" Elizabeth?" Rodney called cautiously as he peered around the door leading onto the balcony beside Elizabeth's office.

"I'm here," she replied. Rodney stepped onto the balcony, walking over next to her. He mimicked her pose, resting his forearms on the railing. "Done already?" Elizabeth asked dryly, looking down at her hands. Rodney looked at her for a long minute, taking in every detail of her face before he replied.

"We've come up with a plan," Rodney said slowly.

"Already?" Elizabeth asked. She turned to him, her brows furrowed.

Rodney smiled. "Yep."

"What is it?"

McKay hesitated for a long moment. The plan wasn't exactly foolproof, but he knew they could pull it off. "We discovered a way to put addresses on a sort-of…block list," Rodney said.

"You can do that for Earth's?"

"Yes," Rodney bit his lip.

"…but?"

"But we wouldn't be able to dial home until we've figured out how to override the system and if we override the system it could cause the cataclysmic destruction of the mainframe," Rodney said quickly.

Elizabeth let out a long breath. "So what you're saying is that we might never be able to dial Earth's 'gate ever again?"

"Yes," Rodney said, "But in due time we might—"

"No might, would, should, could…" Elizabeth sighed. "At worst, what does it mean?"

"Earth can't dial here, we can't dial there. No information exchange."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Elizabeth relented, closing her eyes.

"Zelenka is figuring out the specifics of putting the address onto the 'block list'," Rodney told her. "We're organizing a data burst like we did before the first Wraith attack." Elizabeth nodded. There was a long pause before Rodney spoke again, his voice concerned. "Are you all right, Elizabeth?" she nodded numbly. "We don't have to go back to Earth," he said, "Aren't you happy?"

"I suppose," Elizabeth looked back to the sea waters and sighed. "I just can't help but be skeptical. What if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll try again," Rodney said, his resolve hard.

Elizabeth turned to look at him, her eyes gentle but piercing. "Why do you want to stay here so bad?" she questioned softly.

"We're in the city of the Ancients, Elizabeth," he answered, "The technology is—"

"Yes, it's all great and wonderful, Rodney, but you could have stayed on Earth and looked at amazing pieces of technology," Elizabeth said. "You have family at home."

Rodney frowned. "Are you asking me why I'm staying or why I came in the first place?"

"Both, I guess," she replied, looking back to the sea.

Rodney followed her gaze. "I was looking for something different, I guess. It felt like I was missing a whole part of my life. I was searching for something…" he stared at her, watching her watching the soft waves of the water. "…and I found it here."

Elizabeth looked down at her folded hands and sighed softly. "You should get to work on the data compression," she said finally.

Rodney struggled to mask his disappointment as he nodded and headed back inside. Once the door sealed behind him he sighed, fisting his hand as he walked. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' he repeated over in his head, the word becoming a mantra.

"McKay!" Sheppard's voice reached his ears. Rodney sighed exasperatedly and turned to see the Major running up to him. "What happened?"

"She said that it didn't sound too bad," Rodney replied, realizing that he hadn't really gotten a straight answer out of her yet.

"I guess that's a step in the right direction," Sheppard said.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Rodney asked.

"What? Why can't I be in a good mood?"

"Because if we screw this up we're going to be condemned to live the rest of our lives out on Earth: is that a good enough reason?" Rodney asked.

"So did you tell her how you feel about her?"

"Well I—what!" Rodney stopped, nearly caught in the other man's trickery. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Oh come on, McKay! Everyone knows you have a thing for her!"

"That's ridiculous! I'm her friend and I admire her leadership—"

"Yeah, and with you leadership leads to making out with girls and getting mano."

"Hey! No one else was supposed to see that tape!"

Teyla Emmagen watched from just around the corner as the two men argued. She sighed and rolled her eyes, walking past them and heading in the direction that Rodney had just come. John was right…sometimes people needed a little nudge. 'Does he really think mockery and fighting is going to help?' Teyla asked herself, a smile on her face as she thought of his laughable techniques. "Elizabeth Weir," she said as she stepped out onto the balcony, nodding her head to the other woman.

"Teyla!" Elizabeth greeted, nodding to Teyla as well. "What brings you out here? Aren't you supposed to be on the mainland?"

"I wish to speak with you," Teyla informed her bluntly.

"About what?"

"Rodney."

Author's Note: Short chapter and long time between updates; my deepest apologies! Hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway!