Holding Back the Tide

By Lark

"What?!"

Major John Sheppard braced himself as the voice echoed down the hallway outside his office, a sound as welcome as hearing that the Steelers had lost a football game. The Ancients that had built the wondrous city of Atlantis were mind-blowingly skilled with technology, but the acoustics of their corridors needed some work. Any minute, Dr. Rodney McKay would come walking around that corner to tell him all about his latest fault or, if he was lucky, about some complaint against the world. Sheppard, not wanting to encourage a lengthy discourse to rival Kavanaugh, quickly occupied himself, hoping to appear busy. The familiar sound of the scientist's stride preceded him down the hall.

"Unacceptable!" McKay announced as he entered the room.

Sheppard didn't bother to look up. He shuffled some papers in a folder in front of him.

"What now, McKay?" his voice was flat. He hoped he didn't sound too interested.

"I can't believe it!"

Sheppard chanced a glance at McKay. His face displayed the usual, dissatisfied expression that often accompanied him when a situation particularly frustrated him, blue eyes set and determined. This couldn't be good.

"Believe what? Come on now, I haven't got all day." The major let out a sigh. The papers received another dutiful shuffle.

"Dr. Weir has refused to let me stay behind to work on getting that broken down transporter up and running again." McKay stood in the doorway, indignant.

"Oh, so they wouldn't let you cancel your own shore leave?" Sheppard looked up at McKay and ran a hand through his dark black hair. "My heart bleeds for you."

"You just don't understand," McKay shot back, picking up on Sheppard's blatant sarcasm. "What has to be done, has to be done I don't have time to sit back and relax." In the next moment, he vanished from the doorway, no doubt to find Weir and let her know how he was feeling about her executive decision. Feeling pleased with having dodged the usual string of technical terms that he didn't understand or care about, the major propped his feet up on his desk and leaned back, smiling to himself. He added "they won't let me cancel my own shore leave" to the top ten complaints list, right up there with "Zalenka's been rearranging my sock drawer."

He was still smiling when Weir entered into the room.

"Have you-" he began.

"Yes, Rodney's been by," she answered. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Sheppard motioned her to a chair, pushing aside the folder that had saved him from McKay's usual downpour.

"Yeah, what about?"

"I want you...to talk to him. At least convince him that he has to get away from here. If he doesn't see some relaxation, he'll go insane."

"I'm not entirely sure he hasn't already," the major answered.

Weir gave him a look, and then continued on.

"Please, John. Just give it a try."

Sheppard was about to make up some desperate excuse, but figured it wasn't worth the effort.

"All right, but if he wants to work on his precious transporter instead of slacking off for a day or two, I can't stop him."

It didn't appeal to Sheppard to try and convince the scientist to leave his work for a moment. He decided to do it for Elizabeth, but he didn't know what good it would do. Some people called McKay a genius, but he called it madness. He found him in his lab, running some tests on a device that one of the teams had brought back from a recent mission. His hands worked the buttons furiously and the major knew that in his mind he was still running over all of his complaints. He tapped at the door lightly.

"What do you want?" McKay snapped.

"Nothin', just wanting to have a little chat." Sheppard tried to appear nonchalant and leaned against the doorpost. His eyes wandered around the lab.

McKay looked up from his work.

"If this is about me not taking leave..." He pointed at him with one of the Ancient objects that looked like it could be quite solid if it should be thrown at a certain major. Sheppard was a little relieved when he put it down and began typing on a keyboard.

"I just think you should. I mean, even a genius like you has got to take a break. Breaking the code of the Ancients and redefining the universe as we know it isn't easy." Sheppard chose his words carefully. If a little boost to the scientist's pride didn't do it, nothing would. "Besides, if we find any new technology on the planet, you wouldn't want to let Zalenka have all the fun."

McKay's hands stopped for a moment above the keyboard. In a moment, he looked up at Sheppard with a less severe look. He blinked a few times, and Sheppard could almost see his thought process running over the thought of his friendly rival having the glory of discovery without him.
"You give me no choice," he finally remarked with some defeat. "I'm going on shore leave."

Sheppard left the lab with a smirk on his face. Weir would be pleased to know that Rodney had decided to take a normal course of action, however reluctantly. He expected that many of his notes would be accompanying him off-world, but if that's the way he wanted to spend his free time, then the major wouldn't stop him. The idea of pouring over pages of notes appealed to him as much as facing a Wraith with an empty clip in his gun...

Dr. Elizabeth Weir reached the control room in time to see the first group of vacationers leaving through the Stargate.

"Is everything in order?" she asked of Sergeant Bates.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you, Bates." She turned and saw Sheppard enter the control room. He had a small pack with him. "Are you all set, major?"

Sheppard pulled out a candy bar from his bag and held it up.

"Got my snacks."

McKay, with his usual purposeful stride and a pack on his shoulder, entered the room, snatching the candy from Sheppard's hand.

"I'm ready to go as well, Dr. Weir. Oh, is that chocolate?" He took a small glance at the package in his hand and then continued on. "Where's Zalenka?"

"He's already gone on to the planet we've chosen for leave, along with the rest of the group that's vacationing this time."

McKay blinked at them for a moment, and then turned, heading for the gate.

"If either of you need me," he said as he shouldered his pack, "I'll be on vacation."

After he had disappeared into the event horizon, Sheppard nodded to Weir and followed through the gate.

On the other side, the major found himself in the center of natural beauty. As far as he could see, lush forest rose from the ground to soaring heights above. Strange, foreign plants grew in masses around the tree trunks. He took a deep breath of the fresh air. It wasn't a couch in front of the TV, but it would do.

Author's Note: Obviously, I don't own any of the characters in this story, or the plot, title, the universe, etc. I've only had the privilege to see the first season of this wonderful show, so if the characters are a little off, then it's because I'm a tad behind. Enjoy!