A Promise for a Week

Sunday

A/N: Welcome to another Stargate Atlantis fanfic! Along with the.. what is now? 4? 3? Other fanfics I'm writing? And I also should be doing avatars… But you know what? When was the last time I DIDN'T procrastinate? While the title to this is Sunday, it has nothing.. NOTHING AT ALL to do with SGA episode Sunday which is coming up. (of course… that episode is all about Weir and her new boyfriend! GAG. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG. Since this is McWeir… it HAS NOTHING TO DO with the episode. NOTHING. NOTHING. Nothing. NOTHIN'!)

Disclaimer: I have no disclaimer this time! I sent this stuff to the writers and they said it was BRILLIANT! It's going to be in Season 3 or 4! Isn't that freaking great? (You should know by now to not take me seriously.

Elizabeth hummed to herself as she touched the panel of her screen with her pen and dragged the card into place. So concentrated on her game of solitaire, she didn't notice anyone standing in front of her until said person rapped their knuckles against her desk and repeated her name.

"Elizabeth?" Rodney asked loudly, trying to get her attention.

Acknowledging the presence, her head snapped up to look at whoever was there. "Oh. Hello. Sorry." She said apologetically, holding up the screen and showing the unfinished game of solitaire.

Rodney brushed it aside with a wave of his hand. "It's fine. I usually do the same."

Elizabeth snorted. That was doubtful.

"Anyway, I wanted you to come down to the lab to see something."

"What."

"It's some sort of M.A.L.P type machine. It goes through the gate and relays information from the other side."

Elizabeth nodded. "And why do I need to see it?"

The Chief Scientist gave her a why-in-the-world-wouldn't-you-want-to-see-it look.

Elizabeth sighed. "Alright. But I'm fairly certain you'd benefit more by having Radek look at it. Not me." Standing up, she followed Rodney out into the hall.

A thought hit her. She was following him, not the other way around like she so well remembered. Stepping back as she walked passed him. Him following her. When did all of that change? She held back a sigh as she watched him, his back turned to her. He'd been so cold to her lately. The Rodney McKay she'd known a year ago would have firmly asked why she needed to know what it was to come down. This Rodney McKay didn't seem to want to bicker. Just talk and get it over with so he wouldn't have to talk again. Off limits. That's what it seemed like to her.

They walked down to the lab in complete silence, exactly as Elizabeth knew they wouldn't do a year or even 2 years ago. She let a small sigh escape from her lips. She was probably thinking too much into it.

Preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn't see a scientist walking towards her with a beaker filled with a liquid. She walked right into him and the beaker went flying, spilling it's contents wildly into the air… Before she even had time to blink, the liquid landed right on her face, filling her eyes and burning like acid. She dropped to the floor, holding her face and screaming at the pain. She heard Rodney turn his headset on and scream for a medical team. She'd stopped yelling… she felt weak…

Thudding softly against the floor, her consciousness ebbed away.

RAWR STUPID PAGEBREAK NOT WORKING

A constant beeping suddenly her consciousness back into her head. There were people nearby, talking softly to themselves. She recognized one of the voices as Carson.

Was she in the infirmary? What happened?

"She'll be fine." Carson's Scottish lisp said. "Not that much of it got into her eyes, although I don't want her using them for a week. But if she tries to take her bandages off too soon, her vision might get permanently damaged."

Sitting up, she heard everyone shift and scoot their chairs back.

"Elizabeth, are you okay?" Rodney's voice asked her.

"I'm fine. What happened?"

"One of the scientists was running around with a beaker with who-knows-what and some of it got into your eyes. I swear, running around with an unknown liquid is stupid already, but to not pay attention enough to run into someone? I should fire that person just for being that stupid…"

She let Rodney continue ranting, after all, he had answered her question. Lifting her hand, she ran her fingers over her eyes. Or… where her eyes would have been, if there weren't bandages wrapped around them.

She heard Carson speak up. "I don't want you using your eyes for a week, lass. If you take them off, you might not be able to see again."

"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth. It was all my fault, I should have seen this coming. And now you're in the infirmary with bandages wrapped around your…"

Elizabeth put her hand on his arm, an indication that it was alright.

"I want someone to help ye around, Elizabeth. Just make sure you don't get yourself hurt…"

"I'll do it."

She smiled to herself as she heard the whole room turn their heads to Rodney. It was strange of the scientist to agree to anything, much less help someone out.

"You feeling okay, Rodney?" she heard Allison ask as she held back a snicker. "Fevers? Hallucinations? Nothing?"

"Nothing." Rodney said flatly, obviously not amused.

Carson has promised to let her go back to her quarters tomorrow. Meanwhile, John, Teyla, Rodney, Ronan and Allison had gone off world after Elizabeth insisted that they do their work and not blow it off for her sake.

Somebody slid a tray into her lap.

"Oh no thank you. I'm actually not that hungry."

"Eat." Rodney's voice demanded.

"Rodney? I thought you went off world. I told you not to blow it off for me. I'm fine."

"Sheppard said I could stay behind."

"But…"

"No buts. I'm staying. So deal with it."

She scowled. Losing an argument was not something she usually did. She heard the scrapping of the spoon against the tray.

"Open up."

"I'm not hungry."

"So you're expecting me to sit here and watch you starve?"

Thankful that the bandages prevented him from seeing, she rolled her eyes. That man was so dramatic. Opening her mouth, she let Rodney feed her as he would a baby.

Minus the noises and the crying, and boy was she glad.

RAWR STUPID PAGEBREAK NOT WORKING!

Sitting up in her cot, Elizabeth laid her back against the wall. Being in the dark was scary, but not being able to see a thing frightened her immensely. She'd tried not to show it that morning and she didn't think anyone had noticed, but…

She was scared.

No, scared was an understatement. She couldn't see anything around her and the silent noises of the infirmary at night made her heart beat even faster. Without her vision, everything was becoming scary. Everything was becoming a monster. Forcing herself to calm down, she slid her knees up against her chest and rubbed her eyes with her fingers. She knew she was over reacting, but she couldn't help it.

Slumping her shoulders, she suddenly wished that she hadn't sent Rodney off to bed. She wished that he was still there, telling her everything was going to be okay and giving her the small company that she needed.

A small snore startled her and caused her to cower away from the sound and curl up even more. She felt her sheets shift as an unknown object landed on her cot.

A small murmur came from below her. "'Lizabeth."

Rodney's voice. She gave a small laugh in relief. She should have known that Rodney wouldn't leave her side. Sliding between her covers again, Elizabeth closed her eyes beneath her bandages and felt around for his hand. As soon as her fingers met his, they grasped her hand firmly. Her heart finally eased down with the comforting warmth around her fingers and she soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Sorry it's so short. Other things to work on. I promise the later chapters will be longer though.