MGM owns all characters except OCs mentioned.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews and Betherdy Babe for Beta.
Once Rodney finished changing the environmental controls and encrypting the program so they could not be reversed for the next week, he looked back at the tablet on his desk. No way I trust where that's been.
An idea came to his mind and he smiled. Tapping his earwig, he said, "Jennifer?"
"Go ahead Rodney. How's the help desk? I'm afraid I can't print and don't know what this blinking thing on my laptop is. It looks like a cylinder?" the voice he loved said back to him.
Hearing the smile in her voice, he could not help but play along. "Do you need me to come to the infirmary to help you out Doctor Keller?"
Jennifer was quiet a moment and Rodney realized he didn't sound cool at all. Probably more like a pathetic man desperate to see her.
"I hope I don't need silly computer problems for you to visit me," Jennifer said with laughter in her voice.
Letting out his held breath, he continued, "I meant what I said about the hot water, so please don't make me torture you with cold showers." As soon as the words came out, he really had to hold in a groan as his head dropped into his hands. What a stupid thing to say? Jennifer and a shower is the last thing you need to be thinking about.
"You would do that to me?" she asked.
"Of course not, I, uh, I was..."
"Rodney, I'm afraid I'm pretty busy and not on duty, so what did you need?" she asked with trepidation in her voice.
"I need gloves."
"Gloves?"
"Yeah, like you use. A box of them. I realized these computers people bring in are covered with all kinds of... of disgusting germs and stuff," Rodney cringed at the thought of what might have happened with Sheppard's computer.
"Okay, I'll have some delivered to you and hand sanitizer," she said. "That way you'll be spared yet another trip to the infirmary."
"Thanks. You're a lifesaver," he said. I love you. Stop it or you're going to say it out loud one of these days and then what? She'll never speak to you again.
The intercom on the desk buzzed announcing Rodney's first call to the help desk. Looking at the screen, he saw it was from the botany lab. Oh, hell, what do they want? The botanists despised Rodney for breaking up with Katie.
"Hello, is this Elisa or Heather?" a male voice said in a happy tone.
"Neither. Who is this?" Rodney barked.
"Doctor Parrish? Who is this?"
"Your boss's, boss's boss. Now what's your problem?" Rodney was in no mood for some incompetent who does not practice science to bother him.
"Doctor McKay!"
"Yes, what's your problem. You're wasting my time, which is much more valuable than yours, and your time, which I know you don't use to it's full potential, so get on with it." Rodney's annoyance with his teammates, Woolsey's stupid idea and his own ineptitude with the woman he loved came out on this botanist.
"Uh..." he said tentatively. "I'm sorry... I..."
"I don't really care, so get on with your problem."
"When I print my document, only the first page prints out. The second page is blank, but I typed a lot of text on it."
"How do you know?" Rodney was fed up already. A printing problem! I just knew it.
"I transcribed my field notes from P3X998. We found a plant that survives by reproducing every ten years when a solar flare..."
"Do you seriously think that I, with an IQ of two hundred and five and a degree in astrophysics, gives a damn about plant reproduction?" he snapped. "Now, let me log into your computer. In the lower right screen, there's an icon with your IP address..."
Rodney spent five minutes poking around in Parrish's computer remotely and could not get the second page to show any text. He tried typing on it, but nothing showed up on the screen. To admit defeat in front of a junior member of the Science and Research department was too much for him to take so he battled on.
"Oh..." Parrish's voice sounded over the intercom.
"What!" Rodney growled.
"I see what I did," he said sounding sheepish.
"What! What did you do?" Rodney looked over the screen and could not see anything out of the ordinary.
"I selected white font. If I highlight and now select automatic," Parrish said as he began moving the mouse on the screen to the font menu and sure enough, white was selected. "Sorry to bother you Doctor McKay. I hope you enjoy your day at the help desk."
Once it was obvious the botanist disconnected, Rodney screamed in frustration and rage. White font! White font! What idiot programmers put white font on the computer?
TBC
A/N:Thanks Scr1 for your great help Desk problem you had to solve in real life ;-) I should mention, these are all problems that my fellow writers and I faced in our various Help Desk roles during our careers. Apologies to botanists everywhere. This is Rodney, not me, talking ;-)
