So How Did I Meet Your Mom Again?7
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis or any of its characters or story lines. No infringement is intended upon anyone or any subsidiary connected to Stargate: Atlantis or its parent series, Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate The Movie. I'm poor, you'll get nothing out of me!
Summary: When the team discovers McKay's future daughter living with their trading partners, the search is on for the mother because his daughter will have to be conceived in 16 months or cease to exist. No pressure, right?
Rating: PG for language.
Warnings: Possibly some adult situations or at least ideas.
Category: Friendship/Romance/Humor
Author note: I'm going to try to work Taylor back into the story without it being too obvious. I want her to become a part of McKay's life without him really realizing it, so chapters will shorter and have less shocking conclusions revealed. And, I realized I've made a mistake with the other chapters. McKay does have a sister, which I forgot, but for the sake of the story, we're going to pretend he doesn't so I don't have to rewrite it (I'm very lazy). Okay, here goes! Wish me luck!
Frustrated, McKay shoved his chair back and stalked out of his lab. He'd worked through the night trying to discover what a piece of Atlantis technology did besides glowing a pretty blue when activated, and had come up with nothing after hours of working on it. It was a perfectly round sphere, about the size of a tennis ball, and he was starting to think that maybe it was nothing more than a child's toy.
He thought about going to the cafeteria and grabbing a cup of coffee, but changed his mind and instead decided that perhaps some fresh air might help clear his mind. It was close to dawn so maybe he could see the sunrise.
He headed to the outside surrounding walkway instead of one of the balconies. He wanted to take a walk outside, not just lean on the railings of a balcony.
He walked through the doors and immediately took a deep breath of fresh air, still chilly from the early morning hour. He began to walk around the walkway surrounding the tower and sighed in relief as it loosened the tense muscles in his legs. Oh that feels better.
He went to make his second turn but as soon as he made it half way around the corner, he felt something slam into him, sending him backwards to land on his butt. What the hell? He thought as he looked to find the cause of his current position.
What he saw made him start to laugh. Lt. Taylor was a few feet in front of him partially on her back as she struggled to catch her breath and sit up. She had obviously been out for an early morning run wearing a tank top and shorts. Her light brown hair had fallen out of the ponytail it had been in and was sticking up all over the place as well as covering her face, so he could only see a glimpse of her blue eyes through the chaos that was her hair. When she heard McKay laugh, she tried to brush her now messy hair off her face, but that just made her look more like she was wearing a mop of static hair and she could hear it crackling just the slightest bit. Soon, she too was laughing, but more out of relief that she hadn't injured Dr. McKay than at her own silly appearance.
"Funny I should run into you out here, pun intended." She said with a grin as she dragged herself to her feet and offered McKay her hand.
He grabbed her hand and she hauled him up. "Had trouble sleeping." He responded. He watched her try to tame her hair as she tied in vain to put it back in a ponytail.
She looked up at him at this, her eyebrows raised and it occurred to Rodney as he looked down to meet her eyes that she really was awfully small to be a soldier.
"Word on the street is you don't sleep at all Dr. McKay." She answered playfully.
"'Word on the street?'" He asked surprised as if he hadn't heard it right.
She grinned stupidly as if realizing how very retarded that sounded in the Pegasus galaxy. She shrugged her shoulders. "Haven't learned all the new, I'm sure very cool, Pegasus galaxy slang yet Dr. McKay." She said sarcastically.
"Please, call me Rodney or just McKay. Might as well not stand on formalities if I'm going to be 'running into you' all the time." He said pleased with his own pun, even if he had gotten it from her. He wasn't sure why he had made the offer for her to call him by his first name, but she really didn't seem like the average sort of soldier. She was too easy-going and friendly for that. Plus, I'm kind of curious to find out what her first name is.
"Sure thing Rodney." She said with a grin, then tossing him a little wave she added, "see you later." And started off in the direction she had been going.
Rodney nodded to her and started to walk off when he froze, turned around and jogged after her. "Wait a second. If I tell you that you can call me Rodney, then you're supposed to do the same for me! It's like an unwritten rule! You can't leave me hanging like that!"
She smiled up at him as he caught up, "An unwritten rule, huh?" Teasing him slightly.
"Well, yeah," He said, suddenly unsure. It was an unwritten rule, wasn't it?
"I'm just teasing you Rodney. You can call me Alex if you want."
"So that's what the 'A' stands for." Rodney muttered.
"Actually it stand for Alexis, but people call me Alex or Lexi if they're feeling very brave."
"Lexi, hmmm?" he teased back, feeling very light-hearted for some reason. He didn't even notice he had walked with her to the cafeteria until she turned to hand him a tray while giving him a do you want to die? glare.
Rodney just smiled back looking smug that he had finally been able to get under her skin, if only just a little bit.
She led them over to a table in the corner away from the few early birds who had come in to grab breakfast. Rodney noticed she had just as much food on her tray as him. I wonder where she puts it all?
"So you came to Atlantis with the original group?" She asked, starting the conversation.
"Yeah, I've been here since the beginning. And before that I was a part of the SGC, although not stationed there. You?"
"I was a part of SG-13 for two years." She said while eating a muffin.
"SG-13? I thought that was one of the scientific teams. You know, no soldiers?" He asked, genuinely curious.
"I am first and foremost a soldier. But the only reason I joined was to put myself through college and found that I loved the life too much to quit, but I do have other loves in my life. Biology for one, and woodworking for another." She said simply.
"So you have a degree in Biology?" Sure it was one of the softer sciences in his opinion, but that meant that she was a scientist as much as a soldier and those he knew, were few and far between.
"Masters. The ROTC only covered four years in college so I got my Bachelor's before being shipped out over seas. But as soon as I was stationed on a base in America again, I went after my Masters. It was a little difficult doing both so it took me 3 years to get it, but it was one of the main reasons I was later assigned to the SGC, so I've never regretted it."
Rodney found himself impressed against his will. A smart soldier. Will wonders never cease? He wanted to ask her what exactly 'woodworking' entailed, but she had already risen with her tray which was empty, and offering him a smile, said, "Sorry I have to leave so abruptly, but I have to tame this mess," she said gesturing towards her hair, "before my briefing in an hour. See you around?" She asked.
"Sure." Rodney said, strangely reluctant to see her go. That was one of the most satisfying conversations I've ever had not related to work. Weird. She said she had a briefing in an hour? She must be going with Major Lorne to the Endarans today with medical supplies. Maybe I should join them…just to make sure there isn't a problem of course. With that thought he picked up his still full tray of food and dumped it while heading through the door. He had a briefing to prepare for.
Author's Note: Well?