Of Observations and Beginnings, a stargate: atlantis fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Stargate universe. I believe MGM does. They have the money. Not me. Also, the last few lines of dialogue were taken directly from the episode Trio.

Spoilers: Sunday, Adrift, Missing, Quarantine and Trio. But really if you haven't seen seasons 3 and 4 you shouldn't be reading this.

A/N: I've started watching Stargate:Atlantis a few months ago when someone lent me the DVDs, and I must say I've fallen in love with the show. I've finished catching up with the story 2 weeks ago, and I just love the idea of McKeller since seeing Trio, which I've watched like 5 times already.

I must warn you: this is my first Stargate fanfic and English is not my native language, so sorry for any mistakes or anything being OOC.

She had been tending another patient when he marched in with Carson, protesting about a blood test that 'Carson, you damn maniac needle-doctor' was forcing him to take. While she'd never had any real contact or conversation with him yet, it was hard to stay ignorant of who he was for long: egomaniac, intolerant and sarcastic, the one and only Rodney McKay was in the habit of causing quite a first impression.

Jennifer had only been working on Atlantis for about three weeks, but she had already developed a habit of rolling her eyes whenever he entered the infirmary. She had never seen a man come so often to get patched up, and never seen a man hating it so much.

"I'm telling you, Carson, this is far from necessary. Really, I feel fine. I don't see the slightest reason to do this test, apart from your obvious sadistic tendencies, that is." McKay protested for about the fourth time in two minutes.

"Oh for God's sake, Rodney, it's only a little bit of blood. Plus, I'm sure you'd rather have the confirmation that you have nothing than fall ill beyond any relief in a week, aye? Stop being such a baby, and come with me. Come on."

Reluctantly agreeing, but still mumbling over his breath, McKay settled down on the bed while Carson fetched the necessary instruments.

"Well, if you have to do this, can you at least hurry? I have a lot of urgent matters to tend to. Things more important than getting blood sucked out of my body." he called after him.

Jennifer rolled her eyes once more before turning back to the matter at hand, a young marine that had been injured during a sparing match with the one they called Ronon. It was the sixth one this week...

Some time later, after McKay had left, she approached Carson. He was a man that had shown a great deal of kindness to her in her first few days, helping her feel at home in this strange city. He had a great heart and a brilliant mind, and she felt privileged to work for him and to know that he trusted her. However, there was one thing she did not understand about him.

"Why do you put up with him?" she asked, taking a seat next to him.

"I'm sorry?"

"Why do you put up with McKay? I mean, I know you have to treat him, but how can you be so calm with him? Doesn't he annoy you?"

"I'll have you know that Rodney is one of my greatest friends," he answered, looking slightly indignant. "I put up with him because I like him, I put up with him because I know what a wonderful man he is."

"Really? McKay?" Jennifer pressed, unconvinced.

She didn't know what she expected him to answer when she'd first asked the question, but it certainly wasn't a defense of McKay's qualities.

"Jennifer, don't judge him when you don't know him. Rodney might seem hard to take, but I find myself lucky to be amongst his friends. He's brilliant, he's funny, and he has saved us all more times than I can count. He doesn't act the way he does through any lack of feelings on his part."

She was humbled by this, but then as he turned to see to the marine that had just entered the infirmary, he said something that left her completely ashamed.

"I expected more of you, Jennifer. I thought you were one of those people able to see past appearances."

He was right, of course. She liked to believe she was an understanding and patient person, with acute observational skills. She had simply thought that there was nothing more to McKay than what met the eye. And quite frankly, she had never heard nor seen anything to contradict that thought. Up until now, that is.

What Carson said surprised her, but it also made her think. Beckett was a man she respected deeply, so his opinions meant a lot to her. She could not disregard his defense of McKay, but she still had trouble believing it. She was also sad to know that she had disappointed him. To appease her thoughts, Jennifer resolved to study McKay more closely from now on.

At the end of the week, Jennifer was thoroughly puzzled. She had observed, had watched and listened, and although she didn't find him as disagreeable and annoying as before, she still wasn't any closer to understanding him. The man was a walking contradiction. One day she saw him sitting with his teammates in the mess hall, laughing and talking animatedly, and the day after he was completely ignoring them, sitting at another table, alone, bent over his computer. One moment he was discussing theories and ideas with Zelenka, interested by what the other man had to say, and the next he was completely disregarding him, criticizing everything he said. All of his relations seemed characterized by this ambiguous and unstable behavior, and she just couldn't figure out who Rodney McKay really was.

