Sometimes John wanted to tell Rodney that if he wasn't such an easy target, people wouldn't give him such a hard time, but he decided to leave it. Instead, they all went to lunch, where Jeannie and Tim told them that they had decided to take Sam's offer to stay on as part of the expedition. Apparently, there had been some changes at NCIS where Tim worked in D.C. that he didn't want to go back to, especially since Jeannie seemed so excited about working in the science field again there on Atlantis.
While they were eating, Carson joined them. Given what Fred had told him about what Sam had said, John could see that the two of them did seem to have something going on between them. It wasn't that either of them hated being around the other; it was just that something seemed...off. Like they had realized something.
The next few days flew by Rodney, Sam, Jeannie and Tim worked to create the bridge to the other universe. Pinpointing the universe they needed to go almost proved a stumbling block until Rodney came up with the idea of taking some readings from Elizabeth to help them. The IOA and Pentagon also agreed with Caldwell's request that Elizabeth join his crew as their new diplomatic officer, something Elizabeth readily agreed to. She seemed thrilled to have a place where she could be of help, and Caldwell seemed glad that she agreed as well.
Finally, it seemed that everything was ready.
The night before they were set to leave, they had a final meeting to plan everything out. John, Sam, Rodney and Ronon would be going through the bridge to find the Fred and Alex in the other universe while Fred, Jeannie and Tim kept an eye on everything on their side. Once everything was set out, they all headed out for the night. As John walked with Fred back down to the family quarters area to pick up Alex, who was with Jennifer, Callie and Finn, he suddenly pulled her out onto one of the parapets and kissed her deeply.
Thank you for understanding that I have to do this, he told her, looking into her eyes once they broke apart. "I love you."