Author's notes: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed my little baby! I appreciate it so much!
Fifteen minutes later, John and the colonel were seated in front of Elizabeth's desk. "So you mean to tell me that you just let Sheppard walk out of here, knowing it was against my direct orders?"
"Well, yes I did. But that's only because I knew the mission would fail if one of us didn't show up. Their leader, Caspar, would have called the whole deal off. Even the good ol' colonel can't disagree with that," John said.
Elizabeth didn't know what had happened, but there was obviously some tension between the two of them.
The colonel hesitantly nodded. "They are right. If Sheppard didn't go, the fragile trust we had with the Kesats would have been lost. I wouldn't have gone about it the same way, but it was the right thing to do."
Elizabeth leaned back in her chair. "Major Lorne and Ronan expressed the same concerns to me before they left. They made radio contact about twenty minutes ago; they plan to be back to Atlantis within the hour. For now, I want the two of you to stay in the conference room."
The two men looked at each other with a scowl.
"Is there something going on that I should know about?"
"No." Both men answered simultaneously. In unison, they got up from their chairs and made their way to the conference room.
Finally, Sheppard, Ronan and the rest of the team returned to Atlantis. According to Lorne, the exchange had gone smoothly, thanks to Sheppard. Elizabeth walked up to Sheppard with a frown on her face. "I expect for you to not go against my orders."
"Well, technically, you never told me not to go," Sheppard pointed out.
Weir didn't think he was going to admit any fault, but she still felt like she needed to confront him. "No, but you made Ronan and Lorne go against what I said. You have put me in an awkward position."
"Look, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. It's just I know that if I didn't go, the mission would have failed. I'll take the slap on the wrist to make sure the welfare of Atlantis is safe," Sheppard said.
"Your…The colonel and John agreed with you. In fact, I think it's the only thing you all have agreed upon," Elizabeth observed. "Come on, Rodney thinks he may have figured out a solution to the problem."
When the rest of the team, including Zelenka and Carson, assembled in the conference room, an unfriendly silence greeted them. "Did I miss another knock out fight?" Sheppard asked as he took a seat between the colonel and John.
Everyone looked at the trio questioningly. "Let's just hear what McKay has to say, ok?" John asked, hoping everyone would drop the issue.
Fortunately, Rodney was more than welcome to hear his voice. "Well, after doing some extensive research, I finally discovered the reason why the Ancients made this machine."
"Actually, it was Dr. Davis who figured it out," interrupted Zelenka.
Rodney shot his a disapproving look. "Apparently it was another attempt to win the war against the Wraith. They knew that they were severely outnumbered so they created this machine to try to even the odds. This machine is actually quite amazing, not only does it have the ability to duplicate DNA but it can also manipulate personality traits.
"The diplomat," he said, pointing to John. He shifted his gaze to Sheppard. "The soldier and the leader," he explained, nodding to the colonel. "Each one was to have a specific mission. The soldiers were to go and command the war ships. The leaders were stay here and try to keep Atlantis safe and the diplomats were to go on peace negations with the Wraith, which I don't think ever happened."
"But?" Sheppard asked, knowing something in the experiment had to go wrong.
"The separation of the person was supposed to be short term, a couple of months at most. When they completed part in fighting the war against the Wraith, they were able to return back to the way they were. But, when they tried to merge the people back together, it didn't work," Rodney continued.
"What do you mean 'it didn't work'?" asked Elizabeth.
Rodney looked to Carson. "They were having a problem of overloading the person's brainwave patterns."
"Basically, their minds shut down," Carson explained. "Having three sets of memories for the same time period was just too much to bear. The first subjects ended up in a coma."
"What?!" all three Johns exclaimed.
"But, they managed to fix that problem," Rodney interjected before anyone could get too panicked. "They managed to develop a 'filter' to where only one of the clones' memories would be retained. The others would be forgotten."
"I bet that didn't go over too well," the colonel said. The other two Sheppards nodded.
"No, actually, it didn't. There is only one documented case where an Ancient reverted back in his original self. In all the other cases, the subjects refused to revert back," Rodney explained.
"So, what? There were three of the same Ancients running around Atlantis?" Elizabeth asked.
Rodney shrugged. "They didn't say what each person did, only that they didn't go through with the reversal."
"What about after the procedure? Did the Ancient that reverted back return to the way he was before the experiment?" Teyla asked.
"We're assuming, yes."
"That's a pretty big assumption, McKay," the colonel complained.
"Well, that's the only answer I can give you. The reversal was obviously a success or they wouldn't have continued with the experiment."
Elizabeth rubbed her temples. Decisions on Atlantis were never easy, this one was no different. She looked at the three men across the table. "What do you think?"
"I think we should talk about it."
"I'm not giving up my memories."
"Can't McKay figure out a way to not put me in a coma without a memory wipe?"
