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“Remember that time you almost killed Teal’c? Fun times.”
Rodney was forced to scoot his plastic tray out of the way as Jack O’Neill slammed his own tray of food on to the crappy Formica table that Rodney had claimed as his own.
The cafeteria under the mountain didn’t have the beauty of Atlantis but the food selection was a hell of a lot more recognisable so Rodney loved the place. Or, he did before O’Neill saw fit to interrupt his lunch.
Sighing, Rodney braced himself for another round. The soldiers and scientists that worked under the mountain were particularly reluctant to forget their first impression of him and Rodney was becoming adept at pretending that it didn’t sting.
“Yes, yes, I’m a monster who almost killed Teal’c and called the great and venerable Samantha Carter a dumb blonde. Was that all?”
O’Neill’s lips twitched, almost like he was trying not to smile. “You know,” he said - and yes, there was definitely a hint of amusement in his voice - “I’m starting to think that was never all there was. Interesting.”
Rodney watched, confused, as Jack stood up, leaving his tray behind. He leaned in close to Rodney on the way past. “And, for the record, when I met the great and venerable Samantha Carter for the first time, I complained about having a woman on my team. And yet, I’m still here.”
Jack swiped a fry from Rodney’s tray and left, strolling out the mess like he didn’t have a care in the world. Rodney turned to watch him leave, noticing the way he waved off the salute of a young lieutenant and wondered what the hell that had been about.
When it became clear that O’Neill wasn’t coming back, Rodney shrugged and reached for the forgotten tray. Waste not, want not and all that. After all, he’d need his energy to get through the gruelling IOA meetings scheduled for that afternoon.
His scheduled return to Atlantis could not come soon enough, no matter how much better the food here was.
“You fish, McKay?”
Rodney looked up in surprise as someone who wasn’t John Sheppard leaned against the doorframe of the out of the way lab Carter had assigned him. General Jack O’Neill was cut from the same cloth as the Lt. Colonel. Or maybe John was cut from the same cloth as him? Whichever was right, Rodney was sick and tired of having to put up with it. It had been bad enough when he had one to deal with, but two? He’d expected a break from those sorts of things under the mountain but this was only day three of his stay and his second encounter with Jack O’Neill.
“You’re asking me if I fish?” Rodney asked, already looking back at his laptop. “What answer will make you leave me alone to get some work done?”
O’Neill grinned. “You fish,” he decided. “I’ll pick you up at 1900 tonight. Pack for the weekend.”
“Wait, what?” Rodney’s head snapped around but Jack was already gone.
The clock on the lab wall breezed past 1800 and was most of the way to 1840 when Rodney finally made up his mind about Jack’s offer. The room he’d been assigned for his stay under the mountain wasn't far from the lab he’d set up in and he hadn't ever bothered unpacking so he was ready to go by 1850. Which gave him ten whole minutes to contemplate what the fuck he was doing.
“Oh, Rodney, there you are. I thought you’d still be in the lab.”
Rodney smiled tightly at Colonel Samantha Carter. “Yes, well, I’m not.”
Sam looked down at the canvas bag at Rodney’s feet and raised a surprised eyebrow. “You decided to visit your sister after all?” she asked.
“No.” Rodney cleared his throat as his voice cracked a little. “No,” he repeated. “I’m, well, I mean, I’m going fishing.”
“Fishing?”
“Yes. Fishing.” Rodney raised his chin. It wasn’t that surprising, surely? He had gone fishing with Carson a few times on Atlantis- well, ok, once. And he had complained the whole time but Sam couldn’t have known that. Sam didn’t know him, no one on Earth did, not really. “Did you need something?”
Sam flashed a smile and shook her head. “Nothing important. We can catch up once you’re back from your, ah, fishing trip.”
“Fine.” Rodney waited for Sam to leave but she remained where she was, standing just outside the door to his room, clearly wanting to say something.
“What is it?” he snapped, looking at the clock. O’Neill would be here any minute and, for reasons he wasn’t quite sure of, he didn’t want Sam to be there when he arrived.
Sam seemed to take the hint. She shook her head. “It’s nothing. Enjoy your time off. From what I read, it’s well deserved.”
