Fic: Untitled (PG)
Title: Untitled (or the time John wanted to make a decision but Rodney beat him to it weeks ago)
Author: R. Tom Mato
Rating: PG
Warnings: One day I'll actually have something to warn you about, and no one will know because I don't write things to be warned about so no one looks here.
Spoilers: NSI series, yes. Here you go.
Notes: I've wanted to do Ronon and Teyla finding out for a while now, because they're team, damn it, and John would want them to know. This is honestly how I expected it to happen, too. Surprised the heck out of me that it worked. All rambling contained within aside, anyway.
Notes2: I had this saved under the name 'confess' but really, that made it sound too serious. Which it's not, I don't think. Suggestions wouldn't be a bad thing, because having something untitled twitches me.
Notes3(last one, I promise): Is anyone a decent beta? Or know one? The next story I've got, it's still in-progress right now but I hope to have it done over the weekend, I've been having trouble keeping my tenses in line. I wrote it all in separate pieces and put them together and I'm worried about the flow. I just need someone with fresh eyes to give it a sort-of once-over.
===
"Ronon and Teyla."
Rodney didn't glance up from his laptop. He'd told John early on that if he was going to bother him during lab time and they weren't all going to die horribly in the next hour or less then he shouldn't expect to be listened to. It hadn't stopped him and Rodney was running out of proofs and problems to distract John for a while.
"I think we should tell them."
He hmmed, typing away. He longed for a pack of crayons and a coloring book, or even a model plane. It was so much easier to keep John occupied back when he hadn't known he was being distracted from bothering Rodney.
"Don't you think so?"
He made what must have been a hum of approval, because he felt a hand patting his shoulder.
"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, but I'm going to say you agreed with me anyway."
Great. Perfect. Whatever. Busy here.
"See you later, buddy."
Yes, yes. Good-bye.
===
Later, standing in one of the rec rooms and waving a yellow sticky-note at Ronon and Teyla, Rodney didn't remember having a conversation with John at all. His other two team mates simply watched, waiting for him to take a breath so they could get a word in.
"Why not just tell him that we already know?" Teyla asked quickly, while she had the chance.
"Because you're both apparently not supposed to know!" Rodney shot back.
Ronon snorted. "You told us anyway."
"I didn't know it was a secret!"
His voice cracked from the pitch on the last words. Teyla stood gracefully and calmly sat Rodney in the seat she just left.
"We will just tell him. You did not tell us for any selfish reason, he will understand."
"Nonono," he objected. "He wants to tell you. Knowing him he's probably got some speech in his head all ready and he's going to be working himself up over how to tell you. It's apparently a very big deal to him and I'm not bursting his bubble because you two can't sit quietly. You both excel at the whole stoic facial expression thing, put it to good use!"
"You want us to lie to Sheppard?" Ronon asked, eyebrows raised but with a small smirk on his face that made Rodney want to...well, if it was anyone else he'd have wanted to smack them.
"It's called omission. All you have to do it sit there and let him bare his soul and hug him after and it'll be fine."
Teyla stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "If he asks us directly in any way, I will let him know. I still do not believe he will be angry with you for telling us."
She and Ronon shared a look, something passing between them, and Ronon nodded. "I'll let him talk, but I'm not lying."
Rodney leaned back, letting his head rest on the top of the couch. "That's fine, that's...good. I can't believe I screwed this up. We never talked about it and as far as I know no one else knows. I just...who else was I supposed to talk to? Heightmeyer's great and all, but..."
"We are your team," Teyla said with a smile.
"Now you're starting to sound like Sheppard," Rodney groaned. He held up the sticky-note and read the barely-legible scrawl. "We've still got two hours."
"It will be all right, Rodney." She patted his shoulder before heading out of the room, the door sliding quietly shut behind her.
"You know he's going to be angry." Rodney glanced over at Ronon, who shrugged.
"Probably a little," he agreed as he stood. "It was his childhood."
"It was *my* mishap with Ancient technology."
