A/N: Second more happier ending. Kind of short, but my muse has decided to abandon ship (Good thing it's the end of this story)
Navigating his way through the crowded corridor Troy entered the control room, spotting his dad standing on the small balcony over looking the gate room. He wasn't surprised to find the man there, his dad had been irritable and edgy all week barely leaving the control for any reason. Not that he could blame the man, Troy had been in a similar mood that whole week as well.
"She said 13:00, right?" Moving to stand next to the man Troy could tell that his dad was nervous by the way his shoulders were tensed and by the white-knuckled grip he had on the railing.
"That's what she said." John consciously forced himself to let go of his death grip on the balcony railing, his eyes never leaving the gate.
"You guys need to relax," Rodney spoke up from the console he was working at. "It's not like she's never been off world with out one or both of you before." Neither man said anything just glared at Rodney in an obvious 'shut up' look. He shook his head at their over protectiveness.
After what felt like an eternity the gate finally started to activate. Watching as Elizabeth stepped through the open gate Rodney could've sworn he felt the tension literally drain off of Troy and John as both men moved down the staircase to the gate room.
Elizabeth had been off world at a trade conference for the last week, and Rodney had to admit that both Sheppard men had nearly driven him along with half the city to mutiny. The two men had driven Rodney up the wall with their constant hovering in the control room, and their moodiness. So no one was happier than he was that she was finally back.
"Here let me get that." Troy spoke as he moved to take the field pack off his mom's back. Shooting a quick glare Lorne's way as if to say how dare he let his mom carry her own bag.
"You know I am more than capable of carrying a bag." Elizabeth frowned slightly as John gave her a welcome home kiss.
"I know." Troy slung the pack over his shoulder anyway.
Elizabeth just rolled her eyes. She loved her two guys, she did really, but sometimes she just wanted to smack them. Thanks to the two men in front of her - and she knew it was because of them - she'd spent the last week with her very own Lorne sized shadow. Every where she went it had seemed like Lorne was right there hovering. When she'd called him on his behavior, Lorne had reluctantly told Elizabeth everything that John and Troy had threatened to do to him should he let anything happen to her, and having no doubt that they were serious he'd taken their threats to heart. It didn't matter what Elizabeth had tried to tell him the man wouldn't let up, simply stating that John and Troy scared him a hell of a lot more than she did.
For the most part Elizabeth was used to their over protectiveness, both men had been that way for so long it was hard for her to remember a time when they weren't. It had been over eighteen years since she'd nearly died from cancer and they still treated her like a porcelain doll most of the time. She admitted that it had been close, too close, in fact they almost hadn't caught it in time. If it hadn't been for the younger Sheppard - even though he didn't know it - standing before her, they probably wouldn't have caught it until it was too late. It had been a long hard road to recovery for her but Elizabeth had come out on top in the end. In the last eighteen years she hadn't had any relapses but John and Troy still made sure that she always went in for regular check-ups, ate three meals a day, didn't over work herself, went to bed at a decent hour - basically they treated her like a child sometimes.
"So how'd everything go?" John questioned, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist as the three left the gate room.
Giving a small sigh of defeat, Elizabeth let John lead the way while Troy brought up the rear. Yeah sometimes they were annoying, pains in the ass, but they were her annoying, pains in the ass and she wouldn't have it any other way.