Chapter Text
John slouched in the jumper’s pilot seat, staring out the front window at the vastness of space, still four hours from their destination. He was feeling marginally better than he had been when they’d set off at least. He’d managed a three-hour nap between the end of the Senior Staff meeting and their departure for the mission, even slotting in a quick visit to the greenhouse to find Adi and apologise for having to cancel on their plans for that night. She’d been her usual accepting self, smiling at him and wishing him well, and he’d felt like an asshole when he’d asked if she was going to sleep with Lorne since John would be out of the city overnight.
John huffed to himself as he remembered her expression morphing to tender understanding as she’d placed her hand on his forearm and nodded at him. He thought he’d borne it pretty well. It was one thing to be okay with sharing her, but apparently it was another thing entirely to walk away, knowing full well she’d be curled up naked with an equally naked Evan… right about now, actually. It must be close to 2300hrs in Atlantis, so surely they’d be in bed.
He expected a spike of pain at that realisation, but beyond a muted feeling of distress that maybe Evan would be better at holding Adi through the night than he was, there was no jealousy biting at his guts. Huh! Perhaps he really was getting used to this idea.
Teyla appeared at his side, gracefully settling herself into the co-pilot’s seat.
“McKay still out of it?” John asked, and Teyla nodded.
“I had not realised he was capable of sleeping for such a length of time,” she said, and John laughed.
“I think the slight vibration from the jumper’s engines must calm some part of his mind. He’s always slept well in jumpers. And Ronon’s not here to poke him.”
“Indeed,” Teyla responded, smiling at John’s joke. Trapping Ronon in a jumper for twenty-eight hours with nothing for him to fight had been an obviously poor choice. She had welcomed his decision to remain behind in Atlantis.
She settled herself a little more comfortably in the chair and let her eyes wander over John’s face and body, taking in his relaxed posture, the casual set to his shoulders. “You seem very calm, John,” she eventually said, “and yet… something led you to drink a great deal of alcohol last night.”
John darted a look at her, his shoulders tensing slightly. But then he sighed. It wasn’t as if Teyla hadn’t been a part of this the entire way, and even if she wasn’t going to directly ask, he should probably tell her. “Adi decided to bond with Lorne, too. So… that happened. Last night.”
“Ah,” Teyla responded, her eyes watching him closely. “I would have expected you to be… in great distress today, if, as you say, Adi has finally taken the step to increase the size of her bonding group. Are you… feeling comfortable with her decision?”
John huffed out a breath, remembering his complete emotional meltdown with Teyla the night Lorne and Adi had been trapped on Capeliga. “Yeah, I actually am. She, um, she let me know before she did anything, which is what we’d agreed. And he… he came to ask my… um, my permission. So. You know. It’s… it’s a bit weird, but she… she still wants me, she just… she wants Lorne, too.” He shrugged, knowing Teyla would read what she needed to from his expression and his body language.
“I am pleased for you, John,” Teyla said. “To love openly, to seek only the best for a partner, it is the most fulfilling way to live. You are blessed to have found Adi.”
John swallowed and nodded, a light flush washing across his face. He was. He knew he was. “Well, you warned me it would happen and that I’d have to get used to it, and I… well, I think I have.”
“Have what?” Rodney’s voice – a little raspy with sleep – emerged from the back half of the jumper, and John jumped.
“Jesus, McKay! Way to barge into a conversation! How long have you been awake?”
“Um, about twelve point three seconds, I think,” Rodney said, stumbling forward and slumping down into the chair behind Teyla. He yawned wildly, then blinked blearily out the front console at the stars. “Hmph. Not there yet then?”
“About three and a half hours still to go,” John said, bringing up the HUD.
Rodney nodded, then yawned again. “Well, that was a very restful sleep. A little over ten hours.”
“More so for you than us, I believe,” Teyla said pointedly. “You snore very loudly.”
“Hey! It’s not fair to judge a man for things he does when he’s asleep,” Rodney responded, looking somewhat put upon.
“I am glad to see that you have learned that lesson now, Rodney,” she said, smiling as she stood up. “I will bring us each an MRE.”
“I’ll have the Meatballs with gravy,” Rodney said immediately.
“John?” Teyla asked.
“Ah, pot roast with veg if there is one, thanks.”
Teyla nodded and moved to the back of the jumper and Rodney relocated to the pilot’s seat, reaching for his laptop and flicking it on. “So,” he said, “what were you and Teyla talking about? Some warning she’d given you?”
John stiffened slightly. “Uh, it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing, Sheppard. What did Teyla warn you about?”
John rolled his eyes, but luckily Teyla reappeared with the MREs at that moment, and the next few minutes were busy.
But apparently Rodney had decided that John was hiding something from him, and the moment they’d finished eating, he returned to his question. “So, are you going to tell me what Teyla said, or is this something that’s too private for me to know?” His tone was all bluster, but with a strong undercurrent of hurt, and John was no match for it.
He sighed. “Look, I guess I need to tell you anyway, so that you won’t get the wrong idea – like you did before.” He looked pointedly at Rodney, remembering all the problems Rodney’s needling had caused, but Rodney just waved away the remark, making a ‘get on with it’ gesture. “Right, well, it’s um, it’s about Adi. She’s, uh… she’s decided to expand her bonding group.”
Rodney’s eyebrows rose. “What does that mean? ‘Expand her bonding group’. Is she having sex with more people than just you?”
