A/N: Okay I'm not really sure about this chapter, the muse kind of bailed out on me at times, but I'll leave it up to you guys to decide.

--

In the mess hall Skyler sat reading the letter he received from Axle's parents and munching on the batch of cookies Mrs. Cooper had sent – they were hard and a bit stale, but still some of the best tasting cookies he'd ever had, nobody could make cookies quite like Axle's mom. Even though the Daedalus had returned from earth a month ago it was only now that personal mail was being handed out – they'd been more worried about getting all the supplies and larger personal items unloaded and sorted out first.

"Ooo home made cookies." Aria plopped down next to Skyler and tried to swipe a cookie.

"Hey!" Skyler quickly swatted her hand away. "Get your own."

"Please," She pouted with big puppy dog eyes.

He tried, he really did, but there was no way he could resist her when she put on that face. "Here," Skyler pushed the cookies towards here.

Aria grinned, kissing his cheek, "Thank you." She grabbed a cookie and started happily munching on it.

"You are so whipped." Axle teased as he joined the two. Skyler half-heartedly glared at his friend, but kept his mouth shut – he couldn't exactly argue the point with the man.

"Hey, you're not on crutches any more." Skyler registered the lack of Axle's crutches.

"Nope, Doc cut the cast off this morning." Axle sat down opposite Skyler, dropping a small pile of letters on the table.

"Great, when's he clearing you to go through the gate again?" Skyler hoped it was soon he hadn't been off world since he'd busted his shoulder and was starting to go nuts.

"At least a week, but he has cleared me for light duty and he even encouraged me to start working out again, said it'd help strengthen my leg muscles faster."

"Good that means you can join me and some of the others in the gym this afternoon. Sheppard wants some of us to train with that Ronon guy, see what he's got."

"Cool," The three fell silent as they each went through their letters from home.

"Holy crap," Axle broke the silence a moment later, his eyes going wide in surprise.

"What?" Skyler didn't miss the shocked look on his friends face. "Is everything okay?" He craned his neck trying to look at the letter Axle had been reading.

"I'm an uncle." He gave a soft humorless laugh. "I've been an uncle for the last two months."

"Uncle...?" Skyler snatched the letter out of Axle's limp grip. "Holy shit, Matt's a daddy! Who the hell in their right mind would let that punk be responsible for a newborn life?"

"He's cute," Aria picked up one of the baby photos that had fallen out when Axle had opened the letter. "Must get it from his mother's side of the family."

Axle was too much in shock to react to the playful insult towards his family. "I didn't even know the kid was married. He sure as hell wasn't dating any one when we left earth."

"What's his name?" Aria picked up a second baby picture.

Skyler scanned the letter he still held, "Axle Jerome Cooper, A.J. for short, named after his uncle. They wanna know if you'll be the kids Godfather." He directed the last part to Axle.

"What?" Axle snatched the letter back and finished reading the whole thing. "I'll catch you guys later." He spoke absently as he got up, grabbed the rest of his mail and left the mess hall.

"Do you guys see this?" Blue wondered over to their table some time later.

"See what?" Skyler looked up wondering what kind of drama was coming next.

"This huge gaping whole in my chest where my heart used to be." His gaze drifted to one of the new female scientists that had arrived on the Daedalus. "She holds my heart in the palm of her hand and she doesn't even care."

"Are you talking about Kira Kynes?" Aria followed Blue's gaze.

Dr. Kira Kynes was a well known and respected ecologist, geologist, and meteorologist with added specialties in botany and microbiology. She'd been added to the expedition to study the different ecosystems of the different planets they visited; she often joked about being the first planetologist.

"When I look at her I just…oh, man…" He shuttered dramatically.

"Friend you are hopelessly hooked." Skyler shook his head.

"Have you even spoken to her?" Aria found it amusing to see the normally calm and collective Blue acting like a teenager falling for his first crush.

"No, not really. The problem is she won't give me the time of day, she doesn't even know I exist."

"Then I'll just have to introduce you guys."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to her at the next ladies poker night." She shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.

"You are the coolest girl ever!" Blue grinned as he engulfed Aria in a bear hug.

"Hey, hey! Paws off buddy." Skyler playfully swatted Blue's head.

"Sky I like this girl. You have an ungodly talent for picking 'em. Whatever you do, do not loose this woman."

"Not planning on it." Skyler called as Blue bounced out of the commissary. "C'mon," He grabbed Aria's hand pulling her out of her seat. "Let's get out of here before Brain shows up with his drama of the week."

--

Having taken a shot to a particularly sensitive area all Skyler could do was curl up in pain on the gym floor and watch as Ronon proceeded to beat the crap out of Axle and two Marines without breaking a sweat. He mentally glared at Sheppard who just stood back leaning casually against a workout dummy watching as Ronon wiped the floor with his soldiers – it was so not fair that he got to just stand there while the rest of them got their asses kicked.

