Chapter Fourteen

"I cannot work like this," McKay said, scratching at the back of his neck furiously having a tantrum at the computer. He glanced at the time at the bottom right hand screen and saw it had just passed midnight but that was impossible. Once more he looked at the screen which was filled with calculations and notes, plus a copy of Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter's own theories which he had obtained a copy of before they left Earth. Damn the woman was smart and hot too. Completely forgetting his concern about the time, McKay looked up at the ceiling and drifted off with a dreamy look. It was too bad she couldn't join them on this mission or Daniel Jackson for that matter so he considered himself lucky. That or they just wanted to get rid of him and the only way to do that was to ship him off to another galaxy. Focus Rodney his brain told him and he carried on staring back at the screen until he went cross-eyed.

Accepting defeat, he shut it all down and sat back in his seatt, which was by the way really hard and uncomfortable. McKay still couldn't get over his lost time; it didn't feel like it had been that long since he sat down at the damn thing to work on his brilliance. His eyes were hurting, he was hungry again and he was tired. He stood up, feeling slightly dizzy from the slight change in altitude then scratched at his injured arm and let out the loudest of yawns before taking one last look from the lab before scooping up the laptop.

Slowly he walked over to the doors and the lights in the room dimmed; once more his eyes were blurred. McKay used his free hand to rub them, shake his head and opened them again. He let out a smile and put it down to fatigue and stress. Afterall, he was the resident genius who seriously needed his beauty sleep right about now. "Well," he said to himself leaving the lab. "To bed!"

--

Night fell upon Atlantis, Carson Beckett was just about ready to walk up the wooden hill and go to his quarters but he wasn't ready to leave Kiki without checking up on her first. This would be her first night in god knows how long since she had been able to rest easily, he walked over to her and saw that once again she was fast asleep. Curled into a ball, hands tucked neatly under her chin. Beckett gave a sad smile at the sight.

"Doctor Beckett?"

"Ahh, Doctor Middleton." Beckett turned round to see Johnny Middleton who tended to take a night-time shift incase there was a medical emergency in the middle of the night. The man was a good ten pounds later and much younger than himself, but still a damn good doctor. "This is Kiki, you got the report I sent down to your quarters?"

"Yeah," Middleton answered glancing past him to the girl. "Anything in specific I should know?"

"Yes actually," Beckett said. "You may be subjected to her nightmares, I haven't heard a peep out of her for a couple of hours but if anything does happen in the night be sure to let me know." Middleton absorbed this information like a sponge and gave a curt nod.

"You got it," the young man replied with a smile then moved over to the desk, taking a seat and pulling out a book. Aye, the night-time shift was no picnic and could get pretty lonely but at least tonight he had a patient. Beckett took one last look at Kiki then left the infirmary.

--

It was the next morning, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day and quite simply life could not get any better than this. The sun warmed and illuminated Weir's face as she leaned on the balcony, it was still early so she took this opportunity to relax and have some peace and quiet before the hectic day began. And this was certainly going to be a hectic day as Beckett had sent a message down to Weir from the infirmary saying that Kiki was happy to answer any questions that they had to ask of her. Of all people, she hoped Sheppard would be pleased with that because for some reason he was still being really defensive and apprehensive about Kiki being in Atlantis, she wondered if he'd have been happier locking her up in the brig. Weir never thought of him as paranoid before now. The doors opened, disturbing her reverie of thought with the noise of people chattering and discussing ideas about this, that and the other.

"Seen Rodney?"

Speak of the devil Weir thought as she turned round, greeting by the sight of John Sheppard. "No, why?"

"He were supposed to meet with Zelenka and his team to discuss going back to the planet and retrieving that Z.P.M, that is locating it then bringing it back anyway." Sheppard shifted his feet slightly and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Have you tried his quarters?"

"Next stop. Just thought that maybe he was avoiding everyone after yesterday. I think I took the whole 'you got attacked by a girl, feel ashamed' thing a little too far." Sheppard grimaced slightly and walked past Weir, taking his hands out his pockets and leaning back against the rail to face her.

"I'm sure it was a bruise to his ego but Rodney will bounce back," Weir said, her brow furrowed with slightly concern. She was sure it would actually take a lot for McKay to take offence despite what he said, she'd seen completely different sides of him. Especially when he was willing to risk his own life to get rid of the entity that had been released and the shield drained. Hell, he could've been killed and he knew it. He was scared but he still did and for that he had her admiration. That and he was damn good in his field of expertise.

"I'm sure he will," Sheppard said trying to use Weir's own tone of optimism.

"Oh Carson informs me that Kiki is ready to talk."

"You mean answer our questions. You make it sound like she's a prisoner," Sheppard replied evenly, throwing her own words back at her. Weir answered his response with a sharp look that quickly dissipated, he was right after all. She did just make it sound like they'd been trying to get the information out of her instead of Kiki voluntarily giving it. "You know what I mean."

"Yes I do," Sheppard said slowly, standing upright. "Well I'm going to go ask Kiki some questions."

"Better take Teyla with you," Weir said as Sheppard turned to leave. "From what I've seen Kiki seems to trust her, might help her to open up more."

"You're not coming with me?" Sheppard asked. Weir folded her arms and shook her head before saying, "No I'll go see Rodney, I want to be on the discussion if it concerns returning to the planet." Sheppard remained silent as he nodded as he walked through the doors, disappearing from her sight.

Weir remained out on the balcony a minute longer, turning back to the relaxing sight of waves gently crashing against the city. "Hectic," she muttered before stepping back inside to go in search of McKay.