Hope you guys like this chapter and be prepared for a few surprises. I know you're asking yourself,how many more surprises can there be? Well, my friend, you shall see. I shall nowstop rambling and let you read. Hope you enjoy.
"There you are!" The excited Czech cried, "I have been waiting fo-"
"Yes, sorry. Anything?" Rodney cut in anxiously.
"Well, actually, I did find something, about a minute after you called. It's something we overlooked and I believe it could help you significantly." He led them over to his desk, in stark contrast to Rodney's which was overflowing with papers and coffee rings. There was a microscope set up with some old manuscripts next to it.
"Have a look at this," Zelenka lifted the laptop cover proudly to reveal some sort of cell magnified to fill the screen.
"Okay. And….?" Rodney gestured for Zelenka to elaborate.
"It is a cell from Ford's temple. Since he's not actually dead yet, we can't do an autopsy so we can't take directly from his brain. This is as close as we could come. But it is still disturbing enough."
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere," the other scientist nodded his head and studied the picture.
"Now," Zelenka flipped open one of the ancient looking manuscripts. He tapped the page, covered in scribbles of a very different language, "Compare it to this. This manuscript we found was left by the Ancients, or so we believe. It is a textbook of sorts. Kind of science and history combined."
"Amazing," Elizabeth breathed, looking at it with such reverence as if she were looking at the Book of Kells.
"This paragraph here," Zelenka pointed, "This describes that there is a disease that makes the brain cells the same as they are in Ford's. I do not know what it is; I have not been able to translate that far. But, what worries me is how it got from his brain to his temple. This I do not know either. But I do believe it is the same thing."
"Great. Just a question, but…how do we know it's the same?" Rodney peered more closely at the book, though he couldn't read a bit of it.
"Well, in this section here, the writer describes a man who came in close contact with the Wraith for a long period of time and displayed the same symptoms. That picture," he tapped the page again to emphasis his point, "Is of his brain cell."
"Good, good. And how will this, oh, what was the phrase, oh yes, help me significantly?" Rodney folded his arms, snarking at his friend. Not at all fazed by his tone, Zelenka continued,
"Because on the next page, there is a method they used to combat this man's outbursts. Although," he added, pushing his glasses up his nose, "It only worked half the time. It was a kind of hit-or-miss thing."
"Okay, let's get cracking, then." Rodney rubbed his hands together, addressing the other scientists in the room, "All we have to do now is figure out what the method is and how to use it. Sound easy?" he waited until the people had nodded understandingly, "Well, it's not gonna be. So, let's get to work."
"Uh, Dr. McKay?" one of the scientists raised a hand, "How do we know whether it'll work or not? And, uh, also," she swallowed nervously, "Where do we start?" she held her breath, drawing back and waiting for the tirade to begin.
He drew breath to go about yelling when Elizabeth lightly touched his arm, as if warning him not to. He turned to her and saw the woman he first had. Standing there so calm and peaceful while his blood pressure lowered and his heart rate rose. He let his unconsciously held breath go and turned to the waiting and disbelieving group.
'God, she really does have a hold on me, doesn't she?' he thought, amused at the prospect of Rodney McKay being held "captive" by a beautiful woman, though it wouldn't be the first time. He drew a steadying breath and tried his hand at being calm.
"With the manuscripts," he said condescendingly; the group went to work. He turned to Radek, shaking his head with a slight sigh. Zelenka gave him an amused, sympathetic look. Neither man saw the jealousy in the eyes of one female scientist.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
"Dr. McKay? Wait up!" a young woman from the lab jogged up beside him.
"Oh, hello, Dr…?"
"Taylor." She grinned briefly, "Janus Taylor." Rodney looked up sharply,
"Janus? The Roman god of doorways?" She shrugged.
"Yeah. My mum was massively into Roman history. I grew up knowing who built the Coliseum and why, but not who was in Duran Duran. I know, sad, huh?"
"They were actually quite good, but, yeah. What do you need me for?" They turned to squeeze past a couple of military men, when she whispered,
"A lot of things."