“Yeah,” John said, deciding not to remind Rodney of Adi’s intimacy issues. It really wasn’t anyone’s business but Adi’s – and his and Evan’s of course. That thought actually made him smile, the realisation that he and Evan were both working together to help Adi through this felt pretty all right. He’d struggled with the thought of being responsible for such a huge task, and he remembered at the beginning being worried that Adi would seek Evan out if John turned her down, but now he felt nothing but relief. Although… what if Evan was so good at helping Adi that she decided to spend every evening at the suite with him, both of them naked, the warm golden glow from the candles lighting her skin, the warmth of her body heating Evan’s groin—
His thoughts were interrupted by Rodney swatting him.
“What?” John asked, swatting back at Rodney.
“I asked you who it was? Is it Lorne?”
John nodded. “Yep. She asked Lorne to join her bonding group.”
Rodney’s eyes grew even wider. “Does that mean you’re having sex with Lorne?” he asked incredulously.
John turned his head and sent a steely gaze Rodney’s way. “No, Rodney. I am not having sex with a man under my command.” He rolled his eyes, carefully keeping his desire to do just that off his face. “Look, Adi’s just going to… move between us, I guess. Spend some nights with me and some with Lorne. She knows she can’t have us both there at the same time because of DADT and fraternisation regs.”
Rodney leaned forward. “Would you want to, if you could?” he asked curiously, and John mentally kicked himself for the wording he’d used.
“I’m not talking about this, Rodney,” he said curtly. “I just wanted you to know that Adi and Lorne have an… ‘understanding’ as my mother would’ve said. So if you see her hugging him for longer than your sensibilities like, or if they’re hanging out together more often, or… whatever… then, that’s why. And yes, I know about it and I’m okay with it.” He gestured sharply towards Rodney’s laptop. “Are you getting any readings from the asteroid belt yet?”
“Oh right,” Rodney said, immediately diverted to the prospect of finding the mineral they needed. Who knew what else they might come across out here – perhaps the mineral the Ancients used in their tech to make everything mind activated…
With Rodney’s attention well and truly caught, John leaned smugly back in his chair, happy to have distracted him from John’s personal life.
***** *****
Evan lay in the darkness of Adi’s bed, her soft warmth nestled against his side, feeling such a tumult of emotions it was hard to untangle them all. Just the reality of having Adi asleep against him was incredible. Her gentle breaths were ruffling his chest hair and he smiled to himself, beyond grateful to finally be here.
His mind ran back over the evening they’d spent together – dinner with his team, and then the base-wide board-games night before coming back here to Adi’s quarters. They’d stood out on her balcony, staring up at the endless stars for a while, their bodies entwined, before Adi had invited him to stay the night.
His heart swelled with love for her as he lay there, breathing in his CO’s scent from the pillow and feeling cherished all around. He was so happy that John had accepted him into the bonding group, and utterly ecstatic to finally have Adi in his arms.
She hadn’t kissed him yet, explaining that she wanted to grow very comfortable with him first, to feel their auras blending seamlessly and to know total safety in his company, and he was okay with that. Just being allowed to sleep with her when John was out of the city was incredible, and so much more than he’d ever had before.
But it was knowing that Adi’s feelings were engaged that brought the tears to his eyes. For so long he'd thought his love was unrequited, one-sided, that Adi simply tolerated him loving her. She’d never been nasty about it at all, offering up everything she could – in friendship. But he’d wanted more than that for so long, and now he had it.
He was, as Adi had carefully described, at the beginning of a marathon that would end with John being the first to be truly intimate with her. She’d been extremely open about where she and John had progressed to with their intimacy, and he now knew far more than he probably should about his Commanding Officer’s sex life, but it was oddly endearing to know that John had that softer side to him, that he’d been willing to withdraw to the bathroom to jerk himself off alone in order to keep Adi feeling safe. Evan was more than willing to do the same. Anything… anything Adi wanted or needed, if it meant he got to cradle her in his arms.
His mind flicked back to the first time he’d been allowed to do this – that night on Capeliga when the gate wouldn’t engage to Atlantis and they’d had to stay over. Adi had been so scared of the marines, but so brave in inviting Evan into her bed to hold her safely through the night. And he had. It’d been incredible. Even if the waking had been a disaster – what with the gate alarm sounding so loudly in his ear and making him jerk against Adi’s body and all that had led to.
The next time he’d had the chance to sleep with her had been the night that John had found him there and assumed they were cheating on him. Adi had been exhausted, a pale reflection of her usual vivacity, lying limp and wan in his arms, and the night had ended with tears and heartache in the bottom of his shower. Not a good memory. But tonight, tonight he had Adi’s love, and John’s blessing – and his respect – and no expectation of anyone waking him before he was ready to wake. And he had Adi, lying warm and trusting in his arms, breathing softly and evenly as she slept against his body, knowing that she was safe with him because he would never hurt her.
Evan’s eyes slowly closed as he felt sleep pulling at him. He drew one last deep breath, Adi’s and John’s scents mingling together as he sank into darkness.
***** *****
The asteroid belt was well in sight as John started to slow the jumper down. He wanted to be very sure of what they were getting into before he started to weave his way through the huge balls of rock. And it wasn’t even the big ones that represented the danger, it was the small ones which were much harder to spot, and therefore harder to avoid.
“Can you tell anything from here, Rodney?” he asked.
Rodney snorted, his head in his laptop. “Of course I can! I’m running composition scans on the asteroids closer to the edge of the field. We know that in the Milky Way, asteroids are predominantly metallic with more than an eighty percent iron content and the remainder a mix of various precious metals.” He paused, glancing up for a moment. “It’s true that some are half-silicate and half-metallic, but the majority are iron-based. I’m scanning to see what the make-up is here. If iron’s present, the asteroids will have some degree of magnetism to them which might mean the jumper holds on a bit better because the alloy used on the exterior of the jumpers has a mild magnetic structure. Hmm…”
John glanced over. “Was that a good ‘hmm’?”
