How Piper Learned to Not Hate Her Boss
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Zoe. The only benefit I get from this is having something to do while I'm on my lunch break at work. ;-)
Zoe Piper stood right inside the entrance to the infirmary. She still didn't like him - he was just as arrogant as he'd been back when she first saw him at the SGC. Actually, he was perhaps even more arrogant, she once wrote in a weekly email to her friend Steven back at Cheyenne Mountain.
Yet, despite all of that, she respected him. Part of it was of course her background; eight years in the Navy had taught her the phrase, "respect the uniform, not the person." It was something she'd had to do a lot of that first year of working for her boss.
She admitted however, that she really had grown to respect him beyond his position of authority. In the time she had worked for him, she'd realized that he demanded more from himself than he did from any of his employees. Yes, part of that was because, with the exception of Dr. Zelenka (and sometimes including even him), Dr. McKay thought that none of them were smart enough to do the work. But even more than that, Piper had seen him risk his own life - more times than she could count - in an effort to save Atlantis and everyone there.
So when Dr. Zelenka confirmed the rumors, she was shocked. Hadn't Dr. McKay always yelled at them to not handle unknown alien technology? A rule that he himself never followed it seemed. And this time it was going to take his life. Death or Ascension.
Piper hadn't slept well that night. Every time she started to doze off, she'd remember what Dr. Zelenka had told the scientists, and then she'd drift into a half dream, sometimes of seeing Dr. McKay, once of talking to him, but mostly of him dying. Then she'd wake with a start. After waking for the fifth time, she knew she wouldn't be getting any rest and sat up to turn the light on.
Over in the corner of her room was an almost-finished sweater, almost identical to the woolen uniform sweaters that Atlantis had issued the personnel. It differed from the official sweater however in that it was being hand-knitted with silk yarn.
It has actually been Steven's idea. "Why don't you make him something?" he'd suggested in a reply to one of her gripes about something her boss had done to infuriate her.
She knew what he was doing. First it was his way of saying to stop complaining, but more importantly, it was because Steven was right. Piper had a long habit of making "I'm-angry-with-you" projects, and he knew this was just what she needed to do.
It was an odd sort of therapy, but it had always worked in the past. Working on one of the projects would allow her to relax first of all, but most importantly, it put her in the mindset to really think about whomever she was upset with. Instead of focusing on why she was angry, she always ended up thinking more about what that person was really like, faults an accomplishments alike.
And so, she had started an "angry project" for Dr. Rodney McKay. It hadn't been that hard to decide what to make for him. Just two days later they had issued the sweaters. Just a couple of hours later, she'd over heard him complaining (there's a surprise!) to Colonel Sheppard.
"Seriously? Wool?" McKay had exclaimed.
"What? There's something else you're allergic to, Rodney?"
Piper sucked her lip in slightly and bit it, turning away from them to concentrate on her work. It was one thing for Col. Sheppard to tease Dr. McKay, but she'd learned all too well what would happen if the Marine CO even thought that one of the scientists were joining in on it. The first - and last time - she'd ever chuckled at it, he'd assigned her jumper maintenance for two weeks straight. She had at least been smart enough to not complain, or point out that he didn't have the authority to do that, because all he needed was her boss's permission to "borrow" her, and the annoyed look on Dr. McKay's face had pretty much said that permission had been granted. She didn't want to know what else he could come up with, so even if it meant biting her lip until it hurt, that's what she would do.
"No," Dr. McKay replied. "I just can't stand the itching. And the SGC never orders good wool in the first place. Might as well be steel wool."
After she'd finally quelled the urge to giggle, she realized that she'd found the answer for the project: a silk version of the sweater. She'd taken up knitting during her last year in the Navy, and had discovered silk yarn on deployment. With the next outgoing email wave, she made arrangements for her brand, and made sure to include a large order of midnight black.
The sweater was now almost finished. Perhaps with a few more hours of work it would be complete. She hadn't been working on it as much as she'd planned, With leaving and returning to Atlantis just a few weeks prior, then the creepy visions, she just hadn't been able to work on the project.
But now... now she was determined to finish it no matter what, even if it meant staying up all night long. She knew now that Dr. McKay would probably never wear it, but she could at least place it on his casket or have it placed with the items to be sent to Jeannie, a sort of remembrance gift.
So she set to work.
The sun hadn't yet started to rise when the last strand of yarn was secured, carefully woven back through a seam so that it would neither show nor unravel. Piper carefully folded it and placed it on the middle of her unused bed, and headed to the cafeteria.
It was too early for breakfast, but there was, as usual, a pot of coffee available for the night shift. That would suit her well enough since she doubted any food would stay down anyway. Her stomach was tight with worry, too tight to even consider anything solid.
As she approached the coffee pot, she scanned the tables first. Part of the gossip she'd been told was that Dr. McKay was now working around the clock for the past two days, trying to put down as much knowledge that he could before... before Death or Ascension.
"Rodney's still working in the lab," came an accented voice from behind, making her jump.
"Dr. Zelenka!" She paused for a moment, gathering her courage to ask. "How is..."