But Jennifer was someone who loved to understand. She liked to grasp a concept in its entirety. Once she had her mind set on a subject, she always wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Now her subject was Dr. Rodney McKay.

So she kept observing.

During that period of time, she actually talked to him once, too. She was on a night shift, and he came complaining of dizziness and fever. Probably something he picked up off-world, he said.

The infirmary empty, she was silently reading files when he stormed in, looking like hell.

"Where's Carson? I need to see him," he demanded.

"Dr. Beckett is off-duty right now. He's probably asleep."

McKay stopped walking at the news, self-consciously scratching his head.

"Oh… Oh right. I guess it makes sense... I mean, it is pretty late. Uh... Alright... I'll just…come back tomorrow morning then."

He was already retreating towards the door when she stopped him.

"Or I am sure that I could help you with whatever it is that's wrong."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you can. It's just that I… I feel more comfortable around Beckett. Not that you make me uncomfortable, no no, that's not what I meant. You…you're a very good person, uh, um, I mean, good doctor. Not that I don't think you're not a good person. Not that I do think so, because I don't know you all that well, but I'm sure you are, because you seem very, um... What I mean to say is... You..."

It was taking all of her professional restraint not to start laughing at this point, so she took mercy on the poor man and stopped his ramblings.

"McKay, it's alright. Just tell me what's wrong."

She examined him, asking questions about his situation and trying to make small talk to fill in the silences, but she wasn't able to get him to say much after that first rather surprising outburst. He was nice to her, though, a little dazed from fever, maybe, and she almost thought she could detect a trace of... what was that? Nervousness? Shyness?

She had just sent him off to bed with orders to rest for the following day, happily contemplating the next few hours she would spend reflecting on that weird feeling she thought she saw in McKay, and on how she had never realized how beautiful his eyes were, when he said something completely unexpected.

"You know, Carson speaks most highly of you. Always telling me how wonderful you are, how great an addition you make to his team. And, well, I think he's... what I mean to say is that I… I understand why he... I, um..."

At that point, he seemed to lose courage and, looking off to a spot next to his right foot he finished, rather lamely, "Thank you, Dr. Keller."

He turned his back and swiftly left the room.

It completely floored her. To think that McKay would say something so nice - or, rather, would mean to say something so nice, because he hadn't actually said it, had he - opened up so many levels of questioning about the man that she didn't quite know where to begin.

As it turned out, she didn't have to worry about that. She really didn't have much time to think about anything at all very shortly after that night.

It had been a couple of weeks already, but she still felt numb. Carson had been the first friend she'd made here. He had been there when she was scared out of her wits on her first days; he had comforted her when she hadn't been able to save a badly injured marine. He had just been there for her.

Now he was gone, and they expected her to replace him? She could never be as competent, as calm and professional as this man, she could never have everyone on this base trust her the way he effortlessly did. How could they trust her, after all, when half of the time she didn't know what she was doing? She really just wanted to go back to the way things were before.

She hadn't seen him much since that day, either, so she didn't have any new musings to occupy her thoughts, even momentarily. He'd gone back to Earth with the body - God, how she hated to say that - and since he came back, he'd been subdued, quiet. It was unnatural and, for some reason, depressing. Just another thing in the long list of what she wanted back to normal.

But now, she thought, she knew for sure that McKay wasn't an insensible man, and that he cared deeply for the few friends he had.

If only she'd made that discovery under different circumstances.

He came to the infirmary one day, with a head bruise he received on a recon mission. It had been the first time she saw him in the infirmary at all since... his... departure. It was obvious that he was painfully aware of that fact, too: he kept looking around, as though he expected Carson to leap at him from under a bed yelling '"Got you!". He looked about to change his mind and head out when he spotted her, and she tried not to appear too surprised when she saw him head straight to her.

"Dr. McKay", she greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I... I got hurt a little when I was off-world earlier and they told me I had to have it checked and I... I'd really prefer if it was you that... what I mean is I… um… I wanted you to have a look. If… if you're not too busy, that is... I didn't mean that to sound like an order, it's just... Well I'm sorry, I guess I'm just used to being treated by... And he didn't take offense when I..."

She hadn't thought he would mention him, and she felt her heart breaking a little bit more than it already was at the pain in his eyes. She silently prayed that her voice would be steady before she answered.

"McKay, it's alright, I'm not taking offense. Sit down and I'll examine you."

Jennifer was surprised that he would come to her, that he would feel more comfortable with her than any other doctor on this base - any doctor alive on this base, she corrected herself. She didn't understand why; she had only treated him personally once. But then she remembered what he'd said that particular night, the praise he'd heard from Carson. He didn't trust her medical expertise, not really: he trusted his friend's opinion.

They talked very little during the examination, each lost in their own private thoughts. She caught herself looking at him a few times, as he was looking down, and found herself wishing she knew of anything - anything - she could say to bring a smile in those amazingly blue eyes of his. But she didn't, because she still didn't know him so well, despite her endeavors, so she kept quiet. It was finally him that broke the silence.

"Listen," he said, sounding unsure of himself, "I appreciate you taking the time to look after me. I know things have probably been crazy around here for you..."

"Well actually, it hasn't been that bad. Nothing major has happened in the last few weeks, since... you know... so I feel I've been lucky."

She meant to stop there, but she was already talking before she realized it.

"I just... I wish they'd hurry up and appoint a new CMO. Every morning I dread what's the day going to bring, although I guess it will be a good thing when something does happen because then they'll realize that I'm so obviously wrong for this job and fire me on the spot."

She didn't know what drove her to say such a thing. God knows she wasn't fishing for compliments, and McKay would probably be the last person to help with her confidence boost anyway. But being there, next to him, she just felt a compulsion to finally voice her fears and insecurities, to just let go of her burdens. She looked away from him, hugging herself.

"I mean, I'm not fit to be CMO. What were they thinking? I'm not good enough! I haven't been here for a long time, I'm still not very familiar with the Stargate program, I don't know a lot of people on this base yet, let alone their medical record! How can they expect me to handle this? How can they expect me to fill in Carson's shoes, a man so brilliant in every way?"

She was getting close to tears now, so she forced herself to stop and looked at him, expecting to see him fidget in embarrassment. He wasn't. His eyes were fully locked on hers, and amidst the pain there was a feeling she couldn't begin to decipher.

"No one expects you to fill in Carson's shoes," he said softly. "No one is asking you to replace him. We only want you to be who you are, to do what you can, and that is good enough."

He looked away then, not by awkwardness, it seemed, but from the weight of emotions.

"I told you once that Beckett held you in the highest regard, and that is completely true. Had it fallen to him to choose his successor, I'm sure he would've picked you. He trusted you completely, said you were one of the most brilliant doctors he'd ever met. So stop doubting yourself."

He reached for her hand, squeezed it gently, rose to his feet and left without another word.

This was getting quite a habit of his.

As she watched him go, she couldn't help but feel that her interest in Rodney McKay had reached a whole new level, and she knew why: if he kept telling her stuff like this, she would start being seriously in danger of falling in love with the man.

It was funny, really, how every time she had a conversation with McKay, things tended to go awfully wrong soon afterwards. Here they were, three days later, with Replicators firing on them with a powerful laser, and it seemed like it was pretty much the end of everything. She was scared out of her mind, and she felt completely useless. No one was hurt yet, as long as the shield held there would be nobody wounded. When it failed, however, it wouldn't matter that she was a doctor, that she could heal people: they would all be dead.

So when the laser grazed the control tower, she was almost happy. At least now they needed her, she finally had something to occupy her thoughts other than their impeding death. She got medical teams organized, examinations done and priorities established. Under the pressure of the moment, she didn't have time to register how well she was dealing with her first crisis.

As hard as she'd tried, she just couldn't save Dr. Weir's life by any normal medical means. She knew it wasn't through any fault of her own, it just couldn't be done. She had no choice but to turn to the only man who could still do something for her: Rodney McKay.

It didn't surprise her that he rose to the challenge so quickly, even though he had many pressing matters on his mind, such as saving all of their lives. She was now past the point where she thought he didn't care about other people, so the pain that radiated from him as she told him of their leader's situation didn't surprise her as it might have before. It didn't surprise her, but the deepness of his feelings still left her slightly breathless. And when he stood up to Sheppard after they'd reactivated the nanites, all she wanted to do was walk up to him and hug him, tell him she thought he made the right choice, tell him she agreed with him. She wanted to comfort him like he had comforted her in the past. But she didn't, because why would he care about what she thought? Her opinion was in all probability of no significance to the great Rodney McKay. He had more important things to worry about.

