Gone a little off the beaten path with this one. It centers on the McKay Number One in my "McKay Plus Four" fic. Stop reading now Dani. ;)
500 words.
Rodney had been off-world at the time- his own doing though not a soul would dare say anything to him about it, not even Sheppard.
So it was that when Dr. Jennifer Keller became Mrs. Jennifer Dex he'd been sitting in the engine room of the Sun Tzu. Sam had been very good about it all, not even having batted an eyelash when he'd asked her if he could tag along for a few days. She'd treated him as she'd always treated him, as a friend and colleague. There had been no sympathy in her eyes, simply friendship. In fact the only time she'd let her feelings about the situation out was when she'd seen him off. The hug had lasted a second longer than usual, and there had been an unmistakable waver in her voice when she'd told him to take care of himself. All he'd been able to manage before the transport beam whisked him away was a grateful smile that disappeared the instant he'd found himself in the gate room.
Now he sat in his quarters with three tablets powered up and various projects running in an effort to find something that could rid them of the Replicators. It wasn't going well at all.
He glared at the door when the chime sounded but got up to open it anyway, having a pretty good idea who was on the other side. His guess was confirmed when the door slid open to reveal Sheppard in the frame.
"Welcome back," the Colonel said warmly. He held up the half dozen cans of beer he had in his left hand and said, "Care to join me?"
"I'm probably not very good company right now," replied Rodney honestly.
John smirked. "And that's new how exactly?"
Rodney tried to keep a straight face, but the slight rise of Sheppard's eyebrows did him in and he laughed for the first time in what seemed like months. "Not really in the mood," said Rodney, "but thanks."
John nodded. "If you change your mind," the Colonel said as he turned and started to walk away, "you know where to find me."
Rodney watched John for another second before closing the door and moving back to one of his tablets. He looked at the device for a moment, then summoned up his courage and hacked into city's internal message system. He did a search and found exactly what he was looking for in one of Lt. Reed's messages. He opened the attachment and felt his heart wither away.
Jennifer and Ronon's wedding picture was beautiful- she was beautiful. Rodney studied the picture, committing every detail to memory. He let his eyes linger on Jennifer's face for another second before exiting out of the picture and message. Eight minutes later he took a healthy swig of beer, looked to Sheppard and verbalized the thought that had been echoing in his mind since he saw the picture of the beautiful bride and her groom. "It could've been me."
A/N: "Could've Been Me" was written by Reed Nielsen and Monty Powell and released by Billy Ray Cyrus on his 1992 album Some Gave All.