"It'll be fine. Teyla's usually right about these things." Ronon nodded toward the door. "Think you can still eat?"
Rodney huffed, getting to his feet. "I can always eat."
The other man gave a short laugh and clapped Rodney on the shoulder and really, all of this comfort was going to give him a dislocated shoulder. He grumbled something half-heartedly and led the way to the mess hall.
===
One hour and fifty minutes later--because both John and Teyla had gotten there early and after five minutes of his pacing Teyla had radioed for Rodney and Ronon to get there *now*--John looked at his team, trying to force the unease in his stomach down. Teyla and Ronon were sitting with patiently bored expressions aimed at Rodney, who was trying for the same but only ended up looking fidgety.
"John," Teyla broke the silence, smiling welcomingly. "What is it you wish to speak to us about?"
Ronon made a small, amused noise, then leaned back further in his seat as both Teyla and Rodney glared. He just shrugged in response to John's questioning expression.
"Okay." John nodded, unsure, and sat down on the couch next to Rodney. "We all know that last year McKay tricked me into activating an Ancient device, even though I had told him repeatedly that it was a bad idea." He gave Rodney a small glare, wanting to let him know that even if it had been a very *good* thing, tricking your friends was *wrong.* "After that he wouldn't tell us what had happened to him and we were all very frustrated and worried." Another glare, to which Rodney just rolled his eyes.
"I also recall this," Teyla stated. "As well as that we agreed to not force him to tell us."
"I didn't!" he exclaimed. "I mean, I didn't force him. He told me on his own. Finally. I'm lucky I even remember; he got me drunk!"
Ronon smirked. "Again?"
"Rodney," Teyla sighed the name in a long-suffering way. "Why do you insist on getting John intoxicated every time you wish to tell him something?"
"He's so much easier to deal with then," Rodney explained, almost whining. "He's a happy drunk."
John raised his hands, not wanting to go there. "Okay, okay, I'm not done!" He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. Rodney figured he was trying to find his place in his mind and he gave Teyla and Ronon an I told you so look. "All right, this device was a sort of a personal time-travel cloak...thing."
"An experimental technology possibly for use against the Wraith or another enemy because people with the gene dominant could see you. It'd be so convenient to just go back and blow up the first Wraith, wouldn't it?" Rodney smiled tightly.
"Nothing's ever that easy. It sent Rodney back in time about thirty years or so and he met...me. I was in school and he just appeared out of nowhere and followed me home." John's eyes flicked to Rodney for a moment and he smiled, just catching the returning smile before he looked back to Ronon and Teyla. "My parents thought that I'd just made him up," he said with a hint of mocking, but shrugged to counter it. "He lived with me for four years until he managed to recharge the device to send himself home.
"Before he left he told me all about Atlantis, so I sort of knew the both of you before I'd even met you. I knew a lot of what was going to happen, actually, but nothing I did ever changed things." Teyla gave a small nod, knowing he was thinking about Ford. "And...that's it." He blinked, surprised. "That didn't take nearly as long to explain as I thought it would. Um, anything to add?"
He looked over at Rodney, who sat up a little straighter when he realized the question was aimed at him. "No, no. You covered the necessities. Well done."
John turned back to Teyla and Ronon. "Questions?"
Teyla shook her head, smiling. "No, I believe you have explained everything well."
"I'm good," Ronon seconded.
"Really?" John asked, eyebrows going up. "Because it's...weird, and yeah, Ancient technology is always weird and we've had our share of misadventures with it, but this this *time travel.*"
"Wasn't surprised the first time." Ronon replied with a shrug.
John barely had time to wonder 'huh?' before Rodney jumped to his feet, hands already going. "You said you'd keep your mouth shut! We agreed that you'd let him get this out of his system and pretend you didn't know!"
All right, John understood that part. "You told them?"
Ronon tilted his head. "I meant that I wasn't surprised the first time something like this happened. It was when you had that woman in your head, remember?"
