Title: Askew
Author: Christi (christim@comcast.net)
Rating: Muppet-friendly.
Category: Uh…gen? A little
J/S sap? A teeny bit of S/W friendship? And
there’s Daniel. Maybe a drop of angst, but in fluffy clothing.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author’s Note: An entirely tardy response to the gate_haven
fic challenge for an “Intruder” fic
insert. I’m not entirely convinced it makes a lot of sense, and it’s entirely
possible that the timeline is *completely* screwed up. But…oh well. Ignore the
one giant cliché this fic is, if you please.
--
When they walked through Earth’s stargate for the first time in nearly a
year,
McKay asked about someone named Samantha.
John didn’t say anything at all; he was too busy wondering if the
gateroom had been this particular shade of utilitarian gray a year ago.
As it turned out, they could have learned everything they needed to know
from those first thirty seconds.
--
“So General O’Neill was promoted?”
In front of her, General Landry nodded, inviting her to sit down with a
welcoming sort of gesture that was very reminiscent of his predecessor. “Yes,
Head of Homeworld Security. He and several others
should be here within the next few days—it seems the return of your team is
quite a draw.”
She wasn’t sure how to reply to that. Elizabeth Weir knew a lot of
words, but none of them quite captured her pride in the simple achievement of
being alive and leading the people she did. So instead, she changed the
subject. “How long have you been stationed here?”
“A month. It’s still a bit surreal,” he admitted.
“The concept that you just returned from another galaxy is a bit…hard to
grasp.”
Sitting on the wrong side of the desk she once sat behind, talking to a
man she knew nothing about,
--
“You transferred?!”
On the video screen, Samantha Carter blinked. “Hello
to you too, McKay.”
“I can’t believe you transferred.”
She rolled those blue eyes and no, Rodney did not need a moment to restart his thought processes. Really. “Strangely, when I decided what to do with the rest
of my life, I didn’t put a lot of
thought into how you would react.”
“B..b..but…you’re a stargate expert! You can’t do that without
a…stargate!”
“Why not? The amazing part of theoretical
astrophysics is that the math is the same no matter where you are.”
It just didn’t fit his idea of Samantha Carter, smart, blonde warrior
woman with guns and leather and whips and….
Okay, maybe those last couple items had been inspired additions by his
overactive imagination. But still, the argument was sound. “I…you…”
Now she was smirking, he was pretty sure. Damn, that was…hot. “Does it
make you feel better to know I’ll be there in a few days to help debrief the
Atlantis science team?”
His brain did veritable back flips when it registered the wording of that sentence. “Did you get my message?”
he asked abruptly.
Onscreen, she froze. “Uh…yes.”
“And? Were you touched? Moved?” Hey, he had been facing
nearly certain death and had thought of her.
In Rodney’s book, that was worth something.
“Uh…more like disturbed.”
And there went that theory.
“Oh.”
They sat in silence for a few strained moments before she offered
awkwardly, “But, uh, I’m…glad you’re not dead.”
Well. That was…something, anyway.
--
Daniel ran into
Pulling away, she noticed a leather-clad woman standing behind them and
tilted her head, amused. Daniel glanced at the interloper and shook his head.
“Don’t ask.”
All right then. Maybe his chivalry was limited. “You grew a beard,” she
finally observed for lack of something else to start the conversation.
“He forgot to shave,” the brunette corrected. “Not quite the same thing.”
Daniel just shrugged it off. “So is it amazing?”
There were many words for how she felt about Atlantis, but that was the
best one. “Yes, it really is. I’m surprised we didn’t see you there. I thought
you’d be on the first ship out.”
A rather woebegone look came over his face. “Yes, well…that’s a long
story.”
The brunette was smirking now. How odd.
He wanted to; she knew that without a doubt from the way his whole face
lit up at the possibility. “As soon as I can,” he promised.
--
A week after he arrived, John finally left the mountain and visited
Ford’s family. That, as expected, didn’t go well.
When it was finished, he didn’t know what to do.
