Stuck on You – Chapter 6

As the light from the rising sun hit her face, Elizabeth smiled. She'd been awake for almost an hour, but was infinitely too comfortable to move just yet. Rodney was still asleep, a gentle snore that was more endearing than annoying sounding quietly in the room.

I could so get used to this, she thought with a sigh. I wish everyone could see this side of him. She lifted her head just enough to see his face and smiled again. All the worry and frowns just disappeared from his face when he slept. On the contrary, he had a small smile playing at one corner of his mouth. Those eyelashes she would practically drool over were so close so she took the opportunity to observe them to her heart's content. It was seldom she could stare at him, especially from this close and not get caught.

Unfortunately, as she stared, her brain didn't process that the gentle snores had stopped. "Like what you see?" He asked sleepily, eyes still closed and the smile growing slightly. He chuckled as she startled with a tiny gasp.

"Rodney! You scared me! Why didn't you tell me you were awake?" Elizabeth was embarrassed to be caught staring and blushed slightly. However, that didn't stop her from watching him since he hadn't even opened his eyes yet. Wait a second…how did he know I was even looking?

"I can feel your eyes on me," he answered to her unasked question, and she startled again. That's just weird. I barely even got the thought out before he answered. Oh no, what if he can hear what I'm thinking? Umm... Rodney? RODNEY! She yelled his name loudly in her head. Oh Lord, please tell me there's not some freaking telepathy crap from this glue! I SO don't want him in my head!

Rodney opened his eyes and looked down at her, with a slight frown. "What?" Elizabeth's eyes got wide in shock. She knew telepathy wasn't real, but with all the alien stuff around, she wasn't ruling anything out. "Elizabeth, what's wrong? Why are you staring at me?"

"Did you just hear me?"

"Well, yeah. Hard not to when you yell my name." Rodney was getting confused, and even more so as Elizabeth's head shot up off his chest, jerking his arm with her. "Elizabeth! What's wrong?"

Elizabeth gaped at him. "You DID hear me! Rodney, that's incredible. What did it feel like?" She couldn't believe this!

"Umm…what did it feel like? Like it always does, I guess. Sound waves travel into the ear canal, hit the eardrum and make it vibrate. Feels the same as it always does when someone yells in my ear." He smiled gently at her, trying to find out what was so wrong.

"Okay. What exactly did you hear? Did it sound like any other time I call your name?"

Rodney looked at her in confusion. "What did I hear? You said, 'Rodney! You scared me! Why didn't you tell me you had woken up?' I think. Maybe not word for word. And it sounded the same as it always does, though you seemed much more relaxed than when you're usually scolding me for something," he finished with a cheeky grin.

Elizabeth sat for a moment and then realized what he had said and laughed. "I thought…well, never mind what I thought. It's not important." At his raised eyebrow, she simply smiled and tugged him up into a sitting position. "So…sleep as well as last time?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye.

Rodney yawned, stretched and answered without giving it much thought. "Mmmm…Yep. I could definitely get used to sleeping with you." As soon as the words escaped, he wished he could call them back and froze, his face flaming. "Oh! I mean…what I meant was it's comfortable in your bed. You know, having someone to sleep with. No! That's not what I was trying to say!" The more he tried to explain, the more flustered he became.

Elizabeth smiled widely at his verbal fumbling. "Rodney, it's okay. I know what you meant. And…I agree. It's easier to sleep with someone to snuggle with." She blushed lightly as she said it, knowing she was admitting more than she should, but seeing him so distraught, she couldn't leave him like that without letting him know she felt the same.

At her words, he smiled slightly, his cheeks still red, but not as bad as they were. "Um...Elizabeth? I don't know quite how to bring this up." He looked into her eyes for a second, and then looked down embarrassed.

"What's on your mind, Rodney?" She asked gently. She had an idea what it was, and wanted to give him a little encouragement to continue.

He met her eyes at her soft tone and took a deep breath, then blurted out in a rush, "Ireallyneedtotakeashower."

Elizabeth closed her eyes with a slight giggle. That was so NOT what I was expecting him to say. And why am I so disappointed it wasn't what I thought it was going to be? She squashed the disappointment down quickly, reopened her eyes, and looked at Rodney. "Well…we've managed every other obstacle that this has thrown at us. We can do this. And I think I might even have an idea on this one." She grinned impishly at him.

Rodney's eyebrow went up again. She was full of surprises. He needed to get her in his group of scientists the next time they started brainstorming. He shook his head lightly to refocus. Elizabeth just smiled and led him into the large bathroom. "Well…it's a big shower. It's big enough for two. We could…share." Rodney's jaw dropped and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. His mouth worked for a moment, but no sound came out. She laughed at his reaction and reached out to close his mouth for him.

"Rodney. That's not quite what I meant. I propose we share the shower. With our underclothes ON. It's not perfect, but I need to shower too. Sharing would be better than individual showers. That would be a mess with out being able to close the stall door. Water everywhere. So…what do you think?" She looked up and met his eyes. She couldn't have seen the thoughts flying through his brain any clearer if he'd had a view screen in his forehead. It was obvious he had doubts. But as she watched, she could see the need to be clean outweighing the nervousness. Elizabeth grinned and couldn't resist adding, "Besides, now I can say something I've always wanted to. You wash my back and I'll wash yours."

Rodney laughed and relaxed at that. It was clear in his stance and in the way his thumb on her neck started to rub again. It was something she'd noticed he did subconsciously. Usually when he was lost in thought. Or was trying to make her feel better. Or sometimes for no reason at all. This time, she took it as his way to convey that he was okay with the idea.

