Stuck on You – Chapter 4
As the first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon, Elizabeth stirred slightly in bed. She smiled sleepily, snuggling down and nuzzling her cheek against the pillow she was resting on, trying to postpone that last part of the journey to full wakefulness and resolutely kept her eyes closed tight. She had slept deeply and well – better than she could remember in a long time.
Her mind had started to work before her eyes were even open, and as the sleep fuzz began to clear, she realized two things. One- she didn't sleep well for a reason. She just couldn't get used to the beds in Atlantis; they were uncomfortable and too rigid. And two – the mattress under her hand was decidedly UN-hard. It could be called almost…soft, but with a under layer of firmness. She slid her hand across the mattress again, and smiled as she felt soft fur.
Wait a minute! Since when does my bed have fur! She raised her head and finally opened her eyes to look at the unexpected softness and gasped aloud at the sight before her. Instantly, the past day came flooding back to her consciousness and she closed her eyes for a second, before peeking to see if the image was still there.
Yep. Not a dream. There, lying on his back and snoring lightly, was a peacefully sleeping Dr. Rodney McKay. For all his whining about needing a special mattress for his back, he seemed supremely comfortable on hers. Moreover, resting quite comfortably on his chest was her hand. She quite firmly told her hand to remove itself and gaped in shock as her traitorous fingers ignored her command and began to toy lightly with the smattering of hair under her hand.
As she lay there, watching him closely, a frown flitted across his features while he slept. Unconsciously, the fingers of his right hand tightened on her neck, pulling her gently back down, guiding her head back to its previous resting place against his chest.
She thought about fighting back against the pressure, but as his thumb resumed the light stroking on the back of her neck like the previous day, she couldn't find it in her heart to protest. She sighed contentedly and decided to live in the moment, her fingers lightly stroking his chest.
Elizabeth had no idea how they were going to get out of this, and was shocked to realize, at that moment, she didn't really care. She was enjoying this side to Rodney, especially during "dinner" the previous night. He had been so relaxed. They had talked openly and freely – no façades, no shields. Just…them. And she had thoroughly enjoyed herself. In addition…if she was any judge of character, which she really hoped so as it was her job, Rodney had enjoyed himself also. She would almost be sorry to lose what was becoming her favorite "necklace" when this was all over.
She felt a difference in his breathing, and then felt him stir. The next thing she felt was a kiss to the top of her head. Almost immediately following that sensation was the feeling of him going absolutely still, not even breathing. She held as still as she could, letting him wake up fully and remember the events of the previous day as she had.
After a moment, she felt him resume the slight massage on her neck and felt him take a deep breath and then let it out slowly. She finally couldn't take it any longer and said with a smile in her voice, "Good morning. Sleep well?"
She again felt him freeze, and then he mumbled something she couldn't understand. She looked up at him and said, "Pardon?"
He mumbled, "This isn't a dream?" She shook her head in confirmation and he began to stutter, gesturing with his left hand rapidly. "Oh my God! Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. I have no idea what happened. I promise, when I fell asleep, you were over there," he pointed to the other side of the bed, "and I was all the way over here. I swear I didn't..."
"Rodney." Her interruption was quiet and gentle. "It's perfectly alright. And you can't take all the blame. I'M the one who appears to have moved, not you. Besides, I was just thinking how I haven't slept that well since we got to Atlantis, at least. Can you say you didn't sleep well?"
He seemed to be finally processing the fact that she wasn't mad at him and she could feel him relax next to her. "Actually…I honestly don't remember ever sleeping that well." He blushed and then grinned. "Must be this amazing mattress."
She laughed aloud and slapped his chest in mock anger, then snuggled back down on his chest contentedly. They lay there for several moments, he massaging her neck and she listening to his heartbeat. They stayed like that, strangely calm for a while until he signed and started to sit up, pulling her with him.
"We should probably get up and get going on the day. The longer we lay around, the less time we have to try to fix this." She nodded in agreement, but was surprised at how reluctant she was to end this…whatever it was.
With a minimum of fuss, they were both up and wondering how they would handle the simple things they usually took for granted. Bathroom ablutions, dressing, even eating. After getting through their bathroom breaks as they had perfected the night before, Elizabeth got dressed, settling with a button up shirt rather than try to go thru the neck of her uniform shirt. Rodney got his pants back on, and then they headed to his room so he could clean up and try to figure out his clothes situation.
