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[scientificsnark]

Rodney's first morning back in Atlantis hadn't been the greatest up until now. Apparently, no time at all had elapsed since he'd 'left', which meant a year and a half spent on the island for him hadn't, in fact, been a year and a half for anyone else. Except Jill

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[dojustfine]

Jennifer's first clue that something was not right was that Sam was still on Atlantis. When Jennifer had left and shown up on the island, Sam was gone and Woolsey was in charge. Yet when Jennifer woke in her room on Atlantis, one of the first things she had done was go to the infirmary where Sam was waiting to ask her something. Jennifer hadn't tried to explain, even though Sam was probably one of the people most likely to figure it out.

Instead, Jennifer thought she would ask the only other person likely to figure it out, who was currently sitting at a table in the cafeteria going to town on a bowl of blue Jello.

"Hey, Rodney," she said, sliding into a chair across from him and eyeing the four trays. God, his cholesterol would be atrocious, but she would lecture him about that later. "Um, you want to tell me what's going on?" She was deliberately vague, just in case Rodney had no clue, just like Sam. Vague was easier to brush off as opposed to do you know why we aren't on a tropical island anymore?

[scientificsnark]

"Jennifer," Rodney said, beaming. Or tried to say, anyway - he had a mouthful of steak so it came out sounding more like "Enfurr". He swallowed the mouthful before trying again.

"Jennifer," he said. That was better. "I'm having breakfast. And lunch, incidentally. And possibly dinner. I was actually going to come and see you later," he continued, reaching for a pudding, "I need a checkup. Actually, a friend of mine needs a checkup, too." He wasn't completely sure if this Keller was the one from the Island, but it would look - and sound - quite odd if he started talking about it and she wasn't.

"A friend of mine named Jill," he concluded, watching her carefully as he opened the pudding one-handed, slopping half of it over his steak. He didn't appear to notice.

[dojustfine]

"Oh, thank goodness," said Jennifer, realizing that this was definitely the same Rodney from the island, "I'm not totally crazy." She lowered her voice a little as some Marines walked through the room. "Do you know what's weird? When I came to the island, Sam wasn't in charge of Atlantis anymore, Woolsey was. But I just came from talking to her in the infirmary! It's like a whole year went by and it's just poof, gone. Something is definitely not right."

She eyed the Jello-coated steak and repressed a shudder. "Where is Jill? Is she okay? How are you going to explain her?" She wanted to ask if any others from the island were here, especially Ronon, but this was definitely more of a Rodney problem at the moment.

[scientificsnark]

"You remember the island too?" Rodney was surprised, but pleasantly so. He supposed. It meant more people to corroborate his story when - or if - he went to Sam to explain. Or Katie.

He looked down at his steak and frowned, spooning off some of the pudding and stuffing it into his mouth before he spoke again. "I, uh, so far I've just told people she's a scientist visiting from Earth. This is disgusting," he added. "I let her have a look around my lab. Do...you think maybe that wasn't such a good idea?" He frowned some more. At the time, he'd been more concerned about food, but the pudding-steak did not taste promising. He took a swig of water and switched to a muffin.

[gate_expert]

"Hey, McKay." Sam took a seat across from Rodney and nodded at the mini-buffet stretched out in front of him. "I wanted to see how you were doing after what you and Sheppard just went through, but I see you're doing just fine."

[scientificsnark]

"Samantha!" Rodney sprayed half the table with breadcrumbs in his exuberance, but he didn't appear to notice. He beamed at the woman across from him, looking as if he wanted to reach over the table and hug her. Fortunately - for both himself, Carter, and the food - he didn't. "It's so good to see you!"

Her words took a second to sink in, obviously. "...Sheppard?" he repeated, frowning. He'd deliberately avoided thinking about John, and it was probably a good thing he hadn't run into him yet. He wasn't sure if he'd hug him or punch him. Probably hug, because punching Sheppard would be like punching a potato sack packed with bricks. "Right. Uh. Remind me what we just went through, again?"

[gate_expert]

Sam wasn't used to getting such an exuberant reaction from McKay (at least, once he'd given up hitting on her) and it was a little surprising. She wiped a few crumbs off her uniform and eyed him suspiciously. "You mean you don't remember the entity we found on M3X-387 that moved from person to person pretending to be Col. Sheppard?" she asked. She hadn't known memory loss to be a side effect of the virtual reality pods, but then again they were being used in a different way than intended...she'd have to look into it.

[scientificsnark]

"Oh, that," Rodney said, surprised. That had been right before he'd arrived on the island, so he supposed it made sense. "Of course I remember that. I'm still, um...traumatized from the experience, that's all."

