The Scientist's Method - Chapter 2

"So, what did you learn?"

"Well, she definitely has you down, buddy."

"Can I please get that translated into something I'll understand?"

"She's noticed…things. Like what you do when you're nervous. What you say, or don't say. Things like that."

"Do I want her noticing that?"

"Why wouldn't you? It means she's paying attention, right? And attention is ultimately a good thing, Rodney."

"But what if she notices because it's annoying and blatantly obvious and she can't help but notice and be…annoyed?"

"Well…"

"So in that case the attention is not really a good thing. It's more like a bad thing, a really, really bad thing because the only reason I have that attention is because she'd want me to stop doing that thing that is causing the attention-getting in the first place."

"Rodney."

"What?"

"You're doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Exactly what she said you do when you're nervous."

"I am?"

"Yep."

"Oh. Then…that's a good thing, right?"

"Nope. It really is very annoying."

"Shut up."

"It's not that I'm afraid, per say. I mean it is me after all – Dr. Rodney McKay. That would be stu…silly. That would be silly, right?"

A vague head bob was the only response Rodney got from his companion.

"I'll take that as a yes. And I would agree. I've come face to face with some of the worst things you could imagine. Things I won't even mention because they would give you nightmares."

A rustle and a soft noise convinced Rodney that his companion took exception to the gentle handling.

"Don't get me wrong. I'd tell you, but I've stared evil right in its beady little eyes, laughed in its face and until you've done that, you won't even begin to understand some of the horrors I'm talking about here. I mean, I've still got nightmares and that's…you know…saying something."

"Rodney?"

Rodney's head jolted upwards and he spun around, hands clasped firmly against his stomach.

"Teyla. Hi." She didn't look mad, just surprised. Which, taking into account that she'd just found him conversing with her eight month old son, really should come as no shock to anyone. "Kanaan said you'd be back soon. He had some errands to run, so he asked me to wait here with Torren."

At her raised eyebrow and subsequent movement towards the playpen, Rodney felt the need to qualify his statement, "Don't worry. I didn't pick him up or even touch him. He seemed happy enough to chew on those toys as it was. Which, come to think of, should he be doing that? It can't really be all that sanitary."

Teyla moved to lift her son out of his playpen, smiling widely as he waved his newest favourite toy in her face, offering it to her to taste. She brought him in close, settling a soft kiss against the side of his head before turning to face Rodney.

"And was your conversation with my son enlightening, Rodney?"

"Illuminating," Rodney replied wryly.

Teyla studied the scientist, discreetly. Never one to remain still for very long, he was, nonetheless, oddly agitated; his hands were in constant motion, his eyes were unable to find purchase anywhere in the room, and Teyla had the distinct suspicion that, were she to glance down, she'd find Rodney shifting from foot to foot.

"Is everything alright, Rodney?"

"Yes." His eyes flickered away from her face. "Why wouldn't it be?"

With one last kiss and nuzzle, Teyla set Torren back down. She settled a few toys around him to keep him busy then proceeded to lead Rodney a few steps away and offered him a seat.

"You are obviously here for a reason, Rodney, and I do not think your intention was to play with my son."

Rodney smiled ruefully and looked down at his hands, hoping to escape Teyla's knowing gaze. Knowing it was impossible, he decided to finally do what he had come here to do in the first place.

"Did you…when you knew that you had…" Rodney shifted awkwardly on the couch, adamantly refusing to actually look at Teyla as he attempted to get the words through lips that felt oddly numb, "…feelings. When you realized you had feelings for Kanaan, did you…act differently?"

Teyla forced her expression to remain neutral. Although she burned with curiousity, expressing more emotion than Rodney was prepared to accept would surely scare him away. "Differently? I am not sure I know what you mean?"

He should've known it wouldn't be so simple. It appeared as if some elaboration would be necessary.

Rodney forced himself to breathe before continuing, "You know…" He lifted his eyes to Teyla's face and was met with a questioning stare. Obviously, she didn't. "Did you talk about him? Did you notice…things?"

Beginning to understand where Rodney was taking this line of inquiry, and developing a sense as to why, Teyla decided to put the fumbling scientist at ease.

Placing a comforting hand on his knee to stop its incessant motion, she smiled easily and reassuringly before settling back against the sofa cushions.

"I do not think I acted any differently around him," she mused.

In truth, she'd never really thought about their courtship. There hadn't been any time. It had all happened so fast and by the time she'd come to terms with her feelings, and her pregnancy, Kanaan had disappeared along with her people. She hadn't had the luxury of romance or fantasies.

"Although, you would have to ask Kanaan to be absolutely sure." At Rodney's strangled response, she patted his knee and grinned before continuing, "But I did notice things. I think, I noticed him more – how he moved and how he acted, what he would say and how he would say it."

"Because it annoyed you or…"

Teyla frowned and shook her head. "No, of course not." She paused for a moment and rethought that statement. "That is not entirely true. I noticed those aspects of his character, yes, but I did not mind them as much. I began to see him as so much more, and when I thought of all the good he was capable of, the bad did not seem as important a focus."

