"Why didn't you ever tell me that you played the bagpipes?" asked Rodney.

"You seemed content teasing me for just owning them and you never asked," replied Carson.

"What did Rodney never ask?" John asked as they entered the classroom.

"Carson can play the bagpipes!" Rodney shouted, alerting the half of the class that was present.

"You will have to bring them in sometime," Teal'c said. "I would like to hear them being played."

Carson blushed and hurried to his seat.

"How long have you been playing?" asked Elizabeth from the seat beside Carson.

"Since I was eight."

"You've been playing for ten years? That's it, when we get home tonight, you're playing for me," said Rodney.

"This I have to hear," commented John. "You feel like joining me, Elizabeth?"

"I wouldn't pass this up."

"Great." Only Rodney saw the ecstatic look on John's face.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," protested Carson.

He was prevented from being overturned by Teyla walking in.

"Teyla, Carson's going to play the bagpipes for us later," John told her.

"I got in. I got my letter last night. I got in," she gushed.

"What? Got into where?" asked Rodney.

"University of Washington. I got in."

Her friends were shocked. "Congratulations, Teyla. I had no doubt that you could make it," Teal'c commented.

"That was your first choice, right?" Teyla nodded.

"Alright, who gave Teyla coffee this early?" asked Ronon as he walked in.

"I got in," she said.

"To UW?" he asked. When she nodded, he added, "So did I."

"When?" asked Rodney. "I haven't heard anything yet."

"Last week. Heard from Western last night."

"Even though some of you have already gotten into college, that does not mean that you need to forget the classes you are in now," Teal'c said as the bell rang. "If you could hand in your essays," he continued.

"Sorry I'm late, I was talking to Mr. Hammond," a voice said from the door.

"Aiden? You're back!" John exclaimed as he leaped up to give his friend a hug.

"Welcome back Aiden. I am glad to see you are feeling better," said Teal'c, giving Aiden a handshake.

"I'm in remission again. The docs hope for good this time." He looked around. "Where should I sit?"

"The seat behind Carson is open."

John was ecstatic the entire day. It turned out that Aiden had for the most part kept up with his schoolwork and was hoping to finish on time. He had also applied to college and was hoping to get in.

After school, John went out with Aiden, Elizabeth and Teyla to the local diner to catch up.

"Why didn't you go?" asked Carson.

Rodney shrugged. "You would have felt uncomfortable."

"I wasn't talking about me going. You can do things without me."

Rodney shrugged again. "Didn't really feel like going."

Carson stopped walking. "Alright, what's the matter?"

Rodney, upon realizing that Carson had stopped, turned around. "What makes you say that?"

"There is something that is bothering you; I would really like to know what it is."

Rodney sighed. Carson knew him almost as well as John did. Which reminded him of his problem and he became more depressed. "It's several things really. Now that Aiden is back, I'm afraid of loosing John's friendship. They were best friends before Aiden was diagnosed with cancer. After he left, I filled that void. John became my best friend again. I don't want to loose him again. And then there's the fact that I haven't heard from any of the colleges I applied to," Rodney bemoaned.

Carson, not really knowing what to say, took the two steps towards his boyfriend and gave him a light kiss. "I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I'll be here for you no matter what it does."

"What if we go to separate colleges?" asked Rodney, saying one of his biggest fears.

"Even if we did apply to different universities, I made sure I only applied to schools that were in the same towns as the ones you applied to. Whatever decision you make, I hopefully will have an option to go to the same town," Carson explained.

Rodney just nodded and then started walking home again. Carson followed with a confused look on his face. "If I were to say anything else, I would probably break down in tears," explained Rodney. "And that is such an unmanly thing to do in public."

Carson just smiled and placed his hand in Rodney's, causing a small smile to grace Rodney's face.

"I will never understand why you boys don't check the mail when you get home," Peg commented when she got home later that night.

"Its out of our way," explained Rodney.

"Well, Rodney, you got mail. So did you Carson. Looks like it's from some colleges," Peg commented as both boys leaped up from the couch.

"I got in," Rodney said, not believing what the paper told him. "I got in to MIT."

"Congratulations luv," congratulated Carson. "I know that was your number one choice."

"I can't believe it," Rodney said as he sat on one of the kitchen stools, looking at the letter.

Peg came up behind him and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Never doubted you could make it."

Carson, after opening his letter, gave his mother a look and put it back in the envelope. "Aiden came back today," he told his mum.

"That's excellent news!" exclaimed Peg. "You should have everyone over for dinner to celebrate. What's his favorite food?" she asked as she started making plans.

"I don't know if that would be the best idea," Rodney said slowly.

