John's City

There is a bit of a mention of the episode Grace under Pressure

Chapter Two

John finally slowed down, breathing hard from his unscheduled run, when he reckoned he was as far from the others as he could be without being on the Mainland. Lucky for him, there were still parts of the city that hadn't been explored yet. Unluckily, though, John knew that the city's version of the LSD could pick him up no matter where he was.

He looked around at the room he found himself in. Needless to say, he was very surprised to find himself in, what looked like, a storage room. There were shelves filled with countless things, pieces, and general other things that would have Rodney, Radek Zelenka, and the others salivating with excitement. The room was roughly half the size of the mess hall and maybe one times the size of it. There were shelves running the length of three walls and more between.

John, tired, walked over to the only wall that didn't have shelves and sat in front of it. Having decided to stop thinking, he instead studied the wall, wondering why there were no shelves. It didn't really make all that much sense.

'But then,' he thought to himself, 'nothing makes that much sense ever since I stepped foot on this city.'

He turned and scooted so that he could lean back against the wall and remembered his first trip through the 'Gate. After reminiscing for half an hour, something triggered in his mind. He sat up and looked straight ahead as he thought out loud.

"When I first stepped through the Stargate," he began to the room, which had closed and locked without him knowing, "I looked around and Rodney was with me. We had paused in front of the stairs, which lit up. As we continued, lights started coming on by themselves. Now, knowing what I do now, which is more than I did then, and knowing that lights come on in the presence of the ATA gene and that Rodney didn't have the gene then, there is only one possible way that those lights could have come on by themselves: I woke the city up."

He paused. "I really should go tell Elizabeth and Rodney." Then remembering the cold shoulder he had been getting, he shook his head. "No. I should wait til I've calmed down. Then after explaining to them, I'll go to the gym and take out the rest of my anger on that punching bag." He stood and leaned against the wall. "I can't believe it. I woke this city up. That goes to show you," he told the memory from the mess hall. "I am good for something. I don't care what you say."

Rodney, though, was a different story. After hearing what he said in the labs, John was very hesitant to talk to him again. 'I guess he was right. My friend did show his true colors. To top it all off, I thought this birthday was going to be different. I guess not.'

Cocking an ear, John shivered as he heard a clap of thunder echo throughout the city. It certainly reminded him of his other birthdays. One of them being the day of that storm that the Genii decided to take over.

"Well, I don't know. I guess tomorrow will be only us two, eh, Atlantis?"

John nodded. He leaned back and found himself leaning past where the wall should have been. He tried to grab something, but it was too late.

John lost his balance, hit the floor hard, and slid a few feet down a ramp into three inch deep water.

AAAAAAA

Rodney finally dragged himself out of the lab and into the mess hall where the lead party planners were congregated around two tables pushed together.

Ronon and Teyla had managed to sneak into Atlantis without drawing too much attention and was currently having Major Lorne explain to them about why they had to isolate John.

"See, the Colonel has this way about him that just lets people talk to him. You know, enough to spill minor secrets, like a surprise birthday party that needs to stay secret from him…"

Rodney settled next to Elizabeth and stretched his arms. "Everything going according to plan?"

"Imagine my surprise when I find out that everything is going the way we want it to for a change. Now, I'm waiting for the Wraith to show up or something like that," Elizabeth said, referring to the many times that their plans had ended up being shot to hell.

"Oh, I can imagine, alright," Rodney watched as Dr. Carson Beckett wandered over to the bar for a mug of hot cocoa and some biscuits. "I'm slightly surprised, myself."

Rodney searched the crowd, finding the absence of one John Sheppard. "Shouldn't the Colonel be here, too?"

Elizabeth followed his search and said, "It is unusual for him to miss out on dinner… Perhaps he's already been here?"

"Maybe."

As the hour grew late, the crowd dwindled until only SGA-1, sans John, and Elizabeth remained.

"Dr. Weir," Teyla approached her. "When should we be ready for John's arrival in the mess hall?"

"Around lunchtime, barring any emergency. In any case, we should make sure that he doesn't chance upon the decorating committee before it's time," Elizabeth decided. "I think it's time for bed."