“What?” Rodney asked, lifting his head. “Oh yes, that’s a good ‘hmm’. All the asteroids at this edge of the field have the mineral we need, just in varying concentrations. Let me try to find…” His voice trailed away and John sighed, accepting that he’d just need to hover here until McKay was ready to share with the class.
“Okay,” Rodney eventually said. His eyes were flicking between the laptop screen and the view out of the front window. “There,” he said, pointing. “If we head that way, there’s a strong concentration of the mineral in the smaller asteroids. We can land on that big one, and you should be able to grab some of the smaller ones as they come past. There’s a good cluster nearby that seems to be heading that way.”
John stared at him. “Are you serious? You want me to ‘grab them’ as they come past?”
“Yes,” Rodney said, raising his chin and staring back. “The asteroids all move at different speeds and they all have slightly different orbits. It’s not one whirligig where everything’s stable in relation to everything else, Sheppard. They each travel at their own pace; some have more elliptical orbits, some have more circular… Look, do you want a full lecture on the mechanics of asteroid fields or would you like to just get us a few samples so we can head home?”
John stared for a moment longer, then accepted his fate and angled the jumper in towards the asteroid Rodney had pointed to. It looked to be about thirty yards long and maybe fifteen yards across, but Rodney had been right about the cluster of smaller ones nearby and John flinched as the sounds of asteroids striking the jumper reverberated through the hull. “I’m not loving this idea, McKay.”
“Well, just land us already, and we can get this done,” Rodney said, starting to look a little uncertain himself.
“Fine,” John said, speeding up a bit in the hope that they could get what they’d come for before the jumper was so dented it started to cause them problems.
“Slow down,” Rodney squawked as they rapidly approached the asteroid’s surface. “It doesn’t have the sort of gravity you’re used to! If you come in too fast, you’re just going to bounce off again!”
John rolled his eyes. “I’m not an idiot, McKay!” But he did slow the jumper. Bouncing off sounded fun until you saw the number of asteroids they were likely to hit as they ricocheted.
With Rodney babbling hysterically about gravitational pull, deceleration speeds, and the likelihood of either bouncing into the path of that huge asteroid up ahead or crumpling the nose of the jumper into the surface and exposing them all to instant hard vacuum, John managed to bring the jumper down to land very softly.
It didn’t feel stable though. According to the HUD, the asteroid wasn’t just moving in its orbit, it was also rotating ever so slightly as it went, and the jumper felt as if it were sliding a little, even with John focussing his mind on holding it still.
Rodney had gone quiet now and John glanced over at him seeing his white-fingered grip on the edge of his laptop.
“What?” John asked.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so hair-raising!” Rodney snarked, but John could hear the fear beneath the acerbic remark.
“We’re safe enough, Rodney. We’re down. But let’s get this done, because I’m not much enjoying the constant strikes on the hull.”
“Perhaps we should just go,” Rodney said, his voice small, and John knew it had taken a lot for him to make this suggestion.
“Nah, we’ve come all this way. Let’s get a few chunks of rock and then we can head out.”
They made the switch from John to Rodney, John explaining the need to try and hold the jumper steady where she rested, and then John headed into the back half of the jumper with Teyla.
They’d decided that Teyla would suit up too, just in case she was needed. She would remain in the jumper while John walked out onto the asteroid itself, but she would be there and able to intervene, should anything go wrong.
It wasn’t John’s first time in a space suit, but it was his first time walking on the surface of an asteroid. Despite the urgency to get the job done and get the jumper to a safe distance, he found himself grinning as he donned the various parts of the suit.
“Ready?” he asked Teyla through the in-suit radio.
“I am,” Teyla responded.
John pulled the end of the tether rope from his belt and handed it to her, and she hooked it to the inside of the jumper, ensuring it was well attached. They did not want to lose him, or have to try a mid-air rescue if he were to float away.
“Okay, Rodney, we’re ready,” John said through the radio, and Rodney swung around to look at them.
“Right, well… Good luck then,” he said, and John could see the nervous energy, the uncertainty in his gaze.
“It’ll be fine, McKay. See you on the other side.” John gave him a half-salute and then thought the bulkhead door closed. Moments later, the back half of the jumper began to depressurise.
It was cumbersome moving in the suit, but John walked slowly to the back of the jumper and thought the hatch open. He waited until it was fully down, then carefully trod down the ramp, his mind grappling with the fact that he was taking a spacewalk on an asteroid in a galaxy far from home.
The asteroid belt was beautiful from out here, all these rocks – from tiny to gargantuan, all floating together, moving at different paces, bumping against each other—
“Colonel?”
John startled. “Yeah, sorry Teyla. It’s just… Wow!”
“Yes, even from in here. But you must hurry.”
“Yeah, got it.” John trod off the ramp, looking around for the chance to catch one of the smaller asteroids that was passing by. There was another loud thud as the jumper was struck again, and John turned his head that way, seeing no real damage on the hull. The jumpers must be sturdier than he’d thought.
A baseball-sized asteroid came close and he reached his hand out and caught it. It weighed nothing and he had to actually look to ensure he had it safely in his hand. He turned back towards the jumper as another one floated past him. His other hand came up and plucked it from its trajectory and John grinned. This was awesome. He was catching asteroids with his hands.
He walked slowly back up the ramp and passed the asteroids to Teyla who tucked them into the webbing to keep them from floating away as John ventured back out onto the surface. He brought back five baseball-sized ones in total, and then a basketball-sized one that still weighed barely anything because the gravity was so minuscule.
He was at the extent of his tether rope, getting ready to catch one the size of a yoga ball, when Rodney’s voice sounded in his ear.
“Sheppard?”
