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PROLOGUE.Doctor Clayton Forrester knew that trusting people who attended the mad scientist convention was a mistake. After all, every one there was evil and wanted to rule the world. But he also had a little faith that the “mad scientist code” would stop attendees trying to kill or con each other. After all, it was a written rule (rule number 7b, if you wanted to be technical) so he took a chance on a Russian called Vlad, who had shown Forrester a very large circle.
Granted, it didn’t look too impressive, but Vlad was a good salesman, and convinced Forrester to at least think about it.
“What did you say it was?”, Forrester asked.
“Transportation device”, Vlad replied, pointing at it as if he was a host on some home shopping channel. “You can travel anywhere with this device. You just step through it, and off you go”.
Forrester frowned. “Off I go where?”, he asked. He was thinking to himself that being able to go anywhere in the world, at a moment’s notice, would be a good thing. No baggage allowance to contend with.
“Anywhere you want”, Vlad replied, with a cheesy ‘tv host’ smile. “The possibilities are endless. And it’s so quick. You can get there and back in moments”.
And that’s what had sold it to Forrester. Being able to slip away from the afternoon, without having to put in a vacation request at the Gizmoplex. He could go anywhere he liked, and not have to worry about packing or finding hotel accommodation.
So, he bought it. For a bargain price (according to Vlad) of $250,000 that Forrester had won on the tables and machines in Vegas, where the mad scientist convention was being held.
Of course, Forrester had soon realized that he was very wrong to trust Vlad, as he hadn’t bought some transportation device. He had bought....a large metal circle. No matter what Forrester did, he couldn’t get the circle to work. And Vlad had disappeared (according to some sources Forrester had spoken to, Vlad had gone deep underground) and Forrester had no money, and a large circle.
And, in order to hide the fact he had been duped, he had hid the large circle on the Satellite of Love. It wasn’t been used. And Forrester knew that there was a good chance nobody would ever find it and discover his very costly mistake.
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CHAPTER ONE. ATLANTIS.“I think that I have it working”, Doctor Rodney McKay told Elizabeth Weir, as he walked into her office.Elizabeth looked up at him, from her desk, where she was sitting. “You think, or do you know?”“I know”, he decided on, despite not really knowing if he had fixed the problem with the Stargate.“Are you sure?”, Elizabeth asked, sounding unconvinced. “Rodney, I don’t want to send Major Sheppard through the gate again, without knowing exactly where he and his team are going”. She frowned. “He got a surprise when he was heading for PX8634 and ended up three foot deep in water”.Rodney was embarrassed. It was only a little malfunction. “Zelenka said it was okay”, he decided on. That was his philosophy. If he could blame a mistake on someone else, he would.But, the truth was, Rodney was feeling bad for putting his friend in danger. He didn’t mean to, but he wouldn’t admit to feeling bad about it.“I’m not going through that gate again until I know that it’s safe”, John Sheppard said, as he, too, walked into Elizabeth’s office.Rodney turned to face his friend. “I’ve fixed the gate, you can go through it anytime you want”.“You said you fixed it when we went to PX8634”, Sheppard reminded him. “And we found ourselves three foot deep in water. PX8634 is a desert planet”.Rodney nodded, “As I mentioned to Elizabeth, Zelenka said he had fixed it”.“Zelenka has been in sick bay half of the day. After falling in the water”, Elizabeth reminded Rodney. “Face down. He had some kind of panic attack”.“Yes, well, he should have checked where he was going before he let the team go through the gate”, Rodney said, quietly.Sheppard nodded, “I’m glad that you said that”, he smiled. “You are gonna go through the gate before I let my team go through it”.Rodney didn’t like that idea. “Why me?”, he asked, panicked.