Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate: Atlantis do not belong to me and no copyright infringement is intended. The narrator, Hanna, and Miguel are mine, however. Mine!

Spoilers: Season 2 up through "Intruder"

Pairing: Shep/Weir (with mentions of McKay/Weir)

Rating: T, for some mild language

Author's Note: Okay, so I finally worked up the courage to post a story – my first one ever. Don't know if it's any good, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Rumors

Hanna and I have a bet. A bet I don't want to lose, because I don't want to have to give up the remainder of my chocolate, and my extra fluffy blanket. And I really don't want to have to glue my underwear to the wall in the control room. And I really really don't want to have to sign said underwear before putting it in such a public place.

Before I went to Atlantis, I wasn't a betting person. I actually lived a rather dull, but happy, existence. My riskiest decision involved whether to get plain chocolate or rocky road when I went to Baskin Robbins.

When I first agreed to go to the Pegasus galaxy, I thought I might be losing my mind. Sure I was feeling the need for a change, but the other side of the universe was a little bit more extreme than I wanted. I'd been thinking that maybe I'd get a cat, or something. I also knew it could be a one way trip, and that I might never see my friends and family again. Okay, so I didn't really see them much while I was working at SGC, but at least there were a few holidays at my parents' house.

But while I'm not particularly adventurous, I also don't back out of commitments. I said I was going, so I was going. And with closing up my house and packing up my equipment, I didn't have much time to worry about never coming back. Then when we got to Atlantis, it seemed like we were living from crisis to narrowly averted crisis, which didn't leave much time for deep thought. And even when things were calm, there was this fabulous city for us to explore. There was exciting new technology to work with.

And there were the rumors.

Back on Earth I never really paid attention to gossip. Rumors that so-and-so was sleeping with what's-her-name meant nothing to me unless I happened to walk in on so-and-so and what's-her-name going at it in the break room. But here on Atlantis, where there wasn't any way to have a social life outside of your co-workers, I actually started listening to the rumors.

And there were plenty. Who slept with whom, who wore what type of non-regulation underwear, who was secretly hoping for a more powerful position (if we ever got home again), who couldn't hold their liquor. I knew most of them weren't true – although I happened to notice that Kavanaugh does in fact wear boxers with smiley faces on them (a very traumatic discovery, let me say). I have to admit, I even started one or two myself, my favorite being that Dr. McKay didn't have quarters; he just sleeps in his lab... with me!

So rumors abound on Atlantis, which brings me back to my bet with Hanna. Hanna and I had bonded during the first girls' poker night, when we both managed to lose spectacularly. Now she was my main source of information, and we entertained ourselves by betting on the truth and outcomes of different rumors. (I won the one about Kavanaugh's boxers.) The bet I'm currently talking about is about Dr. Weir.

Hanna has it in her head that Dr. Weir's passionately in love with Sheppard, and vice versa. This is, of course, utterly ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain knows that Dr. Weir is totally head over heels for Dr. McKay. Even if he is a royal pain in the ass. When we bet on this, giving up chocolate and my blanket was my idea. If I win I get her comfy pillow, and the chewing gum I know she has stashed away. Hey, I'm loosening up here, but let's not go too far.

Hanna was the one who added the underwear.

We tend to taunt each other about the bet as often as possible. I'll swing by her lab to let her know whenever Dr. Weir calls Dr. McKay to her office. She seeks me out whenever she gets fresh gossip on Dr. Weir and Sheppard. For example, a couple of months ago, I was surveying the damage to the lab from the Wraith attack when Hanna rushed in.

"You'll never believe what I just heard!" she gasped. She must have run all the way there.

I leveled one of my strictest looks at her. As much as I was coming to like new gossip, the Wraith had done a lot of damage, and she should have been helping with cleanup. "Shouldn't you be in your lab, or something?" I asked.

"I just came from there – and I'm going back after I tell you this. But Hernandez was in the gate room earlier, and he saw something that I knew you'd want to hear."

Okay, I have to admit I was curious. Hernandez was one of the few men on Atlantis who shunned the rumor mill, ever since he was ousted as having to sleep with the lights on because he was afraid of the dark. So for him to report anything to us was unusual, to say the least.

"Well?" I prompted when she didn't continue.

Hanna smiled. No – that's not the right word for it. Her face broke into the widest, most triumphant grin that I have ever seen. That couldn't be good.

"It's about Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard," she said, and paused, prolonging the tension. Oh, shit.

I cringed a little. "Just tell me. Get it over with."

"When the Daedalus beamed him into the gate room, Dr. Weir just walked right up to him and hugged him. Just like that! And he sort of hugged her back!"

I couldn't help it. I laughed! I mean, come on. A hug? Even if it were true, and Hernandez wasn't just messing with us for revenge, the rumor mill already had them having wild monkey sex in every closet and transporter on Atlantis. And Hanna was all worked up about a hug?

After Hanna left, I put this latest bit of information from my mind, ready to concentrate on more pressing matters. And then the rumor mill was relatively quiet for a while, with the majority of the most important members of the expedition back on Earth. Sure, we still had some stories floating around, but while I'll believe he sucks his thumb, there is no way Kavanaugh was sleeping with the alien woman, Teyla. I think he started that one himself, because we all know he's not getting any.

When Dr. Weir and the others came back from Earth, the gossip turned up a notch. Sheppard was promoted, and the rumors said that Dr. Weir had pulled some strings for it to happen. Hanna thought that was the best thing since Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Whatever. So Dr. Weir wanted to stick with a military commander she was comfortable with; that's understandable. Besides, whenever she visited the lab, I could tell she felt something for Dr. McKay. Royal pain in the ass though he may be.

Besides, I had something else to think about. Something wonderful. I fell in love... with Hernandez, of all people. I mean, I'd known him since the beginning of the expedition, but I didn't really get to know him until about a little over month ago (one month, four days and three hours, to be exact).

I had swung by Hanna's lab to see if she wanted to eat together. Hanna wasn't there, but Miguel Hernandez was, and we got to talking. And we kept talking through lunch, and then he stopped by my lab that evening, and we kept talking through dinner. And through the next day, and the day after that... well, you get the idea. He's incredible. I mean, I've never found someone I was so comfortable with. The other day, at lunch... but that's not the point. The point is that because I'm in love, I've started noticing things.

Like the way Dr. Weir smiles whenever Sheppard came into the room. And how close they stand to each other. And the way whenever they are in a room together each always seems to know where the other is. But I haven't given up on my bet yet. I know Dr. Weir feels something for Dr. McKay. She's just good friends with Sheppard, is all. So when they're together, that's just what I'm seeing. Friendship. Good friendship.

Right now, for example. I'm walking through the gate room, trying to find Dr. Zalenka because... oh, all right. I'm walking through the gate room because that's where Miguel is walking, on his way to a meeting with somebody or other. In any case, I can see Sheppard stop Dr. Weir to ask her a question. And yeah, everything about their stance is flirty, but hey, some people are just naturally flirty.

I can't hear what they're saying, but I can tell from their expressions that they're being playful. Sheppard has reached up to touch her arm, and then he's got this cute, quirky grin on his face. And Dr. Weir has a wry little smile. But that's no big deal – I mean, she smiles at Dr. McKay all the time.

But then they turn away from each other, towards me, and I see it. It's all right there, in their eyes, at that moment. And because I'm in love, I recognize it –it's in my eyes, and in Miguel's eyes.

Well, shit.

There goes my blanket. And my chocolate. And I guess I'd better go make sure that underwear's clean.