Rodney stopped still, hands falling back to his sides and looking embarrassed and a little confused. "Oh. That, uh, I suppose that makes sense."
"McKay, you *told* them?" John demanded again, leaning to the side so he could look up at him.
"What? Yes, of course I told them!" Which really wasn't the best way to put it because now he was being glared at.
"You didn't even ask me!"
Rodney folded his arms over his chest. "*I* was the one sent back in time for four years."
"To *my* childhood." John shot back, standing as well.
"Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pointing a finger at John and looking at Teyla. "Angry!"
Teyla just stared back at him, unamused. "Perhaps if you told him why you told us in the first place."
"To get advice on whether to tell him or not?" Rodney asked, then turned back to John and shrugged.
"What do you mean, whether or not?" John's voice went up at the end. "You weren't going to?"
"I didn't know if you even remembered. Thirty years, as you're so fond of reminding me, is a very long time."
"You would have just never told me, then."
Teyla sighed and turned her head to look at Ronon. The man's eyes flicked to the door and back, questioning. She nodded and they both stood, giving their quarreling team mates a good berth as they headed out of the room.
Rodney grimaced. "No, not really. I had this whole plan to slowly start jogging your memory while I searched for some sort of recall device to trick you into activating so that you would remember."
"Oh." John paused, then narrowed his eyes. "You have got to stop doing that."
"When it stops working, I will." he shrugged.
To their credit, John and Rodney did notice the door closing. John went to open it again and peered out into the hallway.
"Um, thanks! Great talk!" he called after them. Ronon just raised a hand in acknowledgment without turning around. He watched them until they disappeared around the corner, then turned to look at Rodney, who had come to stand next to him. "You could have told me."
"It worked out all right. They weren't really phased when I told them either, and I explained it a lot better than you did," Rodney reassured him.
John leaned back against the wall. "That's Teyla and Ronon for you."
"Do you want to tell anyone else?" he asked sincerely, but John shook his head and grinned a little.
"Nah, not unless something comes up. The team knows, that's all I wanted."
Author: R. Tom Mato
Rating: PG
Warnings: One day I'll actually have something to warn you about, and no one will know because I don't write things to be warned about so no one looks here.
Spoilers: NSI series, yes. Here you go.
Notes: I've wanted to do Ronon and Teyla finding out for a while now, because they're team, damn it, and John would want them to know. This is honestly how I expected it to happen, too. Surprised the heck out of me that it worked. All rambling contained within aside, anyway.
Notes2: I had this saved under the name 'confess' but really, that made it sound too serious. Which it's not, I don't think. Suggestions wouldn't be a bad thing, because having something untitled twitches me.
Notes3(last one, I promise): Is anyone a decent beta? Or know one? The next story I've got, it's still in-progress right now but I hope to have it done over the weekend, I've been having trouble keeping my tenses in line. I wrote it all in separate pieces and put them together and I'm worried about the flow. I just need someone with fresh eyes to give it a sort-of once-over.
===
"Ronon and Teyla."
Rodney didn't glance up from his laptop. He'd told John early on that if he was going to bother him during lab time and they weren't all going to die horribly in the next hour or less then he shouldn't expect to be listened to. It hadn't stopped him and Rodney was running out of proofs and problems to distract John for a while.
"I think we should tell them."
He hmmed, typing away. He longed for a pack of crayons and a coloring book, or even a model plane. It was so much easier to keep John occupied back when he hadn't known he was being distracted from bothering Rodney.
"Don't you think so?"
He made what must have been a hum of approval, because he felt a hand patting his shoulder.
"You're not listening to a word I'm saying, but I'm going to say you agreed with me anyway."
Great. Perfect. Whatever. Busy here.
"See you later, buddy."
Yes, yes. Good-bye.
===
Later, standing in one of the rec rooms and waving a yellow sticky-note at Ronon and Teyla, Rodney didn't remember having a conversation with John at all. His other two team mates simply watched, waiting for him to take a breath so they could get a word in.
