Wedding Duty (G)

Rodney never was sure how they ended up on 'wedding duty' but it would make for a good story once they got back to Atlantis.

He and John were on Earth for their own annual personnel reviews, some down time and were scheduled to return to Atlantis on the Daedalus. Only the Daedalus had been requisitioned by the IOA to provide security for the Royal Wedding. Caldwell, in his turn, had decided that John and Rodney might as well help his crew. The advantage was that the minute the newly-weds were off on their honeymoon they were free to leave for Pegasus.

"Nothing, nothing and more nothing," Rodney reported, looking at his computer screen. He was looking for any unexpected energy spikes that might indicate a weapon powering up. It was an interesting exercise in the fine grain control he could get through a life signs detector – the sheer number of people on Earth and all the background energy made it easier and harder to look for potential problems.

"Looks good from here," John reported from across the room. There were pilots in their seats in the 302 bay, ready to take off as soon as needed. They also had a Jumper in the cargo bay ready to send out in case any of the Royal Family needed to be evacuated for any reason.

The British were a major supporter of the Stargate program, providing both people and money, so it wasn't too hard to agree to help make sure a happy occasion stayed that way.

"Kate's on her way," Rodney announced, seeing the uptick of commotion on his screens.

"Right on time," John replied.

"Brits are good at pomp and circumstances," Rodney said.

John came across the room and leaned over Rodney's shoulder to watch the screen with the news feeds they were watching. They were all muted since Rodney was paying more attention to his own monitoring program.

"Everyone's in the church," Rodney reported about fifteen minutes later. "Nothing."

"Good news," John said. "Nothing is good news."

Rodney turned half an eye on the single news feed from Westminster Abbey. This was a 'pool' feed that all of the news agencies were using for their broadcast. Controlling the video made security simpler for all the agencies providing it. Once the IOA stepped in, the Palace gratefully pushed all the security for the wedding day to the Stargate program. An annoying number of foreign security agencies had requested to 'check over' the Abbey since one of their dignitaries would be there. Jack O'Neill consulted with his British counterpart and they agreed to do one walk-through for everyone. Of course, they didn't show off the shield that could be brought up around the altar as needed. Rodney had come up with that and was rather proud of it… although he had crossed his fingers, hoping it wouldn't be needed at all.

John reached over his shoulder and turned up the volume on the ceremony a bit.

I, William Arthur Philip Louis… take you…. Catherine Elizabeth… to be my lawfully wedded wife…

John leaned in casually and rested one shoulder against Rodney's. Rodney could feel the heat soaking through their jackets.

"I wish we..." John said softly, his breath tickling Rodney's ear.

"You wish what?" Rodney asked absently.

"Ummm… you know..." Rodney could feel the slight shrug against his shoulder.

Oh! Rodney looked up at John, "Really?"

John sucked in his lower lip and stuck out his chin, the way he did when he was thinking hard and fast about something. Rodney secretly thought it made him look about three years old but since it was also adorable, he didn't tease John about it.

John nodded, "Well, not like that but... Yeah."

Rodney paid closer attention to the ceremony. He listened as Kate repeated the vows after the Archbishop of Canterbury, softly but clearly. John kept his shoulder against Rodney's and Rodney leaned back, just a little.

"We could, you know," Rodney said as calmly as he could while his heart raced.

John must have had his spidey-sense working, he moved away from Rodney and was across the room as Caldwell came in.

"Everything okay here?" Caldwell asked.

With a small grin, Rodney replied, "We're good."