So, I have several stories going right now. And normally I try to rotate through putting out updates so it's all fair for readers. I'll be totally honest, the amount of love TOB is getting right now made me immediately start work on the next update. I appreciate you all so much. I couldn't wait to give you another update! So, after absolutely unapologetic fluff and Kai/John romance - because why else are we here - I return us all to our regularly scheduled next episode.

Also this update is crazy long, so comment lots! :)

Happy Reading!

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McKay and Mrs. Miller Cont.
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It turned out that the reason Colonel Carter needed McKay's help with his sister back on earth, was because McKay's sister had discovered a math proof that would enable them to possibly create their own ZPM's out of zero point energy without destroying a solar system in the process.

McKay and his sister sent the specifications for Kai and Zelenka to begin working on modifying the containment chamber that would allow them to harvest the exotic particles needed from an alternate space time by creating a bridge between universes. With Jeanie Miller's theory they would not only be able to build the bridge to harvest the energy, they would also be able to control the flow of it safely.

When the specifications came in McKay and Jeanie were just beginning their voyage back to Atlantis. It took Kai and Zelenka the entire two weeks of work to complete the modifications and they just got it done the very day they were set to arrive. Kai and Zelenka were waiting in the gateroom to welcome McKay and Jeanie so they could get started on the project right away.

"Has he talked about his sister with you?" Elizabeth asked as she and John moved down the steps towards the others. McKay and Jeanie were set to arrive any moment from the Daedalus.

"Usually just in passing, you know like, 'come on even my sister could do it', that sort of thing," John said.

Radek and Kai met John and Weir at the base of the stairs. "How's it coming?" Elizabeth asked.

Zelenka looked up from his tablet. "The simulations are all in the green, we are ready to try power up."

"Just in time," Elizabeth said with a smile.

"That's what I just said," Radek agreed with a smile.

A beam of transporter light filled the room and McKay and his sister materialized directly in front of them.

"Holy cow!" she exclaimed. "That can't be good for you."

McKay's sister looked surprisingly like him. She was average height, pretty, with light brown hair and they shared the same eyes. Kai who had been batch bred with twenty others found the sibling's resemblance interesting.

John stepped forward. "Nothing to worry about. I've done it dozens of times," John held out his hand and flashed a charming smile. "Colonel John Sheppard," he introduced himself, hoping to put McKay's sister at her ease.

"Yeah, she's married and she's my sister," McKay snapped impatiently.

John frowned at McKay. "I'm just saying hi," his eyes flickered to where Kai stood over McKay's shoulder. "Also kind of a non-issue," he said jerking his chin towards Kai.

"Yeah yeah, I know exactly what you do and I've seen that look before Kirk," McKay snapped.

Elizabeth arched her eyebrows but decided she wasn't going to comment. McKay had been off planet for nearly two weeks. In that time nearly everyone on the base had come to accept or at least seen John and Kai together. Either walking together or in the dining hall. While they hadn't flaunted their relationship they also had made a point not to hide it. After two weeks it was quickly becoming old news on the base.

Elizabeth stepped forward holding out her hand. "My name is Doctor Elizabeth Weir, welcome to Atlantis."

"Thank you, Mer has told me so much about you," Genie said with a smile.

"All good I assume-" John stopped. "Did you just call him Mer?" he asked, a slow smile starting to form on his face.

"It's a pet name," Mckay interrupted quickly and before his sister could respond he turned to Zelenka and Kai. "Where are we at?" he asked.

"Simulations are all in the green," Zelenka reported.

"I'm sorry, my brother has terrible manners," Jeanie said and she held her hand out to Zelenka. "I'm Jeanie."

"Yes, yes," Mckay huffed impatiently. "Radek Zelenka and Kai Zian," he said dismissively.

Jeanie shook hands with both of them, smiling warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for all your hard work on this project."

McKay made an impatient noise in the back of his throat. "So we're..." he dragged off.

"We're ready to try a power up," Kai told McKay, shooting him a look that let him know his poor manners weren't appreciated.

"Really?" Jeanie asked in surprise. "So soon? That's amazing! Excellent work Radek and Kai!"

