Chapter 4
Mel was walking along Pier 10. It was a gorgeous day with the wind playing in her hair and sunshine on her face. Too bad I have to get cooped up!
When she got closer to the end of the pier, Mel noticed that McKay wasn't alone. If he brought Radek along, I think I'll scream! Much to Mel's chagrin, it was Radek who had accompanied Rodney to see Mel launch her small submarine 'Ike'.
"So, why do you call it Ike?" Rodney was practically hopping from foot to foot in anticipation.
"I just happen to like the name." Mel began her pre-launch checklist.
"She had a dog by that name when she was growing up." Radek blurted out.
Mel stopped and turned around to look at Radek. "I wouldn't have thought you would remember," sarcasm dripping off her tongue.
Radek didn't throw the next verbal punch, and soon Mel and Rodney finished the checklist. When they were ready to get into the submersible, Mel realized that Radek was still there. As she was lowering herself feet-first into the hatch, she looked at Radek. "Are you coming?"
Radek hesitated for a minute. "No, you take Rodney. I have some reports to finish up."
"Are you sure? There is plenty of room in that tin can." Rodney wanted to see what would happen if he got the two in that tight of quarters.
Radek hung his head for a moment and thought before answering. "No, I really have some things to finish."
"Your miss, Rad." Mel said before her head disappeared into the submersible.
"Radek, what's going on?" Rodney knew Zelenka had wanted to check out the glorified tin can in action.
"Too much to explain now. Have a good trip." Radek closed the hatch as Rodney went below. "Be safe," he whispered to himself as the submersible pulled away from the pier.
Meanwhile, inside Ikeā¦
"Why are you so mean to Radek?" Rodney asked Mel as he began to input coordinates into the computer.
Mel glanced over at her co-pilot. "Ask him. He's the one who started it."
"He said it was too much to explain before you launched."
"And so it will eat up too much of our precious oxygen to explain now." Mel was getting annoyed with McKay as Ike began to descend into the deep waters around Atlantis.
In response, Rodney crossed his arms over his chest, turned his chair, and began to stare at Mel.
Mel gave McKay the raspberries. "You are really annoying most of the time, you know?"
"Yeah, I just seem that way."
"Radek and I were married."
Rodney's eyes doubled in size and he began to flail his arms around. "I knew it was something personal, but he just hasn't said what!"
"It ended very badly. And I hadn't seen him for over fifteen years before I came to Atlantis."
A few things began to click in Rodney's mind. "Does his leaving have anything to do with how you were at Area 51?" He asked, uncharacteristic concern in his voice.
Mel's eyes snapped with anger as she whipped her head to look at McKay. "Do not EVER tell Radek about how I was when I was at Area 51. Do you understand?"
Rodney was surprised by her fury. "I won't. But you and Radek need to work this thing out."
"Why?"
"Because Zelenka is letting his feelings for you interfere with his work."
It was Mel's turn to be stunned. "He is?"
"He's forgetting to double-check his calculations before proceeding with something and other things like that. He nearly sent Sheppard a couple of light-years off course with a puddle jumper yesterday."
Mel began to maneuver the sub to the place where she and Rodney were going to test that afternoon. "Forgetful? Absentminded? Sounds like you, Rodney?"
McKay smiled. "Yeah, well, I try not to let my personal life interfere."
"You just don't have a personal life. Your ego's too big to let another person close."
"Spoken like a person with a monkey on their back."
Mel laughed. "Should we just agree to disagree?"
"And get back to this survey?" Rodney began to type in another set of coordinates.
