HI everyone, I'm back. This chapter picks up straight after the other one ended. I was editing it while my husband was sitting beside me watching Joker and it was very loud and distracting, so there may be some mistakes, sorry for that. I hope you like it.
Happiness is a Single Letter Word
They stayed out on the pier with the others for a little while, but it wasn't long before they decided to head back inside and the others agreed. John slipped his arm around M and held her tightly against him as they walked through the corridors. There were a few other people he'd never seen before walking with them, all dressed up like M was, but he paid them no mind. They seemed to know M and she was happy enough for them to be here, and he trusted her so he didn't question it. That was tomorrow's problem.
They dropped most of their company off on their way back to the main living quarters, then they bid goodnight to Carson, Teyla, Jennifer and Ronon, who all gave M a tight hug and welcomed her back, before disappearing into their rooms. John and M's rooms were further down the corridor and John wasn't sure what he should do when they got to M's. He didn't want to let her go, he really wanted to stay with her tonight, but he also didn't want to freak her out and scare her away by asking.
As they reached her room, he waited with baited breath to see what she'd do and was relieved when she opened the door and took his hand before heading inside, drawing him in with her. She thought the door closed and locked behind them then turned back to face him.
"Do you want to talk now, or tomorrow?" she asked.
"Tomorrow," he replied, too tired and overwhelmed to have any sort of decent discussion right now.
She nodded understandingly, then he saw nerves skitter through her eyes as she looked up at him again. "I don't want you to go," she said softly. "But I've never done anything … intimate in this body."
He pulled her close, kissing her softly. "I wasn't even thinking about that, Mere," he assured her. "I know that must be a frightening prospect for you and I would never push you or rush you into anything. I just want to be here with you. I finally have you, I don't want to let you go."
He saw the nerves leave her eyes and she smiled up at him gratefully. "Do you want to stay here or would you rather me grab some clothes to sleep in and come down to your room so you can get changed as well?" she asked.
Trust M to overthink something like this.
"Do you have any objection to me sleeping in my boxers?" he asked.
"No, not in the least," she replied.
"Then I don't need to go anywhere," he replied and she gave him a soft smile and a kiss before heading into the bathroom to get changed. While she was gone John stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt, leaving his other clothes on the chair near the door. He sat down on the bed then to wait for M and she came back in a moment later, wearing a pair of soft sleeping shorts and a v neck top that was obviously designed to match them. She asked if he wanted to use the bathroom and he slipped in there to take care of necessities before coming back out to join her.
She'd turned off the main light and had the lamp softly illuminating the room when he came back in. She had the covers pulled back and was sitting on the side of the bed running a brush through her lovely, brown hair.
He came and sat down on the other side of the bed behind her, running his fingers gently through her hair. She put the brush down and turned to look at him with an adoring expression on her face. He lay down on the bed and held out his arms to her, smiling as she crawled into them, then he pulled the covers up over them.
He shivered delightedly as her lips gently touched his jaw and he kissed her forehead in return. She looked up at him with those incredible blue eyes he's always loved so much and he was staggered by the amount of love he could see shining back at him.
"I'm sorry it took me a while to get here," she said softly.
John gently stroked her face, marvelling at how soft her skin felt under his fingers. "You're here now, that's all that matters," he assured her, "You have no idea how incredible it feels just to be able to touch you like this."
She leant up and kissed him, slipping her hands up to gently grasp his hair and pull him close. He kissed her back gently, lovingly, fighting every urge he felt to deepen the kiss. He wanted her so badly, but he had to tread carefully and he could to that, he just had to be careful not to let himself get too carried away. They kissed each other long and slow, nothing too deep or passionate, just enough to make them melt into each other and feel delightfully floaty.
Eventually they pulled away and lay together, gazing into each other's eyes until their eyelids became heavy and they couldn't stay awake any longer.
"Goodnight, my everything," he whispered as her eyes slid shut.
"Goodnight, my beautiful love," she replied sleepily and he fought back a shudder of pleasure at how incredible it felt to hear her say those words to him. He pulled her close and slipped off to sleep, feeling perfectly content for the first time he could ever remember.
XX
When John woke up the next morning that feeling of contentment was still very much there. He looked down at M, sleeping so peacefully beside him, and felt so much love and happiness burst through him it was overwhelming. He had never been this happy, had never known he could be this happy, it was absolutely incredible.
A quiet knock on the door surprised him and he slipped his arms gently out from around M, covering her over with the blanket again before heading over to the door. This was M's room and he was mindful of that, but he also knew that someone may have been looking for him in his room and of course he wasn't in there. He pulled on his pants and opened the door slowly, now at all surprised to find Teyla and Ronon standing there looking at him expectantly.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked sleepily.
