TEAM ROMANCE: Finest Hour, "Matrimonial Interruptus"
Title: Matrimonial Interruptus
Author: seikaitsukimizu ( interview)
Team: Romance
Prompt: Finest Hour
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Gay Marriage, spoilers for McKay and Mrs. Miller
Summary: “We are gathered here together…”
Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the Prompt and Team (Genre) information in the header above.
More details about the voting procedure can be found here.
**
Matrimonial Interruptus
9:35am
“Would you stop it?! You’re not even supposed to be here! I can’t see you before the ceremony! It’s bad luck!” Rodney waved his warms widely, trying to ward off John and his tie-correcting hands.
John grabbed hold of Rodney’s wrists and held them. “I am so not the woman, here, McKay.” He tossed the hands down and went back to straightening Rodney’s bow-tie. “I didn’t bitch about the wrong floral arrangements for a week.”
“I’m allergic and I was not going to sneeze my way--why are you here anyways? Jeannie’s supposed to be helping me.” Rodney shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wrinkling his neatly pressed tuxedo just enough to be noticed.
“Jeannie’s helping Madison. There.” John patted the straight ribbon and stepped back. A second later, he slapped Rodney’s hand. “Stop fiddling.”
Rodney huffed and stepped out of John’s reach to turn and look in the mirror. “It’s too tight.” He immediately began undoing all of John’s hard work. “And helping Madison with what? She looked fine ten minutes ago.”
John decided to give up on that battle and leaned against the door, canting his hips outward as he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well, ten minutes ago she had the rings.”
“What?!”
9:42am
“She didn’t swallow them. Please tell me she didn’t swallow four thousand dollars worth of inscribed precious metal!” Rodney was practically shaking Jeannie.
Fortunately, John mused, Jeannie could take care of herself.
“Mer!” She shoved Rodney back roughly. “Don’t blow a gasket! She’s old enough to know better. She just…set them down somewhere and isn’t sure where.”
Rodney turned red, then white, then red again. John decided it was best to not let his fiance have a meltdown until after the ceremony. “Hey, it’s no big deal, Rodney. At least we know they’re somewhere in the church.”
Rodney let out a long, slow breath. “Well, yes, yes, fine. That’s not so bad. We’ll just--what? What’s with that look?”
Jeannie, despite her meticulously styled blond hair and ivory dress, could not pull off the innocent look. “Now, Mer, it’s really not that bad-”
“What’s not that bad?! What?”
A sheepish flush crept up Jeannie’s face. “Madison can’t remember if she had the rings here or at home.”
For one intense moment, John was certain that Rodney was about to commit homicide, even though they were in the fellowship hall of a church that was over one hundred years old.
Then Caleb stuck his head in and yelled, “Found them!”
John wasn’t sure who was more relieved: him or Jeannie.
9:45am
The pastor was able to utter the words, “We are gathered here together,” before a commotion at the door behind them interrupted the ceremony.
John tried to ignore it, but Rodney turned immediately to see what was going on.
“Just ignore it, McKay.” He felt Rodney’s hands tense in his, and tightened his grip slightly in response. “Rodney.”
“So where do you want the shrimp?”
And that sounded suspiciously like the man from the small catering business he’d insisted on hiring so that Jeannie wouldn’t have to worry about too much for the reception at her house. John let out a long breath through his nose and ignored the burning glare he felt Rodney aiming at him. “Can you give us a minute,” he finally said to the pastor.
“No problem, my son.”
John turned to see Cadman hiding a laugh behind her hand. As the only other Atlantis crewmember both exiled to Earth and close to McKay, she’d been invited to the wedding as a witness. Well, not really invited. She’d teased and bullied McKay and finally got him drunk on his stag night and weaseled an invitation out of him. “Way to be useful Lieutenant,” he muttered as he walked past.
“I just blow things up, sir. Don’t know nothing about no catering.”
He was so kicking her ass their next sparring session.
9:51am
“All settled, Mr. Sheppard?”
“Doctor. He’s a doctor now. No more ‘Mister’ crap.” Rodney paused. “I mean, nonsense. Um…”
John rolled his eyes. Rodney cared more about his PhD than he did. Fortunately, Pastor Steve didn’t seem ruffled by Rodney’s bluster. It was one of the reasons John chose him to run the ceremony. “We’re ready, sir.”
“Excellent.” The man cleared his throat. “We are gathered here together…”
There was another commotion from the door. John hung his head while Rodney pivoted on his heel. “My god! Are you people so utterly incompetent that--that…oh. Um. Hi.”
“You must be Mr. McKay. It’s good to finally meet you.”
