Melissa Scott: The Inheritors

"It does," she said. Teyla blinked into the sun, because of course it was that the glare hurt her eyes. "You were willing to be the sacrifice, and then you did not have to be. You have broken the geas. You have left it behind. And now there is your life before you."

"Maybe so," he said, and took a drink of coffee. "Maybe so." The wind tugged at his hair, and he smiled into the eye of the wind.

"And in us the Ancients have secured their future also; you, Ronon, even Rodney, might father a child one day."

"Pretty scary," John said. "Rodney being a father, I mean…"

Teyla smiled. "I would not be sorry to have another child someday myself."

"It probably wouldn't have the gift, not like you and Torren…"

"Nor would Rodney's, I think. Nor would any child of yours likely have a naturally expressed ATA gene," she said, leaning against the rail beside him. "They would all be only human."

And yet both legacies would live in their blood, recessives carried forward down the centuries, the inheritance of the Ancients.

The doors slid open again and Ronon came out, checking when he saw them. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt."

"Come on out, Ronon," John said. "It's a beautiful day."

"Please," Teyla said.

Ronon came over and stood against the rail beside John, taking a deep breath and seeming to straighten up from somewhere deep inside, looking out at sky and sea. "It is," he said.

"I was thinking that we needed to finish checking out that Ancient outpost you found," John said. "How about taking an archaeological team over there tomorrow?"

"Sure," Ronon said, and smiled.

John returned Ronon's smile, and then turned to gaze out at the white-capped sea that stretched out to meet the bright sky arching overhead. It was a good place for Atlantis, John thought, and good flying weather. He was itching to take a jumper up into it, to explore without the constant worry he'd felt since Rodney had first been captured by the Wraith.

The balcony door slid open as if in answer to his thought, and Rodney came out onto the balcony, pulling his jacket around him in the brisk breeze. He hesitated, and John beckoned him over to the balcony. Rodney leaned on the railing, his elbows next to Teyla's, his white hair catching the light. It was still weird, but John figured if it didn't grow back in brown, they'd all get used to it.

He glanced over at Ronon, who'd been visibly tense about dealing with Rodney ever since they'd gotten him back from the Wraith. Ronon seemed at ease, looking out over the railing at the horizon, his hair stirring in the breeze.

"So I've been thinking that we should investigate the Ancient outpost over on the island," Rodney said. "I'm not convinced there's nothing interesting left over there."

"Way ahead of you," John said. "But not today. We're taking today off."

"What, you don't think searching for Ancient technology is fun?"

Ronon looked at Rodney sideways down the rail. "Remember the man-eating bears?"

"We don't know that they're man-eating."

"They looked like they wanted to eat us."

"The cave-in probably took care of all the bears, right?"

Ronon shook his head, but he looked amused. "We should check it out when it's not our day off. I won't let the bears eat you."

"Thank you," Rodney said. "Thank you very much." His tone was a little too serious.

Ronon shrugged. "You're my team. All three of you."

"No one is letting bears eat anyone," John said. "And today is a nice day, and we do not have to deal with any bears today."

"Sometimes I wonder how we wound up having a life where that's a normal thing for someone to say," Rodney said.

John looked up at the clear blue sky, remembering with sharp clarity the moment when he'd flipped a coin high into another sunny sky, trusting his future to its fall.

"We walked through the Stargate," he said. He'd chosen then without knowing what he was getting into, or even what he wanted. He knew now, and he'd make the same choice now, open-eyed, every time. "I think that was a pretty good choice."

"I believe it was, too," Teyla said, and she leaned into the circle of his arm.

Beyond the balcony, the sea stretched out sparkling until it met the blue arch of the sky, as blue as the rising towers of Atlantis, bright and wide and waiting for them.