Disclaimer: Nope, still not ours.
Authors' Note: Exploded Pen and The Libran Iniquity would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone profusely for reading and reviewing the first part of this story (although why we're doing so in the third person is beyond both of us...). Seriously, we're thrilled you're loving this so far, hope you enjoy the next chapter :)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Chapter One
Two days after the final confrontation with Kolya in the control room, Elizabeth was still trying to deal with the fallout of the Genii's attempt to take Atlantis. She'd had report after report from Beckett and the medical team, detailing exactly what Kolya's men had managed to take with them from the infirmary stocks before the Stargate had deactivated, and there was still no word from Rodney and the other scientists as to when parts of the city would be completely free from the electrical charge that had powered up the shields.
A knock at the office door pulled Elizabeth out of her thoughts. She looked up and smiled. "Rodney. How are things going?"
The smile quickly disappeared as Rodney entered, shutting the door behind him. The man standing in front of her looked tired and haggard, and involuntarily Elizabeth found herself glancing quickly to the knife wound on his arm, hidden underneath layers of t-shirt and jacket.
"Have you been to see -" she began.
Rodney cut her off quickly. "Elizabeth, I need to talk to you."
God, he didn't even sound right.
Elizabeth quickly got up from behind the desk, and walked over to where Rodney was still standing stiffly. She touched him lightly on his uninjured arm. He jerked away from the contact, staring down at the floor.
"Rodney?" Elizabeth asked, genuinely concerned now.
He didn't look up from his analysis of the floor. "I want to be taken off the team."
Elizabeth stared at him in confusion. Frowning, she tried to reach out for him again. "Have you talked to Major Sheppard about it?" she asked him, trying to make eye contact but failing. "I... is this about what happened with the -"
"I just want off the team!" he snapped, finally looking up, and Elizabeth was compelled to step backwards. There were lines around Rodney's eyes that hadn't been there before the storm, and something in his eyes that she'd never seen there before. "Look," he continued, calming down, though not by much, "I've been thinking about it, and... I want to be taken off Major Sheppard's team."
Elizabeth continued staring at him. After the initial outburst, Rodney's voice had calmed down so much he could have been asking for an extra few hours to examine another section of the city, or delivering a morning status report. Not... not this.
In front of her, Rodney sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. Suddenly he just seemed tired and haggard again. "I just want out, Elizabeth," he said quietly, pleading now.
"Want out of what?"
Rodney jerked around as if he were on fire, panic flaring briefly in his eyes as he realised who was behind him. Elizabeth, catching the reaction, looked over Rodney's shoulder at the newcomer.
"Elizabeth," John Sheppard nodded, stepping clear inside the office. "McKay," he added as an afterthought.
John's gaze flickered between the two as he took in the lack of response to his greetings. "Uh... is this a bad time?" he asked finally, speaking to nobody in particular.
There was another short spell of silence before Rodney looked back at John, staring almost defiantly at him. "You need to find yourself another scientist, Major," he said shortly. "I'm off the team."
And with that he brushed past John and stalked out of the office.
Elizabeth took a deep breath in as John turned on her. "Doctor Weir?" he began, all pleasantries gone now. "Care to tell me what the hell just happened?"
"I – I'm as surprised as you are," Elizabeth replied, watching Rodney's retreating form turn a corner and vanish out of sight beyond the main staircase. "He came in a few minutes ago and more-or-less announced that he wanted to be taken off your team."
"Wait a sec." John seemed confused now. "McKay said that?"
Elizabeth just nodded. Then, "He didn't seem... himself when he came in here," she said.
John pulled a face. "Take a look around, Doctor," he told her, gesturing outside to the Stargate and the personnel on duty in the control room. "None of us have been ourselves since the storm."
"I'm not the one you need to be telling that to," Elizabeth said quietly. "If Rodney wants to be taken off the team, then there's nothing I can do but make sure that happens."
"You're kidding me." John looked disbelieving.
"I'm sorry, Major," Elizabeth replied, clasping her hands behind her back. "It's standard operating procedure. Go talk to him," she added, her voice a little bit softer. "Figure out what's gone into this decision."
John didn't need to be told twice. He'd turned one-eighty, and was halfway down the corridor connecting the office to the control room before Elizabeth had time to blink.