Rodney didn’t know what to say to that so he didn’t say anything, just nodded goodbye and watched as Sam walked down the corridor. It should have felt good, that comment that tacitly suggested that Sam Carter just might not believe he was the world’s biggest ass, but it didn’t feel like anything really. He didn’t need Sam Carter’s approval, was secure enough in his own skin and in his own self worth to know that it didn’t mean anything. Huh. He wondered when that happened.
“You ready to go, McKay?”
Rodney jerked out of his musings at Jack’s drawl. Great, he was doing the leaning thing again. Grunting, Rodney lifted his bag and pushed it at Jack’s chest. “If you’re going to kidnap me, the least you can do is carry my bag.”
Jack shifted the hold-all over his shoulder and gestured with his other hand. “After you,” he said with a little mock bow.
Rodney rolled his eyes and led the way to the nearest elevator, feeling eyes on his back the whole way.
Rodney hadn’t been in a moving vehicle in over a year. The jumpers and the Deadalus didn’t qualify; if you couldn’t feel the motion then it didn’t count. The hum of an engine, the rumble of the road - it was hardly Rodney’s fault that he fell asleep almost as soon as they had pulled out of the parking garage.
A gentle push on his shoulder woke him. Rodney blinked at the darkness of the air. It was late summer and the sun didn’t go down until late which meant that they’d been driving - and he’d been napping - for hours.
“S’dark,” Rodney murmured, stretching his stiff neck.
“Well, they did tell me you were a genius,” Jack teased. “You hungry?”
Rodney’s stomach growled in answer and Jack laughed. “Yeah, thought so. Eggs and bacon ok?”
Eggs and bacon sounded amazing. Rodney opened the passenger door and got his first glance at their destination. It was a cabin, simple but not so simple that Rodney feared for a lack of indoor plumbing. It was hard to tell in the dark but it felt remote. The country silence that came from having no neighbours nearby was hard to miss.
Jack led the way up a stone path to an unlocked door. Another sure sign that they were in the middle of nowhere. The inside of the cabin was cozy. There was a hearth for a fire but it was unlit, the weather had been warm enough that the cabin retained enough heat without it which was good. The smoke from a fire would go straight for Rodney’s throat and he could do without his clothes smelling like a fire pit for the rest of his stay on Earth.
“You want the fire lit?” Jack asked, noticing Rodney’s gaze.
“God, no,” Rodney answered. He dropped his bag on the floor and looked Jack in the eyes. “What am I doing here?”
“Oh, for -“ Jack bit back a curse. “Can it not just be that I wanted your scinitillating company for the weekend?”
“No,” Rodney said plainly. “You think I’m an ass. The entire mountain thinks I’m an ass.”
“Point,” Jack acknowledged. “Let me ask you a question. Why did you come? You could have refused.”
Rodney opened his mouth to answer but shut it again when he realised that he didn’t have an answer. He didn’t know why he’d come, he hadn’t intended to. Not until he did.
Jack grinned, obviously feeling like he’d scored a point. “Look,” he said, guiding Rodney into the small kitchen area. “Let’s have some chow, get some shut eye and then we can get down to the real reason that we’re here.”
“Let me guess,” Rodney grumbled. “Fishing?”
“Got it in one, genius. Now, get the eggs out of the fridge, would ya?”
Rodney had a feeling Jack planned on waking him up at an ungodly hour just to get a rise out of him so, despite the bed in the small, clean guest room being the most comfortable thing Rodney had slept on in years, he made sure to be up, showered and sitting at the kitchen table by dawn break.
“Coffee?” Rodney offered with a smirk as Jack walked into the kitchen.
The look on Jack’s face made it worth it.
Breakfast was eggs and bacon again which seemed to be the only thing Jack could actually cook but Rodney shovelled it down without complaint.
“Right.” Jack dumped the plates unceremoniously in the sink. “To fishing.”
“There’s no fish in this pond, is there?” Rodney said not long after they they arrived at the watering hole with their rods.
Jack pulled out his phone, stopped the timer on it and raised a surprised eyebrow. “That’s gotta be a record. It took Carter three visits to work that out.”