"Why not just tell him that we already know?" Teyla asked quickly, while she had the chance.
"Because you're both apparently not supposed to know!" Rodney shot back.
Ronon snorted. "You told us anyway."
"I didn't know it was a secret!"
His voice cracked from the pitch on the last words. Teyla stood gracefully and calmly sat Rodney in the seat she just left.
"We will just tell him. You did not tell us for any selfish reason, he will understand."
"Nonono," he objected. "He wants to tell you. Knowing him he's probably got some speech in his head all ready and he's going to be working himself up over how to tell you. It's apparently a very big deal to him and I'm not bursting his bubble because you two can't sit quietly. You both excel at the whole stoic facial expression thing, put it to good use!"
"You want us to lie to Sheppard?" Ronon asked, eyebrows raised but with a small smirk on his face that made Rodney want to...well, if it was anyone else he'd have wanted to smack them.
"It's called omission. All you have to do it sit there and let him bare his soul and hug him after and it'll be fine."
Teyla stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "If he asks us directly in any way, I will let him know. I still do not believe he will be angry with you for telling us."
She and Ronon shared a look, something passing between them, and Ronon nodded. "I'll let him talk, but I'm not lying."
Rodney leaned back, letting his head rest on the top of the couch. "That's fine, that's...good. I can't believe I screwed this up. We never talked about it and as far as I know no one else knows. I just...who else was I supposed to talk to? Heightmeyer's great and all, but..."
"We are your team," Teyla said with a smile.
"Now you're starting to sound like Sheppard," Rodney groaned. He held up the sticky-note and read the barely-legible scrawl. "We've still got two hours."
"It will be all right, Rodney." She patted his shoulder before heading out of the room, the door sliding quietly shut behind her.
"You know he's going to be angry." Rodney glanced over at Ronon, who shrugged.
"Probably a little," he agreed as he stood. "It was his childhood."
"It was *my* mishap with Ancient technology."
"It'll be fine. Teyla's usually right about these things." Ronon nodded toward the door. "Think you can still eat?"
Rodney huffed, getting to his feet. "I can always eat."
The other man gave a short laugh and clapped Rodney on the shoulder and really, all of this comfort was going to give him a dislocated shoulder. He grumbled something half-heartedly and led the way to the mess hall.
===
One hour and fifty minutes later--because both John and Teyla had gotten there early and after five minutes of his pacing Teyla had radioed for Rodney and Ronon to get there *now*--John looked at his team, trying to force the unease in his stomach down. Teyla and Ronon were sitting with patiently bored expressions aimed at Rodney, who was trying for the same but only ended up looking fidgety.
"John," Teyla broke the silence, smiling welcomingly. "What is it you wish to speak to us about?"
Ronon made a small, amused noise, then leaned back further in his seat as both Teyla and Rodney glared. He just shrugged in response to John's questioning expression.
"Okay." John nodded, unsure, and sat down on the couch next to Rodney. "We all know that last year McKay tricked me into activating an Ancient device, even though I had told him repeatedly that it was a bad idea." He gave Rodney a small glare, wanting to let him know that even if it had been a very *good* thing, tricking your friends was *wrong.* "After that he wouldn't tell us what had happened to him and we were all very frustrated and worried." Another glare, to which Rodney just rolled his eyes.
"I also recall this," Teyla stated. "As well as that we agreed to not force him to tell us."
"I didn't!" he exclaimed. "I mean, I didn't force him. He told me on his own. Finally. I'm lucky I even remember; he got me drunk!"
Ronon smirked. "Again?"
"Rodney," Teyla sighed the name in a long-suffering way. "Why do you insist on getting John intoxicated every time you wish to tell him something?"
"He's so much easier to deal with then," Rodney explained, almost whining. "He's a happy drunk."
John raised his hands, not wanting to go there. "Okay, okay, I'm not done!" He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. Rodney figured he was trying to find his place in his mind and he gave Teyla and Ronon an I told you so look. "All right, this device was a sort of a personal time-travel cloak...thing."