"Of course," Teyla nodded and lead Ronon out, leaving Rodney and Elizabeth alone to finish their drinks.

"So," Rodney drained his coffee, "I wonder how likely it is that Sheppard won't kill us for springing this on him."

"He'll be mad, alright, but I won't go that far. I could be wrong, though," she mused. "We all know how John hates surprises… I should be getting to bed, myself. Try not to stay up all night, Rodney," Elizabeth admonished as she strode past on her way out.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Rodney called after her, getting a raised eyebrow in return. As she disappeared from sight, he leaned back in his chair thinking. Granted, he was teased constantly by John for thinking too much, but he felt a reason for this.

Getting up, he disposed of his cup and left to roam the halls, thinking of all the times he had walked them before. Stopping near a particular window, he remembered a time not too long ago that he had noticed something about his friend.

FLASHBACK

"So, I said, 'I know how to file, but that didn't mean I was good at it.' Boy, the look on her face was priceless," John said to a bunch of others, military and civilian alike, who laughed.

Rodney had turned the corner just in time to see the group scatter for their allotted posts. John spotted him and said, "McKay! Got a minute?"

"Oh, sure, Colonel, like I'm ignoring my job right now," he said sarcastically, but John just grabbed his arm and steered him next to a window, nonetheless.

"I was hoping to talk to you. Beckett needs to be picked up from the Mainland and I was volunteered for the job. I was hoping you could go with me?" John casually asked, but his eyes looked to be pleading.

Rodney shook his head. "As much as I'd love to go on a joyride in a Jumper, I actually have work to do. Why don't you ask Conan or Xena to go? I'm sure they'd love the chance to take a break."

"Teyla's already on the Mainland and Ronon's off-world with Major Lorne training the new batch that just came in. I just thought you could… Never mind. I'll get ready to go."

With that, John turned and headed to his quarters to get organized, but not before Rodney saw the lonely look in his eyes. Or the defeated slump of his shoulders.

An hour later, Rodney showed up in the Jumper Bay all geared up and complaining about the idiots who were probably going to blow half of Atlantis sky high before they came back. John had pleasantly lit up at the unexpected arrival and went about loading the Jumper with more of a bounce. At Elizabeth's look, Rodney quietly said, "I thought he could use the company of someone who called Earth home and who thought of him as anything but a waste of time. Besides, he asked me to go. Couldn't very well say 'no' to my best friend, could I?" 'Not with that look that I had felt myself wear many a time in my schooling,' he added silently.

"Of course not," Elizabeth nodded, before Jumper One was all ready to go. She saw them off and headed back to her office.

FLASHBACK END

Rodney knew that he had changed his mind when John walked off as though his friend said that they didn't want to be friends anymore. He couldn't have that. To top it off, he rarely had a true friend that he trusted not to do something that could hurt him. John was his friend and sometimes it was like reading an open book with him.

John was desperate for a friendly face that he could trust and trade friendly, if not feather-ruffling, insults with.

A sudden clap of thunder snapped the brooding Rodney out of his thoughts. 'Strange, I thought the storm had stopped,' he thought looking out. 'Oh, well. Time for bed anyway.'

TTTTTTT

"Ow," John said as he came out of his sleep. "Wonder how long I've been out for." He sat up, finally noticing the 3 ½ in. water that surrounded him. "I guess the question is: where did I end up after the wall disappeared?"

Standing up, John swayed slightly as he tried to check out the situation. He leaned against the ramp, for want of a better word, and looked around. It was the size of the Meeting Room, if not bigger, and had a table in the center. The surface was filled with little pieces of metal and other things that could have been something when assembled together. Along the walls were what looked like the Ancients version of boxes. After sitting on one, John decided that it was indeed what they were. Looking at his watch, he saw that it was just past three in the morning and that he was sort of hungry. He cursed as he remembered that he had detoured to his quarters just before taking off to parts unknown to get rid of the radio. He didn't want to be disturbed and that was the best way to do it.

Now he wished he hadn't. Thinking back, he supposed that, even though he didn't hit the floor that hard, the few hours of sleep he had accumulated over the past two weeks had finally caught up with him.

