"Rodney," Elizabeth called out after the blue smear turning the corner,

"Rodney?"

Rodney, just about to disappear into the transporter, slowed down as turned around.

"Ah, Lizbeth" he said as she rounded the corner, smiling. "Going my way?" he asked with a grin, as he stepped into the transporter and held the door open.

"Actually, yes" Elizabeth replied, grinning in return. "I've been meaning to talk to you anyway, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone, as the saying goes" she said, stepping into the transporter beside Rodney.

As the doors slid shut with a whoosh, Rodney deftly keyed in the destinations.

"Really?" he Rodney replied, a note of concern lacing his voice. He hated to dissappoint anyone, but if he had somehow let Elizabeth down-

"Don't worry, Dr. McKay, it's not anything to be concerned about" Elizabeth said, inwardly laughing at the expression of immense relief which covered his features.

"Of course it's not" Rodney declared in a voice which sounded a little too overconfident to be believed. "Ah, where are you heading to again Lizbeth?" he questioned, fingers pausing above the pad.

"Control room" she replied, figuring it was the most obvious place for her to be headed to at any moment, and wouldn't look suspicious.

Elizabeth didn't really want to do any bird killing- she just wanted to speak with Rodney after the events of the last mission. She sighed and leaned against the wall of the transporter, remembering. Rodney had nearly died- a fact which made her face pale even as she watched him- yet no one had informed her of this till nearly a week after it happened because "Well, he always gets himself out of trouble anyway, so why bother to call for backup? We knew he'd be fine," Sheppard had told he earlier.

Weir had been livid. "Dr. McKay is a member of this expedition Colonel, and more than that he is the chief of science! His safety is your responsibility!" She had been sitting at her desk, but now stood up in anger. Marching around the desk, she towered over a decidedly uncomfortable Colonel and continued her tirade. "Should we loose Rodney McKay we loose the city, and that had better never happen due to your overestimation of his capabilities! Do not ever fail to inform me again of events offworld pertinent to the safety and security of this city Colonel, or I will have no choice but to take you off duty. Am I clear?" She finished her rant with an icy glare at John and then returned to her desk, dismissing him from her office. She waited until the control room had stopped gawking to flee to her balcony where she had let the tears escape quickly, hardly seeing them fall the thousands of feet down till they meet the ocean.

As she lay in bed that night, she knew Sheppard felt as he had looked-properly ashamed of his actions- and Elizabeth had been pacified. But that hadn't stopped her from crawling into bed that night and crying a second time because she had nearly lost Rodney and hadn't even know. He was her chief of science, but more than that, he was…familiar. She knew he would support her and trusted her, and she trusted him. They were friends, and their mutual respect of each other's work had a long history with few scratches.

Yet until that moment Elizabeth hadn't realized just how much of a personal friend she considered him. It reminded her strongly of her high school days, where people she had barely talked to in middle school became her closest friends merely because of a common bond based of origin. It was the same with Rodney.

"Lizbeth?" Rodney's voice broke her train of though suddenly as his hand swam into view. "Elizabeth? What's wrong?" he asked again, noticing that her eyes held unshed tears and that she was leaning heavily on the wall of the transporter. "Hey" he voice softened and he approached her slowly "is everything ok? I mean, something must be wrong, or you wouldn't look like this, but I mean, is there anything I can do?" he ended hopefully, like a puppy asking if he could lick your tears away. Elizabeth broke down.

"Ssshh, 's ok," Rodney said soothingly, "it'll be alright," he murmured, and gently patted her on the shoulder. Terrified to have a crying woman in his arms, he nevertheless pulled her to the floor beside him and tried to comfort her the best he could. What could have happened to her? He mused, looking down at the shaking body in his arms. Whatever it was, he was going to find out and make sure it never happened again.