“You just said Zelenka should have checked the gate before we went through”, Sheppard reminded him. “And you have been working on the gate since we got back”.Elizabeth nodded in agreement. “You did just say that the person working to fix the gate should make sure the gate is working”.Rodney frowned, “I technically didn’t say that”.“It’s what you meant”, Elizabeth told him. “Look, Rodney, all you have to do is go to PX8634. Dial up the gate and come back”.“And what if I get stuck there?”, Rodney asked, horrified at the thought. “How am I meant to get back?”Sheppard had an idea. “The Prometheus”, he said. “We can get to it from our gate. Just dial that, go there, and if there’s any issues, you’re in the right place”.Rodney didn’t really want to do this, but he knew that he had no option. After all, he had been dismissive of Zelenka for not doing the same. And, he was certain that he had fixed the gate. He was Rodney McKay. Genius. Of course he had fixed the gate. So what could go wrong?A couple of hours later, Rodney was about to go through the Stargate in Atlantis to (hopefully) the Prometheus ship. There, Rodney could dial back in to Atlantis, and prove that the gate worked.“You ready?”, Sheppard asked.No, Rodney didn’t know why, but he felt that something right. He was actually doubting himself. It happened all of the time, but he didn’t let anyone see his doubts. No, on the outside Doctor Rodney McKay was arrogant and rude and dismissive of anyone else’s abilities. But, on the inside, Rodney was filled with doubts and insecurities and he was neurotic. He was not good at admitting that he wasn’t perfect.“Ready”, he lied. He looked at the Stargate. It was already dialled, and ‘connected’ to (hopefully) the Prometheus. He took a deep breath. Here goes.As he started to walk through the gate, his anxiety started to build and he was sure something was going to go wrong. SATELLITE OF LOVE.Joel Robinson was down at a storage bay, gathering stuff for the robots. He had decided to make them a winter scene. Apart from a time when Gypsy was sick the bots hadn’t really experienced snow, and he had decided to use white dust sheets on the floor of the bridge and build snowmen using things that he found in the storage bay. He was going to programme Gypsy to make some fake snow.He was looking for some clothes for the snowmen that he was going to build, and the storage bags had boxes of unused clothes. He was heading for that bay when he heard a strange whooshing noise from the inside of one of the other bays. Joel had never heard that noise before. And then something strange happened.“Intruder on board”, Magic voice announced.Joel didn’t know what was going on. There wasn’t an intruder on the Satellite of Love. How would they get in? It wasn’t like it was easy to access. If it was, Joel would have found a way to leave.And then he heard more noises. He suddenly felt that he wasn’t alone. Any other person would have freaked out at that realisation, but Joel Robinson wasn’t the kind of guy who got freaked out by anything. Chill was his default.He decided to go and see what was going on so he opened the storage bay door....and saw a man standing in the middle of the room. The large circle thing, that Joel had no idea what it was, was glowing blue air and the man looked dazed and confused.“I’m going to take a guess and say this isn’t the Prometheus “, the man said, in a quietly, depressed tone.Joel smiled. He noticed the uniform that the man was wearing. It looked military, which Joel wasn’t sure was a good or bad thing, but the man looked too confused to pose a risk to Joel and the bots.“Right, it’s the Satellite of love”, Joel replied. “I’m Joel Robinson. I, um, live here with my robots”.The man looked at Joel. “Robots?”“Yeah, Tom Servo, Crow, Gypsy, Cambot”, Joel answered.The man groaned. “I knew something would go wrong when I went through the Stargate”, he mumbled.Joel was confused. “Stargate?”The man pointed to the circle. “Cool”, Joel continued. “I always did wonder what it was”. He noticed the man had a name written on his bullet proof vest. “Mckay?”, Joel asked.“Rodney McKay”, the man introduced himself. “And I’m not sure how I get back home. I think that I am stuck here”.Joel shrugged his shoulders, “That makes two of us”, he replied, in a casual tone.