After a lot of deliberation, Rodney very deliberately stretched the sleeve of his t-shirt. Elizabeth knew it was his favorite and asked, "What are you doing? I thought you liked that shirt?"
"I do. Which is why I'm doing it this way and not cutting it. Hold still for a minute." He pulled his left arm and then his head out of the t-shirt, leaving it bunched up on his right arm near her head. "Okay. I know this is weird, but go with me here please. You pull the shirt on over your head thru the sleeve." He did his best to assist her until finally she had it around her neck below where his hand was joined. Thankfully, due to the previous stretching, it hung loosely.
"Okay…now, just…stretch it more if you need, its okay…and slide it over your shoulders and all the way down." As he spoke, she followed his directions as best as possible, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it. Finally, she stepped out of the shirt and handed it to him.
"I'm afraid it will never be the same again, but at least it's not cut." He smiled at her attempts to reassure him and tossed the shirt into the dirty clothes basket in the corner, then plucked a clean shirt from the closet.
"Okay…same thing, but in reverse. Step into it and pull it up." Elizabeth followed his directions, thanking God that there was no one with a video camera as she wiggled, shimmied and tugged the shirt up. Finally, after much pulling and muttered cursing, the new shirt was around her neck.
As Rodney completed his part of the change of clothes, Elizabeth made an exaggerated motion of wiping her brow. "Whew! I'll never complain about pantyhose again!" She smiled as he paused in pulling the shirt over his head, then spoke while his head was still covered to avoid her eyes.
"Ohh…I've never seen you in nylons. Not fair." His voice took on a distinctive pouting tone, causing her to laugh. She reached over and yanked the shirt the rest of the way over his head to attempt a glare at him, then gave up as she caught the twinkle in his eyes.
Finally clean and dressed, they headed to his lab. Amazingly, they were able to avoid everyone enroute. Mainly because they were up at such an ungodly hour. However, most of the credit went to Elizabeth. She knew the city better than anyone did from her nightly walks when they first arrived on Atlantis. When she couldn't sleep, she'd wander. She knew every inhabited hallway and quite a few uninhabited ones. It was these she led them through, reaching his lab and entering quickly.
Rodney led her directly to the coffee pot and he began to make a strong pot, knowing he'd need the caffeine before the day was over. Going to his worktable, he pulled out a box labeled "Hazardous Radioactive Material – Do not touch!" and opened it, handing Elizabeth a powerbar and taking one for himself. At her amused look, he just shrugged and answered her unasked question. "Hey, it keeps the others out of them!"
After quickly eating their skimpy breakfast and getting themselves coffee, they both sat down at the lab table as Rodney opened his laptop. It was time to start a slow, in depth search of the Ancients' records on this glue.
An hour later, Rodney was getting frustrated. His right hand, while enjoying its current location, was needed elsewhere. Preferably on the keyboard. One handed typing sucked, especially when it wasn't even your dominant hand. He sat back in frustration, bringing his left hand up to massage the back of his neck, subconsciously copying the motion his right hand was making on her neck. She smiled at the reflexive gesture and couldn't help but think, I could SO get used to this. Ignoring the hand glued to it, my neck hasn't been this relaxed since we first learned of the Wraith. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd hire out his services and if she'd be able to afford him after this was finished. Her focus was quickly brought back to Rodney as he groaned in frustration.
"This is ridiculous! How can I type with only my left hand! I'd be better off having Sheppard type it and I know for a fact he uses the "seek and ye shall find" method when typing as he attempts to find the next letter needed." He mimicked Sheppard going up and down each row of letters before giving a pretend "ah ha!" and hitting the letter.
Elizabeth laughed loudly at that. They'd be there until next week. "I've got a better idea. I can type. Quite well, actually. How about you tell ME what to type and I'll do the typing? Sound good?"
That's how Radek Zelenka found them 3 hours later and he stopped in his tracks, shocked at the sight of Elizabeth typing. Rodney was letting someone touch his computer! Not only was that someone touching it, but Rodney was actually giving her a neck massage as she worked! Radek couldn't even begin to think of what kind of persuasion it had taken and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He slowly backed out of the lab, leaving the occupants unaware he was ever even there as they continued their work.
