Chapter Three – Still Gluing the Pieces Together

Atlantis – Rodney's quarters – that evening

"So, you never reassigned my quarters?" Rodney asked Sheppard, as he entered his old room.

"No. Packed up your stuff, put it in storage eventually, but Elizabeth never got round to reassigning them," Sheppard shrugged nonchalantly. There was no way he was admitting to his part in this. Packing McKay's stuff had been hard enough, and could be explained away as keeping it safe. But somehow reassigning his quarters had been a step too far for everyone. And no one had complained when they had been left empty, even though they were in a prime spot for the labs.

"We unpacked some of your things for you, but left most of it for you to do. Hope that's okay. Didn't want you complaining if we put things back in the wrong places," John smirked.

Rodney ignored Sheppard's comment, too busy reacquainting himself with the room, and his things. The diplomas and other things that had been on his wall were still packed, but that was okay. It wouldn't take long to re-hang them later. He picked up his two framed cat photos, putting the one of Sasha by his bed, and the one of Alfred on his desk.

"So, which one is the one you left with your neighbour before coming here?" Sheppard asked, looking at the photos. "And who's the other one?"

Rodney picked up the photo of a long haired cat.

"This one is Sasha. A few weeks after arriving in Russia, she strolled into my place as if she owned it, and me. What could I do? Kick her out into the cold Russian night to freeze?" he shrugged.

"Of course not," John agreed, smirking at his friend's 'excuse' for keeping Sasha. "What happened to her? Did you leave her behind when you were recalled to the US?"

"No," Rodney sighed. "I only had her for a year. Died of feline leukaemia."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Rodney pointed to the tabby cat photo on his desk. "That one is Alfred, who is lucky enough to reside with a stunning brunette these days. For a cat, he was a bit of a dog, if you know what I mean," Rodney smirked, seeming more relaxed than John had seen him since being rescued. "Good job I had him neutered. Can't image the number of paternity suits otherwise."

"Ouch, taking his manhood. That's not nice," John said and then grinned. "Just because he got more action than his owner, I bet."

"Hey!"

"Maybe you could persuade Elizabeth to let you have a cat here," John said, ignoring Rodney's indignant response to his previous statement.

"Oh yeah, I can so see that happening," Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know, right now she's so relieved to get you back, she might let you."

"Uh, uh, and so what should I expect to get from you whilst you're 'so relieved at getting me back'?" Rodney tilted his head slightly, thinking it over. "Your not-so-secret stash of popcorn, candy and beer?"

"Forget it."

"I thought you'd say that."

"So, no cat?"

"I wouldn't want to bring one out here anyway. It might have escaped your notice, but Atlantis isn't the safest place in this universe. Besides, could you imagine the trouble a cat could do if it got loose and decided to investigate the ten thousand year old conduits?"

"True," John agreed, looking at his watch. "I'd better get going, I have a session with Teyla and her sticks and I wouldn't want to upset her by being late."

"Of course not. You wouldn't want her to upset her. She'd just kick your butt more than she already does."

"Thanks," John said dryly, letting himself out. "For that I'm tempted to set you up with some hand to hand combat training with her."

"Beckett wouldn't let you…what was it he said? Ah, yes, food and rest. Nothing about getting beaten up by Teyla."

John rolled his eyes, secretly glad at McKay's more normal reactions.

"See you later."

"Bring food," Rodney said to his retreating back. John just waved causally without looking back.

Atlantis – Rodney's quarters – The next day; afternoon.

Rodney was in his quarters, looking out of the window at the ocean, when the door chimed. He didn't move, worry about his sister's reaction to him freezing him in place. Not that it mattered, the door opened anyway, thanks to Sheppard and his damn gene.

"Hey," Sheppard came to stand beside him. "Jeannie's here."

"I know."

"Yeah. Don't worry, she won't bite," John said with a grin, patting Rodney on the arm. "I'll leave you both alone."

He heard Sheppard leave, and a short murmured conversation outside his door was followed by someone else entering his room, the door closing behind her.