He sounded scared and John responded immediately. “What’s up?”
“One of the asteroids is coming straight at us. A big one! It’s going to hit!”
John had time for only a moment of terror.
His heart lurched into his throat as the asteroid struck and he was thrown, his magnetic boots pulling free from the surface with the force of the impact. He was flung away, surging helplessly through space, the tether rope – his only contact with the jumper – tugging sharply at his waist. Twisting himself around with difficulty, John saw the jumper tumbling over and over.
“Get it level, Rodney!” he shouted, watching as another asteroid came bumbling towards them. It hit the side of the jumper and bounced away and John could do nothing as the tether cable dragged him along behind the swirling, twirling jumper.
“McKay! McKay!”
“I’m here,” Rodney answered. “I’ve broken my arm, I think. Oh God.”
“Get back in the pilot seat and steady her. The inertial dampeners—"
“They’re off-line. I think the asteroid must have struck something. I’m trying…”
Teyla suddenly appeared at the back of the jumper, one hand holding herself stable as the other wrapped around the tether rope. She was doing a flicking action, wrapping the rope around her wrist to slowly haul John in towards the jumper, and, despite the potential danger to his hand, John started to do the same, pulling himself closer and closer.
There were asteroids of all sizes moving around him in their own orbits, and he watched as a basketball-sized one came straight at him. He tried to move away but he had no purchase at all, no ability to affect his own trajectory.
He winced as it struck him – hard – in the ribs, thrusting him sideways as a much smaller asteroid slammed into his faceplate. An ominous crack appeared instantly, and John’s heart stuttered, watching with horror as the crack lengthened.
Teyla was pulling him in as quickly as she could and John tried to help, but the pain on that side was impeding his ability to use his arm. Another asteroid skimmed past his leg, bumping him out of the way, and he could see another coming towards him... and then finally he had his feet on the ramp. His boots connected and he panted out a few, very relieved, breaths as he ducked out of the path of the oncoming danger.
Teyla was still holding the tether line, and John moved along the ramp as best he could, thinking the hatch closed the moment he was inside.
The jumper was still rolling, and he clung to the wall on the opposite side from Teyla, trying to get his breathing under control, trying to get a lock on the pain from his ribs. He was really regretting eating that dessert from his MRE, too. He normally had a good stomach for motion sickness but this was something else entirely.
The back of the jumper was rapidly repressurising and the moment it was safe to do so, John pulled his gloves off, and, hooking his arm through the webbing, used both hands to remove the helmet, grimacing at the sharp stab of pain from his side. “You okay Teyla?” he asked and she nodded, having also started to strip away the suit.
“I hit my head,” she said, “but I do not believe it is anything to worry about.”
John nodded as he stripped off his boots and dragged himself forward, thinking the bulkhead door open. Rodney was lying beneath the front console, holding on for dear life with one hand, his legs wrapped around the pedestal of the co-pilot’s chair, as he tried to find a workaround for the inertial dampeners.
John pulled himself over to the pilot’s seat and wrapped his hands around the joystick, thinking at the jumper as hard as he could. The barrel rolling slowed and then stopped, and the jumper came back onto an even keel.
“Oh, thank God!” Rodney exclaimed. “I thought I was going to lose my lunch.” He crawled out from beneath the console. “What did you do? How did you fix it?”
John shrugged uncertainly, grimacing as his ribs objected to the movement. “I think I brought the secondary systems online.”
There was a loud bang as another asteroid struck them, and John winced. “Sorry baby. Let’s get you, and us, out of here.” He brought up the HUD, looking for a path out, then slowly brought the jumper around and headed for the edge of the asteroid belt. “I hope it was worth it, Rodney.”
Rodney didn’t look as though he thought it had been, but after a few moments he said, “Yes. I’m sure we’ll benefit from having retrieved the samples now.” He was holding his arm across his body, cradling his wrist, and John spared him a glance.
“You okay?”
“I think it’s broken. When the asteroid hit us, I was flung across the cabin.”
Teyla appeared at Rodney’s side, the first aid box in hand, and started to check out the injury.
“So how did the asteroid get so close without you seeing it?” John asked. He made sure to keep his tone even, no accusation there at all, and was rewarded by seeing some of the tension in Rodney’s shoulders loosening.
“It barrelled into another one of the big ones and was flung in our direction. I should’ve anticipated they’d hit each other and change their trajectories, but I was too busy looking at the readouts on the laptop, and then suddenly the alarms were all blaring and it was too late.”
“Well,” John drawled, “guess that’s what happens when you play in an asteroid belt.”
“I do not believe it is broken, Rodney,” Teyla said from her position crouched at his side. “I think perhaps you have sprained it. I have splinted it, regardless. Carson can scan you and decide what else can be done, but for now, here are some painkillers.”
Rodney took them, accepting the bottle of water Teyla handed him, and slumped back into his seat. “Well, that was all quite dramatic.”
“Yeah, that’s an understatement,” John said. “Hey, can I get some of those painkillers, Teyla?”
Teyla came immediately to John’s side. “I saw the asteroid strike your side, Colonel. Please lift your shirt so that I may see.”
John did as asked, letting Teyla examine his ribs as he kept the jumper heading out of danger.
“There is some impressive bruising already visible, but I do not believe you have broken any ribs. Possibly this one is cracked.” She pushed a little and John hissed. “I will strap it for you.” She passed him some tablets as she set to work.
John dry-swallowed the painkillers, his attention on the HUD where he was concentrating on finding the least asteroid-ridden path. The adrenaline was starting to recede as the sharp tug of fear from finding himself being dragged through space by one tiny piece of rope dissipated in the face of his survival. A grin slowly took over his face and he turned to Rodney. “That was actually pretty cool, McKay. I was catching asteroids with my hands!”
