I'll be doing my take on the notoriously known meeting between the two in this one (which was originally in the show at some point, not as their first meeting though) and pray that you stick with me until the meet-and-greets are over so I can get to the more original things.

Thank you for the wonderul beta-ing job, DaniWilder! All things wonderful about the chapter are to be accredited to her please.

The McKeller Firsts

Chapter 2: First Infirmary Visit

The next night started similarly as the last. Rodney and Jennifer were enjoying the quiet silence enveloping them as they traced their fingertips across the already charted body of the other. Breath was splayed across warm yet trembling skin as Rodney drew his mouth up from her neck to her cheek, setting ablaze the easily angered inferno within, in order to reach its destination of her fluttering eyelids.

A soft kiss was brushed against them and Jennifer let out a breathy moan and asked, "Do you remember the first time we actually met?" Her arms pulled him closer as she leaned her head against his upper arm and chest as the rest of his arm encircled her upper back, rubbing it up and down.

"Yes. I can easily say you were the highlight of that day." Rodney looked at her as she mapped out exactly where on his chest his heart was beating the hardest with her adventurously trailing fingers. Her eyes stayed pleasurably closed and her breath evened out.

Jennifer smiled, as she was prone to with him around, and continued, "I never did ask Carson why he beat such a hasty retreat after pawning your splinter off on me. You've become my favorite patient; I wonder what he was so wound up about with you. I'd heard before that day that you allowed very few people to care for you, something that sure surprised me later on. Certainly your best friend could be trusted to treat you after all the time you'd known each other?"

"Wait, the splinter? I remember that day but I thought… Was it really the splinter that was my first excuse to come to the infirmary?" Rodney asked in confusion and with a fair amount of doubt through his scrunched up eyebrows.

"No," Jennifer replied resolutely, "that would have been me." Had she been younger Jennifer might have stuck her tongue out at him teasingly for his silly overlook of the apparent real reason of her shift starting, but she settled for smiling mischievously and giving him a playful kiss on the side of his chest.

He shrugged good-naturedly as he dropped the difference in views. "Can't argue with that logic."

Rodney then gave a short amused huff. "But yes, Carson was the only doctor I accepted and that was only to show our friendship an inch of trust. I always made sure my feelings on the subject were well known to him."

"Ow, ow, ow. What are you doing? Digging for gold?" Rodney growled as he quickly pulled his thumb away.

"Sorry, Rodney, I didn't mean ta hit'cha with the needle in the first place."

"Yeah right, four times isn't an accident," Rodney mumbled from his spot on the bed closest to the door. Under his breath Rodney continued his rant, "Can't get a simple splinter out, sadistic voodoo doctor…"

"Aye and what was that, Rodney? Who was the one ta get a splinter from a metal city anyway?" Carson quipped.

"You didn't give him many breaks did you?" Her head replaced her fingers' treasured place right above his calmly beating heart.

Rodney shook his head with a slight smile. "Not a one."

"You always did with me."

At the precise moment that the arguing stopped and the glaring began, Jennifer walked into the room to start her third night shift since arriving, hoping to get some research done. Stopped short a few feet in from the door by the defiant stare the nameless blue-eyed man was shooting her boss, she asked, "Bad time for a relief, Carson?"

"Not at all, love, perfect timing. Doctor McKay here needs some help with a very serious injury." The CMO rolled his eyes as soon as his back was turned to the physicist.

The Doctor McKay? I guess the rumor was true after all…

"Wait, what rumor?" Rodney stopped her in the middle of her explanation.

She stared warily at him, regarded any reactions he might have, and then looked away pointedly. It could be fun to keep this from him for a little bit. It would drive him insane.

"That bad, huh?" He joked, expecting her to correct him.

She was silent for a moment and then said, "Continuing with the story..."

"How can I help you, Doctor?" she asked with a barely reigned in smile at finally having inconspicuously learned who he was. Jennifer walked toward the bed he occupied and caught his achromatically shining blue eyes for the second time in her life. Carson thought it wise to not skirt the bush on this one for he disappeared out the door the moment attention was shifted elsewhere.

And attention was indeed not on Carson as Jennifer reached over to take Rodney's hand after crossing the few remaining steps to the bed. Two bright blue eyes widened as the newly arrived doctor brought the abused hand up to her eyes for a closer inspection.

"I swear you couldn't have looked more serious if you were down on one knee," Rodney stated matter-of-factly, obviously forgetting her lack of answer about the rumor floating around.

Her self-heating cheeks started up again with a smile to accompany the small tinge of coloring.

He grinned, "Then I finally learned your name, right?"

"Yes, of course you remember that part. It's coming up. I have to babble like you first though," she teased lightly, letting him know with a soft kiss on his neck that she loved every single babbling moment he'd ever given her.

"Uh, thank you, Doctor...ah…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself earlier. Don't know why I didn't, I normally do. I mean, it's not like there wasn't just a whole new medical team I had to introduce myself to a few days ago," she answered hurriedly. You can speak to him regularly you know, she inwardly groused at herself out of habit. The medical doctor took a deep breath and tried again to respond normally. "Keller, Jennifer Keller. And no problem, it'll just take a second." She kept a hold of his hand as she quickly turned to find a pair of tweezers and the needle from the kit Carson left lying open next to Rodney on the bed. He doesn't seem to mind the contact. However, Rodney's hand had to be released shortly after finding the correct tools in order for her to properly take out the splinter. She turned his hand with his fingertips up and, after gripping the needle in her left hand, rested her wrist upon his open palm. A brief look of fear crossed his face with the needle so close to his skin but it passed just as quickly. It seemed as if he was compensating for the lost visible sign of dread by closing his eyes so he didn't have to watch the second torturing of his poor thumb of the day.