Zelenka looked almost alarmed by her display of appreciation. "Thank you," he said, clearly pleased by the positive reinforcement.

"Yes, we try not to encourage him. He has a bit of an ego," McKay muttered and gestured towards the door.

Kai exchanged a look of disbelief with John and rolled her eyes as she followed them towards the lab.

><><

"In chamber conditions are green," McKay reported from the main terminal. "Containment field is in the green. Monitors are green," McKay called importantly.

"Yep, everything is green," Jeanie said wryly as she studied the calculations running on Kai's terminal. They had only been working together for a couple hours but Kai already liked McKay's sister. She was smart, at least as smart as McKay but seemed to have a good sense of humor.

"He likes to do the checklist," Kai told her conspiratorially. The two of them chuckled and rolled their eyes. Zelenka bit back a laugh as he studied the readouts on his own tablet.

"ZPM levels are well into the green," McKay continued to report. Oblivious to them teasing him. "And backup terminals are...green. We are ready to initiate power up," he said and he turned to Elizabeth for the go ahead.

"Good luck," she told him.

"Right, here we go," he said.

Jeanie smiled and hurried across the room excitedly. "Want to turn it on together?" she asked.

McKay's face fell and he scowled in confusion. "Why would we do that?" he asked.

"Because it's both of our work," she said as though it were obvious.

McKay gestured to the terminal impatiently. "Well there's only room on the button for one finger so-"

"Well then can I do it?" Jeanie asked.

"Yeah well, I'm right here so-" McKay said, petulantly, refusing to give an inch to his sister.

Zelenka leaned in. "He likes to push the button.

Jeanie looked back and forth between them and then rolled her eyes at her brother's immaturity. "Fine go," she said waving her hand.

"Powering up to five percent," McKay called to the room.

Kai looked back at her terminal, studying the power output. The inside of the containment field began to glow a fluid gold, but so far everything was holding in safe levels.

"Containment field is holding," McKay reported. "Power generation is steady," he said with a smug smile.

"What about the exotic particles?" Jeanie called from their terminal.

"Jeanie," McKay snapped witheringly. "Please, I'm on it," he said and he turned back to the monitor before he could answer however Kai spoke up. She refused to stand by and let McKay be a jerk to his sister.

"They are holding at five percent," Kai reported to Jeanie with a smile.

Jeanie smirked and bit back a laugh. Despite how quiet the other woman seemed to be, Jeanie found she liked Kai. Unlike most of the other people who worked with her brother Kai didn't seem to be the least bit intimidated by him.

"Good," Elizabeth said excitedly. "Now what?"

"Well," Jeanie said, studying the readouts on her tablet. "The safe thing to do is hold at five percent for the next while."

"She wasn't talking to you," McKay snapped angrily.

"Actually," Elizabeth said soothingly, trying to keep the peace between siblings. "It was an open question to the floor," she said looking over the others to see if any of them wanted to offer an answer.

"Shared credit, huh?" Jeanie snapped, her eyes blazing at McKay. "We'll do this together? Dad would be so proud," she mocked scathingly.

"This is not the time nor the place," McKay said as everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Fine," Jeanie snapped, turning off her tablet and stomping towards the door. "I'm going to my quarters."

"Yes well, good night to you, thank you," McKay called after her dismissively.

Elizabeth pursed her lips, clearly unimpressed by the way McKay treated his sister. "So?" she asked impatiently.

McKay had the decency to look a little sheepish and muttered his answer without making eye contact . "Well obviously we hold at five percent for the next while and see if any problems turn up."

Elizabeth arched a brow. "Right," she said dryly.

McKay cleared his throat. "I should probably try and get some rest myself...Kai could you?" he asked gesturing vaguely at the main terminal.

Kai exhaled and came over to take control of the primary terminal. They others excused themselves. Since Kai didn't require as much sleep she happily took over. John had a mountain of reports to finish so it wasn't taking away from their time together. They had settled into an easy rhythm over the last few weeks. Even when they didn't work together during the day they always ate together and usually stayed in Sheppard's quarters. He had offered to stay in hers if it made her more comfortable, but her bed was smaller and honestly, Kai had lived most of her life with nothing even resembling a home. Just a bunk at headquarters. She didn't care where they stayed, she just liked being with John.

