Disclaimer: see chapter one.

Everyone in the room turned their heads to Rodney McKay, as he cringed slightly under their collective gazes.

It took a few milliseconds for him to gather up his courage so that he could address the room, which the Atlantis Expedition Team members found peculiar, as Rodney had never been one to hold back an opinion, whether it was the right time for it or not. But to Jet and the othesr, this was just classic, normal, everyday, Rodney McKay behaviour.

Correction, classic 'McKay' behaviour.

The room watched as various expressions crossed his face, from a slight frown, to complete bafflement, all in a few seconds.

"Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, which seemed to pull him out of his own, relatively small, world. His eyes first went to Elizabeth, whose face held a slight questioning glance, as though to ask him if he was all right.

He nodded slightly, before turning to face the rest of his team. Seeing the same look upon their faces prompted him to nod again, deeper this time, as though he were not just convincing his team mates of his well being, be it physical or mental, but himself.

"It's my journal, but she never went anywhere near my room. But…" Rodney's voice drifted off as he looked towards Elizabeth, whose thoughts seemed to be on the same wavelength as his at the moment. (A/N: Poor girl!)

"Go," she firmly stated, and at her phrase, Rodney was out of his chair like a bullet, causing it to fall down as he basically ran out of the room, (like he was very desperate for the bathroom), and down the stairs, (barely missing a young soldier who was standing at the bottom of the staircase), pausing only to let the automatic doors open, then slide shut again as he left.

Everyone's gaze had followed him as he'd left, but now they were turned back to the opposite group.

Elizabeth leaned to the side slightly, and picking up Rodney's fallen chair, and leaving it out for him, turned her gaze casually to the opposing group spokesperson, who just as casually returned it.

"And now we wait," Elizabeth declared to the room, deliberately ignoring Ford asking Major Sheppard just exactly what it was they were waiting for. If John replied, she didn't hear it.

"And now we wait," Shadow echoed softly, with a sense of finality.

It was less than five minutes later that a red faced, panting, slightly sweating Rodney McKay entered through the now open doors that shut behind him as he walked further into the room, carrying a book in his left hand.

He walked over to the desk directly in front of Shadow, and gesturing to the book he carried, then to the one on the desk, resting under her right hand, placed his on the desk.

Noticing his further glances at the book in Shadow's possession, Jet gently gave Shadow a mental tap, distracting her from her unconscious staring match with Elizabeth, and drew her attention back to the matter at hand.

Shadow then hesitantly nudged the journal under her hand towards Rodney, and as soon as her hand left it's vicinity, he immediately pulled it closer, and opened both front covers of the journals, and a second later, a sharp, "Aha!" filled the tense atmosphere, as the covers slammed shut.

"'Aha!' good or 'Aha!' bad?" came the voice of Major John Sheppard, as he attempted to see the desk that Rodney's body was concealing without actually trying to. Sadly for him though, he hadn't suddenly developed x-ray vision.

"Exactly the same, even though theirs is a little more war torn than I would have expected of myself. Right down to the coffee mug stain I accidentally made on it this morning. No doubt about it now, they're telling the truth."

Rodney had been walking back to his chair with his journal, (the one he had just retrieved from his room), in hand. By the time he was saying the last four words, he had been about to sit down on his chair.

The shock, however, decided to set in immediately, and instead of sitting, he collapsed, sprawling and floundering as the chair rose on two legs slightly, only to fall back down with a small thump as he leaned forward.

Fortunately for him, no one from his team (most importantly the Major, who would have teased him for days without end) had seen his lapse in balance, as the shock had grabbed each of them also. But from the slight smirks some of the other group wore, he knew that this moment, however fleeting, would be long remembered.

Rodney crossed his arms in defiance, and tilted his chin upwards as though to as, 'What you looking at?' He then ruined the whole look by slouching slightly into the chair, only to rise back up after a few seconds. Jet sympathised with him, these chairs were definitely not made for slouching.

He frowned slightly, his temper starting to rear it's ugly head, and everyone knows that a sarcastic Rodney McKay on it's enemy's turf with no surprises could make even the strongest man cry if he wanted to, using that sharp, sarcastic nature everyone knew he had. But invaders on it's own home turf, that was a whole new ball game.

"Fine, you're telling the truth. Just who are you all?" Rodney had managed to surprise even himself with the amount of snarkiness that had come out with that statement, and the sudden sharpness of his voice, as well as the phrase itself, seemed to recall the other Expedition members out of their cotton coated, cloud covered world.

Shadow started to open her mouth to begin the introductions, the acerbic nature suddenly shown towards her phasing her not the slightest, having gotten used to it, because everyone knows that when you put a bunch of Becketts, McKays, and Sheppards together, some supernatural occurrence will make sure that they all share each others habits, both good and bad. A quick hand that grasped her wrist, followed by an even more quickly explained reason, stopped her from doing that.

If he were the commander of their rag-tag group, no matter what his real military rank was, he would be the one to introduce them all. "Besides," he quickly pathed to her, "I need you to operate the cameras. I can't wait to see their reactions! We'll have to show the others later."

"Neither can I Sir, neither can I," she responded.

Well, well, look what the cat dragged in! I'm back people! Sorry it's been so long, but personal problems have prevented me from reaching a computer, especially one that has the internet. So please forgive me, please? PLEASE? Feel for me people, I've gone from having broadband, with a big ass desk to work off of, to this itty-bitty, no writing space desk and a computer with only a dial-up connection. Catch you all on the flip side.
Phoenix Lumen, the Phoenix of Light.