Finally, he rented a car and just…drove. He ended up at the beach hours
and hours later, watching the waves of the
--
Somehow, the arrival of Jack O’Neill at the SGC also coincided with the
mysterious appearance of a commissary full of cold beer and enough hamburger to
feed an army. Eyeing the impromptu barbeque, Carter had to smile.
“You really think this is a proper use of Air Force resources?”
Jack shrugged, taking a long drag of beer. “Morale, you know. Welcome
home and all that. Plus, haven’t you heard? I’m The Man.”
“Ah. I’d heard something to that effect.” She lifted the beer right from
his hand and took a sip. “Where are you bunking tonight?”
He blinked. “With you?”
A grin lit up her features and no, he really was NOT basking in being
near Carter again. At all. “Good answer.”
--
The commissary was crowded and had a completely unprofessional air to it,
but Daniel had to grudgingly admit that it was a nice break from the oppressive
gloom that had been hanging over their heads since the appearance of the Ori. Vala was relishing the
atmosphere, sitting next to him and taking in the chaos as though she couldn’t
decide where to start.
“So, are interviews almost over?” Daniel asked
“Nearly. I think we’ll have several good additions.
It’s a little daunting, choosing between greatness. But not
at all a hardship.”
He nodded, distracted by Teal’c and Cameron’s
entrance with a foosball table. “Yeah, at least you know you’ll have the best
of the best.”
“Exactly. Yourself
included. You’re the expert on the Ancients.”
Across the room, McKay was having a rather loud argument with a server
about serving the iced tea with lemon already in it. “Oh, I don’t know about
that.”
“Daniel…you used to be one.”
His eyes kept sliding over to where Jack and Sam were sitting. There was
no obvious change there, but they sat just the tiniest bit closer than usual,
smiled that much more often, and were fairly oblivious to everyone else in the
room.
“Doesn’t count,” he argued as he watched them. “Trust me.”
“Not count? How can it not count?”
A strange feeling was nagging at him as he watched his friends, a
reluctant processing of the Ori and the new situation
and Atlantis and what it all meant for him personally. He wasn’t really sure
what Jack and Sam had to do with it all and wasn’t sure he wanted to know—it
was disturbing enough to know that for whatever reason, his best friends’ sex
lives were somehow a factor in one of the most important decisions in his life.
“I can’t go to Atlantis,” he blurted out, finally turning towards Elizabeth,
who looked as disgruntled by his sudden revelation as he was.
“Why not?” she finally asked. “I thought you wanted
to….”
“Oh, I do,” he said regretfully. “More than just about
anything.” His eyes slid over to his friends again, and he suddenly
understood what they had to do with this. “But I need to stay here.”
Maybe if they hadn’t accidentally put the Ori
on the trail, maybe if things had continued on in the quiet post-Goa’uld and Replicator haze…maybe things would have been
different.
Daniel had to laugh at that. “What could we have said?”
Vala, who had been surprisingly quiet during his whole
revelation process, flicked a dark lock of hair behind her shoulder and shrugged.
“Stock up on citrus.”
--
McKay studied Samantha Carter carefully. “So…you’re happy?”
She didn’t even hesitate, which was yet another unneeded blow to his
ego. “Yes.”
It just didn’t make any sense to him, really. But then, he wondered if
maybe the problem was that he expected it to. “With him?
But he’s so….”
Cue a death glare that would strike fear into the heart of any man.
“Watch it, McKay. I can still kick your ass.”
He sighed wistfully. “I know.”
--
Two weeks later,
It might take her a few weeks to fully accept that, though.
“Hey,” John Sheppard said as he poked his head into the door.
Of all the things she had
accomplished on this trip, doing right by him was probably what she was most
proud of. “Hey. Where have you been?”
He shrugged. “Took a trip. Got
promoted. Ate a Big Mac.”
Only Sheppard would rank those things in the same category. “How was
it?”
He frowned. “Kind of gross, actually. Greasier than I remembered.”
That sort of summed it all up.
--
In the first twelve hours they were back at Atlantis after nearly a
month away,
McKay asked Katie Brown out.
John was just relieved to see that the gateroom was as technicolor as he remembered.