"Why not?" Peg asked. "He's your friend, isn't he? I'd like to meet the lad."

Rodney sighed, knowing a loosing battle when he saw one. "I'll talk to everyone tomorrow about coming over for dinner on Friday."

Peg smiled. "Now, don't you lads have a science project to work on?"

Rodney snapped his finger. "Almost forgot about that. I'll be over at Radek's," he said as he quickly grabbed his things and walked out the door.

As soon as he left, Peg turned to her son. "Well?"

"I got in," he said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm so proud!" exclaimed Peg as she gave her son a hug. "That's the third acceptance letter!"

"Yeah, I'm glad that one came for Rodney. He was getting worried."

"Then I probably should bring out his other letters then," Peg commented to herself.

"What? Mum, what have you been doing?"

"He's gotten letters to most of his colleges so far. Thick packets, so I'm sure he got in, but I wanted the first one he saw to be from his top choice," replied Peg.

"You didn't do that to me!"

"Well, I didn't really know what your top choice was, now did I. You've been awfully secretive about this entire process."

"I wanted to see where Rodney was going to go before saying where I was going to go."

"You really love him, don't you?" asked Peg, a little disbelieving about the depth of her son's feelings.

"I really can't imagine a life without him," he answered. "Even if we do break up, even though it would break me heart, I would like to stay friends."

Peg gave a sad smile and hugged her son. "I hope that never happens. I would hate to see more sorrow come to that lad. So if you could go to any school, which would it be?"

Carson raised the packet he just got. "This one. Close, has an excellent medical school, plenty of research opportunities, and its in a large city."

"Have you told Rodney that? I know he got in as well."

Carson gave his mum a look that conveyed what he thought about what she did. "No, besides John, you are the only person to know where I really want to go. I want Rodney to go where ever he really wants to go."

"Carson, he would want you to be happy as well," Peg said in a sad tone.

"I know. But he's not had a lot of happiness in his life. I want this to be something he chooses."

"I still think you should tell him."

"I'm going to head off to Ronon's to work on our project. Would you like me to pick anything up on the way back?"

"That's alright, I was going to head out to the store anyways. You should tell him," Peg called out after her son as he walked out the door.

Carson just waved his hand.

The next day found Carson eating his lunch with Ms. Janet Frasier. "Did you and Rodney have a fight?" she asked he pulled out his lunch after class.

Carson shook his head. "No. Aiden is back and I feel a tad uncomfortable around the lad."

"Why? I thought you were friends?"

"We've only meet in passing. He was wondering why I was with them all day yesterday. I think he thinks it odd that I'm around all the time. I also thought I'd let them catch up without an outsider."

Janet nodded. "Have you heard back from any colleges?" she asked.

"Aye. Three."

When it seemed obvious that he wasn't going to supply which ones, she asked, "Well, which ones?"

"Stanford, Harvard, and University of Washington," he finally answered.

"And?"

"I got in to all three," he commented.

"Well, congratulations! I knew you could do it! Which one are you planning on going to?"

Carson picked at his food for a bit before looking up and being completely honest with his favorite teacher. "I would really like to go to UW, but will probably go to Harvard."

"Now that's something I don't hear every day: Harvard being a back up choice. Why?"

Carson went back to picking at his food while he answered. "I just want to go where Rodney is going. He really wants to go to MIT which is in the same city as Harvard. Easy choice."

"Carson," Janet started, but was interrupted by Sam coming in.

"Hey Janet, Carson. Mind if I join you?" she asked as she sat next to her friend.

"Of course not."

"Did I interrupt anything?" asked the other science teacher.

"No." "Yes."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "We were talking about colleges," Janet supplied.

"Rodney told me that he got in to MIT," Sam said as she took a bite of her sandwich.

"That's what Carson was just saying," replied Janet.

"He actually didn't seem as excited as I would have thought," Sam commeneted, more to herself than anything.

"What do you mean?" Carson asked.

"He seemed rather distracted, actually. Did you two have a fight?"

"No. Why would you ask?"

"Well, you're eating your lunch in here and Rodney was rather quiet today, which is odd."

"Wait, Rodney McKay was quiet in class?" asked a shocked Janet. "Now I know that something is wrong."

Carson smiled. "That does seem like a sign of the end of the world."

Just then the door opened. "There you are. I was wondering where you disappeared off to," Rodney said as he barged into the room.

"Rodney, come join us," said Sam as she gestured to the seat next to Carson.

"Thanks. Why are you eating in here?" he asked Carson.

Carson shrugged. "Thought it would be better if ye all were to catch up without me there."