The pressure of her wrist lifted and he opened his eyes. Jennifer turned away, taking the kit with her to pack it up and put it back in its place on the far side of the room by the sink.

"Either Carson killed all the nerves in my thumb or you're the best doctor here." There was sincerity in his face when Jennifer looked over at him with a small laugh and saw him holding his thumb up inches from his eyes, scrutinizing it for any speck of colors that didn't perfectly match his skin. "I didn't feel a thing, are you sure it's out?"

"Yes, I'm sure, but I'll double-check for you," she spoke without hesitation.

His widened eyes didn't fade as she leaned in toward him for a second time, studying his hand for any further bits of wood.

"I think you'll need a band-aid to help with the damage Carson did. It's bleeding a little, not enough for worry, just enough for a cartoon band-aid. Maybe a nice superhero one, I'm sure I have one lying around." She walked toward the counter holding all of the basic medical necessities and came back with two band-aids, one with cartoon heroes and the other with the normal bland color.

"You wouldn't dare."He eyed her, looking for any authenticity to her words.

"What? Not secure enough in your masculinity to wear a cute band-aid?" Jennifer teased.

"What if I said I thought the regular one was cute?" her patient countered.

"Then I guess I'll go put the manly band-aid away until you're ready to handle it, it does take a certain amount of skill and maturity to pull it off." Maybe he doesn't need it.

"Especially with Sheppard around…" Rodney agreed with a thoughtful nod as if it was the most normal of conversations. He gave her a momentary look. "If I had said yes to the other band-aid, what superhero would I have gotten?"

Jennifer took on a childishly thoughtful look. "Probably Spiderman. He's my favorite."Neosporin was placed on the regular band-aid as she worked over at the counter with her back to him.

There was a definite growl in his tone as he instantly dismissed the entire colorful band-aid idea. "Why do you have Sheppard band-aids anyway?"

"Sheppard band-aids?" She turned her head in his direction, curious at the substitution of words.

"I said Superhero band-aids," he covered lamely with a defensive snap.

"All right," Jennifer agreed to calm him down and then answered hesitantly, "I keep the band-aids around for any…person that I think deserves them."

"So anyone that comes in here with a lame injury such as a splinter gets one?" Rodney sarcastically guessed as she finally came over with the normal band-aid full of Neosporin and placed it on his thumb gently.

"Not exactly..."

He shrugged it off, apparently done playing the guessing game.

The doctor stole a quick look at Rodney when he went silent and saw him take a deep breath and fix a steadying gaze on the bed opposite his. It seemed to calm him so she stayed silent and turned around to throw away the little scraps left behind from the band-aid's wrapper.

"So what were those band-aids actually for?" Rodney questioned, waiting for an answer this time.

She gave a light shrug from her position draped over his chest. "I learned early on that guys can be…a bit crude at times so I was pulling them out as I made my judgment. Needless to say, you passed."

"Wait, you don't mean those band-aids were for every jerk that was rude or obnoxious to you?" The widened eyes returned in fear at the late realization. As the man interrupted, he pulled back a bit from the embrace they were sharing, upsetting the comfortable place her head had on his chest. "I wish I knew that sooner, I would have known which rooms to deep freeze," he added.

"Don't worry about it, Rodney. I obviously mistakenly took John's comment to heart when I…did you just say deep freeze?"

"What did John say?" he interrupted; curiosity getting the better of him as he scrunched his eyebrows at the thought of his friend putting him down to the new wave of people joining them on Atlantis.

"Nothing really, just that we, the new medical staff arriving I mean, were to avoid 'the arrogant, condescending genius of the science department at all costs.'"

"That's all he said? I get worse than that from him on a daily basis. Even Ronon gets better shots in at me. Fatman and Ronon," Rodney huffed, "I don't mind him insulting me because his IQ and rudimentary rhyming abilities demote the effect, but never, ever, use Batman as an insult."

The knowing woman laughed. Only Rodney could find an insult to his favorite superhero worse than an insult to himself. "What led him to that comment?"

"I was only suggesting that he could be my sidekick when I received my extra boost of intelligence, which I think I had the entire time, just didn't have the need or cause to access it yet. Anyway," he stopped himself from ranting, "it would have been like Batman and Ronon instead of Robin. He then irritatingly said it would be more like Fatman and Ronon if I kept eating like that. One donut, I only stole one donut from Carson," Rodney said with a hint of irritation.

Jennifer couldn't stop another short laugh from surfacing. The hand lying over his heart slid its way over to his faultlessly shaped stomach, flexing its fingertips along the surface contently. "I don't see anything wrong with it. Perfectly flawless if you ask me." Her eyelids started to cover her line of sight as they dropped down to her lower lashes.

"Right, try telling my team that." Rodney's chest rumbled with the snorted words.

"I'm sorry but unless they've seen you naked, I think I have top say on that one," she replied with a tired chuckle. "And I'm sorry for paying Sheppard any attention with that comment." Jennifer snuggled her cheek further against him.

"Rookie mistake, we all make them," he sighed at how smooth she felt against his chest.

That shocked the young woman lying quite comfortably on top of him. Her head lifted to find his eyes. "Even you?"

"Yes, I made one right there including myself in that generalization," Rodney replied with a mischievous smirk.

"We'll have to work on that humble approach," Jennifer mumbled, raising a corner of her mouth in amusement. She leaned up to give him a lingering kiss good night, laid her head back down and closed her eyes. It satisfied her to fall asleep with his body pressed warmly against her cheek, her hand resting lightly on his stomach and his arm running along her back lightly.

I'm sorry for the long wait for the next chapter. Finals came up and you know how that goes... Anyway, thank you for reading the new chapter, more will come sometime in the (hopefully) near future now that school's out.