Fic: May the Road Rise to Meet You (NC-17)
Title: May the Road Rise to Meet You
Author: SGAtlantisLight
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Zelenka, Beckett, mini-O'Neill, Heightmeyer, Weir, Ronon, Teyla
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, Zelenka/Beckett
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Gratuitous sex. Non-gratuitous sex. Melted chocolate. Smarmy wedding.
Spoilers: SG-1's season 7 "Fragile Balance"
Summary: Part 14 of the Broken Series
Disclaimer: The characters, the setting, etc. are NOT mine, even if I wish they were.
John watched as the kid's hands moved with assurance over the puddle jumper controls. He wasn't sure why he even needed to be here. The younger Jack O'Neill, the one Rodney called Mini-Jack when he wasn't around, made the jumper purr just by walking up to it. John and jumpers were like long-time best friends who finished each other's sentences. Jack and jumpers were like long-time lovers who hardly needed to speak. Where displays popped up for John as soon as he needed them, the ship seemed to anticipate with Jack. In fact, they'd discovered that the jumper's displays adjusted itself to the expectations of the pilot when Jack slid into the pilot's seat and started pulling up information before John had had a chance to show him the displays, and John realised that while the displays contained the same information, Jack's were laid out differently.
Still, the kid was required to complete a specific number of hours of flight training regardless of talent, so here they were again.
There was an uncomfortable silence, as often seemed to happen between them. John knew Jack's true story, as opposed to the official cover story, which made it both easier and harder for them to connect. Easier because Jack didn't have to watch that he might slip up and reveal a part of the truth about his heritage. Harder because John had a tendency to think of him as Brigadier General O'Neill in miniature, rather than a mere Second Lieutenant.
John ran him through a few experiments with the targeting computer.
"We don't have any targets to fire at, obviously. I understand Zelenka had been thinking about a simulation program a couple of months ago, but, ah... well, it never got started."
"I'm surprised there's not simulation capabilities already built in," Jack said. A heads-up display popped up, enemy craft in red and friendlies in blue. "Cool," Jack said.
"Damn," John breathed. "I guess it's good Zelenka didn't waste any time on a simulation."
"It could still be useful. You could do initial training on the ground. Can I?" Jack asked.
"Hell if I know. Go for it."
And he spent several minutes shooting down imaginary foes while avoiding shooting friendlies. Jack was surprisingly good. A score, in Ancient, popped up.
"Your turn," Jack said, grinning.
And the HUD changed angles to John's requirements. He took over at the stick as his display filled with red and blue dots.
"Whoa!" Jack said. "That was intense!"
John's score flashed. "Beat ya, kid."
"Yeah, well, I'll smear you next time."
"No time for another round right now," John said. "We hit the mainland in just a couple minutes. Take back over."
Before he'd gotten the sentence completed, the displays had personalised themselves for Jack.
They fell silent again as they skimmed over the mainland toward the Athosian village. They used the training flights to ferry things to the mainland, and so they had a jumper half-full of simple farm implements and various seeds from Earth.
"So," Jack said into the uncomfortable silence, "I saw Dr. McKay out of his wheelchair a couple days ago."
"Yeah, the steroids seem to have reduced the pressure on the nerve. He also finally got the use of his hands back, thank God."
"I can't imagine he was easy to live with."
John chuckled. "That's an understatement. Tomorrow they take the arm casts and rib plasters off and unwire his jaw. Do you know what he's been talking about wanting to do first when he gets his mouth back?"
Jack flashed a knowing grin, then blushed. "I... uh... have no idea, sir."
John gaped for a minute. Even knowing who he was talking to, he tended to forget that the kid had the memories of a much-older person and was in no way naive. "Oh, well, I suppose there might have been some promises in that direction, but, no, actually, it has to do with food. You wouldn't believe the amount of bribery I've gone through over the last six weeks with the kitchen staff. Fortunately, I'm probably never going to have a first-born child to actually surrender."
***
"Oh, God... Mmmm... Oh, that's good..."
John watched as Rodney opened his mouth, tongue teasingly thrust forward and slipped the morsel into his mouth, tongue licking off his fingers.
In their first year and half as friends and teammates and then lovers on Atlantis, John had gotten used to Rodney constantly eating. In the last six weeks, he'd forgotten what it was like to watch Rodney eat. John was glad they'd stayed at home rather than going to the cafeteria.
"If you don't stop that, I'm going to have to jump your ass," John growled.
"Fine with me, as long as you let me eat while you're fucking me," Rodney grinned.
John tried not to think about steak-flavoured kisses. Developing a food fetish with Rodney would be very, very dangerous, considering Rodney's eating habits.
"Though I did have a thought..."
"Oh?"
Rodney reached into his jacket and pulled out a very squishy chocolate bar and threw it on the table.
John quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't it some sort of sin to ruin perfectly good chocolate by keeping it in an inside jacket pocket?"
"Not as sinful as what I plan to do with it..." Rodney leered.
***
"Oh, holy shit, how I've missed your mouth," he murmured, hips bucking up slightly with each of Rodney's downward dips.
Rodney slipped his mouth off him for a moment, fingers adding another coat of melted chocolate as he smiled at his fiancé. "I missed your cock." He stuck his chocolate-covered fingers in his mouth and sucked, finger-fucking his mouth.
"Oh, God, Rodney," John gasped. "I need your mouth, now."