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MST3K/SGACHAPTER TWO.“I need to get back to Atlantis”, Rodney said, as he and Joel walked onto the bridge on the Satellite of Love. Rodney saw a gold robot and a red and white robot standing, looking at him.“Whose the doughy guy?”, the gold robot asked.“Crow”, Joel scalded. “Rodney is a guest here. You’ll be nice to him”.Rodney didn’t know how he felt to be described as ‘doughy’ , but that was the least of his problems now.“Joel, how did he get here?”, the red and white robot asked.“You know that large, round thing that’s in storage bay 4? Well, it’s some kind of transportation device”, Joel explained. “Rodney, this is Tom Servo”.Rodney smiled at the robot (how did this happen?) “Hi”.“The problem is, Rodney”, Joel said, in a casual tone. “We are trapped up here. In space”.“Trapped?”, Rodney wasn’t sure that he understood.Joel nodded. “Yeah, I was kidnapped by a mad scientist, Doctor Clayton Forrester, who sent me up here to watch cheesy movies”, he explained. “And I made my robots to keep me company”.Rodney looked at the other man. He was tall and slim build, and had brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a red jumpsuit, and even though he looked like some kind of stoner, he obviously was a lot smarter than he looked.“You built the robots? By yourself?” Rodney couldn’t hide how impressed he was.Joel shrugged, “I was a janitor at the Gizmonic institute “, he said.“A janitor?”, Rodney blinked. “How can a janitor build robot’s ?”“Well, every employee had to create things”, Joel replied. “And being a janitor meant I didn’t have as much stress as the scientists did”.Rodney couldn’t help but smile. “I only met you a few minutes ago, but I don’t Imagined you get stressed too easily “.“Oh, he has his moments”, Tom Servo said.“He once dressed me up as Judy Garland and made me sing show tunes”, Crow replied.Joel laughed, “I also gave my bots free will, Imagination and sarcasm”, Joel said.Rodney sighed, “If you are so smart, then why don’t you find a way to get off the satellite?”, he asked.“There isn’t one”, Joel replied, casually. “I just have to wait for Forrester to get bored, and bring me down”.“And by that time, he would have died of old age”, Crow added.Rodney couldn’t understand why Joel wouldn’t have thought of a way to get escape. Unless, he didn’t want to.Rodney could understand that. Sometimes being the smartest person in the room was also being the loneliness person in the room.“Its not so bad”, Joel said. “I don’t have to worry about any of the life stuff other people have to worry about”.Rodney thought of something. “I left everything on earth to go to Atlantis, and we didn’t know how long it would be, or even if, we could come back”, he announced. He sighed. “I’m not even supposed to be talking about this. It’s all top secret”.“Who am I gonna tell?”, Joel smirked. “My social circle is a little...small at the minute”.Rodney nodded, “Joel, if we work together, then I think we could find a way to get off this satellite and get you back to earth”.
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MST3K/SGACHAPTER THREEJoel thought that the new resident of the Satellite of Love was a little high strung, but he could understand that. Apparently he had come through some gate on his way to some ship.Joel didn’t pretend to understand the logistics of what the other man was saying, he was just happy to have some human company. It had been so long since he had even been in the same room as another human, and even though Joel did pretend that the situation didn’t get to him. It did, sometimes.“What do you think that we can do to get you back to...where you need to be?”, he asked Rodney.Rodney sighed, “I don’t know, I don’t suppose you have any idea how we can get back to Atlantis or Earth?”Joel laughed, “Man, I didn’t even know Atlantis existed until you came through that circle”.“Its a Stargate”, Rodney corrected, firmly. “Not a circle. It’s a lot more technical than that”.“Joel, I think that the guest needs to take a chill pill”, Crow spoke up.Rodney looked at the gold robot. “Im sorry, I just don’t take well to....things”, he shook his head. “And I’m apologizing to a robot”.“Hey, I get it”, Joel smiled. “And we will help you as much as we can, just tell me what you need me to do”.“Well, I don’t have a way to dial home”, Rodney replied. “I need to put the address in the dial, for the wormhole to connect to Atlantis”.Joel had an idea. “Forrester might know where that is”, he suggested.“Joel”, Tom Servo said, “I don’t think that Forrester will tell you where something is that could help us escape”.Joel knew his robot was right, but there was another way. “Frank”.“They have a temp working there”, Gypsy appeared, through the door to the bridge. Rodney jumped when he saw the pink robot with miles of black tubing. “He’s helping them audit”.Rodney looked at Joel. “Another one of your robots?”, he asked.“Gypsy. She controls the higher functions of the satellite”, Joel smiled. “Maybe this temp could help us. Have you spoken to him, Gypsy?”“Yes, and he seems like a nice guy”, Gypsy replied. “A bit of a klutz, but still....”Joel looked at Rodney. “First, we need to make sure that Forrester doesn’t find out that you’re here”, he said. “If he did find out then he might kill you”.Rodney blinked, “Great”, he replied, in a sarcastic tone.“And then we talk to the temp tomorrow, and see if he can help us”, Joel felt good that he had a plan.Rodney nodded, “And tonight?”“You can stay in my room”, Joel told him. “Theres a fold out bed in a storage bed”.“And you don’t mind? You don’t find it a little....weird that you will be sharing a room with a total stranger?”Joel grinned, “Rodney, look around you. My entire life is a bit weird”.Rodney frowned, “Yes, well....thanks, for, um...”Joel could tell that Rodney was embarrassed. “Its cool”.