“Yes, well, I’m smarter than Carter,” Rodney pointed out.
Jack grinned at that. He reached into the cooler and pulled out a beer, handing it to Rodney. “You know, I believe it,” he said. “I read about the things you’ve pulled off on Atlantis and I gotta say, I’m impressed.”
Rodney took the beer, noting it as a cut above the American swill Sheppard preferred. He popped the cap on the rim of the cooler and took a long pull. “Why am I here?” he asked again.
“Why did you say yes?” Jack retorted.
Rodney shrugged. “Maybe I could use some peace and quiet.”
“Can’t beat here for that,” Jack said, gesturing around them. “Hell, there’s not even any fish to interrupt the fishing.”
Rodney snorted a laugh at that and took another pull of beer. “This is good stuff,” he said approvingly.
“Can’t beat it,” Jack said again. He raised his bottle for a toast and Rodney only hesitated for a moment before clinking his own against it.
It really was peaceful here. There hadn’t been a lot of peace on Rodney’s life lately and despite knowing that Jack had an ulterior, yet to be revealed motive in inviting him here, Rodney was damned if he wasn’t going to enjoy it while he could.
“It’s a shame though,” he mused.
“What?”
“I was looking forward to eating some fish tonight,” Rodney grinned.
Jack laughed. “Well, damn, McKay. Good thing I have two big ol’ trouts in the icebox back at the cabin.”
Rodney smiled and dipped lower in his chair, enjoying the air. Yeah, he was going to enjoy this while he could.
The sun traipsed its way across the sky, the lengthening shadows playing across the pond and Rodney couldn’t remember feeling this...it had been so long that he wasn’t even sure what word to use for how he was feeling.
Jack was surprisingly good company. Laconic, like Sheppard, but with a meaner sense of humour. They didn’t speak about anything important, certainly not about why Jack had invited him here but they knew a lot of the same people. Conversation was easier than it should have been and the silences in between were good too.
Maybe it was the proximity of the water - Rodney, like Archimedes, often had his best ideas in the bathtub - but the peace and quiet gave Rodney’s mind enough time to really think and somewhere after noon he was pretty sure he’d come up with a way to boost the Deadalus’ hyperdrive capability by at least 15%. He’d straightened in his chair, snapping his fingers in search of something to scribble on. Jack passed him a spiral notebook and a pen and watched with amusement as Rodney spent fifteen minutes scribbling equations.
When Rodney was sure he’d gotten enough on paper to get him started, he became aware that Jack was watching him.
“Want to explain any of that to me?” Jack asked.
Rodney raised an eyebrow. “You think you can keep up?”
Jack leaned back in his chair with his beer. “Try me.”
Rodney launched into a semi-dumbed down explanation of his idea, sure that Jack would be left behind after the second sentence. When Jack proved not only that he was following along but actually asked a relevant, intelligent question, Rodney broke into a grin.
“What is it with you flyboys and pretending that you’re dumb as shit?” he asked. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not a member of MENSA are you?”
Jack laughed and shook his head. “They don’t let dummies fly planes, McKay, but sometimes it pays to have people underestimate you. But I guess you don’t know anything about that what with telling everyone you meet how much of a genius you are.”
The words weren’t said meanly and Rodney shrugged. “I went to university at thirteen, General. If I didn’t prove I belonged there the second I met someone I would have been eaten alive.”
“Cut the General shit, McKay. We’re just two guys fishing. It’s Jack.” He passed Rodney another beer. “13, huh?” He mused. “Explains a lot.”
Rodney didn’t bother responding to that. “You always bring a pen and paper when you fish?” he asked instead.
“I’ve worked with geeks long enough to know that inspiration can strike anywhere. Pays to be prepared. And since you’re the self proclaimed King of the Geeks…”
Rodney huffed a laugh. “Well, I’ll be sure to credit you when this breakthrough wins me a Nobel prize.”
Jack hummed thoughtfully. “See, this is what I don’t get about you geeks. You say things like that but we both know it’s not true. You’re never going to win the Nobel Prize. Not while all your work is classified up the wazoo. You barely publish, your peers think you’re all has beens and you could be making ten times what we pay you in the private sector but you still choose to stay with us. Why?”