John felt his chest tighten and this time he tensed up in Rodney’s hands. “Who the hell invited my father,” he whispered tersely.
“So am I too late to give my son away?”
Rodney let out a squeak and John caught a guilty look from Jeannie as he glanced back at his father. He was dressed to the nines in a suit, not a medal or hint of military background save for the way he was standing at attention. This time, his smile was forced, with clenched teeth. “We’ll need another five, Steve.”
“Maybe you should use my office.”
9:53am
Pastor Steve’s office was like some hybrid between a high-rise office and a hunter’s cabin, complete with moose head. John found it easier to stare at that rather than his father. Rodney wasn’t with them. He was outside, hyperventilating, from the bits of voice John could hear from Jeannie.
“It’s been a while.” Robert Sheppard looked almost exactly like an older version of John, save for his gray hair, which was tamed and combed down, and his intense brown eyes. “And getting married.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to attend, sir.” Their last meeting had been…well, ugly didn’t quite cover it. “Considering my discharge. And that I was gay.”
“Yes, you didn’t quite come out as I’d hoped.” His father paused a beat. “No pun intended, of course.”
“Of course.” Robert’s eyes searched John up and down. “You need a haircut.”
“Oh my god,” made its way through the door, and John was willing to bet Jeannie was just barely holding Rodney back from barging in. Obviously the hyperventilating portion of the day was over.
“Bit high strung, isn’t he?”
John shut his eyes for a long minute. When he opened them again, he looked to his father. “What do you want, dad?”
“My only son is getting married.” Robert crossed his arms. “Again.” There was a heavy pause this time. “And your future sister-in-law thought it was important I be there because she thinks it’s good for family to be close. And something about this being the closest I’d ever get to having a grandkid.”
“Jeannie likes to think the best of people.”
“They weren’t all bad times, Johnny.”
Which was true. It was his entering the military that really drove a wedge between him and his father. In many respects, their current lack of relationship was his fault. John looked to the ceiling, then sat back on the edge of the desk. “Are you going to stop the ceremony?”
“No. You’ve obviously gone to a lot of trouble to stay under the radar about this.” Robert shrugged. “I’m here to see my kid get married. If you want me to go, I’ll go.”
John worried his bottom lip with his teeth. “I don’t want you to not go.” But he hadn’t planned on his father being here. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but his dad would probably compare Rodney to Velma and the families and the ceremonies and…they’d gotten into a screaming match about the path of his life last time they’d been together. He just didn’t want that to happen again, especially today.
Still, if his father was willing to make the effort to try and behave himself… “Alright, stay.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of Robert’s mouth. “Thanks, son. I look forward to getting to know Rodney.”
“You may regret those words.”
There was a sudden pounding at the door. “Sheppard! Hurry up getting over your issues! Cadman’s practically stripping for the pastor and Madison is starting to do the potty dance and if I have to wait another hour for her to get her damned dress on right you are so not getting any tonight!”
John could tell his dad was barely holding back a laugh. “You always did like them loud and pushy.”
John sighed and just slammed his fist into the door where he knew Rodney’s ear would be.
10:06am
As Rodney helped Madison look for the rings yet again, Jeannie sidled up to John and said, not too softly, “You know, you can do better.”
“I thought you liked me.” John glanced at the remaining three people in the pews. Cadman was nodding in agreement, his dad was raising an eyebrow, and Caleb…Caleb wasn’t even paying attention, since he ducked back down to examine the floor between pews for the rings.
“I do. That’s why I’m trying to warn you. Mer hasn’t had the best luck with women and men, well…I just don’t want you waking up with buyer’s remorse.”
John narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you seriously telling me to leave McKay at the altar?”
She was grinning. “Yes, that’s it exactly. You know, Lieutenant Cadman is a very beautiful woman.”
John blinked a few times. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course. Got you to unclench your fists, didn’t I?” She let out a light laugh as John immediately looked down at his hands. There were nail impressions in his palms. “Relax, John. It’ll happen.”
“Hopefully before my eleven o’clock,” Pastor Steve threw in.
“That’s so not helpful-”
“Found them!” Rodney rushed to the front of the aisle, tuxedo rumpled and jacket and pants dusty. “You really should vacuum more often. My allergies nearly killed me down there. And don’t think I didn’t hear you!” Rodney poked Jeannie in the arm. “I’m so getting Madison a pony for this.”
“You’d really regret that, Mer. Especially since John’s too young to be a widow.”
“Ahem,” Steve looked sternly at the two siblings, “can we continue?”
“Yes, yes. Before he changes his mind.”
“I don’t know,” John teased, “Cadman is kind of cute.”
“I’m buying her a damned farm.”