Saving all of their lives, to mention only that.

What was amazing to her is that he did save all of their lives that day. She knew he was brilliant, the greatest mind in all of two galaxies, as he liked to say himself, and that everybody just expected it of him, expected him to save them. And he always did.

As she lay in bed, reflecting about the day's adventures, she thought that in all of her musings about McKay, she had never dwelled enough on the sheer intelligence that the man possessed.

She also realized that no one should have that kind of expectation hanging over their head all the time. She couldn't imagine what kind of pressure it put on him, and what awful guilt he would feel were he to fail. No one should have to save the day, over and over again, with everyone around him acting as though there wasn't anything extraordinary about it.

She decided that night that McKay was not appreciated as he ought to be.

When he woke up the next morning, Rodney found a piece of paper slipped under his door. On it was simply written 'Thanks for saving us all.' Torn between smile and tears, he deposited the note carefully on his desk, fervently wishing it bore a signature.

She had more occasions to observe him over the next weeks. She was gradually settling in her new duties, the IOA having made it clear that with every thing going on right now, they'd really rather not bring a new doctor as CMO as of yet. It surprised her to realize that it didn't bother her quite as much as it would have few days ago. She still didn't feel completely comfortable, but she knew she was getting there.

She also felt that she was gaining the friendship of many new people, including Colonel Sheppard's team. This was of great satisfaction to her: she was losing the feeling that she was an outsider, something that had never completely left her before.

She was also able to spend more time with McKay, and she could deny no longer the growing attraction she was feeling towards him. She felt like she was truly starting to understand the man. His sometimes contradictory behavior didn't puzzle her anymore. She believed he really loved his friends, and would do anything for them, but he was also extremely scared of getting hurt by them. So he retreated under this façade of hostility and sarcasm, and only rarely did his true self emerge from it. In a twisted way, she liked him even when he was being his sarcastic, unpleasant self: she felt like she was the only one who could see past that. Only she could see the real Rodney McKay, and it was a beautiful sight.

Well, it was just her luck, she thought bitterly. Just as she was falling for a guy who had probably spent most of his adult life single, he was engaged in what looked like a pretty serious relationship with a beautiful, kind and deserving woman.

God, she really was jealous of Katie Brown.

She got back from her first off-world mission completely shaken, and with an utter sense of shame. She hadn't been able to do anything to defend herself, she had been a constant weight for Teyla; she had been, to sum it up, completely useless. She knew apologizing wouldn't solve anything. Teyla, being the kind soul she was, would simply say that it was alright, that they had been unprepared for such an event, and that nobody expected a doctor to be a fighter. That wouldn't make her feel any good, or ease the guilt that was gnawing her mind.

That's why, the first night her ankle allowed her to do so, she was to be found at the gym. If anyone was surprised to see her there, no one mentioned anything. Well, no one until he came along.

"Dr. Keller! What are you doing here?" exclaimed McKay, walking over to her.

Slowing down her pace on the stationary bicycle, Jennifer looked towards him. In gym shorts and a white shirt, he looked completely out of place.

"I could ask the same of you," she retorted.

"Ah, well, mandatory exercise period, requested and enforced by none other than Sheppard the Tyrant! I come here about twice a week. But I've never seen you here before."

'That's because it's the first time I come here. I decided I could use a little exercise, be more in shape, you know...'

As she said this, his eyes were completely focused on her, and she saw in them that feeling again, the one that she couldn't decipher the first time she treated him after Carson's death. After a moment, she found it was too intense a look for her to take, and she averted her eyes to the electronic display on her bicycle. A detached part of her mind noticed that her heart rate was much higher than what it should be for the pace at which she was going.

She was acutely aware of his gaze still on her.

After a few moments, he took her arm and tugged on it, forcing her down from her bicycle.

"McKay!" she protested. "What... what are you doing?"

Ignoring her, he led her out of the gym and took a turn out of the main hallway. After checking around him, presumably to see if there wasn't anyone else there with them, he finally let go of her arm. She crossed them over her chest, looking at him inquiringly.

"Look", he began. "I, um... I know why you were in the gym. I know, because, well, I've been in your place before. And what you're doing is very honorable, but your motives are completely wrong."