He cut himself a big chunk of lasagne from one of the trays and loaded it into his mouth, chewing happily.

[jill_langston]

Being in Atlantis was definitely one of the strangest experiences Jill had ever had and that included looking like John for a weekend. As she tried to find her way to the cafeteria where she knew Rodney must be, she tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Some people seemed to look right past her, as if they were used to seeing people they didn't recognize, but others gave her sideways glances as they passed, frowning faintly, and she was sure they knew she didn't belong here.

It didn't help that she couldn't figure out where the hell she was going. "Dammit," she muttered, turning another wrong corner. It had to be around here somewhere.

[scientificsnark]

Rodney was out of chocolate milk. He picked up the carton only to find it a whole lot emptier than he'd expected it to be and frowned. It was just as well - too much milk and he'd get gassy. But it meant he needed something else to drink.

Eyeing a couple of marines at the table next to his, he stood up slowly. "Don't touch my food," he warned them. "This is all mine. If you touch it, I'll know and come up with an incredibly creative, untraceable way to punish you. With science."

They ignored him. Frowning, Rodney went slowly to get an orange juice or something, glancing over his shoulder to keep an eye on the marines. That was when he saw Jill wander in, looking lost.

"Jill," he hissed, hurrying to her side. "I thought I told you to stay away from populated areas until I came and got you! Why didn't you use an earpiece?" His hand flew to his own ear, and then to his other one, only to find a distinct lack of earpieces. "Oh. Still! You should have waited," he scolded. "I wouldn't have been long. Much...longer, anyway."

[jill_langston]

Rodney had known Jill long enough that he had to understand that telling her what to do or how to do something was probably the worst way in the world to get her to actually do it. Which was why she'd given up spending time in his lab alone and had come to find him.

"I'm not going to stay hidden all day," she hissed in return, a hand on her hip. "Between your girlfriend and the fact that John is probably around here somewhere, I'm feeling a little uncomfortable." More than just a little. A part of her desperately wanted to find John and just hug him, even though he'd have no idea who she was.

[scientificsnark]

"Right," Rodney huffed a sigh. "Right, of course, you're right." He'd been putting off seeing John himself, but it would be harder for Jill especially if this John didn't remember the island at all, which Rodney could bet he wouldn't, since things seemed to have picked up from the moment he'd 'left'.

As for Katie...yeah, he didn't want to think about that.

"Come on," he said. "Let's have something to eat, then we can go to Sam and explain things."

[flyboy_shepp]

Four years had taught John the fine art of moving the hell on, but nothing had ever really added up to this. Having something so completely real as experiencing Rodney dying, then kicking his own ass, then realizing Rodney hadn't died happen only in his head definitely rated high on his Crap Meter.

He knew Sam would understand if he took a few days off to 'recuperate', which was the entire reason he'd checked in for duty today and went about his business like nothing had happened - because it literally hadn't.

Food in the mess was about as normal as it got and while he hesitated when looking around, eating with Rodney was normal, too. John pulled out a chair at the table without asking, then paused, tray still hovering over the table.

"Three trays, Rodney? Seriously?"

[scientificsnark]

"Four," Rodney replied smugly, gesturing at the empty one by his elbow. He took a big bite of a buttered roll, talking at the same time. "The brain needs a lot of nutrition to work properly, and mine doubly so, since it's so much more advanced than the average human's. I-"

He stopped, and stared up at the man standing there, mouth open. Crumbs fell out of it.

"John," he croaked, after a moment. Then he stood up and grabbed him around the shoulders. "It's you." He hugged him over the table, as tight as he could.

[flyboy_shepp]

John froze, his grip on his lunch tray tightening as a feeling of completely awkwardness and surprise settled in.

They didn't hug, and especially not in the middle of the mess where - and a quick gaze around the room confirmed it - everyone could see.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. He brought his free hand up, let it hover in indecision near Rodney's shoulder, then patted his back twice. "You, uh. You okay, Rodney? I thought Keller cleared you."

[scientificsnark]

"Not yet," Rodney muttered into John's shoulder. It took him a moment, but he managed to detach himself. He kept his hands on his arms though, as if afraid if he let go, he might disappear. "I mean, uh...she did, but she hasn't yet. As such. Today."

He stared soulfully into Sheppard's eyes and, after a moment or two, he frowned. This was the man who'd left him - and Jill, and Carson, and everyone else - alone on the island.

"You're an ass," he said, then he let him go and sat down.