Summary – Some people collapse under pressure but it all depends on what you're used to.
Disclaimer – I don't own them, their creators do
Rating – PG
FamiliaritySome people collapse under pressure. Rodney McKay thrives.
It's amazing really what you can get used to.
Rodney has gotten used to late night emergencies. Panic stricken calls causing him to lurch from his bed and stumble to the lab, or the Gateroom, or the point of whatever disaster is befalling tonight.
He hadn't had more than a few hours sleep a night since he was a kid anyway so it doesn't really matter.
Rodney is used to missions ending badly. Spear throwing native reminding them, yet again, that the Atlanteans have guns but spears hurt if they stick in you.
Rodney is used to crisis and shouting and panic and deadlines that mean everyone will die unless he fixes it right now.
But it all depends on what you're used to.
So on the day he wakes up naturally, without a screaming voice in his ear (he'd forgotten what that felt like).
And he remembers that the mission yesterday went well. That they traded successfully and actually got some of the fabled food that seemed so plentiful in the galaxy that they never quite manage to get a hold of.
And he thinks about the breakthrough he and Radek had last night to reduce the power used by the shield.
And Rodney McKay quietly starts to panic.
It isn't long though before Kavanaugh's experiment blows up. The food turns out to have been laced with a fast acting but non fatal poison and the transporters lock for an unknown reason trapping several people inside with a rapidly depleting oxygen supply.
And for the first time all day Rodney relaxes.