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MST3k/SGACHAPTER FOURJoel had made dinner, and luckily for them, Forrester didn’t call them. Joel had set up the fold out bed, and offered the guest his bed.But now that it was bedtime, Rodney wasn’t too sleepy. He sat on Joel’s bed, deep in thought. Joel felt bad for him, after all, he knew how it felt to be stranded somewhere that you didn’t want to be.“You okay, Buddy?”, Joel asked, sitting down on the bed, next to the other man.Rodney shook his head. “No, This is just the luck that I have”, he said, quietly. “Just when my life has started to turn around, I mean, I have a girlfriend, who actually seems to like me, and I get stranded in space”.Joel smiled, “What’s her name? Your girlfriend?”“Jennifer Keller”, Rodney replied. “I knew that this other guy liked her, and I thought that I had no chance with her...”“But you two are together, and we will find a way to get you back to her”, Joel said, hoping that he sounded more confident than he was feeling.Rodney looked at him. “What about you? Do you have anyone waiting for you back home?”“Well, my parents and my sister”, Joel replied, quietly. “But, not a girlfriend or anything. I just didn’t do well as dating”.“I know the feeling”, Rodney admitted. “I don’t think that I do well at just...existing. It’s like I don’t understand people”.Joel nodded, in agreement. “Yeah, sometimes you just feel like you’re alone in the universe, even when you are around people. I get you”.Rodney smiled, “Do you know how long I’ve waited for someone to understand how I feel?”, he asked. “My parents weren’t so great and I have a sister, but we aren’t that close. I mean, she tries but we just annoy each other, and it’s not that much fun to be around her”.Joel felt like he and Rodney, despite their personality differences, were roughly the same. And it was nice to actually talk to someone who understood what it was like to feel alone.“Yeah, I kinda like it up here as I don’t have to really interact with anyone, other than Forrester and Frank, and the bots, of course’. Joel admitted. “I mean, I don’t wanna be a prisoner here, but it’s sometimes easier than being on Earth”.Rodney nodded, “I went to Atlantis, where I could have been stranded for the rest of my life, and nobody really cared”, he admitted, sadly. “I mean, I couldn’t tell anyone the real truth about where I was going, but when I said that I was going to work ‘away’, the only person who cared was my neighbour”.Joel smiled, “Well, that’s something “.“She wanted my cat”, Rodney added. “My cat had more people worrying about it than I had people caring for me”. He sighed, “And even on Atlantis, I have friends, but I have to be this arrogant jerk, because I can’t let down my guard an actually not be a jerk “.Joel felt a bit sorry for Rodney. He was a nice guy and he seemed to be sabotaging himself a bit. “But you have a girlfriend ...”“Who I worry will realize that she can do better than me”, Rodney admitted. “I mean, I have Sheppard and Carson. They are my friends, but I act like a jerk to them. And Zelenka. I almost got him killed”.“Well, I think that it’s more important than ever to get you back to Atlantis”, Joel told him. “I think that you should maybe show these people how you really feel about them. I know that you are scared, but, I think it sounds as if these people are fond of you, already”.Rodney looked at him. “Thanks. And what about you?”Joel shrugged, “I dunno. I kinda think that I’m just destined to be up here, with the bots”.“Joel, I think that you should think about leaving here”, Rodney told him. “I think that maybe people will care about you,too, if you give them the chance”.Joel wondered if Rodney could be right about that.
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CHAPTER FIVEATLANTIS.
“Rodney didn’t reach the Prometheus “, Zelenka told Elizabeth, as he walked into her office. “I tracked his movements, and he appears to have gone through an inactive gate. We think it’s Russian”.
Elizabeth stood up. “How is that even possible?”, she asked. “If the gate is inactive, how did he get through it?”
“Probably the malfunction caused it to be active”, Zelenka told her.
Elizabeth looked at him. “Can you get him back? Is it possible?”
“I think that I can”, Zelenka replied. “I have to try the same codes as Rodney did, until I latch on to him. The thing is, the SGC might have to be the ones to open their gate”.
Elizabeth was confused. “Why do you say that?”, she asked.
“Because, according to my data, Rodney is somewhere above the Earth’s atmosphere “, Zelenka revealed.SATELLITE OF LOVE.
“I asked those clowns what the deal was with the guy and the cute robots”, Mike Nelson, the temp that Gypsy had been talking to, said, as he was talking to Joel and Rodney from deep 13. “Well, I should have said the cute guy with the cute robots “.
Joel blushed. It was obvious that the blonde temp was flirting with Joel, even though Joel had no way to escape, but Rodney thought that it was a sure fire way that Mike would help them.
