Thicker Than Water

[rachael-recs.livejournal.com]

My Sheppard/McKay rec50 table.

Claim: Stargate Atlantis: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Title: Thicker than Water
Author: Julad (julad)
Characters: Sheppard/McKay
Prompt: 36 - Family
Rating: Mature
Length: Novella
Brief summary: I was tempted to put this on my 'comfort fic' list, but decided to use it for the family slot instead. John and Rodney end up spending some of their vacation away from the SGC with Rodney's sister, who has 2 kids and a rough divorce. The beautiful thing about this story is how well the original characters are drawn -- Jeanie and her kids, John's dad -- all very believable and they never overwhelm the story.

And did I mention the ski holiday?


It had been so long since he'd felt the soles of his feet against carpet, John walked around the room aimlessly for a while, luxuriating in the softness. After a while he paused at the window, looking out at a snowy suburbia under the streetlights, glistening like a fairy tale. He watched as the babysitter headed briskly down the street, huddled in her jacket, and then disappeared into a house a few doors down. There were clanking kitchen sounds coming from below, and shortly, the smell of food drifted up.

Rodney appeared, damp and wearing clothes that were new as well. He must have found time to go shopping, in between setting the entire field of astrophysics to rights. The shirt was green, and it took John a minute to realise how rarely he'd seen Rodney in anything but blue or black. "Jeannie just said dinner's nearly ready," Rodney told him. "Do you want to go down?"

"Sure," John said. He hadn't really thought about food since he'd been back, but now his mouth was watering at the thought of it.

"Is this okay?" Rodney said anxiously, gesturing at the room and shared bathroom. "I didn't ask if you'd rather stay in a hotel, but we could go tomorrow."

"Here's cool," John told him, and leaned in to steal a quick kiss, because he was weirdly glad to be here, in Rodney's sister's ex-husband's house, wearing new jeans and a new black t-shirt, inhaling the faint scent of air-freshener like it was something he hadn't known he'd missed. A certain tenseness inside him was unclenching, just from being here, even as a stranger.

"Mm," Rodney said, and took another kiss. John put a hand on his neck and stepped closer, fairly sure Rodney wouldn't go any further here and now, but willing to try his luck. Rodney's hand settled into the small of his back, pressing him in. That was something only Rodney had ever done to him, and it never failed to make John want to do anything Rodney asked. Rodney kissed him harder, and John opened his mouth to let him in.

"Whatcha doin'?" one of the boys said, standing in the open doorway, one hand on the doorknob and the other holding a toy train. They whipped apart.

"Uh, freaking out?" Rodney said, faintly, but the boy just held the train out.

"It's broken! Mom said you could fix it after dinner but I want to play now."


Link to the story: Thicker than Water