Author's notes: Rodney is my favorite character from Atlantis. I absolutely fell in love with him when I first saw him on SG-1, and I really wanted to write a fic about him, so this is what I churned out. I've only seen Season 1 of Atlantis, and I hadn't really seen Rodney angry, I mean royally pissed beyond belief furious. But as I'm sure Rodney would like us all to believe, he really is close to John and Elizabeth.

And I really, really, REALLY can't stand Kavanaugh :).

Main Character: Rodney McKay

Supporting: John Sheppard, Elizabeth Weir, Kavanaugh (because...well, you'll find out)

Warnings: A few bad words (gasp) but nothing severe.

Spoilers: Nothing to explicit, unless you've watched the episode 38 Minutes. You should get subtle hints through out the story that this takes place during and after that episode.

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Rodney McKay was angrier than he'd ever been. He was, in fact, fuming with rage. He couldn't remember before Atlantis when he'd felt fury such as he was now. When he was a boy, he'd get angry with his parents for putting him in the middle of their divorce, he'd get mad at his sister when she was mean to him. Later it would be anger directed at bullies. But this...this was white hot rage boiling within him. On the jumper, it had been at simmer, only because of the situation, but when he was able to make it back to Atlantis and made aware of what exactly had transpired between the scientists, the group that he was supposed to lead, well...

Rodney had gone with John to the infirmary along with everyone else and had stayed until he was certain the major had been stabilized. Then, after giving Elizabeth the short briefing about what had happened on the planet, she'd reported her dealings with his science team, specifically Dr. Kavanaugh. Now, Rodney loved to save his ass as much as the next coward, but after hearing exactly what Kavanaugh had said not only in the rescue meeting, but to Elizabeth one on one, Rodney had nodded once, then excused himself from her presence and that of those in the infirmary, telling the major he had something to work on in the labs.

Which was true. Working on Kavanaugh's attitude, and quite possibly the snooty scientists face with his fist was working it's way higher and higher on his list of priorities for the day.

So focused was he on getting to that man that Rodney didn't notice people literally jumping out of his way as he headed down the corridor. Most of the Atlantis expedition stayed out of his way normally, but this time, the physicist was exhibiting an air about him that let those who came in his presence to simply stay away, not to even bother talking to him. Which was good. Rodney wanted to let this out on the person that deserved it.

Marching into the science lab, everyone turned their heads as normal. But what was not normal was that all the scientists stopped what they were doing and stared at their boss. Even Kavanaugh looked slightly perplexed at the situation. Rodney's cold blue eyes found him almost immediately and focused there.

"Everyone out. Take lunch." The order was short and to the point, and no one dared to disobey it. When Kavanaugh rose from his seat however, Rodney was quick to stop him.

"You stay right where you are." He had the presence of mind to at least wait until everyone else had left the room, and then, he ordered the door shut. Kavanaugh wisely stayed in his seat and remained quiet. He was no idiot, he was one of the most brilliant minds Earth had ever churned out, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what this was going to be about.

"Dr. McKay, if you're here to stand in front of Dr. Weir I really must tell you-"

"Shut up." Rodney crossed the area from the door to the station his 'fellow' research scientist was sitting at insanely quickly. "I'm not standing in front of anyone. Dr. Weir doesn't need anyone to 'stand in front of her'. However, I am standing in front of you right now, so as your boss, you're not going to say a word, and you're going to absorb every thing I say to you." Rodney was so close to Kavanaugh's face that the other man could literally feel hot hair coming from McKay's nose. Kavanaugh got it. His boss was pissed.

"Let me make myself perfectly clear, Kavanaugh," the astrophysicist stated, his eyes flashing with ice dangerously, "if I ever hear of you endangering an injured mans life again, if you put yourself before the rest of this city, and if you ever speak to Elizabeth Weir the way you did today, I will personally take you onto the balcony and throw you into the ocean." He didn't miss his subordinate's rolling of the eyes and that only infuriated him even more.

"Dr. McKay, I think you're slightly over reacting." None the less, the man attempted to put some distance between himself and his irate boss. "I merely tried to explain that Dr. Weir was putting the entire city at risk to save the life of one man-"

"To save the lives of six members of this team, not just one man," Rodney corrected, "and let me please just say that I don't believe for one minute that your mind, ingenious as it may be, was on the lives anyone on that jumper or in the city, it was on your own!"

"Well, for once, Doctor McKay you're wrong." Kavanaugh just didn't realize that he was digging his own grave. Or maybe he did, because he actually managed to get up off the stool and put it between his body and McKay's. This latest barrier didn't really matter to Rodney that much though.

