MGM owns all characters except OC's.
Spoilers for all Seasons of Atlantis.
A/N: With the exception of what the writers stated on GateWorld that Atlantis was moved from San Francisco Bay, this is my idea of what might happen next for the Atlantis team. This comes from my How Jennifer Keller Gained a Sister universe. All you need to know is that my story diverged from the show after Shrine, Rodney and Jennifer are married and several characters got promotions.
Thanks Betherdy Babe for the beta as always.
Colonel John Sheppard exhaled slowly to calm his nerves as he looked out the window over Atlantis now situated in the south Pacific. The city was moved shortly after its return to Earth to Bikini Atoll, which the US government suddenly said was too radioactive for visitors any longer. Carson and Major Amanda Cole were busy with a flood of staff members afraid of the air around them. John chuckled thinking of how much radiation exposure they had flying through space and now they're concerned about radiation from over fifty years ago. There were a lot of new people on the base, almost one thousand civilians and military personnel as of the last census he reviewed, and they didn't fly through space like the rest of the expedition members had. They're soft compared to the people who did time in the Pegasus galaxy.
Shifting in his chair and pulling himself out of his thoughts, Sheppard moved his stiff neck around to loosen the tension. After everything that the Colonel had been through in his career, talking to the IOA with Woolsey and General O'Neill to support him should have been a breeze, but it wasn't. The stiff neck was a sign of that.
The presentation he gave earlier in the day appeared to fall on deaf ears. He expected arguments and to be grilled over the details, but none of the IOA asked a single question. General O'Neill said he must have blown them away with his attention to detail. John doubted that very much.
"Sir?" Lieutenant Colonel Evan Lorne asked. "Do you want me to get you some coffee or something? I was thinking of running to the mess hall since it looks like they're going to be at it all night."
"What?" John swiveled his chair to face his second-in-command. "Sure. Thanks for sticking around."
"Not a problem, sir," Lorne said with a smile.
"I hate waiting," John said, jumping up and pacing. His eyes fell on a wedding photo on his desk, causing him to ask, "Any news from the McKays?"
"From their honeymoon?" Lorne chuckled. "I hope not, sir. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it."
John looked out his window at the crystal blue ocean and islands in the distance and laughed. "I was just as surprised as anyone when they came back after a two-week vacation and Jennifer had on the biggest diamond I ever saw. I never thought McKay would ask her to marry him after dating a week."
"I made Carson check that Jennifer didn't have a parasite in her head. I mean could they move any faster after taking forever to acknowledge they even liked each other," Evan replied.
"McKay usually needs a threat of death to get moving that fast, so I guess Jeannie provided it," the Colonel said, laughing and shaking his head. "I'm gonna miss McKay when we go back."
"I know what you mean," Evan said. "We could use his knack for getting us out of sticky situations. Are you sure you don't want to let him decide?"
"No. I'm not about to separate him from his new wife. He'd never be able to concentrate on anything and you know that," John answered.
"Marriage is a bad idea if you're not going to be around," Caldwell confided as he entered the room.
John nodded in agreement as thoughts of his failed marriage came to mind. "That's an understatement."
"Mister Woolsey stepped out of the conference room and said we should join them," Caldwell said. "I beamed most of the IOA out but I think Ms. Shen stayed behind."
Great, John groaned as he remembered how furious she was when she came to Atlantis after it returned to Earth. She accused Woolsey of sabotaging her last visit and O'Neill almost had to physically remove her from the administrator's office. Apparently the Sakari sent her a bogus message, which duped her into giving Woolsey a glowing report to keep his job.
"On my way," John said, following Caldwell out of his office. "Colonel, enjoy a coffee for me."
"Will do, sir," Evan replied.
The plan Sheppard and Caldwell put together seemed sound when they presented it to Generals Landry and O'Neill, who suggested they talk to the IOA directly. Their plan involved a couple of teams with a jumper each returning to the Pegasus galaxy on the Daedalus, hopefully with a ZPM to power the hyperdrive so they could make the trip much faster. From the Daedalus they would check up on allies, get intelligence on Wraith activity and search for Ancient weapons and more ZPMs, so Earth could defend itself.
No one at the SGC would dare ask if Atlantis could leave Earth until they could show the IOA and the international community that Earth could defend itself. Even with the wormhole drive, which should allow them to travel between the galaxies instantaneously, they knew it would not be enough. Since the chair platform was destroyed, Earth was now defenseless without Atlantis.
Entering the conference room, John saw Shen Xiaoyi sitting in a classic adversarial posture. Her brown eyes settled on him and bore through his dress uniform. Raising an eyebrow and smiling he thought he'd try his Sheppard charm on the IOA representative. Her eyes narrowed and an obvious huff of annoyance told him she was immune to his Kirk routine as Rodney called it.
"Let's make this quick," Shen said, not allowing the men to get to their seats.
"Yes, I'm getting hungry," Jack O'Neill said. He was the opposite of Shen, relaxed and at ease. "Let's finish this."
"The IOA will allow you to return to the Pegasus galaxy on the Daedalus, but we do not want to risk losing a valuable ZPM."
"Without a ZPM to increase…" John started to be cut off.
"I know Doctor McKay has done research to increase the hyperdrive efficiency of the Daedalus and he should be able to focus significant time and energy on it during your trip," Shen said.
"Doctor McKay is not going on this expedition," Sheppard stated.
"You will take Doctor McKay with you. No one knows more about Ancient, Wraith or Asurian technology, should you run into the Replicators again. Not to mention the rogue Asgard he and Doctor Jackson were captured by," she continued, shooting down John's objection. "No Doctor McKay, no mission."
