Author: Porthos

Summary: Sheppard could have been in Mensa, too. McWeir, MWASA

Spoilers: The Long Goodbye, Coup D'etat

Author's notes: This is just a short little diddy, based on Sheppard's reminder to Weir that he "could've been in Mensa." Sheppard seems to go out of his way to hide his intelligence, so why did he feel the need to remind her of that?

oOo

I wasn't watching her, I swear. I just needed to check the contact logs for a few offworld teams, and if that happened to take me by her office, then yay for me. And if I happened to feel a pang of disappointment and jealousy when I saw she had McKay in her office, then, well, I have no clue where those feelings came from. In fact, I never had those feelings at all. Those kinds of feelings are dangerous.

I'd been "not" having those kinds of feelings for Elizabeth since that awkward kiss between our hijacked bodies, maybe longer. Okay, fine, definitely longer.

I flipped through a few pages of the report, then glanced up to look at her face. She was smiling, but not her usual smile. This one was different somehow. Her lips were less curved than her standard, toothy grin, but her eyes sparkled with something I couldn't define. I wondered what McKay could be saying that could make her smile like that.

I watched him for a minute, a frenzy of hands and words, and figured he was probably talking about some really exciting way to boost the power to the city. If I interpreted his mannerisms correctly, it involved thousands of hamsters running on large wheels. Or maybe hamsters on Ferris wheels. Have I mentioned I like Ferris wheels?

I looked at Elizabeth again, and she was still engrossed in just listening to McKay talk. How can she do that? McKay was not known for his patience in explaining his ideas to us dumb non-scientists, or as he liked to put it, "fraternizing with the shallow end of the gene pool." Yet he always seemed willing, if not eager, to explain things to Elizabeth. And despite the fact that his diatribes are equal parts stroking his ego, berating his colleagues, and describing his theories, Elizabeth was always happy to listen. In fact, she seemed to genuinely enjoy his long-winded dissertations on things like how his high-backed rolling chair conveys his status as king of the geeks, or something. Why was that?

It's got to be his brain. I'm much better looking than McKay, and that's not arrogance, that's a statement backed by empirical evidence. Four out of five women in the Pegasus Galaxy dig my hair, and I'm willing to bet there's even more in the Milky Way. For some reason, Elizabeth is that pesky statistical anomaly, that fifth woman who prefers brains instead of brawn and boyish insecurity over bravado.

I'm interrupted by blaring klaxons signaling a wormhole and that guy who replaced Grodin telling me that it's Major Lorne's IDC. I ignore the voice in my head telling me I'm never going to remember his name and glance at the contact log in my hands, reading it for the first time. Lorne's team isn't scheduled for a check in until two hours from now.

I glanced in the direction of Elizabeth's office once more to see that her and McKay have heard the alarm and decided to join the party. I tried not to wince as McKay unconsciously held the door open for her and lightly placed his hand on the small of her back as she passed by. Neither of them even seemed to register that bit of casual contact.

Ya know, I'm smart too. I could have even been in Mensa.

Maybe before this is all over, I should remind her of that.