Chapter 1

Rodney muttered to himself as he shuffled wearily and blurry-eyed through the dimly-lit hallways of Atlantis. On the stairway he stood a moment with his eyes closed; resting his head against the wall and hoping not to fall asleep on the way down. With a huge sigh he finally continued on his slow journey to what had become known as the midnight-mess.

Nearly a month had passed since the Atlanteans had discovered they were heading towards a huge baby-boom and by now most of the women were either into their third month, or getting there fast. And, to all the men's chagrin, the cravings had started: hence the midnight-mess. Rodney suspected the women were in silent competition on who could convince their man the most frequently to bring back something ridiculous from the mess – and always well into the wee hours of the morning. After the cooks had been roused a number of times to help these desperate men, they had gone on a day-long strike. After much pleading, though, the midnight-mess had been born and the cooks now laid out a strange and varied buffet every night before retiring.

Rodney finally shuffled through the doors of the mess-hall, only to find he was not the only one that had been sent on an errand. At the big buffet table John stood frowning. As Rodney shuffled over, he thought something looked odd about the military commander of Atlantis, and it was only as he shuffled into place next to his friend that he realised John wasn't wearing a shirt. But he was wearing long pajama pants with smiley-faces on them.

"Nice 'jamas," Rodney half-heartedly told him. John only glared at the scientist, and after giving him an once-over turned back to the table and muttered in reply:

"Nice slippers." Rodney looked down at the absurd slippers he was wearing. Though he had taken the time to put on his soft, masculine blue robe, he had not been able to find his own slippers. So he had stuffed his feet into Sitnalta's fluffy pink bunny slippers.

"Thanks," he muttered without rancour as he started to assemble the peculiar snack Sitnalta had insisted on having right now. John was still frowning, though. "Whazzit?" Rodney muttered.

John frowned even more. "Elizabeth wants a cheese-curl and yogurt sandwich," he explained his dilemma, but Rodney wasn't following as to why that was a problem. Instead he only handed John the tub of yogurt at his, Rodney's, elbow. "Oh, thanks," John muttered as his problem had been solved. At three in the morning nobody was too awake.

Rodney finally turned to leave, leaving John to finish his yogurt sandwich on his own. As he exited the mess-hall, though, he passed Carson as he entered the mess-hall. He looked as wasted as Rodney felt. The two men ignored one another: the midnight-mess might have become something of an institution, but it wasn't a very social one.

Blearily Rodney continued to the rooms he and Sitnalta shared. On the way he bumped his big toe once and saw another dark figure heading in the opposite direction, but finally he reached his quarters. With a slow wipe of his hand he opened the door. He walked over to the bed, crawled into it and finally leaned over to proudly present Sitnalta with the snack she had asked for. It took him a moment, though, to realise she was fast asleep and dead to the world. Owlishly he blinked at her before remembering that somewhere in the snack a brownie lurked. So with a shrug he sat back against the wall and tucked into the midnight snack with relish. There was no use in wasting good food: even if the brownie was slathered in mayonnaise.

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The next morning found SGA-1 sitting around the briefing-table in the big conference room. John looked half asleep as he sat slumped in his seat at one end of the table and Rodney was actually asleep on his arms at the other end. Between them sat Teyla and a grinning Ronon.

Just then Elizabeth walked in and Ronon poked Rodney in the ribs.

"Wha...?" Rodney asked with bleary eyes. Then he seemed to realise where he was and quickly wiped the thin trail of drool from the corner of his mouth. "I was just resting my eyes," he tried to explain as he pulled his tablet closer.

"Your 'resting' sounded a lot like snoring," Teyla calmly informed him from the other side of Ronon. The big man grinned, but Elizabeth frowned at the scientist.

"Will you be all right to go on this mission?" she asked him.

"No, but I don't really have a choice, now do I?" he informed her. "Look, everything would be a lot better when these cravings...ooomph!" he abruptly ended his speech when Ronon's foot connected with his shin. He looked over at Ronon, but both he and Teyla were giving Rodney big eyes. "You kicked me!" Rodney exclaimed and Teyla bent her head with a sigh. "What?" he asked. "I'm just saying...ooomph!" This time he merely glared at Ronon and bent down to rub his burning leg.

Elizabeth sat down in the seat across from the team and looked down at her own tablet. "The reason doctor McKay will be needed on this mission," she began with a slight grin, "is because we have discovered a brief notation in the files concerning the planet you're heading to." She looked up at her flag-team. "Unfortunately the file had been corrupted and the only recoverable part seemed to indicate there is some considerately advanced technology on the planet," she finished the explanation.

"And naturally I will have to figure out if we can use the technology," Rodney smirked. His heart wasn't in it, though.

"Actually, yes," Elizabeth grinned and Rodney suspected she was well aware why he was tired – and enjoying it. She leaned slightly forward. "There is still so much we don't know about out there," she passionately told them. "We know the Ancients did not do all of their research here, and if there is anything out there that we can use in our fight against the Wraith, then we need to find it." She looked at them as they looked back. After a moment John sat up in his chair and remarked:

"Well, let's get to it," he spoke for his team. Everyone got up and started filing out of the room. As Rodney passed Elizabeth, though, she stepped in front of him and frowned at him.

"Are you sure you're okay to go on this mission?" she asked. She might be enjoying the whole situation with the midnight-mess, Rodney reflected, but she would not knowingly put her people in danger.

Rodney considered the question as seriously as she had asked it. Then he slapped his tablet onto his back and grinned at her. "Hey, this will probably just be another wild goose chase like the last two missions," he informed her. "And there's nothing wrong that a cup of coffee won't fix," he added. Elizabeth nodded.

"Very well," she said and smiled faintly. "Go get one and tell the cook to pack you one for the road as well," she told him and he grinned. Some people had to travel the world to find their home: Rodney had to travel to another galaxy to find his.

With a slight nod at Elizabeth, Rodney turned in search of the mess-hall. He reckoned he had time to grab a brownie as well: last night's mayonnaise covered one had not done the job of satisfying him.

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Rodney was the last to pass through the Stargate, and as he strode down the small ramp it was mounted on, he already heard the sound of it deactivating in his head. He grinned as he reached the bottom and took another sip of coffee.

John glared at him. "You know, when my wife told you to grab a cup for the road, I was sure she had meant for it to be in a nice, silver flask," he informed his friend.

Rodney shrugged. "Yeah, well. This seemed simpler," he told John. Rodney still found it a strange idea that the roguish John Sheppard was married. Only a week ago John and Elizabeth had been married in a lovely ceremony that had been an amalgamation of earth, Athosian and Satedan traditions. Keras had informed them marriage wasn't something that had been in use on their planet, so all the kids had been extremely fascinated by the ceremony. It had been held on the pier (which was becoming known as the assembly pier) with all of the inhabitants of Lantea turning out for the event. In fact, Rodney was sure at one time he had even recognised Sam the whale swimming by in salute.

It was only as Rodney finished his coffee that he realised something was wrong. Slowly he turned around and looked at the still-active gate. For a moment he stared at it before numbly dropping his cup on the stone floor of the room they had stepped into as they had stepped through the gate.

"Oh, no," he softly said as he rushed over to the DHD. Quickly he ducked beneath the consol.

"What is it?" John demanded, but for now Rodney ignored him as he checked something. As his suspicions were confirmed he slowly got up behind the DHD and looked at the rest of his team.

"Oh, no," he repeated – only louder this time.

"Rodney, if I have to ask you one more..."

"The control crystals are gone," Rodney interrupted John. The reality of it struck home. "We're stuck on this planet," he informed them just as the doors across from the gate burst open. "That can't be good," Rodney muttered.