"This is an outrage…" McKay muttered as he, Ian and Sam left the briefing room. "I can't believe I'm stuck working with-"
"Go fuck yourself," Ian snapped, turning toward the elevator with Sam. "It's no better for us, let me tell you."
"You don't know who you're talking to," McKay said, flushing angrily. "I happen to be-"
"Rodney McKay, Asshole extraordinaire?"
"Oh, really funny, you pretentious puppy. That's Doctor McKay, and if you had any idea what-"
"I don't give a shit what-"
"Guys."
Sam cut both of them off, turning in mid-stride and stopping in front of them. Ian came to a quick stop, while McKay almost crashed into her before he was able to slow his own momentum.
"I'm not going to listen to this for the next several hours," Sam told them. "I know you don't like each other – and McKay, I really can't stand you – but we have to work together, and we're going to. And we're going to be nice to each other while we're doing it. This thing is too important for egos to get in the way. Understand?"
Ian scowled, but there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Sam. He knew she was already strung out from leaving Jake on the east coast with his dad and didn't want to add to that stress – no matter how much of an asshole McKay was. He didn't actually agree, but he set his jaw in a manner that Sam recognized meant he was going to keep from saying anything else – which was good enough.
She looked at McKay, who frowned.
"What? I didn't do anything. It's not my fault that he's an ill-mannered-"
"Stop!" Sam glared at McKay, who gave her an incredulous look; unable to believe she was mad at him when none of this was his fault. Which of course just frustrated Sam that much more. "I mean it, McKay. If you don't stop antagonizing him, I'm going to turn him loose on you."
"I'm not antagonizing him," McKay said, defensively. "I'm merely stating that I would prefer not to work with a child. Is it so wrong that I have decent help when trying to save the planet?"
Ian looked about ready to explode, but he didn't say anything. And he didn't kill McKay – which was good, too. Sam spoke up, though, knowing that it wouldn't last long if McKay was allowed to keep talking.
"McKay, shut up. I'm warning you now. If you-"
"What's going on?"
They all looked over and saw that Jack had come up behind them, arriving back from having taken Thor to the gate room. Now he was looking at the small group suspiciously – mainly glaring at McKay since he was pretty sure that whatever had Sam so annoyed was all McKay's fault.
Sam shook her head.
"Nothing…"
Which of course made Jack scowl, since he knew she was annoyed – and Ian, of course, looked ready to blow his top completely.
"Nothing?"
Sam couldn't help the slight smile at his tone of voice, but she shook her head again.
"It's nothing, Jack. I've got it under control."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
He still didn't look convinced, but he could tell by the way she was acting that she was determined to deal with this one on her own and not get help from him. Which was okay, if that was what she wanted. It wasn't like she needed his help most of the time. Sam could take care of herself, after all.
"Then why don't I go see if I can get hold of Nate and check on Jake?"
Sam smiled, relieved.
"Would you?"
He nodded.
"I'll let you know what I find out."
He left, and turned and headed down the hall in the opposite direction.
"Hey, wait a minute," McKay called after her. "Where are you going?"
"To my lab."
"Shouldn't we be going to the command center?"
"Why would we do that?" Ian asked, moving to head the same direction Sam had.
"It's going to be hard to adapt the cloaking device to a defensive shield if we're not working with it," McKay told him sarcastically.
"We're not going to disconnect the cloak," Ian replied, rolling his eyes in a manner that made it clear he couldn't believe McKay had made such a stupid suggestion. "We need it up and running."
"Then how are we going to work with it, smart ass?"
"We have the specs of the device in Sam's lab. Even an idiot like you should be able to work off a spec sheet, right?"
He walked off, leaving McKay stewing over what he'd intended to say – and a dozen other comments that came to mind after the fact.
"I hate this place…" the astrophysicist muttered finally, walking after the other two. "A dozen pretty scientists, all waiting to hear my lecture and fawn all over me, and I'm stuck here with Doogie Howser."
OOOOOOOOOO
"Sir?"
Hammond looked up from the papers on his desk and saw one of the communications specialists standing at the door to his office.
"Yes?"
"Air Force One is en route. Their ETA is two hours and twenty minutes."
"Thank you. Have appropriate quarters readied for the President and his staff."
"Yes, sir. What about the journalists?"
"There won't be any press allowed."
That was something he and Hayes had already discussed. The group of journalists who habitually traveled with the President wouldn't be allowed in Cheyenne Mountain. They'd stay in Colorado Springs and wait for the announcement of the press conference that Hayes would give once he was certain he had facts to give the American people – which wouldn't happen until after he'd spoken to the other world leaders so they'd know what they wanted to share, and what would remain secret.
All except one journalist, of course, and he was already on base, from what Hammond had heard only a few minutes before.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Hey, baby, come here often?"
Janet Fraiser looked up, annoyed at the interruption. Right up until she realized who it was. Then her frown turned to a pleased and surprised smile.
"Emmett. I thought you were on your way to Peru?"
She knew he was. She'd dropped him off at the airport – after giving him a very satisfying goodbye present.
Emmett smiled, walking in and sitting on the edge of her desk.
"I didn't even get on the plane before that alien ship closed everything down. And by then I already knew this was the place to be. A quick call to the President's secretary proved me right, so here I am, recording things for the posterity of all mankind."
She snorted; amused despite the seriousness of the situation they were all in.
"General Hammond knows you're here?"
"Yes ma'am." He looked over his shoulder towards the door, where a large young man was just arriving. "And I brought company."
Fraiser frowned, but only for the briefest of moments, as Emmett's cameraman came over, loaded down with all sorts of equipment.
"Hi, Doctor Fraiser," he said, nodding respectfully.
"Hello, Ben. How are you?"
"Great, thanks – except for this whole alien ship thing, of course. How's your daughter doing?"
Emmett turned his head to hide his smile at that particular question, and Janet groaned – silently. Obviously Emmett hadn't told Ben about Ian, and that was only going to make things more complicated – as if they weren't complicated enough already!