Dr. Rodney McKay walked the silent halls of Atlantis back to his quarters with one hand firmly clutching a food supplement that looked similar to a candy bar and the other hand on his personal security device. He was still amazed the shadow had gone. Sheppard called it a true "Hail Mary." It had been, and though his life involved exploring a new galaxy, he wasn´t all that keen on putting himself into danger. That´s why he´d had the device which had put him in the center of the predicament when push came to shove.
But the shadow had left, hadn´t it? McKay felt suddenly felt something that made his skin crawl. He wasn´t a superstitious man. He was a scientist! That´s what he kept telling himself anyway. So why did it feel like someone had walked on his grave?
With his breath caught in his throat, he turned slowly around to look eyes with Teyla, the Athosian leader. She was just there without sound or warning. Her warm, dark eyes held no expression he could read, and she stood to him with both hands behind her back.
"I´m sorry to have startled you," she began, sounding somewhat formal.
McKay looked at the food in his hands and hid them behind his back in a stance that mimicked hers.
"It was"
What? McKay mentally kicked himself. It was what? He wanted to say "nothing", but she´d surprised
him.
"How did you do that?" he finally asked her.
She tipped her head and looked up at him. "My people are used to the forest. I´ve learned to move silently."
He gave her a sour look to show that she´d succeeded in being surprising.
Teyla looked at him again as if she was thinking about something. McKay couldn´t read the expression on her face. She didn´t seem guarded. For that matter, she didn´t seem judgmental. Still, the gaze of the lovely brown eyes attached to an equally lovely woman from a planet galaxies away from his own was enough to make him wonder what she wanted.
"You were brave, McKay," she said softly, as if finally sizing him up to be worthy. Of what specifically, he wasn´t quite sure.
"It was something any man would have done," he said with bravado, "and the idea was yours."
"Yes," she said with a sigh. She looked aimlessly around and for the first time, her posture seemed to slump.
The light of revelation came to him. "Oh"
She returned her gaze to him with the question, "What is it?"
"You know how it feels. Or felt," he amended. "Being trapped in here and wanting to be out and be free" McKay had been too busy getting things ready for the command team to think of the plight of the Athosians.
"My people are from the forest," Teyla repeated. "I miss the stars and the wind."
And there it was--the essential difference between city folk and country folk, as they´d say on Earth. He merely nodded. He wasn´t quite sure what to say to her because he didn´t know what she wanted.
"McKay, my people usually drink a strong tea to start their morning. It is a small tradition that we can keep even here. Would you like to join me for tea?" she asked softly, bringing out the two cups of tea that she´d been hiding behind her back.
So it really was morning, he realized. McKay knew he had to get some rest, but it was an invitation he didn´t want to refuse. He looked at his food again, sorry that he didn´t have anything to offer her in return. "Yes," he finally murmured as he stuffed it away into his pocket.
Teyla gave a small smile of pleasure and turned as if to go toward the community area with the rest of the Athosians.
"Teyla," he suggested, "let´s go outside."
Her eyes lit up at the thought, and her small smile had grown wide. Together they walked to the outside parapet, and McKay looked up to the starry morning. His scientific mind was already whirring and making plans for charting and discoveries.
"Rodney," she said, snapping him to attention by using his first name. "Now that you´ve shown me what a 'Hail Mary´ is, you will have to explain other Earth things."
"Like what?" he asked before taking a drink of the tea. Strong wasn´t even the word for it. The tea had legs and could have kicked you in the mouth.
"What is a Ferris Wheel, and what is hockey?" she asked with an inviting smile.
He frowned slightly at the mention of a Ferris Wheel, but hockey Now there was a man´s sport.
"How much time to you have?" he asked in preamble.
"Enough," she said as she lifted up her glass in a toasting gesture.
"It´s like this" he started enthusiastically.
He explained hockey to her under the morning stars as they drank their first morning tea together. By the time he was finished, those stars had faded away to be replaced by a full light of day. It was the first of many morning teas that they would share outside on the parapet of the city.
Note: My first Stargate fic of any kind, and no, it's not beta read. I liked the character of McKay and wanted to write a post-ep scene for him before the next episode airs.