Chapter Two
It was hard to believe that getting laid actually made Rodney snarkier, but it did. For two days on returning to Atlantis – without the ZPM – he refused to come out of his room until Elizabeth, fed up, barged in.
It was quite obvious he'd been crying but, ever the diplomat, she decided not to mention it. She didn't know much of the details, only that he'd been with some woman – Allina, John said her name was – who turned out to be part of a secret group that took the ZPM at gunpoint, to be held until an Ancient came to collect it. Elizabeth was cut up about the loss of the ZPM – her first thought had been to contact Cheya and see if she'd collect it for them, she seemed awfully fond of John – and she'd expected Rodney to be fuming, but not crying. Which meant it had to be something else.
"You liked this woman," Elizabeth noted. She suspected was the closest thing she would ever see Rodney McKay being broken hearted – he tended to commit himself to his computer and other machines that couldn't hurt him – and she couldn't help but be interested.
"She can rot in hell," Rodney said, not very convincingly. He muttered a few words under his breath, 'traitor' and 'whore' being two that Elizabeth picked up. Was it possible Rodney was more cut up about her betrayal then the loss of the ZPM? If so, there was hope for him yet, although she'd doubt that he'd appreciate it being known he was holed up in his room, crying over a woman.
"Why don't you come out," Elizabeth suggested. "Since we don't have a ZPM we really need your help with the defences." She thought she saw a smile from Rodney ; the quickest way to cheer him up was to tell him he was needed.
"I'll be out in a little while," he said, and Elizabeth knew he needed time to clean himself up. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was puffy. Personally, she thought seeing him in such a state would earn him a few humanity points in the collective eyes of Atlantis, but she knew he wouldn't see it that way.
"… I don't know many of the details," John admitted when Elizabeth pressed him for what he knew. "Only that they slept together and I only know that because he – oh, shit," he ejaculated when he remembered the GDO thing. "Uh, it's probably not a good idea to say anything to Rodney now but he didn't use a condom so I gave him a GDO to give to her – I figured it was the better of two evils. We don't want to be known as the city of responsibility-evading fathers."
She nodded curtly. Her sympathy for Rodney was lessened somewhat by the knowledge he'd been irresponsible – it couldn't possibly have been drilled in more that that was why they carried condoms with them – but it was hard to be angry at someone who was so cut up. She made a mental not to have Carson check him out later ; it wasn't something she liked to think about, but any disease these people might have had to be considered.
In the meantime, the most important thing for Atlantis was to get Rodney out of his funk. That was far easier said then done. Over the next few weeks, Elizabeth began to wonder what exactly had transpired between Rodney and Allina, beyond just sex. John said that, for all his awkwardness, he seemed to really care about her – could he have been falling in love with her? Poor Rodney, she thought more then once. He hardly let anyone see his softer side, and when he did, he had it rudely discarded. No wonder he was even more snarky then ever.
But as the weeks went by, he gradually got over it – he never returned to his pre-Allina self, which meant he was always a little snarkier then usual, but it was an improvement on the Rodney who'd sulked and yelled for days on end. At least, on the surface he seemed to get over her. A few times Elizabeth had passed his room when he'd left the door open a little to catch a glimpse of him sitting on his bed, staring morosely out into space. Elizabeth wished there was something she could do about it.
It wasn't all bad news – her idea to plead their case to Cheya had turned out to be quite a good one. She'd sent John to broker some kind of understanding – he seemed to have a particularly close relationship with the Ancient-in-Exile – and she'd agreed to speak to the Brotherhood so long as they were brought to her. The end result had been the Brotherhood had agreed to hand over the ZPM. So now they had a way of powering the shields, or dialling back to Earth if it came to that.
John had noted Allina looked particularly relieved to have a reason to had over the ZPM. He'd known she wasn't the manipulative tramp Rodney was making her out to be, but it was still a surprise to see her express relief to be able to hand it over – and concern for Rodney.
