Author: MegTDJ
Category: Missing/tag scene; romance
Rating: PG
Pairing: McKay/Weir
Spoilers: The Storm, The Eye
Summary: Tag scene for The Eye; Elizabeth has a question for Rodney.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis, its universe and its characters are not mine. The story itself is, however, so please don't archive without my permission.
Author's notes: The Eye is quite easily my favourite episode of Atlantis so far, and mainly because of the amount of McKay/Weir shippiness that was crammed into those wonderful 42 minutes. I almost died of squee! There were, however, unanswered questions, so I just had to write a tag scene. I hope you enjoy!
The Wake
Kolya's finger tightened on the trigger as he leered at her. She tried to reason with him, but he didn't seem to be listening to a word she said. He was going to kill her, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Suddenly, Rodney stepped in front her, right into the line of fire. "You can't do this; this is crazy!" he said desperately. "You need her!"
Kolya smiled. "You're right," he said. "I do need her. Goodbye, Dr. McKay."
The gun fired, and Rodney crumpled to the ground.
Elizabeth screamed.
"No!"
Elizabeth's own cry woke her up out of her nightmare, and for a long moment she just lay there trying to catch her breath and calm herself down. She couldn't believe how vivid it had been. The smell of Rodney's blood still lingered in her nostrils, making her stomach turn. It almost made her second guess her own memory of the way the scene had played out.
"This is ridiculous," she muttered. "Get a hold of yourself, Elizabeth. You know exactly what really happened. It was just a nightmare."
After a few deep breaths, her heart started beating at a normal rate again, and her thoughts finally came back under control. Just as she started trying to go back to sleep, however, she realized with a groan that she was thirsty.
'That's ironic,' she thought to herself as she got out of bed. 'You'd think I absorbed enough water today to last me a week.' With a heavy sigh, she slipped into a warm sweater and left her quarters, headed for the mess hall.
As she walked along, she started to think more and more about the events of the day and, more specifically, about Rodney. She had been amazed when he had jumped between her and Kolya's gun, but then, somehow, it hadn't been surprising at all. She knew how fearful he could get, and yet she always trusted him to do what he had to do. That was true bravery, she realized - facing your fears even though all you want to do is run away.
Rodney had shown his bravery many times that day. She knew he had only given up the information about their plan to save the city because Kolya had threatened to kill her. He had done it to protect her, just as he had when he'd stepped in front of the gun, and when he'd tried his damnedest to make Kolya think he had almost fixed the problem while he was actually stalling for time, and when he'd put his arm around her while they waited for Sheppard to turn the power back on...
"Oh my God," she whispered as she came to the door of Rodney's quarters. He'd been protecting her all along, but was that all it was? Just a man protecting his boss? Just a friend protecting a friend?
"If this doesn't work..."
"It will."
"I'm just saying, if it doesn't work..."
"It will!"
"I'm sure it will, but in the unlikely event that it doesn't, I just..."
"Rodney! Please."
She had suspected then that he was trying to tell her something... meaningful... but afterwards she'd thought no more about it. How stupid could she have been?
Taking a deep breath, she tapped on his door. When she heard no reply, she tapped again, a little louder.
She heard a muffled groan, and then, "Come in."
Without a second thought, she opened the door and stepped inside, letting it slide shut behind her. She felt a pang of guilt when she saw him groggily rubbing his eyes in the light and trying to sit up in his bed, but somehow, she knew he wouldn't be upset with her. "Rodney," she said. "Sorry for waking you."
"That's okay," he said, blinking bleary eyes at her. "Is something wrong?"
She stepped a bit closer to him, feeling a bit unsure of herself but encouraged by the fact that he didn't seem uncomfortable with her intrusion at all. "No, not 'wrong,' exactly," she said. "I just... keep thinking about what happened today."
"Oh... can't sleep?"
She smiled and shook her head. "I, uh... I never really got the chance to thank you properly for saving me back there," she said tentatively. "I know it must have taken a lot of courage for you to step in front of that gun, so... thank you."
He sat there staring up at her for so long that she thought he was asleep with his eyes open or something.
