Okay…I know I said that I wouldn't do much in the whole Keller and McKay thing, but the hopeless romantic in me just wouldn't let it slide. I do promise however, that hockey will commence in the next chapter, complete with pucks, pads, sticks and damage to persons and property.

Thanks Kipling-Nori. You're as great a beta as you are a writer, and you're an awesome writer.

Thanks to everyone who is still keeping up with this and to those of you who have reviewed.

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Sam sat at her desk reading over the joint report just submitted by John and Rodney. It was odd enough that they both agreed on something like this so exactly, but for the both of them to actually stand in front of her in patient silence while she read their report was astonishing. There were no barbs, no comments, no impatient scuffling of feet and no sounds of any kind coming from either of them.

It was a little unnerving.

Sam put the report on her desk and cleared her throat, instantly attracting the attention of both men before her. "If only it were that easy all the time," she thought with an inward chuckle. To them she asked, "So you both agree that the planet is a bust?" She raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her chair. "You don't believe there's a need to send a scientific team just to be sure?"

Sheppard glanced to Rodney standing at his left to make sure that they were in agreement, and after Rodney looked at him and nodded he looked back to Sam and said, "Nope. Lorne's team did a thorough sweep and nothing out of the ordinary popped up."

"And the Ancient database lists the planet as having no value in energy production and no strategic worth," added Rodney quickly. "According to the database the only reason they put the Stargate there was just to have one in that area of the galaxy, but they never even bothered to setup any sort of camp or facility there. While I'm not usually one to blindly trust the database, especially in light of the fact that the database is thousands of years old, there's nothing in the scans Lorne's team did to indicate that there is anything worth the effort of investigating."

Sam took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "All right, if you both agree then we won't bother with it." Both men nodded with what looked to her to be relief. "Anything else?"

Again, McKay and Sheppard turned to each other for an instant before turning back to her and simultaneously saying, "No."

She smiled at their synchronicity and spread her arms out in front of her in a gesture of dismissal. "See you later then."

She managed to hold in her amused laughter at how quickly they both tried to vacate her office until they were well out of earshot.

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"You know," said McKay as he and Sheppard made their way through the control room, "I'm surprised you never asked for a driving range or some putting greens."

Sheppard shook his head as he stepped around a technician as he worked on one of the panels. "Nah. Why bother with that when I can just launch some balls off the balcony of my choice?"

Rodney nodded. "Yes, well that's true I suppose."

They turned the corner and Sheppard asked, "Where are you headed now?"

"Back to 14B after I stop by the Infirmary and check..." Seeing Sheppard's half grin Rodney stopped his answer and asked his own question, "What?"

Sheppard looked at Rodney and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Nothing," he stated unconvincingly. After a moment he said, "Well, it seems odd that you'd willingly be going to the Infirmary when you aren't, you know, dying." He smiled slyly at McKay. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you didn't see Keller, I mean Jen, at lunch would it?"

"No!" exclaimed McKay more defensively than he would have liked. At Sheppard's dubious look he explained, "I just wanted to see how many people have shown interest in hockey to try to figure out exactly how much space is going to be needed for the stands. Doctor Keller," he said with pronounced exaggeration, "is in charge of collecting and processing that information." Rodney gestured with his hand to emphasize the point. "So there is a perfectly logical explanation for going to see her." Rodney grunted and added, "So there."

Rodney continued walking, positive as he ever had been about anything that he had successfully made his point and feeling pretty good about it. He had gone perhaps ten or twelve steps when he realized that Sheppard was no longer walking alongside him. He stopped and, despite the lurch in his stomach telling him that he was most certainly going to regret it, turned around to find Sheppard.

The way Sheppard had his right hand resting casually on his sidearm and his left hand pointing at him told him his stomach had been right on the money.

"You really do like her," said Sheppard.

Rodney's shoulders deflated and his eyes closed in frustration and an attempt to stave off the numbing headache that Sheppard was becoming.

"What's the big deal, Rodney?" asked Sheppard, who had moved closer to him while he had his eyes closed. When Rodney looked at him he asked quietly, "Seriously. You like her and she seems to tolerate you better than most. What's the problem?"