"You really hurt him," John said, deciding to omit everything he'd said about her in the last few weeks. "I think he was falling in love with you, and he's convinced you used him to find the ZPM."
Allina flushed. "I didn't use him," she insisted in a quiet, sincere voice. "What happened between us – that was real." She blushed a deep shade of red as she remembered just how real it had been.
John looked at her with a little amusement. This was a really pathetic situation, two grown adults pining for each other, and he told Rodney so when he got back to Atlantis. "She's really sorry about the way things turned out," he said. "And look, we got the ZPM after all, so no harm done?"
Even to John's ears, that was a lame argument. It wasn't about whether they got the ZPM or not – it was the fact Allina wouldn't give it to them. Although it did help that they'd gotten the power source in the end, but it didn't do anything to soften his feelings towards Allina. She was a manipulative tramp who had used him just to get hold of the ZPM. He hated her – at least, that's what he told himself. Very few people believed him. It was hard to believe you hated a person when you spent all day moping about them.
About six weeks after Rodney and Allina had last seen each other, an alert came through the computers that a remote device was being activated offworld. John recognised it as the way he'd given Rodney to give to Allina. Just to make sure it wasn't someone – say, Koyla – having got hold of the device John ordered the security to be on guard, which gave Allina quite a fright when she came through the gate. She was already apprehensive about coming to Atlantis, and being greeted by half a dozen armed men ready to shoot only increased her apprehensions.
"Stand down!" John ordered, and the men obediently stood withdrew their weapons. John called for Elizabeth. "This is Allina," he introduced the intimidated-looking woman to the leader of Atlantis. "This is Doctor Elizabeth Weir, the woman in charge."
"Doctor… like Rodney?" Allina asked.
Elizabeth smiled. "Kind of," she said. "I'm not nearly as smart as him, though." She had known Allina for all of thirty seconds but she could already seen what Rodney liked about her. She had a warmth to her, and it didn't hurt that she was attractive or that she seemed to harbour feelings for Rodney. "What brings you to Atlantis?" she asked Allina.
"I need to see Rodney," Allina said simply.
"Why?" Elizabeth asked directly. She was wary about letting Allina see Rodney when he was just starting to settle down.
Allina broke eye contact with Elizabeth. "I don't want to say," she said. "But I think he'll want to see me."
Elizabeth had a strong feeling what it was about, and an equally strong feeling that Rodney would indeed want to here it – even if he claimed he didn't want to see her. "I'll take you to him," she said after a moment's deliberation. She walked Allina to Rodney's room. "Do you want me to stay out here?" she asked, suddenly sympathetic to the young woman in front of her who was about to face the lion's den – although a lion's den would probably be preferable to Rodney McKay in a bad mood.
Allina shook her head. "No thankyou," she said in a small voice. She flashed a small smile to Elizabeth and pushed the button to open the doors.
"Liz, I'm busy," Rodney said without looking up. The truth was he'd been staring at the same piece of paper for the last twenty minutes, trying to focus. There were still times, like now, when he couldn't think of anything but Allina – how good it had felt being with her, how right, how he'd been half-convinced he was falling in love with her – and how she betrayed him.
"It's Allina," Allina said in a small voice. Rodney looked up and the expression on his face was first one of surprise, then anger.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded in a cold voice.
"You gave me the device – so I could get to Atlantis – you said if I wanted to see you –" Allina faltered in the wake of Rodney's cold, angry blue-grey eyes.
"I thought you were smart enough to realise that offer was void after you betrayed me," he said, his voice full of angry, bitter sarcasm. "Give it back and fuck off."
She didn't know what his words meant exactly, but she did know she wasn't welcome. He'd had six week to brood about her 'betrayal', and he wasn't about to forgive her anytime soon. She wished she had believed him when he'd said they were descendants of the Ancients – well, some of them anyway – instead of it taking Cheya to convince them. Now she didn't know if there was any way she could convince him that she hadn't used him.