"Hmm? What was that?" they were standing in the open hallway, with Rodney being his usual clueless self.
She flushed a little, "Well, Dr. Presscott and I needed some help translating this one bit. We wondered if you could help us."
"There are a bunch of people who could help you. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm needed for more important things." He didn't notice as the flush was replaced by a look of anger at his brush-off of her offer. What he did notice was Elizabeth coming up the hall with Jessalyn.
"Hey," she said, looking from an offended Janus to Rodney, "Dr. Taylor. Found a cure, have we?" she joked.
"Not yet," Janus replied stiffly, "Although, I do believe we're getting closer. How are you?"
"I'm okay. And you? Rodney's not working you long hours is he?"
"No, he's not. I'm good. Although, I must say, I will be better once Dr. McKay here agrees to actually help us." She looked down suddenly to where Jessalyn was standing, "And you are the infamous Jessalyn, I presume? Hey there, sweetie. Oh, she's soo cute!" Jessalyn could sense immediately that it was an act and shot her a "back off!" look.
'If looks could kill…" Janus thought bitterly.
"Well, I need to go and figure that passage out. Perhaps Presscott and I can get it on our own," she shot Rodney a look, "See y'all."
"Bye, Janus," Jessalyn piped cheerfully, "So…lunch?"
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Later, after all the meetings and craziness, Elizabeth was sitting, writing, in her room. She started at the knocking at her door; her ink smudged as her hand jerked, puzzled at who could be calling at this hour.
"Elizabeth? You in here?" came the muffled voice which, if slightly distorted, was easily identifiable as John's.
"John? Come on in…" the door slid open to reveal a disgruntled John Sheppard.
"Hey….Sorry to disturb you, but I have a question." He looked around her quarters, taking in the neatness of the place.
"Sure…what's wrong?" She closed the book she had been writing in and turned to face him.
"What was that?" he gestured to the book thrown carelessly onto her chair.
"Nothing; you're avoiding telling me why you're here." As he moved to grab her book, she dived for it, reaching it just before he did. She stood, holding the book close, and, with as much dignity as she could muster, brushed a lock of hair off her face and turned to him again.
"So…." he smirked and crossed his arms, leaning casually against the wall, "What's that? A notebook, love letters, or perhaps…a diary." Elizabeth flushed slightly at his assumptions.
"What did you need to talk about" Elizabeth used her finalizing tone.
John was still grinning, but acquiesced
"I wanted to ask you about our upcoming mission. Teyla and I are ready to go, but I'm not so sure about McKay. He seems, um, obsessed, for lack of a better term, with finding this cure. Now, you know how I was friends with Ford; I care about his life, too. But, a little time off wouldn't be a bad thing, right? This is just standard recon; supposedly a peaceful, boring, planet."
"Why are you telling me and not him?"
"Well, I wanted to run it by you first. And, secondly, you could convince him better than I could. So, what d'ya think?"
"What makes you think I could convince him better than a guy like yourself?"
"Well, guys don't give each other advice. And…well, y'know…." He left the sentence open.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, "So, you think that because I'm in a relationship with him, I can persuade him to do things? I appreciate the comment, but you know him as well as I do. He's very stubborn at times, especially when he's close to figuring something out, you know this."
"So you're saying you won't-"
"Can't," she interjected firmly.
"Can't do it?"
"He probably won't even listen to me if I do try," she sat down on the big, plush chair.
John ran a hand through his permanent bed-head hair, and sat down opposite her.
"You can do this. He listens to you; well, more so than he does to Teyla or myself. And c'mon," John added, "This is for his health. No, I didn't get it straight from Beckett, but I'm sure the Doc would say the same."
"Why don't we ask Carson first, okay?"
"Then you'll do it?"
"Let's see if it's absolutely necessary, then maybe I'll help." John looked victorious. He stood, shoving his hands in the pockets of his slouchy jeans.