"I don't think I am, the rest of the science team doesn't think I am, and Elizabeth Weir definitely doesn't think I am. So out of all those people, do you really believe that I'm going to trust your side of it? I'm a scientist, you idiot, I look at facts! And that fact is that we almost lost five good people today because you weren't willing to take an incredibly small risk, one that shouldn't have even been on the scale for consideration!" If McKay's temper wasn't being tested before, it surely was now. He knew Kavanaugh was putting up a brave front, but Rodney really just wanted to knock that innocent 'who, me?' look off his face.

"If the other scientists and Dr. Weir didn't want to do their jobs properly and recognize that a risk such as that existed, then that's not my problem. I'm a scientist too, McKay, and I rely on facts as well, and the fact is that all of us could have perished! But Weir, like women so often do, get attached to glorified men and-"

Rodney didn't let him finish. He in fact got his wish. One moment, Kavanaugh was standing on the other side of the stool, spouting ridiculous nonsense about how Elizabeth couldn't make a non-biased decision, and the next, he was lying on the floor, holding the side of his face. Rodney stood over him, breathing rather hard and relishing in the fact that it had felt really good to do that.

"Elizabeth Weir has done more in the last few months for the SGC and Atlantis than you have for the entire planet of Earth AND the Pegasus Galaxy combined." he seethed, "She has gotten nuclear powers to back down from all out war, negotiated peace treaties between a dozen countries, and brought together the military and civilian side of Atlantis into a family." He crouched down beside Kavanaugh who was still pitifully holding his face and growled, "so watch what you say about her." He continued to watch the man on the floor staring him down, even though he didn't need to, only because it felt good to see this man be put in his place. He was fairly certain that there wouldn't be much to worry about from Kavanaugh anymore, and satisfied that his goal had been acheived, he rose to his feet once more and looked down at the scientist.

"For the record, Kavanaugh, scientists take risks. They take risks for everything to see if something works, to save lives, to discover different solutions to the same problem, or just to see if one will do. But they do what they have to do in order to ensure that above all, society benefits in the end. You on the other hand, do neither of the above. You do everything you can to set us back." McKay shook his head sadly, placing his hands on his hips. As he did so, he glanced at Kavanaughs working table.

"Clean up your mess. If you're going to completely suck at your job, at least keep the work area properly maintained." With that, he strode out of the lab, leaving Kavanaugh to seethe on the floor in pain and embarrassment. Rodney didn't even care when he walked past the other scientists who had been waiting only a couple of yards away. If Kavanaugh wanted to embarrass Elizabeth, then Rodney would oblige that with a little humility session of his own, with all of his colleagues invited to partake in it.

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Rodney's hand hurt the next day, but it was a good kind of pain, like he'd worked out at the gym or something akin to that effect. He couldn't quite figure out if it was because he'd decked Kavanaugh or if it was because he'd been working non stop on his report for the past couple of hours. He didn't hear John knocking at his door until his name was called, and even then, he hesitated in looking up.

"Jeez, Rodney, give it a rest, will ya?" John leaned against the door frame, "someone's gonna think you're writing a book or something."

"Why not? Explorers running off to another galaxy, finding blood-sucking aliens to fight, and oh, they happen to live in the Lost City of Atlantis..." he smirked, finally coming to a stopping point before looking up at John.

"Sounds like a best seller," he answered, ambling into the room. Rodney watched him cautiously, and as the major was sitting down, got caught. "Carson said I could go for a walk." He folded his hands on his lap. "Decided to come here."

"Oh, well, how nice of you," Rodney quipped.

"Yea, I had a couple questions for you. Actually, just one." John scratched the side of his scruffy face. "What's this I hear about Kavanaugh walking around with a bruiser on his cheek?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

Rodney said it with such a straight face that John almost believed him. Almost. If he hadn't heard the story from Carson himself, who had heard it from Katie Brown, John would have never believed that Rodney could hit someone. "Ah come on Rodney. Never known you to haul off and hit a man before." John sniffed, looking pointedly at McKay. "What's goin' on?"

"Oh yes, because the next person I need to tell about what happened is you. Major, I only hit the guy. When you find out what happened, you're probably gonna take a P-90 to his extremities."

He didn't miss the way John's eyes narrowed at that and Rodney silently cursed himself for saying that much. He was already in hot water with Elizabeth. Atlantis' military commander didn't need to join Rodney in the tub too.

"Rodney."

Oh, how he tried to ignore the major, he tried so hard. He twiddled his thumbs, typed a bit more on his report, looked through papers on his desk, but it wasn't until John stood up and leaned over the table, putting himself right in McKay's face that the scientist finally relented and spilled the beans. As expected, Johns forest green eyes darkened to near black when he heard about Kavanaugh's disrespectful attitude toward Elizabeth, and Rodney just knew that the next move Sheppard was going to make would be an about face and out the door. Honestly, McKay had no problem letting John Sheppard take out his frustrations on Kavanaugh, but he had a feeling a certain diplomat might, and he rushed from around his desk to block Johns exit.