"McKay, what – "

"I know you feel guilty", he said bluntly over her. "I know you feel inadequate and ashamed, and trust me I understand that. But you have to know that it's not expected of you to be a fighter, like Teyla. No one thinks any less of you because you weren't able to kill any Bola Kai like she did. No one –"

"McKay, you don't get it", she interrupted, holding her hand in front of her as if to stop his words from getting at her. "I was –"

"Trust me, I do get it", he cut her again. "How many times do you think Sheppard and the others have saved my ass in situations like these? But it's never happened to you before, so I really feel like I should help you deal with it."

"You don't-"

"Jennifer", he said softly but with urgency, taking a step and grabbing her arm, "you have to accept that you are who you are. I'm not saying you shouldn't exercise, or try to get better at fighting, but you shouldn't try to become what you're not. You're not the one people will go to when they need asses kicked. No one's asking you to be that person; no one wants you to be that person. You're the one that's going to heal those like Teyla at the end of the day, and that's perfectly fine."

As bad as she still felt about the whole ordeal, deep down she knew McKay was right. Although exercising and learning self-defense would no doubt be a wonderful improvement for her, she knew she didn't need to guilt herself into doing it. That's not what they were expecting of her. Just like they didn't expect McKay to be as good on the shooting range as Ronon or Sheppard.

She felt better, and it was all thanks to Rodney again. She couldn't help but wonder why he was always so nice to her. After all, she often saw him snap at other people and recoil from any emotional conversation in general. She had to force herself to remember about Katie Brown before she got her hopes up.

She nodded, smiling at him, before the curiosity got the better of her.

"McKay... Can I ask you something?"

"Oh, um, sure."

Now that his speech was over and that he was back in unknown territory, he quickly reverted to his old nervous self.

"Why do you always come to cheer me up like this?" she asked, trying to ignore the loud thumps of her heart. Katie Brown, she thought. Remember Katie Bown.

She could immediately see him blushing, and she couldn't quite remember the name of his girlfriend anymore.

"Well, I… I don't… I mean, I don't think I mean to do it. Not… not that I wouldn't like to cheer you up, of course, it's always nice to see you smile - not that, I mean, I particularly pay attention to your smile, or anything, and not that I don't either, I mean, I do pay attention, in the general sense of things, and I think it's nice when you do it, but that is to say that's never actually what I –"

"Rodney", she cut him, in her most patient voice, trying with all her might not to break into a huge smile in case he thought she was laughing at him. "I'm not asking that to embarrass you. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

He looked away, obviously struggling with himself for a moment, before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Carson... told me all those nice things about you, so I feel like... I feel like I know you a lot better than what you might think from our brief conversations. And I, um... Well, before... before he died... Shortly before he died, in fact, he told me how you weren't quite adjusted to life on Atlantis yet, and how he was trying to ease you into it. And... and since then... well, I guess I felt like I should maybe... try to, you know... take after him, and... look after you."

It was so endearing to see how embarrassed he was by all this, his hands playing with the hem of his shirt and his eyes looking everywhere but at her, that she couldn't help herself. She walked up to him, put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, before depositing a quick kiss on his cheek. Feeling her face reddening, she quickly let go of him and ran down the hall to the nearest transporter.

Had she looked back, she might have seen the look of complete shock and confusion on his face, along with a smile of something close to delight creeping onto his face. She would have seen the hand he raised to his cheek, where she had kissed him, and the fact that it took him several seconds to recover his senses and head back to the gym, the smile by then firmly set on his face.

As it was, Jennifer didn't turn to look back, so all that occupied her thoughts on the way back to her quarters was how her cheeks were burning up, and one sentence, that she repeated like a mantra: Remember Katie Brown. Remember Katie Brown. Remember Katie Brown.

And his scent, that had intoxicated her when she hugged him.

Over the next few weeks, she and Rodney McKay were overly cautious around each other. They were still friendly, still talking, but something had changed. Jennifer was berating herself about her impulsive move, while Rodney... Well, she had no idea what Rodney was thinking. It was as if he had closed up to her, like he was aware that she was observing him and he didn't want her to do it anymore. She felt sad, and somewhat dejected, but she told herself she had to move on and forget.

She was aware that Rodney wasn't the only man on Atlantis. Like every other female member, she had eyes, so she knew there could be other interesting prospects. She just felt like she hadn't connected to anyone like she had with McKay.