"On a scale of one to ten, how unimportant a focus would you say?"

Teyla angled her head in question. "Rodney? I do not mind your curiousity, but is there a reason for these questions?"

Eyes widening a fraction, Rodney attempted to maintain an expression of purely friendly interest. "Reason? No. No reason. We're professional colleagues, I know, but we're friends too, right? Friends show interest in their friends' lives, right?"

Smiling, Teyla inclined her head in silent agreement. "Of course." She leaned forward to cover his hands with one of her own. "And from one friend to another, may I give you some good advice a friend once gave me?"

At Rodney's hesitant nod, Teyla spoke softly, "Talk to her. Tell her how you feel."

"Her? Who her? I never mentioned a 'her'? Whatever gave you the impression that there might be a 'her' involved?"

Unable to remain still or seated any longer, Rodney shot up from the couch and paced the floor in front of Teyla. "Why can't this simply be a matter of harmless curiousity? Is it because I've never shown interest before? Is that it? Because while that may seem odd now, maybe I've changed."

Teyla quirked an eyebrow back at him.

Rodney stopped, placing both hands behind his back. "Why is that so unbelievable?" he asked, indignant at the implication.

Sighing, Teyla stood and placed her hands firmly on Rodney's tense shoulders, forcing him to face her. "Friends are also honest with each other, Rodney."

She felt him slowly deflate under her hands; his shoulders drooped and all the latent energy drained from his muscles. He fell back, rather than sat, onto the sofa. Leaning forward, he buried his face in his hands.

"Waf Idon noh ow?" Came the muffled response.

Settling herself once more beside Rodney, Teyla stared at the side of his head in puzzlement. "Rodney?"

Slowly lifting his head to rest his chin on his hands, he spoke more clearly, "What if I don't know how? Not the 'be honest' part," he clarified. "Although that comes replete with its own set of problems. I'm referring to the 'talking to her' part."

He turned his head to gaze with sad eyes at the Athosian woman. "You know I'm not exactly good with people. Well, I'm even worse with people of the opposite sex than I am with people in general. 'Talking to her' is only the best plan if I'm intent on alienating her for life. Which," he clarified. "Is not exactly what I had in mind."

"You underestimate yourself, Rodney."

"Oh really?" Rodney squinted his eyes slightly and glared back at Teyla. "Need I remind you what happened with Katie? The details are not pretty."

Teyla winced inwardly before placing a comforting hand on Rodney's shoulder. "But you were engaged in a relationship with her for some time."

"That only happened because Cadman was in possession of my body during our first date." Rodney sighed heavily and let his head fall back down. "Let's face it. I'm hopeless."

"No," Teyla snapped. She caught Rodney's chin in her hand and forced his head up, forced him to look her in the eye.

"No?" He echoed, confused and more than a little scared by the fiery sparks in Teyla deep brown eyes. He knew the Athosian woman could be fierce and had been kind of hoping to avoid that particular personality trait during this conversation.

"Where is the obscenely arrogant Dr. Rodney McKay I have grown to know these past five years?"

"I wouldn't say obsecen…" Teyla tightening her firm grip on his chin cut off that sentence before he could finish. "Ow," he protested meekly.

"The one who had a solution for everything, or at the very least, an answer?"

"Hey!"

Her grip on his chin softened and she moved both hands to his shoulders once more, lifting him from his slouched position to sit upright. Her eyes softened towards him as she spoke, "It does not matter what you say, Rodney. It does not even matter how you say it. All that will matter to her, if she knows you at all, is that you made the effort to say it at all."

Eyes wide, as if he were attempting to soak up all the wisdom she was prepared to give him through his pupils, Rodney sat, stunned into silence.

"Now," Teyla continued more gently than before as she proceeded to guide him up off the couch and towards the door to her quarters. "I believe you have somewhere else you need to be."

"Wait." Rodney dug his heels into the carpeting and turned back to face the small woman gently urging him on from behind. He looked down at her, a plea in his bright, blue eyes. "What if she doesn't feel the same way? How can I tell? Is there, like, a thing you females do with your hands or…or…something that I should know about? Some secret signal?"

Teyla sighed and patted him on the arm once more. "She feels the same way, Rodney. I am sure of it."

"Really?" Hope sprang back into those impossibly blue eyes and Teyla nearly laughed at the child-like expression on his face. "Like really the same way or only a little bit the same way. On a scale of one to ten, how sure would you say you are?"

Laughing now, Teyla spun him around and led him to the door.

"I am really, really sure she feels the same way," she declared before opening the door.

"Oh. Well then. That's something right?"

Still chuckling, Teyla watched as the physicist made his way out the door with a slight spring in his step. Shaking her head at his antics, she began to make her way to where Torren now lay sleeping in his playpen.

"Teyla?"

Teyla spun around at the sound of her name and found that same physicist framed in her doorway. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Are we talking about the same 'she'?

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