Giving In (G)

"What you do mean, you're not coming with us to..." John's voice trailed off as he stormed into Rodney's room. He looked around. "What is going on here? Rodney?" he asked warily.

"Even you are intelligent enough to see I'm packing," Rodney stated. John could hear a wobble in his voice. "I need to leave."

"You're not going anywhere without talking to me," John declared.

"This is personal and I don't have the time," Rodney replied without stopping his packing which as far as John could see consisted of throwing things at random into a bag.

"You can make time," John told him firmly.

"Elizabeth has a worm-hole scheduled to send me back to Earth in twenty minutes. I. don't. have. the. time," Rodney reiterated.

"Rodney, what's going on?" John asked. He tried to keep the whine out of his voice. He and Rodney were.... friends...

"I'm sorry," Rodney said softly, pausing for a moment. John could see the defeat.

"They're sending you back?" John asked, incredulous.

"No, no, no, nothing like that..." Rodney started.

John couldn't stand it any longer. He moved over to stand next to Rodney. "When are you coming back?" John asked gently.

"That's it. I don't know. I..." Rodney stopped again.

The tear that rolled down Rodney's cheek broke John. He turned the scientist, wrapped his arms around him and said, "I don't care what it is. I'm here. For you."

Rodney wrapped his arms around John and rested his head on his shoulder and took several deep breaths. "It's Jeannie. She's been in a car accident," Rodney told him. "She'll be mostly ok, but she's in the hospital and... and she asked for me..."

And no one's asked for you for a long time... John finished in his head. Hoping for the best, John put a hand under Rodney's chin, brought it up and leaned in for a slow, deliberate kiss. Rodney didn't react at first but as John was about to pull away, Rodney started to respond pretty enthusiastically.

"You have the worst timing," Rodney complained as they came up for air. "I've been wanting to do that for... forever and now you do this..."

John silenced him with a brief kiss, "Think of it as a promise to come home to."