Where do I Belong? – The Finale

Chapter 9: Homeward Bound?

Tony couldn’t put into words what he was feeling looking at the alien city on the screen in front of him. There was a sense of attachment that scared the hell out of him – why would he care about something that he never before had seen in his life. The TV was having a field day as you might expect. The most common headline was Aliens Amongst Us?

Cameron’s phone went off as one might predict. There were a billion questions that he could ask but he focussed on the main one. “Why am I seeing Atlantis on NBC’s news?”

Tony snorted at the casual question to something that felt major. He kept his gaze on the tv screen. There was a sense of belonging there that he couldn’t remember in quite a while, ever in fact. What was freaking Tony out was that he couldn’t seem to shake the feeling.

Cameron looked at Tony and didn’t bother to hide his concern. The more he heard, there was one only conclusion anyone who was in the know could reach. He repeated what he heard on the phone for the benefit of Tony, the best way to attack a problem was information. “She said son found and the cloak fell. Fancy that.” Cameron had to make a decision quickly and when it came down to it, he needed to know who to trust. This was too big for him on his own to solve so he reached out to a man he knew would have their back. “General O’Neill, can you beam to our location?”

Cameron rolled his eyes at the blatant sarcasm. “I am aware that you are currently having to set the spin cycle of the century off. You should use Sheppard and Sam, they’re the most photogenic. No, Sir, I don’t want to say anymore other than I think I may have the answer to your riddle.” That was all he was willing to say over the phone but he knew that it would be enough to capture the interest of O’Neill.

O’Neill groaned. “Fine, give me ten. The President is about to go on air.”

~*~

Cameron had been telling Tony everything he needed to know while they waited for O’Neill. Given the crazy way he was about to be pulled in, they assumed they were about to be called into work rather quickly.

“Go on, you have a theory,” O’Neill said before even the beam had fully materialised.

“It’s Tony,” Cameron said, knowing even as he uttered the words that it was true. “We don’t know how but as soon as he saw Atlantis, even without being told anything, he called it ‘home’ in ancient.”

O’Neill snorted because when could their lives ever be simple? Take for instance right now, with the mess and the rush they were going to have to put on declassification. Why had it happened? Well, it was simple, one of the scientists wanted to prove they were capable of being part of McKay’s inner circle. In doing so, they triggered some new Ancient subroutine and as a result, Atlantis went searching for her missing son.

It had taken Sheppard and McKay cutting short their honeymoon to get the cloak back up. In an ideal world, O’Neill would have ordered the city to move to the arctic area as it was international waters and remote enough for the less curious to be deterred. However, right now the initial reports were that despite all of McKay’s and Sheppard’s attempts at sweet talking the city she wasn’t willing to listen.

O’Neill knew that Mitchell was right in his explanation even without testing it. It made a twisted kind of sense. “Well, it’s funny you should say that. When we ran all the samples in the Armed Services Repository for the ATA gene a few years ago, DiNozzo’s bloodwork showed an exceptionally strong expression, stronger than both mine and Sheppard’s.” O’Neill pointed out, which let Cameron know just how likely it was that he was indeed right.

Tony shrugged as O’Neill looked at him as if he might have the answers. “I have no idea why a city is claiming me as her son. I’m pretty sure my mother would object but then again, she died when I was a child.”

Jack thought about that and he was getting the feeling Mama DiNozzo may just be an Ancient, which then threw up many more questions. He had to broach the topic somehow. “Not to sound insensitive but – an alien city on tv and all that. So how did she die? And do you remember her well?”

Tony thought about it. “No. Senior just said she died in a car crash.”

Jack highly doubted that. “There are things we need to discuss and decide how much is released. For now, the only people who know who Atlantis’ son is will be the three of us in this room. You’re packed?”

“Yes, General.” They both said at the same time.

“Then let’s move out. Daedalus – beam all three of us to the mountain.”

