Paring: McKay/Carter
Spoilers: 48 Hours, Pegasus Project
A/N: omglawdork helped me out when I got stuck, and smittywing and wojelah went above and beyond the call of beta duty.
"Come on, Cam, please?" Sam gave Cam her most imploring look. She'd been trying to cajole Cam into coming with her to McKay's quarters for the last ten minutes.
SG-1 was heading back to Earth in a few days and even though it was the Atlantis equivalent of way-too-late, she needed to see McKay. Sam knew Rodney had changed - she'd read the Atlantis reports, but it was one thing to read it and another to see it in person. She'd seen him in action over the course of their visit and could observe it for herself.
Now, before they left, she wanted to talk to him. She wasn't sure what she was going to tell him, there were so many things she wanted to say - maybe sorry - not that she wanted to apologize, because she wasn't sorry for how she treated him - he really had deserved most of her ire. But she wanted to talk to him about the changes, changes in her and changes in him. Working with him to stop the Ori and the Wraith let her see a new side to him.
She didn't know what the future was going to hold; they were fighting two very different wars on two very different fronts and she wanted to take this opportunity to talk to him while it was there.
"Why now, Carter? Can't you just wait until tomorrow to ask him?" Cam took a long drag on the beer he'd gotten from Sheppard's stock. She could tell he was starting to falter. It probably wouldn't take much more to get him to agree to make the late night trek to McKay's quarters with her.
"No. I really need to know this now." Sam really didn't, and Cam knew, and she knew Cam knew. If she waited - if she slept on it - she might never talk to McKay. Asking him some inane question seemed like as good as reason as any.
"I don't see why you can't go alone." Cam was sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. He didn't look ready to go anywhere, but she knew he would – for her.
"It's Rodney, Cam. I'm sure he would get the wrong idea as to why I'm showing up at his room late at night?"
Cam raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips a bit. "I'm starting to get the wrong idea." Cam looked directly at her, and Sam looked down to avoid meeting his eyes. Oh yeah, he had her totally figured out - he might not know exactly what she needed to work out with McKay, but he knew there was something more there.
"Cam - please?" She knew the softer tone and the look in her eyes would get him to come along - when push came to shove he would do anything for her. Even though this was stupid. She knew it was stupid, and he most likely knew it was stupid, but if youcouldn't depend on your friends to go along with the crazy, who could you depend on?
"Fine." Cam grumbled a bit as he put his feet on the floor and grabbed his shoes. "I'll go with you, but you have to at least tell me why we're going." Yup, Cam wasn't buying it - and it looked like this was gonna be one of those times he pushed the issue. She knew he would go along with it, but he was going to make her squirm a bit first.
"I told you, I have a question about some of the power adjustments he's made. I think they're unstable."
"Right and that couldn't wait until tomorrow morning? They haven't made Atlantis go boom in all this time, so they aren't going to go boom tonight. C'mon Carter - I want to know the real reason."
Sam didn't want to admit the reasons to herself, let alone anyone else. "You know what? It's fine Cam, I'll just go alone." She could do this. Sam opened the door and walked into the hallway. She was barely out the door when she felt Cam's hand on her arm.
"Carter - I get it. Let's go." One glance at his face told her he really did understand.
Five minutes later they were standing outside Rodney's door. Sam must have paused a bit because Cam nudged her shoulder - "Well, we're here. Aren't you going to ring the doorbell?"
"Right." Sam waved her hand over the door pad, which beeped. Rodney was either expecting someone or didn't care who came to visit because the door whooshed open right away.
Sam walked into the room, Cam close behind. She stopped short when she saw Sheppard sprawled out on Rodney's bed reading a magazine. Rodney was sitting at his desk typing away. He looked up - and did a double take when he saw her.
"Carter!" Rodney slammed his laptop lid down and jumped up, his expression shifting from surprise to confusion when he saw Mitchell standing behind her. "Mitchell? What are you guys doing here?"