Rodney turned around and resumed his trek to the Infirmary, but before he turned the next corner he stopped, turned around and said, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Colonel."

Sheppard watched his friend walk around the corner and hoped for his sake he'd get this one right.

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"Soccer?" he asked incredulously. "You can't be serious!"

Keller rested her right elbow on her desk and settled her chin on her right hand in turn. "Very serious," she replied with a grin. She looked across her cluttered more than usual desk and nearly burst out laughing at the look of open-mouthed disbelief on Rodney's face. "There has been more than a passing interest shown in soccer." She raised a playful eyebrow at him as she quipped, "Even more than hockey. And let's just say that people have been somewhat…adamant…that we consider it."

"Soccer?" Rodney repeated. "A soccer field is," he shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea how big a soccer field is, but I guarantee it's too big for us to set up in Atlantis."

"You have no idea?" asked Keller, a hint of teasing lacing her voice.

Rodney grunted and leaned back in his chair. "Even geniuses don't know everything."

Keller nodded and moved her right hand to turn her laptop's display towards Rodney. "I've taken the liberty of looking it up for you, as well as the dimensions for a cricket field." As he leaned in closer for a quick look she said, "You're right about it being too big; they both are."

Rodney found the dimensions of the soccer field on the screen and quickly did the calculations in his head. "Hmn…too big." He leaned back and said with a smug smile, "Too bad."

"I don't think you'll lose any sleep over it," commented an amused Keller.

Rodney looked up, and despite his usual inability to discern whether or not someone, especially someone of the fairer sex, was being serious or not he easily saw that she was teasing him.

"Ha-ha," he said with a small smile.

"But you don't have to worry about it," she said and Rodney looked at her questioningly. "Apparently some of those who suggested cricket and soccer realized that size was an issue and found alternatives." She reached over and pushed a button on her laptop.

Rodney studied the screen again and, only because Jennifer was sitting across from him, managed to suppress his groan of disgust so that it came out of his mouth as a whimper. "Indoor soccer and indoor…cricket?" He looked up to her and asked, "Indoor cricket? Are you kidding me?" When she shook her head he turned his attention back to the screen. "Crap! An indoor soccer field is about the same size as a NHL rink." He sat back and sighed. "Any other suggestions or do I dare ask?"

Keller gave a short laugh as she turned her laptop back towards her and punched up another file. "Let's see. A few people are asking if it would be possible to install a swimming pool for swimming," she looked up to him and grinned, "and water polo."

"Water polo?" Rodney shook his head. "Not a chance. If I can't get my ice there's no way Sam would go for a pool."

Keller nodded in agreement and looked back to her screen. "Volleyball, rugby, tennis and badminton are just a few." She chuckled before saying, "Colonel Sheppard has sent me at least a dozen requests for football."

Rodney folded his arms across his chest and grunted in amusement. "Thank God there isn't an indoor variation for football. Sheppard would be in his glee."

Keller cleared her throat meaningfully to attract Rodney's attention, and when she got it she reached over and brought up another page on her laptop.

"Oh come on!" groaned Rodney before leaning over to verify what Jennifer's sympathetic look and his gut were telling him. "Indoor football," he read off the screen, "adapted to be played on a NHL sized rink." He collapsed back and rubbed his temple with his right hand in what turned out to be a vain attempt to stave off the sledgehammer going off in his head. "There will be no end to the gloating."

"I'm sorry, Rodney," and she sounded like it.

He sighed and nodded his appreciation, all too aware that he hadn't issued his habitual scathing retort about sympathy and the uselessness of it. While his mouth still often operated without consent or direction from his brain around her, he definitely managed to hold it in a lot more than he used to or would with other people.

"I better get back to the," his eyes found hers and the concern shining in them engulfed his thought process, "thing, where I have to go with the thing I have to finish." He swallowed the lump in his throat that had appeared out of nowhere and nearly vaulted out of the chair. He stood there between the chair and Jennifer's desk, unable to do something as simple as decide which way to go around his chair to make it to the door. He finally conquered that monumental decision and maneuvered around what had become an impediment with the grace of a tank, striking his right knee painfully against the metal frame.

