Atl_FirstStarISeeTonight1

Word Count: 1,055
Rating: PG
Category: Friendship. Angst.
Story Status: Complete
Summary: He needed time to brood, to think, to second guess...

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

Beta: Thank you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading and to for everythingshiny the cover arts.

First Star I See Tonight
By Leesa Perrie

Cover arts by everythingshiny

Season 1, post The Defiant One

John wandered onto a balcony, the warm evening breeze ruffling his hair, and watched as the sun slowly sank into the ocean and dusk began to fall over the city.

It had been one nightmare of a day and he winced as bruises made themselves known. He was lucky, Beckett had said. Lucky not to have cracked or broken any ribs, lucky that the bullet had only scraped his arm, lucky not to have concussion; lucky to be alive. He didn't feel lucky, he felt bruised, battered and worn out, wishing he could undo certain decisions he had made.

He needed time to brood, to think, to second guess, so that he could move on. Maybe.

Dusk was turning into night when he heard someone approaching, and McKay soon joined him on the balcony, resting his arms on the railings with a heavy sigh. No words, no eye contact, just standing there, looking at the night sky.

Some would be surprised at McKay's silence, thinking him not capable of it. But John knew better, having stood or sat in silence with the man before, after missions gone bad, disasters only just averted, or people lost.

The silence between them wasn't awkward. It was that of two people taking the time to catch their breath after a terrible, awful mission. Two people trying to deal with what had happened in their own way; in silent company.

Even so, McKay had his limits, and less than ten minutes passed before John felt him fidgeting nervously, not wanting to break the quiet reverie and yet clearly feeling the need to talk.

John sighed, and looking at the first star to show itself as night continued to fall gently around them, he put McKay out of his misery, speaking first. "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight," he said whimsically, feeling a need to try and lighten the mood.

"Huh. If wishes were horses," Rodney started scornfully.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," John interrupted him, "Beggars would ride." He shook his head, trust McKay to take him seriously.

"Humph. I was actually going to say it'd be the end of the world. The horses would eat most of the planet's plant life and we'd be surrounded by the rotting carcases of millions of starved creatures, including the horses themselves eventually. That is, if we were still alive ourselves at that point, which, of course, we wouldn't be. And that's not to even mention standing who knows how deep in manure."

"Knee deep?" John suggested.

"Probably more. Much, much more."

"Uh huh. Lovely imagery you've got going there," John said dryly. "I can't believe you've taken the time to work it all out."

"Well, you know, genius here."

"Yeah. I take it you've never wished upon a star then?"

"Of course not! Stars can't grant wishes, they're stars," Rodney said disdainfully. "Massive glowing balls of hot gases, mainly hydrogen and helium, powered by nuclear reactions and burning at different temperatures depending on..."

"I get it, McKay, no need to lecture me on star mechanics," John said quickly, stopping the flow of information with a disgusted 'humph' from McKay. He grinned at his disgruntled companion. "So, I've been looking at the constellations, trying to give them names."

"I almost hate to ask, but what did you come up with?"

"Well, you see those stars there, I thought they looked a bit like a coffeemaker"

"What? They're nothing like that."

"No, look, the way those stars there curve into the coffee pot's handle, and then over there..."

"No, still don't see it."

"Hmm. Well, what did the Ancients call them, assuming that they named the constellations, that is?" John asked, and no he did not sound sulky. Not in the slightest.

"Well they didn't use fanciful imagery that's for sure. They named them after people instead."

"Oh well, in that case I should rename the coffeemaker, the Rodney McKay."

"Oh, ha, ha. Very funny, Major."

Silence fell again for a few brief moments.

"So, what would you wish for?" McKay finally asked.

"Why?" John looked at him suspiciously.

McKay shrugged. "Just curious."

"Uh huh. Doesn't telling someone your wish stop it from coming true?"

"Only if you're superstitious," McKay replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I'd wish for..." John thought about it carefully, thinking about Gall, Abrams, the super-Wraith and all he wished he could have done differently, but he wasn't going there, not with McKay, not with anyone. "A set of golf clubs and some golf balls. There's a few balconies without railings that'd be perfect for practising my swing on."

"Oh, and here I was thinking you would be going for world peace. Well, universal peace I suppose."

"Yeah, well, you know me. Deep thinker and all that," John said with a another grin.

McKay snorted in amusement. "Yes, I can see it now. People coming to you for your deep thoughts on a variety of subjects and being told to take up golf or surfing..."

"Or Ancient Sims..."

"Or Ancient Sims," Rodney finished with a smile.

"We haven't played that for several days," John mentioned casually.

"Hmm. Well then, we'd better remedy that, hadn't we?"

"So long as you stop cheating..."

"I don't cheat!"

"Yes you do!"

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

Season 2, just prior to Trinity

John was tired, not to mention bored, after a long day filled with welcoming fresh-faced arrivals from the Daedalus and catching up on his paperwork, but at last the day was over and he was able to head back to his room. There, he intended to relax with his newly arrived golf magazines and comic books that Dr Novak had kindly picked up for him on Earth.

But opening his door, he came to a sudden stop. What the...?

Next to his bed was golf bag with a full set of golf clubs in it, and on his bed resided two boxes of golf balls. Spying a note taped to the bag, he walked over to read it.

Sheppard,

Stars don't make wishes come true, but sometimes I do.

McKay

He smiled, and suddenly feeling rejuvenated, he picked up the bag and a box of balls. He knew just the perfect balcony to use.

Maybe he'd get Rodney to join him too.

The End

Author's Notes: It is not clear from 'Trinity' when the Daedalus arrives. Caldwell appears partway through the episode with no explanation, so I decided to assume for the purposes on this fic that the Daedalus arrived prior to the episode starting.

The information about stars, especially the bit about the stars being balls of gases, comes from this site.

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