Thanks for all the lover-ly reviews! I'm glad you guys thought everyone seemed in-character! (:
Erisinia- you made me laugh during a crappy day, thanks for that. :P

Disclaimers- take a look at chapter one. Surprisingly, Kavanagh's still up for grabs! (shock and awe)

-- So, without further ado, I present chapter two.

(2)

.

"Mister McKay here doesn't seem to understand what a know-it-all is," Mr. Paulsen sneered in front of the classroom. "A show-off even."

The class snickered.

I lowered my hand, staring down at my desk, "But - you called on me!"

My vision wavered, and the floor of the classroom morphed into a giant chessboard, the desk disappearing into the ground. I was lying on my stomach, staring at the checkered floor-- but I… I couldn't move. Something on my back…

Mr. Paulsen's face appeared again, leering. He was mouthing something at me. But I couldn't quite… He was yelling something. It sounded like… But, no, it couldn't be. Paulsen didn't even know about Beckett.

"I didn't call on you; you just opened your big mouth." Paulsen scoffed, sounding clear as a bell now. "As usual!"

My cheeks burned as the class laughed again. The chessboard disappeared, and I sat in my chair again.

The other students were staring at me. Smirking.

Working up some courage, I stood up from my desk, insisting, "That's not true--"

"Oh, just shut up, McKay!"

"…call on him? He's going… wake up soon, right?"

My mouth felt dry as cotton balls, but I decided to try out my tongue. "'Nngah?"

"Hey! You awake?"

I peeled my eyelids apart, seeing a blurry Sheppard staring down, looking worried.

"Wha--" I swallowed, everything was a bit fuzzy, and confused thoughts of a chessboard and my mean-spirited fourth grade teacher still swum in my head. "What happened?" I rasped.

His look went in quick succession from worry, frustration, then back to worried "You faint -- er, you passed out."

"What?" I looked around, only moving my eyes. I was still on MG7-855, and, I could tell from the unbearable heat, still outside. Teyla and Ford were standing behind Sheppard, but neither were looking at me. Ford was gazing down at his feet, and Teyla was staring off into the distance.

"You passed out." Sheppard told me again.

My eyes flitted back to him, "No I… No I didn't."

"What? I mean -- " He shook his head, "Yes you did. You passed out." He paused, surveying me rathe oddly, then added, "From the heat."

"But…" I tried to work through the hazy and confused feeling in my head, closing my eyes for a second.

"Ford!" My eyes shot open, resting on the young Lieutenant, who still didn't look in my direction. "Ford yelled before I… I passed out. What happened?"

Sheppard glanced over at him, then looked back down at me, "He was just-- was greeting me and Teyla. We'd just finished the meeting with Orin and Yolee."

"But he…" I lifted a hand to my forehead, covering my eyes, "Well he didn't sound happy."

"Well. Don't worry about it." he advised from above me, "Can you sit up?"

"Don't worry about it?" I repeated, removing the hand and staring at Sheppard incredulously-- ignoring his question. My head was feeling much clearer now. "I pass out for no reason and you tell me not to worry about it?"

Sheppard seemed at a loss for words. Then he said, "You passed out from the heat." He reached down a helping hand, asking again, "Can you sit up?"

I ignored his help, sitting myself up stubbornly -- and trying to ignore the sudden light-headedness that earned me.

"You ready to go back to Atlantis?" he asked, trying to appease me.

I tried to see beyond the weirdness of this whole situation, considering. "No," I admitted truthfully. My head was still feeling slightly muddled, and I knew making the lengthy trek back to the Jumper in this heat would only make it worse. "I don't think I can walk that far right now."

"Oh, no, it's not that far. I already went back and brought the Jumper over here for when you woke up." He stood, pointing out towards the forest, "It's right outside the city limits."

"You already went back…?" I stared up at him, absolutely horrified, "How long was I out for!"

He scratched his head, hesitating before he answered with, "Um. No more then an hour, I'd say."

"An hour?" I looked back down at my hands, mulling it over. I'd never passed out from heat before, so I had no idea how long a person should or shouldn't be unconscious.

"C'mon, let's go back and we can get you checked out by Beckett."

I sniffed, feeling a little bit better with the offer to go see the doctor. If there were any serious problems, he'd find them. "Okay."

I let him help me to my feet, but ended up pushing him away, finding myself surprisingly steady.

After grabbing my pack up from the dirt and yelling at the others for just letting it sit there when it obviously should have been treated with the utmost respect--what with it holding some very important technology that was irreplaceable, I mean, it was mine-- Sheppard led us out of the hectic Town Square, with me behind him and Teyla and Ford trailing behind us both.