Kai sat there for hours, watching the numbers, but they didn't move. It was the middle of the night when there was a sudden flare of energy in the containment chamber. Alarms all around the lab started blaring, waking up the few of the bleary eyed techs.

"Shut it down!" Kai called across the room and her fingers flew across the keyboard as she initiated the lock down protocols. The light flashed even brighter and she knew she had been too slow. A red warning flashed on her computer.

Foreign object in containment chamber.

She reached up and touched her comm. "Radek, get down to the containment chamber, now."

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By the time Zelenka arrived the bright light had morphed into a blob which was gradually taking shape. What had started as a circle of light was quickly becoming almost humanoid.

"What is-" Zelenka started and stopped as the object completed it's transformation. Kneeling in the containment chamber was Mckay.

Kai came around to stand beside Zelenka, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"It worked," the McKay in the chamber called triumphantly.

"Wh-What-?" Zelenka stammered and the doors to the chamber opened as McKay jumped down off the platform.

"Radek," the McKay said gesturing towards Zelenka. "Kai!" he exclaimed as though he were delighted to see her there.

"Yes..." Zelenka dragged off suspiciously.

Kai's nostrils flared. It wasn't McKay standing in front of them. There were slight differences physically, but he also didn't smell like their McKay.

Not McKay gestured over his shoulder. "I need to speak to whoever is in charge of this project."

"But..." Zelenka dragged off in confusion. "That's you."

Not McKay put his hands on his hips and chuckled importantly. "Well then, I guess I need to speak to me."

Kai turned to Radek. "We need to contain him until we can figure out what's happening," she said. "You contact Weir, I'll escort him to the isolation room."

Zelenka nodded, but his eyes were still a little wide. Kai stepped forward and took control of the situation. She rested her hand on the grip of one of her blades. "If you would follow me." The words were cordial as she gestured towards the door, but her tone made it clear she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Not McKay smiled pleasantly and followed her without hesitation. Just as she opened the door to the isolation room he paused, staring down at her waist. "You have two Blades," he said in surprise. He lifted his eyes to meet her shrewd gaze. "I bet that's quite a story."

"Wait here," she told him.

He nodded and stepped into the room willingly. Kai closed the door and sealed it. She was just turning the lock as Doctor Weir hurried down the hallway with Zelenka trailing behind her. Both of them looked both exhausted and stressed.

"Is it true?" she asked. "Is there really another McKay in that room."

Kai nodded. "I thought it would be best to keep him isolated until we can figure out where he came from and what is intentions are."

"You're sure it's not our McKay?" Elizabeth asked.

Kai nodded. "I'm sure."

Elizabeth reached up and touched her comm. "Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard to the Observation Room immediately," she said and she turned and gestured for Kai and Zelenka to follow her into the observation room.

Elizabeth, Zelenka and Kai were watching Not McKay lounging comfortably in a chair on the screen when McKay, Jeanie and Sheppard arrived.

McKay slowed and stared at the screen in open mouthed shock. "What in the world?" he asked.

"It's you," Jeanie said in shock.

"It's not," Kai said definitively. The more she watched the man the more convinced she was that he had very little in common with their McKay. He might look like him, but he didn't move or behave like him.

"That is a live closed-circuit feed of a man we have in our isolation room," Elizabeth said.

The others all stepped up to the glass and looked down into the room to see Not McKay pacing around the chairs. The differences between the two McKay's were a little more clear now that they could be compared directly. Not McKay had a slightly more athletic build, and his hair was artfully styled.

"What?" Jeanie asked in disbelief.

"He appeared in the containment chamber in some sort of force field," Elizabeth reported.

John frowned. "What do you mean he appeared?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Out of thin air," Elizabeth said tightly. "I have Zelenka working on it in the lab. Kai initiated shut down protocols after he appeared."

"Well how'd he get in there?" John asked, looking back at McKay expectantly.

"He claims to be from a parallel universe," Weir told them.