It only took a couple long strokes of Rodney's talented mouth, tongue tasting up and down his cock, licking off every particle of chocolate, before John lost control, hands grabbing the bed for purchase, trying not to gag Rodney by thrusting up into his mouth too hard, throbbing into him and feeling each swallow.
He lay, gasping, whole body trembling in the aftershock of his orgasm. Rodney pulled off him with an audible pop, tongue teasing his slit. John shivered and jerked back, oversensitive after his climax.
Rodney stopped, grinning up at him. "And a luscious cream filling to boot."
John chuckled. "Yeah, right. 'Cause absolutely everyone likes the taste of cum."
Rodney gathered up one final droplet on his finger, stuck it in his mouth and shrugged. "It's not a great delicacy, but it's you," he said as he pulled his finger out.
John shivered at the look of possessiveness that passed across Rodney's face.
Rodney reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the lube. "Turn over."
Eagerly, John complied. He'd missed this, too. Oh, they'd had sex, but with Rodney's injuries his fiancé had had to be pretty passive. Rodney's fingers as he prepared him, slicking and stretching him, were strangely comforting in their familiarity, knowing just how and where to touch him, the perfect angle of thrust. John sighed and closed his eyes, allowing himself to concentrate on the sensation of fingers inside him, hand exploring his ass, soft kisses falling on his back, the sense of shifting as Rodney spread his ass cheeks wide, the press of cock against him, opening him, filling him, the sound of Rodney's pleasure-- half groan, half gasp-- the brush of his fiancé’s thighs against his own, the brush of balls against him, the solidity of Rodney's body against him. Oh, yeah, he had missed this. Rodney's hands grasped his hips, pulling him back as he thrust forward, burying himself deeper.
"Do you want to come again?" Rodney asked, voice strained.
"I just want to feel you inside me," John answered.
"All right."
Rodney's rhythm changed subtly, concentrating on his own pleasure, the delicious slide of cock into accepting flesh, confident, proficient, and intimate. John fixed his attention on the familiar compression of flesh as he was filled and the slight pull as flesh followed Rodney's cock as it drew back. Rodney's motions were almost languid, spinning out his pleasure, knowing John could take it.
And then Rodney's rhythm slowly became more ragged, breath catching, gasping, groaning. He ground forward, hips gyrating, balls pressing up against John's opening, wrapping his arms around John's torso as he throbbed deeply within in shuddering half-thrusts, then relaxed against his lover, chest to back.
They hung there in the moment for an eternity, then Rodney kissed the back of John's neck and slid out of him, rolling to the side. John rolled the other way, then slipped next to Rodney, head on Rodney's chest, hearing and feeling the precious beat of the heart within. Rodney slipped his arms around his shoulders, locking his hands together.
"Thank you," John said.
"For what?" Rodney asked, voice taking on the softened enunciation of half-sleep.
"For coming back to me."
Rodney's hand ruffled through John's ridiculous hair, then slid back to his shoulder, hugging him. "You love me. That's a... rare thing for me. How could I leave that?"
John chuckled. "A lot of people love you, Rodney... in their own way. Otherwise, half the expedition would have killed you by now."
"Well," Rodney said, and John could hear in his voice that he was smiling, "there is that."
***
"So, what about names? Have you decided yet?" John asked at breakfast.
Carson and Radek exchanged amused glances. The wedding had been a source of conversation at their meals for weeks now. The name question had been asked, put off, asked again, put off again, and so on countless times.
"I think you should just choose a new name for both of you," Carson said.
"Like what?" Rodney asked.
"Lantian?" Radek suggested.
Rodney tried it out. "Nope, doesn't flow right. Not to mention I really should continue the family name."
"That would require that you have children," Carson pointed out. "Were you and John planning on a family?"
The two men looked at each other. "We hadn't really discussed it," Rodney admitted.
"Good God, man, your wedding's two weeks away and you still haven't settled the question of names or discussed children?"
"Well, it's not like we're going to accidentally conceive," John pointed out. "We've got time."
"Aye, that's true."
"It is important, however, to at least know if you are going in with same expectation," Radek said. "Anezka and I almost divorced because I did not want children at first and she did."
"Really?" Rodney said. "You seem to be so much the family man."
"So what changed?" John asked.
Zelenka smiled sheepishly. "Combination of things led to... ah... contraceptive failure. And once I heard that heartbeat for the first time..." He shrugged, but his face was alight with wonder. "No going back."
And Rodney had this strange feeling that, somehow, somewhere, he'd had a child and lost her. Her. He knew it was a her.
"Are you all right, Rodney?" Carson asked.
"Yes. I just... remember something... from when I was in a coma, I think. There was a letter... and pictures..." He frowned in concentration and looked at John. "It was like that conversation we had one time, where you said in some alternate reality Carson and I are lovers."
Carson sputtered.
"Yeah?" John asked.
"It was like I was seeing different realities. And there was one where I think I had a daughter, probably college-aged by now."
"That's bizarre," John said.
Rodney nodded. "But remembering it make me feel sort of like I'm missing something that should have been, you know?"
John shook his head. "Sorry. Can't wrap my brain around that one."
"Nor around the two of us being lovers," Carson said.
Rodney raised his eyebrows and smiled crookedly. "Actually, there were some with the two of us. And a few with you and John. And I think there was one where we were a threesome."