Tony got a sense that things were going to move quickly. He knew there would be no gentle introduction to the programme but that was okay, he was a roll with the flow kind of guy. He would just make sure that he consumed every report he could. The mountain was bustling as one might expect when their secret operation suddenly broadcast to the entire world.

“General O’Neill, Colonels. Glad you’re here.”

Cameron smirked. “Where else would we be. Corporal, stow our gear in my quarters here on base.”

“Yes, Sir.”

O’Neill called the meeting to order. “Right – as you might imagine there are several things that we need to discuss. I want an update, people.”

Samantha spoke up. “The cloak on Atlantis is now back up but the scientists are in an uproar. It seems several of the systems seem to be frozen, waiting for someone’s input.”

Jack quirked an eyebrow because that was perhaps the vaguest thing he’d ever heard and that was saying something. “Someone’s input?”

She nodded and shrugged as she said it. There was not a lot she or Rodney could do when the system wouldn’t respond to Colonel Sheppard. “It’s even refusing to work for Sheppard, so we don’t know what to do.”

“Understood.” O’Neill looked at DiNozzo and they both knew who could reinitialise the system. Although now was not the time to mention that. He needed a rapid update on other parts of the Stargate programme. “How are the off-world teams?”

Hank, who was the now the General stationed at the Mountain, answered. “Only SG2 remain off-world. They acknowledged the message to return to the gate but they were six hours away from the gate itself.  We had quite a few people about to depart on leave, however I have, for now, ordered all staff to stay within the mountain in their base quarters.”

Well, it would be a tight fit but thank god they’d built the programme in a cold war bunker, the leaders were really paranoid and planned for a lot of guests should there be a nuclear war. O’Neill wasn’t going to change the orders for at least 48 hours. He’d put their airships in orbit around the dark side of the moon and confined the Peterson air squadrons to the base. It was just simple prudence until he knew how this was going to play out in the press – good or bad.

Which brought him to the one question he didn’t want to ask and left this to the open table. “How is Declassification tracking in the press?”

This time it was Tony who spoke first. “I reached out to a friend at Greenbook, they’re the ones providing NBC with their numbers. Seventy-three percent are ecstatic that ET is real. The rest don’t like the idea the news was hidden from them.”

O’Neill snorted. “So, nothing new there. Can your contact do a quiet poll for us, DiNozzo, on a few questions to help guide how we present Declassification in the press?”

“Yes, General,” Tony responded.

O’Neill smirked. “As some of you might not be aware, the Lieutenant Colonel is joining us today having done some quiet work in taking on the Trust issue without knowing what it was. Oh, and he found out about all this on the TV a few hours ago.”

Everyone looked at him in shock at how calm he was. It seemed silly, so what if aliens were real. He would deal with them the same way he dealt with humans. If they were friendly then he would be polite and friendly in return. If they were threats then he would take them out, or arrest them if it was at all possible. “Never liked starting an assignment slowly.”

That earned a few wry chuckles. O’Neill smirked. “Good, then you will be getting your backside to Atlantis and switching her back on.”

Now everyone was shocked and Tony got the feeling he was under a microscope. He could understand the scrutiny to a certain extent but he had to wonder how the General was going to explain this without expressing their suspicion.

“Sir?” Carter said, and you could tell how long they’d worked together when that was all she needed to say.

O’Neill smirked. “DiNozzo here has a very strong expression of the ATA gene. If there is anyone who can persuade Atlantis to reinitialise, it will be the Colonel. How soon can we make it happen?”

Sam checked her messages. “Whenever you want to make it happen?”

O’Neill thought about it for a second. “Once this meeting is done. Mitchell, you’ll fly DiNozzo out and collect the report from Woolsey in person. Let’s not offer any opportunities for leaks to happen.”

The meeting broke up quickly after that and Tony was on his way to Atlantis to play giant light switch or something. At least that was the impression he had from their meeting. “So we’re going to Atlantis?”

Cameron nodded. “That’s right but we’re flying there so let’s get moving.”