Jeanie turned on McKay. "You said the odds against this were astronomical!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"You saw the math!" McKay snapped.

"Well we got it wrong!" she bickered back.

"Yeah well, he's here now so the question is, what does he want?" McKay asked.

Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest. "To talk to you," she said.

McKay turned to Jeanie. "You want shared credit?" he asked. "You're coming with me."

"Wait..." Jeanie called, but she hurried out of the room after McKay.

John turned and shared a frustrated look with Weir before they both turned back to the room below them. John glanced towards Kai. "You found him?" he asked.

Kai nodded.

"How did you know it wasn't our McKay so quickly, other than the obvious fashion sense?" John asked.

Kai lifted a brow. "He didn't smell right," she said.

"He didn't-?" Elizabeth started to say and she stopped and looked down at herself as she realized the implications of Kai's statement.

"You smell fine," Kai assured her offhandedly.

"I just forget sometimes-" Elizabeth started to say.

"That I'm not human?" Kai asked arching a brow.

Elizabeth cleared her throat uncomfortably and they all turned back to the windows to see McKay step through the door. He fidgeted nervously, but Not McKay stood confidently. Kai turned to the feed and turned the volume up so they would all be able to hear the conversation happening in the room below them.

"Wow," Not McKay said. "Now, I figured you'd be here, but Jeanie?" he said and he shook his head in disbelief. "I always hoped we'd work together on Atlantis."

"This is a first," Jeanie said looking back and forth between the two McKays in shock.

"For me too," they responded at the same time.

McKay looked freaked out, but Not McKay chuckled. "Have a seat," he invited as though they were the visitors and not him. "Now, I assume you go by..."

"Rodney," McKay interrupted.

"Ah, Rod," Not McKay introduced himself.

McKay frowned at Jeanie. "I could never get anyone to call me that," he complained.

Rod settled himself comfortably into his chair. "Okay, I'm going to make some assumptions based on what I've seen here and from readings we've taken in my own space-time. Please stop me if I'm wrong. One, I presume you are running some sort of experiment that's designed to bridge between parallel universes. And two, it has something to do with power generation. Warm? Cold?" he asked.

"Hot," Jeanie responded quickly. She still looked slightly freaked out, but she was taking everything pretty much in stride.

"Well, I'm sure the experiment has been a success on this side, but it's having some serious repercussions in my universe."

"I told you!" Jeanie snapped, slapping McKay on the arm.

"Not now," McKay grumbled rubbing the spot as though his sister had actually hurt him.

"Dangerous exotic particles that belong in neither of our universes are being created on your side of the bridge," Jeanie filled in.

"Oh," Rod said in confusion. "So you knew this could happen?" he asked, leveling his gaze on McKay.

McKay shifted uncomfortably. "There was a slight risk, yes," he admitted.

"This is weird," Sheppard said looking back and forth between the McKay's on the screen.

Kai grunted in agreement. She had been watching Rod closely for while now, trying to determine if he was a threat. So far nothing about his body language implied he intended to harm either McKay or Jeanie.

"You're quite right Jeanie," Rod said. "And because these particles don't behave according to any of the laws of physics in our space-time, they are creating a tear in the fabric of our universe."

Jeanie shot a look of disbelief at her brother. "First a solar system, now a universe," she said, shaking her head.

"Yes, yes" McKay said dismissively. "But, how did you get here?" he asked Rod.

"Well, we detected the anomaly about twenty hours ago in space above the planet. Kai," he said, gesturing to the windows above. "Maneuvered one of our jumpers in close and tried to broadcast a signal to whoever was on the other side."

"Yes, but we would be unable to detect that signal from within the containment chamber."

Rod nodded. "So Sheppard and I came up with a plan to beam a person into the anomaly. They would be protected by an ancient personal force field that we discovered."

McKay sat back in his chair. "I depleted ours," he said.

"Still," Jeanie said shaking her head. "It was an incredible risk."

Rod nodded with false modesty. "Well, it was Sheppard's idea. We decided it might allow one of us to cross the bridge you created and bring the problem to your attention. There was very little time and well, there seemed to be no other way. We drew straws."

