Chapter 4

Elizabeth was half-way to her quarters when she stopped. A thought had just crossed her mind…

"No!" Rodney shouted, reading her thoughts. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Why not?" she asked. "Dr. Heightmeyer could help with this situation." She put her hands on her hips, taking a stance that she normally assumed when talking to an argumentative Rodney. "Or do you know the proper way to deal with two people stuck in one brain?"

"No…" Rodney said slowly, but was quick to add, "but neither does Heightmeyer! So I don't see why we have to—"

"Rodney, really." Elizabeth said shortly, resisting the urge to stomp her foot. "What could it hurt? Honestly."

Rodney grumbled a bit inside her mind before he, very unhappily, agreed. He was still complaining when Elizabeth finally arrived at the woman's office door. Hoping she had no other patients to see that day, Elizabeth raised her hand to knock.

"Wait!" Rodney shouted, trying one last time to dissuade her. "Maybe you should think about this, Elizabeth. Do you want the city to think you can't handle this? I mean, I am just one man, after all, and you're all ready seeking professional help after only twenty-four hours? How's that going to look?"

"Like I've got Rodney McKay in my head." Elizabeth said and knocked. She couldn't resist the urge to tease him and while she waited for Heightmeyer to answer her door, she smiled. "Believe me, Rodney; I held out longer than I think most could."

"Hmph." Rodney grunted sorely. "Funny."

A moment later the door swung open and Kate Heightmeyer looked at her in surprise.

"Dr. Weir! What brings you by? Carson told me you were going back to your quarters."

"I decided it would be best to come here first." Elizabeth said. Heightmeyer smiled and opened her door a little wider so that Elizabeth could come inside. She closed it behind her again and turned to face the leader of Atlantis.

"Is Rodney causing problems already?"

"Hey!" Rodney shouted in her head. "Why does everyone think I'm so annoying?"

"Because, Rodney, you can be rather grating sometimes." Elizabeth pointed out and Heightmeyer raised her eyebrows. It was odd seeing Elizabeth Weir talking to herself. Rodney grumbled, but at least he hadn't relapsed back into one of his sullen silences. Elizabeth could deal with a discontented Rodney far easier than she could deal with a brooding one.

Turing her gaze back to Heightmeyer, Elizabeth smiled.

"Sorry. And, no, Rodney isn't causing any problems. I just decided… well, frankly, I wanted some advice. As you can imagine, I've never had to deal with something like this before."

Heightmeyer smiled and motioned to a chair situated near a huge window overlooking one of Atlantis's many piers.

"I had assumed." She said lightly as she sat down across from her. "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"Yes, Elizabeth, what did you want to talk about?" Rodney snapped irritably, obviously unhappy at having been dragged against his will to the shrink. Well, he hadn't exactly been dragged. And he was in Elizabeth's head and she had been willing, so in truth—"Nope! It was still against my will. No sugar-coating that one, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sighed and looked at Heightmeyer.

"Frankly, I want to know what I can do to keep from going crazy." She said bluntly, knowing that would be enough to calm Rodney… or it would through him into a tizzy. But he stayed quiet. Elizabeth motioned to her head. "Having two minds in one… it's already becoming a bit distracting. I'm not going to be able to do my work, Rodney obviously can't do his and I want to know how I—we—can deal with this… situation…while a solution is being found."

Heightmeyer nodded.

"Well, as you know, Elizabeth, I haven't had a lot of experience with this type of situation, either." She smiled and clasped her hands in her lap. "But I think we can find a way for you two to manage through this. I am also a couples' counselor and—"

"Couple?" Rodney cried inside Elizabeth's mind, his voice shrill with panic. "No, no, no, no, no, no! We're not… we're not a couple! Tell her, Elizabeth! We're not!"

But Elizabeth was having a hard time concentrating on what Rodney was saying. She was being completely overwhelmed by his rush of emotions. There was panic and that familiar horror, so intense that Elizabeth felt her head spinning. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling like she was going to be sick with Rodney's nauseating panic, and covered her ears with her hands, though she knew it would do no good.

"Rodney!" she gasped through his emotions. How could the man handle this? Elizabeth felt like she was going to pass out. "Rodney, I need you to calm down!"