"Yeah, Sam, what are we doing here?" Mitchell quipped from behind her. Sam gave him her best death glare and made a mental note to remove him from the list of acceptablewingmen. Not that she had much choice - she'd have preferred Teal'c but he was off somewhere with Ronon doing god knows what. Teyla and Lorne were supervising, so at least they would come back in one piece. Daniel and Vala were off somewhere enjoying Atlantis, and she didn't want to bother them.
"I told you before we got here - I wanted to ask McKay a question about the power couplings in the automated maintenance relays" Sam gave Cam a pointed look and turned toward Rodney, "I was going over some of the power documentation to see the effect of the ZPM and I noticed some interesting adjustments to the system. I was worried they might compromise integrity." That sounded even less credible of a reason out loud than it had in her head.
And Rodney was clearly not buying it - "And that was so important you felt the need to come to my quarters late at night to ask me?" He sounded rather dubious.
"It just seems that by switching the power routes you're putting too great of a strain on the secondary relays - from the documentation I've read they were only meant as a back-up in case of catastrophic failure of the first. Your system uses at least half of them for primary relays. If there is a great power surge at anypoint, well, there's a good chance we end up with 'Atlantis go boom.'" Sam punctuated the last phrase by making an exploding motion with her hands. She really did have a concern about the power distribution, so it wasn't hard for her to get involved in her argument, even though this wasn't really the reason she had trekked out to Rodney's room late at night.
"Right." McKay looked pissed. "You think so little of my abilities you expect me to blow up Atlantis between now and breakfast? That seems a little absurd, even for you Carter." Rodney looked pointedly from Sam to Cam. "And Mitchell here just what, decided to tag along? Came by to wave another lemon in my face if I didn't agree with you?" Sam could almost see the wheels turning in Rodney's head as he thought about reasons why Cam would be there and she knew the moment he hit on the right one. His face fell. "You brought him with you so I wouldn't hit on you."
Out of the corner of her eye, Sam could see Sheppard studying her face intently. From all she had read and seen, she knew he was more intuitive than most people gave him credit for - his expression made it clear he had figured her out. She kinda hoped he wouldn't out her, but she also kinda hoped he would.
"No, Rodney. I brought Cam along because - " She really couldn't think of a good fake reason for why she brought Cam along, and she didn't want to say the real one. She didn't know what to do – Rodney looked so hurt. She gave Sheppard a look – one that she hoped said 'please tell him so I don't just walk out of here and do any more damage.'
Thankfully, John was a smart man. "Rodney - Carter's a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force - she's perfectly capable of kicking your ass if you step out of line. She just brought Mitchell because she didn't want to be tempted if you actually did try something. And with that insightful wisdom – I'm outta here. Mitchell, Guitar Hero?" Sheppard stood up and walked to the door.
"Sam?" Cam gave her a questioning look. He was clearly torn, but she knew he wouldn't leave until he was sure she would be okay.
"Go play games with Sheppard. Thanks for coming."
As the door closed, Sam sat down on Rodney's bed. Probably not the best place to be, but Rodney was blocking the only other chair in the room.
Rodney looked utterly bewildered. "You brought Cam along so you wouldn't be tempted to actually take me up on one of my generous offers?"
"Yes." Sam gave a sheepish shrug. Honesty was the best policy. Sometimes.
"Wow. I mean it's flattering – and it's about time. I'm not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth – and by that, I don't mean you're a horse - but why now?" He moved a little, as if he was going to come over and sit next to her, but he leaned back right away.
"No time like the present?" Sam shrugged a bit and tried to sound breezy, but she totally failed.
"Really, Sam, why are you here?" Rodney still appeared a bit shocked, but under all of that she could see real confusion.
"Obviously I didn't come here to talk about power problems - though I do think I raised some valid concerns - but really, I just wanted to talk."
"Really, the power problems were subterfuge? Like I didn't guess that ten minutes ago. You wanted to talk and after all the times you've managed to reject me, you've suddenly decided you might not be able to resist my charms?"
"It's not like that McKay, and I think you know it. You know why I'm here."
"Huh. You really do want me, don't you?" Only Rodney could mix befuddlement with tinge of arrogance.