“Where is Doctor Forester and Frank anyway?”, Joel asked.
Mike smiled, “They have been called to the Mad Scientist institute headquarters”, he replied. “That’s why I’m here. They are being audited”.
“Well, as much as I would love to stay here and talk about this for ever, there’s a pressing matter of us being stranded up here”, Rodney said, annoyed. “Do you see anything mythological down there?”
Mike shrugged, “There are lots of stuff down here”, he replied. “When you say ‘mythical’..?”
Rodney rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I can see why you are a temp janitor”.“Rodney”, Joel said, in his usual mellow tone. “I’m sure that Mike here will help us as much as he can”.
Mike winked, “I sure will, honey”.
Joel blushed, again. Rodney felt despair. Here he was, having a life crisis, and he was watching some dating show going on in front of him.
And then it suddenly hit him. Of course, why didn’t he think of it sooner?“Mike, I need you to call the SGC and give them a message”, Rodney said, in a ‘im pleased with myself’ tone of voice.
The blonde man nodded, “Sure, but what the hell is the SGC?”
“Just....I’ll explain later”, Rodney told Mike the number to call. “And say to the operator SGCMRM1964”.
Mike nodded, “Okay, and then what?”
“Tell them that I’m stuck in the Satellite of love and get Zelenka or Sam to track my movements “.
Mike promised that he would make the call.ATLANTIS.
“Major Carter has just informed us that SGC has received a call regarding Rodney”, Elizabeth told Sheppard and Zelenka, as she walked into Zelenka’s lab. “He’s stranded on a satellite “.
Zelenka nodded, “I said that he was above Earth”.
“SGC are going to see if they can latch on to him, but I think we should keep trying, too. He went through our gate...”
“Good thinking”, he agreed.SATELLITE OF LOVE.
“Joel”, Mike had communicated with him, again. And this time, he seemed excited.
“Hey Mike, thanks for helping Rodney”, Joel smiled. “He was pretty freaked out by being up here”.
Mike shrugged, “Its cool. It’s not every day that you get to speak to the American government and they don’t wanna question you about some prank you pulled....” he coughed, realizing that he was ranting. “Um, do you like humdingers?”
“Does anyone?”, Joel asked.
“Well, you have a box of them up there with you”, Mike informed him.
Joel blinked, “Good to know”, he replied.
“Yeah, because there’s no actual hamdingers in there”, Mike replied. “There’s an escape pod. Joel you can leave the satellite of love”.
Joel frowned, “I couldn’t leave the bots” he told Mike. “I don’t think that they would survive if I did that”.
“No, honey. You can bring them with you. You all would leave”. Mike told him. “I have an idea....."
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CHAPTER SIXATLANTIS.Sheppard and Zelenka were sure that they had the right coordinates. They had decided to take a chance and go through the gate now, and try to get Rodney back.“And if this goes wrong, too?”, Elizabeth asked, in an anxious tone.“It wont”, Zelenka told her, confidently. “I know that you are worried, but i have programmed the gate to stay open for ten minutes after we go through”.Sheppard nodded, “If we get to where ever the gate leads us, and we find danger, we can easily come back”, he said. “Its worth a try to get Rodney back”.Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “You sound as if you miss him”, she teased.“If you tell him that, I’ll deny it”, Sheppard smiled. “But it’s been pretty quiet around here, without Rodney telling us how superior he is to all of us”.“If this works, I am going to take great delight in reminding him that I saved him”, Zelenka said.Elizabeth frowned, “I just hope that it does work”, she replied.The gate was dialled and Sheppard and Zelenka walked through......SATELLITE OF LOVE.Rodney and Joel were in the storage bay where the Stargate was located. Rodney was hoping that if he looked at it long enough, it would somehow work.Even though he knew (reluctantly) that wouldn’t happen, he still did it, and had managed to get Joel to help him look at the gate.Joel was telling Rodney about the plan Mike had came up with.“Mike is going to put the code into the control so I can unleash the escape pod”, Joel explained, excitedly (well, as excited as a guy like Joel could get,) “And then, when the bots and I leave, Mike is gonna call the Stargate Command again and tell them what Forrester is doing”.Rodney smiled, “That’s great”, he replied. “If you ask to talk to General Hammond, he’s a good man. You can trust him”.Joel sighed, “Its gonna be strange going back down to Earth “, he admitted. “But, I can’t stay up here forever”. He smiled, shyly. “And I kinda wanna get to know Mike more”.“Are you....?”, Rodney didn’t quite know how to ask the question. Luckily, Joel knew what he was asking, and wasn’t offended by it.