Title: The Reason

Spoilers: General for everything

Disclaimer: Atlantis is not mine. I'm just having a bit of fun!

Notes: This is set somewhere towards the end of season 4 I guess. This will be a sparky fic - you have been warned! It's the first multi-chapter fic I've done, so bear with me and please be kind! I was having trouble coming up with a name, but when I happened to hear the Hoobastank song The Reason, it just seemed to feel right. Also, I swear, hand on my heart, I've run this through a spell check, but it was pants! So apologies if something has slipped by.Okay folks, here goes. Hope someone out there likes it...

Chapter One

Coming to stand next to Rodney, Elizabeth watched as he started the dialling sequence. This morning he had been going through a new list of gate addresses and they were finally coming to the end of the tedious procedure. All that would be left to do now would be to assign teams to explore these new worlds. She mused as the symbols were lighting up on the gate, that it was a nice change for the teams to take the time to enjoy the actual exploration of somewhere new instead of getting chased off the planet by a battalion of hungry Wraith.

Times had changed since their arrival in the Pegasus galaxy and while in no way was the threat from the Wraith completely obliterated, or the threat from the rest of this aggressive galaxy for that matter, they were happy just to take things as they come. Still it seemed as though they were living from one crisis to another. It certainly kept them on their toes, that's for sure, but there was more of a balance these days. The rest of their neighbours having accepted that they were here to stay, like it or not, had mellowed considerably. They were more considerate and only picked a fight with them one at a time, leaving a bit of space between, so this generation of the people of Atlantis could actually do the thing they had come here to do - explore.

She was jolted out of her reverie by the flash the gate made once the wormhole was established.

"Okay, we've got a connection." Rodney announced.

"Send the probe."

Swinging to the other side of the console on his chair, he gave the command to send the probe through the event horizon. "Probe is on transit. Will arrive in three, two, one. Should be receiving telemetry in just a second. Ah, here we go."

Turning to face Elizabeth, Dr. Rodney McKay now had a self congratulatory grin plastered on his face, like this was one of the greatest achievements of his career even though he'd spent his entire morning doing this exact same thing more than a dozen times. The only difference now though was that there was someone new to impress since the staff assisting him had long ago ceased to care.

"Good job Rodney."

It still amused Elizabeth at how a grown man and a genius no less, could have the temperament of a child. This man had performed feats of the likes no one on this expedition could ever imagine, was an intricate part of her premiere team that frequented strange new planets and his ideas had saved the lives of just about everyone one Atlantis and yet if you didn't give him a pat on the back for something as unexceptional as directing a MALP through the gate, his demeanour could change instantly, and the only way that could describe would happen, was that he was in a big huff. She'd realized early on however that you mustn't feed the beast too much. Too many compliments would only result in inflating his ego until he was unbearable to be around, so where others had taken to ignoring him she'd found a compromise that had probably saved them all.

Satisfied that his efforts had not gone unnoticed, Rodney placed his attention back on the work at hand. The readings were coming in from the probe, "Well we've got a good environment on this one, nice breathable atmosphere and from what the pictures are showing us, this place is most definitely populated. Here look at this," remembering that it's polite to share, especially with one's friend and boss, he moved so his head wasn't completely obscuring the small screen.

The video feedback revealed the whole area around the stargate looked like a construction site. There was what appeared to be a large crane in the process of being set up not too far from where the probe sat. Wooden buildings, large and small were dotted about the grassy field, only half finished, some looking somewhat like barns or warehouses, a couple of the smaller ones off to the side could have been the alien equivalent to port-a-loos.

As the probe pushed on they could see there were deserted carts half loaded with materials and some rather crude looking tools lying here and there. The whole place looked like a ghost town, as if all the workmen had suddenly just up and left their things where they were working. Guiding the probe carefully around the disarray of the work yard, along the only obvious well worn path, it cleared the last building. The field ended and the track narrowed as it turned and started heading down towards the large town that was now clearly lain out in the valley below them.

"All that and not a person or any livestock in sight. Where've they all gone?" he demanded.

"Maybe its lunchtime." she suggested with a tight lipped smile that let him know she was kidding. He was right though, all this civilisation and no people. Then again they'd not even been there five minutes.

"Oh that would just be typical."

She braced herself as she felt one of his rants coming on.

He sucked in a deep breath and began. "I guess it's universal then. It doesn't matter what galaxy you're in, workmen are lazy wherever you go. They're all too busy eating their sandwiches and drinking their coffee to actually get any work done."

"Sound like anyone we know?"

