Atl_Families1

Word Count: 2,509
Rating: PG
Category: Friendship.
Story Status: Complete.
Summary: Season 4, set between 'Tabula Rasa' and 'Missing' but no spoilers beyond 'Reunion'. Sam's POV, with a worried Rodney and some John/Rodney banter and a little bit of team interaction too.

Written for the SGA_flashfic Stuck Challenge - sga_flashfic contains gen, ship and slash fics.

A/N: Friendshipper/Sholio’s story 'And to Dust They Return' (also for the Stuck Challenge) sparked a Sam and Rodney scene in my head, which turned into this story. You don’t need to read Friendshipper’s story to understand mine, but I highly recommend her story - it’s very good.

Beta: Thank you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading.

Families
By Leesa Perrie

Present time

Sam spotted Rodney out of her office window. He was standing at one of the railings, looking down at the stargate, a look of impatience not quite masking the worry on his face. With a sigh, she went to stand next to him.

“They’re not due back for a few minutes yet,” she stated calmly.

“Fourteen minutes and twenty seconds,” he informed her after consulting his watch.

“Too soon to start worrying then.”

“I’m not worried. Who said I was worried?” he protested, crossing his arms and wincing as the action pulled on his injuries, while still managing to look affronted at her suggestion.

“I would be if it was my team out there without me,” she commented lightly.

“Yes, well…” he deflated a little under her gaze, moving to lean with one hand on the railing. “Like you said, it’s too early to worry, they’re not even due back yet.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. It was a simple trading mission to established allies.”

“Huh, right. You do know who you’re talking about here, don’t you? Sheppard’s a trouble magnet…”

“And you’re not?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course I’m not!” he denied a little too quickly. “Though we do seem to be trying to catch up with SG1’s reputation… and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Bad that we get into trouble, or good that we’re still alive despite it.”

“I’d go with the latter if I were you.”

“Right. I suppose I should be grateful we’ve only lost one team member so far,” he said, adding in a barely audible mutter, “Should have tried harder to bring him home.”

Even though Lieutenant Ford had been based at the SGC for a few months prior to his deployment at Antarctica and then Atlantis, Sam had never met him, but she had read the team reports and knew he’d been a good person. She also knew that he hadn’t wanted to come back and that Rodney had nothing to blame himself for, not that it stopped him though.

“We don’t know what happened to Jonas,” she admitted, sharing her own loss with him. “We know his home world, Langara, fell to the Ori, but we don’t know if he left the planet, was killed or has gone underground in the hopes of fighting them. I can’t see him bowing down in worship, whatever’s happened.”

“Not knowing is the worst of it,” McKay agreed, with a nod. “I mean, it’s statistically highly unlikely that Ford could have escaped the hive ship at all, let alone before it was destroyed, and yet… the impossible has happened before.” He sighed. “Jonas, he was the naquadria guy, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, the naquadria guy,” she agreed dryly, amused by McKay’s description.

“Only met him that one time, when he helped us to save Earth. Seemed like an okay sort of guy.”

Which in Rodney-speke, something she was rapidly becoming familiar with, was high praise indeed.

“Yes, he was,” she agreed, before amending, “Is.”

“Hmm.” Rodney’s eyes took on a thoughtful look, adding a little awkwardly, “You, ah, must miss them, your team. I mean, I know I would in your situation.”

“Sometimes,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make, leaving SG1 and coming here.”

“I’m glad you did. You’re, you know, doing a good job.” He didn’t meet her eyes when saying it, but she could tell he meant it.

“Thanks, Rodney.”

“Um, yeah. And you do know that you’re not alone here, right? I mean, it’s different, you’re not part of an off world team, but you’re part of a team nonetheless. Just a bigger team, that’s all.” He stumbled to a stop.

“I know, but thanks for saying it.”

“Yes, well, of course you know; you’re not unintelligent.”

She grinned, accepting his praise for what it was and resisting the temptation to suggest she was more intelligent than him, instead thinking about what he’d said; that she was still part of a team.

When she had first arrived on Atlantis it had been overwhelming; especially as she was thrust straight into action, what with helping to rescue Sheppard, Teyla and McKay from the Wraith. Those first few weeks, she had felt truly alone; an outsider, and yes, she had missed both being part of a team and her team-mates fiercely.