"He's working non-stop now. He's not even stopping for food, and this is Rodney we're talking about!" Although, the two doctors were almost famous for their arguments, it was obvious that he was rather worried. "I was going to bring him up a tray - "
Dr. Zelenka froze and tapped his earpiece communicator. "Zelenka," he answered. After a moment he swore in Czech, and then replied, "Thank you, Dr. Weir. I'll take care of the lab for him."
He looked at Zoe and nodded once, taking a moment to find his voice again. "He's just been taken to the infirmary."
He'd barely finished the last word, and she was gone.
Zoe Piper hovered just inside the infirmary doors, not wanting to be seen, especially by his team & friends. The humiliation of being asked to leave would have been great, but more importantly, she wanted to bear witness to Dr. McKay, but not to the point that she disturbed their last moments with him.
Yet, even in his most worried state, Dr. Beckett was always acutely aware of what was happening in his domain. His eyes pierced hers within seconds of her arrival, glaring at first at the intrusion, knowing all too well that none of Dr. McKays employees liked his friend much. But then, after a moment, he realized that she stood, stiff with tension and fear, and that the look of worry in her eyes almost matched what he himself was feeling. She was there with respect, and that's all that mattered to him. He nodded once to her, and moved his lips just enough that she could see: "Thank you"
"Clear blue skies. All my troubles, drifting way." Dr. McKay's voice was soft, as if he was almost asleep. His words sounded to Piper like they came from a poem. This was a side to him she'd never before seen, never even thought possible. Not from him anyway. A side he'd never show in the lab.
Dr. Weir spoke. "Rodney, you're a good person. Know that we love you."
"You love me? Really? All of you?"
His eyes were still closed but he almost smiled and his face lit up. Piper flinched, something inside twisting as she looked at her boss's face.
Where was the arrogant man she saw every day? The one who gave blonds creepy looks. The one who acted like no one else would ever be as smart as him? The man she saw now, the one lying there on the hospital bed, was someone new. He glowed in awe, as if knowing that people cared about him was the only thing that could ever matter.
"Oh, my God." Dr. Beckett's voice seemed to speak for her as well, as she saw the monitoring equipment drop to to just 1 Hz of brain activity. Piper's hand flew up to cover her mouth as she backed away in fear.
She barely registered that Dr. McKay had lurched up to grab his friend, or what he was saying. "You don't understand! He just told me how to save him!" But the sudden sound of commotion and movement fired her instincts and she backed out and slipped into a side corridor just as the they started wheeling the cart out, almost running with it.
Piper stood there, remaining hidden like that for several minutes after they had passed by. The words "save him" had finally sunk into her head, but she was immobile with renewed fear and hope. They might save him? It was some time before she felt she could move, and then then it was slowly, almost trembling.
She had just reached the lifts when a soft voice sounded in her ear. "Zoe?" The soft Scottish accent identified him instantly.
"Dr. Beckett! Please tell me he's..."
"He'll be fine, love. Now go get a couple of hours of rest. Doctor's orders."
Zoe slipped into the lift and headed down to her quarters. Before she took in any rest however, she had one task left.
Wrapping paper was pretty much non existent in Atlantis, but she did have a small bit of stationary she'd ordered along with the silk yarn. She withdraw a small blue card and envelope from a box and wrote a simple message.
She snuck up past the lab and peered into Dr. McKay's office. As she suspected, it was empty; he was most likely celebrating his return from the brink of death - and most likely in the cafeteria. She carefully placed the sweater on his desk, pinned the note to the top and went back to her quarters to rest for a couple of hours.
As Rodney McKay filled his tray with a variety of food, he mumbled to himself, "I should let that Sergeant Pepper have the rest of the morning off."
"Sergeant Pepper?" Col Sheppard peered at him. "Are you sure you're OK?"
"Well whatever her name is - that Navy girl."
"Rodney, the Navy doesn't have sergeants. Piper was a Second Class Petty Officer before she got out."
"Whatever." Rodney waved his hand, not caring if her name was Pepper, Popper, or Popsicle, of she she had been a Sergeant, a Petty Officer, or whatever other ranks the military had. He picked a table with a view overlooking the water. "She was hiding outside of medical, almost dead tired too. Didn't think any of that group even cared. That's something odd."
"It's OK, Rodney," Carson said. "I gave her a couple of hours to rest."
Sheppard shook his head. "Wow, this whole almost ascension thing really has changed you. Giving people time off? Pretty soon you might even start knowing your employes names."
Rodney rolled his eyes and picked up a sandwich and started to eat.
Later that evening, as he sat down to go over the notes he'd written before his almost-Ascension, Dr. McKay spotted an Atlantis sweater folded neatly on his desk.
"I told John I didn't want one of these!" He picked it up, to toss it aside and was surprised when his fingers touched... silk?
The blue notecard was still pinned to the front, with "Dr. Rodney McKay" written across the envelope in an elegant script.
Inside it simply read, "Yes. All of us".
He smugly smiled and placed the sweater back on the desk. He'd have to thank the team later for the gift.