Tony didn’t know why he was apprehensive. It was difficult put into words what he was feeling. He knew that his life would irrevocably change once again and he wasn’t sure if he was ready. Oh – who was he kidding? It didn’t matter, he would do it and so much more to keep people safe – even face his twisted childhood.  

~*~

Tony walked into the puddle jumper and looked all around it. He peeked high and low as he watched Cameron sit in the pilot’s chair. As he did, he felt the mental equivalent of a puppy tug in his brain. He should be freaked at the idea he was communicating with an alien ship but he couldn’t. “Damn, it’s cute and chatty. Is it supposed to be?”

Cameron shook his head. “No, not that anyone else has reported.” He tapped a few controls and realised his mistake. The ATA therapy had given him the ability to fly a ship but with Tony standing inside the puddle jumper, there was no way the ship would respond to him first. Ancient technology was kind of elitist like that when it came to how it worked. “Can you think at the ship about giving me pilot control.”

“Done,” Tony said with simple trust.

Cameron let out a breath of relief as this could have gone so much worse. He would be happy to give Tony piloting lessons. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything sexier but … he was aware that now was not the time especially with the International media scrutiny so tightly focussed on them.

“Stargate command, this is Shaft, we are taking off now, engaging cloak.”

“Confirmed puddlejumper 1. Safe journey.”

And less than ten minutes later, Tony could see San Francisco bay whiz past in the viewscreen. And he was waiting to see the city up close and in person, not just a figure on the TV screen. Cameron felt the autopilot of the city kick in ready to guide the ship into its docking bay. This was it – show time.

“You ready?” Cameron asked his boyfriend.

Tony nodded, not ready to trust his voice. Time to go down the rabbit hole. “Yep, Let’s go.”

As the door released they were met by two figures. Tony saluted Sheppard as was right with the man’s recent promotion for saving the Earth. Sheppard returned it and was openly curious about Tony’s presence. Thankfully, an advantage of having arrived in the middle of a crisis was that whilst everyone was curious about Tony, no one had the time to ask invasive questions.

Cameron stepped forward. “So we’re here about a stubborn city problem?”

“Yet another fair eyed boy that Atlantis favours?” The scientist mentioned sarcastically. Ah, this must be the infamously grouchy scientist whose honeymoon had been cut short.

He saw Cameron roll his eyes and Tony could guess this was Dr. McKay. He sounded fun to talk to and Tony would do his best to strike up a friendship with the man. “That’s what they tell me.”

“You’re a marine?” The scientist asked.

“Lieutenant Colonel DiNozzo or I suspect you may prefer to call me Dr. DiNozzo.” He knew that to some scientists, hearing the doctorate helped smooth over any assumptions.

McKay sighed with exasperation as it seemed like there was a specific profile for the Stargate recruitment. “So you are another way too smart soldier who hides his smarts. Damn it, now there are two of you, Sheppard!”

Tony looked at Cameron and didn’t know whether or not he should be laughing. Cameron was no help as he looked to be in the same mood. Sheppard did finally speak now. “Atlantis is being stubborn and I would really like to get her to International Waters before the gloss shines off the fact that ET is real.“.

Tony looked up at the ceiling lost in the conversation. The amount of information running through his head right now was mind boggling. If the puddle-jumper was like an excited puppy, the city was like an excited five-year-old. “She is something else.”

McKay and Cameron stared at him in confusion and Tony frowned and yet Sheppard grinned at him. “She’s quite a girl.”

McKay rolled his eyes at the favoured son bonding moment. If this was a Hollywood movie then there would be some extra lighting and soaring music. “Yes, yes, you can bond over the city later. Right now, we need to get her moved to a safe place. So we need fair eye boy to get her online and you to move her.”

Sheppard smirked at his husband knowing just what he was thinking. “Yes, dear.”

Cameron and Tony followed the two Atlantean members through the winding corridors. Cameron couldn’t help but notice that Tony seemed to know they were going. It wasn’t a difficult assumption considering Tony was keeping up with the conversation with Sheppard and himself and not even looking at where they were going.