“Have you ever asked Carter why?”
“Sam’s military first, scientist second. Always has been. That, I understand. You, not so much.”
Rodney picked at the label on the beer bottle, not sure how to answer. It wasn’t a question he’d been asked before. Not by anyone other than himself anyway. He’d asked himself the same question plenty of times, almost hourly while he was stuck in Siberia, but he’d never had to articulate it outside of his own head.
Jack seemed to understand that he needed time to answer and he didn’t badger, just sat back and waited.
“This work means something,” Rodney finally settled on. “I didn’t know how much when I first signed on. I mean, the NDA just made it seem cool and mysterious and, well, I was 19 years old and, y’know..”
“A geek.”
Rodney smiled. “Yeah. But now, knowing what I know...who could walk away from that?”
“You’d be surprised. It says something about you that you didn’t.”
“Oh, yeah? What does it say about me?”
Jack toasted him with the last of their beer. “Something pretty good, I say.”
After a day of ‘fishing’ Rodney was pleasantly buzzed on beer and finding it hard to resist salivating at the smell of the fish cooking on the outside grill.
Maybe eggs and bacon wasn’t all Jack could manage.
“Won’t be long now,” Jack called out. “You want to eat out here or in the kitchen?”
It was a nice night, it seemed a shame to waste it. Rodney rooted around in the cupboard for some plates and brought them outside, setting them up on the table. As he did so he noticed a telescope at the side of the deck.
Rodney recognised the model and knew it wasn’t your average beginners kit. He walked over to take a closer look, noting the comfortable chairs next to it and a dog eared jotter and pencil sitting by it, scribbled with chartings.
“Who’s the geek now?” he called out, teasing. He turned around to continue his teasing but his mouth dried up at the sight of Jack.
Barefoot, in rumpled sweats, popping the cork on what looked like a very nice bottle of white wine..Rodney had already known Jack was easy on the eyes - who at the SGC wasn’t - but there was something about this Jack that - - Rodney cleared his throat. “I hope there’s no citrus in any of this because I’m - “
“ - deathly allergic to citrus. Yes, dear, I know.” Jack grinned. “Now stop drooling over my telescope and get some food down you. I might let you play with it after dinner.”
Rodney dragged his mind out of the gutter and sat on the low bench that ran along the side of the table, sitting across from Jack.
Taking a sip of the wine, he was pleased to find it was just as good as he’d hoped. Jack O’Neill had a taste for the finer things in life it seemed. Or maybe this was all for Rodney’s sake. They hadn’t spoken yet about why he was really here and, honestly, Rodney wasn’t sure he was ready to find out.
“That’s a serious piece of kit,” he said, turning conversation back to the telescope.
Maybe it was the light but Jack actually looked like he was blushing. “It’s just a hobby,” he shrugged.
Rodney doubted that, not with the price tag that came with the kit, but he could tell Jack wasn’t comfortable talking about it and, despite what most people thought, he wasn’t a complete ass. At least not with people he liked. Huh, he wondered when Jack had fallen into that elite group.
“I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up,” Rodney said, cutting in to his fish. He hummed in pleasure at the taste. “At least until I realised that joining the military was a pre requisite.”
Jack looked a little flushed as he swallowed his own mouthful. “They have civilian astronauts,” he pointed out.
“Now they do but I’d chosen a different path by then.”
“It still got you to the stars so I guess you picked good.”
Rodney smiled. “I like to think so.”
Silence settled for a while as they both ate. Rodney made to clear the empty plates once they were done but Jack waved for him to leave them.
“C’mere,” he said instead, leading the way to the telescope. He gestured for Rodney to sit, swinging the viewfinder towards him. “Show me Pegasus,” he said.
Rodney snorted. “It may have slipped your mind but I have no idea where we are.”
“You’re a rocket scientist and you’re telling me that you can’t use the stars as a reference?”
Rodney humphed and leant over the telescope making quick work of finding the great square of Pegasus. “It’s over that way by a few billion light years.”