"Elizabeth has been looking for you, she's asked us to come up to her office to see her," Teyla explained.
"Really? I didn't hear my com. All right, let her know I'll be there in a minute I'll just get dressed," he replied.
"We will wait for you," Teyla replied and John knew they probably just wanted to talk to him, so he nodded and slipped back into M's room. He pulled the rest of his clothes on as quietly as he could, wishing desperately that he didn't have to leave her; but of course it was his job and she would understand. He wanted to leave her a note so she'd know where he'd gone, but without paper around that was going to be difficult.
He spotted M's computer sitting up on the desk and opened it. Putting in her password, glad it hadn't changed, and opening a word document, he typed,
'Elizabeth called, I have to go up and talk to her. If it's nothing urgent I'll be back soon, if it is I'll find you when it's sorted.
I love you, beautiful,
John.'
He left the computer with the screen slightly open on the chair beside the bed, knowing she would notice it had been moved so she'd look at it. He kissed her forehead then headed out of the room.
"Did Elizabeth say what she needed us for?" he asked as he came back out into the hallway.
"No," Teyla replied as they started walking. "But it must be important for her to call us this early."
John nodded in agreement.
They walked in silence for a moment before Teyla spoke again, "John, we are curious and confused about you and M," she said, sounding exactly that.
He stopped walking and looked at his two closest friends who were looking back at him with expressions that matched Teyla's tone.
"Were you together in this way before the change? As far as we were aware Rodney was involved with Jennifer, but we wondered if perhaps you were keeping your relationship a secret because of the archaic rule your people have about relationships between two men in the military. Then we figured that there was no way either of you would do such a thing as carry on a relationship when Rodney was already in a relationship with Jennifer. Now we are simply confused."
John gave them an apologetic smile and motioned for them to start walking with him again, promising he'd explain everything after their discussion with Elizabeth and grateful when they agreed.
When they arrived at Elizabeth's office, she sat them down and told them she had to return temporarily to Earth and that Colonel Carter would be taking over in her absence. Before the expedition she had negotiated a treaty regarding the Antarctic site and everything associated with it, including the technology that had been found on Atlantis. Apparently there was now an issue that needed to be addressed and the representatives from all the countries involved had demanded she be the one to handle the negotiations.
It wasn't a permanent move, and that made John feel slightly better, but it was still a confronting change, particularly when they'd only just gotten M back. They could sense Elizabeth's hesitation, but they assured her they would take care of the city in her absence. She informed them that Colonel Carter would be arriving later that day and Elizabeth herself would be around for another day or two to make sure Sam was properly briefed on everything before she left.
They all wished her well on her negotiations and she asked them if there was anything in particular they felt she needed to address with Sam. They discussed recent missions and the state of everything in the galaxy, but most of that Elizabeth was already well aware of. She told John there would be a proper briefing with Colonel Carter later that day at 1300 and John asked whether she wanted M to attend. Elizabeth agreed, considering M would be taking back the post of chief scientific officer after today, she should definitely be there. John promised to let M know and Elizabeth dismissed them.
They walked out of the control room, but rather than heading straight back to their rooms, John led them both out onto a balcony and thought the door locked behind them. He turned back to face them and found he had their undivided attention; which was actually really unnerving. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and started explaining.
When he was done, he leant back against a railing and watched them warily, waiting to see what they were going to say. They'd both been completely silent the entire time so he could only imagine they had a lot they wanted to say.
"Why did you not tell us any of this before, John?" Teyla was the first to speak. "Even when M was still Rodney. Did you not feel you could trust us to know?" She sounded hurt and that made him feel terrible.
"No, not at all, there is nobody in the universe I trust more than the two of you," he assured her. "Originally I just … didn't see any need to talk about it, it wouldn't change anything and I didn't need pity. After the change … I had a hard enough time even thinking about it let along talking about it. It was never about either of you, it was my inability to think straight or verbalise what I was feeling that was the issue. I know I should have found a way, and if I hadn't been so busy trying to run away and hide from it all I probably could have. I didn't handle it well at all and I'm sorry, I just … fell apart," he admitted, feeling guilty.
"You could have talked to me about me and M," Ronon said, sounding annoyed and upset. "You're my brother, John, that should never have been an issue between us."
"I know," John agreed. "I just couldn't face the conversation and I never wanted to hurt either of you. You are more of a brother to me than the one I was born with and I wanted you to be happy, M as well, I never wanted something like that to come between us. I know in the end I handled it badly and ended up destroying the team anyway, believe me, I am very aware of that and I feel incredibly guilty about it. I can only say I'm sorry, to both of you, it was never what I intended."