"You lost," McKay said sympathetically.

"No," Rod said shaking his head. "I won! What, the prospect of saving an entire universe? No, it was a no-brainer," he said sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest pompously.

"Oh," McKay said defeatedly. "Sure."

"I can't begin to say how sorry we are," Jeanie said quickly.

"Yes well, you could start by shutting the experiment down," Rod said hopefully.

"Kai already did that," Jeanie assured him.

"And after hearing what you've told me, I see no reason to start it back up again," McKay assured Rod.

"Great," Rod said with a wide smile. "Then my work here is done. Mission Accomplished."

"Well yes," McKay agreed. "But ah, well, how did you plan on getting, you know, back?" he asked. "I mean to your own universe."

"Well, the matter bridge you created is unidirectional..." Rod dragged off.

"But that means-" Jeanie started to say.

"Yes it does," Rod said with a sad smile. He was stuck there.

><><

"All right," McKay said urgently stepping out of earshot of Jeanie and Rod as they chatted happily. "What's the game plan here?" He asked Sheppard.

Sheppard shrugged. "We put him up here in the guest room until we can find something more permanent."

"Something more permanent?" McKay asked in disbelief. "Well, we're not keeping him!"

"He can't go back," Sheppard said.

"Well that doesn't mean he has to stay here!" McKay exclaimed.

Sheppard shrugged. "He said he would rather be on Atlantis than on Earth."

"Oh I see, so he gets his way but I don't get mine," McKay whined.

"How can you not wanna be with him?" John asked. "He's you!"

"He's not me. I'm me. The real me!" McKay complained.

"I suppose it's all relative," John said with a shrug. "To Rod his reality is every bit as valid as ours. To him, we're the imposters."

McKay scrunched up his face in distaste. "What does Elizabeth have to say about all this?" he challenged.

"Two McKay's are better than one," he said.

"There aren't two McKay's!" McKay exclaimed. "There's one McKay and him!" he argued.

Sheppard stepped into the transporter as he turned to face McKay. "Whatever you say, Meredith," and he flashed a smile and hit the button to take him up to the tower.

><><

The next morning Sheppard and Kai met Teyla, Ronon, Jeanie, and Rod for breakfast. They had been eating and laughing for almost half an hour when McKay came stomping up to the table.

"What the hell is this?" he demanded.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Sheppard greeted.

"Yeah, hi," McKay snapped.

Rod was laughing. "I had a breakfast date with Jeanie it just kind of ballooned into a group affair," Rod said gesturing to everyone. "Look, sit down we're tracing back our lives trying to find the little differences in our pasts."

Teyla leaned forward. "Rod is an honorary member of the Athosian council," She informed McKay, shooting him a look that made it clear she found his current interaction with the Athosians lacking.

"And is godfather to his niece and nephews," Jeanie pointed out smiling as how uncomfortable this was all making her brother.

"Yes well, how wonderful for him," McKay muttered.

"Well it's easier for me," Rod allowed graciously, making it that much worse. "Our earth has a ZPM too, so it makes the back and forth a lot easier."

"That would," Kai agreed.

Rod turned to face her and Sheppard and hesitated, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm sorry, this is just so different." Rod said. He looked back and forth between her and Sheppard who was sitting beside her.

"Different? Different how?" Sheppard asked, the humor fading from his face. He already didn't like the sound of Rod's Sheppard. He didn't exactly sound like the kind of guy who would be with Kai.

"Well for starters Kai and Ronon..." Rod dragged off.

"What?" Kai asked in shock.

"Huh?" Ronon asked, the smile stilling on his face.

"So you guys aren't-" Rod asked wagging a finger back and forth between them.

"NO!" Kai snapped.

"Oh," Rod looked back and forth between them "Weird." He said with a shrug.

"So they're-" Sheppard started to ask, looking suspiciously back and forth between Kai and Ronon.

Rod smiled. "Together? Oh yeah, married, two kids."

Kai choked on her drink. "What?"

Sheppard stiffened beside her.

"Not so funny now is it?" McKay snapped looking far to pleased about Sheppard being uncomfortable now instead of him.