Rodney got a confused look on his face. "They did that last night."

"You didn't."

Sensing an argument that they probably shouldn't and didn't want to overhear, Janet said, "I heard you go into MIT, Rodney. Congratulations. I know that is where you wanted to go."

"Thanks. I don't think I'm going to be going there though," he replied as he started eating his lunch.

"What? Why?" asked Carson.

Rodney just shrugged. "Little too expensive."

"You could probably get financial aid or scholarships," commented Sam.

"I'm still considering my options. Where does Cassie go to school again?" Rodney asked, trying to change the subject.

"She's a senior at Western. She's applied to grad schools and will probably end up going to the University of Michigan."

"That's far," commented Sam.

Janet shrugged. "I have to let her go on with her life at some point. It will be hard, but she is all grown up."

"You have a better outlook than Jack. He's pretty much said that Jon has to go to a school in Washington," commented Sam.

"Jon's decided to go to the University of Washington. That's also where Ronan, Teyla, and Radek are going," Rodney added.

"Really? Radek's going there?" asked a confused Sam.

Rodney nodded. "He's never wanted to go out of state."

"So, how's your latest experiment going?" Janet asked Rodney. Who promptly launched into a long-winded explanation of what he had been up to, which lasted until the bell rang.

Later, as Carson, Rodney, and John were walking home after school, John suddenly said, "I've decided I'm going to go to the University of Washington."

"I thought you wanted to go out of state," commented Rodney.

"Elizabeth said today that she was going there," Carson added, and delighted when John blushed.

"Really? I guess I'm not that surprised since Teyla is going there as well," Rodney said more to himself.

"Pretty much everyone in the group has decided where they're going except for you guys," hinted John.

"Still thinking about it," Carson replied to the unasked question.

"If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" Rodney asked Carson.

"Where ever you are."

"That is not the answer I was looking for."

"Well, it's the truth. I got into Harvard if you wanted to go to MIT."

"Wait, you got into Harvard? How come you never told anyone?" asked John.

"I haven't decided if I'm going there or not since Rodney is being a big lug and hasn't decided where he wants to go," Carson replied.

Rodney glared at Carson and then pulled out his cell phone. "Hello, Peg? Can I ask you a question? … Where does Carson really want to go to college? … Really? Thanks. … Yeah, sounds great. See you later."

"You really shouldn't have done that," Carson said as he hung up.

"At least we now know where we're going since Peg gave me the rest of my acceptance letters this morning."

"What?" asked a confused John.

"Peg wanted the first letter that I got to be from MIT. She kept the others hidden until that one came," explained Rodney.

"Huh, that's a bit odd. So where are you going then?" asked John.

"Same place you are," replied Rodney.

"Really?" John turned to a quiet Carson. "You would pick UW over Harvard? That's a first."

"They have some great research opportunities," replied Carson.

"I guess that they do. Never thought of it like that."

"Have you boys finally decided where you'll be going?" Peg asked as they were cleaning up after dinner.

"University of Washington," Rodney answered with a glare to his boyfriend.

"That's excellent. I know how much you both wanted to go there," she said with a smile.

"Wait, I thought MIT was your top choice?" asked Carson.

"Maybe for grad school, but Jeannie goes to UW."

"Are you boys going to room together?"

Rodney and Carson exchanged a glance. "Probably. Wouldn't want to freak out some close minded ass hole when we started making out on my bed."

"Rodney!"

"You know its true Carson."

Just then there was a knock on the door followed by John poking his head in. "Rodney, Carson? Can we come in?"

"We? And haven't you heard of waiting for the door to be opened?" asked Rodney as he went to great his friend.

"Yeah, but I figured that you and Carson wouldn't mind."

"What are you all doing here?" asked Carson as he joined the party getting formed at the front door.

"Since we're all going to the same college, we figured that we should get together and try to see if we could get the same orientation date and who's going to be rooming with who," answered Elizabeth.

"Oh. Well then, come on in."

The group settled in the living room, where Peg brought them in cookies and drinks. "You knew they were coming over, didn't you?" asked Carson.

"They called and asked if it would be alright."

"So, down to business. I have to be home before nine," Jon said.

Over the next few hours, they attempted to plan how their freshman year of college would go. All they really agreed on is who would be rooming with whom. Carson and Rodney were obviously rooming together as were Elizabeth and Teyla. John was going to be rooming with Radek and Aiden while Ronon was going to be rooming with Jon.

They were set. Now all they had to do was get through the rest of high school and wait until September. No problem.

A/N: Next stop, college! Unless you would like to see what happens in the inbetween... I might be able to do that... Oh, and yes, that is where I go.