"You said – you said –" she stumbled over her words. Why couldn't he look a little more sympathetic, a little more patient, rather then that hateful scowl? John had told her that Rodney could get really mean when he wanted to, and she hadn't believed him. Now she believed.
He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her impatiently. He got a childish, spiteful feeling of satisfaction that she was floundering in front of him. Any aggro he could put her through, she deserved it. "I said what?" he prompted coolly. He wished she would go away before he lost his head and did something he'd regret, like kissing her.
"You said – to come to Atlantis – if – I – was… carrying your child," she finally finished in a whisper he could barely hear.
Rodney wished he hadn't heard her so he could pretend she'd said something else. He rocked back in his chair. "You're pregnant," he said flatly. This was the worst news he'd had in a while, ever since he'd heard about the Wraith threat. Christ, it could be anyone's baby. In his mind she had become more and more of a tramp as the weeks went by.
She nodded. "Yes." She didn't like the way he was looking at her, so flat. For nearly a minute he didn't say anything, so she said, "Rodney, I said –"
He waved her away. "I heard what you said," he said irritably. "I was thinking what to do about it." He frowned, then he stood up. "Come with me, I'll take care of it," he said, and he began leading her towards the infirmary. Although his hand was firmly gripping her bicep, propelling her forward, she was thoroughly intimidated by now and ended up half a step behind him.
"CARSON!" he yelled when they got to the infirmary, the Scottish doctor came running, a little skittish to hear that Rodney was in one of his 'moods'. Probably after something to keep him awake or help him sleep. "Carson, can you do an abortion?" he asked bluntly.
The doctor stared at Rodney for a few seconds. Needless to say, it wasn't a common request, let alone from Rodney. "Aye, I can, but I'd have to know more about the individual circumstances to –" he began.
"I don't care about that," Rodney said gruffly. "I only wanted to know if you could do an abortion."
Carson looked suspiciously at Rodney. He had a very bad feeling about this. "I can…" he said cautiously.
"Fine. Here, do it," Rodney said, blunt and callous even by his standards and he thrust Allina in between him and Carson.
The poor girl looked thoroughly frightened and miserable, Carson thought, which was really no wonder, if this was the legendary Allina that had caused Rodney's ongoing bad mood. Well, there was only so much bullying Rodney could get away with before other people's basic human kindness stepped in. He looked Rodney square in the eye and said, "I need to talk to her… alone," he said.
Rodney scowled. Was Carson getting an attack of conscience or something? "Fine," he said, letting go of Allina and walking off. Carson was aghast as how callously he was treating her. Rodney was by nature an arrogant, insensitive man, but this was way beyond even his standards. If he wasn't so outraged by how callously Rodney was treating Allina, he would have felt sorry for the scientist. It was obvious to anyone Allina had hurt him deeply to have him acting the way he was.
He smiled kindly at Allina. "Come with me," he directed her, leading her into the privacy of his office. As euphemistically as he could, he described the procedure to Allina, who looked more and more horrified as he went on. Birth control on her planet was unheard of – their concern was population growth, not population control – and to use such an barbaric method… "Rodney didn't explain any of this do you?" Carson asked, although it was obvious the scientist had done no such thing.
Allina shook her head. "He said he'd take care of it," she recalled Rodney's words.
A soft grown of utter disgust escaped from Carson's throat. He was used to Rodney being demanding and insensitive, of being completely oblivious to the needs of the world around him – especially when they clashed with his own wants – but this was too far, even for him. He called for Elizabeth through the phone system Rodney had installed – at least the man was good for something. How could someone be so brilliant when it came to technically matters be so stupid when it came to human ones? There's the answer, Carson thought grimly. He wondered what Allina had ever seen in Rodney in the first place.
After a few minutes Elizabeth appeared in the infirmary, and Carson filled her in, his voice hushed. Elizabeth was almost as horrified by the sheer insensitivity Rodney had shown to the situation as Carson had been. But Carson hadn't been aware of Rodney's moping the way Elizabeth had been – she knew what had caused him to act so thoughtlessly, even if she didn't agree with his behaviour.