Well, she would just have to try.

The opportunity presented itself when she found herself locked in the infirmary with none other than Ronon Dex for many hours. She found the man extremely attractive, of course, but apart from the basic knowledge of who he was and the fact that he kept getting injured in sparring accidents, she didn't know him at all.

Thinking that now was as good a time as any, she tried to talk to him, which didn't prove quite easy at the beginning. He started to open up, however, and she felt so glad to think about someone else than McKay, for a change, that she may have pushed things a little and ended up almost kissing him.

However, as the doors opened to let them free and she walked out of the infirmary to see to the injured, she was glad, once the moment between them had passed, that nothing had happened. It really would never have worked. For one thing, she wasn't stupid enough to realize from what he'd said that he was interested in her mainly because she reminded him of his deceased girlfriend.

And also, it wouldn't have worked because even as she was in the company of Ronon for many hours, the most prominent thought on her mind had been wondering how Rodney was doing, because she knew he hated being restrained in one place for a long period of time.

So, yeah, it wouldn't have worked out. Which was too bad, really, considering she now didn't have much hope. She was incredibly attracted to a man who was in a blossoming relationship with a wonderful girl - no amount of jealousy could make her speak ill of Katie Brown - and not even one of the most handsome guy in Atlantis could take her mind off him.

Yea, she was pretty much hopeless.

But then she started hearing rumors. She dared not believe her ears when someone first told her that Katie - yes, the same Katie that was supposed to be in a relationship with Rodney - had filed in a request to transfer back to Earth. She dared not get her hopes up, but what else could it mean except that they had broken up? Or were soon to be, once Rodney found out his girlfriend was going three million light-years away from him. She felt ecstatic, with only a mild sense of shame at being happy at his expense. But really, she reasoned with herself, if it was up to her she would not let him feel miserable for very long.

She had, however, learned her lesson: before making any advances, she wanted to make sure he was really single again. But this was not a question easily asked in any sort of social or work gathering, so she didn't get the chance to get an answer for a couple of weeks since she first heard the rumors.

Being stuck in a room with him for many hours made her start losing those inhibitions, though. While playing some silly game to pass the time, she finally worked up the courage and blurted it out.

"Are you and Katie still, um...?"

The answer took her completely by surprise. She knew McKay had enough depth of feeling to consider marriage one day, but she had never suspected that he felt this strongly about Katie. She then learned that they had, indeed, broken up, a fact that had been lost on McKay - it was so endearing that he didn't have a clue about those things - but it didn't make her feel as happy as she thought it would.

He'd really loved Katie, and she didn't think she could replace that so fast.

He ended up saving all of their lives, which didn't really surprise her anymore. However, as they sat next to each other in the infirmary, she remembered how she thought, a few months ago, that people shouldn't take for granted that Rodney would save them all, and that they should do him more justice in showing their appreciation.

She thought about the note, the fact that she'd been too shy to thank him in person, and decided no to make the same mistake again. Gathering her courage, she looked over at him.

"Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" he asked, startled.

"You saved my life. If you'd let go..."

He dismissed it, as she knew he would, and said he was going to get some sleep. In that moment, she made her decision. He might have loved Katie Brown, but she obviously didn't understand him as well as she herself did, or else she wouldn't have misconstrued what he meant when he talked to her after the quarantine. This meant she wasn't right for him, whatever Rodney felt at the moment about her.

There wasn't any reason why she couldn't try. However, because she knew him, and she knew he was hurt right now, she would take things slow.

"Oh, well, not quite yet," she said, contradicting his statement about going to bed.

"Hmm?"

"You owe me a bear, from that bar trick thing earlier. You couldn't figure it out, so..."

"Well, there was no time! I would have figured it out!" he replied indignantly.

"Yeah, well, eventually chimps would have been able to figure it out," she answered, smirking, "but the thing is, you didn't, so I win, and you owe me a beer."

"I don't remember ever agreeing to the beer!" he protested.

It took all she had not to roll her eyes.

"McKay."

"What?"

"D'you wanna have a drink with me or not?"

"What – you wanna have a drink?" he said, staring at her in surprise.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" she teased, smiling.

"Uh, no. No, I'm not."

"C'mon," she said, laughing.

Yes, she was definitely going to try. The look of complete astonishment and - did she dare hope it? - delight on his face was way too endearing for her to resist.