He managed to limp to the door with what little dignity he had left and gripped the doorframe with his left hand, hoping that she didn't notice that he was holding it so tight that his knuckles were turning white. He took a deep breath and turned back to Keller. "Thank you, Jennifer," he managed through clenched teeth. "Let me know when you have a report ready on the sports so I can, you know, figure out the details and, well, you know."

She leaned forward and braced her hands on her desk, ready to jump up and check on him if necessary. "Rodney, do you need…"

Rodney stood up straighter and shook his head in an emphatic no. "See you later, Doctor."

Jennifer leaned back in her chair and shook her head in amusement. "Of all the men in Pegasus, Jennifer," she said as smile spread across her face. "You sure can pick them."

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"What's wrong with your leg?" asked Zelenka as Rodney hobbled up to join him.

Rodney decided that the best course of action was to ignore the question. He held his hand out and after a very brief moment one his staff pushed a tablet into his waiting grasp. As he punched in his own super encrypted code to gain access to the system he asked, "Where are we?"

"The boards seem stable," replied Radek, all too accustomed to having his questions unanswered. "We've been running objects of various sizes into it at varying velocities and angles and received only minor power fluctuations. Well within your operational parameters."

Rodney was still bringing data up on the tablet. "Yes, well, what did you expect? I did think this through you know." He lowered the tablet to his side and looked around. "And it all may be for nothing."

"What do you mean?" asked Zelenka as he looked up from his own tablet.

Rodney gestured to the room at large with his right hand. "There are all sorts of sports being bandied about, like soccer and football." He turned to Zelenka. "Let's face it, many of the people in the city are American. If it comes down to a popularity test between football and hockey, hockey isn't going to win. Hockey would probably even lose to soccer." Rodney walked past Zelenka and stopped in the middle of the room. "And according to the schematics, there is only one other room that has enough space to house an indoor football field. The problem is it would take a lot of extra effort to remove some bulkheads that protrude into the room."

"Rodney," said Zelenka carefully, unsure whether or not he should point it out, "isn't this why you developed the force field idea, so that the boards could be easily removed for other sports?"

Rodney whirled around to face Zelenka. "You didn't believe that nonsense did you?" he asked incredulously. "Of course not! I just thought it was cool and easier to do than build actual boards." Rodney shook his head and looked to the section he had planned to use for the stands. "Yes, it would be easier to remove if we needed the room, but I hadn't actually anticipated needing the room. There are other rooms that are big enough for tennis, volleyball and a number of other things, but I didn't…I had no idea…seriously, indoor football and indoor soccer?" He sighed in defeat. "There's no chance of getting the ice surface now."

Radek looked confused. "I thought you said Colonel Carter said…"

"Yes, I know what I said," interrupted Rodney loudly, drawing glances from others working around the room, "and I know what she said. At least there was still a chance, but now…now there isn't."

The two scientists stood there for several minutes, each quietly contemplating the situation and each oblivious to Sheppard walking into the room and up to them.

"Do I even want to ask?" said Sheppard after looking back and forth between the two for nearly a minute.

"What?" demanded Rodney, only noticing Sheppard for the first time since he walked in. "What do you want now?"

Sheppard raised his eyebrows at McKay. "Easy, Rodney. I just came to see how things were going."

Rodney clamped his mouth shut and looked down to his tablet.

Sheppard gave Rodney an appraising look. The fact the Canadian hadn't said anything else was as close as he was going to get to an apology, and he knew it. When Keller called to tell him that Rodney hadn't taken the news about the wide assortment of sports being asked for well, he knew that coming here was going to be interesting.

"Apology accepted," said Sheppard with a grin, eliciting a bitter look from Rodney. "What got you in such a bad mood? Looks like the…thing…is getting there. Why be such a grump?"

"I don't want to talk about it," declared Rodney. "I have better things to do than stand here and try to explain to you the complexities of…"

Sheppard held up his hands. "You don't have to, believe me." Sheppard folded his arms across his chest a fixed Rodney with a stern stare. "Get over it, Rodney. You knew there'd be other sports and you knew space was limited."

Rodney opened his mouth to retort that it was none of his business when Sheppard plowed on.

"And, just out of curiosity," said Sheppard, "when was the last time you were on skates?"