Sheppard's gaze flickered to him, but Ronon kept his eyes glued on the table. An uncomfortable silence went over the table.

"Doctor's McKay please report to the containment chamber," Zelenka's voice came over the loud speaker, saving everyone from the uncomfortable conversation. "Doctors McKay."

"Excuse me," the two McKay's said at the same time and Ronon stood to leave as well.

"I gotta get to the gym," Ronon said, excusing himself.

"Myself as well," Tyla said and she hurried off with Ronon, sensing Kai and John might need a moment alone.

"I'll just-" Jeanie said quickly and she hurried after her brothers.

John and Kai sat in silence for a few minutes. John sipped his coffee and Kai scowled at him as she felt his ire. "Are you mad at Alternate Universe me?" she asked after a moment.

"No," he snapped. "I'm sure you and Ronon are very happy together," John said petulantly."You know, I always thought-" he started to say.

Kai climbed onto the table, sitting directly in front of him with her legs on either side of his, trapping him. "There is nothing between Ronon and I, you know that," she said firmly.

"Right, right," John agreed. "Of course."

Kai snorted as she felt another flare of jealousy and leaned in brushing her lips against his, not caring who was there to see. "I'm with you," she said. "You can feel how I feel about you, so stop being a baby."

John pulled back. "I'm not a baby," he argued.

Kai shook her head, chuckling. She spun her legs around and jumped down off the table. "I have some work to do in the jumper bay," she said. "See you tonight."

><><

The next day the McKay's called everyone into the meeting room. It turned out shutting down the project on their end hadn't solved the problem. Instead, it built up power like a damn behind it leading to an acceleration of the issues in Rod's Space-time. The Alternate Atlantis had sent along a possible solution, but it turned out their solution would rip a hole in their Space-Time and result in destroying their universe.

"I'm not saying that they will be successful," Rod said. "But if it was it would flood the exotic particles that have been created on their side into this Space-Time all at once."

John rested his hands on his hips. "And that would ah..."

"Be bad," Jeanie filled in helpfully.

"Right," John agreed. "I got that."

"How bad?" Elizabeth asked.

McKay stepped forward. "Well to be honest the science gets extremely complicated, but simply put the tear would eventually swallow up the entire galaxy, possibly the universe," McKay answered.

"So," John said. "Very bad."

"Well I think we can all agree that would be bad, yes," McKay said sarcastically.

Sheppard shot McKay a disgruntled look but didn't say anything.

"Their plan will take six hours to implement," Rod informed the room.

"I suggest we do something before that," Weir said tighty.

"Well, we have an idea," Rod said.

"Actually," McKay interrupted. "Jeanie has an idea," McKay said pointedly.

Jeanie frowned, clearly uncomfortable by her brother putting her on the spot. "Well, we think we can collapse the bridge with a massive burst of energy from this side."

"And stop the creation of exotic particles on the other side at the same time," Rod added.

"How massive of a burst are we talking?" Sheppard asked.

McKay looked uncomfortable before he answered. "Everything we've got. I mean enough to severely deplete our ZPM."

Weir sighed and hung her head. "So instead of creating a new powerful energy source, we'll be sacrificing the one we have."

"Yes," McKay said uncomfortably. "We'd still be able to dial earth, just much less frequently, of course...and let's just say I wouldn't want to be around when the Wraith show up."

John sighed. "I don't see that we have a choice."

Elizabeth nodded. "All right, do it," she said, defeatedly.

><><

Zelenka and Kai were working in the lab when the McKays and Jeanie came down to implement their plan.

Radek looked down at the plans on his tablet. "Doctor Weir gave the okay for this?" he asked in surprise.

"You'd rather the universe was destroyed?" McKay asked sharply.

"Not really," Zelenka agreed.

"Rodney, can I talk to you for a minute?" Rod asked approaching his work station. McKay nodded. "Look, the Daedalus is still in orbit, I thought..." he said gesturing towards the containment chamber.

"I know what you're going to say," McKay interrupted.

"If I can beam into the energy beam, protected by my personal forcefield..."

