The door-chime sounded in John/Teyla's quarters. That must have been Rodney. James seemed to know it was McKay and that they were going to the party because he started to gurgle excitedly and clap in some sort of weird way, holding his cuddly toy (Which was a present from Rodney) in a clutching way. He also spat out a 'bit' of his apple juice that was carefully being fed to him by Teyla. Sheppard stood up and collected the 2 bottles of champagne and the box of assorted chocolates from the bedside-table, which he had readied for the occasion that Rodney proposed to Doctor Keller. He pushed them under his furs and waved his hand on the 'open door' sensor on the door-panel. He also picked up a wine-bottle which he was bringing to the party. When the door fully opened he saw Rodney standing there, in a snow-suit, which made him look like a stuffed penguin, holding a bottle-assortment of beer.

"Read this." John commanded as he handed the wine-bottle to Rodney. He took it and read the contents out loud.

"Vintage French wine. Far east vineyards. 1969." Rodney said, looking confusedly at the label.

"Yeah. Had to bribe Caldwell a lot of money to get this over here." John said as he took the bottle back.

"Right... So! Keller coming?"

"Yes, I invited her and she's waiting in Jumper 2."

"OK."

"Come on Teyla. I'll hold James." Sheppard said to his wife as he took the 1 year-old boy in his arms. "We're going to the party." He said softly to his child "We're going to the party.".

The party

It was night. When it was only 6-O'clock. Stupid winter made it night. But perfect for Sheppard's plan.

"Well: here's they come."

"We got the Buffalo meat!" a gruff, but welcoming voice called out. It was Jinto's father.

"Hallin! Hard to see you without your leg-struts."

"Yes, well. They are healed."

"I can see that."

"Yes. It is hard to see you without your uniform, Sheppard."

"Well you know: Party and all. Plus I'm now married to Teyla."

"You are?"

"Yeah. We married a couple of months ago."

"We did not know."

"We also have a child."

"News does not seem to travel fast around here; congratulations on everything."
"Yeah."

"John! All the other guests are arriving!" Teyla called over from the Hot-dog stand.

"OK! Rodney, I've got a little surprise for you. You see that mountain over there?"

"Yeah. That's the Countoin mountain. Broke my leg there 3 weeks back." Rodney painfully remembered.

"Um... OK... Well, what I mean is we modified a couple of machines for the party."

"What kind of modifications?"

"Well, follow me."

"We're at the top of the mountain. What are you going to show me?" Rodney asked.

"We've got a dozen or so Drones from a mission way back. You know: the one classified as 'The Tower'?"John said.

"Yeah, I remember that one."

"Well I got a dozen drones and when this opportunity came to light, I bugged Radek to modify them to be fireworks."

"How did you do that?"

"Well, firstly: I pulled out all the unnecessary components out of the drones. Then, I put a bit of gunpowder in it (which was found and mined a while ago under this mountain), and the right kind and amount of metal to create the different colours." Radek turned away from modifying one of the drones and explained. Rodney looked quite impressed by the idea.

"Nice work, Radek. I'm actually quite impressed by that." Rodney said.

"And: I made him build these things." John opened a screen up and showed the schematics of some design.

"What's this?" Rodney asked, puzzled as to what it was.

"It's a holographic projector. I like to call it the HN-board." Radek said.

"And what does it do?"

"Four of them, when they're rightly programmed, create a holographic screen and show what you want it to say. It's taken me a long time to build and program them."

"Of course! This design is complicated! Where are the real things?"

"That box over there." Radek pointed over his shoulder with his thumb as he finished modifications to the drone. Rodney walked over to the box and John overlooked his excitement.

"You don't usually approve of Radek's work, Rodney."

"Well, this time, I really am impressed." Rodney said, annoyed. He opened the box. there were 4 pods.

"There they are. Come on!" Carson turned up on the top of the mountain. "The parties starting."

"Well, OK. Me and John will come down. And Radek will be turning up soon after he's activated the party's starting."

"Well, actually, I've set their launches on timers so I can be down there staring at the display, eating hot-dogs and burgers." Radek said.

"OK then. We're all coming down."

"Good. 'Cause some people really want this to start."

the first drones launched. They exploded in mid-air and created their fireworks. A blue one was created then red, then yellow, and so on. Rodney found that he was standing next to Jennifer. He walked over to where John and Teyla were huddling staring at the illuminating colours exploding above their heads, drinking beer, holding their child, who was clutching at his toy as if it was his only friend while hiding from the colours.

"John. I need some advice." Rodney said. That surprised John.

"What with?" John asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

Rodney was speechlessly nervous at that moment. Then the weight of the heavy, black box in his pocket reminded him what he was going to say. He pulled it out of his pocket.

"Is that what I think it is?" Teyla asked, speechless apart from those few words.

"Yes. I can guess you know who I want to give them to."

"Jennifer?" Teyla said, with a clear smile and sense of anticipation.

"Yes."

"Let's see them." John said, eager to see the beauty of them. Rodney opened the box. There were four rings in it. All diamond. Real diamond! not those fake ones made in factories. Two were silver-rimmed and two were gold-rimmed.

"Wow. Where did you get them?" Teyla seemed to ask the first stupid question that came into her head as she couldn't think of any other stupid questions.

"My dad. He was ill with cancer a long time after my mom and him broke their marriage. He got to keep these shiny trinkets as signs of both their marriage and their engagement. When he passed away. He gave most of his jewellery which he got from mom to Jeannie, but he gave me a diamond necklace, diamond bracelet, and these diamond rings. All real diamond. Had them tested in my lab when I remembered them. Pure graphite."

"Nice, Rodney. What are you planning to do with the rings?" it was, once again, a silly question for if he had those rings, he'd be proposing to someone.

"Propose to Jennifer. Didn't you already know that?"

"We have a reputation for silly questions which we already know the answer to."

"Indeed you do."

"Well, when are you going to?" Teyla asked.

"That's the problem. I want to give these to Jennifer but I don't know when or if I should."

"Man, you know she'll say yes." The party automatically started around them. People started dancing to the music and before Rodney could answer, he was pulled away by someone, he turned round and saw Jennifer leading him away. She made him and her start dancing. As he got more used to the routine, he lead on the dance. When the music ended, he pushed Jennifer down to support herself by her waist and retracted leg to keep herself stable. Rodney was holding her outstretched hand and had his hand round her, supporting her with his arm. Ignoring the snow-dresses ( They had made snow-everything clothing) complicated system of clothing, they closed the distance between their heads and kissed. It was a long and joyful kiss. And everybody 'awwwwwed' at it as they gathered round Rodney and Jennifer. When he stepped away from the scene and Jennifer went to talk with her friends. Teyla and John were the first people to meet him as the party continued.

"I think I know that she'll say yes." Rodney now agreed with them "But when?"

Author's note

awwwww! Wasn't that scene at the party with Rodney and Jennifer cute?