So How Did I Meet Your Mom Again?16
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: Unbelievable sappiness warning! If you have or can get "When I fall in love" by Josh Groban and Celine Dion or"When You say you love me,"keep it handy. I'm on a Josh Groban kick for some reason.
It was three days later when Rodney was finally ready to tell her when to be ready. He had traded for another of the weird blue rose-hibiscus flowers and attached a small note to it that simply said. "8 PM Tomorrow Night. I'll pick you up. Wear something nice. –RM" He left it in her quarters after jimmying the crystals.
It was a little clichéd, but he had seen enough chick flicks lately to know that women loved stuff like that. He had the whole night planned down to a 'T' and felt confident that he could pull it off. He had gotten John and Carson involved to make sure that the evening was perfect. After they had bickered for 10 minutes over what he and Lexi should have for dinner, he gave them assignments. Carson was to set something up so that they could eat out on the pier and Sheppard was in charge of lighting and music, which he did with relish Rodney thought. He had seen John sneaking around and bartering the day before. Now, Rodney just had to talk to one of the cooks and bribe him into making something special.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAlex was exhausted when she got off work that day. She stumbled into her room and collapsed onto her bed, one arm thrown over her eyes. It seemed that everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong. One of the scientists had wandered off and gotten lost requiring her to hike out to the farthest wing and back, carrying his stuff when he got too tired. Then Weir had finally caught up to her about the poker game and how she expected her officers to set good examples for their subordinates. And to top it all off, she hadn't seen Rodney again today. In fact, she hadn't seen him since that morning in the infirmary. They were both too busy apparently.
Stretching, Alex sat up to take off her boots before heading to the bathroom for a nice hot shower. She saw something that made her freeze halfway there. Instead of the coffee mug with the blue flower Rodney had given her, there was a delicate glass vase with two blue flowers in it. How did he get in? she wondered, before remembering who she was talking about.
Walking closer to the vase, she noticed that one of the flowers had a tag. Lifting it carefully so that she could read it, she smiled. Tomorrow, huh? That'll give me enough time to find something stunning to wear. He won't know what hit him!
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Lexi had traded the second half of her shift to a SSgt. in exchange for doing his swing shift over the weekend, leaving her free after lunch to spend as much time as she needed getting ready. But first, she had had to enlist help, which is where Isabella had come in.
"If you don't hold still girl, you're going to look like a Power Puff girl!" She said when Alex fidgeted again. Isabella was trying to put on her makeup to match the slinky black dress Isabella had somehow found. It was a size too big, but Alex didn't mind, as the extra fabric gave the dress a flowing quality.
"What do you think he has planned?" Alex asked for the 5th time.
Isabella sighed. "I don't know already! Stop asking. You have 2 hours left before your date, and I haven't even started on your hair!"
It was Alex's turn to sigh. She was all about minimal effort and simple results, but it seemed that that was out of the question when Isabella got involved. At least I'll look great. She thought.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRodney paced the room again. Carson stepped into his path, effectively stopping him. "What?" Rodney snapped.
Carson simply ignored him while he tried to fix the collar of Rodney's shirt. John sat at the desk in the corner looking amused. He'd decided to invite Carson to the pre-date jitters, hoping he would have a calming effect on Rodney. Not working so far.
They'd managed to wrangle Rodney into wearing a suit coat over his plain blue dress shirt, minus the tie since they couldn't hold him still long enough to get it on, and dress pants. Carson unbuttoned the top button of the shirt to get more leeway to straighten the collar, but it was too late and Rodney was off pacing again.
"You know lad, I could give you a mild tranquilizer to take off the edge." McKay looked like he was about to say something biting when Sheppard interrupted, "Yeah, Rodney, that might help. Just enough to calm your nerves so you don't look like a jackass with your hands shaking. But you can't drink alcohol then." He warned.
"I couldn't find any anyways. Just chilled apple cider in a bottle."
Carson took that as the closest he was going to get to an okay from Rodney and left to get the mildest tranquilizer he could find.
Rodney continued to pace, his hands now sweaty and indeed starting to shake slightly as John had said before, when Carson returned apparently empty handed. Rodney hadn't even noticed he'd left.
Carson walked over to Sheppard and made a telling gesture with his eyes while patting his pocket. John nodded and went on Operation: Distract Rodney. He walked in front of Rodney, who rammed into him, at the same time Beckett 'bumped' into Rodney, causing a three man pile-up. "Watch it Rodney!" Sheppard said as he continued walking passed McKay and Carson retreated back the desk, giving Sheppard a smile and a nod.
