Work Text:
When John returned (home) from Earth after his father's funeral and the mission (adventure) that had followed, there's a calmness about him, a softening around his jaw, his shoulders almost imperceptibly looser. Most people wouldn't have noticed, couldn't see the difference, but Rodney, who could write a thesis on the nuances of John Sheppard's body, his movements and moods, Rodney noticed. And when John looked up at the stairs that lead to the control room and saw Rodney walking down, toward him, to meet him, he smiled, and although Rodney wasn't close enough to see them he knew the tiny lines at the corners of John's eyes were there, it was a smile that would reach to his eyes.
Ronon clapped him--them both--on the shoulder and walked in the direction of the infirmary, leaving Rodney to ask how the return to Earth had been.
John smiled again, if a bit sadly, and Rodney left it at that, never pushing for more, never asking, later, in John's quarters, what was held in the small mahogany box that John removed from his duffel bag and placed on the corner of his desk before shedding his clothes and crawling on the bed toward Rodney.
Rodney wakes up to find he's alone. He turns on the light beside the bed and scans his room--John's pillow is still dented, but the bed beside him is cool and John's nowhere to be found. Not within immediate sight, that is.
He's pulling on his robe when the door opens with a quiet ssshhh and John steps through and stops, frozen, as though he'd been caught in the act, the mahogany box held in his hands.
"What the--" Rodney starts, his words stopped--swallowed--by John's hand on his face, John's mouth covering his own in a silencing kiss.
Rodney lets John walk him backward to the bed, follows John's hands that urge him to sit on the edge, and stays silent as John kneels in front of him.
John opens the box and reaches inside, taking Rodney's open hand and presses whatever it was he retrieved into Rodney's palm.
When Rodney looks there's a ring--a dulled gold band to be specific. He looks from John to the ring. John offers no explanation and so Rodney picks up the ring, the outside is smooth, a plain gold wedding band, but on the inside, he sees an inscription. Forever, Amanda. 2/29/60.
"He left it to me. Not Dave. He wasn't buried with it. He left it to me. " John looks at Rodney's hand, looking only at the end at Rodney's face. "For me."
John takes the ring from Rodney's hand and slips it over the ring finger on Rodney's left hand.
"John, I can't-- how would I explain this?"
"I know." John curls Rodney's fingers toward his palm. "Keep it?"
"Yes." Rodney answers, uncurling his hand, holding John's face as he leans forward and kisses him, the metal band around his finger warming against their skin.
/fin