"Good Lord!" Beckett exclaimed.
"And me?" Radek asked.
"I don't remember any where I knew who you were involved with, but there was one where you had my job."
Radek grinned. "Oh, I like that one!"
Rodney eyed him uncertainly. "Okay, do I have to watch my back, Radek?"
Radek's grin widened. "You always have to watch your back, Rodney. I am becoming almost as invaluable as you."
"Yeah, well, just remember in several alternate realities I'm sleeping with your boyfriend... and I'm quite willing to share him with John, apparently."
Carson stood up suddenly. "I think I'm needed in the infirmary now."
The three of them watched the doctor flee. Rodney grinned. "I guess I shouldn't tell Elizabeth about the one where I came home to find John banging her like there was no tomorrow..."
John made some wordless noise while Radek nodded thoughtfully and said, "Probably not a good idea."
Movement at the next table over caught Rodney's eye. "Kavanaugh! Aren't you eating with anyone this morning?"
The scientist eyed him suspiciously. "No, I'm not. Is there a--"
"Would you like to join us?" McKay interrupted.
Kavanaugh looked surprised, then his eyes roamed, looking for some sort of trap. "I... Why?"
"No reason," said Rodney. "I just thought you might appreciate some company."
Now Kavanaugh looked really wary. "So you're offering yours?"
"I'm feeling magnanimous."
The ponytailed man, looking trapped, stood and carried his tray to their table and sat down cautiously. John nodded to him, sipping coffee, and he nodded back with a quiet "Colonel" and then a nod to Radek.
"Oh, seeing you reminded me," Zelenka said. "I have some thoughts on your wormhole model that might improve stability."
"Oh, yes," Rodney said, nodding. "I had some ideas, too, though I think you're on the right track with the fourteen-dimensional space-time concept. I-- Kavanaugh? Is something wrong?"
Kavanaugh had frozen with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth, glaring at them. "You don't have to be nice to me."
"What?" Rodney asked, genuinely perplexed.
"You don't have to be nice to me. I'm not that fragile. I was fucking a woman who turned out to be freaking psychotic and who nearly killed you, and who probably intended to kill me all because I thought I actually loved her. I realise I fucked up and I'm dealing with it, but I can't handle you being nice to me, McKay. So stop it."
"You're an idiot, Kavanaugh! Did it ever occur to you that I might actually feel some sense of gratitude to you for saving my life? I happen to be very fond of breathing and that extends to a certain affection for those who've kept me that way. You think I care about your love life? Get over yourself!" McKay rose and stormed out of the cafeteria.
Radek glared at Kavanaugh. "Thank you so much for assuring he will be intolerable today."
***
"Why did it bother you so much?" Radek asked his lover that night, curled up beside him in bed.
"What? Rodney's alternate realities?"
Radek nodded.
Carson considered. "It just felt... like a betrayal of what we have."
Radek studied his face for a moment. "How is it betrayal that things went differently elsewhere? Perhaps I took, oh, Colonel Sheppard as lover instead of Rodney. Or perhaps the colonel died. Or I did not come on expedition at all. How is a different choice under different circumstances a betrayal?"
"I don't know. It just is."
Zelenka was quiet for a moment, reaching out to trace Carson's jaw line with one finger. He could feel the tension below the surface. "It bothered you because part of you liked it," he guessed.
Carson flinched, his face stricken.
"Would you ever leave me for Rodney?" Radek asked.
"No!" Carson answered vehemently.
"Do you resent that I still love Anezka?"
"No, of course not."
"Does it bother you that Rodney and I have been intimate?"
Carson shook his head. "Your past makes you who you are. How could I?"
"Would it bother you if I told you that sometimes I still think about him?"
Carson met his eyes. "No."
"If it had happened that you, God forbid, had died in the attack, would you have wanted me to go on and find love again?"
"Yes."
"And if I had died at Edda's hands, do you think I would expect you to never love again?" Radek asked.
"No."
"Then how is this different? We have made our choice. I don't intend to change my mind and neither do you. In other places, small changes in our past changed us and, therefore, our choices. The universe is full of soul mates waiting to be found. There is no one true love for each of us, but many. My heart is large. I can, and do, love many people in different ways. It doesn't change the commitment I have to you. And your heart... your heart is so much larger than mine." Radek leaned over and kissed him gently. "I would not dream of asking you to love only me. I only expect that you commit only to me."
Carson pulled him down into a kiss. They explored each other's mouths, giving and receiving, unhurried, and then added gentle touches, ghosting over skin, fingers slipping into hair, the back of the neck, pulling the lover closer, quiet whimpers and moans, softly spoken words. Slowly, slowly, their voices grew breathier, more needy, the touches more intimate. Carson watched Radek cautiously as his hands ghosted down his lover's back to lightly rub Radek's ass.
Radek shuddered, desire and remembered pain warring in his eyes. Slowly, he reached to the bedside table and found the tube there. "I want to try again," he said quietly.
"Are you sure?" Carson asked.
"I want to feel whole again. I need you to fill me, my body, as you fill my soul."
And their joining was tender, careful, strangely sweet. There were still glimpses of fear and pain in Radek's eyes and Carson would stop, raining kisses and gentle touches on him until the fear flowed away and they began moving again. It was an eternity, yet too soon over.
And then they slept, nestled together, two pieces of a whole, carved by circumstance to fit together.