Rodney slowly looked to Sheppard. His look must have said it had been at least twenty-five years, because before his eyes a grin the likes of which he had seldom seen before spread across the Colonel's face.

"That's what I thought," Sheppard said triumphantly. "So for the love of God, forget the ice and move on. How much time do you think we're all going to have to play anything other than dodge the Wraith stunner anyway? The only reason you've been able to get into this as much as you have is because things have been quieter than usual."

"He has a point," thought Rodney sourly. "Damn him." To Sheppard he said, "Fine."

"And about football," added Sheppard humorously, "I wouldn't worry too much about it." At Rodney's furrowed brow and blank look Sheppard jutted his chin up towards the ceiling. "I don't think the ceiling is high enough…it's barely high enough for hockey. The only other room available that has a high enough ceiling isn't big enough for the field."

Rodney looked up and for the first time really noticed that the ceiling wasn't as high as he thought it was.

"Anyway, kids," said Sheppard as he started walking to the door, "I've got work to do. Have fun."

Rodney watched Sheppard leave and then turned to Zelenka. "I have to get these force fields fine-tuned. Hopefully Doctor Keller will have some numbers by tomorrow that will tell me what I need to do to get some stands put into place." He brought up a schematic of the room and showed it to Zelenka. "We should erect a low level shield to protect the spectators from ricochets and errant shots. Oh, and the scoreboard needs to be done. Wait until you see what I've got planned for that..."

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"It's not healthy to be eating that much sugar this late at night, Rodney. You should be in bed."

Rodney looked up from the bowl of blue Jello that had been miraculously waiting for him when he staggered into the vacant Mess and found Keller looking at him with a mischievous frown upon her face. She was still in uniform, which told him that despite her playful scolding about it being late, she had yet to go home and change into off duty garb.

Rodney left his spoon in the half empty bowl and leaned back in his chair. "And what are you doing here if it's so late? Hmn?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "Looking for you, actually."

"Oh."

Jennifer sat down in the chair next to Rodney and placed a tablet on the table in front of her. "This," she said as she indicated the tablet by placing her hands upon it, "is what we've come up with so far." She turned to look at him. "And by 'we' I mean myself, Colonel Carter, Colonel Sheppard, Chuck and Major Lennox."

Rodney felt the frown long before he even thought about doing it. "Lennox?" He thought about it and began snapping his fingers repeatedly when it hit him who the man was. "The new British officer who keeps twirling his mustache like he's a villain from a bad spy movie? Why him?"

"Variety," she answered after a small chuckle. "Sam, John and I are Americans, so we wanted another opinion." She saw the hurt look flash across his face before he managed to hide it behind a look of frustration and anger. "We tried calling you but Doctor Zelenka said you didn't want to be disturbed."

Rodney nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, I remember. I was working on the programming for the scoreboard."

Jennifer smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. "At any rate, besides Chuck he was the first non-American we could find that had an opinion." She slid the tablet over in front of him, careful not to tip over his desert. "Care to take a look?"

Rodney looked at the offered tablet as though it was going to bite his hand. "Not particularly," he finally said after a moment of pause.

Jennifer gave him a little tsk-tsk of disapproval and reached over with her right hand to turn it on. An amalgam of numbers and words quickly glowed to life on the screen and Jennifer turned her body around in her seat so that she could get a good look at Rodney and gauge his reaction.

She wasn't disappointed.

When he leaned forward and focused on the data on the screen his eyes darted back and forth, up and down across the screen with such a quickness that she couldn't help but be reminded of some of the cartoons she used to watch on Saturday mornings as a child. It was simple to tell when he finally grasped the meaning of what the information was trying to tell him: his eyes stopped moving and opened as wide as she had ever seen them, and his mouth opened and closed several times without saying anything.

She couldn't help but smile at the scene.

Rodney pointed to the tablet and turned to look at her but still didn't say anything.