"An experimental technology possibly for use against the Wraith or another enemy because people with the gene dominant could see you. It'd be so convenient to just go back and blow up the first Wraith, wouldn't it?" Rodney smiled tightly.
"Nothing's ever that easy. It sent Rodney back in time about thirty years or so and he met...me. I was in school and he just appeared out of nowhere and followed me home." John's eyes flicked to Rodney for a moment and he smiled, just catching the returning smile before he looked back to Ronon and Teyla. "My parents thought that I'd just made him up," he said with a hint of mocking, but shrugged to counter it. "He lived with me for four years until he managed to recharge the device to send himself home.
"Before he left he told me all about Atlantis, so I sort of knew the both of you before I'd even met you. I knew a lot of what was going to happen, actually, but nothing I did ever changed things." Teyla gave a small nod, knowing he was thinking about Ford. "And...that's it." He blinked, surprised. "That didn't take nearly as long to explain as I thought it would. Um, anything to add?"
He looked over at Rodney, who sat up a little straighter when he realized the question was aimed at him. "No, no. You covered the necessities. Well done."
John turned back to Teyla and Ronon. "Questions?"
Teyla shook her head, smiling. "No, I believe you have explained everything well."
"I'm good," Ronon seconded.
"Really?" John asked, eyebrows going up. "Because it's...weird, and yeah, Ancient technology is always weird and we've had our share of misadventures with it, but this this *time travel.*"
"Wasn't surprised the first time." Ronon replied with a shrug.
John barely had time to wonder 'huh?' before Rodney jumped to his feet, hands already going. "You said you'd keep your mouth shut! We agreed that you'd let him get this out of his system and pretend you didn't know!"
All right, John understood that part. "You told them?"
Ronon tilted his head. "I meant that I wasn't surprised the first time something like this happened. It was when you had that woman in your head, remember?"
Rodney stopped still, hands falling back to his sides and looking embarrassed and a little confused. "Oh. That, uh, I suppose that makes sense."
"McKay, you *told* them?" John demanded again, leaning to the side so he could look up at him.
"What? Yes, of course I told them!" Which really wasn't the best way to put it because now he was being glared at.
"You didn't even ask me!"
Rodney folded his arms over his chest. "*I* was the one sent back in time for four years."
"To *my* childhood." John shot back, standing as well.
"Ha!" he exclaimed triumphantly, pointing a finger at John and looking at Teyla. "Angry!"
Teyla just stared back at him, unamused. "Perhaps if you told him why you told us in the first place."
"To get advice on whether to tell him or not?" Rodney asked, then turned back to John and shrugged.
"What do you mean, whether or not?" John's voice went up at the end. "You weren't going to?"
"I didn't know if you even remembered. Thirty years, as you're so fond of reminding me, is a very long time."
"You would have just never told me, then."
Teyla sighed and turned her head to look at Ronon. The man's eyes flicked to the door and back, questioning. She nodded and they both stood, giving their quarreling team mates a good berth as they headed out of the room.
Rodney grimaced. "No, not really. I had this whole plan to slowly start jogging your memory while I searched for some sort of recall device to trick you into activating so that you would remember."
"Oh." John paused, then narrowed his eyes. "You have got to stop doing that."
"When it stops working, I will." he shrugged.
To their credit, John and Rodney did notice the door closing. John went to open it again and peered out into the hallway.
"Um, thanks! Great talk!" he called after them. Ronon just raised a hand in acknowledgment without turning around. He watched them until they disappeared around the corner, then turned to look at Rodney, who had come to stand next to him. "You could have told me."
"It worked out all right. They weren't really phased when I told them either, and I explained it a lot better than you did," Rodney reassured him.
John leaned back against the wall. "That's Teyla and Ronon for you."
"Do you want to tell anyone else?" he asked sincerely, but John shook his head and grinned a little.
"Nah, not unless something comes up. The team knows, that's all I wanted."