Disclaimer- I don't own the characters or anything to do with Stargate
Warnings-none
Summary- Told from the views of the Atlantis team as children, we uncover hidden pasts.
EPILOGUE
"Rodney."
"Yeah, Colonel?"
"You did good out there."
"No I didn't. I nearly got everyone dead." Rodney ran his fingers through his short hair.
"But you didn't." Rodney picked up a ball from his desk and began throwing and catching it.
"But, I could have."
"But you didn't." John said a bit more forcefully, then he added, "You weren't trained to be a soldier."
"Well, neither was-"
"Don't want to hear it." John raised his hand. "End of conversation."
"Yeah."
"Hey, Rodney, Pass!" Rodney threw the battered football just above John's head to jump-catch. "Why do you have such an old ball?"
"Just a reminder from another life...An old friend gave it to me, I had to keep it... You have stuff like that surely?"
"Just the one thing."
"What is it?"
"You'll laugh."
"Ahem! I've kept a toy football for twenty-six years!"
"Really? Twenty-six?"
"Yeah, I was ten so...Why?"
"Nothing... I've had my thing since I was eleven and a half."
"So what? Twenty three/twenty four years?"
"Twenty-six."
"You're kidding! You're older than me?"
"I'm almost thirty-eight."
"Oh, that's just not right!" By this stage they were throwing the ball between them, when John suddenly asked;
"What's written on the side? Your name?"
"The writing faded, huh? It said - 'Don't forget me'"
"That's it?"
"No, wait... before that it siad-"
"Your friend, John?"
"No way! It can't be..."
"You're the kid with the cartoons and equasions!"
"Oh, God!"
"Why didn't it occur to me? Canadian...equasions...my pal 'Rod. M'?"
"You didn't..."
"Bring the book with me? It's in my room. Elizabeth loves the authority figure one."
"You showed Elizabeth?"
"Yeah..."
"How many...?"
"Not that many..."
"How many?"
"Teyla, Ford, Ronon, Zelenka, Bates... I showed it to Grodin a couple of years back... He laughed at page 17 said I should show you."
"But you didn't! From the sounds of things you showed it to everyone but me!"
"I could swear I..."
"You didn't."
"Well I-"
"Don't give that excuse you used it last week."
"But you-"
"I mean it. That one too."
"Rodney, let me finish!"
"Why? I know what you're going to say!"
"How could you poss-"
"I just do."
END
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