspected, more than ever when he was drunk and had no inhibitions telling him not to confess to some of the things he had done.

Picking himself and the chair off the floor, he poured them both another round as John started another story, involving a past CO and his wife, a male stripper and latrine duty for 6 months.

Half the bottle and 2 hours later, Rodney was convinced that his friend was completely and utterly smashed. Smashed enough that Rodney was reasonably sure he could get John to tell his story without having to worry about him remembering any of it in the morning. And on the off chance that he did, Rodney could always blame it on the copious amounts of booze ingested, and claim only vague memories of the night's conversation.

"John?" He asked, trying to rouse his half unconscious team leader, who was currently dozing with his chin touching his chest.

"Whaaa?" He slurred badly.

"John, tell me about Mensa. What made you take it?"

Rodney of course already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from John's point of view. John was quiet for long enough to convince Rodney that he'd passed out, when John suddenly seemed to shake a little of his drunkenness off and began talking with much less of a slur.

John told him the much-abbreviated version of what Rodney had read. McKay noticed he gave no reason for shooting his stepfather and skipped completely over being adopted and the subsequent deaths of his adopted father and his mother, years later. He concluded with joining the military shortly after graduation.

"John?"

"Hmmmm?" Answered Sheppard with his eyes closed.

"Why did you shoot your stepfather?"

John turned bleary red eyes on Rodney. He reached over and grabbed Rodney's bottle of booze and took a swig before Rodney could stop him. Screwing up his face, John said, "This tastes weird."

Hoping to distract him from further thoughts on that subject, Rodney repeated his question quickly. This time, John answered.

"Cause I was tired of him walloping my mom. I refused to let it happen that night, so he walloped me instead. Get this; while he's smacking the crap out of me, he tells me, I'm a worthless piece of shit that'll never change. Pot, meet kettle."

"What happened next?"

"When he was done with me, he tried going after my mom again. I refused to let that happen. I grabbed his gun from the closet and shot him in the arm. The police thought my shot went wide, but it didn't. I was only trying to wing him. Despite him being a piece of crap that deserved to die, I didn't have it in me to kill him. He never laid a hand on my younger sister and he only hit me that night. He and I never got along before that, and I hated him for hurting my mom, but it wasn't enough to turn me into a killer. My mom called 911 when she saw me with the gun, but by the time help had arrived, he'd convinced her to keep quiet. She was more whipped mentally than I could ever be physically. When she chose him over me that night, I just didn't care anymore what happened next, so I kept quiet too. Not like they'd ever believe me. My mom didn't have any marks on her at the time and it was my word against theirs. So I let them arrest me."

"Where's your family now?" Rodney asked, genuinely curious.

"My adopted father and my mom are dead. My sister is still alive but we're not close. She wrote me every month to tell me that things had gotten better since I left. That our stepfather didn't hit mom anymore, just yelled at her a lot. My sister was 8 when I left. She was 14 when mom died. She blames part of her death on me because I didn't come home when mom started drinking. I couldn't. She was still married to that son of a bitch, who happens to still be alive by the way. Apparently, he finished raising my sister like she was his own. Maybe trying to make up for being such a dick, but whatever the reason, she's loyal to him more than me."

"Did you talk to her before coming to Atlantis?"

"I tried. Went all the way to San Francisco to tell her, maybe even reconcile, but there was still too much anger there. She said she loved me, but it would take more time to forgive me and shut the door in my face. I ended up walking to a park by the bridge trying to decide whether to come here or stay and try to mend things between us. I ended up leaving it to chance. Flipped a coin. That's how I ended up here." John finished, utterly depressed now.

McKay stood up and walked around the desk over to where John sat. He knelt down to look John in the eye and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Perhaps it was the defeated air John had about him that Rodney had never seen before, or the fact that Rodney doubted very much that John would remember any of it in the morning, but Rodney felt daring enough to put himself on the line and tell him how much it meant having him as a friend.

"The only family I have left is my sister too. We never talk. In fact, since coming here, I've come to realize that there are different kinds of family. So your family sucked growing up, but you have a new one here on Atlantis. You're the brother I never wanted but really needed to keep me normal. We're family now. Do you understand?"

John leaned forward, reached a hand out and pinched Rodney's cheek going, "awwww, I love you too Rodney." And promptly threw up on McKay's shirt as he passed out.

Looking down at his ruined uniform, Rodney sighed. He lifted one of John's arms over his shoulder and pulled his very drunk friend to his feet. Mumbling to himself about how disgusting he smelled and the indignity of it all, he helped John stagger to his quarters, where he let him sink down to the mattress, pulled off his shoes, covered him with a blanket and got a bucket to put by the side of the bed.

"As my new unofficial brother, I hope you aren't planning on throwing up on me often."

Rodney hit the light switch and left a snoring John. He had to get cleaned up before seeking out Elizabeth to tell her not to expect John at that morning's briefing.

As the doors slipped shut behind Rodney, John turned over on his side and smiled, content. There are more than one kind of family, and I've got one right here in Atlantis. He had made the right decision coming here after all.

The End