It made Sam laugh - it was so Rodney. "Yes, I think I probably do."
"Oh good - wait. How are you so sure I still want you?"
Sam didn't even dignify that with a response - she just gave him a very pointed look.
"Right." Rodney waved his hand a little as he conceded that point. "So why?"
"I don't know." Sam leaned back a bit and braced herself on the bed with her arms. "The situation here and back on earth, the time I've spent on Atlantis. The fact that you aren't the same Rodney McKay I used to know. You wouldn't leave someone behind now." Sam wasn't sure why brought up their first meeting. It was just something she thought they had to get past so they could move forward. "Our last few meetings – something's been different. You've been different." Sam patted the bed next to her - this was turning into a serious conversation, and those never went well from across the room. Rodney must have agreed with her, because he came over and sat down.
"You're right. I wouldn't make that choice again." Rodney turned and looked her directly in the eyes. "I still think some of the decisions you make are dangerous and I don't agree with you all the time, but you've changed as much as I have."
"I know." Sam leaned over and put her head on Rodney's shoulder. She could feel him hesitate at first, but then he wrapped his arm around her. This wasn't going exactly as she planned – not that she had planned anything. Every time she'd contemplated being alone with Rodney, it had never involved the two of them just sitting around talking.
She'd always thought that if - who was she kidding, when, they finally had sex, it would be in the heat of a crisis, quick and dirty and maybe alcohol-related. She never thought it would be like this - grown up with discussions and everything. They both knew where this was going. She just never pictured them just just sitting there, side-by-side, in companionable silence before it happened.
The next move was probably hers, she realized. She was the one who had showed up after-hours on his doorstep, after all, with what turned out to be a poor excuse for a chastity belt in tow. It's not that she wasn't generally this indecisive, but this was McKay, after all. Then again, if she sat here long enough, McKay would probably make the next move anyway - silence was not something he did well.
And she was right. "Now that we have the emotional portion of this evening out of the way," Rodney said, "we both know you didn't come here to talk. I figure we have two options. One - we can go through the motions and I'll make some slightly offensive yet undeniably alluring comments about you and you can pretend to be offended, yet secretly turned on or two - we could just get right to it." And yup, there was that not-so-sweet part. Rodney was right though, there really wasn't any scenario in which she left this room without having sex. With McKay.
"You know what, McKay? You're more attractive when you aren't talking." They really were going to do this - in for a penny, in for a pound, so she stood up and started pulling her shirt over her head. She wasn't wearing the sexiest underwear, but she didn't think McKay would mind.
"Option two it is. Here, let me help you with that." Rodney grabbed the bottom of her shirt, running his fingers along her sides. They pulled it over her head together. She shivered a bit and closed her eyes. Clearly, hell had just frozen over and she wanted to enjoy the sled ride down.
She didn't really have any expectations as to how this would all go, or what kind of lover Rodney would be, but she knew this would be good.
Rodney was hardly a Lothario - although he did manage some kind of instant magic with her bra hook - he was currently looking for the catch on the wrong side of her belt, and had the zipper down, but had forgotten to unfasten the button. It was kind of cute - almost endearing.
She was probably over-thinking this whole situation, and she was having trouble getting a read on Rodney, but she didn't want to forget anything. She was leaving and he was staying and while she wasn't going to call this a one night stand, that's what it was probably going to go down as - intentional or not.
Maybe he was smooth - she was two-thirds naked when she realized he was still fully clothed. She reached for his shirt - at some point he had swung her legs up onto the bed and was removing her shoes and socks - but he playfully slapped away her hands.
"Not yet."
"This is all part of some evil plan, isn't it? You're going to get me naked and pull some trick on me, are you?" Sam was only half-joking with that question.
"Oh please – I've finally got the great Samantha Carter almost naked, in my bed – I'm waiting for you to run away." She knew Rodney well enough to hear the doubt in his voice. He really thought she might actually just get up and leave.
"Just checking, McKay," Sam said, trying to reassure McKay - she wasn't going anywhere. "You know, the level of nakedness in this room seems a little uneven." Sam grabbed at McKay's shirt and tugged at the end.