"Get out of my way, McKay."

"Major, Carson is going to kill me if you over-exert yourself, so why don't you just sit back in the chair? I've already taken care of it, look, you can see the bruise on my hand for proof!"

"I'd rather see the bruise on Kavanaugh's face and give one to match!"

"Well, that's not going to happen and you know it, so why don't you just sit back down?" Rodney pleaded, half for John's sake, and half for his own. The Major, being weaker than normal from his 'cling-on' episode was forced to comply and sat heavily back down in the chair, brooding. "I don't like the fact that Elizabeth didn't tell me about this," he glowered at McKay, as though he were the reason that Dr. Weir hadn't said anything to him. "Well, if I remember correctly Major, you were the object of a rather serious medical emergency 24 hours ago," Rodney snarked, "she probably told me because she thought I wouldn't fly off the handle. Hell, I didn't know I'd fly off the handle like that, but I did." John just looked at him.

"Oh my God, Rodney McKay cares about someone," he murmured comically, listening to his friend snort.

"I do not. I simply respect the chain of command."

"You like her, you want her to be your friend!"

"I absolutely do not! I mean, yes, I'd like to consider her my friend, but she's nothing more than an associate, and my boss." Rodney glanced to the right, then the left. John could only smile wider. "Rodney's got a friend, Rodney's got a friend," he sing-songed.

"Alright, alright, okay, okay, I get it! She's a friend, she's a friend! And so are you by the way, so don't go screwing it up like everyone else has in the past, got it?" Rodney ordered, and was rewarded with a sharp nod of the head from Sheppard. "Wouldn't dream of it." he vowed as he leaned forward on his knees. "So. You already got your discipline in for Kavanaugh. But I feel as the Military Commander of the base, I should enforce the chain of command a little better." John had an Irish smile, and an Irish smile was nothing to smile at. It was a grin. A mischievous, plotting, impish little grin that both he and McKay shared, even though Rodney was Canadian. The two quickly became like brothers on Atlantis. And as a brother would, Rodney leaned forward conspiratorially.

"What did you have in mind?"

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John Sheppard knew that Kavanaugh was wishing someone would just shoot him right now. But neither John nor Rodney were about to let him go that easily. Quick deaths were for those that deserved it, and while Kavanaugh wasn't going to be dying today, both men had their minds set on making the cowards life a living hell for the next couple of days.

Kavanaugh was on his hands and knees, a bucket beside him filled with soapy water and a cloth was in his hand. Attached to the bucket was a disposable toothbrush, which had already been used. John and Rodney, along with one other marine and Kavanaugh were in Elizabeth's office. As punishment for his rudeness and insubordinate behavior, John had ordered Kavanaugh to clean every inch of the diplomats working quarters. Kavanaugh had at first refused, stating that John had no power over him in that area, to which the Major had replied that his power lay in ensuring the chain of command was followed. Obviously, neither Elizabeth, John, nor Rodney had felt that it had, and as the two latter of the three were ranking members of the Atlantis Expedition, with the actual latter being Kavanaugh's boss, the both felt it was important to ensure exactly who gave the orders and who followed them.

"Kavanaugh, I hope you remember this in the future before you decide to open your big mouth," John said lazily, leaning against the wall closest to the gate.

"You missed a few spots over there," Rodney added, pointing out various, almost microscopic spots that Kavanaugh had indeed missed. "I don't know where you two get off," he grumbled, sitting up on his knees, "when we get back to Earth, you can bet your ass's I'll be talking to someone about this."

"I rather like my ass right where it is so, no, I don't think I will. And you go right ahead and talk to anyone you want to, Kavanaugh," John encouraged, "yea, let them know that you had the well being of yourself on your mind and not the lives of six people in a jumper, and while you're at it, don't forget to tell them how disrespectfully you treated Dr. Weir and how insubordinate you were." He walked over to the scientist and glared at him. "You know, honestly, insubordination at times is good. I should know, I've done plenty of it. It's disrespect that I have a problem with. And see, not only did you disrespect Dr. Weir, but you disrespected a woman." He looked over at Rodney who was shaking his head reproachfully and tsking.

"Now, I dunno about you, but where I come from, men just don't do that. So," he slapped his legs and stood straight up, "as an apology to Dr. Weir, when you finish cleaning her office, you can run down to the mess and grab her dinner. It's her favorite tonight. Turkey sandwich." Wisely, Kavanaugh said nothing, and only continued to scrub the floor. Rodney walked over, leaving the man to his work and asked, "Is the turkey sandwich really Elizabeth's favorite?"

"Nah," John answered, grinning, "that's mine. I'm hungry. Instilling discipline is hard work, Doctor!"