Spoilers for Epiphany
Disclaimer: Of course they're not mine, but that's alright as long as I can take them out and play with them whenever I want.
They had come for him.
John stood staring at his friends, a little afraid that he was lying on the ground wounded by the beast again and this was all an hallucination. But the awkward embarrassment he was sensing from Rodney, the nonchalant disdain from Ronon, Beckett's concern – it was all too real. John felt the emotions he'd been trying to bury for so long come bubbling to the surface and he had to turn away.
"Let's get outa here," he said roughly. He was more than ready to leave the sanctuary behind. His prison of the last six months.
"No, no, we can't just yet." Rodney's words caught John by surprise and he paused, turning back.
Everyone was looking at McKay for an explanation.
He rolled his eyes. 'I work with idiots' plain in his voice and manner. "We came through a time dilation field. Time is passing so much faster in here that we have to give enough time on this side of the field so we don't meet ourselves going in."
"Is that even possible?" Ronon's skepticism was plain for everyone to hear.
It didn't even phase Rodney, "Well, it's not a proven fact. Why don't we go back and we'll let you test the theory?"
Listening to his teammates bicker, Sheppard felt a knot inside him release. He was going home.
He stepped between the combatants feeling like he was settling back where he belonged. "Why don't we go back to the cloister? I need to get the few things I had and then we can go back. That'll take a few hours. That long enough for you, McKay?" he asked. He looked them over. His friends looked just the way he remembered them and they should, he amended to himself silently, only two hours had passed for them. He was the one who had changed.
Rodney nodded, "Yeah, about six hours in here should do it." He bounced on his toes. "I'd kind of like to take a look at their power source."
"Rodney," Elizabeth's voice held a warning note.
"I'm not going to take it apart, I just want to see it. Take a few readings," he assured her as he rushed to follow Sheppard on the path back to the village.
--SGA--
The rest of their group sensed that Rodney really needed to talk to Sheppard alone so they hung back. Dr. Weir and Carson conversed quietly as they trailed along behind, giving the pair their privacy. Ronon and Teyla brought up the rear, still on the alert. They had learned through hard experience that just because a place seemed peaceful and serene that it wasn't necessarily so. The beast might have been vanquished but there were so many other things to be on the lookout for in the Pegasus Galaxy.
Walking next to Sheppard, Rodney snuck quick sideways glances from time to time, taking in the 'wild man' look that Sheppard was sporting. It was a shock because he'd looked just like Sheppard two hours ago, the last time Rodney had seen him. Now... he was rough and unshaven and his clothes were simple and obviously home made. But his hair still stuck up at improbable angles which just struck Rodney as right, that at least his hair was still recognizably John Sheppard.
The other man was lost in his thoughts and Rodney tried to respect that, he really did, but he needed to talk to Sheppard to know that he was really okay. "So, how are you?" he said finally when he could stand the silence between them no longer.
Sheppard glanced over at him, as if surprised to see him there.
"I'm fine," he insisted though Rodney could see he was anything but. Sheppard took a deep breath and asked, "Two hours?" There was something in his eyes Rodney couldn't define.
Rodney shrugged. "For us it was only two hours, maybe more like three now. If we hurry we'll make it home in time for dinner. They're having tuna surprise in the mess hall tonight. I've always wondered where they get tuna from in the Pegasus Galaxy, I'm just a little afraid to ask..." he trailed off when he realized that Sheppard was grinning at him.
"I missed you, you know that don't you?" Sheppard's voice was rough with emotion. Which surprised Rodney a lot, because Sheppard didn't usually do emotions.
Rodney shrugged awkwardly because he didn't really do emotions either, "I'm sure we would have missed you, too... eventually." He changed the subject quickly. "What was it like? In here?" he swept a hand to encompass the sanctuary.
Sheppard's eyes took a far off, thoughtful look. "It was okay, I guess. There were people, you saw them. They were nice enough. They just weren't the people I wanted them to be." There was so much more behind the words, Rodney could see that. He rarely got people, but he got John Sheppard because the man was a lot like Rodney McKay himself. He didn't let people in easily because people let you down, people hurt you. Sheppard had let a few people in and he had thought they had deserted him. Rodney got that.
"We wouldn't have left you here, colonel," he said quietly.
There was silence for a long while. Rodney thought the conversation was over as they came in sight of the compound with its picturesque houses and serene air about it.
"I'm sorry I gave up on you, McKay. I should have known better," Sheppard said at last.
