Last time on Atlantis:

Elizabeth looked down at the movie box still in her hand and had an idea. Walking over to Rodney she lightly placed her hand on his, stopping him from removing the pot cover. When he looked over at her she asked, her eyes gleaming, "Would you help me with the bed first?"

It was a good thing that Elizabeth had held down his hand on the pot cover, because if he had lifted it up he would have surely dropped it at her question. As it was, he had to concentrate on keeping the hand she was touching still so she wouldn't notice his slight shake. "The bed?" he asked, his eyes flicking first to the furniture, and then back to Elizabeth's eyes.

Elizabeth let go of his hand and walked back towards the bed, "We'll be too uncomfortable if I just take out the blanket; and I don't know about you, but my backside needs some padding!"

At the mention of her backside, Rodney's eyes were momentarily drawn to that particular part of her body. After a moment of pondering things a friend and coworker should definitely not be pondering, he visibly shook his head as if to shake the thoughts out, and scurried over to help Elizabeth lift the mattress she was attempting to move to the balcony.

By the time they were ready to sit down and watch the movie, Rodney was sure they had ended up bringing almost half of Elizabeth's belongings out on to the balcony. In addition to the mattress, there were her pillows (because the back wall was uncomfortable too), and two of her chairs that they had stacked so they could put the box above the balcony railing. As Rodney sat down on the bed, finally able to eat the stew that had been promised him, he asked, "So what movie are we going to watch?" He hoped it wasn't The Sound of Music; he had never been much for happy sing-a-longs.

"I was thinking Roman Holiday." Elizabeth answered, as she closed the door to her room behind her. "It's about a princess who has the responsibility and duty of her people that she has to deal with every day, and all she wants is to be a normal girl. So, she runs away." Remembering which buttons to push on the box, she was again delighted by the clarity of the image that sprung across the sky above them. She sat down next to Rodney and gratefully accepted the bowl he passed to her as the opening credits rolled. She was glad she had not bothered removing the blankets off her mattress; she had a feeling that with that cool ocean breeze she would soon need to be snuggled under them.

They were just getting to the part where Joe Bradley found Princess Anne when her earpiece chirped. "Dr. Weir." she answered, annoyed at the interruption. Rodney moved to pause the movie, but she placed her hand on his arm and shook her head indicating she wanted him to stay.

"Dr. Weir," she heard the familiar voice of Peter Grodin in her left ear, "I've been getting a few strange reports of—"

"Let me guess," Elizabeth interrupted, a small smile spreading across her face as she watched the roguish reporter trying to help the princess into the taxi, "Could it be an old black and white movie ten stories tall playing in the air on the east side of the city?"

"Uh, yes actually; you can see it then?" Peter asked uncertainly in his distinct accent.

"Yes, I have a great view from my balcony actually; Rodney gave it to me for my birthday." Rodney heard her say to whom he was guessing was Peter on the other end of the conversation. He groaned inwardly, and would have shrunk further into the mattress if he hadn't already been uncomfortably slouched into it. He had been embarrassed enough with Major Sheppard and Jenkins knowing about his gift for Elizabeth, and the way the gossip was here on Atlantis, if she was talking to some loudmouth like Crawford or Slovsky, he would never hear the end of it! He fervently hoped she was talking to Peter since the Brit could at least keep his mouth shut.

"Now, is there anything else Peter? I'm missing my movie." Rodney thought he heard weariness in her voice, but she still had that smile on her face so he ignored it, sighing in relief that it was definitely Peter Grodin she was speaking to.

She didn't say anything after she finished talking to Peter, so Rodney went back to watching the movie and eating his stew. He was enjoying the large chunks of meat in it, and imagined it was chicken… or at least chicken like. After a few moments he looked over towards Elizabeth and saw that she was fingering her earpiece, letting it roll back and forth between her fingertips. "Is there something wrong with it?", if it was acting up he could easily fix it.

"No, it's fine." She replied quietly, her eyes unfocused. "You know," her voice held that weary tone he had thought he heard earlier. "Sometimes I just want to be a normal girl too". It took him a moment to remember what she had said earlier about Princess Anne. Looking up at the princess and then back at Elizabeth he didn't really know what to say. He wasn't the best at "feel better" words, but he wanted to do something to lift her spirits. He placed his hand on hers, feeling her cool skin against his as he lifted up the earpiece she had been holding. Taking his earpiece out as well, he turned them off and set them down on the ground. "There we are, no more Peter, no more mundane annoyances. We're just two normal people trying to eat our stew and watch a movie."