“No, I’ve never dated a guy before, or being attracted to a guy”, Joel replied. “But I like Mike. I don’t know if I have any romantic feelings for him, or even if I’m attracted to him. I just....don’t feel so alone anymore”.Rodney nodded, “I understand “, he said. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m glad that I met you, Joel. You have made me feel less alone, too”.And, at that moment, something happened. The Stargate started making some strange noises, and Rodney jumped back, pulling Joel with him.There was a whoosh of blue air released from it, and, at that moment, Sheppard and Zelenka stepped through it, onto the Satellite of love.“It’s good to see you, Rodney”, Sheppard smiled. He looked at Joel. “Um, hi. Where are we? What is this place?”“Its a long story”, Joel replied.Zelenka smiled, “I managed to track your coordinates to find you”, he said, smugly.Rodney rolled his eyes. “Great, you’re not going to ever let me hear the end of it, are you?”“No”, Zelenka cheerfully replied.“We only have a few minutes”, Sheppard told him. “We need to get moving”.Rodney turned to Joel, “Well, it was....”“I’m gonna miss you too, buddy”, Joel smiled. “Now, get back to that life of yours and remember to open your heart. You can’t be alone if you do that”.Rodney saw the confused glance Zelenka and Sheppard gave each other. He looked at Joel, again. “Good luck, and thanks”.And Sheppard walked back through the gate, then Rodney and then Zelenka. The wormhole closed, and Joel stood alone.“Joel, Mike is calling”, Magic voice told him.Joel ran out of the storage bay and along to the bridge.When he got to the bridge, Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy were talking to Mike.“Rodney’s gone”, Joel announced.Mike smiled, “Forrester and Frank have gone to see a movie at the mall”, he said.Joel knew that this was it. His time to leave.“Right guys, let’s get this plan into action”.
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EPILOGUE.ATLANTIS.“Do you wanna come to the card game tonight?”, Sheppard asked Rodney, sitting down at the table where Rodney and Jennifer sat. “Carson and a couple of my team are coming”.Rodney was going to say no, but then remembered his conversation with Joel. How he had people that cared about him.“Yeah, that sounds good”, he replied. “Thanks”.Sheppard stood up. “Great, I’ll see you at seven”. He walked off, and Rodney saw Jennifer smiling at him.“I missed you”, she told him. “I had faith that we’d find a way to get you back, but...”, she kissed him, softly, on the lips. “I love you, Meredith Rodney McKay”.Rodney was surprisingly filled with emotion. Nobody had ever told him that they loved him before.“I love you, too”, he told her, quietly. And he realized that he wasn’t alone anymore. As much as he tried to push people away, he knew that he had people who still were around, no matter how much he pushed.MINNESOTA.Joel had landed in some deserted spot in Minnesota. Mike had made another call to the SGC, and managed to speak to General Hammond. Mike told him about how Forrester had stolen a Stargate and was holding it on the Satellite of love.Forrester and Frank had been arrested later that day.Joel had contacted his parents, and Mike had let him and the bots move into his apartment. It was nice for Joel to have a friend to talk to about what he had been through, and Mike was a good listener.Mike had confided in Joel about how his ex girlfriend, Carla, had dumped him for a friend of his and Steve, Mike’s boyfriend, had died. Both of those things, and the disbanding of Mike’s band, Sex Factory, had left Mike feeling lost.But Joel had decided to use his skills to build things to make money. He rented a workshop and was making quite a good with people liking his stuff. Mike had decided to put his music degree to use and he started teaching children piano on evening and weekends, and Gypsy had employed Crow, Cambot and Tom Servo in her social media company. Crow wrote scripts, Tom acted them out and Cambot filmed them. They occasionally dragged Mike into helping doing music for the ads.And Joel was happy. For the first time in his life, he felt connected and loved. He had his robots and Mike. He still didn’t know how he felt about Mike. All he knew was that he wanted to be around Mike, a lot. He still didnt know his feelings for Mike, and Mike never pushed for more.Mike and Joel sat on the sofa, watching some old black and white movie (Joel could see the irony in that) and Mike had fallen asleep , with his head on Joel’s shoulder. It made Joel feel...secure, and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the sleeping man. Joel knew that everything he needed was around him; freedom, the bots and Mike.And he knew that life couldn’t get any better than this.