Obligatory Disclaimer: As obvious as it is (given that this is fan fiction . net I do not own any part of the Stargate: Atlantis franchise, nor do I wish to.
As a note to you all, this is my first attempt at writing anything for SGA, so I hope you'll pardon me if I'm still a touch awkward with the characters.
Also, many huge thanks to fififolle, without whom I would never have had the inspiration to write this story. She writes what is in my opinion some of the best McWeir around.
And Now...Your Feature Presentation...
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He wasn't quite sure who started it. At first it was just a feeling, a sort of expectant cheerfulness that had recently spread among all of Atlantis' inhabitants. If he thought too hard about it, it didn't even make that much sense given that the Atlantis expedition was an international affair. It was almost July.
Rodney McKay had never been a holiday person. Too many holidays focused on family and friends which he had few of, gifts and parties he knew no one would give him and didn't care. But all things considered, he'd found that he had a patriotic streak. Even working for the U.S. military hadn't changed the fact that he resolutely celebrated Canada Day, despite and perhaps because of the fact that his own family had never given it much notice.
At any rate it did mean that he had been paying attention to the calendar, 26-hour days aside, and it didn't catch him unawares or even result in his usual curmudgeonliness when Elizabeth brought up her idea that afternoon.
"Good morning, Lizbeth," he mumbled around a mouthful of chicken-ish MRE. She raised an eyebrow at him as she took a seat at the table.
"You do realize that it's past noon..." He just shrugged.
"It's not like I have anywhere to be today, unlike last night. Really, it's amazing that we haven't all died of blood poisoning given the recent state of our water. Of course then part of the piping had to give up the ghost after ten thousand years and go leaking all over the place until I noticed the warnings. Not that Kavanaugh could have spent a moment investigating anything plastered across every Ancient screen in the lab..." He broke off his single-breath rant in favor of another bite. Elizabeth smiled and broke in before he could start up again.
"I have an idea, and I'm going to need your help-" she started.
"As if that was surprising," he snipped, but there was teasing behind the words.
"As I'm sure you realize, we have a week before July 1st, and before you say it - yes, Canada Day, I know. Also July 4th, American Independence Day... I think we should have a celebration of some kind. A sort of combined show of patriotism." She finished with a satisfied flourish and took a long drink of her coffee. McKay hardly looked up from his food, which he couldn't decide looked more like fish in some type of sauce or as if part of a chicken had simply been hacked off and packaged sans preparation. He went with fish and took another bite with no signs of resignation. After a moment he realized that Elizabeth was watching him for a response. He hurriedly swallowed and nodded.
"It's a good idea, but what exactly do you need me for?"
"Rodney..." A rare half smile quirked her lips and she leaned forward across the table, mischief suddenly flaring up in her eyes.
He was rather taken aback and for an absurd moment thought she was going to...
"Do you think you could whip up some fireworks?" she asked suddenly, that damned smile still on her face. Rodney fought off various inappropriate thoughts at the wording and nodded awkwardly. She was obviously thinking about home, a particularly exciting, intense, mischievious event...or maybe she just really liked holidays. Yeah, that was it. He scraped his composure back together and formed a response.
"Certainly...ah, yes." She abruptly stood up, her previous expression replaced with a milder look.
"Thank you, Rodney. It would do everyone good to have a bit of home on the 3rd of July." See, it was about home - for those of the expedition that had something worth remembering of it. He started to stab another bite of the now rapidly cooling meat thing on his plate. The fork stopped halfway.
"Wait - the 3rd of July, you said?" He gave her a confused frown.
"Yes, the 3rd. We don't have anyone from Belarus, so I won't have to worry about accusations of playing favorites with Independence dates."
He looked set to shove into a request for further explanation when that smile showed up again, this time there was no denying it - directed firmly at him.
"Personally, I'm just looking forward to the fireworks." She added casually and briskly strode out of the mess before Rodney could get another word in edgewise. After a moment of staring at the entrance with a speculative expression, he returned to his food, only to find it rather unpalatable. Never mind that, there were always powerbars, powerbars, and more powerbars... He headed back to the lab.
Rodney McKay wasn't a holiday person. But this year, he figured he should stay around for the fireworks.
---Fin.---
Thankyou all for reading. Have a wonderful 1st, 4th, 5th...whatever your holiday may be!