***
Kate Heightmeyer smiled at the two men in front of her, their eyes focusing only on each other, their hands entwined, a peacefulness running deep beneath the slight nervousness of their smiles. John cut a dashing figure in his Air Force dress uniform. Rodney was equally handsome in a tuxedo. Beside John, Carson Beckett stood, dressed in a suit jacket and kilt. Beside Rodney, Radek Zelenka stood, wearing the traditional kroj of his own heritage. The gateroom was filled with Atlantians and a few Athosians, many dressed in the traditional styles of their own heritage, others in full military dress, still others in suits and dresses, eyes focused on the two men framed by the circle of the gate.
"Dear friends, I have the joy of performing this ceremony today. On behalf of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay, I welcome you and thank you for being here, sharing their joy during this wonderful moment in their lives. By your presence, you celebrate with them the love they have discovered in each other and support their commitment to one another for the rest of their lives." She laid her hand over John and Rodney's joined hands, smiling at the two lovers. "This afternoon we are here to celebrate love. We come together to witness and proclaim the joining together of these two persons in marriage. Regardless of the wonderful and loving relationship that John Sheppard and Rodney McKay have shared to this day, today that relationship changes. All of us know it will grow, and become stronger and better. Indeed, during these exciting times, this day is a day of hope; a day in which Rodney McKay and John Sheppard demonstrate their faith and love in one another."
Elizabeth stepped up then, glancing at the paper she held before her. "'To My Friend,'" she read.
"'I love you, not for what you are, but what I am, when I am with you.
I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart and passing over all the frivolous and weak things that you cannot help seeing there, and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful and radiant things that no one else has looked quite far enough to find...
I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.
You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself.
Perhaps that is what being a friend means after all.'"
Teyla stepped forward, standing before a large basin, as Elizabeth stepped back to her place. "I bear two vessels. One contains the waters from the springs within the mountains of Alberta, Canada, birthplace of Rodney McKay. The other contains waters from the springs of Colorado, in the United States, birthplace of John Sheppard."
Ronon stepped forward and stood next to Teyla. "I also bear two vessels. One contains water melted from the ice of Antarctica, the land where John Sheppard and Rodney McKay first met. The other contains the waters of Atlantis, the city where Rodney McKay and John Sheppard found their love for each other."
The two lifted the vessels together and poured them into the basin. "As the waters of the lands of your births and your meeting and your love flow together and intermingle, may your lives so merge," Ronon continued.
"May your love flow like great rivers, bringing life and joy and happiness to all it touches," Teyla said.
John and Rodney let go of each other's hands for a moment, picking up crystal wineglasses and dipping them into the basin. Each drank from the other's cup.
"May your thirst be for each other," Ronon said.
"May your love be the water to satisfy your thirst," Teyla finished.
They set their cups down and once again joined hands, eyes shining.
"John you have chosen Rodney to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him always? Will you stand by him through whatever may come?" Kate asked.
"I will," he answered firmly, not looking away from Rodney.
"Then repeat after me. 'I, John Sheppard, take you, Rodney McKay, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, from this day forward, as long as we both shall live.'"
John repeated it, voice quavering, even as his eyes broadcast the surety of his commitment.
"Rodney you have chosen John to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him always? Will you stand by him through what ever may come?"
"I will," Rodney said, his voice cracking slightly, tears glimmering in his eyes. He then repeated after Kate, "I, Rodney McKay, take you, John Sheppard, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, from this day forward, as long as we both shall live." A single tear slipped down his cheek as he said the words, and John squeezed his hands reassuringly.
"May I have the rings, please?"
Carson and Radek handed her the rings. She handed the first to Rodney.
He turned and without prompting, spoke. "John, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and the vows we have made this day. I pledge you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honour you."
John followed suit. "Rodney, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and the vows we have made today. I pledge to you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honour you."
Kate beamed at them, then laid her hand over their joined hands.
"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your home,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And the light of friendship guide your paths together,
May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
May green be the grass you walk on.
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.
And when eternity beckons, at the end of a life heaped high with love,
May you know the hand of a friend was always near.
And, today, may the Spirit of Love find a dwelling place in your hearts.
"John and Rodney, we have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage. We recognize and respect the covenant you have made here this day before each one of us as witnesses. Therefore in the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today and by the power vested in me by the Protocols of the Pegasus Galaxy, it is my honour and delight to declare you married and partners in life."
Rodney let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and a small chuckle passed through the crowd. He smiled crookedly at John, who returned the smile with a knowing grin.
"You may seal your vows with a kiss," Kate said.
Their lips met tenderly and lingered perhaps a bit too long, then they pulled back, smiling almost shyly at Kate.
"It is now my personal honour and great joy to be the first to introduce John Sheppard-McKay and Rodney McKay-Sheppard, husbands and partners for life."
The gateroom erupted in cheering, then Beethoven's Ode to Joy burst out of the loudspeakers and the two men, hand-in-hand, walked into the crowd of celebrants and into a new life together.
The Poem that Elizabeth read is On Friendship by Roy Croft; Heightmeyer's blessing is a variant of a traditional Irish one.
ETA: If the thought of Carson in a kilt gets you all hot and bothered, check out the lovely maidmarionette's photomanip she did as a response to a request of mine. It can be see here
Author: SGAtlantisLight
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Zelenka, Beckett, mini-O'Neill, Heightmeyer, Weir, Ronon, Teyla
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, Zelenka/Beckett
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Gratuitous sex. Non-gratuitous sex. Melted chocolate. Smarmy wedding.
