EPILOGUE

"5 minutes until take off, make sure that everything is on board, all things forgotten will not be sent to earth before the next run in four weeks time."

John, Cam, Rodney and Evan were standing at the bay, watching two marines load Fields onto the Daedalus. The man in question was still a bit lost, to put it gently, but there was nothing too much wrong with him, except that people thought he had completely lost his marbles as he was blabbering on about forests and demons. For those who knew what it meant it was entertaining and for everyone else it was just plain weird.

All four men standing there watching, although the basic emotion they all were feeling was joy it still took four totally different ways of feeling and expressing itself in all of them. Evan was relieved that this nightmarish time was finally over and he could go back to his old routines and work, not having to look over his shoulder all the time, not needing to remember what had happened. John was content, Fields was an arrogant pig and a liability to the safety of the city and finally the treat was gone. Rodney was just plain happy that he did not need to listening to Fields' eternal comments and complaints about how unprofessional and lazy, useless or whatever the scientists now where that day, it was annoying as hell. Cam again was just happy it was over and he could have John back in his bed not needing to sleep alone anymore.

Click! Click!

"Captain Morrow, what're you doing?" John's question broke Cam out of his thoughts directing his attention towards the younger man holding the camera.

Captain Morrow, a somewhat eccentric pilot who had served on Atlantis for almost two years now, was holding a camera snapping pictures of Fields and the Daedalus.

"Nothing special sir just taking a few pictures of this lovely view," said Morrow with a wide grin on his face.

Evan could not help it, he snorted trying to hide it behind a cough and failed somewhat miserable to do it.

"Are you sure, you're not just trying to catch some birds in action, Captain?"

It was clear that the others did not follow that turn of event, but Evan could not stop himself from asking especially as Morrow's face slowly morphed from an easy grin to about the same shade of red as a tomato, looking a bit sheepish, fiddling with his camera.

"Maybe, but they'd already left," said Morrow dangling the camera from its strap, "so instead I decided to document this happy little gathering instead."

That if nothing else got a reaction out of the men, John grinned, Carson chuckled softly, even the sides of Rodney's mouth pulled a bit upwards, curving into a smile. Not that Morrow had been wrong, they were a bunch of happy people gathered on the loading dock, waiting for the Daedalus to take off and once again leave Atlantis in peace for a while.

"So…," started Morrow gently, "is it true that there will be a… um… party tonight?"

"Well I'll certainly not be working tonight and I can't stop people from gathering in one placed and having fun, now can I?" Colonel Mitchell really had the right way of thinking when it came to being the leader of Atlantis.

"Of course, sir!" quipped Morrow before he saluted and hurried away.

"Birds? I didn't know Captain Morrow was into birds," commented Rodney.

"Not those kinds of birds, Rodney, I was talking about Doctors' Marcus and von Tallinger."

Evan had on more than one occasion run into Morrow trying to catch the two women in action, as they were known for not caring if someone saw them or not. In fact, Evan had run into the two women making out more times than he cared to count out of all the people he had walked in on in different cupboards, store rooms and bathrooms all over the city and so Evan prided himself on knowing almost all couples that had formed on Atlantis. Marcus and von Tallinger were just the two unlucky (or lucky ones?) who he had run into the most. Although he did not have any problems with it, they had in fact even invited him along a few times when he had walked in on them but he had had to decline the offer as he was in their chain of command and it would do little good for his reputation if someone found out about it. It was just that sometimes it was hard to see other people happily in love with each other with almost no cares in the world when one was lonely and suffering from blue balls.

Hopefully that would change now and by the small peeks he had gotten the few times he and Rodney had managed to snag some alone time, it was worth the wait. The only problem he had was that he would never get used to blue balls. Living and working on Atlantis meant Evan always had to be professional ready for anything to happen and that also included not getting into any relationships with someone (although Rodney kind of belonged in that section Evan really did not care), and going from getting laid almost daily sometimes even more than once a day by different people to not getting anything for months, only having his own hand to relieve some pressure it was a lot to get used to.

"Zoologist Marcus and von Tallinger from the geology department?" asked Carson.

"Yeah, those two are like rabbits in heat, I've walked in on them numerous times all over the city," admitted Evan.

"How fun, I walked in on them in the men's bathroom once," said Colonel Sheppard as if it was the most natural thing ever. Then again, with the amount of sex the two women had it probably was natural.

"I really won't ask…," muttered Rodney but there was no trace of the usual annoyance that indicated that he was in a bad mood.

"The Daedalus is ready for take-off, in three. Two. One."

Everyone watched as the big spaceship started it journey back to earth.

"I've never seen a more beautiful sight than watching the Daedalus leave today," said John with a sigh.

The others were not long behind in agreeing with him on that point.

STARGATE: ATLANTIS

There was absolutely no doubt about the fact that people were happy to see Fields leave. Not even twenty minutes after the Daedalus had departed, the partying began. Booze was being brought out into the light from all over the city, where it had been hidden into different nooks and crannies as far away as possible from Fields.

John and Cam watched in amusement as people celebrated with loud music, a lot of dancing (or more accurately, dirty grinding) and laughter. Neither one of them were drinking much, it would do no good to have a hangover the next day as they would need to get everything back on track. That included getting all off-world teams back out there and getting the trading back on were just a few samples of what was to come and would be needing to be dealt with.

"Poor sods won't know what hit them tomorrow," said Cam with a small chuckle.

"It'll be a calm morning at least," agreed John.

For a moment they just stood there in silence watching the celebrations.

"I haven't seen Lorne or McKay since the Daedalus departed," noted Cam.

"I think they retired early to get some rest," said John putting extra emphasis on the last three words.