By this point, Allina was pretty upset, half-convinced her baby was going to be killed. Elizabeth spoke to the intimidated young woman. "No-one is going to make you do anything you don't want," she reassured Allina. "I assure you, not even Rodney can override our civil liberties," she added wryly. "I'm going to get Carson to give you something that will help you sleep." Carson had explained their physiology was almost identical – which was how she'd gotten pregnant in the first place – so a light sedative shouldn't do her much harm.
After Allina had been taken care of, she went to find Rodney. That was easy enough – he was hiding in his office. The little coward had dumped Allina onto Carson and bolted. "You have gone too far this time, Rodney," she growled when she saw the scientist.
Rodney was immediately on the defensive. "I wasn't going to make her do anything," he said.
"Right, you were just banking on the fact she didn't know what abortion is," Elizabeth retorted. "That was incredibly low. You're just lucky Carson thought to intervene because we could have had a major incident on our hands. My God, Rodney, these people have no concept of abortion, even you should know that." She could just imagine how Allina's people would have felt if she'd left for Atlantis pregnant and come back not pregnant, thanks to those strange newcomers who focused more on birth control then population growth.
"Hey, I don't even know if it's mine," Rodney said. In his mind Allina had become a sex-crazed whore who would sleep with anyone – or anything – to get what she wanted.
Elizabeth stared at him. No wonder Rodney had no luck with women, he seemed half-convinced they were all whores. Her heart softened towards him. He was too proud to admit it, of course, but she guessed it was more like Allina had broken his heart and he was covering it up with hostility. "She doesn't seem the type to be promiscuous," Elizabeth said diplomatically.
"You only just met her. She's a two-faced bitch," Rodney countered. Briefly he remembered the look on her face when he'd taken her for the first time. No matter how much he tried to pretend she was a slut, he couldn't deny that had been her first time. She had given herself to him, she had seemed fond of him, she hadn't seemed to mind when he'd hurt her… why had she acted like that, why had she drawn him in so deeply, when she was going to stab him in the back? Bitch. Slut. Whore.
Elizabeth sighed. She was torn between Allina's obvious distress and Rodney's obvious heartbreak. Although she wouldn't admit it openly, she knew Rodney had a point – no-one could say for sure that Rodney was the father. Her gut told her he was but her gut didn't count for much in this situation. "I'll see if she'll agree to have a paternity test done," Elizabeth offered.
"You do that, then you'll see what a slut she is," Rodney snarled.
Elizabeth gave Rodney her best I'm-in-charge glare ; Rodney immediately looked contrite. "In the meantime, she is pregnant, and as such, I would appreciate it if you curtailed your efforts to antagonise her," she said in a gross understatement.
Rodney scowled. "Is that it?" he asked.
"For the moment," Elizabeth said, then she tacked on, "and if I hear you've made any more attempts to terminate Allina's pregnancy…" She didn't have to finish her sentence ; Rodney got the gist of her sentiment. Just to make sure, she made a mental note to tell Allina not to trust anything Rodney said regarding her pregnancy. She didn't really think Rodney would try something after being warned, but then, he seemed awfully bitter and not at all happy to see Allina.
Elizabeth spoke to Allina when she woke up. Carson felt terrible for the way Rodney had treated her and was fussing over her, bringing her food and blankets and keeping her company until her spirits rose a little. But just a little. She was devastated by the way Rodney had treated her – did he hate her so much that he didn't want their baby, that he would resort to trying to trick her to terminate it? The irony was not lost of Elizabeth.
"He isn't entirely convinced he's the father," Elizabeth said diplomatically, omitting the unkinder words Rodney had had to say about Allina.
She had hoped she wouldn't have to explain herself in more detail, and when she saw the shocked, indignant look on Allina's face she knew the other woman had understood. "I haven't been with anyone but Rodney," she said, a little indignantly, a little sadly. Then she added, "ever."
