Semper Fi

By Ann3

Writer's Note: Okay, just two more chapters to go - and Carson has a wee bit of an announcement for Rodney and the rest of Atlantis. Should be interesting... ;o)

Just a quick reference to McKay and Mrs Miller - simply because I think both Carson and Laura could use the ammunition... :o)

Chapter Fifteen

There's Gonna Be A What...?!?!?

In Rodney McKay's frequently self cited, untiring opinion, his was the most brilliant mind in two galaxies. At the moment, though, that hyper-genius mind was struggling to take in a remarkably simple concept.

"There's – There's gonna be a what...?"

Somehow keeping his face straight, amid a roomful of grins and sniggers, John Sheppard sighed – his heroic self-control crumbling as two bright blue eyes met his and rolled in the same, long suffering despair.

"A wedding, Rodney..." he said at last, just pipping a helplessly convulsing Carson Beckett to the post. "As in w-e-d-d-i-..."

"Yes, thank you, Colonel, I know how to spell it..." Rodney zinged back with equally honed sarcasm.

Pointedly ignoring the sceptical mutters which followed, he then turned his attentions back to Carson – composed enough now to greet this bombshell to beat all bombshells as only Rodney McKay could.

"You're getting married...?!? To Cadman...?!?"

However euphorically happy she was, the Cadman in question couldn't let that remark go unpunished.

"Yes, McKay, he is getting married to me..." she retorted dryly, raising a menacing eyebrow as she growled out the ultimate threat. "Why...? You got a problem with that...? Meredith...?"

As soon as they'd met, Jeannie Miller and Laura Cadman had hit it off instantly. That alone had filled Rodney McKay with utter dread. Not only that, but they had also found the perfect way to silence, respectively, a recklessly insensitive brother and a pain-in-the-butt colleague.

All they had to use was just one, simple, exquisitely effective word. And, as Laura now gleefully noted, it still worked like a charm. Against a backdrop of helpless laughter, she could almost hear McKay's ego deflating as, with wise speed, he re-found the sense of silence.

It wouldn't last, of course – hence the smooth intervention of a natural born, sorely tested diplomat. And Elizabeth Weir's smile had rarely been so warm, or her voice so proud, as she spoke for her city.

"Well, Carson... Laura... I know everyone on Atlantis will be as thrilled and delighted for you as I am..." she said at last – fighting to keep her face straight as John Sheppard chipped in the inevitable, snarky afterthought.

"Yeah, Rodney's gonna be fighting 'em to catch the bouquet..."

Pulling a suitable face in response, Rodney then took refuge in time honoured, McKay-ish tradition – pointedly ignoring the amusement at his expense by ducking behind his laptop with a mugful of coffee.

With order now more or less restored, Elizabeth now set out to keep an always precarious peace – no mean feat, she dryly reflected, when John Sheppard's face still held such a mischievous smirk.

"I know it's a little soon, Carson, but... well, have you thought about a date yet...?" she asked at last, silently wondering how Carson had managed to answer her question without even opening his mouth.

"Well, next Friday's good for me..."

He'd said it to restore his snarking pride – never thinking, for one second, that he'd be taken seriously. Rodney McKay should have known better, though, than to try and outsmart the canniest of Scotsmen.

Trading a mischievous smile with Laura, Carson then turned that mischief into an expression of purest, sweetest innocence.

"Aye, son, that's jus' fine with us too..."

For the second time in as many minutes, Rodney McKay was left utterly, and so rarely, speechless. In fact, everyone in the room was silent now, staring across at Carson in complete astonishment.

He might have been joking, of course, but... no, John Sheppard had seen that expression before. Dr Carson Beckett, that epitome of calm and cautious reasoning, had meant it. He really did intend to get married - in just ten days time.

Beyond this transformation, though, a hint of familiar, nervous shyness still found its way through – the glance which Carson now cast towards Laura saying everything that stammering words couldn't.

"I – I know it's awfu' sudden, an' – an' you'd expect us to wait a wee while, to set a date, but... well, to be honest, I cannae see why... 'cos I can promise all of ye, I won't be changin' my mind..."

Clearly determined to support her soon-to-be-husband, Laura was already nodding her agreement, resting her head on his shoulder in an open display of solidarity.

"Yeah, that goes for me too..." she grinned, her next words causing no end of speculative intrigue as she cast Carson a mischievous wink. "I won't be changing my mind either. In fact, I can't wait to get my Kilt-Boy here down the aisle..."

Quite why Carson Beckett's face now turned so deeply red in response to that wink, then vibrantly crimson, was anyone's guess. Judging by his soon-to-be-bride's deliciously wicked grin, though, John Sheppard dryly noted – well, that cherished first walk as husband and wife promised to be highly entertaining.