Jack sat down in the chair next to him and moved his head to the eye of the telescope. It put them close, closer than Rodney had been to another warm body in a long time. He could see the few remaining dark stands in Jack’s grey hair, the worn lines of Jack’s face. Rodney swallowed against the urge to reach out and touch.
“Do you miss it?” Jack asked, still looking.
“I’ll be on my way back there in a few days,” Rodney said.
Jack turned to look at him and, wow, if Rodney had thought they were close before it was nothing on how close they were now. Just a small bit of movement and - -
“Yeah, but do you miss it?” Jack asked again.
“Yes. It’s - it’s home. My life is there. My friends, my team. Sheppard.”
Jack sat back, moving further away. Rodney breathed out a sigh of something that wasn’t relief.
“Sheppard,” Jack mused. “You know he didn’t even want to go at first. Flipped a coin the way I heard it.”
“Yeah but the coin toss came down stay and he went anyway.”
Jack huffed a breath. “Huh. I hadn’t heard that. You and he are close.”
“We’re team,” Rodney said.
“Yeah, team I get but there’s more isn’t there? You and Sheppard?”
Rodney stood up. “Oh my God, is that why I’m here? Is this some kind of - some kind of, what, witch hunt? You’re trying to get Sheppard court martialled, is that it?”
“Oh for - “ Jack stood too, his knees creaking.
“Well, you’re barking up the wrong tree here, General. Sheppard would never jeopardise his command that way. Not for me, not for anyone. We’re friends, he’s my best friend. Anyway what about you, huh? You - you and Carter, you and Jackson. I’ve heard all the rumours and no one has ever tried to get rid of you for it.”
“Sam and I would never have worked,” Jack said, interrupting Rodney’s tirade. “There was a time I wished we could have but she’s too good a soldier for me to put her in a position like that. The feelings never came to anything and then they changed.” Jack sat heavily on the chair beside the telescope, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Daniel is in love with his dead wife,” he continued. “Always will be. There’s no room for anything else there, nothing real anyway.” He sat back and grinned. “Teal’c though? You never hear rumours about that but..”
“You and Teal’c?” Rodney said, trying and failing not to picture that.
“Sometimes,” Jack said. “After a hard mission. It was never - it was comfort.”
“Should you be telling me this?”
Jack grinned. “Probably not. But, hell, I’m retiring soon and even if I wasn’t, I doubt you’d rat me out.”
“Well, no, but, really? You and Teal’c?”
“You and Sheppard really never?”
Rodney shook his head. No. He and Sheppard had really never. Honestly, Sheppard really never had with anyone, glowing ascended chicks aside.
“I wasn’t asking to get anyone in trouble,” Jack said.
“No, I know. I - I may have jumped the gun there. I do that sometimes.” Rodney frowned and sat in the other chair. “Why am I here then? And what do you mean you’re retiring soon?”
Jack sighed. “Liz asked to be reassigned and the IOA want me to replace her.”
For a strange, brief second, Rodney was confused. Who the hell was Liz? Wait - Elizabeth? No. She wouldn’t - she would tell him first, surely? But she had been looking tired lately. Tired and wrung out. Atlantis wasn’t supposed to be a combat zone but that’s what it was. They’d all had to reconcile themselves to that but Elizabeth had struggled more than most. It made sense that they’d want to replace her with a civilian with a military background. A newly retired Jack O’Neill would be perfect really. The pieces all started to slot into place.
“I get it,” he said, his voice resigned. “You wanted to see just how much of an ass I was before you decided to replace me with Carter.”
Jack shook his head. “Not even a little bit correct, McKay. I wanted to see for myself the changes Atlantis has made in you and maybe figure out if we could work together. Sheppard? I get Sheppard. I know Sheppard. But you? I needed to figure it out. And what better way to get to know a man than fishing?”
“And?” Rodney wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer but he needed to ask. “What did you figure out?”
Jack’s eyes blazed dark as he shifted in his chair, reaching out to cup Rodney’s jaw. “This,” he answered.
Jack’s lips were soft against Rodney’s own, a gentle caress that took Rodney’s breath away.
Yes, he thought. Yes. This.
