Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own 'em. Didn't create 'em. Stargate Atlantis and all related characters are property of MGM.
Set fairly early in Season II.
Thanks to Nebbyjen & MNTalbert for the beta and kibitzing!

"A surfboard?" Rodney stared in disbelief at the bright yellow object that was glaringly out of place in one of the main corridors of Atlantis. "Where in the hell did you get a surfboard?"

"I have my ways," John Sheppard replied. He was dressed in Bermuda shorts and a tacky Hawaiian shirt that defied colors found in nature. The surfboard was tucked under one arm and he held a cooler in his other hand. "Wanna come?"

"Where?" McKay asked suspiciously. Now that they had regular contact with Earth and had brought in extra members for the expedition Weir made sure everyone got regular breaks in their schedules, and it looked like Sheppard was planning to make the most of his.

"I saw some sweet breakers with a nice little secluded beach when we first discovered the mainland." Sheppard shifted the surfboard a bit to help balance the weight of the cooler.

McKay harrumphed. "In case you've forgotten, I burn easily."

"SPF100," Sheppard reminded him. "There's a tarp in the jumper, I'm sure we could rig some shade for you." Seeing that McKay might actually be considering it, he sweetened the pot, "Plus no one to pester you while you work on whatever you want."

"Yeah? Well, I have been working on this theory, but I haven't been able to find the time to run the simulations. I could transfer the program to a laptop and bring it with me."

"There ya go!" For McKay, just sitting on the beach no matter what he was doing was a step towards normal, and Sheppard was pleased by the prospect. The scientist had seemed particularly snarky lately and even Teyla was beginning to lose patience with him. Sheppard suspected that what Rodney really needed was to get laid, but McKay was strictly on his own for that--a day at the beach was all Sheppard was willing to provide. "You have fifteen minutes to meet me in the jumper bay or I'm leaving without you." He started back down the hall glancing over his shoulder to see if McKay accepted the offer and almost clobbered Beckett with the surfboard as they both came around the corner at the same time. "Oops! Sorry, Doc!"

"It's quite alright…" said Beckett, trailing off when he saw what Sheppard was carrying. He blinked. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Sure is, Doc. Downtime today. Even convinced McKay to come out and play. Wanna come?" He knew that Beckett's day off happened to correspond with theirs that particular week.

"A day at the beach?" A grin split the doctor's face, "I don't mind if I do."

"Fine, you have twelve minutes." He handed the heavy cooler to the doctor. "Add whatever you want and meet us in the jumper bay."

Whistling happily under his breath, Sheppard continued down the hall. He turned another corner and stopped mid-note. Caldwell and a Daedalus officer were in the middle of the corridor. Luckily, Caldwell's back was to him, so Sheppard did a quick spin-on-heel and chose an alternate route to the Jumper Bay.

Within a few minutes, he was strapping the surfboard along the passage between the jumper seats. Sitting it up on one side and lashing it to a seat stabilized it still left plenty of room for his passengers. Speaking of which--he looked out into the jumper bay and saw both McKay and Beckett approaching, laden with items. "Come on you two, I don't want to waste my day off waiting for you!"

The two men picked up the pace and had their gear stowed within a few minutes. Both took their seats, uncharacteristically large grins suffusing their faces. While Rodney chose the co-pilot's chair, Beckett was just as happy to take a seat in the row behind him. Sheppard took the pilot's seat and began his preflight check, deciding he was glad he had invited them. Besides, he'd be out on the water all day, so it's not like they were intruding on his plans. He did, however, tease McKay unmercifully for wearing his jacket, long pants, socks, and sneakers to the beach. Rodney replied testily that he chilled easily. Beckett merely rolled his eyes.

After asking and receiving clearance from the command center, Sheppard steered the puddle jumper smoothly up and out of the jumper bay and out into the early morning sun.

"So, where'd you get a surfboard?" McKay asked again.