Ronon looked away for a moment and when he turned back to look at John he had a serious look on his face, "Look, I won't lie to you, John, I am attracted to M and if I thought there was any chance of something lasting between us, I would have pursued her; before I knew how you felt about her. But I know very well that there's not and I would definitely not even consider it now knowing how you feel about her. I am no threat to your relationship, M will only ever be a close friend to me," he said.
John nodded, "I appreciate your honesty. M said the same thing about you actually, that there's an attraction there but nothing more," he admitted, and Ronon nodded, seeming satisfied with that outcome.
"Well, now that we have all of this sorted out, there is no further threat to our team is there?" Teyla asked, looking from John to Ronon. "Do either of you have any further grievances you need to bring up?"
"No," John replied and Ronon shook his head. "We should probably have a discussion with M about it though."
"I agree that would be for the best," Teyla said and Ronon grunted in agreement.
"Okay, so, are we ready to go back inside and start our day?" John asked.
They all nodded and headed back down to their rooms to get ready for the day properly.
As much as John wanted to go straight back to M he also knew he needed to shower, brush his teeth and get fresh clothes on; so he headed back to his room instead. He didn't rush through his shower even though he wanted to, he took the time to shower thoroughly, washed his hair, then climbed out and made an attempt to tame his hair somewhat and shaved.
He'd always made himself neat and tidy, the military allowed nothing else, but now he also had someone special to look good for. He remembered one day Rodney had made a crack at him about the Aqua Velva, but he had admitted one night, while they were sharing a tent during an off-world mission, that John always smelled really nice and that was one of the reasons he'd always opted to share a tent with him. With that in mind John put a little of it on afterwards and studied himself closely in the mirror.
He'd never really cared much about his outward appearance, it wasn't anything he defined himself by and with hair as crazy as his was it was hard to really get a look he was happy with anyway. Now though, with M finally being his, his appearance was something to consider. What did she think of him? She'd said he was hot that night in her balcony, but he wondered whether that was all she really thought, or if there were parts of him that she didn't like so much.
He shook his head at himself and walked out into the closet to grab a uniform. M had known him for years, she'd seen him in every possible condition. If she still thought he was hot after seeing him blown up and covered in mud, chances were, she always would.
He picked out one of his all black uniforms, they were the newest ones and he liked the way they fit. He pulled it on and rolled the sleeves up then strapped his sidearm to his leg and went to get his boots on. Finally ready he took a deep breath and headed out of his room to find the love of his life. When he arrived at M's door Ronon and Teyla were already there, but they told John she wasn't answering.
John was just wondering whether she was still asleep when he saw two men wandering down the corridor towards them. He thought they were two of the other people who had been dressed up like M and walking back along the corridor with them the night before, only now they were in work out gear with their hair tied back.
They spotted John and the others and smiled in greeting. "Hey guys, Teyla, Ronon and John right?" one of them asked with a light Spanish accent.
"That's right," John confirmed and the man held out his hand to shake.
"I'm Dr Carlos Diaz and this is Dr Sacha Kovtun," he said, motioning to the man beside him. "It's nice to finally meet you all. We've been working with M at the Pentagon and she brought us back to Atlantis with her."
Okay, John had been feeling self conscious before, he was well beyond it now. These men were almost too beautiful to be men.
Carlos had long, dark, thick flowing locks, beautiful caramel skin, dark brown eyes, framed by long, beautiful eye lashes and a heart melting smile. Sacha was almost his polar opposite, fair, flawless porcelain skin, ice blue eyes, and long platinum hair. He'd never seen a man and thought beautiful rather than any other description, but these two definitely fit that word. M had been working with these men for 6 months; he'd been paranoid about her falling in love with Ronon, he was far more worried about these two.
Not wanting to be rude John gave Carlos the laidback, easy smile he'd perfected over the years "Pleasure to meet you both," he greeted, shaking Carlos' hand then Sacha's. They moved along to Teyla and Ronon, greeting them both with a friendly smile before turning back to John. "Were you looking for M?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah, I was just wondering whether she was still asleep," John replied, squashing down his jealousy the way he used to with Jennifer so he didn't sound rude and insult M's friends.
If she had these two around her for all that time why in the world would she want him?
"I'd say it's more likely Maugan has M hostage in her room," Sacha said in a very obvious Russian accent. "Maugan is the other scientist M brought back from the Pentagon with her. She likes to get a hold of M on their days off and mess about with her hair. She used to wake her up in the mornings when they made plans to go out just to dress her up and do her hair," he explained with a grin
"Remember the first few times she did it?" Carlos asked. "By the time we got out of bed M looked about ready to kill her. After that she got used to it and just looked resigned. Poor M," he said sympathetically.