Elizabeth looked at her in surprise. "You were a virgin?" she asked incredulously. "Did he know that?"
Allina nodded. "He was… very sweet," she said. "He didn't want to hurt me." Tears welled in her eyes. "He's so angry… he's so different," she said. She had expected him to still be a little angry, but, after all, they had gotten the ZPM in the end and he had seemed genuinely concerned that she might become pregnant. She got lost in herself as she recalled the way he had touched her – how could you touch someone like that and remain so angry at them for six weeks? She wondered if Rodney had meant anything he'd said.
"Rodney is… a very proud man," Elizabeth said diplomatically. "He saw it as his responsibility to find a power source. He felt like he let everyone down." That Cheya had, through John, agreed to see the Brotherhood, had only succeeded in making Rodney feel worse about himself – and he'd manifested his feelings but blaming Allina.
"But you got it!" Allina pointed out tearfully.
Elizabeth smiled sadly. "I wish he would see it like that," she said. "His pride is quite wounded, and he's a proud man, Allina. I think he'll come around eventually but he'll need time. Now, there's something I need to talk to you about. Carson can run a paternity test – um, to match the DNA – it's technology that will be able to prove if Rodney is the father of your child or not. If he is, he'll come around quickly, if nothing else then he won't just abandon his child." She had cleaned enough information about his own childhood to know he couldn't put someone else through that. "So I need you to be honest with me so there'll be no shocks: are you positive Rodney is the father of your child?"
"You mean has there been anyone else?" Allina asked, a little haughtily. She resented the well-meaning but intrusive questions of a woman who clearly didn't know her, because if she did, she wouldn't be asking Allina such questions.
Elizabeth nodded, regretting she had to ask such a question but it was only something Carson would ask himself, and she felt Allina would feel a little more comfortable to have it come from another woman.
"No," she said, even more haughtily. Elizabeth knew she had just taken two steps backward with the woman to have asked such a question but really, there was no help for it. "You can tell Rodney that, since he won't speak to me."
She did tell Rodney that, as best as she could. But he had spun his own opinions so tightly around his reality that there was no dislodging it. Elizabeth left after half an hour of pointless arguing, hoping that the black-and-white evidence of his paternity would make him come around.
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Allina was deemed not much of a security threat and allowed to wander Atlantis for short periods of time, so long as she didn't disturb anything and reported straight back to the infirmary if she felt any discomfort whatsoever. Carson was concerned that if the child was Rodney's, the slight difference in their physiology – slight enough to make impregnation possible, but there nonetheless – would make pregnancy more difficult then for a normal earth-human pregnancy, and he wanted her to stay in Atlantis for at least the duration of the pregnancy. But her co-operation on that matter was entirely up to her, so Carson had decided it was best to give her some freedom – but only so long as she came back as soon as something appeared to be wrong.
Against her better judgement, she made her way to Rodney's office. Though his indifference towards her yesterday had hurt her deeply, she couldn't quite believe he could cast her and their baby off like he had, not after the things he had said. He had given her the means to get to Atlantis without being killed, surely he must care about her a little! Surely a bad judgement she had made didn't cancel that out entirely!
She paused in the doorway to look at him. He was completely lost in his work, his brow deeply furrowed as he tried to work something out. That he was concerned for the welfare of Atlantis was written all over his face – no wonder he had been so upset over the loss of the ZPM. She cleared her throat tentatively to alert him of her presence.
He looked up, and the expression of his face immediately went from one of deep concentration to one of supreme irritation and resentment. Irritation that he was being interrupted by anyone but Elizabeth, who appreciated that 'don't interrupt me for anything short of an imminent threat' meant exactly that, and resentment that Allina should be the cause of that irritation. She always seemed to be around to remind him of what a two-faced bitch she was – and what a fool he had been. That's what a man gets for thinking with his dick, her told himself bitterly as he looked into the eyes that had captivated him so deeply, and were threatening to again…
"What do you want?" he asked shortly.
