Title: Watcher
Author: reclariant
Feedback: Yes, please.
Season/Episode: Season One
Spoilers: None

Notes: Written for the second McKay/Sheppard Drabble Tree. Having said that, it contains neither McKay nor Sheppard, isn't slash and is technically too long to be a true drabble.
Summary: He watches her.
Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate: Atlantis do not belong to me; you can tell because they keep their shirts on.


He watched her, whenever there was nothing more pressing to do.

He monitored on her interactions with her team mates from across the room. He saw how she wrapped them around her fingers and convinced them she was harmless.

He studied her sparring with the Major, from a security terminal two floors up, saw how she toyed with him. He catalogued her every move, searching for weaknesses.

He scrutinized her serene demeanour as she went to visit her people, cloaking himself in the shadows of the jumper bay. He saw the same calm expression, underlaid with sadness, upon her return.

He waited on the balcony over the control room to see whether the return of the off-world team would be heralded early by claxons. On the odd occasions where a mission had gone off without a hitch, it was her laughter that announced their homecoming

He didn't trust her. It wasn't a secret; it was tolerated with a condescending smile or barely concealed annoyance, but when she turned on them he'd know what to do. Because he'd been watching her, and it was his job to know things like that.

And that was the only reason he was watching.