Hang on, did M live with them too?
"Did M live with you while she was on Earth?" Teyla asked echoing his thoughts.
"Yes, on the weekends she did," Sacha replied. "During the week we all had to live at the Pentagon so we could be close for work, but on the weekends we all went back to our house. She wasn't sure where she wanted to end up permanently so she didn't see a point buying a property or renting one when she was only going to use it for weekends. We already had one so we invited her to stay with us. It has plenty of room so we figured why not. We were always together at work so we knew we got along," he finished with a shrug.
John's mind was whirling a mile a minute, just how much time had she spent with these men? Had she been involved with either of them? She'd said last night that she'd never been intimate with anyone in her current body, had she perhaps just been saying that because she didn't want him to know? He tried not to let his jealousy and insecurity get the better of him, but it was really hard not to.
"Maugan's room is this way, we'll go and see if she has her," Carlos said, moving down the walkway a bit before stopping at a door. He pressed the door chime and called out, "Oh wifey, you don't happen to have M held hostage in there do you?"
"Of course she does!" M's grumpy voice called back.
"Well might you let us in, darling? M's got three very hot people out here looking for her," Sacha asked.
"You two better not be hitting on my friends!" M warned.
"Hmmm," Carlos turned around and studied the three of them, "No promises, this Colonel of yours is particularly fine," he replied with a grin.
"Yes he is, and he's my Colonel, so hands off! Open that damn door, Maugan or I'll go and do it myself and mess up all of your hard work!" M snarled and the door sang open.
"All right, all right," A British voice replied placatingly.
Carlos and Sacha walked in first and John followed behind them, feeling slightly less insecure after hearing M's words.
M was sitting on the bed, looking grumpy, in a fitted, scarlet dress and black ballet flats adorned with red stones. Behind her sat another woman who was pulling one side of her hair into intricate braids. The other woman, John assumed was Maugan, was tall, fair and blonde with hazel eyes and a wicked smile. "It's all right, M, I'm almost finished," she soothed as Carlos and Sacha moved over to the bed and looked down at Maugan with placating smiles of their own.
"Maugan, sweetheart, you can't have M as a hostage every morning," Sacha reasoned with her as if she were a small child holding a giant lollypop they weren't supposed to have.
"Particularly when you had her as a hostage for quite a while yesterday," Carlos added in the same tone.
"Of course I know that, but this is her last day off before she does back to being in charge of all the scientists around here and when that happens it will be all boring uniforms and sensible hair. She should show off her beauty as much as possible while she has the chance, particularly since John's around to see her now. Speaking of John, move over, both of you, I didn't get much of a look at him last night," she ordered and both men moved towards the door.
"Fine, we're going to shower, but if we get back and she's still a hostage, we're breaking her out of here," Carlos warned the woman who just made a dismissive sound and turned her attention to John. Her wicked grin widened as she looked him over then turned to look at M.
"Oh, darling, ku-dos, that is one fine catch you've got yourself there!" she said excitedly.
"Yes I know, so if you could be done soon," M replied with mock pleasantry.
"Okay, look, I'm just about done. I just have to put the clip in," Maugan replied, slipping a beautiful gold clip encrusted with bright red stones into M's hair.
"And just how much is my hair worth today?" M asked worriedly.
"Darling, jewelled hair pieces are meant to be worn, they do nobody any good sitting around in a box," Maugan replied, securing it in place. "There, let me look at you for a minute," she directed admiring her work and gently touching the ends of the loose side of M's hair, which was once more artfully styled into waves. "All right, perfect, off you go," she said and M sighed in relief turning to look at John and the others.
"Hi Ronon, Hi Teyla," she greeted them with a happy smile before turning to look at John with a smile that was much warmer and full of love. "Hello, my love," she greeted, standing up from the bed and walking towards him. John returned her smile, his insecurities from earlier fading as he looked at her beautiful face and the love he could see in her eyes that was just for him. She slipped her arms around his neck and leant up to kiss him. It was only soft, just a hello, but love and warmth blossomed through John's chest as he kissed her back, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her close.
"Good morning, my everything," he replied as they parted, smiling warmly at her. "I love you."
"I love you too," she replied, one of her hands coming around to gently touch his face. "And you look so hot right now."
"You look beautiful," he replied. "Although that's less to do with Maugan's handy work and more to do with the fact that you're just beautiful all the time. No offence, Maugan," John added.
Maugan shrugged dismissively, "Darling, if you didn't think that I'd tell you to go and have your eyes examined," she replied, disappearing into the bathroom.
"Was everything all right with Elizabeth this morning?" M asked.
"Elizabeth was fine, she just has to go back to earth for a little while and Colonel Carter is coming to take over command while she's gone," John explained.