"That's right," Rodney huffed glad that they were back at a place in the conversation where he knew how to respond. "No way in hell I'm training a new commanding officer. I just got you broken in."
Sheppard didn't respond, he just lifted an eyebrow and smiled before sweeping a hand. "Welcome to the Sanctuary."
It was pretty small, just a few houses and a central table.
"I'm surprised you didn't die of boredom," Rodney commented idly.
"It was a definite possibility," Sheppard agreed.
--SGA--
It was weird to walk through the village with McKay and the rest of his friends. The Atlanteans looked so out of place in the simple village with their crisp uniforms and their weapons. It was strange, and yet it felt good to have Rodney to trade barbs with again. There hadn't been anyone to do that with for six months. The people of the Sanctuary were all so damn serene they just didn't get sarcasm. Not like Dr. Rodney McKay.
Staying in the Sanctuary for even just a couple hours more felt like a punishment. If he would admit it to himself, John was still afraid he was never going to get out. He was afraid something would happen and he'd be stuck there the rest of his life.
He hadn't realized that when he walked through the Stargate for the first time that he would find home at the other end. He had and so much more. By coming to the Pegasus Galaxy, John Sheppard had found a home and a family.
More than anything he wanted to go back to Atlantis and feel her welcoming hum in the back of his head. He wanted to fly a jumper and escape the confines of gravity. He wanted to stand on a balcony and just look out over the water and smell the salt air, feel the cool breeze on his face. He wanted to sit with his friends around him and watch movies and eat popcorn. He wanted to fall asleep with the people he cared about around him. He needed to go home.
He paused as they passed Teer's house. He never been inside of it. He'd never really wanted to before.
While he'd known from almost the beginning that Teer harbored feelings for him, he hadn't been able to think about returning them until he'd given up hope that his friends would come for him. He'd given into Teer's advances more because of anger that he was stuck than because he had any true desire for her. He was glad she had ascended and would never know his true feelings.
He glanced around to find that his friends had all caught up with them. They were watching him expectantly.
"I'm just going to uhm..." he gestured at the door with a hand. He couldn't explain his sudden need to go inside Teer's house so he strode up the stairs, leaving his friends gaping after him.
They didn't immediately follow him, for which he was grateful. He blinked in the sudden dimness of the room, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light. The curtains had been drawn and the room was neat and tidy as if Teer had straightened it knowing she wouldn't be back. The room was nearly as bare as his own with just a big bed for Teer and Hedda in one corner and a little table setting next to the window.
He took in the room, trying to find anything of the people that lived there, some small thing that he might take back with him. Not so much as a reminder of a Teer, but as proof that he had spent time in the cloister, some memory of six months spent here. His gaze swept past the table. He hesitated and went back, his glance caught by something he thought he saw there.
Moving closer, he found that it was a slip of paper that had caught his eye. Strange in a place where he had seen no such thing in the months he had been there – no books, no pads, nothing written of any sort.
The paper was folded neatly. 'John Sheppard' was written neatly on the top. He might have thought it was a note left for him by Teer except that he recognized the handwriting. It was Teyla's neat precise script. She'd been quite proud when she learned to write their language and used it at every opportunity.
How had it gotten into Teer's room? Now that was the question.
He picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it slowly, smoothing the crease. The page inside was again filled with Teyla's neat script. He read it through twice before the truth came to him in a flash.
Teer had known.
She had known about the nature of the Sanctuary, about the time dilation field. And she had deliberately not told him the truth. Even knowing how upset he was that his friends hadn't come for him, knowing that they were trying to rescue him, she hadn't said a thing. She'd played him like a violin, being all soft and warm and sympathetic knowing that, in the end, he would come to her. She had planned it all somehow and had meant for John to ascend with the rest of her people when it happened. He wondered if his friends hadn't arrived in time, would he have been able to resist her?
He swallowed down the bile of anger and rage that threatened to erupt.
It hadn't happened.
Rodney and the rest of his team had come for him, it was over now. He could go home.
He crumpled up the piece of paper with Teyla's note and let it drop to the floor as he left. He found his team in much the same way he left them, blinking up at him in the bright afternoon sunlight. They had his pack.
"Ronon found your house," Teyla explained. "We got your things together..."
"We're out of here," he growled as he set the pace back to the portal. He didn't even pause to look back to see if they were following.
Not so much a tag for Ephipany as the rest of the story.