A/N - Yeah, so, I had written a rough cut of this a while back and, in honor of Fast & Furious coming out, decided to polish it up and post it. Technically it's an Epilogue to "Alternate Destiny" where Brian O'Conner gets recruited into the SGC but it stands on its own. All you really have to know is...Puddle Jumper Racing!

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McKay smirked at Brian from across the table and said "You are so whipped."

"Excuse me?" Brian aimed a cool glare and a raised eyebrow in McKay's direction.

"You…are…so…whipped." This time McKay looked a little smug.

Brian ignored the amused vibes coming from the rest of Sheppard's team sitting around the cafeteria table and instead leaned in to aim a narrow eyed glare filled with enough threat to wipe the smugness off of McKay's pale face. Brian's easy going and friendly nature was bone deep but he could do intimidating when he wanted to. "I could whip you bro," he offered with a grin that hovered between friendly and feral.

McKay squirmed a little under the threat but immediately stiffened, his chin jutting out defensively as he sneered. "Oh, right, threats of violence. Like that's new. How about a real threat? I could make sure you never get hot water again. I could make your computer turn against you like it was possessed by the freaky little spirit of Damien."

"I could feed you an orange," Brian said mildly and having made his point returned to his food. He scooped up a bite of the potatoes but continued to ignore the main dish. It was blue. Meat just shouldn't be blue.

"Meat shouldn't be blue," he shared, frowning down at it.

"The blue meat tastes fine," McKay said impatiently, anxious to get back to the topic at hand. "You're afraid of Elizabeth."

Brian resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I am not afraid of Liz. I just don't want her to be unhappy." He offered the group surrounding him a wry smile. "I'd think since everyone at this table has threatened me with horrible death if I make her unhappy you'd understand." Since word of Brian dating Elizabeth Weir had leaked which--this being Atlantis--had been about five minutes after they'd gotten together, he'd gotten used to threats. Impressively creative threats.

McKay responded with a dismissive wave. "We meant breaking her heart, cheating on her, turning out to be married, that kind of making her unhappy. This is completely different. This is…harmless fun."

Ronon took the time to look up from his plate—he didn't have a problem with the blue meat—and speared McKay with a puzzled look. "You don't even like to fly. Why do you care?"

"It's a matter of scientific inquiry which can only be satisfied by…"

"He's got a bet," John said simply, pausing in pushing his food back and forth on his plate to pin McKay with a smirk.

The rest of the table stared at McKay with varying expressions of amusement and irritation.

"What?" McKay asked defensively.

"You bet on Sheppard and me racing?" Brian asked with a soft laugh, not really surprised. Considering, his eyes narrowed in interest. "What did you bet?"

"Well that's just not important," McKay huffed out indignantly. "My true interest is of a purely scientific nature to see who, if my invaluable life is in danger, can take me to safety the fastest and preserve the best hope that exists for the on-going survival of Atlantis and the Pegasus Galaxy."

Brian turned to Sheppard. "What did he bet?"

Sheppard grinned. "Oh he's got bets with departments all over Atlantis. He stands to rake in a fortune of chocolate, DVD porn, spare hard drives and other electronic equipment, not to mention free massages from Nurse Evans."

"Uh huh," Brian shook his head and didn't bother asking who McKay had bet on. McKay was a pain but he was loyal and there was no way he hadn't bet on Sheppard. Heh. Maybe Brian was a little whipped but he sure as hell wasn't the only one.

He met Sheppard's gaze with an impassive look. "Too bad we're not doing a race. It being against regs and all."

Sheppard nodded back, equally serious. "A damn shame."

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Even though they didn't speak another word on the subject, Brian somehow wasn't surprised at all when he entered the jumper bay at just shy of 0100 hours and found Sheppard there waiting, leaning nonchalantly against the side of a jumper.

Brian grinned at Sheppard. "You do realize McKay is going to be pissed when he finds out we didn't tell him about this?"

Sheppard just smirked back. "Tell him about what?"

Brian's grin widened. This was going to be fun.

to be continued :)