"Oh, is everything all right?" M asked worriedly.
"Yeah, just treaty negotiations that they need her to handle. She doesn't want to go of course, but she's all right. Colonel Carter is arriving later today and Elizabeth wants us all at a briefing with her at 1300, she asked for you to be there too," John explained.
"Of course, I figured she'd want me along. I need to get back up to speed with everything anyway," M agreed. "I'm glad everything is all right, I was a bit concerned when I saw your message. Has she mentioned anything about getting the alternates home? Who was she going to assign to do that?"
"You do know you don't officially start work here until tomorrow," Maugan reminded her, coming back out of the bathroom in a gorgeous, forest green dress that brought out the green in her hazel eyes.
"Yes, Yes I know," M replied, rolling her eyes.
"You should take some time to focus on John today, work will have you far too busy soon enough," Maugan reminded her, slipping a gold and ruby necklace around M's neck and securing it in place.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm definitely going to be doing that," M said, giving John a heated smile.
"Good, now, let's go and fetch my men, I'm sure they're finished preening by now … unless they got side-tracked of course. If we knock and they don't answer, we're going without them," she said, ushering everyone else out of the room.
M let go of John when they got out into the corridor and turned to Ronon and Teyla, smiling brightly at them and giving Teyla a long Athosian greeting before turning to give Ronon a tight hug. Maugan thought the door shut and locked behind her then headed down the corridor towards Carlos' and Sacha's rooms, which were right next to hers.
"I missed you all so much," M told them as Maugan rang the door chime and they both returned her sentiment. John knew they were almost as happy to have her back as he was.
The door opened and Carlos came out, looking like he'd stepped straight out of a ladies magazine in fitted black jeans and a black shirt.
"Yes, my lovely?" he greeted her, running his fingers through his thick, slightly damp hair.
"You ready to go?" Maugan asked.
"Or course. Have you grabbed Sacha yet?" he asked.
"What, you two actually showered separately?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, we decided this morning wasn't a good time to be distracted," Carlos explained, moving out of his room and shutting the door behind him. "I actually want to eat, not get lost looking for the food. Looking good, M," he complimented as he moved over to next door and rang the chime. "And of course you look delectable, darling," he said to Maugan who gave him a heated smile.
"So do you, you sexy sexy man," she replied as the door opened and Sacha walked out in blue jeans and a steel grey, button up shirt. "And of course you look hot as hell," she added to him.
"As do you two," he replied with a smile, turning to look down the corridor. "Oh, M, I know you hate being held hostage, but she always makes you look divine," he complimented and M huffed out a laugh.
"You're just afraid that if you don't say that she'll start holding you hostage instead," M joked.
"Oh no, that does not frighten me at all," he replied with a wicked smile and M laughed at him.
"Come on, you three, food is this way. Keep your hands off each other long enough for us to get there," she ordered, taking John's hand and setting off down the corridor.
"Party pooper," Maugan complained and M, Carlos and Sacha all laughed at her while John just felt confused and one look at Teyla and Ronon told him he wasn't alone.
"Hey, how do you want to do this?" M asked as they walked. "Should we just act like friends around the rest of the staff so they don't start asking a million awkward questions?"
John thought about it. They probably should, being the chief military officer and the chief science officer they were supposed to set an example for the rest of the staff, and of course there would be all sorts of questions when everyone else did find out. He didn't want to have to hide their relationship, but perhaps at the beginning it would be best. He wanted them to have a chance to enjoy their relationship before the Atlantis gossip mill started making their lives difficult. He stopped walking and turned to look at her, gently touching her beautiful face.
"I don't want to, but perhaps at the beginning it would be a good idea," he replied, hoping he wasn't upsetting her.
He was relieved when she gave him an understanding smile, "I agree," she replied. "And it's probably best while the alternates are here as well. The last thing we need is to have to explain everything that happened to me, and who knows how alternate us would react."
"Quite honestly I don't care, but I see your point," he agreed.
She looked at him for a moment and he saw worry in her eyes, "Is this going to be awkward for you when the other military staff find out? I mean DADT still exists and as much as nothing happened between us before I had this body there are bound to be questions. Could this get you into trouble?" she asked.
"No." John shook his head. "Even if someone wanted to accuse me of something like that, they'd have to have proof that we were together before, and we weren't so they won't find any. Besides, the point of DADT is to not ask, so nobody can ask me about any relationship of that nature between us before now. Thank you for worrying about me, I appreciate it, but there's no need," he assured her, and she nodded, looking relieved.
