Authors note: Hello everyone, this is my second attempt at writing Stargate Atlantis fiction, so if I do something terribly off cannon feel free to feed me to the Wraith. Um...on second thought, a slap on the wrist sounds less painful.

*This is Radek Zelenka/Elizabeth Weir story. Dedicated to all the inspiration I have recieved from the guys and girls over at the "Radek Thunkage thread" over at Gate World. Love you guys!

*This is a Post-'Siege' fiction. A story based on the events immediately after the Wraith Seige of Atlantis.

*Thank you to Belevision for the quick Beta. You are the wind beneath my typing fingers darling!

*Also, a thank you to Pajus for the Czech translations. He made sure I actually said what I intended to say! As I found out, free online translators are not so hot! Hehe!

The Quiet Hero – Chapter 2

She opted to take the shortest route, bypassing the closer transporter for the only one she knew that was still operational in her section. For some reason she had expected to meet more personnel along the way, but she didn't, only passing by a mere handful. However, she could most definitely hear them. The evidence was echoing loudly throughout the city as welding teams, clean up crews, and security patrols began to sort through the mess, scientists and military alike beginning to rebuild the damaged systems. Slowly, but noisily they were returning their city to its former glory.

It was a while later that she realized she hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings, because quite suddenly she found herself wandering down one of the many wings of crew quarters, and more specifically the section where Radek had his quarters. 'Well, at least my feet were paying attention anyway.' she thought sardonically upon finally reaching the room. For a brief moment she simply stood there, palming the thin package nestled in her jacket's inner pocket. She bounced slightly on the balls of her feet as she willed her fingers to sound the chime, her mind already vainly attempting to back-pedal. She could almost hear the metaphorical alarm klaxons going off inside her brain.

But her resolve was set, and before she could change her mind, she stabbed at the button, wincing slightly as the sound of the alert echoed loud enough for her to hear even through the closed doors. For a moment she heard nothing, bringing her to wonder if he was even still in his quarters, and she leaned into the door slightly, wondering with a guilty thought if she might have woken him up.

Her fears were confirmed a few seconds later when the distinct rustle of blankets could be heard, and a deep, sleep muffled exclamation finally echoed within the room. "Co je?" came the confused question. She could almost picture his sleep-addled state of mind, and for a moment her brain threatened to short-circuit as she thought about what a freshly roused Radek might look like.

The image died abruptly as the door chime automatically blared throughout the quarters again, eliciting a machine-gun like litany of what sounded like very disgruntled Czech. "Ježiši! Si ze mě děláte srandu," he grunted, an audible hiss of displeasure issuing from between his teeth as she heard him fumbling around for something. She winced again as she got the general idea of it. "Is it too late to chicken out now?" a little voice in the back of her brain questioned snarkily, sounding so remarkably like Rodney that she was tempted to turn around and see if he had somehow sneaked up on her when her back was turned.

Before she could give the idea a second thought, she heard the bedsprings shift and the soft tread of footfalls slapping across on the metallic floor, coming towards the door. With a swift step backwards she drew herself up, suppressing the urge to smooth her hair as she heard his voice raised to carry through the door, likely unaware his unexpected guest had already heard he was awake. "Jo! Jo! Už jdu, vydržte!" he called.

And then, quite suddenly, the doors slid open, and all she could do was blink. His quarters were bathed in a muted gloom, with the metal sun shades blocking out the majority of the light, leaving him nearly silhouetted in the archway. His tired eyes were only half open, dulled and glazed a muted blue with sleep. And oh... Oh... He was naked! ...Okay, so not entirely naked, but most definitely shirtless ...Radek shirtless... Somehow it refused to completely sink in, and for a moment, she was sure she could smell her brain synapses fusing.

He stood there, one arm partially thrown over his eyes at the sudden brightness, his bare feet curling in slightly, shying away from the chill of the floor on his bed-warmed toes. He stood there, absolutely shirtless, a literal buffet for any passing eye to appreciate. Despite her shock, she let her eyes unabashedly travel up his form.