Spoilers: SG-1's season 7 "Fragile Balance"
Summary: Part 14 of the Broken Series
Disclaimer: The characters, the setting, etc. are NOT mine, even if I wish they were.
John watched as the kid's hands moved with assurance over the puddle jumper controls. He wasn't sure why he even needed to be here. The younger Jack O'Neill, the one Rodney called Mini-Jack when he wasn't around, made the jumper purr just by walking up to it. John and jumpers were like long-time best friends who finished each other's sentences. Jack and jumpers were like long-time lovers who hardly needed to speak. Where displays popped up for John as soon as he needed them, the ship seemed to anticipate with Jack. In fact, they'd discovered that the jumper's displays adjusted itself to the expectations of the pilot when Jack slid into the pilot's seat and started pulling up information before John had had a chance to show him the displays, and John realised that while the displays contained the same information, Jack's were laid out differently.
Still, the kid was required to complete a specific number of hours of flight training regardless of talent, so here they were again.
There was an uncomfortable silence, as often seemed to happen between them. John knew Jack's true story, as opposed to the official cover story, which made it both easier and harder for them to connect. Easier because Jack didn't have to watch that he might slip up and reveal a part of the truth about his heritage. Harder because John had a tendency to think of him as Brigadier General O'Neill in miniature, rather than a mere Second Lieutenant.
John ran him through a few experiments with the targeting computer.
"We don't have any targets to fire at, obviously. I understand Zelenka had been thinking about a simulation program a couple of months ago, but, ah... well, it never got started."
"I'm surprised there's not simulation capabilities already built in," Jack said. A heads-up display popped up, enemy craft in red and friendlies in blue. "Cool," Jack said.
"Damn," John breathed. "I guess it's good Zelenka didn't waste any time on a simulation."
"It could still be useful. You could do initial training on the ground. Can I?" Jack asked.
"Hell if I know. Go for it."
And he spent several minutes shooting down imaginary foes while avoiding shooting friendlies. Jack was surprisingly good. A score, in Ancient, popped up.
"Your turn," Jack said, grinning.
And the HUD changed angles to John's requirements. He took over at the stick as his display filled with red and blue dots.
"Whoa!" Jack said. "That was intense!"
John's score flashed. "Beat ya, kid."
"Yeah, well, I'll smear you next time."
"No time for another round right now," John said. "We hit the mainland in just a couple minutes. Take back over."
Before he'd gotten the sentence completed, the displays had personalised themselves for Jack.
They fell silent again as they skimmed over the mainland toward the Athosian village. They used the training flights to ferry things to the mainland, and so they had a jumper half-full of simple farm implements and various seeds from Earth.
"So," Jack said into the uncomfortable silence, "I saw Dr. McKay out of his wheelchair a couple days ago."
"Yeah, the steroids seem to have reduced the pressure on the nerve. He also finally got the use of his hands back, thank God."
"I can't imagine he was easy to live with."
John chuckled. "That's an understatement. Tomorrow they take the arm casts and rib plasters off and unwire his jaw. Do you know what he's been talking about wanting to do first when he gets his mouth back?"
Jack flashed a knowing grin, then blushed. "I... uh... have no idea, sir."
John gaped for a minute. Even knowing who he was talking to, he tended to forget that the kid had the memories of a much-older person and was in no way naive. "Oh, well, I suppose there might have been some promises in that direction, but, no, actually, it has to do with food. You wouldn't believe the amount of bribery I've gone through over the last six weeks with the kitchen staff. Fortunately, I'm probably never going to have a first-born child to actually surrender."
***
"Oh, God... Mmmm... Oh, that's good..."
John watched as Rodney opened his mouth, tongue teasingly thrust forward and slipped the morsel into his mouth, tongue licking off his fingers.
In their first year and half as friends and teammates and then lovers on Atlantis, John had gotten used to Rodney constantly eating. In the last six weeks, he'd forgotten what it was like to watch Rodney eat. John was glad they'd stayed at home rather than going to the cafeteria.
"If you don't stop that, I'm going to have to jump your ass," John growled.
"Fine with me, as long as you let me eat while you're fucking me," Rodney grinned.
John tried not to think about steak-flavoured kisses. Developing a food fetish with Rodney would be very, very dangerous, considering Rodney's eating habits.
"Though I did have a thought..."
"Oh?"
Rodney reached into his jacket and pulled out a very squishy chocolate bar and threw it on the table.
John quirked an eyebrow. "Isn't it some sort of sin to ruin perfectly good chocolate by keeping it in an inside jacket pocket?"
"Not as sinful as what I plan to do with it..." Rodney leered.
***
"Oh, holy shit, how I've missed your mouth," he murmured, hips bucking up slightly with each of Rodney's downward dips.
Rodney slipped his mouth off him for a moment, fingers adding another coat of melted chocolate as he smiled at his fiancé. "I missed your cock." He stuck his chocolate-covered fingers in his mouth and sucked, finger-fucking his mouth.
"Oh, God, Rodney," John gasped. "I need your mouth, now."