Over time, though, she had realised that she wasn’t as alone as she felt. John was a big help, offering advice when needed, or just reassurance that she was doing the right thing. Teyla and Jennifer were also supportive of her, and even Rodney in his own inimitable way. And their acceptance had gone a long way in her gaining the acceptance of the Expedition, one that was still suffering the loss of a well respected and loved leader.

Although there would be times when she would need to stand alone and make hard decisions, she also knew that she had been accepted into and would be supported by the Atlantis family; and it was a family, which had surprised her at first, though perhaps in retrospect it shouldn’t have. Certainly, she didn’t regret her decision to come here, even if she did still miss SG1.

Hearing from Rodney the approval she already knew she had from him was a boost, especially knowing how hard it was to gain his respect, let alone for him to verbalise it. And so she was content to stand silently beside him, watching as time counted down and, hopefully, his team returned unscathed.

Though when he winced again, she wondered if he should really be resting in his room instead of standing here. After all, it had only been yesterday he’d been hurt. She didn’t waste her breath suggesting it, though, as she knew he’d just brush the idea off, like she would in his place.

----------------

The day before

Sam had wandered into the infirmary in time to hear the end of a harangue aimed at a junior scientist, Dr Millard if she remembered correctly, from Rodney. She flinched at the tone and words, but knew better than to interfere, as that would only undermine Rodney’s position and ultimately do no good.

John was sitting in a chair next to the bed Rodney was reclining in, watching the dressing down with an amused twitch to his lips, that he was trying to hide from both scientists.

After the unfortunate Dr Millard had been dismissed with an order to report to Dr Simpson, Rodney turned his glare onto Sheppard.

“And you can stop smirking,” he said angrily. “Don’t think I can’t see that smile you’ve been trying to hide.”

“Me?” Sheppard said, a picture of innocence.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Rodney groused.

“Well, you have to admit, you do know how to knock someone off his pedestal while verbally eviscerating him in the process. And you do it with such style, too.”

Rodney snorted.

“Glad to be able to provide you with some entertainment,” he muttered darkly.

“Glad to be around to enjoy it,” John retorted with a grin. “Still, I’m surprised you didn’t assign him to some nasty menial job, like checking the sewage system, or something equally as diabolical.”

“Oh, it was tempting, believe me,” Rodney replied with a small grin of his own. “But it would be a waste of talent to do that; Miller…”

“Millard,” John automatically corrected.

“Millard,” Rodney said, rolling his eyes, “Is actually one of the lesser idiots amongst the recent batch of newbies. Besides, Simpson will keep him in check.” He grinned, an evil glint in his eyes. “And if Millard can survive Simpson without running back to Earth crying for his mommy, then he might actually to be useful to have around.”

John laughed.

“Yeah, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly, does she? Personally, I think she’s spent far too much time around you. I’m sure she was a much nicer person before coming here.”

Rodney scowled at the inference.

“I assure you, she was quite feisty before joining the Expedition. Why else did you think I assigned her to Kavanagh’s team? I knew if we were bringing that over-inflated ego with us we needed someone who could puncture it without any fear.”

Sam couldn’t help but grin at that. Having been unfortunate enough to meet Dr Kavanagh on Earth, she had to admit that the guy was a real pain in the… neck.

“Right. So why didn’t you send Millard to Zelenka? I’m sure he’d be able to sort the guy out just as well.”

“No, that would have been a bad, bad idea. You know Radek doesn’t like it when I’m out of commission for any length of time as he has to pick up the slack and take on my job. I’m lucky Millburn’s…”

“Millard’s.”

“Millard’s mistake didn’t kill me, and if I were to die Radek would have to do my job until Sam replaced me. Or if she listened to the recommendations I’ve left on file in the event of my demise, have to do my job permanently, which he doesn’t want. So for Millard’s sake I sent him to Simpson instead.”

“And of course Radek’s displeasure has nothing to do with being your friend?”

“Radek is more of a colleague,” Rodney replied automatically, though even Sam could see the lie in his eyes.

Suddenly aware that she had been standing there eavesdropping for several minutes, she shook herself out of her amusement - their banter was entertaining, reminding her of Jack and Daniel’s interactions - and walked over to the bed.

“Hey, Sam,” John greeted her.

“Hey,” she greeted them, turning to McKay. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been burnt by an idiotic mistake,” Rodney replied bitterly.

“Keller says he’ll be fine. Probably won’t even have any scars to wow the women with.” Sheppard smirked as Rodney snorted at the latter statement.