Rodney shook his head. "There's no other option. Either one of you gets to keep his memories or there will be three John Sheppards."
The three men looked at each other. "We need to talk," they said in unison.
Elizabeth nodded. "All right, let us when you have made your decision."
Everyone left the room, leaving the men together. "I know that none of us are willingly going to give up their memories," the colonel said.
"True, but I don't see SGC allowing the three of us to stay here either," John said. "And I'm not leaving."
"Neither am I."
"Me neither."
John blew out a breath. "Now we have to decide whose memories we get to keep."
Sheppard spoke first. "I think it should be me. I finalized the trade with the Kesats. There are things that went on that only I would know about. If we lose those memories, it could end up costing our alliance with them."
"That's a good point," John conceded. "About you?"
The colonel, still angry at John, ignored his question. "Why do you think you should be able to keep your memories? So that you can remember kissing Teyla?"
Sheppard turned to John. "You kissed Teyla?"
John shrugged. "It was just the right moment. Look, you would have done the same thing." He addressed the colonel. "I really don't have a reason why it should be me. Yes, it would be nice to remember that Teyla is interested in me. You never know, it just might lead to something amazing."
Sheppard looked at him seriously. "I'm never going downplay the importance of a relationship. We all know how hard it is to find a woman who tolerates people like us."
The colonel rolled his eyes. "You both are thinking about this all wrong. We need to decide who gets to keep their memory based on the process of elimination. We can't keep John's memory because it would ruin the team. We can't keep your memory because then we would have to explain to SGC why you defied Elizabeth's orders. Therefore, the only logical explanation is for me to keep my memories."
"I don't think so," both Sheppard and John said at the same time.
Nearly two hours later, the three men approached Elizabeth's office. "We're ready."
She stood up and walked to them. "What are you planning to do?"
"We're going to go through the reversal process," the colonel said.
"Whose memories are you going to keep?"
John smiled at her. "We're planning on keeping that our little secret for now."
Weir nodded. "All right." She tapped her earpiece. "Rodney, go ahead and start getting things ready. They're going to go through with the reversal."
Thirty minutes later, the small room was packed. Teyla, Ronan and Elizabeth stood furtherst away. Carson and a couple of his staff were off to the side incase something went wrong. In front of the small team of scientists, Radek and Rodney were working. John, the colonel and Sheppard stood in front of the machine.
"We're decided, right? I don't want to go into a coma just because one of you changed his mind," Sheppard said.
"If you go into a coma, we all do," reminded the colonel. "And yes, we know whose memories we will keep."
Rodney stood in front of them. "This is how it works. All three of you will stand on the platform. The two of you who are not going to keep their memories have to clear their mind. Do not think about anything within the past two days. The other one needs to only focus on the past two days. From what we understand, the filter will pick up the difference in the brainwaves."
"Very reassuring, Rodney," Sheppard grumbled.
"Yes, well, that's why we have Carson here. We're ready whenever you are," Rodney said, returning back to the controls.
The three looked at each other and nodded. "Here goes nothing," John muttered.
After they stepped on the pad, the three closed their eyes. Within seconds, they disappeared off the platform. Rodney turned to Elizabeth. "It should be about five minutes, I'm seeing the same energy spikes as before."
Elizabeth nodded. She turned to Teyla. "Did either of them tell you whose memories he was going to keep?"
Teyla slowly shook her head. "No."
"Me neither," Ronan said.
The five minutes passed slowly for everyone in the room. Finally, the floor of the platform lit up and one John Sheppard appeared. Carson walked up to him. "Colonel, how are you feeling?"
He looked around. "Good, I guess. I do have one hell of a headache."
Carson nodded. "All right, lad. Let's get you to the infirmary." He nodded to his assistants to put Sheppard on the gurney.
"It's ok, I can walk. I'll meet you down there. Then you can run whatever tests you need to," John said. He turned to Rodney. "So, I guess it worked, huh?"
Rodney nodded, half-distracted. He and the other scientists were already pouring over the data they had just collected.
He walked up to his friends. "Everything's back to normal." Looking at Elizabeth, he said, "I promise, no more touching Ancient devices."
She smiled briefly. "I want a full report on your condition after Carson looks at you."
"Yes, sir," he said playfully.
Ronan grabbed his shoulder. "Good to see you, Sheppard. All one of you."
John smiled back. "It feels good to be back."
He watched the two of them walk out of the room. Turning to Teyla, he asked, "Wanna walk me to the infirmary?"
"Sure," she said, leaving the room. As they walked down the hallway, she looked at him. "If you do not mind me asking, whose memories did you decide to keep, Colonel?"
They approached the transporter doors which opened immediately. "I'll let you guess." He grabbed her face and kissed her soundly.
She pulled back after a few seconds. "It's good to see you...John," she said as the door shut.