Steve let out a sigh.
10:19am
“Repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed-”
“Hang on there!”
John let out a groan and Rodney turned that homicidal red color again. John turned to see both Daniel Jackson and Sam Carter in BDUs jogging across the room. Since there wasn’t a sound of a door opening, John was willing to bet they’d beamed in.
“Rodney,” Sam said as they reached the dais, “I know this isn’t great timing, but we need-”
“That’s it!” Rodney jerked around and glared at the two intruders. “Is the world about to end?”
“Well, no-”
“Is a deadly plague about to wipe us out?”
“Not exactly-”
“Did Ba’al gain control of the Dakara weapon and is about to erase all life as we know it?!”
“Of course not-”
“Then I don’t care! Unless there’s a catastrophe that’ll impact this specific site and prevent John and I from getting married, I’m out! Now either go back to where you came from or sit down and don’t interrupt!” He pointed sharply at Cadman. “The next thing that tries to stop this ceremony? You shoot it. Between our job and my money we can get away with it!”
John doubted Cadman could shoot anyone, since there was no way she was hiding a gun in that dress. He shrugged at Daniel and Carter. “Sorry. You heard the man.” He turned back to Steve, who looked somewhere between disturbed and amused. “Could you continue?”
“Of course. Repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed…”
10:30am
“You are now husbands. You may kiss.”
John could hear clapping and a wolf whistle--Cadman, definitely Cadman--but they were all distant, all secondary. There was a metal band on his finger and broad shoulders in his arms and he was lost in the sensation of Rodney McKay and his oh so talented mouth. He could hear laughter, and it took him a minute to realize it was him. He was laughing and smiling and Rodney’s blue eyes were enormous, his crooked grin expansive, and they’d done it. They’d actually done it!
“Doctor John Sheppard-McKay,” Rodney whispered.
“No way in hell, buddy. Just Sheppard.” He brought Rodney close for another kiss. “With McKay.”
“Fine,” Rodney groused even though they were lip-locked.
John enjoyed the moment for a few more seconds, then let out a sigh. “Come on, McKay. Let’s go save the universe. Again.”
“Fine. But if the SGC screws up my wedding night I’m nuking Landry’s car.”
John just grinned. “Cool.” It was good to be loved.
**
THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. ANY FURTHER VOTES WILL NOT BE COUNTED.
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Author: seikaitsukimizu ( interview)
Team: Romance
Prompt: Finest Hour
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Gay Marriage, spoilers for McKay and Mrs. Miller
Summary: “We are gathered here together…”
Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need to do is enter a single number in that range into each text entry box. You'll be able to see the Prompt and Team (Genre) information in the header above.
More details about the voting procedure can be found here.
**
Matrimonial Interruptus
9:35am
“Would you stop it?! You’re not even supposed to be here! I can’t see you before the ceremony! It’s bad luck!” Rodney waved his warms widely, trying to ward off John and his tie-correcting hands.
John grabbed hold of Rodney’s wrists and held them. “I am so not the woman, here, McKay.” He tossed the hands down and went back to straightening Rodney’s bow-tie. “I didn’t bitch about the wrong floral arrangements for a week.”
“I’m allergic and I was not going to sneeze my way--why are you here anyways? Jeannie’s supposed to be helping me.” Rodney shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wrinkling his neatly pressed tuxedo just enough to be noticed.
“Jeannie’s helping Madison. There.” John patted the straight ribbon and stepped back. A second later, he slapped Rodney’s hand. “Stop fiddling.”
Rodney huffed and stepped out of John’s reach to turn and look in the mirror. “It’s too tight.” He immediately began undoing all of John’s hard work. “And helping Madison with what? She looked fine ten minutes ago.”
John decided to give up on that battle and leaned against the door, canting his hips outward as he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Well, ten minutes ago she had the rings.”
“What?!”
9:42am
“She didn’t swallow them. Please tell me she didn’t swallow four thousand dollars worth of inscribed precious metal!” Rodney was practically shaking Jeannie.
Fortunately, John mused, Jeannie could take care of herself.
“Mer!” She shoved Rodney back roughly. “Don’t blow a gasket! She’s old enough to know better. She just…set them down somewhere and isn’t sure where.”
Rodney turned red, then white, then red again. John decided it was best to not let his fiance have a meltdown until after the ceremony. “Hey, it’s no big deal, Rodney. At least we know they’re somewhere in the church.”
Rodney let out a long, slow breath. “Well, yes, yes, fine. That’s not so bad. We’ll just--what? What’s with that look?”
Jeannie, despite her meticulously styled blond hair and ivory dress, could not pull off the innocent look. “Now, Mer, it’s really not that bad-”
“What’s not that bad?! What?”