"Alright. Let's try that again." John tried not to wince in sympathy

"How 'bout you try that again." Axle winced as he started to get up. "... Sir," he added almost as an after thought.

"Maybe that's enough for today." John took pity on his men. He could tell that Skyler was mentally glaring at him and possibly planning John's slow painful death. He knew the man wouldn't personally do anything in retaliation, but knowing John's luck the kid would find a way to get his revenge through Elizabeth.

--

"He's been on the run from the Wraith for the past seven years. What do you expect? Listen -- just talk to the guy. You owe him that at least."

Elizabeth didn't know how John had managed to talk her into this – her guess was that it had to do with those damn irresistible puppy dog eyes of John's. Whatever it was she soon found herself outside the gym where Ronon was training with Skyler, Axle, and some of the new Marines she hadn't yet had the chance to learn the names of.

Standing just outside the door she watched through the window for a moment as Ronon used Axle to demonstrate a complicated looking – to her at least – move to strip a knife from an opponent.

"Thigh, strip, cut, lift, cut ... and finish." By the time Ronon was done he had Axle's arm twisted behind his back, holding the knife to his throat.

"Awesome," Axle croaked out trying not to swallow too hard until Ronon let him go.

Sighing she stepped into the gym, "Ronon. Could I have a word?"

"Here," Ronon handed the knife to Skyler as he walked over to Elizabeth.

As he ran through different moves with Axle, Skyler kept Ronon in his peripheral vision as the larger man spoke with Elizabeth. Ronon so far may have been more or less behaving but that didn't mean Skyler was ready to trust him with Elizabeth yet.

When Ronon finished speaking with Elizabeth and came back over to them Skyler stood aside more than willing to let Axle be the mans demonstration tool.

"Alright - remember the leading arm. Two knives." Ronon spoke as Axle made the first move. "Slice, cut!"

While Axle proceeded to get his butt kicked, Skyler watched Elizabeth leave wondering what she'd had to talk to Ronon about.

--

"So I take it Beckett hasn't let Laura out of the infirmary yet." Aria shuffled the deck of cards. It was the weekly ladies poker night and the notorious card shark of the group was noticeably absent. "Not that she's complaining, I'm sure."

The other ladies at the table laughed; they all knew about Laura's crush on the Scottish doctor. Aria dealt the cards out; the other girls peeked at their cards doing their best to keep their expressions neutral.

"Should I be worried that these poker nights are pretty much the extent of my social life these days?" Lindsey Novak questioned absently as she studied her cards.

"Don't worry you're not alone in that department." Katie spoke wistfully, "the men around here seem stubbornly thick headed when it comes to us women."

"C'mon the guys around here aren't that bad." Aria defended.

"What would you know about it?" Kate challenged. "You managed to snag one of the few real catches around here practically from day one." Aria just shrugged

"You're lucky you know that?" Kira sighed, "…a warm body to go home to every night."

"You could be lucky too…" Aria got a knowing grin on her face.

"Spill it, what've you heard?" Kira leaned in close.

"Well I have it on good authority that a certain field medic has his eye on you."

"Blue! No way!" Both Katie and Kate shook their heads in disbelief; Blue definitely made the top ten hottest eligible bachelor's list.

"Blue?" Kira wasn't sure whom exactly they were talking about; she was new to Atlantis and hadn't had the chance to learn who was who out of everybody yet.

"Sgt. Connor." Aria clarified.

"Definitely doable." She nodded, contemplatively. "Odd nickname though."

"Yeah, he's a odd kind of guy sometimes, but he tends to grow on you."

--

"Dude, if you don't stop pacing I'm gonna duct tape you to the wall." Skyler grabbed Blue's shoulders to get him to stop pacing. The two had been waiting outside of Aria's quarter for the last hour waiting for her to get back from her ladies poker night and Blue was seriously starting to get on Skyler's nerves.

"Sorry," Blue forced himself to stay still. "Sorry I just…I've never felt like this before…."

"Aria, finally!" Skyler pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against when he spotted her coming down the corridor. "You're late."

"Sorry, game ran longer than planed." Aria kissed him playfully knowing that he wasn't seriously upset.

"Well?" Aria had to smile at how much Blue looked like a little kid begging for a puppy.

"She's interested. It's up to you to take it from there."

"You are the greatest! Have I mentioned that fact lately." Blue engulfed Aria in another bear hug.

"Damn it man! How many times to I gotta tell you paws off?" Skyler pried Blue off Aria. "Go find your own girl to grope before I kick your ass up between yer ears." He pushed Blue in the direction of the nearest transporter then grabbed Aria's hand pulling her into her quarters.