"Aren't you going to say something?" she asked, feeling rather self-conscious under his gaze.
He dropped his gaze to his hands as he folded them in his lap. "Don't go thinking I'm a better man than I am, Elizabeth," he said quietly. "I was scared out of my mind, and my own ass was on the line."
"Don't," she said. "Don't belittle yourself like that. You did great today, Rodney, and I don't think you were only thinking of yourself the entire time. Were you?"
Rodney didn't answer. He didn't even look up at her.
"Were you?"
"I... I wouldn't have jumped in front of a gun for just anyone, no," he finally replied, his tone sounding almost angry.
"You wouldn't have put your bad arm around just anyone to comfort them, either," she said, sitting down on the edge of his bed and trying to catch his eye. "Would you?"
"What are you trying to say here, Elizabeth?" he asked.
"I'm trying to say... thank you."
"Well, you're welcome. Are we done?"
"No, we're not done." She tried not to let her aggravation enter her tone, but she seemed to be failing. She wished he would give himself more credit and stop the whole "arrogant, selfish s.o.b." act. She had seen what a great person he was deep down inside on many occasions since they had met in Antarctica months earlier, and as far as she could tell, it was a side of him that only she had been privy to. Why did he always hide behind biting sarcasm and arrogance?
She sighed and cleared her throat before she dared trust her voice to speak again. "Rodney... I'm going to ask you a question now, and I'd like you to give me an honest answer."
He raised his head halfway and looked up at her through his lashes. "Okay, shoot."
Elizabeth's heart melted at this look. How hadn't she noticed before how cute this man was? She mentally shook herself back to the present when she realized her thoughts were beginning to stray, and wished with all her might that he would give her the answer that she was hoping he would. Sucking in a deep breath, she gathered her courage and said, "What were you going to say to me? You know... when you said, 'If this doesn't work...'"
A look of either pain or fear - or perhaps both - appeared on his face as he looked at her silently for a long moment. She didn't know what to think. Why wasn't he saying anything? 'God, usually I can't get him to shut up, but just when I actually want him to say something...'
She was cut off mid-thought as he sat up straighter and started to lean towards her. She didn't back away - oh, God help her, she didn't want to back away - as he gently wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward just slightly until their lips met.
Time seemed to freeze as she melted into his kiss. It wasn't passionate or demanding, just warm, sweet, and tender - just like the Rodney McKay she had seen glimpses of and wished she could get to know. If the true nature of a man was revealed in his kiss, then Rodney was the gentlest, most unassuming man she had ever met. That pretty much settled it - he was a walking contradiction.
The kiss ended all too soon for Elizabeth's liking, but she wasn't about to complain. He held his face just a few inches away from hers as he stroked her cheek with his thumb and looked deep into her eyes to gauge her reaction to his spontaneous act.
Elizabeth smiled, her heart leaping when she saw his relief that she wasn't offended. "I thought that's what you were going to say," she said.
Rodney beamed and laughed. "I've been wanting to say it for a while now, too, I was just afraid you'd laugh at me or something."
"Never." She cupped his face in one hand and leaned in for another kiss. Then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and stroked his back as he sighed and returned the hug warmly.
"Do you mind if I stay?" she asked after enjoying the embrace in silence for a minute.
Rodney tensed at this question and drew back from her to look anxiously into her face. "Uh... I, uh..."
"Just... for the company," she assured him, smiling in amusement at how flustered he'd become.
He let out a deep breath in relief. "Oh... right... yes, of course. Stay." He pulled back the covers for her and moved over a little to give her more room.
Elizabeth tried not to think about how it would look if anybody found out she had spent the night in Rodney's quarters, but part of her really didn't care. After the day she'd had, she needed to be held by warm, comforting arms through the night. Was that so wrong?
She took off her sweater and then the two of them laid down and got comfortable, Rodney's arm around her shoulders and Elizabeth's head on his chest. Then he turned off the light, and they held each other tight as darkness closed in around them.
"Goodnight, Rodney," she whispered.
"Goodnight, Elizabeth," he whispered back, stroking the side of her face and kissing her hair.
Elizabeth smiled. Who knew that such a terrible storm could hold love in its wake?