And then he and Rodney were talking over each other, pulling out movie references and reliving arcade game moments and Teyla tidied away the first aid kit, took some painkillers for her headache, and settled into the chair behind Rodney, watching the two men bantering back and forth, a lightly contented smile on her face.
***** *****
Thirteen hours later, John was once again sitting in the pilot’s seat. He’d managed a five-hour nap while Rodney had taken the controls, but once he’d woken, he couldn’t fall asleep again, worried about getting them all safely home.
Rodney was happy to sit with his nose glued to his laptop, reviewing all the data he’d collected from the asteroid field, and Teyla had taken the opportunity to stretch out on the bench seats and catch up on her own sleep, which left John with ample time to himself to just think.
And of course, he was thinking about Adi and Evan. It was coming up on 1800hrs in Atlantis again now, the night after he’d left, which meant that they would’ve already spent their first night together, woken in the same bed that morning, probably had breakfast together… maybe even met for lunch.
John sighed, wondering if he was always going to be this aware of what Adi and Evan were doing together. Perhaps it was a good thing that Adi had offered to keep him apprised of their progress. His own imagination was probably dreaming up far more things than they were actually doing. After all, he’d warned Adi of the need for discretion, and although he hadn’t given Lorne the same warning, Evan worked for the same fucked-up organisation that John did. He already knew the score. He would’ve realised for himself that they needed to keep this thing under wraps.
That thought brought John’s mind to the fact that he was now in a threesome – although, not a real threesome, as much as he wished it could be. But the thing was, he’d sucked at every relationship he’d ever tried, failing dismally at his one attempt at marriage, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to go with this relationship, especially given how unusual it was. But then he remembered Adi accepting his limitations again and again, never judging him, never troubled by things that would have had an Earth woman running for the hills, and he knew that he would be okay with this, because Adi would have it no other way.
He was smiling as M4X-873 finally came into view, the stargate hanging in solitary splendour above the planet. As he typed in the address to dial Atlantis, he could feel the pull of seeing Adi… and Evan… of knowing that they were both okay. He knew it was dangerous to feel this way, but he couldn’t help it. He loved them both, and now he was in a relationship that included them both – even if it was more of a line than a circle.
And with that thought, John pointed the jumper at the event horizon, and slid them back home to Atlantis.
***** *****
Carson had put John under the scanner before declaring he had cracked a rib – but just the one – along with bruising several others. But there was nothing that would keep him down for long. Some ibuprofen had taken care of most of the pain for now, and Carson had happily sent him on his way.
Adi was waiting in the corridor outside the infirmary when John emerged. She smiled at him beatifically and John felt his heart turnover as he smiled back. God, it was good to see her. He reached for her hand and tugged her into an unused room to the side, desperately wanting to hug her.
Adi had seen the dissonance in his aura over his wounded side, though, and she reached out her hand. “You have been injured, John,” she said, her tone conveying her worry.
“Yeah, just a cracked rib and some bruising. An asteroid hit me!” His tone was light-hearted and Adi looked up at him with wide eyes.
“An asteroid hit you? Gracious. Well, I can heal your aura damage now, John, but do you wish me also to reduce the bruising or try to heal the crack?”
John nodded eagerly and Adi’s brow furrowed slightly as her hands moved against the invisible energy field swirling about John’s torso. Using the energy of the injured person had made this much easier on her, but it was still draining to do. After a few minutes, though, she smiled up at him. “I have done what I can, John. It is not fully healed, of course, but it is less… damaged.”
John grinned and held out his arms and Adi moved eagerly into his embrace, closing her eyes as she felt John’s warmth against her body, felt their auras mingling in pleasurable accord. “I have missed you, John,” she whispered, and felt John’s arms tighten about her.
“Did you? I mean, I know you, um… you had Evan, but…”
Adi smiled against John’s chest. “You are important, too.” She breathed in deeply, enjoying the scent of John’s body. Even though he had not yet washed, the stale smell of his body odour was not offensive to her. It was true that the sweat-smell of random men still distressed her with the memories it conjured of the Bola Kai, but John’s scent had ceased to trouble her months ago.
John’s tummy rumbled and Adi drew back, laughing up at him. “I see that I am delaying your dinner,” she said, her eyes sparkling.
“I don’t mind,” John said, but his eyes were searching hers. “How was it… with… with Lorne?” he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
Adi drew him gently down to sit on the bench at the side of the room. “We slept, John, nothing more. I have not kissed him yet. I wish to feel a strong degree of comfort in his presence first. To grow used to a platonic sleeping arrangement before venturing into anything more.”
John felt the smile growing on his face, his spirits rising sharply. “Really?”
Adi nodded. “Yes. I greatly enjoyed the comfort of sleeping in Evan’s embrace, John, and the joy of waking to find him with me.” She smiled, remembering with fondness the look in Evan’s eyes when she’d finally woken that morning to find herself cradled against his heart.
John was watching her expression, his heart wavering between joy that she hadn’t kissed Evan yet, and despair at the look of love on her face as she thought of him. “Are you… are you going to sleep with him again tonight?”
Adi shook her head. “I missed you, John. If you are not too tired from your mission, or too sore, would you feel able to spend some time together in our suite this evening?”
John nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Yep. Sure. No probs.”
Adi laughed softly. “I am very pleased to have you home again, John. It is a great joy to me to know that you are safely back.” She leaned up and placed a gentle kiss against his cheek. “When you have finished your duties for the evening, I will be waiting in my quarters for you. We can walk together.”
