Naming the Stars

Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis/Torchwood
Rating: T
Spoilers: Both seasons of Torchwood and at least Season Four and the very beginning of Season Five of Stargate: Atlantis. Mr. Woolsey is in charge and Teyla had her baby.
Pairing: pre-ship Ronon/Keller, Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Neither fandom belongs to me. The title and excerpts are taken from the poem Naming the Stars by Joyce Sutphen. Check her out!

Summary: Her hand absently rose to play with a small pendant hanging from a delicate chain around her neck and she blushed. "It turns out that the risk we sort of talked about? Well, it was totally worth the effort."

A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who has reviewed and followed this story. Ya'll are the best! I had so much fun writing it. There will be a small one-shot after this story and then I plan to launch into a longer story and hopefully clear up any remaining questions.

Please let me know what you think!

Epilogue

Torchwood Hub - Cardiff

Ianto Jones set his freshly made cup of tea on the coaster on his desk and opened up his email. He sipped his tea (Earl Grey, hint of milk) as he perused the usual from various government departments and the odd enquiry from a member of the general public that made up the bulk of the messages.

He frowned and let the cursor hover over an email with the subject heading: Click Here for a Message from Outer Space. Ianto wondered how a piece of spam managed to find its way past the vicious firewall and spam-blocker that Tosh had created months ago. Then he smiled and clicked on it once it dawned on him who it was from.

After going past several password-protected screens and practically promising his first-born, he finally got to the video message.

Ianto leaned back in his seat and waited for it to load.

In the small screen, Dr. Jennifer Keller was seated at her desk in her office; she smiled and waved.

"Greetings Torchwood!" she said cheerfully. "This is Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Keller, also known as Ianto's intergalactic pen pal. I hope you're doing well and haven't been locked in any basements, cellars, crypts or other underground, windowless rooms in the last month. I've actually been pretty good. No catastrophes to speak of."

She rolled her eyes and made a face. Ianto grinned around the rim of his tea cup.

"Of course, no one's let me off base either so..." she explained. "That basically explains that. Anyway, we got the analysis done on the data you sent through. Luckily, even though there is a severe similarity, the enzyme is not from Pegasus. I've attached the summary for you. I think you're off the hook again. But do keep sending anything you find that has those characteristics to us."

Jen smiled sadly and shrugged.

"I know it's not much, but you really don't want to have to live under the shadow of the Wraith," she said seriously. "Anything that Rift spits out at you and you have even the slightest concern, let us know. Any and everything has to be done to keep them away from Earth. I'll see what we can do about speeding up the response time to your messages."

The doctor looked down at her hands then back up at the camera.

"On a more personal note, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did. The, ah, objects, have come in very useful," she indicated a small potted plant on her desk that was similar in size and form to a violet but had brilliant electric blue petals. "As you can see, we've been able to utilize several of the samples."

She looked around in an exaggerated manner and then leaned forward.

"You can actually eat the petals and the leaves," she whispered confidentially and winked. "They taste kinda salty!"

Ianto chuckled and watched as Jen leaned back into her chair.

"The other objects have found very appreciative homes. Very appreciative," she continued. Her hand absently rose to play with a small pendant hanging from a delicate chain around her neck and she blushed. "It turns out that the risk we sort of talked about? Well, it was totally worth the effort. So, thank you again."

Ianto smiled knowingly and raised his cup to take a sip.

"Well, I guess that's all for now," she said with a big sigh and a smile. "Let us know if we can be of any help to you. Make sure to say hello to the rest of the team for me. I look forward to hearing from you. Now, go and give Moggy and Captain Harkness a scratch behind the ears."

Ianto nearly choked on his sip of tea at the statement and the doctor's far too innocent face.

"And Ianto," Jennifer suddenly grinned and gave the camera a wicked look. "Make him purr."

She tapped a key on her keyboard and the video ended. Ianto just shook his head and put his cup down and started to download the attachments Dr. Keller sent.

"Looks like the fair Doctor is doing well," Captain Harkness' voice came from behind Ianto. Ianto just smiled a little and swivelled his chair around to look at Jack. The Captain was leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed in front of him.

"She does, doesn't she?" Ianto responded.

"She certainly does," Jack said. He nodded at the screen. "Are you going to reply?"

"Of course," Ianto said. "I've got some more samples they may be interested in."

"Mmm, I should have been more specific," Jack said as he arched his brow. "Are you going to reply right this minute?"

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't? Sir?" Ianto asked with a blank face.

"Well, I just happened to overhear the Doctor's instructions regarding a scratch, was it? Behind the ears?" Jack said with a grin. "Are you planning on following her orders?"

Ianto swivelled back to his computer and with a few taps on the keyboard, the computer went into stand-by and he stood up. He straightened his suit and turned to face Jack.

"Of course I was, sir," Ianto said as a sexy smirk stole across his face. "You know I always do as the doctor orders."

Meanwhile at Stargate: Atlantis - Pegasus Galaxy

"Make him purr," Jennifer said.

Then she tapped a key on the keyboard and stopped recording. She was so involved in the automated message encryption process before she even realized that Ronon was watching her from her doorway.

"Hi!" she said with a big smile. "How long have you been there?"

"Not long," he rumbled. He jerked his chin at the computer. "Who's making who purr?"

"Oh," she blushed. "Um, Ianto. Is making Jack... You know... They're together and I just...yeah."

She wrinkled her nose and laughed a little.

"I'm not sure I pull the innuendo off very well," she told him.

"Looks good from here," he said. He deliberately let his eyes trail slowly over her face, rest briefly on the pendant that rested on her collarbone and then he moved his head to try to look down at the rest of her hidden by the desk. Ronon smirked and raised his eyebrows. "Looks very good."

"Knock it off," she mumbled around a smile as her face burned red. "What brings you here anyway? It's not time for lunch is it?"

"Nope," he said. He showed her his upper right arm where a gash was still bleeding.

"Oh dear," Jennifer said as she stood up and walked over to get a closer look. "Teyla's back to sparring regularly isn't she?"

"How did you know it was Teyla?" he said as she examined the wound.

"Please, Ronon," Jen said as she lightly touched above and below the gash. "Like anyone else on this base can wound with as much precision as she does. Let alone actually land a hit on you."

The self-satisfied smile Ronon gave her was so smug and yet so endearing, Jen was torn between either smacking him or laughing. She settled for laughing.

"Come on you big, scary man," she said. "There's a suture in this infirmary with your name on it."

The scientist undergoing treatment for an ear infection nearly fell off the exam table when he saw the nice blonde doctor lead the big alien guy by the hand over to a chair, tell him to 'park it', which he did, and then proceed to stitch the guy up. Without anesthetic. And they were smiling. At each other! A lot!

The scientist shook his head in amazement. He could not wait to tell the guys in the lab about this.