"If I told ya, I'd hafta kill ya," replied Sheppard cheerfully. He knew one of the things Rodney hated most--next to certain death of course--was being ignorant, of anything. The man was a living sponge when it came to knowledge. He flicked a glance at the scientist and sure enough, his mouth was set in a grim, unhappy line. Sheppard felt so good about the prospect of a day surfing that he relented. "I smuggled it aboard the Daedalus in a crate marked 'explosives'."

"You what?"

"Now, now, Rodney, don't act so surprised," Sheppard chided. "Like you need three electromagnetic field generators…" He watched as the scientist suddenly became very interested in the console in front of him. "…and since when have they started making them out of Snicker's bars?"

The scientist gave Sheppard a calculating look. "How did you find out about that?"

"Uh, uh, uh." Sheppard wagged a finger at him, "Hafta kill you, remember?" He heard Beckett chuckle behind him and winked at Rodney, waiting until the doctor took a swallow of water from the bottle he was holding, "You might ask the Doc what he smuggled back though." He grinned when he heard Beckett choke and cough, confirming a lucky guess on his part. It was only human nature that anyone who returned to Atlantis would try to smuggle something on the trip back. A year was plenty of time for you to rethink your priorities and decide what was really important to you while stranded in an alien galaxy. Sheppard had ferreted out most of the items on the sly, just to make sure no one brought along anything dangerous, chucking any questionable items before they even left port. Beckett's stuff though… Containers labeled "biohazard" and "radioactive" made Sheppard think twice about opening them. Besides, he was sure the doctor wouldn't bring along anything that would endanger the expedition. He was curious though; and now that he had clued Rodney in, it was only a matter of time before the scientist dug up that little tidbit of information.

Most of the rest of the trip passed in either companionable silence or with Beckett firmly but good naturedly resisting Rodney's attempts to find out what he had managed to smuggle back from Earth.

Sheppard set the puddle jumper down on the beach about a hundred yards from their destination and far enough away from the surf so that it would be safe from the incoming tide. The beach was a sandy thirty yards or so wide, ending on its inland side at the edge of a thick forest. "Okay, we're parked at Goofy 7. That's Goofy 7. Please make a note of it so you can find your vehicle at the end of the day," he quipped. McKay grinned but Beckett looked confused. "Never been on vacation at Disneyworld, Doc?"

"No, can't say I have."

They unloaded the gear while Rodney explained the ins and outs of amusement park parking lots. Secretly, Sheppard was surprised the scientist had ever been to an amusement park. It took two trips to get everything transported. Once the jumper had been unloaded, Sheppard helped McKay gather a few fallen branches from the tree line above the high tide mark and rig a lean-to so the scientist could work in the shade.

Meanwhile, Beckett had donned an absolutely ridiculous hat that might, at some point in the past, have once been white. Now, however, it was a stained and beaten gray punctuated here and there with colorful fishing lures. He had a tackle box in one hand and a fishing pole in the other, leaning against his shoulder.

Sheppard began squeezing into his wetsuit. It was the kind that left his shins and arms bare.

"You're not really going out in that?" asked McKay as he settled comfortably on a blanket under his lean-to.

It took Sheppard a moment to realize Rodney was referring to the ocean and not his wetsuit. "What the heck did you think I was going to do, Rodney?" he asked, zipping up the suit and picking up his board.

"There could be anything in there. Sea monsters..."

Sheppard choked back a laugh. "Sea monsters?"

"...or man-eating sharks," continued Rodney.

Still shaking his head in amusement, Sheppard noticed that Beckett looked a little concerned as well. "Don't worry, the marine biologists had to start somewhere and this cove was just as good a place as any." He winked indicating some bribery might have been involved. "They didn't find anything dangerous. But if it will make you feel better..." He reached down into his gym bag and pulled out a lifesigns detector, tossing it to Rodney. "You can hang on to this and give a yell if you see anything."

Beckett peered into the gym bag and noticed a variety of other items, at least one of which was not normally found at the beach. "You brought your gun?" He looked up to meet Sheppard's eyes. "Something you haven't told us, Colonel?" McKay perked up as well.