“I’m actually finished now,” John said. “Elizabeth’s put us on stand down until 0900hrs tomorrow. Rodney sprained his wrist and Teyla ended up with a bump on the head which is bothering her, so Carson said they need to rest. So, I–I’m free now.” He looked at her for a moment, seeing the slight wilt in her stance. “Are you okay, though? You did just use up some of your energy to heal me.”
Adi smiled up at him. “I will be fine. I shall use your aura to replenish mine tonight. But first, you must surely eat, John, or you will collapse! Come, I shall sit with you while you have some dinner.”
John nodded and headed for the door, immediately noticing the improvement in his injured side from Adi’s intervention.
He held her back as he opened the door, looking carefully up and down the hallway. He’d been okay with allowing their relationship to show a little, but now that Lorne was in the mix he was feeling a little less sure about letting people see they were together. There was no one in the corridor though, so he beckoned Adi out and they headed for the transporter.
The mess was still quite full of people finishing up their meals. Adi had eaten earlier, but she selected another dessert and sat with John out on the balcony – just as she had done with Corporal Hendrix on many occasions – listening to the tale of his asteroid adventure. It sounded quite dramatic, and certainly scary, but the fact that he was here telling her the story meant she didn’t need to worry. John had come back to her, healthy and whole, and that was all that mattered. She laughed at his boyish enthusiasm for catching asteroids in his hands, and then shared the story of her own days, in return.
John had eaten as quickly as he could, and now he stood, gesturing for Adi to accompany him as he bussed his tray and walked along the corridor towards the transporter. It opened as they approached, disgorging a couple of scientists who ignored them completely, deeply involved in a heated exchange.
They stepped into the transporter, exiting in their special tower as John reached for Adi’s hand, lacing their fingers together as they climbed the stairs up to the top level. He could feel the delicacy of her small bones, interweaving with his own longer fingers, and a surge of tenderness ran through him. She was so fragile and yet so incredibly strong, charting her own course through the myriad trials that beset her path. He realised it was a privilege to be walking beside her in this way.
They slipped through the doors to the suite, and John immediately picked up the lighter. He loved seeing the candlelight reflecting off Adi’s skin. Adi was smiling as she took the first candle and used it to light others, moving into the bedroom to finish up.
And then John was there, with her, and she turned to him. “Will you kiss me, John?” she asked softly and John was more than happy to oblige. He rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned slowly down, pressing his lips against hers and feeling the familiar thrum of pleasure kicking in throughout his body.
Adi’s lips parted, and John slid his tongue inside, finding hers and caressing it as Adi sank into the kiss in much the same way as she usually sank into a hug. When he’d reached the point of fighting himself not to step closer and pull Adi to him, John drew back from the kiss. He was hard as rock in his pants, and he wasn’t sure Adi was going to be comfortable with that.
But she was actually looking down at his crotch. “Let us undress, John,” she said softly, her eyes never wavering. “I would like to try touching you higher up your legs tonight, while you bring yourself to completion.”
A shudder ran through John’s body, but he was already reaching for his buttons. He stripped off in record time and then stood there, watching as Adi finished folding her clothes, his cock standing to attention.
Adi turned back to him and smiled a little tremulously. “Oh, you are already… fully…”
“Yeah,” John said. “I missed you.”
Adi sighed happily. “I missed you too, John. As wonderful as it was to lie in Evan’s loving embrace, I still missed having you at my side. I know that we cannot all be together, but I hope one day that we will be able to lie in one bed, all of us there with one another, sleeping with our skin touching each other’s in gentle companionship.”
John nodded, unexpected tears prickling in his eyes. “Me too,” he rasped. “Not yet, but hopefully one day.”
Adi hopped onto the bed and, settling herself in the middle, patted John’s usual spot. “Come, lie with me?”
John very happily laid down on the bed next to Adi as she curled up against his side, idly caressing his shoulder. “Evan’s body is very different to yours, John. He has less chest hair…” Adi slid her hands down John’s torso, finding and starting to play with one of his nipples. “His shoulder muscles are bigger – I had to move my head a little to find a comfortable position. His nipples are darker than yours...”
“You touched his nipples?” John asked, gasping lightly as Adi squeezed her fingers around his own.
“No. Well… yes, because my hand was resting on his chest as I prepared to sleep. But I did not fondle them, John, not as I am doing with you.” Her hand slid across to his other nipple, and John swallowed heavily.
“Not sure I’m gonna last very long, Adi,” he rasped, and Adi pressed a gentle kiss against his shoulder.
“Very well, I shall move back.” But she didn’t want to lose the contact with John, and so, although she slid herself to the side, mostly out of reaching distance, she kept one hand on his stomach.
“Adi? Are you staying there? On the bed? Because I kind of need to…” John gestured towards his erection which was thrusting up proudly from the thatch of dark hairs at his crotch.
“I would like to try, John,” Adi said a little uncertainly. She had touched John before when he was masturbating, but usually she was at the end of the bed, not beside him. She’d never managed to lie next to him while he did this. Maybe having Evan’s love as well as John’s, having Evan’s calming presence in her bed the night before, was giving her the courage to do this. She lifted her eyes to John’s, her hand resting on his stomach. “Please John, would you let me try?”
John wasn’t going to say no. Adi’s hand on his stomach, her presence on the bed, the degree of trust those actions implied, all of it was doing very odd things to his insides, and he reached his hand up to his mouth and licked a stripe up his palm, before dropping it back down and wrapping it around his cock. God! He was so hard. And there was Adi’s hand, resting against his stomach, a solidly warm patch on his body. Adi was touching his stomach while he was jerking himself off. John’s hand sped up, then sped up again, his legs falling open as his eyes closed, all his attention turning inwards as the sparks of liquid gold surged through his body, centering on Adi’s touch, her presence at his side so close to his rock-hard cock, his hand whipping up and down, gripping his shaft firmly as he brought himself to the cusp—
And then Adi’s hand twitched against his skin, and John fell over the edge, plummeting in free fall as the orgasm swept through him, white light flickering behind his eyes, his whole body surging in delight as the cum streaked out over his chest and torso, his cock continuing to pulse for long seconds.
