I am so sorry for the delay in this, my internet decided to play nasty all day. So here is chapter 9, lots of things happen, and the plot really thickens. So read, enjoy and I would love to hear what you think.

Chapter 9

Rodney McKay was a brilliant student. He was by far the best in his high school – no, state – and had won several prizes before joining the Air Force programme for brighter students. Here he'd found himself competing for everything with a beautiful cadet who'd bedazzled him. He now spent every moment of his life trying to prove himself to Samantha as well as the professors. And today was no exception. He'd been working on a difficult experiment and now in its final stage had challenged the beautiful Samantha to see which of them could finish the experiment first. He had no doubt that he'd win, particularly after he'd seen her last night with that brainless muscle, who was surely going to keep Samantha's mind off the job. Yes, although he wished he could be her date, he could see the advantage of having a distracted competitor.

The automatic door swished open and in walked Sam. Rodney had to again appreciate her beauty; her blonde hair shone and her blue eyes sparkled. Although, on closer inspection, Rodney could see that she hadn't slept well. He almost let out a giddy laugh at the ease with which he'd be able to beat her today; she did not look ready for his brilliance.

Thirty minutes later Cadet McKay was slumped on the floor, his experiment half on the floor and half over him. Cadet Carter was standing over him with a smile on her face that showed exactly how much the victory meant to her. Their lecturers, Colonel Kerrigan and Professor Monroe, looked on, unsurprised that Carter had beaten McKay.

"McKay, go get cleaned up. You may have lost this particular battle but you may yet win the war," Kerrigan commented before turning and walking away from the cadet on the floor. He turned to Sam as he passed her. "Cadet Carter, very impressive! You're really shining here at the Academy."

"Thank you, Sir." Sam stood to attention as her two superiors left the room.

"Sorry, Rodney. Do you want some help?" Sam knelt down beside her classmate to see if she could help him up.

"C'mon, Sam, leave the clumsy cadet. I've got a surprise for you." At Jack's voice, Sam stood up before Rodney even had a chance to reply.

Sam was torn. She wanted to help Rodney – after all she knew exactly how hard it was to get dye out of clothing – but she really wanted to go with Jack. She needed to speak to him about Saturday and the impending visit of doom.

"I am perfectly capable, Samantha, and in no need of your help," Rodney snivelled from his position on the floor. He'd been tempted to accept Sam's offer of help until the oaf had appeared. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing him helped by a girl.

"Okay, if you're sure," Sam said warily and then turned to leave.

Jack held out his hand, glad that he'd caught Sam after class. He was determined to spend time with her without the guys knowing and demanding to know how it was all going.

Once the Oaf had taken Samantha from him, Rodney gingerly rose from the heap he was in on the floor and looked down at his clothes. He was going to have to put all of them in the trash, including the Armani shirt he'd worn to impress Samantha. He looked around at the mess that his botched experiment had made and realised that he could clean until the next morning and still not be satisfied with the result. He decided that the first thing to do was to clean himself. The science wing didn't have its own showers so he'd have to go and use the ones in the locker room beside the track.

Rodney carefully lifted a plastic gown from the back of the lab door and put it over his clothes. He took off his shoes and replaced them with the plastic shoe coverings that they had for hazardous work. Grabbing a towel from his swim bag, he quickly cut across the corridor and through an area of the campus which he'd never visited, the sports locker room. He worked out which room was the guys' mainly by the Lynx smell, went in and could see the shower entrance on the side wall.

The room was full of steam and Rodney struggled to get his bearings. He moved forward and was jostled by one jock, then another, until finally he found an open cubicle. He pulled the curtain back, stripped, and was just getting rid of the vile stains when his ears pricked up at a conversation in the next two stalls.

"Can you believe he's actually winning this?" Jock 1 said.

"I know! If I thought I could get away with it I wouldn't tell you what Janet is saying." Jock 2 said, annoyed.

"Sara's really getting jealous?" Jock 1 asked incredulously.

"Hell, yeah! Good ol' Jack's got her really worried."

"You know, this is all our fault. We should never have picked such a hottie as we did."

"Oh, but what a body! The image of her in a leather jacket is gonna stay with me for a long, long time," Jock 2 leered.

"Yeah. The next time we make a bet with Jack about women, we pick a dog. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Definitely not someone smart and hot like Carter."

At the mention of that name Rodney stood stock still in the cubicle. Carter? His Samantha? The victim of a vicious bet? For what purpose? He listened more intently.

"I really don't have $50 to hand over to him, you know. He's already had three dates. Two more and I'm gonna be broke," Jock 1 said, or rather whined.

"You think you have trouble? I'm gonna have to cough up $100 and Janet has already answered the jealous question. I'm gonna have to wire my dad for an advance and he's gonna ask some real awkward questions about why I need the money."

'One hundred and fifty dollars!' Rodney thought. So that was the bet. His poor Samantha at the mercy of these horrible cadets who wanted nothing more than to embarrass her to make money. Well, that wouldn't be allowed to happen. He'd protect her and come to her rescue.

The two others in the shower finished and moved away to get dressed while Rodney stayed. It wouldn't do for them to know they'd been overheard. He'd have to maximise the impact of this news if he wanted to benefit from telling Samantha. He'd have to plan where to tell her and when, and make sure that the Oaf was present so Sam would be forced to see his deception.

The noise from the locker room died down and Rodney quickly towelled off, grabbed his fresh clothes, and ran back through to the science wing. He put all his efforts into cleaning the mess left from the experiment, now working much faster than he would have done before. He now had a mission to prepare for: Operation Get Samantha Carter For Himself!

AN: A very kind reviewer pointed out that Rodney is actually Canadian in the show, something that had totally slipped my mind. Please accept my apologies and for the purpose of this story see him as a US citizen and therefore someone who would want to join the US Air Force not the Canadian equivilent. Thanks.

So Rodney is on the case and it can't be long before it all comes crashing down around Jack! More very soon.