A/N: The basic idea for this story was suggested by voyfan7. Thanks…again! JJ
How Jennifer Made the First Move
35 - Love is Contagious
"It's not the end result I have a problem with, Colonel Sheppard. It's the ethics involved in getting there." Dr. Amanda Cole looked over her infirmary workstation at the dark-haired man. "What makes you think Jennifer and Dr. McKay even want our help getting together? They're adults. They can figure this out themselves."
"That's just it, Doc. They're taking too long to figure it out." He gave her his most charming smile, the crooked Elvis one he did to such good effect. Unfortunately for him Amanda was way too practical to be taken in. "They just need a little…nudge."
"Nudge? What you're suggesting is more like a hard shove."
"Well, they don't call it falling in love for nothing." He circled the desk and came to stand next to her. "Come on. Please? I know, somewhere deep inside, you are a hopeless romantic."
Amanda huffed in exasperation. He sounded just like her sister's son when he really wanted something, except for the jumping up and down. She knew he would keep after her until she agreed so… "Okay. I'll do it. But only if you get Mr. Woolsey's approval and if a true emergency occurs, it ends immediately."
"I will and that's completely fair. Thank you!" He gave her a big wet sloppy kiss on the cheek and departed.
"Yuck!" She used a wet wipe to clean her cheek. "Don't ever do that again! And you're welcome. Just don't make me regret it."
"You won't. I promise." He shouted over his shoulder.
* * * * *
"Why am I here again?" Rodney asked Marie for the third time in ten minutes. He had been brought to an auxiliary isolation room on level 37. It was approximately the size of his quarters but had two beds, a bathroom, two chairs and an airlock of sorts.
She tried not to sigh aloud and pasted on what she hoped was a pleasant smile and not a grimace behind the faceplate of her hazmat suit. "SGA-6 had contact with a group of children who had the Pegasus version of measles so we're isolating them and everyone they had contact with until we know for sure."
"Why didn't the quarantine protocols kick in?"
"We think it's because only the six of you were infected, if you even have it, and we caught it quickly."
"And why am I in this small isolation room instead of the main one on the infirmary level?"
"That's where we have the soldiers. We didn't think you would want to share a room with them. I'm sure you'll be fine, Dr. McKay. We'll know in a few days."
"A few days?"
"Incubation period of this disease is four days. We don't want a repeat of the incident with Kirsian Fever."
Rodney shuddered at the memory. "No, definitely not. But I have to wonder why there are two beds in here. I can't be sharing a room with someone who has no concept of privacy and…" The door whooshed open and a figure in a hazmat suit entered escorted by others identically dressed.
"Well, don't stand on ceremony. Take your suit off and join one of Atlantis' great unwashed." Rodney bowed mockingly, his sarcasm crossing the room and swirling around his new roommate.
Two hands came up and pulled off the hood to show long blonde hair, a pretty face and angry brown eyes. "I don't know how but this has to be your fault, McKay!" Jennifer told him, hands tightly clenched on the hood.
* * * * *
Sheppard watched the couple on the monitor in the infirmary. At the moment they were on their beds. Jennifer was reading and Rodney was working on his laptop. They hadn't said a word to each other in hours. He'd give them some time before he went on to plan B. Trouble was he didn't have a plan B…yet.
"Colonel, what…oh. They've been ignoring each other for the last several hours. They had a short and very loud argument when Jennifer first arrived. They've only spoken at meal time and that was when Jennifer asked Dr. McKay to pass the salt. The Mess Hall did as you asked and sent both meals on one small table so they'd have to share. A lot of good it did."
He watched the monitor another thirty seconds then turned to his partner in crime. "Doc, I think we should decide when we're going to let them in on the fact that this is a scam."
"Oh, but it isn't. Didn't anyone tell you? This is for real. One of the SGA teams encountered a group of kids that had something similar to measles and we've quarantined everyone who had contact with the team. They got back during the night local time and Jennifer was the only one on duty. Dr. McKay came in with a hangnail or some other minor injury while they were having injuries tended to. We didn't want a repeat of the Kirsian Fever incident so they're all in isolation until we determine that they don't have it, it's not contagious and/or it's easily curable. We put them together because they're the only two non-military in the group."
* * * * *
"Oh, crap! My skin itches!" Rodney scratched at his arms, neck, chest and legs then went to the bathroom door jamb and rubbed up and down to scratch his back. He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Every exposed area of skin was red and splotchy. "Oh-oh-oh! Red means bad!"
Jennifer stepped into the bathroom and turned him to face her. "Let me see." He tried to turn back to the mirror but she stopped him. "Rodney! Stand still." They were standing very close in the small room and despite the seriousness of the situation the magnetism of attraction made them sway toward each other. "It's, uh, hives. It's just your fight or flight response kicking in, a reaction to anxiety and stress. I'll have someone bring Benadryl, baking soda and lotion. Put the baking soda in a tub of cool water then when you get out rub the lotion on. You'll be fine."
"You're sure it's not this new kind of measles? I-I-I had measles six times when I was a kid. The last time was when I was seventeen. My doctor couldn't see me so my mother got me an appointment with Jeannie's pediatrician. He was a friend of the family and fit me in between a twelve-year old with the flu and a six-year old with the mumps. It was one of the most embarrassing days of my life."
He continued to scratch and she slapped his hand to make him stop then smiled gently at him and rubbed a hand down his arm to comfort him. "Yes, I'm sure it was. Here's what we'll do. You take your meds and bath like a good boy and I'll rub the lotion on your back for you." He looked hopeful and uncertain at the same time. "I promise. You'll be fine. We both will."