"How'd the meeting go?" I called up to Sheppard, suddenly remembering why we'd visited this planet in the first place. "They didn't have any questions for me, did they?"

A curt, "No." was his answer.

I blinked in surprise- one, from the abrupt and rude way he'd spoken to me, two, from the lack of interest the Brewins apparently had for the technological side of Atlantis. I mean, hello, we're talking about the legendary city of the Ancients here!

I shook my head. The Brewin people had crazy thought processes. Colonizing this planet from hell was proof of it.

Besides, I thought as Sheppard de-cloaked the Jumper we'd finally reached, after I left this planet I'd never have to come back. If the Brewin's changed their mind they'd either have to come to Atlantis themselves, or… well I'd just send Zelenka over. I figured he could use the, uh, break.

I collapsed in my seat after trudging up the access ramp and into the Jumper, waiting impatiently for Sheppard to close the door. "In case you hadn't noticed," I jerked my thumb towards the back as he walked by me, "it's hot out there."

He glanced at me while he sat down in the pilot's chair. His look held a clear and obvious, 'duh'.

Turning around in my seat to look over at Ford and Teyla, who were taking their seats behind us, I asked them in reference to John, "Jeez. Do you think I deserve to be treated this way?"

Ford said nothing, fiddling with his P90 and gazing down at his lap, but Teyla was staring at the back of Sheppard's head as she answered with, "No, I do not, Doctor."

I felt pleased that she apparently had that much empathy for me. "Neither do I. Thank you, Teyla." I turned back to the Major with a smug smile. "You see? Teyla agrees with me. And I'm sure Ford does too, he's just tired. You should always treat me with respect."

Sheppard sighed, "Sure, McKay." He lifted his P90 strap off so he could sit in his seat more comfortably, asking me, "You feeling any better?"

I frowned with mock-thoughtfulness. "Well, now that you mention it, I am feeling a little hot." Exasperatedly I asked, "Would you please close the hatch, so we can leave already?"

Apparently I got through to him, because the next thing I knew, the Jumper door slid shut and we were well on our way to the Stargate.

---
(-/-)
---

"You're sure I'm okay?" I asked Carson again, sitting on the edge of one of the many empty beds in the infirmary. "I mean, I was out for more then an hour. Is that normal? I don't think that's a good sign, do you? I don't think it is. I feel okay now, surely, but when I woke up --"

"Rodney, Rodney, Rodney," he had been trying to interrupt me as I was explaining my thoughts to him. Finally he just yelled, "RODNEY!" really loud. So I stopped. "Thank you." he said graciously, then held up my chart, "Everything looks good. Well, perhaps not good, but relatively normal." He waved the clipboard towards the door, "You're free to go, lad."

I lifted a suspicious eyebrow, not moving. "'Relatively normal?' What does that mean?"

"It means," he enunciated his next words carefully; "you can leave now."

"Hm." I lifted my chin, sliding off the bed. I felt this was inadequate work on Beckett's part. "Do you think I could get a few aspirin from you at least?" I asked stubbornly, feeling a slight headache starting to come on, "I mean, I ran out of my own stuff yesterday and--"

"No."

I blinked, quite taken aback by the sudden and unexpected answer. "Pardon?" I managed after a moment of shock.

He shook his head mournfully, "I'm almost out of the stuff as it is, Rodney. I need to save it for really serious--"

"Serious?" I repeated angrily and ignoring his woeful look, I went on, "I would think passing out for more then an hour on an alien planet would be considered a serious thing!"

He sighed, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "Sorry Rodney. We've gotta' save as much--"

"Save for what? For people who pass out on alien planets?"

Exasperatedly: "Rodney, I can't give ya' any--"

I'd heard enough. Spinning on my heel, I headed for the door, calling over my shoulder disgustedly, "I feel much better now, Carson! Thanks for the help!"

I wished I could slam the door shut behind me.

As I walked down the hall, fuming silently, I tried to decide where I should go next. I knew the others were all in the debriefing room with Elizabeth now; at least, that's where they'd been when I'd gone over to Beckett, and since he hadn't helped me at all and had only looked at me for a maximum of ten minutes, I figured that's where they'd still be.

But I wasn't in the mood to discuss the long, hot trip to MG7-855. So I headed for the mess hall instead.

The place was nearly empty, it was past lunch, and too early for dinner, so only a few military people that I wasn't familiar with were seated at various tables throughout the room, eating and talking amongst themselves.

