Elizabeth stood there, frozen, and with each passing second her panic-stricken mind increased her distress. The silence between them lengthened, until Elizabeth's fidgeting mimicked Rodney's. Finally, unable to stand the tension any longer, she blurted out the first thing that popped into her head. "Why have you been avoiding me?" she asked, without preamble.

She didn't think it was possible, but Rodney actually paled further. "What? I haven't…I've been busy." She knew Rodney was a terrible bluffer, but surely he didn't think he was fooling anybody with that line, did he?

Elizabeth found her anxiety was giving way to anger. She narrowed her eyes at him and spoke in a voice that clearly said she didn't believe a word of it. "Busy." She drew the word out.

Rodney's eyes widened fractionally, and his voice rose with a touch of panic. "Yes, busy. I can't be everywhere at once. You can't expect me to drop everything for every little bureaucratic meeting, can you? My time is more valuable than that."

Elizabeth felt her temper flare. "More…valuable…" She began pacing the length of the room, and spoke in a tone she hoped sounded reasonable. "Of course it is. You're too busy saving the galaxy. Who has time for department meetings, eating our meals together, visiting a friend in the infirmary—"

Rodney let out a snort of frustration, and mumbled the word, "Friend," to himself.

"Yes, Rodney, I'm your friend." Elizabeth stood firm. "I realize that after the events that Phebus put you through, it might be difficult to still see me that way, but I assure you that the way I feel about you hasn't changed."

"Well that's the problem, isn't it?" Rodney spat. At Elizabeth's confused glare, he said, "Nevermind."

He had turned away from her and began walking away, but Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm and spun him around to face her. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Another long suffering look, and Rodney seemed to give in. "Why did you choose Sheppard to play host to Thalen?"

Elizabeth was surprised by the question. "What? I didn't choose John, Phebus—"

"Yes, fine, Phebus, you, whatever. The point is, she wanted to kill the guy, right? So why choose the one guy in Atlantis who would be the most difficult to kill? She could have chosen anyone in Atlantis, and it would have been an easier kill. Why Sheppard?"

Elizabeth stifled a gasp. "You think I had something to do with it? That I subconsciously wanted to kill John?"

"Not kill," Rodney shook his head. "But I do think you may have subconsciously influenced her in…other ways."

Elizabeth blinked. "What?"

"You kissed him, 'Lizabeth." Rodney made a face like he'd just been shot in the gut.

"You think I—" Elizabeth breathed. He had thought…but he couldn't be further from the truth. "Rodney, trust me, it's not what you're thinking." She licked her lips nervously, and held her hands up in front of her to stop the inevitable barrage of questions and comments he was about to spew forth. "Please, Rodney, just let me finish. I swore I would never admit this to anyone, but you asked, and I trust you, so…" she took a deep breath. "Yes, I think I did help Phebus choose John." Rodney made a pained noise in the back of his throat. "But not for the reasons you think. At first she wanted to choose you."

Rodney just looked at her, shock evident on his face. "She thought that you'd make an easy target, although I suppose I know better. I couldn't let her do that to you. I couldn't let you die, especially if I was the one—" She felt a lump form in her throat, and she couldn't force the words past it. "So I…I sort of convinced her to choose John instead. I knew he was most likely to stay alive the longest, so I convinced her that he would be more of a…" she struggled to say the words, "…a more satisfying kill."

Rodney's eyes were looking everywhere but at her, so she touched the side of his face, and his eyes locked with hers. In them she saw a mixture of shock and awe.

"And all this time I thought you just wanted to kiss Sheppard." Elizabeth shook her head, because it was the only thing she could do at that moment. "I hated that kiss," he said suddenly.

"Why?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes hopeful.

"It sort of disturbed me. Made me realize…what I've been denying for a very long time."

"That you're in love with me?"

Rodney's eyes widened in astonishment. "How did you...How long have you known?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Just now."

Rodney blinked. "Oh." He blinked again, then his voice dropped to just above a whisper. "And do you…" He trailed off, making vague gestures with his hands. Elizabeth nodded, and he smiled. "Oh. Good."

Rodney couldn't take his eyes off her. After a long moment, Elizabeth said, "Rodney?"

"What?" he asked dreamily. When she simply raised her eyebrows in answer, he seemed to snap out of it. "Oh, right. Of course." He took her face in his hands and pressed his soft lips to hers. It certainly wasn't a tentative kiss, and Elizabeth responded with a passion and fervor of her own. She opened her mouth in a moan and felt Rodney's tongue slide past her lips. He tasted bittersweet, like coffee and chocolate. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers. "So, better than Sheppard?" Elizabeth simply smiled and mumbled in the affirmative. He pulled back to look at her face, his thumbs brushing lightly across her cheekbones. "I was so sure that that kiss between you and Sheppard would be the end of me…of us. I thought it was 'goodbye.'"

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. "If this is goodbye," she said, a mischievous grin spreading across her face, "then let's make it a long goodbye." She smiled as she kissed him again, and his arms wrapped around her waist, enveloping her in his warmth. She decided that this was the place she wanted to be forever.

oOo

Okay, I put off all my work and finished it. I just felt like this had to be written, because I was thinking during the entire episode, "Okay, this is supposed to be a Sheppard/Weir episode, but she didn't really want to kiss the guy, she wanted to kill him! How is that shippy?" I'm not looking forward to some of the e-mails I'll get with this one, but I seriously thought that TLG was far more McWeir oriented than Shweir. Thus, this fic. ;P