See part one for the disclaimer and other important information.

Rodney enters his quarters that night with a bright smile despite the long day.

"You are three hours late," Radek looks annoyed.

"Yes-yes, we got sucked into yet another alien ritual. You'll never guess what happened."

"What?" Radek continues his pretence of being upset.

"They dyed Sheppard's face blue."

Zelenka tries to contain them, but the giggles come sputtering out.

"He's still in the infirmary—Carson's trying to remove it, but it doesn't look promising."

Rodney collapses onto the bed next to Radek scattering data discs and scanners. "Hey—I had those in order."

Rodney shrugs, pulling things out from underneath himself, "What are you doing on my bed anyway?"

"I don't have bed anymore, remember?"

"Right—right," he dismisses the thought, "How's Anezka?"

"Sleeping finally—she cried most of day."

"She missed me," Rodney concludes with a little smugness.

"Or she had stomach ache—she spit up on Kavanagh."

They burst out laughing again. The moment passes in silence with Rodney drifting off to sleep and Radek typing away on his lab top.

"Rodney go change."

"Wha," he mumbles groggily.

"You smell like ancient civilization."

"Whatever."

"Rodney!"

"Alright."

Rodney rolls out of bed and stumbles toward the bathroom. He comes back moments later in only boxer shorts, climbs under the cover, and shuts his eyes.

"Better?"

"Not really—but is tolerable."

"Go to sleep."

"I'm still working—particle accelerator produced intriguing results today."

"Tell me about it in the morning," Rodney begins to drift, snoring lightly as he enters unconsciousness.

Radek absentmindedly reaches over to stroke Rodney's hair causing Rodney to make a "mmm" noise in his sleep.

Radek wakes with a start-- his hand still in Rodney's hair. His eyes bleary attempt to focus on his screensaver, but the streaming binary code only gives him a headache. He closes the lab top and puts it aside to get some real sleep. He finds himself drawn to Rodney's mostly naked form. His hand casually lands on Rodney's stomach and his nose tickles the back of his neck. Radek considers that perhaps they need to talk about this. It would be nice to know what is going on.

Rodney wakes to the crying of his infant. He knows that means she is hungry. Rodney untangles himself from the Czech scientist--while still trying not to think about it.

A few moments later he holds Anezka while she has her middle of the night snack. His eyes drift back to Radek still curled in the same position. He thinks about how he fits right into that puzzle and how perfect it feels. He sighs. They were headed to this point anyway—that's how Radek had ended up on the mission in the first place—albeit unconsciously—Rodney didn't feel like being without the banter.

It would be Radek who wiggles his way into my life just like a parasite to zap my independence.

Anezka yawns around her bottle. Rodney moves quickly to burp her before she falls asleep. He crawls back into bed—a hand brushes his stomach and a nose tickles his neck—the puzzle complete.

The alarm goes off waking the sleepy pair with a start. Rodney rolls over to stretch and Radek lets out an umph at being smooshed. Radek scoots out form under the scientist who has no intention of moving until he's done stretching. They end up nose to nose-- neither of them moving other than heavy breathes—both of them are smart enough to realize that this is the moment. Radek lightly brushes his lips against Rodney's before getting pulled in by an over zealous tongue.

"Ack—Rodney, you taste like ancient civilization." Zelenka pulls back, scrunching up his face.

"You really help a guy's ego."

"Your ego does not need help—now go get clean."

Radek rolls onto his back, taking a moment to collect himself and then bounces up to get his daughter.

The morning routine continues without the usual underlying tension. Rodney has all the baby supplies packed by the time Radek is out of the shower.

He startles Radek with a spontaneous smug look. Radek snarky remark back to the look is smothered by the overzealous tongue. They break apart when Anezka start to squirm.

TBC

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