Title: Just a Kiss

Author: Wolf Star

Fandom: SG Atlantis

Pairing: Weir/McKay UST...sort of

Rating: PG basically

Disclaimer: none of the characters, settings or 'technical terms' are mine! (though I wish I was cool enough to say they were grins)

Spoilers: Up through 'The Eye' basically, but that's it

Note: Thank you SO MUCH Little Red for beta-ing! loves

Rodney sat alone in his quarters. Quickly becoming too anxious to continue to sit, he began to pace around the room, expertly avoiding the different piles of clothing and other unrecognizable objects and papers that had managed to find their way to the floor. He kept looking at the door, moving toward it, and then finding his way back toward his bed. The entire room suddenly became both too small and not small enough.

Nothing seemed quite right. And yet everything was more 'right' than it ever had been before. Maybe.

Thoughts kept running topsy-turvy through his mind. It hadn't been all that much of anything, but it had to mean something! She had kissed him. Maybe it hadn't been on the mouth. Okay, it had just been his cheek, but the affection was there. At the same time, it could have been just a reaction to the situation. But, she wouldn't have kissed him after he saved the city from the storm if she hadn't meant it for him personally, right? Would she?

"Oh, crap," Rodney said, realizing what that last thought actually meant. "What if it was just a fluke of probability that I was the one there. Is it possible that she rolled the dice and rolled a 1? I could be the critical failure. Shit."

This last thought brought him to a stop. He had to find a way to talk with her and find out without making a fool of himself. The pacing began again. 'Subtle' had never really been one of his strong points, but he couldn't imagine going up to Elizabeth and blurting out 'so, what did kissing me mean? Do you like me? Can we go out together? I think you're pretty.' God, he felt like he was back in junior high school. Actually, any time he found himself feeling this way about a woman, it was as if he regressed about 15 years.

"I am such an idiot," exited his mouth as Rodney collapsed down onto his bed and began to look around his room. "Oh God, and who would want to come in here anyway, even if I am right?"

He began to clean. Puddles of papers became piles. Clothes miraculously disappeared into the closet. Everything else had a high probability of ending up as a part of the next garbage run, though he did find a few electronic gadgets he had long since believed to be lost.

Somehow, even with parts of his floor he had long since forgotten suddenly appearing once again, it just didn't work. His mind kept jumping back to Elizabeth.

Dr. Weir.

"No, Elizabeth," he scolded himself in the mirror. "How can you possibly expect her to see you as more than a scientist if you think of her as Doctor Weir?"

With that, he threw the dirty sock in his hand toward the other clothes. He could almost imagine cartoon-like smell lines coming off of the pile -- he'd have to do something about that at some point. Without taking another breath, he ran to the door of his room and threw himself out of it. He began to walk toward Elizabeth's office. With every step, he had to try harder and harder to keep from turning tail and running. Several times, he found himself taking corridors he usually avoided since they took him an extra minute out of his way.

When he finally reached the control room he was almost relieved to not see Elizabeth. But, just as Rodney was about to walk out, she walked in. Rodney actually felt his heart fall to the floor and had to remind himself to breathe once again.

As Elizabeth walked past him, she half looked in his direction, smiled and mumbled something akin to 'Hello'. After responding in kind, Rodney started to loose any semblance of courage he had. This just isn't a good time, he reasoned to himself. She is clearly too busy for any sort of real conversation. How could she possibly have time for me? But, maybe she WANTS me to talk with her. Maybe she wants to be distracted. Maybe…

"Rodney, are you alright?" Elizabeth's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Yes, I'm doing fine. I mean, I'm ok. I mean. I have something I want to talk with you about in your office. I mean, if that is fine with you. Is it?"

"Sure, Rodney," Elizabeth answered. "Any new ideas on the extent of the flood damage to the Ancient technology?"

"Actually, I have a new theory on that," Rodney said as he launched into a highly technical explanation on magnetic field induction and how that might help boost the performance of the system in the event of future flooding. By the time he finished, they were securely in her office, and he had managed to both entirely capture her attention and at least partially calm himself.

"Well, if you think it will work, you have my permission to try," came the response she usually gave him on things like this.

Rodney just stood there staring at her. It had been going so well, and then she had just dismissed him like it was any other day. What was he supposed to do? Unable to decide, his feet remained rooted to the floor, and when Elizabeth looked up, he was still there.

"Is there something else I can help you with?"

Rodney felt his face grow hot. "Well, I have a dilemma that I was wondering if you could help me with."

"Oh?"

"Well, I was wondering what you think of…I mean, do you think that…Actually, it's just that I don't know what you think, and I want to…" Rodney began to stammer, suddenly unable to recall anything he had been rehearsing before.

"Rodney, take a deep breath. You're looking for my opinion on…" Elizabeth supplied for him.

"I-want-to-know-what-you-think-of-relationships," he blurted out before his better judgment could stop him.

"What do you mean, exactly, Rodney?"

"Well, I was wondering if two people who work very closely together but start to develop feelings for each other could still work together and have a relationship at the same time."

"It would depend on the two people. Do you believe that both of them are able to remain professional?"

"Oh, I'm certain of it," Rodney replied with a smile coming to his face, and he couldn't help thinking, She seems to agree! I know I could be professional, and she just said she could be!

"What other concerns do you have?"

"Well, you see, one of the two people is the other person's superior. Did any people you worked with do that? I mean, did it lead to problems? What did you think of it?" asked Rodney as he became much more animated.

"Do you think this would really affect how everybody here in Atlantis works with each other?" Elizabeth asked him, and Rodney felt his heart start to race. A smile spread across his face, and he took a few steps closer to her.

Looking her directly in the eye he simply replied, "No."

"Well, then, I think that you and Miko will be very happy. You have my full permission to pursue this, though I would advice you keep it as under wraps as possible," Elizabeth replied with a smile. "I am very happy that you have found someone."

Rodney couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was not where the conversation had been heading. All he could do was open and close his mouth several times. He had to force himself to smile and say something nice before he bolted out of Dr. Weir's office. Now, in addition to having been turned down by Elizabeth, Rodney had to cope with her believing that he was interested in Miko. And Miko didn't have any interest in him anyway, did she? Where did Elizabeth come up with that? Was there some information she was getting from Grodin that he didn't know about? Grodin always knew these things.

Rodney spent the next few hours wandering around Atlantis. He couldn't face seeing Dr. Weir again right now, and he wasn't sure he could deal with Miko either. Rejection was bad enough, but how could he deal with somebody who was interested in him when he couldn't get Elizabeth out of his mind?

When Rodney stopped wandering, he realized that he had somehow walked himself right into the lab. Somehow, just as he looked up, his first glimpse was of Miko looking right at him and smiling. He couldn't help but smile back at her. Maybe Elizabeth did know what she was talking about. While he couldn't bring himself to forget about that kiss on the cheek, maybe he could get to know Miko a little better.