His bare feet were pale, flecked with the odd brown hair where the ankle trailed upwards to meet with the calf, a pair of dark green pyjamas bottoms hanging loosely around his hips. Damn. If the others knew what I know now, she mused with an appreciative sigh. Her eyes traveled further upwards, pausing to take in his lean but lightly muscled build, with his middle showing just the slightest sign of fleshiness, just as she had always thought he would be. Be still my beating heart, she sighed naughtily, immediately adding a blush on top of her current flush at the mere thought.

Her eager eyes continued, following the trail of dusky hairs up his stomach and across his chest, the darker color accentuating his pale brownish-pink nipples. He still hadn't shaved, looking as if he had at least five full days of fresh stubble covering his cheeks and chin, darkening the skin of his neck as well. But somehow he managed to make it look adorably scruffy where on others it would have looked positively barbaric; it held just the right amount of roughness, with the dark tawny color accentuating the bold blue color of his eyes. And as always, his hair flew every which way, curling abundantly on one side, while slightly sleep-flattened on the other.

It was only after this perusal that she realized she should probably be speaking right about now. But somehow her tongue had gotten lost en route, and for a moment she wondered if it was actually possible that she had forgotten how to even think, let alone speak.

Note to self: Half-naked Radek Zelenka: a very dangerous weapon. Should be contained and put on strict bed rest before the effects can be spread... ummm... Quarantined in Elizabeth Weir's personal quarters, for ermm... special containment measures. Carson would agree with that... wouldn't he?

A few long seconds stretched between them before his eyes suddenly focused, the alertness in his eyes sharpening, rapidly losing those last few lingering traces of sleep, as if he were just fully registering her presence at that moment. "Do prdele," he whispered, too stunned to do much else, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging slightly open. And she knew exactly how he felt; she hadn't even been able to get anything further then a few surprised syllables to squeak out of her own throat.

Trying valiantly to pull herself together, she shifted her stance, giving him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "Ummm..." she began intelligently, suddenly altogether flummoxed that a single man, Radek at that, could bring her to such distraction when she had negotiated with the Wraith without batting so much as a bloody eyelash! She blamed the nakedness...Yes, it HAD to be that. Because... well...naked!

"Doctor Weir... Elizabeth?" he questioned softly, his voice deliciously deep from sleep, the consonants slightly raspy as he spoke. He quickly ran a restless hand over his face, adjusting his glasses as his fingers passed en route to a rather fruitless effort to tame his ruffled hair.

To quell her nerves, she clasped her hands around her back, too proud to let him see them quiver. Finally she looked up again, meeting his eyes with a smile, watching as he looked down at his own attire, his neck just beginning to flush a ruddy pink with embarrassment. His hands went down to unconsciously fiddle with the hem of his shirt, but comically met only bare skin when he realized he wasn't wearing one, his movements only highlighting his predicament when his hands quickly slipped down to tighten the waist band of his pants, as if somehow afraid for his virtue. Or possibly even for hers, it was hard to tell. Either way it was... distracting.

"Oh, I am sorry. I didn't mean to wake you!" She stuttered slightly. "I can... come back later," she attempted to apologize lamely. Stupid, stupid! He has been up for nearly five days straight, of course he would be sleeping; she berated herself, half-tempted to cut her losses and flee. But he stopped her thoughts in their tracks as he shook his head emphatically, rubbing a hand over his face again. "No, no. It is all right," he replied, his voice clearly attempting to assure her despite not quite being able to suppress a rather impressive yawn. It was all she could do to return his apologetic smile as she fought back her own urge to yawn in response, her brain reminding her yet again of just how tired she really was.

"Radek, what I meant to come up here to say, or rather what I wanted to tell you was that-" she began bravely, confidence starting to return when he sent her another embarrassingly shy smile. But she trailed off when a sudden noise echoed down the hall, bringing her awkward sentence to a stuttering halt. Both their heads whipped around guiltily toward the sound, Radek's twisting slightly around the corner of the archway in order to see, somehow managing to pull it off while showing a minimum amount of skin.