Allina blanched at the coldness in his voice. She could never quite accept that this was the same Rodney who had made love to her with such tenderness and sensitivity. "I wanted to… see how you were," she said in a small voice, thinking that maybe this had been a bad idea.
"Well you've seen me, and I'm fine, no thanks to you," he growled. "The infirmary's two floors up." His tone made it clear that was where he expected her to go, or anywhere else in Atlantis, so long as it wasn't near him.
After a few seconds, it became apparent that Allina wasn't going to leave. He sighed in frustration and put down what he was working on to look at him. "What?" he asked.
"Why do you have to be so mean?" she asked him. "I was only doing what I thought was right."
"Well, you were wrong," he said shortly. Damnit, why did she have to even bring it up? Why couldn't she go away? He made the mistake of glancing up at her face. He could still remember how good it had felt to kiss her, even if she had started out being a little unsure of herself. God help him, he wanted to kiss her again.
She sensed his attraction towards her and stepped towards him, getting close enough to kiss him. Despite himself, he kissed her back. At his response, she opened her mouth to kiss him properly, her tongue meeting his as their kisses became increasingly steamy…
He pushed her away abruptly when she slid her hand down his chest to test his reaction to her. Damn her, she knew how to get him worked up. "Leave," he ordered breathlessly, thinking about how god it had been making love to her by the lake…
"You want me," she pointed out, flabbergasted by his behaviour. She was offering herself to him without any emotional demands in much the same way she had when they had first met and he was trying to pretend like he wasn't interested when his body was giving him away.
"I don't want to get involved with you again," he said. His eyes roamed her body, hungrily taking her in. As tried to think of something thoroughly boring to kill his hard-on, but all that came to him was the curves of her body and how she had responded to his touch.
"We are involved, I'm carrying your child," she reminded him.
He glared at her. Manipulative bitch. Hot, sexy manipulative bitch. He couldn't get the image out of his head of making love to her. God help him, he wanted her badly. He didn't know what it was about her, but she drove him to distraction. No woman, not even Samantha Carter, had made him react to her mere presence the way Allina did. He was sure she was doing it deliberately. Well, if she wanted to act like a whore who was he to turn her down? He kissed her roughly, snaking one hand around her back and holding her tightly against him so there was no space between them. She whimpered slightly against the forcefulness of his embrace before accepting and returning it. Within a few minutes they were both thoroughly worked up and Rodney was pushing her towards the couch he kept to sleep on when he was too lazy to go to his own room. Part of him felt like a cad for not pushing her out the door but a bigger part wanted to get laid and, after all, she had instigated it.
"This doesn't mean I forgive you," he informed her as he began pulling at her clothes. She groaned when he slipped a finger inside her, all thoughts about his conditions forgotten.
"Rodney," she gasped when he began fingering her. He couldn't hate her as much as he claimed to if he was so keen on having her enjoy it.
She didn't realise Rodney was simply too arrogant a man to leave a lover unsatisfied – and too hurt by the blow to his pride to admit he loved her. That she was responding so well to him only confirmed his attitude she was a whore. At least, that's what he told himself.
He pushed her onto her knees on the floor so she was bent over the couch and unzipped his pants. If he had to look into those beautiful, emotive eyes of hers while he was screwing her he might do something stupid, like tell her he loved her. She gave a whimper of protest when she realised what he was going to do but he quickly shut her up with a few practiced caresses. He was using her, he vaguely realised, and he tried not to care. She had started this, and she clearly wanted it.
He grunted when he penetrated her from behind hard. So many times his thoughts had wandered to Allina, to having sex with her, and now here he was. Biting his lip to refrain from making too much noise he withdrew and thrust again. Hard. Oh, God, this was better then he remembered…
He grunted a few times as a pumped her hard and fast. He was far from gentle like he had been their first two times together but he still knew how to make her enjoy it. Her body quivered as she began to climax. As satisfying as it had been to his ego to hear her screaming his name in the throes of orgasm, he couldn't have that here and he clamped a hand roughly over her mouth when she started making high-pitched sounds. With a stifled groan, he slammed into her for a final time, biting his lip to keep himself from crying out her name. He would not give her the satisfaction.