It only took a couple long strokes of Rodney's talented mouth, tongue tasting up and down his cock, licking off every particle of chocolate, before John lost control, hands grabbing the bed for purchase, trying not to gag Rodney by thrusting up into his mouth too hard, throbbing into him and feeling each swallow.
He lay, gasping, whole body trembling in the aftershock of his orgasm. Rodney pulled off him with an audible pop, tongue teasing his slit. John shivered and jerked back, oversensitive after his climax.
Rodney stopped, grinning up at him. "And a luscious cream filling to boot."
John chuckled. "Yeah, right. 'Cause absolutely everyone likes the taste of cum."
Rodney gathered up one final droplet on his finger, stuck it in his mouth and shrugged. "It's not a great delicacy, but it's you," he said as he pulled his finger out.
John shivered at the look of possessiveness that passed across Rodney's face.
Rodney reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the lube. "Turn over."
Eagerly, John complied. He'd missed this, too. Oh, they'd had sex, but with Rodney's injuries his fiancé had had to be pretty passive. Rodney's fingers as he prepared him, slicking and stretching him, were strangely comforting in their familiarity, knowing just how and where to touch him, the perfect angle of thrust. John sighed and closed his eyes, allowing himself to concentrate on the sensation of fingers inside him, hand exploring his ass, soft kisses falling on his back, the sense of shifting as Rodney spread his ass cheeks wide, the press of cock against him, opening him, filling him, the sound of Rodney's pleasure-- half groan, half gasp-- the brush of his fiancé’s thighs against his own, the brush of balls against him, the solidity of Rodney's body against him. Oh, yeah, he had missed this. Rodney's hands grasped his hips, pulling him back as he thrust forward, burying himself deeper.
"Do you want to come again?" Rodney asked, voice strained.
"I just want to feel you inside me," John answered.
"All right."
Rodney's rhythm changed subtly, concentrating on his own pleasure, the delicious slide of cock into accepting flesh, confident, proficient, and intimate. John fixed his attention on the familiar compression of flesh as he was filled and the slight pull as flesh followed Rodney's cock as it drew back. Rodney's motions were almost languid, spinning out his pleasure, knowing John could take it.
And then Rodney's rhythm slowly became more ragged, breath catching, gasping, groaning. He ground forward, hips gyrating, balls pressing up against John's opening, wrapping his arms around John's torso as he throbbed deeply within in shuddering half-thrusts, then relaxed against his lover, chest to back.
They hung there in the moment for an eternity, then Rodney kissed the back of John's neck and slid out of him, rolling to the side. John rolled the other way, then slipped next to Rodney, head on Rodney's chest, hearing and feeling the precious beat of the heart within. Rodney slipped his arms around his shoulders, locking his hands together.
"Thank you," John said.
"For what?" Rodney asked, voice taking on the softened enunciation of half-sleep.
"For coming back to me."
Rodney's hand ruffled through John's ridiculous hair, then slid back to his shoulder, hugging him. "You love me. That's a... rare thing for me. How could I leave that?"
John chuckled. "A lot of people love you, Rodney... in their own way. Otherwise, half the expedition would have killed you by now."
"Well," Rodney said, and John could hear in his voice that he was smiling, "there is that."
***
"So, what about names? Have you decided yet?" John asked at breakfast.
Carson and Radek exchanged amused glances. The wedding had been a source of conversation at their meals for weeks now. The name question had been asked, put off, asked again, put off again, and so on countless times.
"I think you should just choose a new name for both of you," Carson said.
"Like what?" Rodney asked.
"Lantian?" Radek suggested.
Rodney tried it out. "Nope, doesn't flow right. Not to mention I really should continue the family name."
"That would require that you have children," Carson pointed out. "Were you and John planning on a family?"
The two men looked at each other. "We hadn't really discussed it," Rodney admitted.
"Good God, man, your wedding's two weeks away and you still haven't settled the question of names or discussed children?"
"Well, it's not like we're going to accidentally conceive," John pointed out. "We've got time."
"Aye, that's true."
"It is important, however, to at least know if you are going in with same expectation," Radek said. "Anezka and I almost divorced because I did not want children at first and she did."
"Really?" Rodney said. "You seem to be so much the family man."
"So what changed?" John asked.
Zelenka smiled sheepishly. "Combination of things led to... ah... contraceptive failure. And once I heard that heartbeat for the first time..." He shrugged, but his face was alight with wonder. "No going back."
And Rodney had this strange feeling that, somehow, somewhere, he'd had a child and lost her. Her. He knew it was a her.
"Are you all right, Rodney?" Carson asked.
"Yes. I just... remember something... from when I was in a coma, I think. There was a letter... and pictures..." He frowned in concentration and looked at John. "It was like that conversation we had one time, where you said in some alternate reality Carson and I are lovers."
Carson sputtered.
"Yeah?" John asked.
"It was like I was seeing different realities. And there was one where I think I had a daughter, probably college-aged by now."
"That's bizarre," John said.
Rodney nodded. "But remembering it make me feel sort of like I'm missing something that should have been, you know?"
John shook his head. "Sorry. Can't wrap my brain around that one."
"Nor around the two of us being lovers," Carson said.
Rodney raised his eyebrows and smiled crookedly. "Actually, there were some with the two of us. And a few with you and John. And I think there was one where we were a threesome."
"Good Lord!" Beckett exclaimed.
"And me?" Radek asked.
"I don't remember any where I knew who you were involved with, but there was one where you had my job."