John shook his head. "I need to get out of here. I can't really expect everyone to just drop whatever they're doing and get me out of mess after mess. This once, I think it best if I get myself out of this. Now, how would I go about doing said getting out?"

John stood up and picked up the box he was sitting on. To his surprise, it was light, but sturdy enough to hold his weight. Putting it up against the ramp, he stood on it only to see that he had another half foot or so before he could reach the wall, which had decided to solidify again.

Shaking his head, he got to work stacking more boxes.

LLLLLL

Rodney woke up, groggy as usual. Looking at his clock, he saw that it was almost 8:00 in the morning and that John hadn't woken him up before.

Scrubbing his face tiredly, Rodney pulled himself out of bed to get ready for the new day.

Finished dressing, he snagged the blue covered present from his secret hiding place and headed to the Infirmary to stash it. Carson had said that John wasn't about to visit the place willingly and that it was safe until they could relocate the bunch to the cafeteria where the decorating group was doing their job.

Fingering the flat object, Rodney couldn't hold back a small smile at the thought of what lay inside.

After having secured a safe spot for the fragile present, he headed to the lab, when the lights started to flicker.

Racing the rest of the way, he yelled for the others to check the power and other things.

AAAAA

"Anything?" Elizabeth wanted to know about the flickering lights.

"No, not a thing. Everything's normal," Rodney sat heavily in her office, stumped. They had run diagnostics until they ran out of ideas.

That had been two hours ago. Apparently, the running theory was, the raging storm outside, which had stayed the night, had something to do with it. What, they weren't sure, but it was only a matter of time.

"We'll keep working on it, but I don't think it's that important anymore at this point."

"Alright, then. Keep me updated. On a lighter note, John hasn't been seen hanging around the mess hall, so that's proof that he hasn't caught on yet. Hopefully, we can keep this up for another two hours," Elizabeth mused.

"Sure thing. I'll go around to his quarters in a few minutes and drag him off to keep him busy in the labs. That way he'll be too busy to suspect anything."

"Good."

After more chatting, Rodney left the Control Tower like he had many times in the past and went downstairs. At the base, however, he paused to study it, a memory flitting by. He just couldn't grab onto it at the moment and decided that it wasn't important. If it decided it was, then it would flit past again.

Shaking his head, he headed off to the labs, then swung by John's quarters. The door was closed and Rodney knocked.

"Colonel? Open up. I have some things that I need you to 'turn on', as you put it." Getting no answer, he tried again. "John, please come down to the lab with me. I need your help." Again, no answer.

"I'm coming in," he warned before doing just that. He stepped in his friend's quarters and looked around for said friend. "Well, he's not here. Maybe he went to the gym," Rodney mumbled as he took a good look around. He turned to leave when his eye caught on a picture of himself and the person he was looking for.

It had been taken in the Jumper Bay shortly after he was released from Carson's care after his stint in that sinking Jumper. John was sitting up against the side of one of the Jumpers and right next to Rodney. They had taken a break and were eating a packed lunch that John had thoughtfully brought along. Or maybe it was because that when Rodney was hungry, he complained about the smallest things.

In either case, they were digging in and John had struck up a conversation, about which Rodney could vaguely recall. Whoever had snapped the picture did so when Rodney had begun to gesture with his hands to illustrate what he was talking about. John was pouring some beverage out of the thermos into a cup, listening with half an ear.

Rodney remembered falling silent soon after and glanced at his lunch companion. Suffice it to say, he thought that the other had fallen asleep, so it was with surprise that he saw John leaning against the Jumper, staring off into space with a true, happy smile on his face. That intrigued him, even now. Usually, Rodney saw a happy smile only when faced with a potentially life threatening adventure, sometimes known as a trip through the Stargate. This smile, though, was as relaxed as Rodney had ever seen it. He briefly wondered if any of the others saw the smile.

Rodney shook his head, snapping out of his fond memories. He had a job to do and he wasn't going to give up so easily.

'Alright, Colonel,' he thought stepping into the hallway, 'I am going to find you and we are going down to my lab. I think that will be enough to keep you busy.'

NNNNN

AN: Sorry about the wait. A 7 page chapter should make up for it.

8-10-07