Mt. Rushmore Or Bust

by Belladonna

URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asb/belladonna/mtrushmo.php
Summary: Missing scene from The Sentinel and Guide of Atlantis. John takes Rodney, Jim and Blair to Mt. Rushmore. And Rodney and John decide to stop dancing around each other.

"Geez, Rodney! What's taking so long? Are you surfing for porn?"

The four men were lounging on a blanket in the park, which was close enough to get wireless internet for Rodney's computer. He flapped a hand at John as he waited impatiently. "Just a minute. Okay, okay, in Rapid City I've found a hotel with two rooms, kingsized beds and..." he tapped some more, "both have whirlpool tubs and room service. Will that do for you, your Majesty?" he finished acidly.

John exchanged a smirk with Jim as they lazed on the blanket they'd bought at a local Wal-Mart. "Sounds great, Rodney. I guess Jim and me will share a room and..."

Blair leaped over Jim and pounced onto a laughing John. "I don't ~think~ so, Buster!" he scowled. Jim easily plucked his Guide off of the laughing man and soothed him with a kiss.

"Relax, John and Rodney get to share the other room," Jim said, quirking a smile at the open mouthed Rodney.

"I didn't think... I can get another... you ~told~ me to get two rooms!" Rodney squeaked before John put a finger to his mouth, startling the scientist into blushing like a peony.

John smiled at Rodney. "It'll be fine, Rodney. After all, we've shared tents, right?"

Rodney nodded and John let his finger drop, both men a little flushed which made Blair smother a snicker into Jim's shoulder.

*

They checked into the hotel, Rodney gleefully setting up his computer to the wireless network.

"Isn't that dangerous?" John asked as he hung up a couple of shirts.

"Please," Rodney scoffed. "I'm not a genius for nothing. I have a program that will crush any virus or spyware trying to get into my computer. I wasn't born yesterday, you know."

John rolled his eyes. "Sorry, 'Oh mighty genius'. What was I thinking?"

Rodney snickered and finished typing in his commands. "Seriously. This computer has all sorts of top-secret stuff."

Oh. Shit. "Should you have taken it out of the SGC?" John asked mildly.

"Of course, I can protect it as well as they can. Better in fact."

Of course. John had to laugh sometimes at Rodney's superiority complex. What was bad is that the physicist was almost always right. "Just makin' sure," he said.

Rodney spun the chair to look at John. "Seriously, you're okay with sharing a bed, because if not I can..." and stopped when John held up a hand.

"Seriously," John echoed with grin. "It's fine."

There was a brisk knock on their door. "You guys busy? 'Cause we can come back later," came Blair's laughing voice.

"Har har," Rodney called back. "You might as well come in, you've killed the mood," he added and John laughed as Jim and Blair came into their room.

"Nice," Jim said with a straight face. "It looks just like ours."

Blair sighed dramatically and flopped down onto the king sized bed. "I'm starving! They've got to have steak around here."

"Mmm, real steak, ~not~ mystery meat," Rodney groaned, his eyes glazing over. It made John wonder what Rodney looked like when he had sex.

*

The men ended up at the locally famous Harold's Steakhouse. They ordered enormous steaks, baked potatoes and vegetables (Blair insisting after a mind numbing lecture about heart disease and how pissed Carson would be if someone had a heart attack), eating and talking about the area.

John had flown them over Mt Rushmore that morning, after getting permission from the local Base commander. Rodney had talked their ears off about ratios of stone to explosives and stuff that Blair listened to avidly and Jim and John mostly tuned out.

After their dinners they walked downtown, checking out the Native American art and shopping, with Blair picking out gifts for people back in Atlantis. Then on St. Joseph and Main, Blair and John vied to list as many facts of the Presidents whose life-sized bronze statues lined the street, making Jim and Rodney laugh at the more bizarre ones that were obviously made up on the spot.

As they walked back to their hotel, Rodney became quiet. His eyes frequently darted towards John, his mind trying to untangle the puzzle that was one Colonel John Sheppard. Military, yet willing to throw out the rulebook when it came to something important. Like saving Rodney's life, over and over. Best friend, unexpected confidant, partner in crime, maybe more? And was he ready for that?

"Rodney, you okay?" John asked, shoulders brushing his.

Rodney looked at John, seeing everything he'd ever wanted in a partner, and he smiled. "Why wouldn't I be? I was dragged to the middle of rural America to find our runaways, almost poisoned with apples like Snow White and have to stare at American Presidents, hello, ~Canadian~ here, during my vacation."

Blair busted into laughter. "Oh Rodney, we're so sorry to have inconvenienced you."

"And so you should be," Rodney said self-righteously, though he knew he was smiling. He only had a handful of people he considered friends, and three of them were with him right at that moment. He might even consider himself happy, he thought as he met John's eyes.

*

It was late when the men finally decided to head to their separate rooms. John cleared his throat nervously as he unbuttoned his shirt. Rodney's eyes met his in the mirror and then Rodney turned. "What are you thinking?" he asked abruptly.

"Um," John stared, his hand clutching his shirt. "That I'd like to kiss you," he blurted suddenly.

Rodney let out a relieved sigh. "Oh thankgod! I wasn't sure if I was the only to feel like this because emotions really are unquantifiable..." and he stopped as John pressed dry lips to his. The kiss was short and sweet and both men pulled back to stare at one another.

"Have you ever done this?" John asked quietly.

Blink. "Sex?"

John rolled his eyes. "With a man, was what I was asking."

"Yes! Well, no, not exactly," Rodney shook his head. "A scientist in Russia gave me a blowjob but that's about it," he said.

"More than I've done," John quipped with a smile. "Well, we're pretty smart guys, between the two of us we should be able to figure this out. Right?"

Rodney grinned. "Which is why we have internet!"