The Control Chair room was the guiding place of the city. It was in the heart of the city and let a person interact with the city’s functions in the purest form. The room, whilst functional, was as beautiful as any other in the city.

McKay moved over to the working consoles. “So, Colonel DiNozzo, if you can sit in the chair and think about reinitialising functions we will have an answer.”

Tony sat on the chair and felt the cushion almost mold to his body which was strange. “I need you to jolt me if it looks like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.”

Cameron nodded, as there was no way he would leave Tony stuck surfing the waves of the city’s computers. It helped Tony relax enough to focus on the task at hand. Tony felt the chair recline and let himself relax into the motion. And woah, what a rush. Tony had a sneaky suspicion that this is what entering the Matrix felt like to Neo. The city leaped to complete his wishes.

He felt Cameron squeeze his leg and he was glad of it. The man knew that touch would ground him. He switched on every system that was currently stuck. He almost went further into the systems but the touch to his leg which was weird as it almost didn’t feel like his body.

In fact, the tug to the real world got even stronger. There was something other than his own will tugging him to return to the chair room.

“Hey there. You have fun?” Cameron’s bright face was the first thing he saw.

Tony whispered. “I think I just fell into the Matrix.”

“Uh huh, well, Neo, you should know it worked.” Cameron wanted to assure him.

Tony already knew that but he was glad for the verbal confirmation. The reveals weren’t over for the day though as the room filled with an eerie white glow, almost looking like a demented alien jellyfish. Only Tony knew who it would be. The light show ended and an ethereally beautiful woman stood before them in an all too familiar white uniform of a True Ancient. The others sucked their breath in, waiting for her to speak.

“It’s time you join us, Tony, and come home.”

Tony’s mind was reeling as the others in the room stood frozen. This was so much more complicated than they even knew. Cameron squeezed his hand and Tony had felt the way he stiffened at the idea of Tony leaving. He backed away from the woman. “You died, mom, when I was eight and that is all you have to say to me?”

“You know where you belong, son, with your family.”

Chapter 10: Where do I belong?

Tony was staring at his mother, the Ancient. Yeah, no matter how many times he thought it – it was still weird. When he thought about it, Tony couldn’t remember a time when after his mother had died, he’d truly felt like he belonged anywhere. He may have found the odd place here or there where he was glad to wait … but nowhere to belong.

Tony found his voice. “Why are you here now, mother?”

She looked shocked at his harsh tone but Tony didn’t give a damn. He was too busy wondering why the mother who had supposedly died when he was eight years old, was now standing before him in a white dress looking decidedly alive.

“We have a baby Ancient!” McKay shouted.

Sheppard shushed. “Now is not the time, Rodney.”
He didn’t need to be a military strategist to know that this had the potential to go bad real quick. He could feel the city’s unease, whilst she adored DiNozzo – she hated Mama DiNozzo.

Tony snorted at McKay’s comment but he still hadn’t taken his eyes off his mother. Gibbs had always lectured him about never take your eyes off a wildcard surprise.  He should have felt joy at the return of his mother, and yet all he could feel was rage. She had left him here to rot with his father. She may be some cool uber alien but that paled in comparison to being abandoned in Tony’s eyes.

Tony had done a lot of reading in the limited time that he’d been made aware of the Stargate programme. It had centered around the Ancient race especially when Cameron and O’Neill shared his potentially freaky genetics. Information would always be power in any situation and he didn’t have enough to have the upper hand. He was glad that Cameron was standing close to him as he nearly reeled due to an onslaught of information that went straight into his brain.

He’d just had an ancient download, only he knew that this wouldn’t leak out of his mind the way it had with O’Neill. Tony knew how the Ancients policed themselves and that was what he needed to go on the attack. So what should he open with? I see the rumours of your death are exaggerated? How’s tricks?

He dismissed all of them and instead settled for a sarcastic. “Hey, mom. Long time no see. How’s life? You’d know if you’d been in mine.”