A sheepish flush crept up Jeannie’s face. “Madison can’t remember if she had the rings here or at home.”
For one intense moment, John was certain that Rodney was about to commit homicide, even though they were in the fellowship hall of a church that was over one hundred years old.
Then Caleb stuck his head in and yelled, “Found them!”
John wasn’t sure who was more relieved: him or Jeannie.
9:45am
The pastor was able to utter the words, “We are gathered here together,” before a commotion at the door behind them interrupted the ceremony.
John tried to ignore it, but Rodney turned immediately to see what was going on.
“Just ignore it, McKay.” He felt Rodney’s hands tense in his, and tightened his grip slightly in response. “Rodney.”
“So where do you want the shrimp?”
And that sounded suspiciously like the man from the small catering business he’d insisted on hiring so that Jeannie wouldn’t have to worry about too much for the reception at her house. John let out a long breath through his nose and ignored the burning glare he felt Rodney aiming at him. “Can you give us a minute,” he finally said to the pastor.
“No problem, my son.”
John turned to see Cadman hiding a laugh behind her hand. As the only other Atlantis crewmember both exiled to Earth and close to McKay, she’d been invited to the wedding as a witness. Well, not really invited. She’d teased and bullied McKay and finally got him drunk on his stag night and weaseled an invitation out of him. “Way to be useful Lieutenant,” he muttered as he walked past.
“I just blow things up, sir. Don’t know nothing about no catering.”
He was so kicking her ass their next sparring session.
9:51am
“All settled, Mr. Sheppard?”
“Doctor. He’s a doctor now. No more ‘Mister’ crap.” Rodney paused. “I mean, nonsense. Um…”
John rolled his eyes. Rodney cared more about his PhD than he did. Fortunately, Pastor Steve didn’t seem ruffled by Rodney’s bluster. It was one of the reasons John chose him to run the ceremony. “We’re ready, sir.”
“Excellent.” The man cleared his throat. “We are gathered here together…”
There was another commotion from the door. John hung his head while Rodney pivoted on his heel. “My god! Are you people so utterly incompetent that--that…oh. Um. Hi.”
“You must be Mr. McKay. It’s good to finally meet you.”
John felt his chest tighten and this time he tensed up in Rodney’s hands. “Who the hell invited my father,” he whispered tersely.
“So am I too late to give my son away?”
Rodney let out a squeak and John caught a guilty look from Jeannie as he glanced back at his father. He was dressed to the nines in a suit, not a medal or hint of military background save for the way he was standing at attention. This time, his smile was forced, with clenched teeth. “We’ll need another five, Steve.”
“Maybe you should use my office.”
9:53am
Pastor Steve’s office was like some hybrid between a high-rise office and a hunter’s cabin, complete with moose head. John found it easier to stare at that rather than his father. Rodney wasn’t with them. He was outside, hyperventilating, from the bits of voice John could hear from Jeannie.
“It’s been a while.” Robert Sheppard looked almost exactly like an older version of John, save for his gray hair, which was tamed and combed down, and his intense brown eyes. “And getting married.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to attend, sir.” Their last meeting had been…well, ugly didn’t quite cover it. “Considering my discharge. And that I was gay.”
“Yes, you didn’t quite come out as I’d hoped.” His father paused a beat. “No pun intended, of course.”
“Of course.” Robert’s eyes searched John up and down. “You need a haircut.”
“Oh my god,” made its way through the door, and John was willing to bet Jeannie was just barely holding Rodney back from barging in. Obviously the hyperventilating portion of the day was over.
“Bit high strung, isn’t he?”
John shut his eyes for a long minute. When he opened them again, he looked to his father. “What do you want, dad?”
“My only son is getting married.” Robert crossed his arms. “Again.” There was a heavy pause this time. “And your future sister-in-law thought it was important I be there because she thinks it’s good for family to be close. And something about this being the closest I’d ever get to having a grandkid.”
“Jeannie likes to think the best of people.”
“They weren’t all bad times, Johnny.”
Which was true. It was his entering the military that really drove a wedge between him and his father. In many respects, their current lack of relationship was his fault. John looked to the ceiling, then sat back on the edge of the desk. “Are you going to stop the ceremony?”
“No. You’ve obviously gone to a lot of trouble to stay under the radar about this.” Robert shrugged. “I’m here to see my kid get married. If you want me to go, I’ll go.”
John worried his bottom lip with his teeth. “I don’t want you to not go.” But he hadn’t planned on his father being here. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but his dad would probably compare Rodney to Velma and the families and the ceremonies and…they’d gotten into a screaming match about the path of his life last time they’d been together. He just didn’t want that to happen again, especially today.
