AN: Many thanks to Marie for putting up with me :)
Rodney was shocked. Colonel Sheppard had spent the past half an hour enumerating all the things he did wrong since they met, every time he hurt somebody with something he said or didn't say.
"I still don't understand why you're doing this." Rodney said.
"Because you seem to be unable to see it yourself." Sheppard was upset. Before the meeting, he'd hoped Rodney had spoken to Carson. Obviously, he didn't, and he knew it might be a little too late to repair anything.
"What I am able to do is my business, Colonel. I'm doing my job well."
"This is not about your damn job!" Sheppard sat down on one of the chairs in Rodney's lab and wondered if this was pointless. He was trying to make Rodney realize what he had done, not tell him what to do.
"Is this about Carson? He's not a child, he doesn't need to be looked after."
Sheppard stared at him for a while, stunned. "I thought he was your friend."
"He is. But there's a limit to everything. I don't want to hurt him, but I don't want to build my life around anyone. H" Rodney spoke in a calm voice, sounded almost like a confession.
"I don't know what made you think this way, but I guess it's not something that Carson did."
"No, not entirely. I just can't go back and be the way I was. Things have happened." Rodney paused. It was his stupid pride that drove him to blame Carson for the accident. He knew he was the smartest but now he was afraid that one little accident would make his colleagues think less of him. He should have listened to Radek. But the news brought by the Daedalus made that seem minor. "What did he announce at the meeting? I was a little… late."
"I can't tell you that, Rodney."