Meanwhile on Earth
Meredith stands outside a nice house. She double-checks the address on the post-it General Mitchell had handed her. Yes, this was definitely the right one. Even the name on the mailbox matched. Now, the elusive doctor just had to open the door.
She takes the last two steps to the front door and rings the bell.
Almost instantly, Mer hears shuffling, and then the door opens to reveal a slightly confused woman staring at her while holding out some cash.
"Dr. Keller?" Mer asks after a second or so, which seems to shock the woman back to reality.
"Wow, I thought you'd be my food delivery," she blushes before adding, "You look so much like your mom, Meredith." and stepping to the side.
"Thanks, I thought there was no family resemblance whatsoever after how my dad reacted."
Before Dr. Keller can say anything the awaited food shows up and she pays the delivery person.
"I only ordered for one," she explains walking into the kitchen, while Mer stands around awkwardly in the living room. She glances at a few pictures of a boy on the mantle and frowns. Was this kid the reason Dr. Keller ignored her emails?
"What's wrong with Rodney?"
"Oh, nothing. He is fine. Just when we met in the past..." Mer waves her hand about, not sure how to explain.
"You were part of the team? How is the young man with the shattered leg?" Dr. Keller suddenly seems very much interested.
"He is back to full duty, and you could check for yourself if you'd agree to be my surprise for my parents' anniversary."
Mer can see it in the other woman's face almost immediately: she is not really excited.
"Listen, I know I should've replied to your messages and not just ignored them, but I just, I can't go with you. I hope my son will come home for my birthday and we'd have to leave probably now to make it in time, right?"
"No, we can take the gate bridge. So we'd be there only a day before the party and if Zelenka ticked off his task you have a cozy hiding spot in some nice quarters,"
"Are you sure that works with the quarantine on Midway?" Dr. Keller replies and furrows her brows.
"Yes, it will work, due to the time shift. We'd have to leave her on the 20th around 10 pm so we'd leave midway then on the 21st at 10 or 11 pm, and you'd have a perfect night's sleep in Atlantis," Mer explains, and then remembers the son, "and I am sure we can find some help with the Air Force to take care of your son."
To her surprise, the woman in front of her starts chuckling softly.
"I am sure the Air Force will keep him busy. He is a lieutenant," but then she gets serious again. "I do appreciate your planning, and I am sure General Mitchell had something to do with the arrangements and getting you my address, I am just not sure I can leave Earth for a prolonged time. I mean, how would I get back?"
"Easy, we're buying you a return trip through midway," Mer quips. And when she notes the continuous defensive posture of Dr. Keller she continues. "I am sorry, Dr. Keller, I don't understand. I thought my parents were your friends. Or at least my mom, yet I've never met you before today. I just want my mom to have her wish. I know she misses you."
"That's borderline emotional manipulation, young lady. Who taught you that?"
"I am sorry," Mer mumbles as the phone rings in the background.
"Wait here," the doctor tells her and grabs the extension before leaving the room.
About five minutes later, she returns.
"Okay, I am going to come with you. 10 pm on the 20th. You're in luck my son just has a couple of hours for me anyway before he has to report back to base too."
"Is he with the SGC, Dr. Keller?" Mer tilts her head as her eyes land on the pictures on the mantle again.
"No, he is working on satellites. So he is safe. And please call me Jennifer."
"Sounds boring in comparison," Mer quips without much thought.
"But safer,"
After that, Mer leaves and works in her tiny apartment on a research paper to publish. Most of the Lantean references have to be stripped out, and to her annoyance, a lot of credit for those works goes to her dad. But she is happy that her plan worked, and Jennifer Keller agreed to come to Atlantis with her.
The rest of the days on Earth fly by in a flurry. Meredith tries to corner Markus into talking a few more times, but the stubborn man seems to have settled on, we're teammates and only friendly, not friends.
So on the evening of the 20th, after finishing packing up her last things, she wants to bring Mer heads to Cheyenne Mountain early and wants to talk to him one more time to make sure he really is coming back.
On the quarters level, she walks along the rows of doors until she reaches his. Mer lifts her hand to knock, and then her eyes settle on the quarantine sticker on the door.
What's going on here?
"To contact Lt. Lorne, use coms!" reads the note below the quarantine notice.
Mer triggers her com immediately.
"Markus? What's going on?"
Seconds later her tablet vibrates in her vest pocket, and she pulls it out to connect the comlink.
"Hey, Mer. I see you've found the quarantine sticker," Markus appears on the screen.
"Yes, what's going on? Are you sick? You don't look like it..."
"Stop babbling. This is an emergency protocol Mitchell has installed, so I can basically skip quarantining on Midway and be in time for the party," Markus interrupts her.
"Wait, Mitchell came up with that?" she is confused.
"Yeah, something about you annoyed him too much..."
She can hear the echo of Markus laughing loudly through the door.
"You're lucky your door is sealed, or I'd come and kill you," Mer grits out, but deep down she is grateful.
"It's not really for your benefit, though," Markus replies calmly, "Apparently, Atlantis is a bit short on military staff during the party, and I am already on the roster for the night rotation!"
Mer can feel the anger rise again, just remembering that exchange.
God help the Colonel when she finds him.
That stupid man must've scared Markus into keeping his distance from her and now he couldn't even come to the party.
The stay on Midway Mer had tried to no avail to hide her anger, but Jennifer had seen right through it and had counseled her wisely.
"Meredith, sometimes it's not easy for the soldiers stationed there. Some opt to distance themselves, and some are just duty-bound or at least think they are."
The words replay in Mer's head as they arrive in Atlantis, and she sees the Colonel with his team geared up, ready to move out, freeze as his eyes land on her and her guest.
Curious.
Before she can comment on the fact, though, the gate activates, and the team leaves while Sheppard himself greets Dr. Keller and offers to escort her to her quarters.
"You'll see it's all just like you left it,"
"I hope you cleaned first!" Jennifer jokes, and then the duo leaves. Mer checks with the control room staff when the next dial-in is expected, and when the answer is 10 minutes, she decides to wait.
Maybe talking to Markus and then appealing the schedule to Sheppard would help, and her friend could dance with her.
Lost in the mirage of her daydream, Mer sways from side to side.
"Did you see the man you've been agonizing over already?"
"Oh no, not yet. But he should be coming in now," Mer smiles at Jennifer and waves to the swoosh of the gate just as the officer confirms, "Dial in from Midway!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Mer still notices the MALP moving into place, which tells her that this special dial-in is a little disruptive to usual gate operations, but she can't bring herself to care all that much.
The iris ripples, and as Markus steps through and away from what the guys call the splash zone, he looks up to where she is standing and lets his bag drop. Instantly, Mer feels her cheeks bloom with color and moves to walk down the steps slowly. She faintly hears the gate technician announce a successful dial-in to her least favorite planet, and suddenly, as the MALP moves forward, Markus launches himself at the iris, too.
"What the..." Mer thinks and starts to run, too. She hits the iris without thinking too much and stumbles through on the other side. She turns to the iris that closes behind them and then realizes the screaming she'd expected hadn't been in her ear at all.
Crap.
"What are you doing here?" she suddenly hears his surprised voice.
"I could ask you the same damn thing! You idiot. Do you even know what you just did? What you made me do?" she screams at him without any regard for the safety protocols off-world.