Radek grinned. "Oh, I like that one!"
Rodney eyed him uncertainly. "Okay, do I have to watch my back, Radek?"
Radek's grin widened. "You always have to watch your back, Rodney. I am becoming almost as invaluable as you."
"Yeah, well, just remember in several alternate realities I'm sleeping with your boyfriend... and I'm quite willing to share him with John, apparently."
Carson stood up suddenly. "I think I'm needed in the infirmary now."
The three of them watched the doctor flee. Rodney grinned. "I guess I shouldn't tell Elizabeth about the one where I came home to find John banging her like there was no tomorrow..."
John made some wordless noise while Radek nodded thoughtfully and said, "Probably not a good idea."
Movement at the next table over caught Rodney's eye. "Kavanaugh! Aren't you eating with anyone this morning?"
The scientist eyed him suspiciously. "No, I'm not. Is there a--"
"Would you like to join us?" McKay interrupted.
Kavanaugh looked surprised, then his eyes roamed, looking for some sort of trap. "I... Why?"
"No reason," said Rodney. "I just thought you might appreciate some company."
Now Kavanaugh looked really wary. "So you're offering yours?"
"I'm feeling magnanimous."
The ponytailed man, looking trapped, stood and carried his tray to their table and sat down cautiously. John nodded to him, sipping coffee, and he nodded back with a quiet "Colonel" and then a nod to Radek.
"Oh, seeing you reminded me," Zelenka said. "I have some thoughts on your wormhole model that might improve stability."
"Oh, yes," Rodney said, nodding. "I had some ideas, too, though I think you're on the right track with the fourteen-dimensional space-time concept. I-- Kavanaugh? Is something wrong?"
Kavanaugh had frozen with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth, glaring at them. "You don't have to be nice to me."
"What?" Rodney asked, genuinely perplexed.
"You don't have to be nice to me. I'm not that fragile. I was fucking a woman who turned out to be freaking psychotic and who nearly killed you, and who probably intended to kill me all because I thought I actually loved her. I realise I fucked up and I'm dealing with it, but I can't handle you being nice to me, McKay. So stop it."
"You're an idiot, Kavanaugh! Did it ever occur to you that I might actually feel some sense of gratitude to you for saving my life? I happen to be very fond of breathing and that extends to a certain affection for those who've kept me that way. You think I care about your love life? Get over yourself!" McKay rose and stormed out of the cafeteria.
Radek glared at Kavanaugh. "Thank you so much for assuring he will be intolerable today."
***
"Why did it bother you so much?" Radek asked his lover that night, curled up beside him in bed.
"What? Rodney's alternate realities?"
Radek nodded.
Carson considered. "It just felt... like a betrayal of what we have."
Radek studied his face for a moment. "How is it betrayal that things went differently elsewhere? Perhaps I took, oh, Colonel Sheppard as lover instead of Rodney. Or perhaps the colonel died. Or I did not come on expedition at all. How is a different choice under different circumstances a betrayal?"
"I don't know. It just is."
Zelenka was quiet for a moment, reaching out to trace Carson's jaw line with one finger. He could feel the tension below the surface. "It bothered you because part of you liked it," he guessed.
Carson flinched, his face stricken.
"Would you ever leave me for Rodney?" Radek asked.
"No!" Carson answered vehemently.
"Do you resent that I still love Anezka?"
"No, of course not."
"Does it bother you that Rodney and I have been intimate?"
Carson shook his head. "Your past makes you who you are. How could I?"
"Would it bother you if I told you that sometimes I still think about him?"
Carson met his eyes. "No."
"If it had happened that you, God forbid, had died in the attack, would you have wanted me to go on and find love again?"
"Yes."
"And if I had died at Edda's hands, do you think I would expect you to never love again?" Radek asked.
"No."
"Then how is this different? We have made our choice. I don't intend to change my mind and neither do you. In other places, small changes in our past changed us and, therefore, our choices. The universe is full of soul mates waiting to be found. There is no one true love for each of us, but many. My heart is large. I can, and do, love many people in different ways. It doesn't change the commitment I have to you. And your heart... your heart is so much larger than mine." Radek leaned over and kissed him gently. "I would not dream of asking you to love only me. I only expect that you commit only to me."
Carson pulled him down into a kiss. They explored each other's mouths, giving and receiving, unhurried, and then added gentle touches, ghosting over skin, fingers slipping into hair, the back of the neck, pulling the lover closer, quiet whimpers and moans, softly spoken words. Slowly, slowly, their voices grew breathier, more needy, the touches more intimate. Carson watched Radek cautiously as his hands ghosted down his lover's back to lightly rub Radek's ass.
Radek shuddered, desire and remembered pain warring in his eyes. Slowly, he reached to the bedside table and found the tube there. "I want to try again," he said quietly.
"Are you sure?" Carson asked.
"I want to feel whole again. I need you to fill me, my body, as you fill my soul."
And their joining was tender, careful, strangely sweet. There were still glimpses of fear and pain in Radek's eyes and Carson would stop, raining kisses and gentle touches on him until the fear flowed away and they began moving again. It was an eternity, yet too soon over.
And then they slept, nestled together, two pieces of a whole, carved by circumstance to fit together.
