A few weeks had passed since Rodney and Laneya had returned to the planet. In that time they had formed many valuable trading agreements with local merchants, which allowed plenty of excuses for Atlantis personnel to visit the youth who was their friend.

"Off world activation." Chuck called from the control room. Elizabeth and Colonel Sheppard walked from her office into the room. Major Lorne's team had gone to M7S-282 to pick up the latest results of trading. The sergeant looked up at them with a slightly surprised voice. "It's uh, Doctor McKay's IDC Ma'am."

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Lower the shield." Both Elizabeth and Sheppard rushed down the stairs to see not only Lorne's team pulling large sacks through the event horizon, but Rodney as well, with his satchel over his shoulder. Sheppard gave the boy a hug, who returned it after a few seconds.

"I'm sorry Colonel, I'm still remembering things."

"Don't worry about it." Sheppard was pleased to see Rodney again. Despite the fact that he was still a teenager, the Colonel had seen more and more of the Rodney he remembered come to the surface. "What brings you back here?"

"I needed to show you this." He reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of leather with a few Ancient words tattooed on it. Sheppard raised an eyebrow as Rodney handed it to Elizabeth. He shrugged. "I'm used to copying the database this way."

"I don't understand what this means Rodney." Elizabeth was a little confused. She could understand the letters, but hadn't seen these words before."

"Magna potentia..." The boy read off the leather. "Tahnan, Arami, Setas, Aaxel, Danami, Bydo." He looked up to see a pair of confused looks. "I found it in the outposts' database. It was hidden pretty deep, but thanks to the Ancients, I can read and write their language fluently now."

"Rodney." Despite Sheppard's warning tone, he was pleased to hear a little of the old McKay arrogance coming through.

"Right, sorry. This was in a description of a secret storage facility. There should be a potentia there."

"A ZPM?!" Elizabeth suddenly exclaimed, making the connection between the words. Rodney nodded. "Radek will be thrilled about that." Their ZPM was down to only a third of its capacity following the Wraith attack. Elizabeth pointed to the rest of the words. "And these?"

"That'd be the gate address, right? Sheppard asked? Rodney nodded, allowing him the opportunity to give a smirk to Elizabeth. "Shortly after we first found him, Ro pointed out the constellations from the stargate out to me. I remembered a couple of the names." He looked back at Rodney. "Have you visited this place yet?"

"Not yet. I tried dialling, but I couldn't get a lock. According to the database, there are a number of safeguards protecting it. One of which is that the seventh symbol needs to be Subido."

"Subido?"

"Atlantis is the only gate that can dial it. The other big safeguard is that you need the gene to get past the doorway on the other side." Rodney looked at Elizabeth with a huge smile on his face. "What do you say, can I borrow John for a few minutes?"

"You have a go. Did you want to enter the address?"

No sooner had Elizabeth asked, Rodney was bounding up the stairs to the control room. As the chevrons began to lock on the gate, Sheppard chuckled at the teenager.

"Maybe getting a second chance at life was a good thing for him. He's certainly got a lot more energy."

"Not to mention Carson said that he doesn't have any allergies now."

"I think even he would agree that this wasn't all bad."

The stargate came to life behind them with a big kawoosh. A marine handed Sheppard a TAC vest as Rodney came bounding back down the stairs.

"Ready for an adventure John?"

"Just like old times."

The pair walked into the event horizon, feeling the odd slightly cold sensation before arriving in a room with familiar architecture. The lights came on as the stargate deactivated behind them. Looking around the room, a doorway with a small console next to it was the only visible detail in an otherwise empty Ancient room.

"I can't see a DHD anywhere." Sheppard observed. Rodney rushed over to the console and quickly brought up the database screen.

"It looks like the stargate can be dialled directly from this console... we can get back easily. Now where is the potentia?"

"ZPM."

"Hm?"

"It's a ZPM."

"Potentia is easier for me to say. That and you won't make fun of me for saying ZedPM."

Sheppard simple chuckled and slowly walked around the room while Rodney searched the database.

"Huh. This is fascinating."

"What is?"

"Well, it looks like we're underground... And this door is a variation of the transporters back on Atlantis. It's designed so that objects are stored and retrieved this way to prevent anyone from stealing them."

"Fort Knox for the Ancients huh?"

"And about a thousand times more secure." Rodney began quickly searching through the pages. "Aha! There you are."

The door on the wall opened to reveal a phone booth sized alcove with an Ancient console inside. The difference between this and all of the others they had seen was that there were no crystal controls on the top, but two soft pads, similar to the ones on a control chair.

"I thought you found the ZPM?"

"I did, this is a secondary method of security. I'll need your help here."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow as he followed Rodney to the console.

"What do you need my help for? Beckett said that your gene is far stronger than mine now."

"That's not the important thing here." Rodney sighed. "This interface needs two people with the gene to both agree to release the potentia."

"Okay, lead me through it."

Rodney placed his hand on one of the pads and Sheppard followed suit. A hologram appeared in the top half of the alcove, showing the thirty-six constellations from the stargate.

"Focus on the address of Atlantis."

The pair both focussed as the constellations moved until the six patterns arranged themselves into the correct order. The hologram glowed brightly for a moment, then vanished. Underneath the console, a panel released. Rodney sat down and opened it the rest of the way. A huge smile lit up his face as he pulled out a glowing ZPM and handed it to Colonel Sheppard.

"Radek will be thanking you for a week for this."

"Probably longer than that."

Sheppard looked up to see Rodney closing the panel, with a second ZPM under his arm.

"Elizabeth isn't going to believe this."

"You're looking at a man who is sixteen years into his second lifetime due to some meddling of the Ancients, and you think that these..." He gestured to the ZPMs"... will be the things unbelievable about this?"

"Well when you put it like that."

Rodney shook his head at Sheppard, then walked over to the smaller console and closed the door, before finding the DHD page in the database and triggering the gate to dial Atlantis. As the chevrons locked, the pair were silently holding their glowing treasure until Rodney broke the silence.

"Do you think that everyone will understand if I want to return home?"

"No one will force you to remain on Atlantis if you don't want to Rodney." Sheppard had to admit that he didn't particularly like that idea. Rodney shook his head as the wormhole opened, lighting the room with the event horizon.

"That's not what I meant. I want to go home to Atlantis. Mother understands that I want to make my own path and that I will visit her when I am able. But do you think everyone on Atlantis will want me there?" Rodney looked down at the patterns projected on the floor by the gate. "I mean, I'm not quite Rodney or Ro anymore."

Sheppard reached over and put his free arm around his friend.

"I think you'll find that your friends will be more than happy to have you around, no matter what form that takes."

"You really think that?"

"In fact, I think that Elizabeth might even let you go out on missions with me."

"John, I'm a teenager now. She's not likely to trust me with something that important."

"A teenager with the knowledge of two lifetimes, the ability to understand Ancient and the strongest Ancient gene? I'll be fighting all the way to have you with me. Teyla and Ronan too." Rodney looked up at him. "What do you say?"

"Let's go home."


Author's note: And that's it! Thank you to all those who have read it. Please leave a review to let me know what you thought.