Author:melagan
Title:Family Ties
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: G
Prompt # 79 - Family
Beta: mischief5
Mistakes:mine




John balled his fist and shook with tension as he contained the urge to strike. He refused to give in and punch the wall. He’d had a bellyful of that when he was a morphing into a bug. He was human, damn it. He just had to hang on until Rodney could find an answer.

In John’s opinion, the Ancients weren’t worth the credit given to them. They’d unleashed all kinds of nasty things into the Pegasus galaxy for their personal motives. Just for starters, there was the Wraith with their enzyme addicts, the Asurans, the Travelers… Okay, maybe they weren’t inherently evil, but John was adding them to his list. He wasn’t feeling particularly fond of them after being tied up so many times for no good reason.

Oh yeah, then there was the little matter of leftover unattended and highly dangerous technology. That was near the top of John’s list, too. Because of them, Rodney had accidentally destroyed most of solar system. It was sheer luck that it hadn’t been inhabited at the time.

Nope, the Ancients didn’t seem to have much conscience when it came to putting their toys away when they were done. Messy, messy. They could have used a father like John’s. That would have taught them…. John sighed, unclenched his fist, and shook the tension out his hand.

He was getting off the point. The point was, two days ago, Carson used his own Ancient gene to perfect and fine-tune the med lab’s DNA scanner. Almost the first thing he’d done was to run all of John’s team through it. Rodney to check on his artificial gene, Teyla for her Wraith DNA, and Ronon because he’d refused to be left out of whatever the rest of his team had to go through.

John he’d done because of the damn gene. Okay, and possibly to check for changes due to being bugified and fed on and then fed on in reverse, or as Rodney liked to call it: regurgitated.

However you looked at it, the Ancients were shifty bastards and too busy looking after their own skins to care about what kind of consequences they were leaving behind for the humans in this galaxy. Now, thanks to Carson, he’d just found out he was one of them. A 100% Ancient throwback bastard.

He knew that it was foolish to think that Rodney could come up with some way to deAncientfy him, but McKay’s pulled miracles out of his ass before. John had never wanted to be less associated with ‘family’ in his life.


There had to be some way to make this better. This went way beyond giving him the creeps. He couldn’t bury the worry that he had something written into his DNA that he couldn’t fight. Some time bomb of arrogant assholeness that would one day make him want to abandon everything and everyone he loved. He had seen too much of what the Anicents had left behind, seen it hurt too many people, and it was not a risk he was willing to take.

John pulled the six-pack out of fridge, considered his options, and then pulled out a second six-pack. He grabbed up a blanket and shoved a pillow under his arm. They didn’t do manly cuddles every pier night but right now, having McKay to steady him was exactly what he needed. One of the best things about Rodney was that he wouldn’t say anything; he’d just look at the pillow and know. John blew out a sigh of relief and headed for the pier.

Rodney would be there. He had to be, even if he didn’t have any answers yet for John. It was where they always met when one of them had a rotten day. No matter what kind of tricks John’s wacky DNA did to him, he could depend on Rodney.

Just the same, he couldn’t help feel relieved to see Rodney sitting on the pier waiting for him.

“Hey. I wondered when you’d…two six-packs, John? I thought it was just in-law bad or Carson’s taking the team off-duty bad. I didn’t realize this was flying into a sun and nuclear level bad.”

John grumped back at him. “Family sucks.”

“Ah yes, family.” Rodney gave John a little half smile. “Guess this was what Chaya meant when she said, ‘You’re not as different as you think.’ Oh god, this doesn’t make her your sister, does it?”

“No! God, Rodney, no.” John shuddered. “That’s more ‘ewww’ than I brought beer for. Never mention that again.”

“Hey, stop looking so freaked out.” Rodney pulled on John’s arm to encourage him to sit down beside him. They sat there for a few quiet minutes, swinging their legs over the edge, appreciating the stars and cold beer.

Rodney bumped his shoulder against John’s. “Well, you know, she’d be your much, much, much older sister. That has to count for something.”

John glared back, getting a cheeky grin from Rodney in response. It made it hard to resist the tug of a smile he could feel on his own face.

“Seriously, John, I think you’re making too big of deal of it. It’s not like any of us get to pick our family.”

“They were assholes, McKay. They might have started out with good intentions but they left a hell of a mess behind. It’s like that story thing, curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind.”

“Pandora’s Box?”

“Yeah, just like that. Hey, maybe that’s where the story comes from; someone was trying to explain the Ancients’ fuck-ups.”

“Okay. No more beer for you Colonel.”

John scowled at him. “I’ve only had two, Rodney.”

“Yes. Two and you’re already getting maudlin and whiny. That is not a good look on you. Has it occurred to you that it could be a gift? Just think about how much more you can do now that you know the City was designed for you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing someone like Captain Helia just try to take Atlantis away from us again. Bitch.”

“See? That’s the spirit. We should see how much power we can get out of the weapons chair too. I wouldn’t be surprised if we could get all kinds of things initialized that we haven’t been able to before.”

“Me. You mean how much I can.”

“I mean me too.” Rodney waved his hand in front of John’s face. “You get it online and I’ll take it from there.”

“Like partners.”

“Yes!”

“You’ll watch my back and make sure I don’t do any evil…ancienty crap?”

“Me, Ronon, and Teyla. We’ve got you covered, John. Now, will you just relax?”

“They abandoned this galaxy. You don’t leave your people behind, Rodney, and that’s exactly what they did.”

When Rodney’s arm came up around John and tugged him closer, he went with it. For just a few minutes, he let his head rest on his friend’s shoulder while Rodney ran careful fingers through his hair.

“John? You left out part of the story. The world remained bleak until Pandora ‘chanced’ to revisit the box again; she opened it and Hope fluttered out.

“I don’t believe it’s an accident and I don’t buy into the idea that you’re a throwback, John. I think the Ancients made it possible for you or someone like you to be born and…I’m not trying sound Quantum Leapish about it but I think you’re here to right some of those wrongs they left behind.” Rodney gave him a little shake. “You’re too good for anything else.”

The words were unnerving and John curled a fist into Rodney’s shirt, holding on tighter. He wasn’t ever going to tell McKay he found his warmth and smell and smart mouth comforting, but he wasn’t letting go of him until he had to, either.

“What are you saying, Rodney? You think my being here is some kind of plan?”

“John, everything about you, your integrity, your loyalty, your dedication to leaving no one behind... I think you’re the Ancients’ version of Hope.”