The others had walked on only a little way ahead of them and were waiting for them at the transporter. They moved over to join them then, holding each other's hands until the transporter zapped them into the mess hall and the door opened, then letting their hands drop gently to their sides and walking as close together as they could without it looking suspect.
Jennifer and Carson had already claimed a table and were sitting with the alternates and unfortunately Cherry. John felt his jaw clench at the sight of the woman and M must have felt him tense beside her because she quietly asked him what was wrong.
"The one on the end that you don't recognise, her name is Cherry and she's a … well calling her a slut would be insulting to sluts, because enjoying intimacy with as many people as you choose isn't a bad thing; invading their personal space when you're asked repeatedly not to and deliberately touching them when you've been told not to is," he explained.
M's eyes looked murderous as she looked over at Cherry. "Really? Well, she'd best keep her hands to herself for the rest of the time she's here," M growled.
"Well, Teyla nearly snapped her fingers last night when she touched my neck, so hopefully she'll keep them to herself," John replied, hoping he was right.
They grabbed trays and headed over to get food, telling Sacha, Carlos and Maugan what was the best out of the available options, before heading back over to the table. Maugan sat down the end across from Cherry and John wondered whether that was intentional when the blonde woman looked at Cherry with an expression John couldn't name; but it didn't look friendly.
Carlos and Sacha sat beside her, then M, John, Teyla and Ronon, who was across from Jennifer. Carson and Jennifer both came around to give M warm hugs and welcome her back before she sat down and she hugged them back with bright smiles. When Jennifer pulled back from the hug John heard her ask M quietly whether they could talk later and M agreed easily.
When they'd all sat down Carson asked M how it felt to be back and she smiled and said, "Honestly, it's like I never left. I missed this place so much, there is nowhere like Atlantis."
"So ah, who are you?" Alternate Rodney asked and John saw M bite back a laugh.
"I'm M," she replied, reaching across the table and shaking alternate SGA1's hands. "It's nice to meet you all. These are my friends from the pentagon, Dr Carlos Diaz, Dr Sacha Kovtun, and Dr Maugan Harper, they followed me back here."
"And who can blame us?" Sacha asked with a grin.
"Guys you've met Teyla, John and Ronon in this universe already so no need for another introduction, this is Dr Rodney McKay, Dr Carson Beckett and Dr Jennifer Keller," M introduced them all and her friends faces took on looks of 'Ah' before Maugan's focus narrowed on Rodney.
"You're Rodney are you?" she asked with an interested glint in her eyes. "Tell me, Rodney, are you single in your universe?"
Rodney looked shocked by the question but replied, "Yes, at the moment."
"Oh goody, want to hang out with me a bit before you go back to your universe? Oh, unless any of you have any objections, I don't want to step on anybody's toes?" she asked, looking around at the other members of the team who all shook their heads. "Delightful. Rodney?" she asked the man who looked flustered and opened and closed his mouth several times before replying.
"Sure," he said simply and Maugan looked delighted.
"Lovely, after breakfast then," she said, sitting back in her chair to eat.
"Really? You want that one?" Cherry asked. "What's wrong with you? Don't you have any taste?"
John resisted the urge to reach across the table and strangle the bitch, but it wasn't easy.
"Shut up, you pathetic little cave troll," Maugan replied with a slashing look. "I'm about 70% gay and I wouldn't touch you if you begged me. Rodney on the other hand …" she looked over at him with a heated look. "He's bloody adorable and I only go for guys if they meet certain criteria."
"What are those?" Jennifer asked curiously.
"They have to be able to carry on a conversation without me thinking they're an idiot," Maugan replied. "And that's really not an easy task, very few people can keep up with me."
"That smart are you?" Alternate Sheppard asked.
"Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and just a tiny bit sexy?" Maugan asked.
"Yeah, but she prefers to go by M," John replied without missing a beat, grinning at M who smiled back, blushing just a little.
"Ah and that is a valid response, Colonel, M is one of the few people who can keep up with me," Maugan replied with a raise of her water glass.
"She doesn't seem that impressive to me, she barely speaks," Cherry sniped and John shot her a dangerous glare.
"Would anyone mind if I pitched this one over the railing out there?" Maugan asked the alternates who all shook their heads.
"Don't worry about it, Maugan, she's just jealous because she's probably too stupid to know which end of a water glass goes up," M replied, barely even looking up at the woman while the others chuckled beside her.
"I beg your pardon?!" Cherry snarled.
"It seems like you're pretty desperate so I imagine all you can do it beg," M replied and John had to work so hard not to laugh at her perfectly dry delivery.
Cherry gaped at her for a moment before screeching, "I am not desperate!"