"But what if there's an emergency?" Elizabeth protested as she tried to reach over him to turn her earpiece back on.

He almost spilt his stew onto his lap as he slid them out of reach and grabbed her hand so he could explain. "Hey, Peter knows we're here, if there's some sort of major crisis that can't wait till the movie is over then he can send someone down here to bang on the door!" Sensing her relax a bit, he let go of her and added, "You know, you should finish your stew, it'll warm you up; your hands are cold."

They had finished their stew a good half hour ago and the warming affects were starting to wear off of Elizabeth. Shivering slightly she asked Rodney, "Is it just me or is it a bit chilly out here?" He grunted, absorbed in the scene of the princess stealing a motorbike, so she tried again, "Do you mind if we get under the blanket?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." He said it somewhat guiltily for not offering earlier. He helped pull out the blanket from under them and as he put his arm out against the wall to slide back into a sitting position, Elizabeth leaned back against it. He froze and watched her momentarily stiffen as if unsure what to do, before relaxing and moving in closer to him, her body resting against his chest and shoulder. Rodney didn't know what do, he hadn't meant to invite that kind of closeness, at least not consciously; he had been distracted by the movie and had just sort of… done it. He tried to keep his heart from racing as he thought about the position he was in, holding Elizabeth so close against him, but it was proving to be too difficult and he finally gave up, hoping she didn't notice his interest. She was warm and soft against him, and her hair smelled like some flower from Earth he couldn't recall the name of. He couldn't remember a time when he was both so elated and mortified, and before he started to panic, he made himself focus in on the movie.

Elizabeth didn't move much at all throughout the rest of the movie, and Rodney was just fine with that. After the initial shock had worn off he realized just how much he liked her there in his arms, it felt so natural, like she just fit there. As the credits rolled, he moved his arm so that she could get up but she didn't. "Elizabeth?" he asked quietly when where was no response. Realizing she was asleep, Rodney just sat there, unsure of what he was supposed to do. He didn't want to wake her, but he really didn't think it was appropriate to stay on her balcony all night holding her while she slept. Awkwardly, he removed one of the displaced pillows and tossed it to the far side of the bed. Then, as gently as he could manage, he laid her down onto the pillow and covered her with the blanket they had been sharing. He'd simply come back in the morning and help her move everything off the balcony and back into the room.

Rodney began to leave, the long day and events of the evening starting to take its toll on him as well, but stopped and looked over at his Elizabeth. Well, not his Elizabeth, he knew he had no claim on her to call her that; but maybe for just tonight it would be okay. With her asleep who else would know, and didn't he just spend the evening with her in his embrace? He didn't for the life of him know what that meant if anything, but he was willing to hold onto it and not ask questions. Maybe if she could pretend to be just a normal girl tonight he could just pretend to be a normal guy and not worry about what the night would mean to Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Dr. Rodney McKay.

Bending down towards her face, Rodney fingered a lock of her wavy brown hair that had fallen across her eyes and gently tucked it back behind her ear. Impulsively, he leaned over and pressed his lips ever so lightly against her forehead; fervently hoping she didn't wake. As he pulled back he saw a small smile appear on her face, but she was otherwise still, resting comfortably under the warm blanket.

As he walked towards the door, his foot kicked the earpieces that he had pushed away earlier. They skidded across the balcony floor and came to a stop against a bundled scarf. Rodney picked up the earpieces, deciding to leave Elizabeth's inside, and went to scoop up the scarf. It was heavy he realized, and when he untied it he stared in disbelief at the pile of fresh red strawberries. He looked back over at Elizabeth, slightly guilty as if he had opened something forbidden. She must have gotten them for dessert, and had fallen asleep before she could give him the surprise. He thought briefly about taking them with him to his room, but then he rewrapped them and set them back down on the balcony. It was her surprise for him and he didn't want to spoil it for her.

He took a step into the room and turned back to take one last look his Elizabeth. His normal girl was sound asleep and when she woke everything would be back to like it was before. He gave a silent sigh and let his gaze fall to the bag of strawberries instead. Kneeling down he opened the scarf once more, picking up one of the strawberries before closing it again, and walking towards the door. She wouldn't miss one single strawberry, and it would tide him over until she decided to give him her gift herself. She might even invite him back over for another movie if he was lucky, another normal night; she did still have three movies left. With that thought bolstering him, he closed the door behind him and popped the strawberry in his mouth before turning towards his lab. It wasn't that late and the wonders of Atlantis beckoned.

The End!

Thank you so so much Hans and LittleKnux, you are the best betas ever!