Fic: Finally

[meekosan.livejournal.com]

Title: Finally
Author: meekosan
Recipient: hildejohanne
Rating: PG
Warning: Minor Season 1 & 2 references
Word Count: 1500
Summary: Written as a pinch hit for the sheppard_hc summer exchange 2011. Started and restarted this story about four or five times. hildejohanne requested slash or gen, McKay/Sheppard, Exploring Atlantis. I hope you enjoy this. :)

In the wake of another massive storm that Atlantis survived despite having the shields, sections of the city flooded. Many areas were previously explored and cataloged before so they had an idea of what would have been damaged or affected by those rooms. Others – not so much. Parts of one tower on the northwest pier received the most damage due to a weakened area in the force-field that McKay and Zelenka still couldn't understand how it happened.

Sheppard had been antsy since Woolsey put a hold on all gate travel until they were certain that none of the damaged systems affected the stargate. It was particularly difficult for him because he had just received medical clearance to return to duty after being grounded for two weeks before the storm hit. Sparring with Ronon wasn't helping his cabin fever. He would have spent some time and helped Teyla with Torren, but the kid was feeling almost as bad as him as he hadn't been off Atlantis for almost three weeks now, away from his father.

Yeah, he didn't need to deal with those issues. He had enough of his own that he avoided.

What else was there to do? He could harass Lorne, but the man wouldn't bite when it came to those things. How the hell did he get such a patient 2IC? While John knew he was lucky to have the guy on his staff, he also had that inner child that needed entertainment.

Walking through the halls, he stopped time to time to check on some minor damage but everything seemed fine structurally so he continued on. His feet eventually found their way into McKay's lab where he was packing up one of his geekits. "Going somewhere?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah! Away from him!" the man snarled at Radek who merely rolled his eyes and returned to his own work.

John smiled over at the Czech and shrugged a shoulder. He would deal with McKay. At least now he would have someone to entertain him for the afternoon. "So what are you going to do? I could get my tac-gear and we can go check out the damage."

"Yeah yeah yeah, go ahead. I'll wait for you in the mess hall. I need coffee desperately," Rodney whimpered slightly at the thought of his favorite brew he kept in his office was finished until the next Daedalus shipment.

A good half an hour later, and a nice hot cup of coffee in his own hand, John was nudging Rodney out of the kitchen where he was making sure the cooks weren't using any lemon or citrus in that night's dinner. "There will be plenty to choose from McKay," John assured him.

"I just got to make sure. That's all," he frowned as he grabbed his coffee and headed off.

As they walked, John couldn't help but to frown at the memory that came to mind as they trekked through the wet hallways. The last time they had done this was the first year the group had arrived in the Pegasus Galaxy and Ford decided to play a game of 'would you rather...' with the team as she checked the flooded areas.

Shining his flashlight into one of the abandoned labs, he took a long sip of his coffee. "So – Rodney," he started. "How are things going?"

"Uh? What do you mean?" McKay questioned as he bit into a powerbar and walked into the room to test the systems.

"Oh, you know. The lab, friends, coworkers, women..." John threw out as he activated a console for him before going back at to looking around.

"Huh? Oh – well, the usual I guess. Jennifer dumped me," he shrugged in response. "Zelenka is an idiot as usual and Sam well – she's Sam. Blond and busty as ever. Why do you ask?"

"Just making conversation. You guys got to go off world with Lorne the last two weeks while I was stuck behind a desk. We haven't really had the chance to talk."

Rodney looked up at him confused and ready to say something snarky before changing his mind. "Oh. Other than the thing with Jennifer, nothing else has changed. At least you're caught up on your paperwork, right?" he grinned, trying to turn the mood.

"Yeah," John let out sound a reply that didn't sound too enthusiastic.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know McKay. Just cabin fever blues maybe. I'm sure it'll pass," he shrugged.

Rodney looked at him for a moment as he tried to think of what could be bringing his friend down. Turning back to his work for a moment, he let out a small huff of a laugh. "You weren't there but I remember after that storm that where the Genii tried to take Atlantis...Ford and Zelenka were playing prime numbers and I thought that Ford would have ripped Zelenka's head off!"

John's frown deepened for a moment before a slight smile curved at the corner of his lips. "I can imagine," he murmured. "I'm sure that wherever he is, he's wreaking havoc on the Wraith and having a blast."

"I'm sure he is," McKay said with a sigh before the men fell into another lull of silence. He worked for several minutes as he listened to John's footsteps kicking debris across the floor before unplugging his tablet. "This area is good. We can go on."

"Yay," John replied as they rounded a corner in the hall that had a flag attached to it. It indicated that beyond that point, the area wasn't explored for anything other than serious threats.

They stood there for a long while as if deciding whether they should or shouldn't try to check it out. "Do you want to chance it?" McKay asked.

"After those nightmare ghosts that took half of that science team with you that time – I don't know."

"Well, we can just look around from the hallway. If we see any broken glass or anything like that we just don't go in. That virus was transmitted by proximity and confined space. And besides most of those labs were all on the out edges of the piers."

John shifted his stance as he stared down the empty hallway trying to decide. "Fine, but when I say we're done, we're done!" he growled as he nudged the man forward.

"Why do I have to go first?!" McKay cried out.

"Because you are the one that wants to go checking things out. We're going, you're leading. Now if you happen to see – I don't know – a giant monster with bulging eyes and fangs or whatever, then I'll be happy to the crap out of it!"

Rodney sighed and pushed forward, slowly peering around doorways that Sheppard's gene opened and around when the lights flickered on. The first few rooms were as expected, routine research or information kiosks. In another there was what appeared to be a classroom of sorts.

"I guess they really did have children in Atlantis," John remarked as he eyed the desks that he would in no way be able to fit into.

"Well that's an idea that I am sure the SGC and IOA would shoot down in a heartbeat," Rodney said shaking his head as he headed out and down the hall.

"What's that?"

Rodney shrugged again. "Letting the people's families move out here instead of them keeping secrets from them. Don't think it would be better for everyone if it were treated a little more like the city it is than a military base in another galaxy?"

"Yeah," John sighed and looked back. "We can mention it to Woolsey and see if he might know a way that we can turn the idea in our favor. I know that some of the marines get antsy for their leave time to be able to go home."

When they reached the end of the hall, they poked their heads in on the last room and froze at the doorway.

"Could it really be?" McKay murmured in awe, slowly stepping forward despite their agreement to stay at the doorways.

"McKay..."

"Sheppard – I think we found it!" he grinned back and went over to a console to boot it up. Some lights flickered but very little of the Ancient text could be seen on the screen.

"Don't make me say your name again..."

"Sheppard! I think this is what we been looking for the entire time!" he said excited as he tried to get the screens to work properly. "It'll take time to translate and repair but I think we found our Zed-PMs!"

John's sour mood slowly took a turn at hearing that. The small smirks and irritated smiled grew into a genuine look of interest and relief. "Finally."