"Oh really? So, throwing yourself repeatedly at men who have no interest in you isn't an act of desperation? Well then, I was right in the first place, you are an idiot, because only an idiot would think that's a good way to get anyone to like you. Now, since we've established that you are an idiot and none of us have time for idiots, why don't you run along back to your room until we can send you home so your stupidity doesn't break any of my city? Because if it does, I'll get Ronon to shoot you with the giant gun he has a very close, personal relationship with," M replied.
"You're just jealous of me because I'm prettier than you," Cherry hissed and M chuckled.
"Oh my god, is that the best you could come up with? This isn't high school, cupcake, this is reality and if that's all you've got to throw back at me, you have just been downgraded from idiot to moron; and I'll bet you're too stupid to even understand the difference."
"I … I-"
"Total screaming genius remember, you can't win an argument with me," M cut off whatever she was trying, very inarticulately, to say
Cherry opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish, then threw her chair back and stalked out of the room.
"Remember, one foot then the other otherwise you'll fall over, and careful of the very confusing staircases," M called after her.
John watched one of the lieutenants he'd assigned to follow them get up to go with her and John radioed the man to tell him to make sure to escort her straight to her room, in case she decided to do something stupid on her way out of spite. He then told the man to keep her in sight if she left the room at all.
"I like the pancakes his morning," M said as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened and John chuckled beside her, shaking his head.
They ate for a while just chatting quietly amongst themselves, enjoying the lack of Cherry's presence. Eventually as they were getting close to being done, John asked M what she planned to do for the day.
"I Thought I'd go and terrify Zalenka for a little bit and get up to speed with everything, and we all need to get comms. Then I'm going to give these three a tour of the place," she replied, motioning to Maugan, Carlos and Sacha.
"John did you not say your com was not working this morning?" Teyla asked and John nodded, remembering that Elizabeth had been trying to contact him earlier.
"I'm not sure. I managed to get a signal through to Lieutenant Cooper a few minutes ago, but I'm not sure whether he answered, I didn't hear anything, but he nodded to me so he may just not have," John replied.
Teyla pressed her com and called through to see whether John could hear her. When he didn't hear anything, he shook his head. "Nope, nothing, must be something wrong."
"Come down to the lab after breakfast with us and we'll get you a new one," M suggested. "We can't have the chief military officer walking around not being able to hear anyone."
Teyla pressed her comm and called through to Lorne, telling him John's comm wasn't working and they'd let him know when he was back online. She then called Elizabeth and let her know the same thing.
When they were done they all got up and got rid of their rubbish before John asked the rest of the group what their plans were for the rest of the day. Ronon he already knew was training marines with him, Teyla was heading off to see her people for a while, and Carson and Jennifer were, of course, heading off to the infirmary. John asked whether alternate him and Ronon wanted to join them in the sparing room, which they agreed to easily, Teyla offered alternative Teyla to come with her to new Athos, and M invited Rodney to join her and the others down in the lab.
John followed M down to the lab to get a new comm, several people looking at M in surprise and several other people looking at John in just as much surprise; probably because he looked happy for the first time in months. Zalenka looked up as they entered, his eyes widening as he spotted M.
"M, you're back. It is nice to see you," he greeted her and she smiled back brightly.
"Nice to see you too, Radek," she replied. "We need to get comms. John's is broken so he needs one too," she explained. "Dr Radek Zalenka this is Dr Carlos Diaz, Dr Sacha Kovtun and Dr Maugan Harper, they'll be joining us on Atlantis."
"Hi Radek," the three greeted in tandem and Radek raised a wary eyebrow.
"Um, hello. We'll sort out comms for you," he said, motioning for a couple of the other scientists to help him. They all greeted M with surprised, excited smiles and John knew they were thrilled to have her back.
"I'll get John's," M told the Czech and moved over to grab a comm out of the box they kept them in. She set it up them put it up to her ear and called through to Teyla who was about to leave. "Teyla I'm testing John's new comm, can you hear me?"
M listened for a moment then said, "Okay, repeat some things for me. 1 … 8 … acknowledged … I … am … awesome … yes you are, thanks, Teyla, we'll see you soon."
She grinned as she turned back to John and he grinned back at her; she was so adorable as M. As much as he missed Rodney, John enjoyed the sweet way M had about her with their friends. Of course, watching her eviscerate Cherry this morning had also been delightful; he missed a good McKay rant.
She reached up and slipped the comm over John's ear and John supressed a shiver of delight; his ears had always been sensitive. "I just have to adjust it so it sits right over these adorable, pointy ears of yours," she said, making minute adjustments to the wire that went over his ear.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "I do not have adorable, pointy ears," he said.
"Yes you do," Carlos, Sacha and Maugan said at the same time.
