Disclaimer: Don't own them. I only play with them for non-profitable amusement.
Characters: McKay and Keller, Zelenka's along for the ride. The others make appearences too.
A/N: This story is set in a fictional 6th season with Atlantis back in the Pegasus galaxy. It follows my other stories "Our Great Divide" and "Underneath", and takes place about two months after the latter. Except for a few minor details this story will still make sense even if you haven't read the others.
I guess I'll have to thank Brandy and her song "Piano Man" for the inspiration for this one.
Tuning
Part 1
The explosion could be heard and felt throughout the entire Main Tower. In the control room it made the crystals in the panels clink and jingle. In the mess hall the tables vibrated, and a few plates in the kitchen went crashing to the floor. Outside Auxiliary Lab 4 it made a deafening bang, and the few witnesses to the incident covered their ears as they wide-eyed watched something rocket through the closed lab doors, fly across the hallway and into the Reading Library on the other side, leaving a sooty hole in both doors. Then the lab doors opened and Drs. Rodney McKay and Radek Zelenka emerged.
"I told you it would explode," Zelenka said.
"You said no such thing," Rodney snapped back. "Now, where did it go?" He looked around and noticed all the shocked people in the hallway staring back at him. "Nothing to worry about," he told them cheerfully, and some of the people smiled weakly at him. Others mumbled a little and shook their heads, but all of them went on with their business, leaving the two scientists alone.
"I hope no one got hurt," Zelenka said, looking around.
Rodney spotted the hole in the library door. "Ah, see?" he said to Zelenka. "It went into the library. No one ever goes in there."
Just then a loud yell emitted from inside the library and the doors opened, revealing an extremely angry-looking woman holding a smoking piece of an Ancient device at the end of a broom. "Is this yours?" she barked, scowling at both of them through her horn-rimmed glasses.
Rodney just stared back. It was a rather short, curvy woman. Her waist-long flaming red hair was combed back in a ponytail at the top of her head. Both her ears were heavily pierced and she wore large, wooden earrings that made clunking sounds as she shook her head. "What's the matter with you?" she said. "I asked you a question. Is this… thing that almost hit me in the head and ruined several good books, yours?"
She spoke with a weird-sounding accent that Rodney couldn't place. "Eh, yes," he finally answered.
"We're very sorry," Zelenka added. "Did we hurt you?"
"I'm fine," she replied curtly and dropped the device to the floor.
"Careful with that!" Rodney exclaimed, while in the back of his head he tried desperately to remember where he'd seen this woman before. There was something vaguely familiar about her. One would think that I'd remember a woman looking like a cross between a librarian and a goth, he thought to himself. He looked at Zelenka to see if there was any help in that, only to find Radek staring at the woman with a gleam in his eye that Rodney could not remember having seen before. He frowned. Was that fascination on the Czech's face?
"Oh, you care about your little toy?" the woman barked. "What about me?"
"What's going on here?" Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard's voice rang out as he came around the corner together with Dr. Nina Dahl, his latest flame. Then he spotted the holes in the doors. "Did you do this?" he asked Rodney.
"Well…"
"Yes!" the redhead shot in. "He almost killed me. And he ruined my library!"
Rodney defended himself in the way he knew best; with aggression. "Your library? Do you know who you're talking to?"
The woman turned her head back at him in a sudden motion. "Who you are?" she said in a voice laden with sarcasm. "I know the two of you. Drs. Zelenka and McKay. Known around the base as Pinky and The Brain."
Rodney stared at her. This girl certainly had some nerve. "No one calls us that!" he said.
Sheppard coughed. "Well, actually they do."
"We do," Dahl corrected him.
Rodney's mouth fell open for a few seconds, but he quickly straightened himself. "Of all disrespectful…" He stopped without finishing the sentence, and instead he turned to face Zelenka, pointing at himself. "I'm The Brain." Radek just rolled his eyes and said nothing.
Dahl was looking at the redhead. "You okay, Inge?" she asked.
The other woman sighed. "I'm fine. But several books went up in smoke."
"Any good ones?" Sheppard asked. The tone in his voice clearly gave away that he found this situation nothing but amusing.
"Among others, your copy of War and Peace, sir."
"Shame," the colonel replied, but didn't really sound like he meant it. "But I probably wouldn't have finished it anyway. That's why I put it in the library."
"Shame indeed," the redhead said. "It's a good book. Not that any of you undistinguished baboons have ever bothered to give it a try." She and Rodney exchanged chilling glances.