"You know what?" murmured Cam, stepping closer to John, "I think that's a very good idea. After all, no one wants their bosses to see them drunk."

Although they usually kept all "personal" touching to private moments when no one else was around to see them, Cam did not care and instead slid his arm around the John's lower back. His fingers found their way underneath the black t-shirt, softly caressing the skin underneath. The skin was warm and soft under his touch, instead of moving away from his lover, Cam moved closer.

"Cam…," sighed John but Cam could see that the black haired man did not really mind the ministrations.

"Come on, if you think I'm going to pass up on this golden opportunity to have my wicked way with you then… well then I really need to do it!"

John really could not help but snort at Cam's reply/reasoning but made no attempt to step away from the warm body standing beside him that was starting to gently steer him towards their shared quarters with a hand on John's back. Everyone was so busy drinking that they did not notice when John and Cam slipped out from the party.

Getting to their room did not take long especially as one of two was hell bent on getting there in record time, lucky enough they did not run into anyone that would require them to stop and talk. John may not have been as excited as Cam but he had to admit that it would be nice to have Cam back with him in bed; he had missed the closeness they shared when they lied there in bed together. His thoughts were professionally interrupted when they stepped through the door, his back colliding with the wall and his lips were plundered by Cam. Biting back a moan, John let himself be pulled into the world where the only thing that mattered and existed was Cameron.

John let himself be manhandled out of his clothes and pushed into the shower by Cam, his body slowly relaxing more and more, turning him into jelly. So when Cam gently took both of their cock's in his big hand and started to stroke both of them in that steady rhythm that never failed to bring him over the edge. Leaning against the cold shower wall the water beating down on them, John felt safe and content, his mouth pressed against Cam's in a heated kiss. It did not take long for either one of them to come, cum smearing over their bodies for a brief moment only to be washed away by the warm water.

Cam had no idea for how long they just stood there, their bodies pressed up against each other, enjoying the closeness. It felt as if it had been years since he had last held his partner like this, although he knew that it was not that long ago, a few weeks at most but it still felt so much longer. He did not move immediately away when he felt John starting to move, trying to get away from where he was wedged in between the wall and Cam. After all, who would willingly let go of the thing most precious to them?

STARGATE: ATLANTIS

When John a few hours later will tell Cam that Evan and Rodney retired early, he was completely right. As soon as the alcohol was brought out from hiding, the two slipped away to the privacy of their own quarters, unlike the two colonels later on, who took the straightest and fastest route to their room, Rodney and Evan took a ridiculous long way to theirs. Also every time they were about to run into anyone, depending on who saw the incoming person, they would pull the other one into a closet or room to hide. Where not so surprisingly they would get distracted, which also prolonged their journey back to privacy.

When they finally arrived at the room, they were laughing and panting, high on emotions. Giggling softly Evan sat down on the bed, he was feeling giddy something he had not felt in a long time.

"You know, I've been here for years and I've never noticed all those rooms and closets that practically litters the halls!" commented Rodney.

"Well obviously there's a reason as most of them aren't being used."

"Stop being a wise ass."

"Don't lie to yourself Rodney, you love it when I'm being a wise ass," said Evan, smirking at his lover.

Rodney watched Evan, who had moved so that he was sitting in the middle of the bed. He really had struck a gold mine when he fell in love with the dark haired, blue eyed beauty sitting on the bed. All those slim but firm lines and the even temper rolled into one fine package covered in sarcasm, Rodney at least had not seen anything hotter. What made it all even better was that it was all his.

"What're you smiling about?"

"You." Was the simple answer.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," repeated Rodney, moving so that he was sitting in front of Evan on the bed, "I was thinking about how lucky I am to have got you, and how gorgeous you are, and how much I love you."

It was a bit embarrassing and probably also a bit cheesy, but as he watched the blush rise, the red covering his lovers cheeks, Rodney had to admit that it was worth it. Which was kind of funny because Evan was not one to get flustered easily, you could talk about BDSM, all kinds of dirty and kinky sex, things most people found embarrassing or too personal to talk about, no problem for Evan, it was like talking about the weather with him, but tell him he is good at something, praise him and he would get redder than a tomato. Then again, Rodney presumed it had something to do with the fact that there was not much, minus puppy play and sex involving bowel movements that Evan had not done or at least tried once.

At first when Evan told him actually how much he knew about sex and how much he had had it, Rodney had not been sure what to say or do, but in the end decided that it did not matter. That Evan totally blushed every time Rodney said "I love you" or complimented him, made more than up for the "cruder" look on sex he had. A plus was of course also the fact that sex with Evan could not get boring or bad, there was always something new to try and now when that arrogant pig finally was gone, well, Rodney could not wait to get down and dirty with his Major.

"Rodney."

"Yes Evan?"

Rodney watched his lover squirm and bite his lip, in that way that made Rodney want to push Evan down on the bed and ravish him but he managed to control himself.

"I… I love you," said Evan looking Rodney straight in the eyes when he said it.

This time Rodney was not able to keep himself in check and lunged at the other man sitting on the bed, crashing their mouths together in a bruising kiss. It was as if all that tiredness he had been feeling for a while now had been blown away, because the only thing he could think about right in that moment was exactly how he was going to show Evan exactly how much he loved the other man. Not only that, he would as a celebration that Mr. Jackass was finally gone for good, he would take his sweet time doing it.

"Rodney…" moaned Evan.

"Shush babe, you're going to need your voice in a little bit when I fuck you into the mattress," whispered Rodney into Evan's ear, the only response he got was a low whimper and Evan pressing their bodies closer together.

Oh yeah, life was good, there was no doubt about it.

-THE END-

So that was the last chapter of this story :) What did you think of it? Was it good or bad? Reviews are always welcomed!