Rodney put his headset in and quickly called Carson to have him bring him his toothbrush and a change of clothes from his quarters. Elizabeth looked at him in question. He smiled and explained. "I don't want to walk to my quarters wet. Nor can I stand putting yesterday's clothes back on once I'm clean. Carson's the only one I could think of who knows what's going on, won't ask questions and won't tell anyone else." He looked pleased with himself and she had to laugh.

While waiting, they quickly took care of a bathroom stop, and then gathered towels. They stood there in silence, both still a bit nervous. How long they stood there, she didn't know, but the buzzing of her door roused them. They went to the door, Rodney staying as much out of sight as he could to avoid any rumors from people passing by.

Elizabeth smiled and thanked Carson quietly. He just smiled back, looked at her sympathetically then handed her the bundle and retreated, throwing Rodney an evil grin on his way out. Rodney just rolled his eyes.

Elizabeth handed him his clothes and bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud. There, on top of the pile, was the gaudiest pair of boxers she'd ever seen. Black satin with bright red lip prints and hearts. Rodney paled and his eyes went wide, before snatching the clothes with mumbled thanks and tucked them under his arm. Carson was evil and was going to pay for that.

Deciding now was not the time to push him; Elizabeth led the way to the bathroom, grabbing a pair of scissors off her desk on the way. She smiled in apology and held up the scissors for Rodney. He nodded and pulled the shirt away from his neck. She cut from the neck down through the right sleeve, and he slipped his left arm out and pushed the shirt to the floor, then stood there nervously.

She gave him an encouraging smile and unbuttoned her shirt, letting it slide down her shoulders and off, and then quickly slid her pajama shorts off then stood there looking at everything BUT Rodney as he undressed the rest of the way. As one, they stepped into the shower, turning their backs to each other as far as Rodney's arm would allow. Elizabeth quickly turned on the water, and adjusted the water to make it warm but not hot.

She smiled at Rodney's slight yelp as the water hit him, and then decided the quicker this was done, the better. She handed a bar of soap to Rodney, got her bodywash and loofah, and lathered up as quickly as she could. As she rinsed her stomach and chest, she gasped and then thanked God she had worn dark blue underclothes yesterday. They were sticking to her like a second skin, but at least they hadn't been rendered see through.

Without even pausing to decide if it was the right thing to do, Elizabeth threw a quick glance over her shoulder to see if Rodney had the same problem. He was washing his chest the best he could one-handed. Her eyes dropped of their own accord and she almost gasped again. Rodney hadn't been so fortunate. His boxers were a light blue and almost transparent now that they were wet. Her cheeks colored, but it didn't stop her from giving him a quick glance from head to toe and back again before turning back and facing the opposite direction.

As she heard him moving behind her, she began to wash her hair. Her stomach did flip-flops as she mentally reviewed all she'd just seen. His back was surprisingly muscled for a scientist. Not to mention his shoulders as he moved. Even his calves were toned.

Come on Elizabeth. You know you're deliberately avoiding the best part. She bit her lip and thrust her whole head under the water rapidly, as visions of a very toned and quite nicely shaped butt, well defined in wet boxers, filled her mind's eye.

Her sudden lunge forward pulled Rodney off balance and he slipped backwards towards her. He turned at the last second, trying to catch himself. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. He lost his footing and he fell to the floor of the shower, pulling her with him. They ended up sitting in a tangle of arms and legs, breathing hard.

As they sat there trying to recover, Elizabeth was enthralled with the sight of a soaking wet, practically naked Rodney McKay. Before she could give herself time to think it through or talk herself out of it, she leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips, then sat back with a small smile and a light blush spreading across her cheeks. Rodney just looked at her in shock and a little bit of awe. "What…what was that for?"

The blush grew in magnitude and spread down her neck to her upper chest. Rodney watched it in fascination for a moment before catching himself and jerking his eyes upward. Elizabeth looked at the wall and answered quietly, "I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to do. I'm sorry."

She sounded so timid that it took Rodney a moment to gather his wits about him. He brought a finger up to her chin, turning her gently to look at him. His face was as red as hers was, but he smiled gently and leaned forward to kiss her quickly, more of a peck than anything else, but he just sat back and said, "It's MORE than okay, Elizabeth. You're welcome to get that kind of feeling whenever you want." At that, she smiled gently at him and gave him a quick hug.

They got back up and finished their shower as quickly as possible. Rodney had the dopiest, largest grin on his face she'd ever seen, and she had a feeling it matched the one on her face quite well. At least she knew he was okay with it.

As they were drying off, she heard Rodney growl quietly and mutter something. She turned to face him, only to see him trying his best to dry his hair with a towel and only one hand. She smiled and decided to stick with the impulses that had been leading her for the last couple of days. She reached up, took the towel from him, and began to briskly but gently dry his hair. Elizabeth figured she should have asked first and was about to ask if it was all right. As she opened her mouth to ask, she felt his thumb on the back of her neck start to rub slowly and gently. She closed her mouth without uttering a word. It was fine.

They each took their turn getting dressed while the other covered their eyes, though Elizabeth had to admit it was getting harder and harder to not peek. Especially with what she'd just seen in the shower. As soon as Rodney had fresh boxers and pants on, he handed her his shirt with an apologetic smile. She got it on as quickly as possible and with as little fuss and wiggling as she could manage, but had to restrain herself from trying to show off a bit for him.

They quickly brushed their teeth and combed their hair. As they headed out the door to grab breakfast and get back to the lab to work, Rodney couldn't help but wish they would always be this comfortable with each other. He wasn't sure if she'd be this relaxed if he told Elizabeth that SHE was the girl she'd overheard Sheppard and him talking about.