John, Teyla and Ronan watched Rodney as he read off his computer and several other mechanisms.

"You sure this is such a good idea?" John questioned.

"What's the matter, Colonel? Don't trust me?" Rodney said looking up at his brother.

"No." It was a simple word, but John knew it had sliced through his younger brother's heart.

"Fine!"

"You're proposing actually freezing yourself in one of those things?" Came Caldwell's voice over the raido.

"I should be able to tap into the neural network without actually initializing stasis. Look, it won't take long. I'll be in and out. Look, the quickest way to figure out what is going on in there is to tap into the system and communicate directly with the Captain. Need I remind you of the obvious value in this?"

"But is it safe?" Teyla questioned, no matter how much Rodney McKay annoyed her at times, she cared about him.

"Would I be volunteering to go if it wasn't?" Both John and Teyla shook their heads, they knew the truth. Rodney was many things, including brave when he really wanted to be, but right now was not going to be one of those times. If Rodney was willing to go…it couldn't be dangerous.

"No." Ronan voiced.

"Which is exactly what makes it safe enough for me to go." Sheppard wasn't sure where this had come from, but suddenly he didn't want his brother going in there and everyone here being unable to help him. He had come too close to losing Rodney too many times.

"What?"

"Better to have you on the outside in case something goes wrong."

"It won't!"

"But if it does ..."

"It won't! How many times do I have to say this!"

John could see the hurt in his brother's eyes, he opened his mouth, but Teyla beat him to the punch, "Rodney. Between the two of you, if something were to go wrong, which would be the greater loss?"

"Hey…" Sheppard piped up.

"Well, I've never thought of it that way but ..." Rodney said pausing; he looked over at his brother, "she's right. You should go."

"I'm goin' in," murmured Rodney as he headed off to the empty pod at his brother's side, Ronan and Teyla right behind him. "Look, stall Caldwell, buy me some time, just a few minutes at the most."

"What if you are unable to disconnect?" Teyla questioned.

"Caldwell's gonna blow that ship whether you're in there or not." Ronan spoke.

"You see, the thing is, Colonel Sheppard and I have sort of gotten into this habit of saving each other's lives, and it's my turn….he's my brother…" he looked at them, he could see understanding in Teyla's eyes, perhaps not just yet in Ronan's, but the man was new, he'd eventually figure it out. "It could be your turn next." He said to Ronan, he quickly turned back to Teyla and handed her a small device, "Look, hit this to manually disconnect me. If I do not regain consciousness, go ahead and open Colonel Sheppard's pod. Have us beamed directly to Daedalus, and make sure they have a medical team waiting."

"Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"I'm sure I don't! But…" he paused and shook his head.

"Rodney?"

"He's my brother…he's saved me a lot…he still doesn't trust me…"

"He does…"

"Okay. Alright," he mumbled as he quickly got into the pod and looked around, "There's more than enough air in there. Right. Course there is. Crew's been sealed inside these things for thousands of years."

"Are you alright?" Ronan asked watching the scientist, he had seen very little out of this man yet that could be described as praise worthy.

"Yeah, it's just my claustrophobia. I'll be fine – I hope. Now – the system should engage once you send me in."

"Alright." Teyla replied smiling softly at her friend.

"Right. So, send me in?"

"Oh! Yes! Good luck."

"Right."

"Well, it's about damned time! What did you do, play a round of golf? We've got serious problems!" yelled Rodney at his brother watching as John began to look around curiously from waking up in his pod.

"What happened! GET DOWN!" he yelled.

Rodney instinctively dropped to the floor, just as John pulled out his gun and started shooting at the Wraith before him. Rodney jumped up, his gun drawn gasping deeply.

Together the two stared at the dead creature, shivering at the sight.

"That happened! Not so hot now!" gripped Rodney.

"Thanks Rod," whispered John, throwing his brother off.

"We monitored all transmissions from the Wraith cruisers prior to the explosion. They never got a chance to board the Aurora or upload any of the Ancient information." Explained Rodney as they all stood in Weir's office.

"Both cruisers were destroyed in the explosion." Finished Caldwell.

"It's too bad we weren't able to figure out the Wraith weakness." Ronan added.

"At least we found out they had one." Pointed John.

"Good work. Thank you, everyone," Elizabeth said ready to close the case for the day.

"Uh, before we break up the party, there's something I'd like to do," he reached out and picked up the bottle of champagne and smiled. Elizabeth smiled softly and picked up a tray of wine glasses, quickly passing them out. John smiled as he began to pour some in each glass. "Might seem a little strange, but I promised to do something when we got home. To the crew of the Aurora." He whispered softly as they all toasted to the crew then drank their champagne.

"Rod…" came John's voice from his lab door.

Rodney didn't look up, but signaled his brother that it was okay to enter the room. After another moment the scientist looked up and smiled at his brother, "sorry, what's up?"

"I…uh…I just wanted to say thanks again…and I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Rodney asked.

"For saying I didn't trust you…that's not true…I started trusting you again awhile back…and thanks for coming to save my sorry ass."

"Your welcome…and I'd do it a million times if I had to…"

"Yeah…I know…thanks again."

"Yep," Rodney replied.

"You…you doin' anything?"

"Uh…yeah…."

"Wanna go watch a movie with me?"

Rodney turned and looked at his brother, smiling he nodded, "sounds good, as long as it's not that Cube movie again…"

"I like that movie…"

"Oh please it's too easy…" their voices faded down the hallway.