Jennifer nodded. "Hockey is popular and approved," she said but held up her finger warningly as she added, "with certain conditions laid out by the CMO." She lowered her hand and folded her hands together in her lap. "We had to approve it," she added playfully. "It seems someone has been working pretty hard to get a hockey rink up and running." She noticed the rapid upturn in the corner of his mouth and smiled. "Basketball, soccer and tennis are also in, and a number of other sports that I'm guessing you wouldn't be interested in as they aren't going to impact your rink," she said with a knowing grin, and was rewarded with a shameless nod. "Football," she said, amused by the instant loathing that spread across his face, "was discussed. Colonel Sheppard just couldn't get past the ceiling issue, complaining that if you couldn't get a good kick-off, punt or long bomb that it just wasn't the same."

He just sat there for a moment looking over the information on the screen. Jennifer waited patiently and nearly fell off her chair when he jumped up so quickly that he sent his chair flying into the table behind them.

"I've got to go and get some sleep if I'm going to get the rink finished! The score board needs to be finished and the shield emitters need to be placed around the benches and the stands…"

Jennifer watched as Rodney walked past her on his way to the main door of the Mess, going on and on about what was left to do and what it was going to take to get it done. When he disappeared through the door she turned around and turned off the forgotten tablet on the table and sighed. She was very happy that she had been able to brighten his day, especially after their meeting earlier. She was still thinking about his reaction when a soft ahem startled her.

She turned to her left and nearly did a double take when she saw Rodney standing next to her. His face was slightly flushed and his hands were in his pockets, and even though he was looking straight at her he didn't seem to actually be seeing her.

"Rodney?"

His eyes focused onto hers when she spoke his name. "I wanted to…I mean I didn't…" He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Thank you for bringing this to me at this late hour," he said with a calmness that was eerie coming from a man that was usually anything but calm. "You really didn't have to."

Jennifer smiled, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the expression of gratitude or simply the fact that he'd realized he hadn't thanked her in the first place. "I wanted to," she said, "and you're welcome."

He smiled at her, warmly and with sincere appreciation she thought, and then the damnedest thing happened: she yawned. It came out of nowhere and she only just managed to get her right hand up to cover her mouth as it opened.

She smiled apologetically at Rodney. "Sorry." Instead of seeing amusement on his face as she had expected, she saw concern. "What?"

"You should be in bed," he announced with absolute certainty. He held out his left hand to her. "Come on…I'm taking you home."

The right side of her mouth edged upward despite her attempt to keep it from doing so, and it wasn't lost on McKay. She watched him as he stood there for a second, his hand still reaching out to her, and just kept from laughing out loud when a look of sheer panic danced across his face. He pulled his hand back towards him and stuffed it back in his pocket in the blink of an eye. It was about then that the stammering started.

"Your home, I mean, not my home. Why would I take you to my home when you have your own perfectly comfortable home?" His eyes opened wide and he moved his hands from his pockets and held them up to tell her that wasn't exactly what he meant. "Not that I've ever been in your quarters or anything, I mean I haven't been invited so…not that I'm saying you're rude not to invite me because you really wouldn't have a reason to, and you're not rude…you're one of the nicest people I know. I'm just saying that you…," he pointed his right hand towards her and exclaimed indignantly, "you're enjoying this!"

Jennifer finally let herself laugh out loud. "Yes I am," she said when she finished.

"Well that's the last…"

"Rodney?"

"What?"

Jennifer held her right hand out to him and tilted her head slightly to the left. "Would you walk me home please?"

That took the wind out of his sails in a heartbeat and before he knew it he was reaching for her hand. He gently grasped her smaller hand in his and helped her up from her chair. They stood there for a moment, the space between them so insignificant that they could feel the other's breath on their face, and looked into each other's eyes.

It was Jennifer who unintentionally broke the spell they were under when her thumb gently caressed the top of Rodney's hand. The unfamiliar sensation that the simple gesture caused forced him to look down at the combined hands.

When he looked back up to Jennifer a moment later he cleared his throat and said, "We should get going then."

Jennifer nodded and hid her disappointment well when Rodney released her hand and reached over to retrieve her tablet from the table. To her surprise and his credit, he didn't pass it to her but held onto it himself in his left hand.

He smiled and held out his right arm to indicate the way out. "After you, Doctor."

She smiled and inclined her head in gratitude and started for the door. A second later he was beside her.

"So," she said as they walked side by side through the door, "tell me about this amazing scoreboard you've built."

A truly proud and genuine smile formed on his lips. "Well, I didn't actually build a scoreboard…"