She shuddered as she climaxed herself, and he removed his hand, then withdrew from her. he was already feeling bad about what had just transpired. No matter how much he hated her – or tried to convince himself that he hated her – it had still been a caddish thing to do.
He stood up and zipped up his pants. He was glad she still had her back towards him, because if he had to see what was sure to be a reproachful look in her eyes, he would turn into a guilt-ridden wreck. Goddamnit, why should he feel bad? She had come to him, she had wanted it.
So why did he feel bad?
He struggled to regain composure in the face of his guilty conscience. So he said coolly, "I'm going for a walk. I expect you to be gone when I come back." He tried to ignore the way she flinched at the coldness of his words ; well, what did she expect? That just because she had offered herself to him meant he would forgive her for the way she had betrayed him?
He left his office because he was afraid if he stayed for much longer he would do something stupid, like take her into his arms and whisper all kinds of apologies for treating her so shabbily. He had only done what any other man would have done when a beautiful woman offered herself to them, so he had no reason to feel bad about it.
When he came back, she was gone. He wasn't surprised. He had treated rather shabbily, and he didn't know of any woman who would stick around after that. Feeling less then good about himself, he sank into his couch and then decided to move to his desk. His couch smelled like Allina, and sex, funnily enough.
No matter how he rationalised it, he knew he shouldn't have treated Allina they way he had. He'd lashed out at her because he was angry. He made a note to ask Elizabeth to make Allina keep her distance. He didn't want anything to do with her, but he didn't want to treat her badly either, and the only way to do that was for her not to be around him.
An hour later, Elizabeth stormed into his office, looking absolutely furious. She hit him hard across the face. "You are an absolute asshole!" she yelled.
He had never heard her swear before, so she must be angry at him. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Don't you what me," Elizabeth raged. "I know you were with Allina before."
"So?" he asked indifferently. No point in denying it ; they had his DNA on file. "Who I sleep with is none of your business." Unless the sex itself wasn't what Elizabeth was coming to him about. His eyes narrowed. "Did she say I forced her? Because I didn't. She's lying. She came onto me."
"You would think so little of her, wouldn't you?" Elizabeth asked. She'd had it with Rodney's attitude towards Allina. She had tolerated it until now, but he'd gone too far. He'd hurt her. "She's in the infirmary. She was complaining of abdominal pains. Carson's got her resting. What the hell did you do to her?"
"Nothing!" Rodney said. "Well, I was a little rough with her but – I wasn't trying to – if that's what you mean – she wanted it! How is she? How is the – how is she?"
"Carson thinks she'll be fine, that they'll both be fine," Elizabeth said, her lips pursed disapprovingly. She was furious at Rodney for being rough with her, but she decided he wasn't guilty of the worse of the two transgressions – trying to make Allina miscarry. At least, she hoped not, which was more credit then Carson was giving him right now. It didn't help matters that he'd already tried to terminate the pregnancy, but Elizabeth decided that even if he did resort to subterfuge, he wouldn't do it in such a cruel way. At least he had the decency to look contrite. "If you can't control yourself around her, I don't want you spending any time with her," Elizabeth said.
"I was going to ask you to tell her the same thing," Rodney said through gritted teeth. "She came to me, Liz, she practically begged me. If I'd known I'd hurt her I wouldn't have done it but don't make me out to be the bad guy."
Elizabeth accepted Rodney's explanation – frankly, it was quite typical of Rodney to hurt people through sheer insensitivity and self-absorption, but not so typical that he did it through sheer malice. She turned to go, and then, almost as an afterthought, because she wasn't sure if he cared or not, she added, "Oh, and by the way, congratulations, you're going to be a father."