"Mer."

Arms turned him around gently, and then he was enveloped in a fierce hug, which he found himself returning, tears threatening him.

"I missed you," Jeannie said quietly, voice tight with emotion. "I've been so worried. I thought I'd never see you again…I was afraid you were dead."

"It's okay, I'm here," he whispered. "I…I missed you too. I'm sorry."

Jeannie pulled back from the hug to look at him, moving a hand up to trace the tattoo. He flinched back at first, but then stilled.

"It's not so bad," Jeannie said with a sad smile. "Not so bad at all."

Rodney relaxed, cursing himself for a fool to think she'd react badly.

"I'm sorry I missed Christmas," he said, attempting to rein his emotions in.

"I'll let you off, this time. But I'm expecting to see you this Christmas," she said with determination.

"I don't know about that…"

"Yes, Elizabeth said about not wanting to be seen by people, so I've been thinking…"

"Always a scary thought," he said with a small smile.

"Pain," she said, slapping him on the arm. Rodney grimaced, more for show than in actual pain. "Caleb and I will hire a place in Colorado, somewhere nice and secluded, and then one of us will pick you up from Cheyenne. That way, no strangers staring at you or anything. As for Madison, we'll just say you got stranded with a tribe somewhere and the tattoo came from that. It's not so far from the truth, after all."

"You'd do that for me?" he asked, clearly surprised, and touched.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. "You're my brother!"

"Okay, that…that sounds good. You're sure Madison won't be freaked out…"

"She'll be fine, don't worry. She'll be too busy with the twins, anyway."

"Twins? What twins?" Rodney said in surprise, and some consternation.

"The twins I'm pregnant with…or did you think I'd just been overeating?" Jeannie quirked an eyebrow at him, and he stood back, taking a good look at his sister, and then groaning.

"I didn't notice. How could I not notice? You're huge."

"Thanks," she huffed in mock outrage, and he had the decency to look sheepish. "That's what happens when you're six months pregnant with twins, duh!"

"I thought something seemed different about the hug. Guess I was too…tense to notice what," he shook his head at himself. "I suppose I should offer congratulations."

"Yes, you should."

"I just did," and then it sunk in. "Oh crap, babies, two of them! Maybe I should skip this Christmas as well!"

Jeannie laughed at his horrified expression.

"Oh no you won't," she said sternly before grinning again. "I promise not to make you change any diapers, or anything like that."

"Ugh. You wouldn't get me near any smelly diapers with a barge pole," he suddenly looked concerned. "Should you be travelling? And do you need to sit down? Oh crap, you're not going to give birth whilst you're here, are you? Maybe you shouldn't have come…" he said, flustered.

"Mer, relax. Yes, I'm fine to travel so long as I take it easy, and with the beaming technology onboard the Odyssey, I didn't even need to travel to the SGC anyway. Yes, sitting down sounds good, and no I'm not about to give birth, and yes, of course I should have come."

"Oh, okay," he said, leading her to a chair, and sitting down himself opposite her. "So, what have you been doing recently?"

"Being a mom, mainly," Jeannie smiled. "But I've also been reading science journals and some books as well. Colonel Carter sent me a few things she thought I'd be interested in reading… nothing classified, of course."

"She did?"

"Yes. When you went missing, she came in person to tell me herself. She thought it would be better from someone I had met than from a stranger. Anyway, we kept in touch after that."

"That was good of her. She didn't have to do that."

"I'm glad she did. John came to see me a month after your disappearance as well. Talked to Caleb and me about what had happened. I think he was feeling guilty, not that there was anything he could have done. You have a good friend there, Mer."

"Don't go telling him that," he said with a small smirk.

"Men," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Too tough and macho to admit to being friends. Well, maybe not so tough and macho on your side."

"Oh, thanks," he huffed.

"Pleasure," she grinned.

Just then, McKay's headset chirped on his desk.

"I'd better get that," he sighed, getting up and putting his ear piece in, activating the comm. "McKay here. This had better be important," he said in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I was on the balcony, you know the one I mean, and spotted your old whale friend. Thought you might want to show Jeannie," came the nonchalant voice of Sheppard.

