So the ending was lovely, wrapping up their stumbling crooked path to something that works, or has a chance of working. And they had to give up Pegasus so other levels of meaning there too.

Believe it or not, I found the poem right as I was wrapping up the last 20 pages of the story. I was hunting for a title, thought it should have something to do with flight, and found that little gem. I was talking to one of my betas online at the time and sent her the link, and at the same moment we both said, "THIS IS ABOUT RODNEY." And then, "THIS IS ESPECIALLY ABOUT RODNEY IN THIS STORY!" The amazing thing was that I'd already written the bit about John telling Rodney to try and fly straight, and the whole damn thing began with John negotiating a curved road with deadly accuracy (and Dave, of course, sort of failing to do so.) It was awesome serendipity, in other words, and I can't take credit at all. Mostly I'm just amazed that no one has ever used this poem for a title before, because Rodney is that loopy bumbling butterfly, stumbling into the right path over and over in all the wrong ways, he SO IS.

Loved the depth of feeling you showed between them without ever having them make sappy Hallmark declarations

\o/ I'm so happy to say I wrote this whole fic -- a love story, in essence -- only once using the word 'love' in reference to John and Rodney (and, that once, it's Rodney being kind of an ass.) The challenge was to make sure that the romance came through anyway, so I'm thrilled that you found it there.

Obviously, the way you wrote it, the story has to progress through all the tragedy to the conclusion, but if Dave hadn't died and J&R had returned to Pegasus with Atlantis as per usual, I don't think they'd have made the relationship work, long-term.

Agreed. Glad you see it that way too. In canon, Rodney is shown as searching for love and family and, in canon, that's not something John-on-Atlantis could ever openly provide. My canon for this story is that John and Rodney have been on & off for five years and that (from John's perspective, anyway) it's mostly an awesome friendship with occasional sex -- at least, when Rodney's not busy pursuing one girl or another. Then, suddenly, John can give Rodney the family and the love and the domesticity, and Rodney has to decide if that's what he really wants after all, when it means giving up pretty much everything else he loves.

So in a way the kids "rescued them right back".

\o/ Love it. What a great way of stating it. Thanks so much for the awesome feedback, and I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it.