"Fine, fine, fine." Rodney made short work of stripping himself down to his standard issue boxers. "Now may I finish?" The question was clearly rhetorical because before she could answer he went back to her pants.
When that task was accomplished, Sam waited to see what he'd do next. So far, he had been the dominant one, and she was perfectly willing to let him set the pace. She waited and waited and finally looked up to see him looking almost unsure of himself.
She knew that feeling. She wasn't nervous anymore, but she couldn't believe they were going to finally do this. And that thought made Sam smile. "Well, McKay," she said as she rolled on her side and propped her head on her hand - "you've got me in your bed – now, what are you going to do with me?"
And that was enough to make Rodney smirk and flop down on the bed next to her. "You know, as many times as I've thought about this and, well, fantasized about this, I never thought it would actually happen."
"The real thing is right here, right now, McKay." And she could tell from his face that real Carter was way better than fantasy Carter.
"I know." While they were talking, Rodney turned onto his side, facing her. He tugged her toward him, until they were lying nose to nose and put his hand on the side of her face stroking her cheek with his thumb.
They had gone from stripping down so fast her head was spinning, to lying silently next to each other, occasionally breaking up the stillness with small gestures, cautious movements of a hand. They looked and touched, but slowly, almost reverently - a graze here, a rub there.
Rodney closed the small gap between them and kissed her, alternating between deep, passionate, hard kisses, and soft, gentle brushes of his lips against her face.
She was about roll them - she wanted a better angle - when he pulled away. He looked surprised and had this slightly goofy grin on his face. "We're really going to do this aren't we?"
"Yes. We are." Sam grinned and pushed him onto his back, sat on him.
Yes, they really were going to do this, and it was going to be fun.
Sam returned to reality a few hours later, draped across Rodney.
"You were better in my head." She could tell from his tone that Rodney was joking, so she smacked him, or tried to. Her arm didn't quite make it anywhere near his body, but it was the thought that counted.
"Yeah, well, you were better in my head as well." Sam moved around a bit, so her head was snuggled into Rodney's chest.
Rodney jerked upright, almost knocking her off the bed. "You fantasized about me?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sam winked at him. She glanced at the clock - it wasn't quite morning yet, but it was close enough that she needed to get back to her own room. She started looking around for her clothing. "What did you do with my shirt?" Sam grabbed the edge of the blanket and wrapped it around her and started walking around the room picking up her clothing. Of course Rodney's clothing had all manged to land into a neat pile, but he had managed to throw hers into every corner of the room.
Rodney kept tugging at the end of her blanket, pulling it down as she made her way around the room. It was such a Rodney thing to do, it made her laugh. "You just threw my clothing everywhere so you would have to watch me wander around the room looking for it, didn't you?"
"Yup. All part of my evil plan." Rodney made no move to pull the remaining blankets over himself.
Sam threw her bra at Rodney, "Help me put this on, I don't have the arm strength to work the hooks." Rodney was more than happy to oblige, pressing small kisses down her back while he fiddled with the hook - he wasn't quite as adept at putting it back on as he had been at taking it off.
When Sam finished getting dressed she leaned over and kissed him. She wasn't leaving Atlantis just yet, but she knew this was their goodbye.
"I should go, I need to meet Elizabeth in a few hours - so -" She didn't know what to say. While she didn't think he had any illusions that this was anything more than what it was, it had been special.
"Don't worry about me Carter - this is enough to fuel my fantasies until you come back to Atlantis." Rodney winked and attempted to grin lecherously at her but ended up just grinning - looking genuinely happy.
Sam grinned back, as happy as Rodney looked. "Right, McKay. You keep thinking that way." She walked to the door and paused, "Keep yourself safe, Rodney. And fix those power couplings."
"Still on that? I'll give them a look later." Rodney looked away. "Don't get yourself killed okay? Not to brag, but I've been told the encore performance is even better." He met her eyes again and gave her a silly wink.
Sam was still laughing as the door closed behind her.