The comment had come from Colonel Sheppard who had managed to get close enough to stand behind Rodney without being noticed as the man dealt out his judgement on the missing inhabitants. Elizabeth had seen him approach and had kept quiet when John had arched his eyebrows in a silent request for her not to say anything. She knew the two men could bicker like children and each was constantly trying to bait the other, but despite it all, this was how the two unlikely friends interacted most of the time. Their taunts and teasing had on occasion pushed the two of them to accomplish the impossible, through sheer stubbornness to prove the other wrong, but more often than not, did nothing more than cause trouble and while she was usually inclined to stay out of their petty arguments, she felt Rodney had walked right into this one so she kept quiet. Besides it was his own fault - coffee and sandwiches? That was a trap of his own making!

Before they started trading insults she stepped in."What brings you here John. I thought you were off duty until tomorrow morning?"

"Well I just thought I might drop in and see how things are doing?" Even he didn't look like he believed his reason for coming by as he rubbed a hand through his already messy hair.

"You thought you might drop in?" she repeated his words."You mean after just three days off, with the whole of the city at you're disposal, you're bored?"

"Out of my mind." He was almost pouting now. "Everyone else is either working or doing their own projects or on the mainland."

"John, Teyla offered you the chance to go with her and Ronon to the mainland. Why don't you just take another jumper out and go meet up with them? I don't think they'd mind you joining them and I'm sure Jinto would be pleased to see you again."

Apparently he'd already thought of this and the idea was unacceptable because he was shaking his head before she'd even finished.

"Nah, they'd know I just got bored and all I'll get is how I should have come in the first place. For a few hours it's not worth the hassle."

Elizabeth just shook her head at his bizarre reasoning. Rodney felt that John's obvious boredom made up the earlier jibe, so willing to quit while he was ahead, didn't say anything either.

Bringing them back to the matter at hand, John pointed at the screen. "So what've you got here?"

Rodney perked up at the interest in his work. "I've just finished the list of potential worlds to explore. Before you so rudely interrupted, we were discussing the lack of people in the immediate vicinity."

Again Elizabeth found herself stepping to deflect the impending squabble. "Well, Major Lorne's team is due to ship out later this afternoon. When he finds some of the locals, he can ask them."

"Hey, hey, hey. That's not fair, you said I could get first dibs on the new planets." Rodney had jumped out of his chair, crossed his arms defiantly over his chest and was moments away from actually stamping his foot in protest.

"McKay, you are such a child. There's plenty of places to choose from." John couldn't resist, sometimes Rodney made it too easy.

"And who do you think just spent the morning going through them all?" He turned a little to face John and added in a much lower, faster, conspiratorial voice meant for just the two of them. "Trust me Colonel, out of all the places I've seen this morning at least this one holds a little mystery. If you thought you were bored before, wait until we get packed off to one of those other worlds."

"Really?"

Rodney gave him a knowing nod

The threat of further boredom had won John over. "Y'know Elizabeth..."

Both men turned to look back at her as John spoke and realised she too had her arms firmly crossed over her chest, a stance she often took when she was not best pleased, and she'd narrowed her eyes to give them a well practised, disapproving glare which neither man could tell if it was genuine. She waited for one of them to continue.

John found his tongue first, knowing no amount of fobbing her off would work and went straight to pleading. "Please can we go here? Lorne's team just got back from a trading visit on some nice sunny planet with pretty locals. Rodney did find this place. It's got to be our turn for something a little more exciting than mineral surveys. Please Elizabeth?"

The two men before her, the leading physicist in Atlantis and her ranking Military officer were both looking decidedly sheepish after resorting to behaving like infants to get their own way. She let the glare she was holding them with slide from her face and replaced it with a small smile. "You can leave in the morning." She loved the effortless way a simple stare could make the two of them work so hard for something she'd let them do if they'd just asked liked reasonable adults. These two could wind each other up all they liked, but she could get the better of both of them.

Wearing smiles of their own now Rodney informed John, "Oh yeah, we're gonna need a jumper for this one. What? Don't look at me like that, you saw how far away that town was. And what if what scared away all the locals is still there? We'll need a quick way out and even you can't run the distance back up the hill to the gate!"

"Okay Rodney calm down, we'll take a jumper." John passed a quick look with Elizabeth checking there was a jumper free in the morning. A slight nod from her told him it was fine and the mirth in her eyes told John she too was amused by how quickly the good doctor had managed to get himself in such a fluster without either of them saying a word.

"Yes well, I uh...I think we're done here now." With that he turned to face the consoles and shut down the wormhole.

Now his composure was fully intact once again, he regarded his friends with a smile. "I don't know about you, but I've not had a thing to eat all morning. I'm practically starving here."

With not so much as another word he moved to leave for the mess hall, his last statement intended as an invitation to join him.

Elizabeth and John shared a look then she held out a hand gesturing after the hungry man, "Shall we?"

With a small chuckle and a shake of his head, he led the way to the mess.