Slowly John came back to himself. His hand was still wrapped around his slowly softening cock, and—
Ohh! Adi’s hand was still resting against his stomach.
God! She’d stayed. She’d stayed through it all. John cracked his eyes open, and there she was, staring down at her hand, an odd expression on her face. When he lifted his head up to look, there was cum splattered across the back of her hand, white streaks against the pink of her skin.
“Adi?” he asked softly, “you okay?”
Adi nodded. “Yes,” she said, but her voice was whisper quiet. “It was very beautiful, John. But… could you…”
“Yeah, of course.” John pulled the sheet up from the side of the bed and brought it down over Adi’s hand, wiping the cum away until her hand was quite clean. “Let me just wash up,” he said, sliding carefully out of the bed.
Adi was still just sitting there, so John headed for the bathroom and gave himself a thorough clean off, then he wet the corner of the towel, added a little soap, and took it back to the bedroom with him.
Adi’s eyes were sparkling with unshed tears, and John’s heart clenched in his chest at the thought that he’d scared her, but she was smiling at him as she reached for the towel. She carefully washed her hand off, wiping the soap away when she was done, then brought it to his nose. “Does it still smell, John?”
John inhaled, but the towel had done the job, and he shook his head.
Adi smiled tremulously and then sank forward onto his chest, clinging to him. “I did it, John. I sat beside you and I… I touched you, while you came. I was there with you.” She was trembling, and John tightened his arm about her.
“You did, Adi. You were so brave.” He kissed the top of her head, and Adi levered herself up, until she was resting above him looking down.
“I would like to kiss you, John. Would you like that too?”
“Yes,” John rasped out, swallowing heavily as Adi lowered herself down until her nipples were brushing against his chest hair and her mouth was pressing against his. He lifted his hand very carefully and rested it on her shoulder, losing himself in the supple warmth of her mouth. She was very good at kissing.
Eventually the need for oxygen caused Adi to straighten. She gazed down at him, such love in her eyes that John was momentarily lost in the feeling of being so cared about.
“Come under the covers with me?” he said softly, clearing his throat.
Adi manoeuvred herself around until she was snuggled up against his side, the blankets pulled up around their shoulders. “I love you, John,” she said, her voice rich with emotion, and John tightened his arms about her.
“I love you too, Adi,” he said, and then there was silence as Adi sighed happily, letting her body soften as she slipped slowly into sleep, knowing herself to be safe in his arms.
John lay there for a long while, basking in the knowledge that he hadn’t lost her to Evan. He knew now that he could do this. He could share her. The thought of Adi sleeping platonically in Evan’s bed the following night – because, with his rib practically healed by Adi’s magic touch, he’d be off-world again with Sergeant Timmons’ team – actually didn’t bother him in the slightest. If anything, he felt a measure of peace to know that neither Adi nor Evan would be alone.
He was smiling as he drifted off to sleep, content in the knowledge that Adi still wanted him, she still loved him, and, with Adi sharing so many casual details about Evan’s body and what she was doing with him, he truly felt like he was part of a threesome. And that was all right with him.
***** EPILOGUE *****
Two nights later, Adi lay on the pier after dinner, her nest of blankets all set up and Evan snuggled at her side. Rodney had told her there would be a meteor shower every night for the next week with the peak of activity happening in three nights’ time – which was when the official Atlantis viewing party was to be held. But Adi hadn’t wanted to wait.
John had been busy all day since his return mid-morning from his off-world mission. He’d told her he needed to support Sergeant Timmons, their new Team Leader, on a more difficult trading mission, but he’d returned not long before lunch time, only to be sucked into a round of meetings with Elizabeth and various of the scientists which had seemed never-ending.
But Evan had been free and more than willing to lie with her on the pier and stare upwards at the vast canopy of stars. They’d been talking in desultory fashion, their eyes on the heavens above as they enjoyed each other’s close and personal company, when footsteps came to Adi’s ears.
“Adi, I’m in your room,” John called out as he approached, but then faltered as Adi dropped the forcefield and he realised she wasn’t alone out here. “Oh, ah, um…”
Evan started to scramble out of the blankets, and John was turning to leave—
Adi grabbed for Evan’s arm as she called out, “John, please, will you join us?” She turned to Evan, “Please, stay.”
“I can’t, Adi,” Evan said, just as John said, “Lorne was here first.”
Adi’s brow furrowed a little. “Rodney has told me there will be many ‘shooting stars’ tonight. So far, Evan and I have counted six. I would very much like for both of you to stay with me and enjoy the beauty of this phenomenon. It is considered very lucky on my world to see a ‘shooting star’ as you call them.”
Adi could feel the tension in Evan’s arm, and John was looking very undecided. “Please,” she said. “There is no reason you cannot both stay with me for the next hour. You sat on either side of me at the bonfire on Capeliga, both of you touching me. You swam with me between you in the rockpool, both holding one of my hands in front of more than a dozen people. Please, this is no different. We are simply watching for shooting stars. I shall lie in the middle, and you can lie one to either side of me.”
Evan’s face was averted but John was looking straight at her. “Adi…”
“Please, John. The Daedalus will arrive tomorrow and I will be unable to spend time with either of you while they are here. And it is not suspicious for you both to be here with me. I could just as easily have asked Matthew to come and lie with Evan and I. Or asked you both to leave and encouraged Corporal Hendrix and Miko to come and share this experience with me. Do you not see? There is nothing here for anyone to be bothered by. I am simply blending my aura with compatible people.”
John drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was a very tempting offer. He glanced at Lorne, seeing the uncertainty in his stance, his head turned away from the conversation. Clearly the decision was up to him. “Well,” he drawled, “if you’re going to threaten to replace me with Hendrix…”
Adi laughed. “He is very sweet, and a good friend. I am certain he would accept an invitation to watch the stars with me.”
“So am I,” John muttered, but he was walking towards them again. “Lie down then,” he said, and Adi released her grip on Evan’s arm and slid back into her nest.
Evan lifted his eyes to John’s, and John nodded at him, so Evan snuggled back in where he’d been.
John paused to pull his boots off, tucking them under the blankets at the end of the nest, then slipped in on Adi’s other side. She was lying on her back, her head resting on a rolled-up blanket, staring upwards at the stars.
“There!” she cried, lifting her arm to point. “See, even the universe wants you both to lie here with me tonight.” She chuckled softly and both men joined in. Reached out, she clasped hands with her two bond mates. Their auras had blended with her own the moment they’d laid down, and the feeling was quite intoxicating... so much energy, so much resonance, she could live in this moment forever.
They lay quietly for several minutes, all three of them gazing up at the endless heavens, each lost in their own thoughts.
Adi was sinking into the pleasure of the evening but she could still feel some lingering tension in John’s body where it was pressed against her side, so she decided that a little conversation might help to distract him from the situation. “John, tell me something good that happened in your day.”
“Oh!” John responded, sounding very excited. “I nearly took Teyla out when we were sparring.”
Adi laughed softly. “And did she then increase her effort a little and ‘take you out’ in return?”
“Yeah,” John said self-deprecatingly. “She put me on the mat five times in a row. But, hey! That doesn’t diminish the fact that I almost took her out.”
Adi could feel Evan’s body jiggling beside her, as if he were laughing silently to himself. She turned her head towards him. “Do you also spar with Teyla, Evan?”
“Oh, I have done. A few times. But I don’t get as much free time as my boss does… I’m too busy doing his paperwork,” Evan deadpanned.
“Hey!” John objected. “That was a bit pointed.”
Evan laughed. “Well, the truth sometimes hurts, Sir.”
“Just for that I’m going to dump all the stuff in my intray on you. That’ll be your punishment for being rude.”
“How is that any different to normal?” Evan asked, laughing again, and after a few moments John joined in.
Adi took a deep bracing breath and sighed it out contentedly. “This is nice.” She gazed up at the heavens. “Tell me, which ones of these stars have you visited?”
“I wouldn’t know,” John responded. “You’d have to ask Rodney that. He could probably tell you.”
“And you, Evan? Do you know?”
“No. I’ve been to lots more planets than just here, though. I was with the SGC for about three years and went to lots of planets. Although I spent the entire last year on the Unas mining planet.”
“I have not heard of unas. What do you make from that?” Adi asked, and Evan laughed.
“The Unas were the indigenous life forms – a sort of humanoid lizard. They, um, they didn’t much like us on the planet at the beginning and bad shit went down. But Dr Jackson taught me some of their language and I ended up as sort of a liaison between the military and the Unas. But then they needed ATAs to come and relieve the siege of Atlantis.”
“Siege of Atlantis?”
So then John told her of the siege, and Evan filled in the events from his side.
Adi listened avidly to this tale of things that had happened before her time in Atlantis, relishing this opportunity to have both John and Evan with her together, one on either side of her, holding her hands so intimately. Eventually the story wound down and she yawned. Evan stiffened slightly and unlaced their fingers, sitting up.
“You’re getting tired, Adi. I’ll leave you guys to it.”
“No,” said John. “You were here first.”
Evan looked at him in surprise, then shook his head. “It’s fine, Sir. I had Adi all to myself last night while you were off-world. And, after all, I’ve got plenty of paperwork to keep me occupied.”
John laughed at that, and Adi rose to her feet and drew Evan into a hug, a beautiful warm, full body hug, the kind Adi specialised in. Evan wrapped his arms around her, and held her close against his heart, wishing he could just stay, but he knew it wasn’t possible. These precious few hours lying here with both Adi and John were memories that he’d cherish forever, and he knew he’d have Adi in his arms again soon enough. Tonight was John’s turn, and he was okay with that.
As Evan drew back from the embrace, Adi leaned up and kissed him gently on the cheek. “Good night, Evan. I have greatly enjoyed spending this evening in your company.”
“Me too,” he whispered, knowing he couldn’t yet kiss her back although he was looking forward to the time when he could.
As he headed off, Adi slid back down into the blankets, curling herself against John’s side as he slipped his arm around her and drew her close. “I would like to sleep out here tonight, John. The shooting stars are very beautiful.”
“They are,” John said, dropping a gentle kiss against the top of her head. He was feeling very relaxed, a deep-seated contentment imbuing his soul from the evening spent with the two people he loved.
Adi snuggled closer, and John pulled the blanket a little higher. If this was going to be his life from now on, he could definitely get used to it. He hadn’t really realised that sharing her like this was going to bring him closer to Evan, but of course it had to, because Adi wasn’t used to having to hide what she felt for people, and she wanted everyone she loved nearby. Smiling at that thought, John settled himself back, his eyes on the heavens above.
Every now and again a star shot across the sky and he felt Adi’s soft intake of breath, but then she stopped reacting and he knew she’d fallen asleep. He cuddled a little closer, breathing in her scent and feeling her warmth resting against his heart... He was smiling as he drifted happily off to sleep.
***** HERE ENDS PART 4 *****