"You'd be transported back to your own universe," McKay finished for him. "I know, I didn't bring it up because if it doesn't work..."

"Well," Rod said shrugging. "I'm willing to take that risk. I've already requested the Daedalus to execute the transport to the coordinated inside the chamber on your mark," Rod said. "That is, if you are willing to do this for me."

McKay shook his head in confusion. "But, everyone loves you here."

Rod smiled. "Yeah, but it's not home. Look, what, my Sheppard is a know-it-all, my Teyla is hard to talk to, my Kai is...well actually those two are pretty similar...although my Ronon is a little more touchy feely and happy with his family...I guess what I'm trying to say is that with all their faults they are my team. My place is with them. Besides, they're not looking for another McKay around here. They already have one."

"It's just a lesser model," McKay grumbled.

Rod shook his head. "I envy you. You say exactly what's on your mind, no matter how it makes you look. I can only imagine the freedom you must have, not caring if people like you or not."

"People don't like me?" McKay asked with a confused frown.

"Trust me, you've got it great here," Rod said. "Now, I've made some calculations. When the readings reach the levels I've indicated, you'll know whether or not I've made it home."

"I guess you just need to click your heels together, huh?"

Rod smiled. "Good luck Rodney," he said clasping his hand.

"You too," McKay called after him.

Rod turned to Zelenka. "Radek, mej se," he said. Wishing him well in Czech.

"Jeanie," Rod said and he gave her a big hug.

"Kai," he turned to hug her, but Kai held her hand out, stopping him before he could touch her.

Instead of looking offended Rod just chuckled. "I wish you and Sheppard all the best," he said genuinely.

Jeanie rushed over to McKay. "You're letting him do this?" she asked.

"I tried to talk him out of it, but you know Rod."

"Hermiod," Rod called. "Ready when you are." He turned back to the room. "I guess there's nothing left to say, but there's no place like home," and the Alternate McKay disappeared in a beam of light.

McKay rushed over to the terminal. "Where we at?" he asked.

"We are all in the green, ready for forced power output," Kai reported.

McKay stepped aside and let Jeanie push the button to activate the power shift.

Kai watched the gauges. "Power is at full," she told them.

"It's working," Zelenka said.

"Hermiod, this is McKay, commence transport."

"The bridge is already beginning to destabilize," Jeanie reported her brow furrowed in concern.

"It's not enough," McKay told them.

"ZPM is at fifty percent," Kai warned. She appreciated McKay wanting to help Rod, but she didn't like the idea of spending too much of their power.

"It's still not enough," Jeanie said, her voice breaking at the thought they might not have enough power to get Rod home.

"We have to max this out," McKay said.

"Thirty percent," Kai called calmly.

"The bridge is collapsing! We've done it!" Jeanie called happily.

"Fifteen percent," Kai's voice was tight and her fingers were poised over the command to shut down the project.

"Okay, we can shut it down now," Zelenka said urgently.

"Not yet!" McKay shouted.

"What?" Zelenka shouted in disbelief. Anything less than fifteen percent in the ZPM meant no shields. Less than ten meant no calls to earth. He couldn't believe McKay was willing to take this kind of risk.

"According to these reading if we shut it down now he won't make it," McKay snapped.

"Ten percent," Kai warned, her hand hovering over the shut down order, but it wasn't her call. She ground her teeth, if it were up to her she would have saved them all. They couldn't afford to be sentimental when they were at war with the Wraith.

"Give it a few more seconds!" Jeanie begged.

"Five percent!" Kai said tightly, knowing at this point it didn't matter. It was too late.

"Almost there....cut power now!" McKay yelled.

Kai slapped the control to shut it down, but she knew it wasn't soon enough.

"How much power did we drain?" Zelenka asked rushing to her station.

"All of it," she said.

"I drained all of it," McKay said in slow horror.

"You did the right thing," Jeanie assured him.

"Well, I suppose I would have done the same thing for me," McKay said bitterly as the true realization of what he had done hit him.
The overhead lights flickered and went out and emergency lights clicked on run by the generators.
"I am so fired."

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I hope you enjoyed the long update!