She watched him turn the same corner Rodney had, though at a much faster speed, and was considering whether or not to radio the infirmary about Rodney's arm wound when there was another knock at her door.
Jerking herself out of her thoughts, Elizabeth forced herself to smile. "Doctor Grodin, what is it?"
Peter smiled, and stepped into the office. "The latest reports from Sergeant Bates about the flooded sections of the city," he said, holding out a PC tablet to her.
Elizabeth took them and sat back down behind her desk, motioning for Peter to take one of the other chairs.
o o o o o
John came to stop outside one of the transporters. McKay had managed to get away from him, despite the minute or so he had ahead of the major, and it irked.
There was a wall-based computer panel just beyond the transporter, and John walked over to stand in front of it. Instantly a map of Atlantis appeared, with various dots to represent the human inhabitants. There was no way of distinguishing between any of them – well, none that John had figured out yet, anyway.
John stared at the dots for a moment, and tried to recall the exact expression on McKay's face back in Elizabeth's office. "What would McKay do?" he asked the panel quietly. A second later he realized he'd asked himself the same question during the Genii's attack, and he smirked for a second.
Another second later, and the answer came to him.
Another second after that, and John was inside the transporter, on his way to the scientists' laboratories.
o o o o o
Down in Laboratory One, Radek Zelenka watched as Doctor McKay barrelled through the door, looking out of breath.
Eyes raised to what passed for heaven in the Pegasus Galaxy, Radek counted to five and waited for the explosion which he knew was the only thing that could follow the entrance anywhere of an out of breath Rodney McKay.
However... the explosion did not come. It did not come, and Radek could only watch in wonderment as McKay gave a cursory glare to Simpson and Kavanagh in the far corner before sliding down behind his own desk; he opened his laptop and quietly waited for it to boot.
There was maybe a full minute of silence, which was enough time for Radek to begin formulate theories as to why Atlantis' Chief Scientist was behaving so... oddly... before the laboratory door burst open again, this time revealing Major Sheppard. He was considerably less short of breath than McKay had been, but appeared to be in the same kind of mood as the scientist.
Sheppard made a beeline for McKay's desk, and leaned in over his laptop, hands splayed either side of the computer, leaning right in until his and McKay's heads were almost touching.
"I'm busy, Major," McKay ground out, just loud enough for Radek and the other scientists to hear. "What do you want?"
Sheppard's reaction was unreadable from this end of the lab, but Radek was aware of a two-way conversation between the two of them, much quieter after that initial outburst.
"Look!" Rodney shouted – making everybody in the lab jerk up from what they were doing. "If you want a scientist so badly, go ask Zelenka. God knows he needs the experience!"
As Sheppard twisted around to look at him, Radek blinked rapidly and tried to say something – anything – but he had barely opened his mouth when McKay continued. "In fact, I think that's a great idea. Congratulations, Doctor Zelenka, you're on Major Sheppard's team. Have fun and try not to die," he added, shutting down his laptop at the same time. He glanced first to the major, then to Radek, then back to Sheppard again. "Now if you'll excuse me, Major, I have to go. Places to be, cities to fix."
"Hey!" Sheppard shouted, grabbing onto the laptop to stop McKay leaving. "It's my team, McKay, and I am not accepting this until you give me a damn good reason why I should let you go!"
McKay shook Sheppard off, glaring at him. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out, Major," he retorted coldly before making for the door. He didn't say anything more.
"McKay!" Sheppard let out a frustrated grunt as his radio beeped. "What?" he snarled into the mouthpiece. "Can't it wait?... Fine, I'll be right there." He stalked out of the laboratory, and turned one way down the corridor. "This isn't over, McKay!" he shouted before turning the other way and disappearing out of Radek's line of sight.
A second later the lab door closed, and Radek was suddenly very aware that he was the centre of the other scientists' attention, and it made him strangely uneasy. In the far corner, Kavanagh said something to Simpson, all the while staring over at Radek, and smirked one more time before settling back down to the project he'd been working on before McKay and Sheppard had come in.
Radek stayed standing for a few moments longer. The mystery of McKay's initial odd behaviour had only been intensified after the encounter with Major Sheppard, and now it seemed as though Radek himself was to be caught in the middle of it – whatever it was.
And he had a growing suspicion that he did not want to find out.
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