Stuck on You – Chapter 5

"That's it. We're done." Elizabeth pushed away from the computer and stretched, then slumped down in the chair. "We need to stop for the evening. I can't even see straight anymore. Besides, we need to eat. We totally missed lunch and if I see one more powerbar I'm going to lose it."

She knew she sounded testy, and to be honest, she was. For the first several hours, she and Rodney had been lost in their research, working so fluidly together, you'd think they'd done it for years. But…over the last few hours, everything from the way he clucked his tongue while reading over her shoulder to the way he rattled the wrappers on those STUPID energy bars he kept eating, EVERYTHING was driving her nuts! She had about one good nerve left. And the look he was giving her now, that incredulous surprise that she was stopping, look, was on that LAST nerve!

Rodney couldn't help but feel shocked. Elizabeth was giving up? No way. All they'd managed to do so far was determine things that were ineffective on the glue. Not much to help them. They couldn't quit now. "Elizabeth, we can't stop. We're making progress but there's so much more we have to go through."

Elizabeth sighed and rolled her eyes. "I didn't say stop for good. I meant stop for the night. Rodney, it's almost 11pm. I don't know about you, but I'm tired, I'm hungry, I want a hot shower and maybe even a bath. And while I'd much rather do that without you attached to me, it's not going to happen tonight." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Do you really find me so hideous that you can't stand another night with me?"

"What! No, of course not! I mean, yes, I can. Wait. I mean…Sheesh! How am I supposed to answer that! I'm gonna be wrong either way!" Rodney huffed out some air and dropped down on the chair next to Elizabeth's, still subconsciously being mindful not to hurt her neck.

"Elizabeth, what's wrong? You're being irrational. If our spending this much time together were by choice, I'd be in heaven. As it's not by choice and I'm sure you've got other people you'd rather be spending time with than me, I'm doing the best I can to be gracious and polite. You think you're the only one who needs a bath? My hair is threatening to turn loose completely if I don't wash it soon. And I'd love nothing more than to lie in MY bed and stare at MY ceiling with BOTH my hands behind my head as I go to sleep tonight! But since I can't, I'm trying to enjoy the time we get together, and at the same time, solve this as quickly as possible so you can get on with your life. Happy?"

The last part was said with such hurt and anger that Elizabeth's anger deflated. He was right. She was being irrational. And insulting. She looked down at him, trying to meet his eyes. He stubbornly refused to look at her, so she gently lifted his chin with her fingertips until he was forced to meet her gaze.

"Rodney…I'm sorry. That was mean and selfish. I'm just tired. And frustrated. Please. Can't we just go get some supper and call it a night? This will still be here tomorrow."

The look in her eyes was enough to soften Rodney's anger as well. She really did look exhausted. And he wasn't the easiest person to be around. And here she'd put up with him for over 24 hours and seemed not to be ready to chop his hand off to get rid of him. He allowed a small smile to show on his face and nodded slowly. "Alright. Let's be done. Besides, we have spaghetti for dinner tonight. If there's enough left, we might even get a meatball."

She laughed at that and he relaxed fully. That wasn't too bad. He usually had worse fights within 15 minutes of being with someone. This was a record for him. Or she was just that good. He wasn't sure which, but she hadn't even complained when everyone stared at them in the hallway yesterday. Yesterday….the stares…

"Uh oh. Elizabeth, are you sure the commissary is such a good idea? There may still be people there. Are you ready for the stares?" Rodney had to admit, he didn't mind. Like he was gonna care that people saw him attached to a beautiful woman? Duh. But Elizabeth might care.

She looked him in the eye and raised an eyebrow like she used to see the Jaffa Teal'c do and said in the most daring voice she could handle. "I can handle it. Can you? This may harm your chances with that girl."

Rodney was honestly puzzled at that. "What girl?"

Elizabeth smiled, "The one I heard you and John talking about last week. He was telling you to go for it and you told him you didn't think you had a chance and weren't about to risk your friendship." Rodney stared at her, cheeks coloring slightly and doing an impressive goldfish impersonation. Elizabeth just laughed. "What? Didn't you know that NOTHING happens in Atlantis that I don't know about? Now…come on. I'd say I'd race you, but I doubt it would be very easy. So…let's go."

Rodney closed his mouth with an audible snap and followed closely behind her, before hurrying to walk at her side. They were liable to get stares, but if she didn't mind, who was he to complain. He was just gonna enjoy it.