It was Kavanagh. Perfect. Things just keep getting better and better, she thought sarcastically, wondering just what she had done to deserve this latest round of bad luck. He was coming down the hall the next corridor away, deep in conversation or argument (it was hard to tell with Kavanagh) with Simpson, their voices half-raised, tones bordering on heated as they walked, their hands gesticulating wildly as they punctuated their respective points. Neither had noticed them yet, but it was just a matter of seconds now.

Any moment now they were going to look up and see them. The leader of the Atlantis expedition making a house call on a half-naked scientist. Oh yes..that would go over well at the Review Board, she thought with a despairing snort, her eyes flickering from Radek to the approaching scientists in growing indecision.

Radek seemed to have the same idea because he swore softly, using one of the few Czech words she did know. "Kruci," he muttered with a roll of his eyes, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he appeared to steel himself for something, leaning forward on his toes slightly. "To není nic svaté?!" He hissed under his breath, making her seriously wish she had a more complete understanding of his language, feeling as though she was somehow out of the loop, a position she was neither accustomed to nor pleased at being in.

But before she could ask, or even think much more about anything else for that matter, his arm closed around her shoulder and yanked her forward, the action somehow managing to be gentle even as it propelled her inside. Caught off balance, she stumbled over the threshold and into the room. Gravity and fate did the rest, sending her soundly into his embrace, tucking her into his chest and the crook of his arm as if she belonged there, the door sliding shut behind them with a happy sounding chime. The lock automatically clicked shut just as the arguing scientists passed, remaining none the wiser to their near-miss.

For a moment neither of them either spoke or moved, able to only stare at each other, frozen together. His arm draped loosely over her shoulder, the other fluttering in the small of her back. She was pressed against his side, one arm wrapped around his waist, fingers having unconsciously dug into the naked skin of his side, the expanse of his chest against hers heating her even through the material of her jacket. An embrace that had originally been so circumstantially innocent had suddenly turned passionate and heated. And this time she really did have to remind herself to breathe..

He straightened slightly, his voice hoarse once again, but this time with none of its earlier sleepiness. "Sorry," he nearly whispered, shifting his stance to maintain his balance and counter her weight against him, yet still not letting her go. She made no move to break away, greedily desiring his touch, her senses slowly cataloguing his every detail. Breathing in the fresh, clean scent of his body, catching the last remaining vestiges of his shampoo from a recent shower, finding the scent as one she could not place, but fully appreciated, breathing in the foreign scent with relish.

"No... Don't be," she finally murmured back, hardly daring to breathe as she tilted her head, finding they were so close together that her lips nearly brushed his cheek as she spoke.

If the moment hadn't been so damned dramatic and tense, she would have been tempted to find the entire situation hilarious. Here they were, two sleep-deprived adults, one half-naked and the other brilliant, with IQs that, while impressive in their own rights, when put together rivalled even a good portion of Atlantis' inhabitants combined. They had both faced such intergalactic enemies as the Wraith, survived off world ambushes, and cheated fate more times then was strictly possible with virtually a new near-death experience every other week, and yet, here they stood, completely and utterly tongue-tied in each other's arms. Someone, somewhere, was definitely laughing at them.

Desperate to break the silence she opened her mouth, parting her lips and running the tip of her tongue over her suddenly parched lips, desperately willing words to come. "Radek... I-" she began again, only to cut herself off when he locked eyes with her again, fixing her with an openly heated look somehow seemed to make the sapphire shade of his bright baby blues even more noticeable. She realised that it was very likely that no words could explain what she wanted to express. At a loss, she straightened, wriggling slightly in his arms until she faced him.

"Oh hell! Look, I just-" she exclaimed, finally throwing caution to the wind and giving in to that little voice inside her that was screaming for her to take action. She moved forward, broaching that small space between them in the only way she was sure would bring her feelings across, by leaning in and capturing his lips in a desperate kiss....

*Czech Translations:

- "Co je?" = "What?"

- "Ježiši! Si ze mě děláte srandu,"= "Jesus! You have got to be kidding me!"

- "Jo! Jo! Už jdu, vydržte!" = "Yes! Yes! I am coming, hold on!"

- "Do prdele,"= "Oh shit.."

- "Kruci,"= "Damn"

- "To není nic svaté?!"= "Is nothing sacred?!"