"Oh. Not sure I'm up to that…"

"Oh come on, McKay, you can't hide in your room forever. Anyway, the corridors will mostly be empty of people at this time of the day, so just get on up here."

"Um…" he sighed again, having a feeling that Sheppard might just come down and drag him up there, probably with Jeannie's help at that. "Okay, we'll come up," he said, signing off, and looking back at Jeannie. "You up for a short walk?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Well," he said, ushering his sister out into the corridor. "Have I ever told you about the time I was trapped in the back of a sinking puddle jumper? There was this whale, well, technically it's a fish, not a mammal, but it looks and acts like a whale. Anyway, it helped them, Sheppard and Zelenka that is, to find me..."

Epilogue of sorts

Over the following weeks, Rodney regained much of his old confidence, to the relief of his friends, though there were still times when there was a haunted look his eyes that still worried them. He returned to his job as Chief of Science, but Radek remained on Sheppard's team for the time being. Although Rodney was getting used, as much as he ever could, to the tattoo, the danger of alienating potential allies still remained. His fear of being accused of being a Wraith worshipper or worse was a valid one, and not one they were going to get past very easily, if at all.

And then, three months after returning to Atlantis, McKay ran foul of an ascension machine, and they nearly lost him. Permanently this time. Of course, when he realised that he had the ability to heal, he removed all of the scars from his own body that he'd collected over his time in the Pegasus Galaxy, and managed to remove the tattoo as well. Something he would have celebrated, if he hadn't been dying, of course.

Fortunately, he'd survived his run in with the machine, and with the tattoo gone, was persuaded to rejoin his team, something Radek met with an audible sigh of relief.

The first outing with the newly reformed team was to investigate tales of a superhero. It sounded unbelievable, but also too potentially useful to ignore. Carson insisted on joining them, concerned about how Rodney would react to his first off world mission since being rescued, not at all convinced that his friend was recovering as well as Rodney tried to make out. Besides, he wanted to be on hand to check out said superhero if his exploits weren't just the results of exaggeration. The chance to study someone with superpowers could prove invaluable in the future, and he had to admit to a small worry in the back of his mind that the powers attributed to this person could be related to the Wraith enzyme.

Of course, the mission didn't turn out as easy as expected, and led them to an annoying 'acquaintance', and a familiar and deadly enemy.

In other words, back to normal…

The End

Author's Notes:

1) Wraith tattoos: in Allies, the Wraith tattoo is above the left eye, but in Common Ground, it is on the cheek just below the left eye, and some Wraith don't have any at all. I chose to place Rodney's tattoo on his left cheek, as I feel that is the more prominent and therefore most distressing place for it to be located for him (bad person that I am g). I'm not sure where I picked up the idea of the tattoos being hive tattoos, but I'm positive that I've read it somewhere and can't claim it as an original idea!

2) In 'Letters from Pegasus', McKay refers to his cat as a 'he', and I'm assuming he means the tabby cat he leaves with his neighbour in 'Rising'. However, in 'Duet', there is a photo of a long haired cat by his bed. This is probably a continuity error, but hey, maybe he had two cats in his life? Anyway, the fun thing about fanfic is that you can explain these things if you want! Also, I chose the name Alfred, as it is the name of Batman's butler and we know McKay likes Batman (!), but Bruce, Wayne and Robin all seemed a little bit too obvious for my liking.

3) Yes, I have altered the episode order after 'Echoes', it now goes: 'Echoes', then the long gap as detailed in this story, followed 'Tao of Rodney McKay', 'Irresponsible', and then back to the normal running order.

4) I have to admit that I was puzzled in 'Irresponsible' how Carson's presence on the team isn't explained, as occurs in all other episodes where he goes off world. Not that it matters particularly, but I thought I'd offer an explanation that could fit outside of my AU, as well as the one that is specific to my AU. There are probably loads of other possible reasons out there, but I'll leave those to your imaginations!