"Hey Doc, I was a boyscout--sort-of. Besides, 'expect the unexpected' is practically the motto of the Pegasus Galaxy."

"A bit obsessive, aren't we?" asked Beckett, only half joking.

Sheppard merely shot him a grin in reply and tucked the surfboard under an arm, running towards the ocean and plunging in with a yell that was part glee and part shock as the cold water hit his bare legs. It wasn't long before he was happily paddling out towards the breakers.

Gathering up his equipment, Beckett gave Rodney a wave before heading a little further down the beach where he saw some rock outcroppings, deciding they would make an excellent base from which to fish.

Rodney took a quick glance at the lifesigns detector before leaning back and lazily typing in the commands that would start his latest simulations running. As the sun climbed higher, the sand began to warm up. He was still quite comfortable in the shade, but he took off his shoes and socks and dug his feet into the warm sand, enjoying the sensation. He tucked his arms behind his head, watching the puffy white clouds drift gently by. A cold drop of water on his face woke him. He blinked several times, trying to get his bearings and realized that Carson had returned and was digging through the cooler. He was absently holding the fishing pole over Rodney and another cold drop of water dripped off it onto the scientist.

"Do you mind?"

"What? Oh, sorry," Beckett apologized sheepishly and moved the pole slightly.

"What time is it?"

The doctor squinted towards the sky. "After midday, I'd guess. I didn't bring my watch."

"Really? I guess I must have dozed off." McKay sat up and pulled on his socks and shoes.

"Seems a likely possibility," agreed the Scot, dryly. "Lunch?"

"Sounds like a plan." Rodney looked out towards the ocean, watching as Sheppard caught another wave. "He's actually pretty good, isn't he?"

Beckett turned to look. "Yes, fascinating sport." He cringed as the colonel made a miscalculation and the wave crashed down on top of him with crushing force.

"Guess that's what they call a 'wipe out'?"

"Aye."

They watched the bright yellow surfboard pop to the surface and waited expectantly, but when Sheppard didn't immediately reappear, they shot each other a concerned glance. Rodney rose to his feet and they walked to the water's edge. The lone surfboard bobbed in the water, each wave pushing it a little closer towards shore before pulling it back out again.

"I don't see him, Carson."

"Neither do I," was the equally worried reply.

A sharp whistle pierced the crashing noise of the waves and they saw an arm waving from about forty feet from the board. Once he saw he had their attention, Sheppard gave them a quick thumbs-up before striking out towards the surfboard.

Rodney and Beckett both let out the breath they had been holding and stood watching until Sheppard made it to the board and paddled in towards the shore. Once he was close enough, he jumped off and tucked it under his arm, splashing his way up onto the beach. Beckett decided he looked both tired and euphoric, a nice change from just a few months ago when everyone around him looked desperate and exhausted past endurance.

"Having fun?" snapped Rodney, still a little tense.

Sheppard slung a cold, sopping wet arm around McKay's shoulders, ignoring the scientist's disgusted look. "Heaven, Rodney, pure heaven!"

Beckett shook his head, grinning. "We were just going to have a bite of lunch."

"Sounds great!" Sheppard let go of Rodney and slammed the tail of his board into the sand, working it back and forth and left it standing without further support as the three men walked back to the lean-to. He peeled off his wetsuit and towel dried his hair, leaving it even messier than usual.

Rummaging in the cooler, Beckett pulled out several sandwiches and examined them. "Turkey," he said, handing it over to Sheppard automatically. "Looks like tuna or ham and cheese." He offered both to Rodney. The scientist shrugged, indicating no preference, so the Scot kept the tuna for himself and handed over the ham and cheese.

"Anything in there to drink?" asked Sheppard, shrugging into his Hawaiian shirt and settling the now damp towel around his neck.

Beckett passed him and Rodney both a bottle of water before taking one for himself. The three sat on Rodney's blanket in the shade of the lean-to, contentedly munching on their lunch and looking out into the open sea and bright blue sky.

"Lovely idea, this," remarked Carson.

And then everything went to hell.