This made John snort and pull Rodney close. "Tell me if I do anything wrong," he whispered and bent his head to kiss him again. The kiss deepened, and when Rodney opened his mouth John let his tongue dip inside, startling a moan out of both men.

John felt Rodney's fingers as they slipped into his shirt to touch him and he shivered, feeling like he was going to come in his pants just from Rodney's touch. He used his own fingers to lift Rodney's t-shirt, startling a gasp and then a laugh from the scientist.

"You're ticklish?" John asked with delight.

"No!" Rodney pouted, pulling John for a kiss as if he hoped to distract him, and John had to admit that it worked.

Naked and in bed they both found themselves fumbling, and laughing in between gasping as cocks were gripped and fondled and rubbed. John looked into Rodney's eyes as they climaxed, and fell so deeply in love that he wondered if he'd ever recover, and as he held the other man close, hoped that he never would.

~

Jim raised his head from where he'd been sucking on Blair's cock and stared at the wall. "Jim-mmmm," Blair whined, thrusting his hips up.

"I think they finally bought a clue," Jim said with satisfaction.

Blair smiled. "About damn time, now suck me," he demanded.

With a growl, Jim did exactly that.

~

John was waiting for Rodney, a cup of coffee ready for his new lover when Blair bounced over with his cup of tea and sat down with a wicked grin.

"Good morning," John said warily. When Blair was in this good of mood then he needed to be worried.

"Good morning," Blair chirped. "So, you and Rodney, huh?" he said smugly.

John jerked his cup of coffee, slopping it onto the table as he stared at Blair. "How..." then he groaned. "Damn Sentinels," he muttered as he wiped up the spilled coffee to the tune of Blair's delighted laughter.

~

Rodney stepped outside of his room and rolled his eyes at Jim. The taller man was holding up the wall between their rooms, obviously waiting for him.

"Jim."

"I was so right."

"Yeah, yeah," Rodney rolled his eyes. "You were right. I hope you're happy."

Jim sniffed delicately. "Oh, I am, and it smells like you are as well."

Violently blushing, Rodney thumped Jim's arm indignantly. "Ohgod, can you ~not~ use your freakish abilities on me?" he whined, making his friend laugh.

~

You couldn't actually go up to the base of Mt. Rushmore. Which didn't matter, Rodney had pointed out, unless you wanted to see the inside of President's nostrils. But standing at the viewpoint was awe-inspiring enough.

"Did you know the land belonged to the Lakota Sioux?" Blair said blandly, his eyes flashing angrily as he gazed at the sculptures of the four presidents. "They called the mountain, before we white people started blowing it into bitty pieces, Six Grandfathers. And the man who carved Mt. Rushmore was actually a member of the Ku Klux Clan!"

Jim put an arm around his partner to stop the impending lecture on the persecuted peoples of the United States. "Let the history go, Chief and appreciate the art."

"Hey, it says that no workers died as they made it. That's remarkable!' Rodney said, impressed.

John leaned forward so he could see Blair. "Blair, they're making a bigger monument to honor Crazy Horse, and the people aren't using government money for it so the tribes can have all of the say in how it's run."

Blair brightened. "I didn't know that! How did you know?"

A shrug. "My grandmother may be Lakota," he explained with a smile.

Rodney shot John an interested look. "I wonder if that is what the common denominator is? I understand the General has Indian blood as well."

"Mm," John nodded. "I believe he has some Ojibwe and Sioux, also."

Blair's eyes blazed and Rodney snapped his finger and as both men were about to burst out in whatever babble about genomes and Native Americans and scientific gobbledygook, their partners quickly covered their mouths. "Not now," Jim and John chorused.

Both men scowled at their partners and John exchanged a grin with Jim before looking back at Rodney. "Civilians? Top secret? Ring a bell?"

Rodney snorted as John released his mouth. "Yes, yes," he grumbled as he saw the loads of parents and kids that were all around. "But just so you know, we're so not done with this conversation."

John rolled his eyes. "I was in no danger of thinking you were done, Rodney."

~

Blair was driving their rental BMW (there had been a whole argument that involved a lot of whining and playing the 'I was ~dead~' card, and puppy eyes before John would relinquish the wheel to Blair) when a cell phone rang. Everyone checked the one they'd been given, and John cursed. "It's me."

"Well, answer it," Rodney said.

"Colonel Sheppard," John answered, suppressing a wince. He'd recognized the number.

"Colonel, how's South Dakota?" General Landry asked mildly, his voice loud enough to hear in the quiet German-engineered car.

"It's nice, sir," John answered earnestly.

"That's good. Can I have my airplane back, please?"

Another wince. "This afternoon, sir."

"Good. One more thing, tell Ellison and Sandburg that the brass are relieved that they haven't heard about any modern day miracles and we'd like to keep it that way. See you in my office when you arrive, Colonel." And the phone went dead.

"Crap," John said as he close his phone.

"I think they caught us, my pretty," Rodney quipped.

John shrugged and leaned over to kiss Rodney. "It was worth it."

"Aw, aren't they cute," Jim quipped.

~

It was early morning and Landry watched as the Atlantis veterans and the new people mingled in the gateroom. He and the Joint Chiefs considered it a miracle that they'd done so well under only a Major, a brilliant but arrogant Canadian Scientist, and a civilian, but by God they'd done it.

Now, unbeknownst to the group below, their lives had changed again. The SGC had received a data burst the night before, notifying them of Dr. Weir's death. He knew that Jack had planned it that way, making sure the Joint Chief's didn't have time to change their mind about who was in charge of Atlantis, both in its civilian capacity and militarily.

Personally, he was glad that Jack and Dr. Jackson were on the front lines of the new battle. And that they would be backing up Sheppard and McKay.

"General?"

Landry glanced over. "Dial it up."