"Thanks. And remember, this is for all our sakes; also so that he's not murdered by Kavanagh or one of the other science geeks-guys. The science guys; Geez, kinda reminds me of Bill Nye." Elizabeth laughed, escorting him to the door. "Get some sleep and hide that diary better." He added, teasingly.
"Will do. 'Night, John." She watched his retreating figure. When she had first arrived it had been John's face, not to mention body and humor, she had been dreaming of. That, combined with Rodney's eyes, intelligence and personality, made the perfect man in her world. Also with Simon's ability to cook. Simon…her mind flitted through the last time she had seen him. That wonderful breakfast, romantically walking barefoot on the beach afterwards…..
She returned to the chair and dropped in it, rubbing her hands over her face to clear her mind. Simon. No, she couldn't think of him. Not now. She was in a relationship with a sweet man who cared for her and whom she cared for as well. It was all new and fresh and exciting, being in the first stages. And yet, she felt as though she had known Rodney for a long time already.
She had loved Simon; loved him with all of her heart. But she had felt as though it were all too safe…too boring. She was all for feeling safe, protected, those feelings. But it had fallen into the danger of becoming too monotonous. Real relationships were not supposed to feel like that. Daily life, certainly. But not true romances. Not even in those trashy romance novels she had a weakness for, did that happen.
Elizabeth sighed and picked her journal back up again. She reached for her secret stash of various candies, chocolates, and alcohols. She really needed chocolate right now.
She didn't know how much time had passed though it went from light to twilight to dark. She had just finished Wuthering Heights for the fifth time and was ready to go out and look at the stars when there was another knock.
"Come," she said, standing and stretching.
"Hey," Rodney stood in the doorway, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Guess what?" Not waiting for her response, he continued, "We're getting closer. We've translated most of it and have discovered that-"
"Rodney," Elizabeth chuckled, "Would you like to come in?"
"Oh, yeah, thanks. Well, where was I—oh, yeah, so we've discovered that we can actually use some of Carson's medical tools and actually can do it to Ford. Once I figure out how it works and if it'll kill him or not, of course."
"That's great. You've done a wonderful job; although, you've practically killed yourself trying to figure it out, but that's great."
"What? Uh, okay, but the point is that once we have figured out some technicalities, we will possibly have Ford back and I can stop working on this thing!"
"Rodney, d'you want to see something incredible?" Rodney thought he already was.
"Sure." Her face lighting up like a child's on Easter morning, Elizabeth took his hand and tugged him along.
"C'mere. Look at this." She dragged him to her balcony. Looking up, he saw the most extraordinary sight: stars bigger and brighter than the ones back on Earth; two moons each the size of Jupiter and twice as beautiful: they were bright silver. And a trail of stars leading on into the night.
"Wow. Talk about second star on the right and straight on 'till morning."
"Peter Pan." She said, looking at him and he shrugged,
"I read."
"Yes." Turning back to the stars, she continued, "Isn't it amazing?"
"Yes it is."
They stood in silence for a little while, taking in the night.
"Rodney," she turned to him, his blue eyes reflecting the stars and planets and shimmering water.
"Mmm?" he looked at her quizzically, waiting for her to continue.
"I'm glad we're here."
"Here? On your balcony?"
"No, here on Atlantis."
"So am I. Uh, there's something I should probably tell you…." Elizabeth waited for him to continue. When he didn't, she prompted:
"Yes?" He shuffled his feet as if uncomfortable with the situation.
"Well, John and Teyla just found out and just filled me in on it. See, on the mainland, the Athosians are having some sort of ceremony for uh, well, for the two of them. Any minute now, you should be getting a message-"
As if on cue, Elizabeth's radio went off:
"Elizabeth? You there?" It was John's excited voice. She reached in and pulled it out, puzzled.
"Yes?"
"I'm assuming you've heard, but I'll tell you anyway. Teyla's pregnant!"
So, there it is. Yes, mes copains, there it is. So,as usual, press that little button to review. Be nice please. And come back soon for the next chapter.