"I've read it," Zelenka suddenly said. "Five times. In three different languages."
The woman's face softened a little bit. "Is that so?"
Rodney turned towards Radek. What the hell was the man doing? But the Czech just looked back at the library-goth as if he couldn't take his eyes off her, and Rodney suddenly felt the urge to throw up.
The woman threw her ponytail over her shoulder. "Well, not nice to meet you, Dr. McKay," she said sourly. Rodney wanted to answer, but somehow he suddenly couldn't come up with anything to say, and the redhead turned and started to walk away.
"See you around, Inge," Dahl said as she passed her.
"Idioter," the redhead replied and turned the corner and went out of sight.
"Who was that?" Rodney demanded, now that he finally managed to find the words again.
"That's Dr. Sørensen," Dahl answered. "Inge Sørensen. She's with Linguistics."
"Don't you remember her?" Sheppard added. "She's the one who sings in the mess hall on occasion."
Of course, Rodney thought. That's why her face had seemed familiar. The glasses had just made her difficult to recognize. "She had a mouth!" was all he said out loud.
Dahl just grinned. "Well, you did ruin her library. She's very sensitive about that."
"It's not her library."
"Might as well be. She spends more time there than in her office."
"So, someone's finally using the library now," Sheppard said. "That's good."
"Inge Sørensen," Zelenka mumbled to himself as if he was memorizing the name.
Rodney turned to glare at him. "What's with you?"
"Nothing," the Czech quickly said.
Rodney shook his head and looked at the lunchbox-sized Ancient device still lying on the floor. He carefully checked if it was cool enough, and then picked it up.
Radek looked at it, too. "It's ruined," he declared.
"I wouldn't say that," Rodney countered. "At least not yet. Now I'm gonna go get some lunch."
He started walking towards the mess hall, carrying the device with him, and Zelenka, Sheppard and Dahl all followed. Rodney was still a little infuriated. It was not his fault that unstable Ancient devices blew up now and then. Pinky and The Brain, he angrily thought. These people… He saved their sorry lives on almost a weekly basis, and this was how they thanked him?
He entered the mess hall, and the first thing he saw was the grand piano that he was certain had not been there before. He stopped, as only a piano could divert his attention away from the food. Behind him he heard Nina Dahl whistle. "Wow," she said.
"Arrived this morning," Sheppard said. "To Mr. Woolsey's delight."
The aforementioned expedition leader was standing next to the piano and did indeed look delighted. Rodney knew for a fact that he had asked the SGC for a piano almost as soon as he'd taken command of Atlantis over a year ago, and he had often wondered why the normally strict commander found a musical instrument and a mahogany table to be necessities. His arguments, as Rodney vaguely recalled them (he hadn't paid much attention), were something about how music was good for the morale.
Rodney curiously approached the piano and Woolsey looked up at him. "A beauty, isn't it?" he said, looking extremely satisfied.
"Quite nice," Rodney answered, trying not to sound too interested.
Woolsey brushed some invisible dust away from the instrument and smiled happily. "It was a long wait, but it's here at last."
Stargate Command had also failed to see why a piano was necessary for the expedition, but apparently they had finally budged.
"This will lift our cultural lunches to a new standard," Woolsey assured them, and Rodney wasn't going to argue with him about that. Until now they'd had to make do with an old keyboard.
Rodney had hated the concept of cultural lunch when Woolsey had first introduced it, but after a while he reluctantly had had to admit to himself that it was gradually growing on him. Yes, sometimes he even enjoyed sitting there in the mess hall with a good meal, listening to the music. It had turned out to be a lot of musical talents hidden among the Atlantis crew, some better than others, of course. The redhead soprano – and Rodney frowned when he thought about the little scene that had just taken place outside Aux Lab 4 – was actually very good, but he was sure as hell not going to let her know that. And Zelenka wasn't too bad with a cello, but that too was something Rodney had decided to keep to himself. There was no reason to feed Radek's ego more than necessary.
Rodney took another step forward and lifted the lid to look at the keys. It was a long time since he'd last played the piano, but now he felt a surge of desire to do it once more and it made him realize how much he'd missed it.
Woolsey eyed him closely. "Do you play, Doctor?" he asked.
"A little," Rodney replied, again trying to not come on as too interested.
"Well, then play a little for us," Woolsey urged him.
Rodney hesitated. He wanted to, but then again it was years since last time, and being the perfectionist he was…
"Yes, go on," Dahl joined in. "It could be interesting to hear a scientific approach to classical music."