“So what happened?” she asked.

“Millhouse…”

“Millard.”

“Will you stop doing that?” Rodney asked John in exasperation.

“Will you start getting the names of your scientists right?” John retorted dryly.

“Humph. As I was saying,” he glared at Sheppard, daring him to interrupt again, but John merely grinned, leaning even further back in his chair. “Millard was supposed to wait for my command before powering up the Ancient device I was working on, but instead he misheard and powered it up straight away. Seeing as I was still inside the device at the time, I got electrocuted and burned. Fortunately, the power level was set low and so I only got a small shock, instead of, oh I don’t know, being fried.”

“He also got stuck for a few minutes,” Sheppard added.

“Stuck?” She raised her eyebrows at that.

“Something inside the device moved and trapped my hand. It took a while to get it to move back to its original position,” Rodney huffed.

“He’s got some partial thickness burns across the top of his left arm, over his left shoulder and down his back a little way, and his hand is slightly bruised. As Keller says, not life threatening just rather painful. Fortunately, there’s no complications from the electric shock he got. He was lucky.”

“No, if I were ‘lucky’, Millard would have done what I told him to,” Rodney disagreed.

“Whatever. You’ll live and that’s what matters. Of course, it also means you get out of tomorrow’s visit to the Bodilin. And I know how much you just love trade negotiations.”

“Hmm, well, I suppose something good came out of it, then.”

Though it sounded to her like he wasn’t all that pleased.

Having made sure that her chief scientist wasn’t about to keel over on them, she took her leave, smiling at the teasing banter that started up behind her.

Teams; they were the same wherever you went, it seemed.

----------------

Present time

Rodney checked his watch again and on seeing that his team was one minute overdue, moved into the control room and looked over Chuck’s shoulder. Sam followed him, ready to intervene if necessary.

“Everything working fine on our end?” he asked brusquely.

“Yes,” Chuck answered him.

“Right, right, of course it is.” Rodney checked his watch again.

“Relax, Rodney,” she said calmly.

“Relax, right, fine. Maybe he’s just got lost again, or Teyla saw some berries she just had to pick...” He trailed off, jittering in place a moment before moving to check various readouts, despite Chuck’s assurance that everything was working fine. Chuck just rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything, clearly unfazed by McKay’s actions after over three years of working with the physicist.

As the minutes passed, the tension in the control room grew, and not all of that tension came from Rodney’s presence and mounting worry, she knew. It always happened whenever a team was late back.

Twelve minutes later, and she was just wondering how to distract an increasingly agitated McKay, when the stargate activated.

“It’s Colonel Sheppard’s IDC,” Chuck reported with a smile.

“Lower the shield,” she ordered. The relief in the control room and surrounding environs was almost palpable as Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon exited the wormhole, looking unhurt and relaxed. Rodney, having already rushed down the steps as soon as the shield had been lowered, went to greet them, as she now descended the steps herself.

“You’re late,” Rodney accused his team, looking pissed at them for making him worry.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” John drawled, not the slightest bit put out by McKay’s displeasure.

“You’re trying to give me a heart attack, aren’t you? Admit it! I know you are!”

“Nice to know you care,” Sheppard said with a grin, ignoring the irritated look his comment garnered.

“Well, yes … just … don’t do it again.” Rodney looked uncomfortable, but calmer.

“We will try not to,” Teyla said soothingly, trying to hide her smile.

“What happened?” Sam asked.

“Nothing much. The Bodilin are happy to continue trading food for medicine and we managed to negotiate a reasonable agreement,” Sheppard reported.

“Which doesn’t explain why you’re late,” Rodney pointed out.

“Landslide covered the path, had to detour round it,” Ronon stated, with his usual matter of fact attitude.

“Fortunately, the landslide happened while we were in the village and not while we were on the pathway,” Teyla added.

“We were lucky,” John said. “It just us took longer to get around it than we’d expected.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll expect a full report later, after your post-mission check-ups,” Sam said, watching as the now complete team started to file out of the gateroom.

“Should you not be resting, Rodney?” She heard Teyla ask, and although she didn’t catch the words of Rodney’s defensive reply, she grinned knowing that he would rest now, whether he wanted to or not. His team would see to that.

Returning to her office, she looked at the photographs she’d brought with her. Perhaps she could find time for a short visit back to Earth soon.

In the meantime, she had a new family to support her, and to protect.

The End

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