Chapter Text
Rodney bolted up in bed as the knocks echoed in the room. He turned to Radek, but his side of the bed was empty.
"Radek?"
Three more thunderous knocks shook the room.
Rodney opened the door to see Todd looming beyond it.
"Did something happen?"
Ronon didn't respond. He walked down the hall, then turned and beckoned Rodney when he didn't follow.
"Oh, not again."
Rodney made himself follow.
"Where are we going this time?"
Todd still didn't respond.
"I already decided to go to the party. You don’t need to bother me tonight."
Rodney noticed it was daytime. They passed groups of people and he caught snippets of conversations.
"Heard they just tossed him into the sea."
"Yeah. Didn't even bother waiting a day before going through his room."
"Did you get anything?"
"Just some extra clothes. Most of it was gone by the time I got there."
"Did you go to the ceremony?"
"There wasn't one."
They laughed.
"The sister sent the plaque. She had it made forever ago, apparently."
More laughter.
"Who are they talking about?" Rodney asked, not really expecting an answer.
They arrived in the gate room and Todd led him onto the balcony.
"Here?"
Todd pointed to the wall.
"Wait, that's not the plaque they were talking about, right?"
Todd continued to point.
"No, no. I definitely know about this part."
He tried to leave, but Todd blocked him and pushed him towards the wall.
"Okay, okay."
He looked at the plaque, and there was his name. Dr. Rodney McKay. 1968-2009.
"Oh, come one. Isn't that a little much? I-" He turned and Todd grabbed his chest with his feeding hand.
He fell off the bed with a yelp and covered in sweat.
"Rodney?" Radek looked over the bed at him. "Are you alright?"
Rodney panted and tried to catch his breath. "I can't believe he fed on me," he said between pants.
"He? Did you hit your head?"
Rodney groaned as he sat up. Radek pulled him back into bed and checked his head.
Rodney noticed it was morning, of course it was. "I'll go to the stupid party," Rodney said.
"You don't have to."
Rodney turned to him. "But you want me to."
"It would be nice. And fun."
He gave Rodney a quick kiss. Rodney leaned forward and deepened it.
Radek chuckled and pulled back enough to say, "Should we move this to the shower?"
Rodney nodded and followed him to the bathroom.
*~*
Rodney set to work on the snow machine after breakfast. He had assembled the majority of it the day before, anyway. A small test of it covered his desk in white flakes that slowly evaporated.
Perfect.
He set that aside and worked on another project.
*~*
Everyone gathered in the mess hall after dinner. People were dressed in red, green or blue. Some even had silver or gold accented clothing. Was he the only practical packer here?
Rodney stuck by Radek as they made their way around the room.
"Nice lights," Rodney said as he looked up.
Twinkling lights hung at various heights. Radek had made some stars-shaped and others looked like fireworks.
"Thank you. A shame about that snow machine."
"What are you talking about?"
Rodney pressed a button on the remote in his pocket. White flakes shot out from somewhere on the ceiling and floated down.
People gasped at the little show. Some tried to catch the flakes, but they evaporated before getting low enough to reach.
"I had electrical put it up when they did your lights," Rodney explained.
"Sneaky."
"Rodney! Radek!" Jennifer appeared out of nowhere and hugged them both. "Thank you, thank you." She released them and shoved some drinks in their hands. "Isn't this the best? We couldn’t have done it without you guys." Then she was gone.
"She's got a grip," Rodney groaned as he rubbed his neck.
"It's the holiday spirit coursing through her."
Ronon approached them. "You guys seen Sheppard?"
"I think he was teaching Todd about mistletoe," Rodney said and hooked his thumb over his shoulder.
Radek snickered. "Hopefully they don’t miss all the festivities."
"Gross. How am I supposed to give him this?" Ronon held up what was clearly a knife wrapped in brown paper.
"Put his name on it and give it to Jennifer, I’m sure she was a system," Radek said.
Ronon left, and they laughed to themselves.
"Speaking of gifts," Rodney said as he reached into his pocket.
"Oh, you didn't have to. I just made you this."
Radek held up what looked like a wrench with a small red ring around the bullet shaped head. He pressed a button on the side, and it gave a pulsing glow.
Rodney accepted it and cradled it in his free hand. "Just? It's perfect. I think it’s the best gift I’ve ever been given." It didn’t even matter that this version of the screwdriver didn’t actually glow.
Radek gave him a soft smile. “You’re lying, but I’m flattered.”
“No. Really, I love it.”
Rodney cleared his throat and reached into his pocket. He pulled something out and held out his closed hand to Radek. He opened it and there was a small, simple music box in his palm.
"You made this?"
“I have other skills besides being a genius.”
Radek took it and opened the top. It played a soft, slow version of Stodola Pumpa.
"It was the only Czech song I remembered the melody to," Rodney quickly said, his face burning.
Radek laughed and kissed him.
"It's perfect."
“Come on, you two. We don’t need to lose more love birds,” Carson said to get their attention.
They had rearranged the tables for the event so that larger groups could sit together. Rodney and Radek found their seats on the main table.
John and Todd slid into their spots after everyone was seated, looking only a little disheveled.
“We thought we had lost you two,” Teyla said.
“No idea what you mean.” John said as combed his hands though this hair and Todd readjusted his jacket. The others pretended not to notice, but couldn’t help knowing smirks.
Woolsey stood and clicked his knife against his champagne flute. Everyone quieted their chatter and gave him their attention.
Woolsey placed his index cards where he could see them. He then cleared his throat and began his speech.
“Thank you all for being here. I’ll keep this short so we can get to the festivities. I would first like to thank everyone who made this event possible. We had quite the year and I can’t think of a better way to end it. The work we do is important, but we can never forget to make time for ourselves and each other. We all know firsthand the hardships of being away from family and friends. But we have made this city our home. We have a new family here and many friends around us. I can think of no one else I’d rather take on this mission with.” He raised his glass and toasted. “To Atlantis.”
Everyone raised their glass in return.
“To Atlantis.”