A few points of my personal canon for Kavanagh...
Some Points of My Personal Canon for Kavanagh
1.) His first name isn’t, in fact, Peter, but Nathaniel. Nathan to his occasional friends and acquaintances, and Nate to good friends and immediate family. A clerical error when he first joined the SGC resulted in his name being recorded as “Peter Nathaniel Kavanagh” , even though it was supposed to be the other way ‘round. He tried to get it changed when he got his first pay-check (the bank almost wouldn’t deposit it, but the SGC managed to convince them to do it, and the bank changed their records). He’s gotten used to it, and knows that the people who matter the most (His parents, two brothers, and his wife) know his real name.
2.) He doesn’t actually voluntarily faint in the face of bodily harm/ impending death. It’s a side-effect of an accident at the SGC. He had been working on a device that one of SGC teams had brought back, and it had exploded. There had been some sort of booby trap within that caused the fainting spells to start. The accident had also ruined his chances of ever having children, thanks to a rather specific chemical that had been released when the thing exploded; Both Nate and his wife (She worked for the SGC as well) figured that with their jobs being what they were, it was probably for the best, anyways. And when the Atlantis Expedition, and the chance to join it, came up, it was even more of a moot point by then.
UPDATE: Actual medical condition described here
3.) He doesn’t have to, as McKay puts it, “make sure the only way a woman would ever sleep with him is to drug her first”, ‘cause he’s been married since about three years after the Stargate was reopened (for the second time, by Doctor Jackson), and his wife is part of the Expedition. There are very few people who know this; most assume that he’d never be able to even get a woman to date him, let alone agree to marry him.
Her name is Doctor Brooks Rice (she kept her maiden name for professional reasons), and she’s the head of the incredibly small (three people, including herself) Robotics Department on Atlantis. Her main job is to maintain and occasionally upgrade the MALPs and FREDs that were brought along, but sometimes she’ll put the electronic skills from her double doctorates (Mechatronics and Electrical Engineering) and the sewing skills gleaned from making her own costumes for local SCA events into making toys and other playthings for the Athosian children, who are fascinated with them. Nate suspects that Brooks has unofficially adopted most of them, but goes along with it.
It seems odd that no one’s noticed that there are two life-signs in Living Quarters #378 on most nights, but then again, no one really seems to care. Nate doesn’t wear his ring that often; he doesn’t want to lose it if he’s working on a particularly tricky and large bit of Ancient console or device. Besides, he highly suspects that McKay would either pass out from shock or try and delve into his personal life (Which he so Does. Not. Want.) if he ever wore the slightly scratched and worn gold band on his left hand. Brooks wears hers on a necklace, and he keeps his in the small wooden box that serves as Brooks’ jewelry box.
4.) He doesn’t actually hate McKay, Weir, and Sheppard (or the military for that matter, but that's a different story altogether. You try coming from four generations of military men and not wanting to join up and see what happens. At least his family still talks to him- well, his immediate family, anyways. The members of the extended family are a little up in the air.), but neither does he agree with all the decisions that they’ve made.
He’s probably been more vocal about it than he needs to, as Brooks reminds him, which is probably why most of the others think he can’t stand the trio. Nate knows for a fact that Brooks bribed Lieutenant Ford with the last of her Godiva chocolate and a hand-made Godzilla toy (that walked and roared) to erase the video Nate had made detailing his rather vicious recounting of Doctor Weir’s faults (He’d been running on less than an hour’s sleep, and it showed in his uninhibited diatribe. It still wasn’t a very good reason, though.), and had Ford replace it with one that she gave him. It had been recorded some three weeks previously, when both Nate and Brooks had had one of their rare days off together, and they were both relaxed and just enjoying each other’s company. It included short messages to both sets of their parents, as well as to Nate’s two brothers Ben and Rob (Brooks was an only child).
5.) While it’s not really an important fact, per se, it still slightly adds to the list of things Nate sometimes wishes people took the time to know about him, besides the obvious (status: married, age: 30-something, Birthday: July 26), ‘cause really, it’s not that hard to believe that he’s actually social on occasion. Both he and Brooks belong (or belonged, depending on how one looks at it, since they’re in a totally different galaxy and all) to the local chapter of the SCA back in Colorado Springs. While technically they’re part of the Kingdom of the Outlands (Dragonsspine Barony), there’s an unofficial chapter within the SGC itself called the Stronghold of Astria Porta, and that’s what they identify with privately. It’s small; there’s only a few people who regularly turn up to the meetings, and now that Brooks and Nate are gone, even less.
There’s been talk of starting up a local chapter on Atlantis, but no one seems to be getting it going too fast. Nate and Brooks occasionally will spar with each other in their quarters or on a dock, using their padded swords they’ve made, having left their gear back on Earth, but other than that, it’s yet another chapter of their lives that’s passed- for now, anyways. There’s talk of a talent show coming up, and Brooks has suggested that maybe they could do a demonstration of their swordplay skills. Nate isn’t too sure about that.
Note: I’ll add more bits and pieces as I go along, but other than that, this is what you get to begin with. Just somethin’ to keep y’all (Those that actually read this journal, anyways)happy until the first ‘fic comes out. I may or may not write 'fics based on points discussed in these, erm, points, but who knows? Maybe I will.