"I don't want a married couple on my ship," Caldwell stated.
"Doctor Keller or… McKay as she calls herself now won't be going," Shen said with a smirk on her face.
The IOA went ballistic when they found out about Rodney and Jennifer's engagement. Woolsey and O'Neill had to explain the importance the two had to the mission as Head of Science and Research and CMO and that they were irreplaceable.
"You can't tell the SGC how to assign its personnel," O'Neill jumped in. "We've already been through this."
"The General's correct Shen," Woolsey echoed. "The doctors McKay have contracts with the SGC, not the IOA."
"The IOA does not condone fraternization…"
"They're married," Richard stated. "Not fraternizing."
"The IOA still requests that you separate them," she spat, glaring between O'Neill and Woolsey.
"This meeting is over," Jack said, standing abruptly. "You green lighted the reconnaissance mission to Pegasus. We have planning to do and don't want to keep you from important business, like trying to invade the bedrooms of your employees. Thanks and don't let the door hit you… well, you know the rest. "
Shen stood and shot daggers at O'Neill. "This conversation is not over."
"Oh yes it is," Jack said as he stood and motioned for the others to leave.
"This is amazing," Jennifer said for at least the fifth time since she walked around their new quarters. Their quarters. A smile broke over the physician's face as the realization that she would wake up every morning on Atlantis in the arms of her husband set in.
"Only the best for my wife," Rodney replied from the room they were setting up as their bedroom. There were three rooms in the large suite, in addition to a bathroom with an oversized tub and a kitchen area. It was situated in a new tower that was outfitted with quarters for the new personnel on base.
Jennifer was terrified of managing a department of almost one hundred medical researchers and physicians. Their collective departments swelled in numbers and now a senior staff meeting for Rodney involved a dozen people besides Radek. The rapid growth of the research teams allowed more of Atlantis to be explored each day. With so many departments, it was discussed that new leadership needed to take over some of the larger departments. Rodney had been fighting with Woolsey before they got married about a possible reorganization, but the discussions had to stop for their wedding and honeymoon the past two weeks.
The fact that Rodney never seemed concerned about what was going on with his city while they were on their honeymoon proved to Jennifer more than anything else that he truly loved her. His idea of taking her to a tour of different castles in Europe without WiFi to allow him to stay connected shocked her more than the day he dropped onto one knee to propose.
Jennifer stepped out on to a large balcony with high railings and smiled. They both had a fear of heights so this was the perfect set-up for them to have an open air space, but not realize how high up they were. "Rodney, we have to thank John and Mister Woolsey for our new home. It's perfect."
Rodney was still inside so she leaned against the rail and continued to think about her new life with the man she loved. Still dressed in a flowery sundress, she enjoyed the warm breeze blowing over her bare shoulders. Closing her eyes and tilting her head back to enjoy the warm sun, the wind caught some of her golden locks and swept them over her upturned face.
Reveling in the warmth and sense of home she felt whenever she returned to Atlantis had distracted the physician. When two arms slid around her waist and a pair of lips began nibbling on her exposed neck, she gasped and then settled snugly against her husband. Her hands left the railing to settle over his arms. "Mmmm, that's nice," she mumbled.
"It'll get much nicer once you come back inside," Rodney replied directly into her ear, causing her to squirm.
"Let me enjoy the warmth. I loved Europe, but it was cold," she said.
"Hey, I kept you pretty warm," he said, tugging on her earlobe. "Well, you know, we're near the top of the tower and no one is around so I could just drag some cushions…"
"Meredith Rodney McKay," Jennifer said harshly, turning in his arms so she was now pressed between her husband and the rail behind her. "It's broad daylight and we're department heads."
"Do you think nobody knew what we were doing before?" Rodney asked with raised eyebrows. "Now that we're married, it's expected. Morning, noon and night. Several times a night." His eyes twinkled and an arrogant smirk formed on his face.
"I am going to enjoy wiping that smirk off your face," Jennifer replied, looking at him angrily.
The physicist, who once would have cowered in fear under the harsh gaze of her brown eyes, stood his ground. "No you won't because you enjoy it just as much as I do. More so it would seem if volume is any indication."
"Rodney!" Jennifer nearly shrieked as he pulled her close and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.
"Oh for cryin' out loud, you haven't been back fifteen minutes and you're already at it in public," the voice of John Sheppard interrupted their kiss. "I'll be getting complaints before I land this jumper."
Rodney and Jennifer were laughing as they turned to see a jumper hovering twenty feet from their balcony. The physician knew her face was turning red, but she was still a blushing bride.
"Take a hike, Sheppard," Rodney replied. "I'm busy." Jennifer gasped as Rodney tilted her back in his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips.
Sheppard could be heard groaning over the speaker. "You two seriously need to cut this out… Oh, real mature McKay."
Opening her eyes and pulling back, Jennifer saw her husband flipping his friend the one-fingered salute. Turning back to her husband, she laughed and shook her head. "You're being very immature, my dear."
Rodney wrapped his arm back around his wife and pulled her close to get back to where he wanted to be before his best man interrupted him.
"We need beaming technology on the jumpers. Why don't you get to work on that tomorrow, McKay?" John said before the hum of the jumper disappeared, leaving the newlyweds to their privacy for one last night.
TBC
A/N: I know this was not the title I originally planned, but too many Returns and Back to… so I tried something different. Please let me know if you're interested in this continuing.