John turned to look at the alternate version of him who had moved closer and was studying his ears closely. "I guess they kind of are," other him admitted, reaching up to touch his own ears self-consciously, and John did the same with the ear M wasn't touching.
"Don't be self-conscious, they're gorgeous, I love them," she said soothingly, finishing her adjustments and gently stroking the outer shell of his ear before she pulled back. "Does that feel okay?"
"Yeah, thanks," he replied, feeling goosebumps rising up all over his body. Pointy or not his ears were an erogenous zone of his and he knew it. M studied his face and gave him a grin that said she'd just worked it out too. "We need to get to the training room and then I have mission reports to finish," he said, to distract himself from the delightful shivery feeling that was currently filling his body. "But if I don't see you before, I'll call you at lunch time to find out where you are."
"Okay, I'll see you then. Have fun, don't make too many marines cry," M said with an adoring smile which he returned.
"No promises," he replied, lightly touching her hand as he turned to leave the room. Alternate him and both Ronons followed after him and they headed down the corridor to get changed into workout gear.
"So, there's something I've gotta ask," Alternate him said as they walked. "Who's M? She's not in our universe, but there's something really familiar about her."
"M is … a very long, complicated story; really not worth getting into for the short time you'll be here. Trust me, it'll mess with your head," John explained. Other him just looked at him puzzled but John shook his head, "Just trust me," he assured him.
They got changed and headed into the sparing room, the marines already there stretching; it was a new bunch today. "Morning all," John greeted them. "As you would have heard we have alternate versions of Ronon and I visiting us at the moment so they've come along to spar with us. No Teyla today, but don't worry, she'll be along to kick your asses soon enough. The first thing I want you to do is pair up and go through a quick sparing session, it'll give Ronon and I a chance to assess your skills and any weaknesses you have that we can help you work through. Roberts, McMinn, you two can go first," John directed and everyone else stepped out of the circle while the two he'd called out moved into the circle and waited for John to tell them to start.
After they'd all been through John and Ronon worked with them on areas that needed improvement. They were all very receptive to his feedback and Ronon's and made a concerted effort to improve their skills.
He didn't realise Lorne and some of the longer standing marines had come in to spar at some point and were watching John with curiosity.
When the new marines were done with their training, he stepped into the ring with himself and both was and wasn't surprised to beat himself a few minutes in.
"Are you okay?" he asked, leaning down to help other him up and studying the cut above his eye.
"Fine," alternate him replied. "Good shot."
"Thanks," John replied, wincing slightly at the blood coming out of the injury. They moved out of the ring so the two Ronons could go through a sparing match and all the new marines watched the two men move through their match with awe, while the longer standing marines seemed to be watching John interact with himself. He ignored them while he got a towel out to tend to alternate him and the two of them joked about lucky shots. He determined other him was going to need stitches so he dismissed the new marines when the Ronons' match was over, having been timed otherwise they probably would have been at it forever.
While they were getting packed up John turned to look at Lorne who was smiling at him. "Major, something I can help you with?" he asked.
"No, Sir, you just seem to be in a good mood today," Lorne noted, "I was wondering if perhaps there might be something we could do to help you stay in your good mood, Sir?" he asked and John realised that was the major's way of saying 'You've been a grumpy bugger for months and we're just so fucking excited to see you not grumpy that we want to know why and how to keep you from becoming a grumpy bugger again.' It was true, he had been less than his usual cheery self for quite a few months.
"There's nothing you can do that you're not already doing, Major," John replied with a friendly smile. "But yes I am in a good mood and I intend to stay that way," he assured Lorne and almost laughed at how relieved Lorne and the rest of the marines looked. He could understand their relief, he'd had grumpy CO's before and they were never fun to work for. He'd never wanted to be one of those people and he was sorry that he had been, but at least it was over now. He hadn't meant to let his personal feelings interfere with work and for the most part he hadn't. He'd not been horrible or insulting to the military staff on the base he just hadn't been his cheerful, laidback self; or at least he thought so. "I've been that bad hey?" he asked Lorne, quietly enough that only the major would hear.
"Oh, no not bad, I just know you haven't been yourself for a while, Sir, and I'm glad to see you looking happier," Lorne replied just as quietly.
"Oh, well then, in that case, thank you, Major," John replied with a smile for his 2IC. "All right," he said, turning back to see Ronon already had alternate him up on his feet. "Let's get you to the infirmary and go hit the showers." He led the way out of the room, smiling widely as he thought about M and why he was so happy.
XX
And there we go, M is back, alternate Rodney is the one getting the attention from the girl for once, Cherry behaves like a teenager, but that will be addressed soon and we've met Maugan, Carlos and Sacha who will be major characters in the rest of the story. I hope you liked the update and feel free to let me know if you did.