Because it Feels Good
By Jeannie Wood
Missing Scene: The Lost Boys
Rated PG-13
Pairings: Rodney / Unreturned!Teyla (...Sort Of... Funny, because i'm totally a Sheppard/McKay fan. /grin )
Beta: None; Mistakes Are All Mine
Reviews: Yes please. Constructive critics welcome. More is coming if this goes over well, so just drop a line at the very least. :)
Summery: In the eppie, Sheppard made referance to Rodney running around the camp because it 'felt good'. This doesn't sound like Rodney- until you think of what the circumstances may have been.
The cave was damp and musty; the smell of other men in too close quarters for far too long hung in the air around them, making Rodney wonder if his sinuses would be able to stand up to the stench for much longer. The floors were covered, but if you were bothered to look it was obviously a half assed job- probably by somebody who wasn't quite overtaken by the full force of the enzyme at the time.
It was too damn hot.
He knew it wasn't just him that was too hot; Ronon was sleeping on top of his covers (though that may have been some kind of weird survival technique or something. Who knew. Teyla, he could see from where he lay, was sweating. Kind of glistening actually, in the low light from the fire that was kept lit in the far corner. Farthest from where he sat. Sheppard looked fine, if with a few more stress lines than normal. But then, weren't they all on edge? He certainly was.
But damn, Teyla looked good. Stressed or not. She twitched in her sleep, more often then was normal... but what was normal whilst they were all fucking high due to Ford's little gang of miscreants was up in the air. And just the thought of those little retards made his blood boil- all day spent wrestling or working out, struggling for an authority that Ford had somehow managed to get without breaking a sweat.
Kind of like Teyla; all innocent looking and hot and stressed... and his blood was boiling from the enzyme, his brain wasn't functioning properly. Rodney knew that this was not normal, the way he couldn't help but let his eyes take in her entirely too perfect form. Barely two arm lengths away, he could smell her. And it was this wonderful, natural smell. Not funky, like she'd been living in the woods for years- but like a woman. Like a sweet, coying, wonderful smell that he could almost reach out and touch.
Damn, but he wanted to touch.
A guy like him though, he didn't stand a chance. A guy like him wasn't the kind of guy that Teyla was going to end up with. She'd end up with somebody huge and muscular like Ronon; or suave and slick like Sheppard. Some girls were turned on by intelligence; Teyla just took him at face value. Which was good, kind of. Like he was just one of the gang, which was something he had never been before. It was nice, but it wasn't what he wanted.
He'd of smothered his intelligence as a child, had he wanted it. And what a waste that would have been.
Dark skin, her eyes fluttered a bit and bright eyes that stood out vibrantly against her color tone... Did he even stand a chance, in her mind? The thought was almost angering, not that she had really done anything to him at all, but befriends him. But with the pumping drugs and the weird, not quite paranoid but somebody is definatly out in those woods kind of feeling, he was just... angry. Ready. She wouldn't just discard him, she was too nice. Too much the leader. But she wouldn't have him either; no more than any other woman on Atlantis.
In some ways, he was beyond anybodies league. And in another, he was so far below them on the social scale... and Teyla was popular. But with Banto rods, tight calves and social skills like hers, it was no wonder why. If she had grown up on Earth, she'd of been that one cheerleader that wouldn't ever touch you, just like the others, but she'd try to let you down gently and in private. Which was almost worse, because there would be pity involved.
Rodney blinked, sweat in his eyes, not realizing he had sat up. Moved closer to her. Palms on he ground, he sat on his knees- not caring for once as to what it would do to them in the long run. There wasn't any rhyme or reason, not in his mind or in his movements, and that bothered him. The enzyme made it so he wasn't in control any longer; like there was a Goa'uld inside him, making him do things that he had no control over. Except he did, which made it even more disturbing.
God almighty, he was hot, and not in only one way.
He knew without having been told that a lot of the men here were in relationships with each other; weather they be purely physical or what have you, the enzyme was certainly playing tricks on his anatomy. He wasn't desperate enough yet to find the male members of his team attractive, but damn if Teyla, just laying there, wasn't getting his motor turning.
Repositioning himself, little Rodney was getting all cooped up the the wrong ways, he continued to stare at her. Her hair was all fanned out- it'd be a mess tomorrow and she'd fight with it for a good half hour before being happy again- her clothes neatly piled down by her feet...
"Rodney?"
He nearly fell back as he spun a hundred and eighty at the soft, almost small voice behind him. Sheppard, sitting up and looking at him with sleep sodden eyes- but quickly waking up. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Rodney shot back, too harsh and too quick, and he wasn't even sure why. "I'm not doing anything."
"It's three in the morning." John was staring at him carefully now, like there was something wrong with him. Idiot. Interrupting idiot with his fancy hair and fancy title and lack of idiotic drugs in his idiotic system. Not that there was anything to interrupt per se, but still... it seemed somehow apropos. "Rodney... are you okay?"
His gaze slid past Rodney and towards Teyla, comprehending and not at the same time. Fidgeting, almost twitching and not quite, Rodney all but snarled as he stood up. "I'm going for a run."
Sheppard stared at him. Almost comical, but not quite. Worried now, obviously.
Rodney began searching through his pile of things for a pair of shoes.
"You're going for a run."
"Right." Idiot.
"At three in the morning, on an alien planet, in an alien forest, you, Rodney McKay... want to go for a run."
"I have some energy. It'll feel good to let some of it go."
A lot of energy of the guy kind, mostly directed at his sleeping teammate. The kind of energy that were it not drug induced, he'd of been washing it away with a cold shower and some mathematical formula. Probably a chaser of Zelenka and chocolate covered coffee beans. But there was other energy there too... the kind he wasn't used to. The kind that really did feel like it would be good to go for a run. The anger kind of energy. The buzz of a new discovery kind of energy. Every synapse was firing, and really all he wanted was to go back to sleep.
Sheppard sighed, knowing something was wrong and knowing that for now, it was beyond him. He sat up carefully, not making a sound. "What're you doing?" Rodney shot out, ignoring his coat in lieu of the heat. Heat that probably wasn't actually there, seeing as Sheppard was grabbing his- probably not a good sign for his health... but he couldn't bring himself to focus on that right now. "Where are you going?"
"With you."
Rodney could have argued; he wanted, almost desperately to argue. But Teyla, laying there, looking so much like a woman, despite the fact that he had known she was obviously a woman before, and yet hadn't been nearly as attracted to her in the same way that he was right now... "Fine."
Both stood, and moved towards the cave entrance. "Tomorrow," Sheppard promised, patting him on the back, "I'm going to ask Ford to lower your dosage..."
Rodney declined to comment.
A moment later they were gone, a few of Ford's goods opting to take a run with them (either because they were on guard duty or just felt as over energized as Rodney... it didn't really matter; Rodney wasn't paying attention). And back in the cave Teyla, and Ronon's eyes opened carefully.
"I'd of beat him off you," Ronon promised her with a sleepy grin.
"That would not have been necessary," Teyla replied with a yawn. "But thank you."
"Not necessary because you can handle him, or not necessary because you'd of let him."
It was a question, and it wasn't. Teyla didn't reply, but grinned slightly and closed her eyes. "Good night, Ronon."
Ronon grunted, and within moments they were both asleep.
Fin