That got a snort from his boyfriend at least. Good, he’d felt Cameron tense the minute his mom had called him son. There was no way Tony would be bullied into leaving without a fight. He’d also be having words with his boyfriend once they were alone about doubt and just how serious he was about their relationship.

Tony saw the vexed look across his mother’s face, it seemed they may share looks and mannerisms but not personalities – That much was clear.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Tony wished it was because she was not used to communicating verbally, but it wasn’t. She had tried to communicate mentally but he wouldn’t let the others be dismissed from the conversation. She tried to explain it away with a weak. “I would have stayed but it was against the rules.”

“So, I am ….. what? …. against the law? Am I about to get the visit? Have you risked my life by coming here?” Tony pressed, not liking the weak answer. He knew that he was safe as Atlantis had assured him that he was. The rules were clear – the oathbreaker was punished but never a child. They were innocent of any crime committed by a parent, which was a relief.

Cameron spoke up. “Now wait a minute? What do you mean?”

Tony waved a hand at him to say don’t stress. “It will be cool, I’m sure … Right, Mom?”

“I wouldn’t risk your life, Antonius.” She replied with disbelief at being asked such a question.

Tony, however knew that it was a more than a justified question. “But what would you risk?”

The awkward silence spoke volumes all in itself. Tony stared, flatly refusing to budge on this matter. He deserved an answer to why he’d been abandoned. Also, as to why all of a sudden he was all shiny and good enough to speak to again.

She sighed. “Son, you have to realise that I couldn’t interfere in this culture. It is against the rules, and I risked banishment.”

Tony had two issues, one he knew she was lying. He’d stayed alive for this long knowing when he was being lied to – she had definitely interfered in Earth’s culture. The question in Tony’s mind was how recently? He hoped Atlantis would help him relay a message to Sheppard in his mind that he should follow his lead as he had a tentative plan.

“You had a child! There doesn’t get a much bigger interference!” Tony roared at her feigning more anger to keep her off guard.

“I know, and that is why I was punished, and I was banned from visiting.” She answered but in Tony’s eyes, she didn’t look very contrite. After all, where was the sadness or the tears? She may not be human but she was still conveying emotions only they were on the wrong end of the spectrum.

Tony wasn’t sure what she was looking for here – validation, maybe. “Still not sure why I should be buying whatever it is that you’re selling.”

There was also the suspicious part of him that just couldn’t shake the idea that she was responsible for the problems on Atlantis. If her race were so big on non-interference then being here on Atlantis was a pretty big interference, still even if the whole planet knew about Atlantis now.

She had a pleased grin on her face. “You are already so strong as you won’t let me communicate with you mentally. You are one of us, Antonius. Your birthright, your heritage is activating. You must come with me.” She pleaded.

Tony rolled his eyes and stubbornly rocked on his heels. “You know what? … I think I’m going to pass. I know who I am. I am Lieutenant Colonel Anthony DiNozzo, and I know where I belong and it is not in the sky sitting back and watching the universe pass me by. I made a commitment to the Corps, one I won’t break.”

He squeezed Cameron’s shoulder in a place she couldn’t see thanks to the angle. He was pretty committed to Cameron too but he didn’t want his mother to know that if she took his rejection badly.

She looked so angry at him and Tony couldn’t find it in him to care. It was just too bad. She doesn’t get to be an absent mom and then barge her way back into his life and make demands on him. “You shall listen to reason. Your world will be too distracted by the revelation of non-indigenous life and the ensuing conflict that is bound to occur. In fact, it is already starting riots in the European region.”

Tony did not like her smug look. She seemed to be pleased by the fact that the Atlantis reveal had caused regions to destabilise. Why would she be pleased unless that was her intention?

“Jesus Christ, woman. You don’t get it. I won’t be a willing party to whatever you’re selling. You have way too much explaining to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we have things to do. Starting with fixing your interference because I just know that you had something to do with the shield failing.”