***
Kate Heightmeyer smiled at the two men in front of her, their eyes focusing only on each other, their hands entwined, a peacefulness running deep beneath the slight nervousness of their smiles. John cut a dashing figure in his Air Force dress uniform. Rodney was equally handsome in a tuxedo. Beside John, Carson Beckett stood, dressed in a suit jacket and kilt. Beside Rodney, Radek Zelenka stood, wearing the traditional kroj of his own heritage. The gateroom was filled with Atlantians and a few Athosians, many dressed in the traditional styles of their own heritage, others in full military dress, still others in suits and dresses, eyes focused on the two men framed by the circle of the gate.
"Dear friends, I have the joy of performing this ceremony today. On behalf of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay, I welcome you and thank you for being here, sharing their joy during this wonderful moment in their lives. By your presence, you celebrate with them the love they have discovered in each other and support their commitment to one another for the rest of their lives." She laid her hand over John and Rodney's joined hands, smiling at the two lovers. "This afternoon we are here to celebrate love. We come together to witness and proclaim the joining together of these two persons in marriage. Regardless of the wonderful and loving relationship that John Sheppard and Rodney McKay have shared to this day, today that relationship changes. All of us know it will grow, and become stronger and better. Indeed, during these exciting times, this day is a day of hope; a day in which Rodney McKay and John Sheppard demonstrate their faith and love in one another."
Elizabeth stepped up then, glancing at the paper she held before her. "'To My Friend,'" she read.
"'I love you, not for what you are, but what I am, when I am with you.
I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart and passing over all the frivolous and weak things that you cannot help seeing there, and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful and radiant things that no one else has looked quite far enough to find...
I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy.
You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign.
You have done it by being yourself.
Perhaps that is what being a friend means after all.'"
Teyla stepped forward, standing before a large basin, as Elizabeth stepped back to her place. "I bear two vessels. One contains the waters from the springs within the mountains of Alberta, Canada, birthplace of Rodney McKay. The other contains waters from the springs of Colorado, in the United States, birthplace of John Sheppard."
Ronon stepped forward and stood next to Teyla. "I also bear two vessels. One contains water melted from the ice of Antarctica, the land where John Sheppard and Rodney McKay first met. The other contains the waters of Atlantis, the city where Rodney McKay and John Sheppard found their love for each other."
The two lifted the vessels together and poured them into the basin. "As the waters of the lands of your births and your meeting and your love flow together and intermingle, may your lives so merge," Ronon continued.
"May your love flow like great rivers, bringing life and joy and happiness to all it touches," Teyla said.
John and Rodney let go of each other's hands for a moment, picking up crystal wineglasses and dipping them into the basin. Each drank from the other's cup.
"May your thirst be for each other," Ronon said.
"May your love be the water to satisfy your thirst," Teyla finished.
They set their cups down and once again joined hands, eyes shining.
"John you have chosen Rodney to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him always? Will you stand by him through whatever may come?" Kate asked.
"I will," he answered firmly, not looking away from Rodney.
"Then repeat after me. 'I, John Sheppard, take you, Rodney McKay, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, from this day forward, as long as we both shall live.'"
John repeated it, voice quavering, even as his eyes broadcast the surety of his commitment.
"Rodney you have chosen John to be your husband. Will you love and respect him? Will you be honest with him always? Will you stand by him through what ever may come?"
"I will," Rodney said, his voice cracking slightly, tears glimmering in his eyes. He then repeated after Kate, "I, Rodney McKay, take you, John Sheppard, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, from this day forward, as long as we both shall live." A single tear slipped down his cheek as he said the words, and John squeezed his hands reassuringly.
"May I have the rings, please?"
Carson and Radek handed her the rings. She handed the first to Rodney.
He turned and without prompting, spoke. "John, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and the vows we have made this day. I pledge you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honour you."
John followed suit. "Rodney, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and the vows we have made today. I pledge to you my love and respect, my laughter and my tears. With all that I am, I honour you."
Kate beamed at them, then laid her hand over their joined hands.
"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your home,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And the light of friendship guide your paths together,
May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.
May green be the grass you walk on.
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.
And when eternity beckons, at the end of a life heaped high with love,
May you know the hand of a friend was always near.
And, today, may the Spirit of Love find a dwelling place in your hearts.
"John and Rodney, we have heard your promise to share your lives in marriage. We recognize and respect the covenant you have made here this day before each one of us as witnesses. Therefore in the honesty and sincerity of what you have said and done here today and by the power vested in me by the Protocols of the Pegasus Galaxy, it is my honour and delight to declare you married and partners in life."
Rodney let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and a small chuckle passed through the crowd. He smiled crookedly at John, who returned the smile with a knowing grin.
"You may seal your vows with a kiss," Kate said.
Their lips met tenderly and lingered perhaps a bit too long, then they pulled back, smiling almost shyly at Kate.
"It is now my personal honour and great joy to be the first to introduce John Sheppard-McKay and Rodney McKay-Sheppard, husbands and partners for life."
The gateroom erupted in cheering, then Beethoven's Ode to Joy burst out of the loudspeakers and the two men, hand-in-hand, walked into the crowd of celebrants and into a new life together.
The Poem that Elizabeth read is On Friendship by Roy Croft; Heightmeyer's blessing is a variant of a traditional Irish one.
ETA: If the thought of Carson in a kilt gets you all hot and bothered, check out the lovely maidmarionette's photomanip she did as a response to a request of mine. It can be see here