Rodney shifted out of his chair, breaking the kiss just long enough to swing himself on to Jack’s lap.
“Jesus, Rodney,” Jack breathed. Rodney didn’t let him say anymore, covering Jack’s lips with his own. Jack’s mouth opened and the kiss turned into something not gentle. Hot and wet and deep and, fuck, Rodney tugged at the fly of his jeans, needing some relief. Jack’s hands were there, helping free Rodney’s cock and lifting Rodney’s hips just enough that Jack could shuffle his sweats down until - -
Rodney groaned as they rubbed against each other. Jack’s cock was hard and heavy against his own. It was awkward for a few seconds before a quick shift in position made everything right. “Jack. Oh god, yeah.”
Jack reached between them and wrapped his hand around them both and started to stroke. Jack’s hand was strong, calloused from years of carrying guns and oh so perfect.
They moved together, the friction and Jack’s long, sure strokes driving Rodney closer and closer to release. He wasn’t going to last, could feel the heat building and in one - two - three more strokes he was crying out, spilling himself over Jack’s hand, his and Jack’s cocks and - gods if he hadn’t just come the sight of that would have pushed him over the edge.
Jack moved his hand until he was holding his own cock but he didn’t stop moving it, his hand still stripping up and down. Rodney reached out and grabbed at Jack’s wrist, stopping him.
“Let me,” he said, already moving off Jack’s lap to drop to his knees.
Jack spread his legs wide, watching with something like wonder on his face as Rodney sucked him in. It had been a long time since Rodney had held a hard cock in his mouth but it turned out it was a lot like riding a bike.
He relaxed his throat and pushed forward, feeling Jack bump against the back of his throat. He heard a muffled curse, felt Jack’s fingers tangle in his hair and Rodney closed his eyes and swallowed, tasting the remnants of his own release on Jack’s flesh. Jack thrust his hips and groaned, his fingers pulling at Rodney’s hair as he fell over the edge, emptying himself in Rodney’s mouth.
Rodney swallowed every last drop. Jack eased himself out Rodney’s mouth but his hands remained in Rodney’s hair and Rodney hummed contentedly, resting his cheek against Jack’s strong thigh as they both panted through the afterglow.
“So,” Rodney said eventually, sitting back on his heels. “I don’t foresee any problems with us working together.”
Jack laughed and pulled Rodney up until he was back on Jack’s lap. “I foresee a tonne of problems,” he disagreed. “But I’m looking forward to every damn one of them.”
Epilogue
Their balcony on Atlantis had a telescope on it.
Rodney woke to find the other side of their bed empty and the curtains billowing gently in the breeze from the open balcony door.
He bundled himself in the sheets and walked across the room, stepping out into the slight chill of the night.
Jack was sitting behind the telescope wearing nothing but his skin. The moon cast a silvery glow on him and Rodney swallowed at the sight. He still couldn’t believe he got to have this.
“Didn’t mean to wake you. C’mere,” Jack said, smiling. “Show me where Earth is.”
Rodney rolled his eyes and padded over. He dropped the sheet as he reached Jack, settling himself in the space between Jack’s legs, feeling Jack half hard against the cleft of his own bare behind.. He fiddled with the telescope for a moment before shifting to let Jack look.
“A few billion light years that way,” he said.
Jack hooked his chin over Rodney’s shoulder and looked.
“Do you miss it?” Rodney asked.
“I miss my team.” Jack kissed Rodney’s shoulder. “But my life? My family? They’re here.”
Rodney squeezed Jack’s leg before pushing off and standing up.
“Now, if I could just get some decent fishing in here it would be perfect,” Jack said, letting Rodney pull him up.
Rodney rolled his eyes. “We live on a floating city. You can’t get better fishing than here.”
“Too many damn fish,” Jack grumbled. “How’s anyone supposed to enjoy fishing with that many damn fish to catch?”
“I can think of better things to do than fish.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jack grinned. “Like what?”
Rodney collapsed onto the bed, belly down and opened his legs invitingly. “C’mere and find out.”
Jack had to admit, there were better things to do on Atlantis than fish. And almost all of them involved Rodney.
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”