She folded her arms and smirked at him. “The city had been searching for you ever since it returned to Terra, and stopped me from trying to find you in return. Well, I might not have got in but I gave as good as I got.”

Tony heard the others suck in a breath but they should have more faith. Plus, he was an excellent poker player, his bluff was so on point that he never lost. “Mother, I say this with my hand on my heart … you’re a real piece of work … and I thought Dad being a con man was the worst of it.”

Sheppard snickered. “And I hated being the son of Patrick Sheppard.”

Tony grinned at him. “At least he knew how to keep his money. Dad couldn’t keep hold of it for long.”

“You cannot speak to me like that … I am your mother.”

Tony snorted in disgust at her. “I repeat… You may have given birth to me but you are not my mother, they tend to have a hand in raising you!”

“They won’t let you stay.” She said so cocksure and Tony knew she was lying. Was it sad that he trusted a city more than his own biological mother?

Tony shrugged. “Well then, they can come down here and tell me but I suspect that you really don’t want that to happen.”

She stood tall and proud as if it would help her cover her concern. “And why would I care?”

Tony’s smirk turned wicked because he may now be a Lieutenant Colonel in Marines but that didn’t mean he hadn’t lost his ability to interrogate a witness. The conversation had all but turned in his favour. “Well, Colonel Sheppard … would I be right in thinking that there is a pretty big no interference policy?”

“Their punishments range from de-ascension, memory loss or my personal favourite being chained to the planet and only using your powers in defense of the planet if you alter the course of their history. You may know Chaya-Sar?”

Mama DiNozzo tried to maintain her haughty looked but it was swiftly turning to harried. “You don’t know what you mean. It was an accident.”

Tony tutted. “An accident that could very well set off world wars on my planet and what all so you could get a mother’s day card?”

She shook her head. “There are factions brewing amongst us, I am worried for my child as you are born of two worlds.”

“I have been doing just fine without you!” Tony assured her, hating every minute of this. The fact his family drama was playing out in front of witnesses. He would have told Cameron all about it but in his own time, when he was ready. Tony had to laugh at the images Atlantis, who in his mind he was starting to call Ally, was sending him. Although she was adamant that any punishment did not involve his mother staying in the city.

Tony asked Ally if there was a way to contact the ascended or to know if they were already listening. He got a picture of an ear, so he was guessing that meant they were already listening. Time to kick the interrogation up a gear and he was still going to use the others. He could tell that what his mother hated most of all was the way she was not the sole source of his attention. He couldn’t help his grin at the last image Ally sent him – it was not flattering at all toward his mother.

“What!?”

Tony smiled at her knowing it would bother her more. “Well, it’s quite simple, the city likes us more. And let’s face it if you try and use your powers to force the issue I am sure that would count as a violation of the agreement that binds your people. Then again, revealing the city to the general populace already broke the rules.”

All could see by the look on her face that Tony was right. “This isn’t over.” And she tried to disappear once more in a light show.

Tony looked up at the ceiling. “You’re goddamn right it isn’t over. You still have some explaining to do!”

~*~

Only his mother never disappeared and Tony wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. A cornered animal was always likely to strike out and he knew he got his wild card antics from somewhere.

“What did you do?”

Tony shrugged. “Wasn’t me. Was it you, Colonel Sheppard?”

“Nope.”

“Colonel Mitchell?” Tony asked.

Cameron had a smirk on his face. “Nope.”

Tony sighed. “Okay, did you do something, Dr. McKay?”

“No, I wanted the crazy lady off the city.” Was McKay’s logical and possibly infuriating answer. Cameron was going to ask him about his self-preservation instincts when this was all said and done.

Mama DiNozzo started to shake her head looking at the ceiling. “No, you can’t have. I did it for the right reasons … You have to see this. He has too much power to stay, surely you agree.”

Three new figures joined them and soon Sheppard was going to send for refreshments. He was guessing this was a council of some description. He would play along as he knew DiNozzo was hoping to get some help toward fixing the mess of their revelation.