Rodney wasn't quite sure whether she was teasing him or not, but he chose to go with the first alternative. "Several scientists are good musicians!" he snapped. "After all, music is math."
"Not just math," Dahl disagreed. "I find that to be a cold description to something so beautiful. But of course scientists can be good musicians. I've heard Zelenka here play." She nodded towards the Czech.
Zelenka smiled broadly. "Thank you."
That did it. Rodney demonstratively sat down at the stool in front of the piano, and the others looked at him with anticipation as he stretched his arms over his head and cracked his fingers, before he started to play an old piece he knew by heart.
It didn't sound right.
It didn't sound right at all. To be honest it actually sounded awful. Rodney frowned, and in the corner of his eye he could see the hint of a smile on Zelenka's lips. Sheppard and Dahl on the other hand were not even trying to hide their wide grins.
"That was certainly interesting," Dahl said. "Is it a contemporary piece?"
"Or just your own colorful interpretation of it?" John added.
Rodney glared at them. "It's not me," he said. "It's the piano. It's out of tune."
Woolsey grimaced. "So it would seem," he said. "I will have to see to that."
Rodney rose and just then he saw Jennifer Keller enter the room. She looked in his direction, but when their eyes met, her gaze cooled and she looked away. Rodney stifled a sigh. Apparently she was still mad.
Once again John's ever-observant gaze didn't fail him. He turned around to have a look at Jennifer himself and then looked back towards Rodney. "Something wrong?" he asked.
Rodney was not planning to answer him, but anyway he wouldn't have gotten the chance, because now Jennifer was approaching them, and she demonstratively nodded to each of them except Rodney.
"Jennifer," Rodney began.
She turned and pierced him with her glare. "Are you ready to apologize? Because if you aren't you can just shut your mouth, as any other words would be wasted on me."
His mouth fell open as he felt the others' eyes on him. What the hell was this? Why would she yell at him in public now? How could she? They'd been through this! "I have said I'm sorry," he said.
"Not like you meant it," she snapped back.
Sheppard and Dahl were now shifting their gazes between Jennifer and himself, while Radek was nervously biting his lip and tapping a finger against the piano. Woolsey only looked confused, but then he spotted someone across the room and left them.
"It's getting colder in here," John eventually said, breaking the awkward silence.
"Indeed," Dahl replied. "What did you do this time, McKay?"
"Nothing," Rodney mumbled, wishing the others had had the decency to leave or at least not probe the matter. This was private. "It's just that I cancelled a date last night."
"He didn't cancel it," Jennifer said in a cold voice. "He just didn't show."
John whistled.
"I was busy," Rodney said and looked up to meet Jennifer's eyes. "And I apologized."
"The same excuse every time," was all she said, and she didn't even sound angry anymore. "Busy, busy, busy. What was it this time? This?" She pointed at the Ancient device that Rodney had placed on the table next to him. "Is this the reason why you left me sitting there like a fool waiting for you?"
"I forgot…" He lowered his voice. "Can we take this conversation privately?"
"No," she said curtly. "No! I don't care if people hear what happened." She pointed at the device again. "I hope this is a bomb that you spent last night disarming, 'cause that's the only excuse I'll find valid enough."
"Well, it did explode," John shot in, but an icy glare from Jennifer made him shut his mouth.
Rodney could feel the frustration growing inside him, and the only way he knew how to express frustration was through anger. "I happen to have an important job," he said, his voice growing gradually louder as he spoke. "I am up to my chin in work just to keep the rest of you safe. But apparently nobody seems to appreciate my effort!"
"You just had to radio to say you weren't coming," Jennifer replied with a scowl. "I know you tend to lose track of time when you're working. I just figured that maybe I was important enough for you to remember. But apparently I'm not."
"There was a glitch in the city's cloak! And you know how essential that cloak is to our continued survival. I had to fix it and I had to fix it fast! So don't you think I forgot you over something unimportant! Radek was there, he can tell you."
He looked at Zelenka for backup, but Radek only looked nervously at them and stepped back a little. "Eh, I have to…" He waved his hand pointlessly around and then hurriedly walked away. Coward, Rodney thought.
Sheppard cleared his throat and looked at Dahl. "I believe we have sparring session with Ronon and Amelia in the gym now," he said.
"I believe we have," Dahl replied and the two of them left as well.
Rodney looked back at Jennifer and saw how the previous anger in her eyes had been replaced by sadness. "Sometimes, Rodney," she said, "I believe the only thing you really love is your job."