They made it to the commissary easily, only passing one lab geek who never even looked up from his computer as he walked. Bigfoot could have passed him and he'd have done nothing more than mumble "pardon me" as they passed. Elizabeth smiled at Rodney as they continued on, getting to the commissary to find it apparently empty. Wow. Someone's looking out for us. I just knew Sheppard was going to be in here. She smiled even wider at Rodney and they went to the kitchen to scrounge for food.

Five minutes later, they both came out of the kitchen laughing, each carrying a tray of leftovers. They headed over to a table along the wall and as they sat down, Elizabeth's mood deflated abruptly when she caught sight of another person. If you could call him that.

Upon catching her eye, Dr. Kavanaugh, who had been sitting in a back corner, got up from his table and carried his tray over to the trash. He slowly emptied the tray and placed it on the stack, and then made his way out. He stopped in badly-faked surprise at their table.

Why… Dr. Weir. Rodney. My…doesn't this look…cozy?" The sarcasm rolled off his tongue like it was greased. He smiled mirthlessly. "So how'd you manage to get her to hang out in your lab with you all day and even eat a late, intimate dinner with you McKay? Drug her? Bribery? Handcuff her to you?"

Rodney was seeing red. Kavanaugh was annoying on a good day. This late at night he was an ass. Elizabeth could see Rodney was about to let Kavanaugh have it, and decided to have a little fun at Kavanaugh's expense.

She turned, snuggling back against Rodney, sliding under his arm slightly and looked at Kavanaugh innocently. "Whatever do you mean, Dr. Kavanaugh? We've had a great day and hopefully an even better night." Turning her back on the shocked Kavanaugh, she looked up at Rodney adoringly. "Why don't we just take this back to our room and eat it there. It's about time to go to bed." She turned again to Kavanaugh with an angelic look. "I'm sorry, Doctor. We've had a long day and we need our sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow and Rodney's much more pleasant after a good night's sleep. Have a good evening."

With that, she began to start gathering her food back onto her tray in preparation to head out. Kavanaugh seemed to choke on…well, he appeared to choke on air. He turned sharply and stomped out. Elizabeth dropped her head to rest on the table. Rodney's thumb began to rub her neck soothingly.

"Don't let him get to you, Elizabeth. He's an ass. He was just trying to find some good gossip….wait a second. Are you laughing?" She finally lifted her head from the table and leaned back, still laughing so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I'm soo…oh…so sorry about that, Rodney. He just makes me so mad I couldn't resist." She giggled , closing her eyes for a moment to try to compose herself, but when she looked at him again, the smile in her eyes showed clearly. "You're not mad are you?"

Rodney looked at her in surprise. "Mad? Why in the world would I be mad? I thought it was well done. You didn't actually lie. We are going to bed together." He grinned at her cheekily and they both relaxed, finishing their meal in a very comfortable, companionable quiet.

As they entered her quarters again, Elizabeth was amazed at how much more relaxed she was than this time last night. Heck, we've even managed to get this bathroom stuff down pretty well, she thought less than 5 minutes later as she was changing for bed. Rodney was already as changed as he could be and ready for bed. As she finished and they climbed into bed, he laid as he had last night, smiling gently at her.

She bit her lip in indecision, then made up her mind. She snuggled up against his side, resting her head on his chest as she had the night before. "You don't mind do you?

She sounded unsure that Rodney would accept her. Like he'd tell her no? He let his actions be his answer as he wrapped his left arm around her, bringing his hand up to run through her hair lightly, repeatedly.

Elizabeth smiled against his chest, feeling the tension of the day catching up with her. She closed her eyes, listening to Rodney's heartbeat and almost purring with pleasure at the magic his fingers were working on her head and neck.

They laid there for a few moments in silence when Rodney asked the question that had been on his mind since yesterday. "Elizabeth, what's your middle name?"

"Ummm..what?" she asked, already half asleep. "Why?"

"No reason. I just want to know."

"Fine. Weston. And no, my parents aren't weird. It's was my mother's maiden name. My grandparents only had girls and they wanted the name to go on."

"Okay. I was just curious." They both settled quietly and Rodney once again felt himself drift off, listening to Elizabeth's breathing when suddenly…

"Wait a minute. Your initials are EWW? As in... Eeeewwwww?"