“Lorelai, what have you done?” The one elder gentleman asked.

“Papa, Antonius needs to come home with us.”

Tony nearly stumbled into Cameron because this was getting more and more convoluted and way too much family for his liking. So Grandfather wasn’t a spoiled English Lord like his Dad had always told him. Who knew?

“Yeah about that, I am home. I have made that clear plus I need to clear up your mess. I won’t leave my people.” Tony stated, wanting to make his intentions clear.

“Nepos, your Mater has a valid point, I can sense our power running through your veins.”

Tony knew what he was talking about as it had been slowly activating since he’d stepped foot in the city. “Avus, I can’t. I would rather bind my power than leave.”

He spoke the words knowing that every word was the truth. He was sincere in his sentiment. “My world is in chaos because Mater had a temper tantrum and couldn’t speak to me like a normal person!”

“You’re my son!”

Tony bit back. “You can’t keep saying that like it absolves you of any responsibility.”

His grandfather seemed to agree. “Look at the cost of your interference.” A wisp seemed to float in front of his mother’s eyes. He was trying to deal with the fact that his mom’s side of the family could see futures. He was okay with aliens, he was, and besides, he had no stones to throw considering his genetics. He would, however, draw the line at a Blue Police Box appearing.

She gasped. “It is one city, Pater.”

“Terra would be lost forever if we don’t act. You are grounded to the home galaxy. Leave now, and I will talk you with you later!”

His mother skipped out on them quickly looking as mopey as a punished teenager. It was a ridiculous analogy considering her age and power but not an untrue comparison.

The two companions who had accompanied his grandfather disappeared moments later.

Tony asked. “Where have your friends gone?”

His grandfather smirked at him. Tony was glad to see that as he aged he had nothing to worry about. “They are fixing Terra’s problem. There will be consequences for their actions on your world.”

Tony asked the only question he could. “Like what?”

His grandfather. “The council are removing the memories of Atlantis from people’s minds within one of your Terran hours. I suggest your physicus removes any other images that are recorded.”

McKay was jumping onto a computer terminal summoning his computer skills to send one of the most sophisticated viruses he could create. The Ancients, for once, had given them a lifeline and he was not stupid enough to kick a gift horse in the mouth. He turned around. “What about us?”

The elderly agent smirked. “Oh, you three will all remember, or how will you stop the mistake repeating?”

And then he disappeared just like all their other ancient guests before them. Tony sagged as the adrenaline he’d been running on left him. “What a first day!”

Sheppard snickered. “You know what, DiNozzo, you are going to be something else. Welcome to the programme. You are going to be fun I can tell, even if you’ve shacked up with Shaft.”

Cameron groaned because he knew that Tony would hold his call sign against him, or tease him about it.

Tony, seeing how close McKay and Sheppard were standing, did the same with Cameron. “I know a good thing when I see it.”

Sheppard had a horrible thought, he trusted the ancients to do a memory wipe even if that was a scary thought. In truth, seeing just what they could achieve if they put their minds to it – he was rather glad they had their noninterference policy. “Who wants to tell O’Neill?”

The silence was deafening.

~*~

It turns out that his Grandfather was actually pretty cool and occasionally popped into his dreams to have a chat, or offer a friendly warning. For example, when there was a mission to a planet – he would give an adamant warning Tony should not go. Tony relayed the warning and after the first mission was particularly harrowing there was an unwritten rule – don’t go and block the address.

His trainees from the Academy were upset to find out he was not Air-Force but rather a Marine, except for Cadman. She liked his love of knives and they taught the other about their favorite discipline – her’s being bombs. It came in handy as she ended up as the second on his gate team. Yeah, he was working in the mountain but spent a cycle of a week on Atlantis every four weeks – to keep the city happy.

O’Neill was a cool guy though, as he sent Cameron with him – under the excuse of training the air squadron.

It was like Tony had said – he knew where he belonged now and things were not just good, they were great.