She couldn't believe it. Rodney was in front of her telling her that they needed to talk. The corners of her traitorous lips moved upward into an unbidden smile as the gravity of what was transpiring weighed down upon her. She took a step towards him, and when she did she was reminded of the fact that she hadn't showered in two days. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell radiating from her and she had to clamp down hard to keep from gagging.
"About what?" she asked while trying not to inhale too much of the gross smell of wet clothes, sweat and mud. At this point she didn't care if she sounded grumpy. She'd just spent two days in the rain which was reason enough to be crabby, but now the man she'd been trying to get to open up to her was trying to do just that and she smelled like she hadn't showered in two days and that wasn't how she'd envisioned that conversation happening. It wasn't how she wanted what might be the most important conversation of her adult life to happen.
As far as she was concerned she had a right to be a little pissed off.
She waited for Rodney to say something, remaining far enough away from him that he wouldn't be assaulted by her odor, but he simply stared at her. Finally she'd had enough and rushed past him towards the door and the nearest shower. The sooner she showered the sooner she could talk to him without anything distracting her. She heard the footfalls of her team mates behind her as she rushed towards the door, and she silently thanked them for having her back…literally in this case.
"Wait!"
She brought up solid and almost had Lorne barrel into her back. She sighed and slowly turned around to face him. Her team mates blocked her view, and each of them was looking her square in the eyes. She took a moment to collect herself and then gave the men a small nod. The men stepped back, with Lorne holding out the longest to give her as much time as possible to change her mind. When the sea of men had receded, Rodney came into view and it wasn't until she took a moment to really focus on Rodney's blue eyes that she saw the hurt in them.
He said something, but he'd said it so softly that she wouldn't have known he'd spoken at all except for the fact that she'd seen his lips move. "I didn't hear you, Rodney," she said, forcing her voice to be calm and void of any hint of anger and frustration.
Rodney glanced around the room and spoke again, and though his voice was louder so that what he'd said registered as a mutter she still couldn't understand what he was saying.
She could see he was struggling. She wanted to calmly ask him to repeat what he'd said; she wanted so desperately to ease his apparent suffering.
"What?" she blurted out far louder than she'd meant to.
Damn Laura… that's the best you can do!?
Rodney's face seemed to instantly turn red and it was the only warning he gave before yelling as only Rodney McKay could yell into the crowded gate room, "I care about you, too!"
Laura gasped, as did a few other people in the room. There were gasps, coughs, grunts and various other exclamations of surprise, as well as an excited 'YES!' from a certain spiky-haired Cupid wannabe Colonel.
An eerie tranquility settled about Laura. Her left hand calmly reached for the clip that held her P-90 to her vest and undid it without any trouble. There wasn't even so much as a tremble in her right arm as she held the weapon out for Lorne to take. When he'd relieved her of that burden she walked towards Rodney with sure and steady steps, the slight squishing noise made by her waterlogged combat boots no longer bothering her in the slightest.
Rodney's eyes had been glued to hers since his strident proclamation of affection, and they followed her as she approached him.
She didn't stop until her body was pressed against his. Her arms went around his neck and she gently pulled his head towards hers. Their lips touched and Laura was deafened by the fireworks exploding within her chest, as well as the thunderous applause, catcalls and whistles from their gleeful audience.
Rodney's arms snaked around her waist, pulling her body even tighter against his, as he deepened the kiss by rubbing his tongue along her lips before gently pushing into her mouth.
It caught her by surprise even though she was aware that he was a great kisser, but she recovered quickly and returned the favor with just as much enthusiasm as him.
The boisterous encouragement was still raining down upon them from every angle as their kiss slowly ended, leaving Laura breathless and yearning for more. Rodney's eyes were blazing and for some reason the only thing she could say was, "What are we doing?"
Rodney's nose quirked and he said with a smirk, "Well, you're smelling like a wet dog," the smirk vanished, and before she could say what she thought he was he added with a smile, "And I'm letting you in."