Chapter Nineteen

McKay had decided that he needed some quiet time, and by that he meant going to his own lab and sealing himself in to work. It was a good practise that he swore by, no clashing with other brilliant minds or those that weren't so brilliant. The familiar glow of the screen and the soft humming of electrical equipment turned out to be comforting.

The doors opened and two sets of footsteps could be heard. Unenthusiastically, McKay turned round in his seat to see who had the nerve to disturb his few moments and peace and tranquillity. "Major," he said with a deflated tone then looked much brighter as he turned to Sheppard's companion. "Teyla." She gave a small nod in greeting, the Athosian always seemed nothing but polite. It was a pity that it couldn't be said for Sheppard.

"Rodney," Sheppard said walking over to him, resting a hand on the table and looking at the laptop. "Working on something interesting?"

"I am just," McKay replied, then pausing to give himself a little laugh and hopefully drop them both a hint at the same time. "Working."

Teyla must have caught this for she took a step forward and asked, "I hope we are not disturbing you."

Give the woman a gold star McKay thought, quickly turning round in his seat and closing the laptop so Sheppard could not carry on snooping at his work. Not that he would understand it all but still; Rodney had to take this into consideration. "It's nothing, I'm getting very used to interruptions as a matter of fact. I guess you have to when you've worked at Stargate Command and you're constantly under pressure with people observing over your shoulder."

"You only worked there a handful of times," Sheppard answered with a wry smile. "You make it sound like they fell apart whenever you weren't there."

"I assure you things would have been a little bit different if I had been there on a permanent basis," McKay quickly shot back. Not to mention being able to work with the intoxicating Samantha Carter on a daily basis, he stared a point on the wall and smiled. "Very smart woman," he commented quietly nodding.

Sheppard and Teyla exchanged a look before he literally tried to shake McKay out of it. "Rodney…"

"Sorry I was," McKay gave a small "heh" sound. "Just reminiscing."

"You always get a dopey look when you're…" Sheppard fought the strong urge to roll his eyes and tried not to make it sound sarcastic. "Reminiscing."

That certainly snapped McKay out of his little reverie. "Is there any particular reason you decided to turn up and make my day even worse than it possibly is?"

"Having a bad day?" Sheppard asked, as if he had to with McKay's attitude.

"Is it Monday?" Teyla asked boldly and contributing something to the conversation to which earned her stares from both men.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" McKay asked annoyed.

"I remember Doctor Corrigan telling me that he hated Mondays and when I enquired about it. He said it had something to do with seven Earth days," Teyla replied, trying to remember in great detail exactly how he had explained it to her. "Monday follows something called a weekend in which humans have leisure time and Monday is the start of a working week."

Another short silence followed as all three contemplated this. "It's also the basis for a very good song," Sheppard answered with a slight grin.

"Yes he proceeded to sing it to me," Teyla said with a smile.

"You were subject to Corrigan's singing?" McKay asked while getting up out of his seat and looking back at her. "How terrible for you." He straightened up and scratched at his arm, this rash was driving him wild and he had even thought about going to see Beckett about it once more. Quickly, he pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to give him better access and saw that it had spread beyond the bandage. "Oh my…"

Both Sheppard and Teyla leaned in to see what was causing the problem. "What is wrong?" Teyla asked looking down at the bandage.

"Carson thinks it's some kind of allergic reaction to the bandage but he changed it once, it's doing it again," McKay said then stopped talking. Trying to remember that he had been injured before, that he had obtained injuries, which required bandages and nothing like this, had happened, certainly no allergic reactions. I will not panic.

"Looks pretty nasty," Sheppard said not taking his eyes off the red patch on his arm. "Maybe you should go see him again."

McKay took this into consideration; normally he could be something of a hypochondriac but for some reason the thought of getting it checked out worried him, even though it would be more beneficial. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Shouldn't we see what Doctor Beckett's medical opinion is on that matter Doctor," Teyla said calmly. At times she reminded McKay of a Vulcan, a little too much in fact and he smiled once more. Then she herself went blurry once more, that thing with his vision was happening again and something told him that it wasn't just the damn crappy made in Taiwan laptop. McKay quickly shook his head, which felt like a cloud, he walked backwards and held onto the table.

Sheppard caught onto this and saw McKay stumble ever so slightly, his eyes ticked up from the man's feet to his face. "Are you sure you're all right Rodney?"

McKay composed himself, took a breath and straightened up. "Of course, I'm probably just hungry I hate to skip lunch in order to make up for lost time."

"Lost time?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes I," McKay began, feeling more than a little embarrassed. "Woke up late."

"That is very unlike you if I may say," Teyla replied, folding her arms. Sheppard glanced at her out the corner of his eye and saw genuine concern, he looked back to McKay and something definitely wasn't all right.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Sheppard asked once more.

"Of course I am," McKay answered, trying to stand casually and his tone indicated that he was okay and there was no reason to believe otherwise. "Why?"

"It's just that you skipping lunch, getting up late and did I mention skipping lunch!" Sheppard replied honestly, he had noticed that the man had a tendency to moan when he hadn't eaten and he hadn't known him to skip lunch. Maybe work and eat at the same time, but never skip.

"I have been busy and there are some things that are more of a priority than eating," McKay answered, his vision blurred once more and he felt strangely dizzy as he looked at Sheppard.

"Now I know something is wrong," Sheppard said, taking a hasty step forward.

"Oh don't be," McKay started to reply; the dizziness and his vision both getting progressively worse. He looked to Teyla then back to Sheppard as best he could. "You know what Major I think you are right," he finally admitted. Right before he blacked out.