Rodney wasn't listening. He was so flustered at being called a couple with Elizabeth and she couldn't understand the emotion. He was panicked—beyond panicked. He was terrified and she didn't know why. All she knew was that she was going to throw up if he didn't settle down.

"Elizabeth…?" Heightmeyer watched her worriedly, but she was unwilling to call Carson. She watched closely as Elizabeth tried again to get through to him.

"Rodney!" she shouted. "Rodney, stop it, you're hurting me!"

There was a sudden rush of horror and then it all vanished, leaving Elizabeth feeling suddenly cold and tired. She would have collapsed forward if Kate hadn't been there to catch her.

"What happened?" she asked as she pushed Elizabeth back into her seat. Elizabeth shook her head, running a hand across her forehead.

"I… I don't know." She said, her voice shaky. "It… I can feel Rodney's emotions—at least the strong ones—and he suddenly got very… er, panicked, at being called a couple. It was just a little… overwhelming. I'll be okay in a minute."

"Elizabeth?" Rodney asked cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine, Rodney." She told him trying to keep her stomach settled. She frowned. "What the hell happened with you? I thought you were going to be sick!"

Elizabeth felt her skin flush again with the heat of Rodney's embarrassment.

"Sorry. I was just a little… um… uncomfortable with being called a—"

"Don't lie to me, Rodney McKay!" Elizabeth snapped, suddenly royally pissed off at her chief of science. "I felt that and you can't tell me you were just uncomfortable. I've seen you less petrified when you were standing in front of Koyla's gun!"

"It's just… just…" Elizabeth could almost feel Rodney taking a deep breath and he was just about to speak when Kate beat him to it. But instead of complaining, Rodney immediately shut up and withdrew back into silence.

"Dr. Weir." She said quietly, not know that she was interrupting. Elizabeth sighed and looked at her, knowing she would have to wait to talk to Rodney alone. "You said that you can feel Rodney's emotions?"

"Yes." She said, suddenly feeling very tired. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep.

"Can he feel yours?"

"No." Rodney said shortly. "I can only hear your thoughts."

"He says that he can't." Elizabeth said, her weariness fading as a puzzle suddenly presented itself. "He says he can only hear my thoughts… but I can't hear his. I can only feel his emotions."

Kate Heightmeyer frowned.

"Really?" she asked and Elizabeth knew she thought the whole situation had just gotten stranger. Elizabeth couldn't agree more. "So you can feel his emotions, but he can't feel yours, correct? And he can hear your thoughts, but you can't hear his?"

"Right." Elizabeth nodded.

"Well…" Kate said slowly, "I will tell you now that at this moment I don't know how to truly ease this for either of you. But at the same time I see how this can be beneficial to you."

"Beneficial how?" Rodney mumbled and Elizabeth realized that half of her bone-weary fatigue was generated by him. When Heightmeyer didn't respond, Elizabeth remembered that she couldn't hear him.

"Oh," she blinked and sat up a little straighter, "beneficial how?"

"Well, think of it this way—it's the perfect opportunity to get to know each other. I know you are both very close, but this way you two can get closer. Learn how to understand each other. Obviously it's not going to be easy, but when you can sense the other's thoughts or feelings, it makes a relationship that much more easier."

Elizabeth felt the familiar discomfort at the word "relationship", though this time Rodney was aware of it and he managed to keep it from overwhelming her. She frowned mentally. Why was Rodney always so flustered? Obviously, Kate meant a friend relationship and not a romantic one.

"It would be very beneficial to both the leader of this expedition and the head scientist to know what the other was thinking or feeling." Kate continued, unaware of what Elizabeth was thinking or of what Rodney was feeling. "It would make it easier on the two of you as well as the rest of the city. Do you understand?"

"I do." Elizabeth said, shaking herself back into reality. She smiled and got to her feet. "Thank you, Kate, but suddenly I am very tired. Do you mind if we continue this another time?"

"Certainly." Kate smiled and stood, walking Elizabeth to the door. "Would you like me to come with you?"

"No." Elizabeth said quickly. "I'll be fine."

Besides, Rodney won't let anything happen to me, she thought to herself and she smiled slightly.

She knew Rodney would hear her.