The effects of whatever Beckett had lightly jabbed in Rodney's butt took place slowly and were hardly noticeable at first. His jerky pacing became smoother and his fidgeting hands were suddenly thrust in his pants pocket once they stopped jerking. His slightly erratic breathing slowed so it was closer to normal, and his face lost the panicked look it had had before, now merely looking nervous instead of terrified. He also lost the guarded look in his eyes. Sheppard looked to Beckett to give his approval.
Spinning on his heel, Rodney turned to look at Sheppard. "Everything is set up, right?" He asked. Sheppard nodded. "Carson?"
"Aye lad. Like we told you the last two times, everything is fine. You're going to be fine. Tonight is going to be perfect." Beckett soothed.
Rodney nodded before glancing at his watch and saying, "It's time."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRodney paused outside Lexi's door to take a deep breath before making his presence known. The door hissed open almost immediately and there stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
His breath caught in his throat for a moment, before he said in a slightly strangled tone of voice, "You look beautiful." She looked down shyly before looking up again. "Thanks."
The moment was ruined when Isabella came out with a camera, grabbing Alex's arm and shoving her in Rodney's arms. She immediately took the picture before they could move or even look at the camera. "Oops," she said, "I forgot to tell you to say 'cheese.'"
"Oh, Rodney, allow me to introduce you to my friend. Rodney McKay meet Isabella Sanchez, Isabella, meet Rodney McKay."
Rodney's mouth suddenly went dry. Isabella? As in Isabel? As in our future daughter?
Alex continued on, "She's my best friend. We both transferred from the SGC. And before that, we were in basic together."
Rodney nodded, "Nice to meet you Isabella."
She nodded back, giving him a warning glare while saying, "You hurt my girl, I'll kill you and throw you to whatever lives in the water." Before walking off.
Rodney broke the silence they were left in with Isabella's departure. "Well, I don't care what they say, she seems like a lovely girl."
Alex laughed, taking his arm. Here we go.
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Alex daintily wiped her face to make sure none of the cheese-baked chicken had remained behind to embarrass her. She took a mint from her purse, offering one to Rodney. As she reached over to give it to him though, their hands touched and the moment seemed to freeze. Rodney pulled away first and asked, "Would you like to dance?" while offering her his hand.
She looked up surprised. "Dance?" her voice cracked. "Uh Rodney, I don't really dance." She finished lamely, not making eye contact and blushing brightly. Rodney stepped closer and hunched down so he was face to face with her. "I'm sensing there is a story here."
When Alex flushed again, he knew he was right. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I can't dance either. I'll just kind of sway while stepping on your feet." She laughed and the tension evaporated.
"I can't dance to modern music. My mom made me take ballroom dancing until I turned 18." She said looking down while her face flushed.
"So?" asked Rodney, "The way I see it, you're one up on me." She looked up confused. "At least you can do a mean foxtrot." He finished holding his hand out to her again. This time she accepted with a smile.
Rodney fished a remote out of his pocket and hit a button and suddenly "When I Fall In Love" by Josh Groban and Celine Dion came on as Rodney led her closer to the end of the pier where she could see candles had been lit all along the edge so they wouldn't fall off.
Rodney held her in a loose grip with half a foot in between them. He was going to let her decide how they should do this. She smiled, "I don't have cooties." She said softly. Rodney grinned and pulled her closer, swaying gently along with the music.
They danced for close to 45 minutes before she told them that they should probably call it night since it was just after midnight and they both had to work in the morning. "Okay," Rodney agreed, "one last song?" he asked. She nodded and "When you Say you Love me" came on.
All too soon the song ended and Rodney offered her his arm. "Common, I'll take you back."
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They had once again had a successful date, but now came the part that still made Rodney's heart thud. The end of the date. What do I do! He asked himself in a panick.
Alex took the lead though, grabbing his collar and pulling him close as she brushed her lips against his. He responded in kind a moment later. By mutual agreement, they broke the kiss, not wanting it to lead any further that night, and when Alex was still close enough to his face to kiss him, she looked into his eyes. Something she shouldn't have done.
She could see the love in his eyes and she panicked, Isabella's words coming back to haunt her, 'end it before both your hearts get broken.' She still wasn't sure if she loved him and there were no guarantees that she ever would. There was only one thing she did know. If they got anymore serious, one of their hearts, most likely Rodney's, would be broken when he found out she didn't love him back. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she tried to speak.
"Rodney, tonight, was, it was perfect. You were perfect. But, I don't think we should see each other anymore. I'm sorry!" she stuttered, pulling out of his grasp and quickly entering her room, the door sliding shut behind her.
What the hell just happened? Was all Rodney could think as he stared at her door.
Author's Note: Cliffhanger or what! I rule! The next chapters are going to have time gaps, nothing big, but like "1-3 weeks later" kind of stuff. Don't worry, they get back together before long. The more you guys review, the quicker I'll write the next chapter!