She didn't wait for his reply. She just turned around and walked away from him. And a part of him wanted to follow her, to beg for her forgiveness. A part of him wanted to shout at her that of course he loved her more than his work and she was silly to believe otherwise. But the other part of him was angry. She had no right to accuse him. Hadn't he showed his affection for her? Hadn't he told her that he loved her? What more could she possibly demand from him?
And besides, what about his needs? She should have known by now that his work was important to him, and that the attempt from her side to keep him away from it only made him feel trapped. As a matter of fact she was starting to become clingy. And Rodney didn't like it when women became clingy.
She knew about my flaws… hm, shortcomings when she started dating me, he thought as he left the mess hall, his appetite gone. She should deal with it or leave me alone.
The early morning light found Rodney in his lab. It was certainly not the first time he'd fallen asleep at his computer, and once again it was his back and his neck that had to pay for it. With a stifled cry of agony he tried to stretch as he blinked several times, trying to get a clear view of his surroundings. There was no one else but him in the room, and he checked his watch. It was almost six in the morning. Radek would be here soon, then. He was always early.
Rodney slowly got to his feet and stumbled to a table by the wall, retrieving a box of tissues, emptied it and used them to wipe down his face, sending a silent thank you to the thoughtful soul who had left them there. It was probably one of the women.
And that made him think about Jennifer and his heart sunk a little as he recalled yesterday's events. He frowned at the memory, feeling a sudden stab of remorse. He sighed and threw the tissues in the waste bin. Yesterday had not been good at all.
"Dr. McKay, are you there?"
It took him some time to pinpoint where the voice came from, but eventually he realized that it emitted from the radio earpiece he'd left next to his computer. He picked it up and put it on. "Yes?"
"Woolsey here. Would you please come to my office?"
Rodney stifled a yawn. He was hungry and would much rather go to the mess hall for some breakfast, but the expedition leader sounded very insisting. "I'll be right there."
Five minutes later he entered Woolsey's office to be met by his boss' bright smile. "Ah, there you are, McKay," he said. "We've received word from the Semani on M88-574. They're requesting a science team to provide them assistance."
Rodney's eyes grew wide. "The Semani?" he asked. "Really?"
This was surprising. The people of M88-574 – or Sem, as the locals themselves called the planet – had never shown much interest in off-worlders. They were a polite and peaceful people, but had made it clear early on that they wanted as little as possible to do with the Atlantis expedition.
"What do they want us for?" Rodney asked.
"The message doesn't say," Woolsey said. "But we did promise them we'd aid them in any way if needed, and I believe we should keep that promise."
"Absolutely," Rodney said, and tried hard to keep the growing grin off his face. He had not forgotten the fact that a large Ancient outpost was located on Sem, and he'd been dying to have a closer look at it for a long time. But the Semani had so far denied him or anyone else access, as they believed the place to be holy. Maybe now, if he played his cards right, they'd let him in. "I'll put together a team right away."
"Just a few people," Woolsey said. "They ask that only two or three come."
Rodney nodded. Whatever made them happy.
He was halfway out the door when Woolsey added, "Dr. Keller will accompany you. She sees this as a great opportunity to offer her medical aid to the people. Rumor has it they've been suffering from some sort of plague lately."
Jennifer was coming? Shit. Rodney knew very well the real reason why she'd made this request. She knows I'm going, he thought. She knows I would seize any opportunity to see that outpost.
He said nothing to Woolsey. He just hurried back to his lab. Zelenka had come early, just like Rodney had anticipated.
"Start packing," Rodney said. "You're coming with me to Sem."
Radek looked up from his computer and peered at him over the rim of his glasses. "What?"
"We've been invited. They need a science team. And you need the experience."
Radek just kept his gaze upon him for a minute. "So this has nothing to do with the fact that Keller's going?" he said.
Damn, he was well-informed.
"No," Rodney lied.
"Despite what you believe, Rodney, I'm not stupid. And I have better things to do than going off-world just because you are afraid to be alone with your girlfriend."
"I'm not afraid!" Rodney protested.
Radek sighed. "Why don't you just apologize?" he said. "Crawl, beg – whatever you have to do."
"Hey, that's none of your business! And you will come along, or you'll be pulling the night shift for the next six months. You know I have the power to make it happen."
Radek gave him a sour look. "Fine!" he said through gritted teeth. "I'll come along and be your chaperon. But you'll owe me one."
"Sure," Rodney mumbled, knowing very well that debt would soon be forgotten on his part.