Still, if his father was willing to make the effort to try and behave himself… “Alright, stay.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of Robert’s mouth. “Thanks, son. I look forward to getting to know Rodney.”
“You may regret those words.”
There was a sudden pounding at the door. “Sheppard! Hurry up getting over your issues! Cadman’s practically stripping for the pastor and Madison is starting to do the potty dance and if I have to wait another hour for her to get her damned dress on right you are so not getting any tonight!”
John could tell his dad was barely holding back a laugh. “You always did like them loud and pushy.”
John sighed and just slammed his fist into the door where he knew Rodney’s ear would be.
10:06am
As Rodney helped Madison look for the rings yet again, Jeannie sidled up to John and said, not too softly, “You know, you can do better.”
“I thought you liked me.” John glanced at the remaining three people in the pews. Cadman was nodding in agreement, his dad was raising an eyebrow, and Caleb…Caleb wasn’t even paying attention, since he ducked back down to examine the floor between pews for the rings.
“I do. That’s why I’m trying to warn you. Mer hasn’t had the best luck with women and men, well…I just don’t want you waking up with buyer’s remorse.”
John narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you seriously telling me to leave McKay at the altar?”
She was grinning. “Yes, that’s it exactly. You know, Lieutenant Cadman is a very beautiful woman.”
John blinked a few times. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course. Got you to unclench your fists, didn’t I?” She let out a light laugh as John immediately looked down at his hands. There were nail impressions in his palms. “Relax, John. It’ll happen.”
“Hopefully before my eleven o’clock,” Pastor Steve threw in.
“That’s so not helpful-”
“Found them!” Rodney rushed to the front of the aisle, tuxedo rumpled and jacket and pants dusty. “You really should vacuum more often. My allergies nearly killed me down there. And don’t think I didn’t hear you!” Rodney poked Jeannie in the arm. “I’m so getting Madison a pony for this.”
“You’d really regret that, Mer. Especially since John’s too young to be a widow.”
“Ahem,” Steve looked sternly at the two siblings, “can we continue?”
“Yes, yes. Before he changes his mind.”
“I don’t know,” John teased, “Cadman is kind of cute.”
“I’m buying her a damned farm.”
Steve let out a sigh.
10:19am
“Repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed-”
“Hang on there!”
John let out a groan and Rodney turned that homicidal red color again. John turned to see both Daniel Jackson and Sam Carter in BDUs jogging across the room. Since there wasn’t a sound of a door opening, John was willing to bet they’d beamed in.
“Rodney,” Sam said as they reached the dais, “I know this isn’t great timing, but we need-”
“That’s it!” Rodney jerked around and glared at the two intruders. “Is the world about to end?”
“Well, no-”
“Is a deadly plague about to wipe us out?”
“Not exactly-”
“Did Ba’al gain control of the Dakara weapon and is about to erase all life as we know it?!”
“Of course not-”
“Then I don’t care! Unless there’s a catastrophe that’ll impact this specific site and prevent John and I from getting married, I’m out! Now either go back to where you came from or sit down and don’t interrupt!” He pointed sharply at Cadman. “The next thing that tries to stop this ceremony? You shoot it. Between our job and my money we can get away with it!”
John doubted Cadman could shoot anyone, since there was no way she was hiding a gun in that dress. He shrugged at Daniel and Carter. “Sorry. You heard the man.” He turned back to Steve, who looked somewhere between disturbed and amused. “Could you continue?”
“Of course. Repeat after me: with this ring, I thee wed…”
10:30am
“You are now husbands. You may kiss.”
John could hear clapping and a wolf whistle--Cadman, definitely Cadman--but they were all distant, all secondary. There was a metal band on his finger and broad shoulders in his arms and he was lost in the sensation of Rodney McKay and his oh so talented mouth. He could hear laughter, and it took him a minute to realize it was him. He was laughing and smiling and Rodney’s blue eyes were enormous, his crooked grin expansive, and they’d done it. They’d actually done it!
“Doctor John Sheppard-McKay,” Rodney whispered.
“No way in hell, buddy. Just Sheppard.” He brought Rodney close for another kiss. “With McKay.”
“Fine,” Rodney groused even though they were lip-locked.
John enjoyed the moment for a few more seconds, then let out a sigh. “Come on, McKay. Let’s go save the universe. Again.”
“Fine. But if the SGC screws up my wedding night I’m nuking Landry’s car.”
John just grinned. “Cool.” It was good to be loved.
**
THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. ANY FURTHER VOTES WILL NOT BE COUNTED.
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