I collapsed onto a bench chair at an empty table-- after I'd piled my tray full of barely edible food. Lifting a fork, I poked an unappetizing mush that had suspiciously been titled 'chef's surprise.'

"Rodney, please. Just eat it." Mom pleaded tiredly, her back facing me as she washed dishes at the sink.

I pouted, looking back down at the plate, still full of green vegetables. "But, mom…"

She turned towards me, resting her hip against the counter as she cleaned a cup with a soapy sponge, saying with a sigh, "Come on. Look, once you're done you can go play outside. How 'bout it?"

I perked up at the unexpected offer, "Really?"

She smiled, turning away and rinsing the cup under the running water from the faucet. "Yes. But only before your father gets home. According to him, you're still grounded."

"Yeah." I frowned, remembering the other night when he'd yelled at me for taking apart another one of Jeannie's toys.

Mom glanced up at the clock, hanging on the wall above me. "Better finish, Roddie. You'll only be able to play for a few minutes if you don't hurry."

I didn't need anymore more convincing then that-- stuffing down the vegetables so fast, I nearly choked--

Whoosh

I blinked, broken away from the random memory as the sound of the mess hall doors sliding open reached my ears, immediately transporting me back to the present and leaving me momentarily confused.

Now, what had that been about? I shook my head, resolving to actually get to sleep at a decent time tonight- only briefly wondering why the memory had seemed so vivid; before looking up and noticing Major Sheppard was headed my way.

He stood across from me at the table, glancing down at my food. "Wow, not much to choose from today, is there?"

I grimaced, "This is why I'm hoping the whole 'trade-with-Brewin-people-and-get-decent-food' plan worked." I gave my tray a disparaging look. "We're really getting desperate here."

Sheppard nodded, "Just a couple treaty things Elizabeth has to work out, and we should be eatin' Brewin food early as next week."

"Good, good." I said neutrally, setting down my fork.

Apparently Sheppard took that as an invitation, sitting down at the table and grabbing one of the Athosian versions of pudding cups from my tray-- ignoring my sarcastic comment of, "Oh yes, please, help yourself then."

He rolled his eyes, sniffing the contents warily, "Come on, you have two of them. You need to share."

"You do know there's a large buffet behind you? Full of food?" I asked, grimacing as he dug his finger into the cup, lifting the gooey stuff up and into his mouth. "Not to mention spoons?"

He grinned at my disgusted face, "Nah, I'm good." He dipped his finger again, looking down as he commented, "I just came from Beckett."

My indignation flared, "Yes, did he tell you about his new policy? It's called: Withholding medication from his patients."

Sheppard swirled his finger in the cup, biting his lip. "He is running low on meds." He used his finger as a spoon again, making me gag. "Besides, you don't seem like you need anything. You're your usual charming self."

"Mmm, yes, but it's the principle of the thing." I insisted, ignoring his smirk, "I'm just wondering what qualifies as a valid patient to him."

John put the cup down, giving me a look. "Carson's a good doctor. You know he would give you something if you needed it."

I scratched my ear and glared resentfully down at the table. Yeah, okay, it was true and I knew it, but Sheppard either ignored my look or hadn't seen it, because he went on with, "You don't want him wasting the medication he has left, do you? It's not like we have an endless supply."

I sighed, looking back up. "Yes, fine, I get it." I grabbed the other pudding cup, making a point of using my spoon to scoop up the contents. I couldn't help but add grumpily, "I still think I'm eligible to get a couple aspirin, though."

Sheppard grinned, evidently amused. "Yeah, I knew you would be." He stood then, grabbing one of my napkins to wipe his hand off, dropping it next to my tray when he was done. "Oh, and I figured I'd give you a heads up. Weir wants you to fix the MALP ASAP. And she said she'd like to know how it got broken in the first place."

I grabbed a pen out of my pocket, using it to flick the napkin away from me, commenting airily, "Wouldn't we all?"

As he walked away, I had a brief internal discussion before deciding to call after him, "Thanks for the warning!" It was almost odd to hear the words sound so sincere.

He continued walking, but gave me an acknowledging wave from over his shoulder.

I glanced down at my cardboard-esque excuse for food wearily; Sheppard's lack of table manners had apparently caused me to lose my appetite.

Huh. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't really been that hungry before anyway- I'd just come here out of habit.

I pushed the nearly-full tray away from me, standing and straightening out the wrinkles in my pants.

Might as well get started on the MALP.

---

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Don't worry- things get a smidge more exciting next chappie, this is just the obligatory buildup.
Third chapter cometh soon.

More thoughts? Please?
:P