* * * * *
After dinner, Sheppard returned to the infirmary to check on his isolated friends. He was watching the monitor and saw them talking in the bathroom doorway, saw her smile and touch him gently on the arm. He nodded and smiled himself. Not exactly according to plan but the end result was all that mattered.
* * * * *
Rodney had taken the meds and the bath Jennifer had prescribed but he didn't feel any better. She massaged the lotion all over his arms and back then laughed when he started giggling and twitching. Apparently he was just a little bit ticklish in the rib area. When she finished he put on the scrubs they were both forced to sleep in.
The lotion didn't help much either and the meds hadn't kicked in yet so he began to pace back and forth trying to take his mind off the itching. Every time he started to scratch Jennifer would slap his hands or say, "Rodney" in her doctor voice, the one that tolerated no disobedience.
"I can't help it," he told her for what seemed like the tenth time. "It's driving me crazy."
She looked at him with affection though he didn't notice. "Rodney, dear, that wouldn't be a drive. That would be a gimme." He mocked her and she took him by the hand, "You need to relax and let the meds do their job. Come on. Let's try something else."
She led him back to the bed he'd called dibs on. "Lay down on whichever side you prefer." He was puzzled but complied then was shocked beyond words when she lay down and spooned him from behind. After pulling the covers over both of them her arm slipped under his to slide across his chest and pull him as close as possible.
Now he really was going crazy. Her breath on his neck and the press of her slender body against his was warm and inviting causing him to think of things better left for when they got out of isolation. "W-w-what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to help you relax. Now just be still. Feel my arms around you, my breath on your neck, the warmth of my body pressed against yours soothing and comforting you." Her voice was soft and mellifluous. It flowed over him like honey melting over a warm buttermilk biscuit and was just as sweet.
"Um, you should know that, well, as good as this feels, and it feels really, uh, good, great even, it's, uh, it's not really, that is to say, it's having the, um, opposite, well, effect. On me, that is. A-a-and I don't want you to think…"
"So what is it you don't want me to do? This?" She nuzzled his neck then lightly nipped the spot with her teeth making him shiver. "Or this?" The hand on his chest slid up to turn his face to hers and she lightly kissed his lips. "Or maybe this?" Her leg slid up and over both of his as she turned him onto his back. She kissed him again urgently making them both moan.
Both of his hands came up to hold her head still while he kissed her back. She was a tall cool glass of tea on a hot afternoon. She was a sweet chocolate treat he'd been denied only to find it waiting on his pillow at bedtime. He couldn't get enough of her, would never have enough of her to stop this craving. And wonder of wonders, she seemed to feel the same.
She was panting as her hands reached under his shirt to caress his chest then pushed it over his head and tossed it to the floor. That accomplished, she sat up grasping the hem of her own shirt and stripping it off eliminating the first of the obstacles between them.
Before long, all barriers had miraculously disappeared as had Rodney's hesitancy. He longed to tell her he loved her but held back without knowing why. She did something devastating with her hands and he ceased to think at all.
* * * * *
"Colonel, no!" Amanda nearly shouted. "Don't turn that on! Please."
He'd reached for the power button on the monitor hooked up to the isolation room Rodney and Jennifer shared but snatched his hand back at her exclamation. "I just want to see how the love birds are doing. Are they still not talking?"
She looked uncomfortable and didn't meet his eyes. "Ummm, I would have to say that they've gotten over whatever it was that they were ticked off about."
His face brightened. Their little plan was working! "That's great. So why can't we just have a peek?"
Now she hesitated. "I'd, uh, rather you just…took my word for it. Please?" Her eyes begged him not to press and he complied.
"Okay. As long as they're getting along and not trying to kill each other."
Amanda sighed noisily. "I think it's safe to say that they are not trying to kill each other." Under her breath she said, "At least not in the way you mean."
"What?"
"Nothing. It looks like they're free of any contagion so they'll be released from isolation in the morning."
"Why not now? I'm sure they'd like to sleep in their own beds tonight."
She turned away from him to return supplies to the cabinet behind her. "I wouldn't bother them right now. They're, um, already…asleep."
Sheppard was more than a little puzzled but he might need her good will at some later date so he let it drop. Matchmaking was strenuous work so he thanked her and made his way to his quarters for some much needed rest.
* * * * *
Morning dawned bright and cloudless promising a day of sunshine and mild temperatures. For Rodney it was a day for celebration. He couldn't believe what had happened between him and Jennifer last night. Even if it was the only time they were together he could die a happy man.
She stirred rolling within the circle of his arms. Her sleepy smile made him smile back. "Good morning."
"Good morning yourself, handsome."
He looked unsure. "Uh, Jennifer…"
"Yes!"
"Yes?"
"Yes, I meant it when I said I love you." She laughed at his surprised and delighted expression.
"It wasn't just because…" He wasn't sure how to end that sentence. What they'd shared during the night was more than he could ever have hoped to have with her and he didn't want to minimize it by calling it sex because it was so much more than that.
"Definitely not. I love you and have for a long time."
He pulled her close and kissed her gently. "Mmm. I love you, too."
"I know." Her hand ruffled the hair at the nape of his neck. "So what do you think of my distraction technique?"
"You can distract me anytime you feel the need." He rolled them until he was looking down at her smiling face. "In fact, I think you could use a distraction yourself."
"Mmm. I think, oh, you're right." She gasped then moaned when he kissed her on that sensitive spot behind her ear.
End