MGM owns SGA.

Part 3 is 400 words exactly.

McKeller Flash Fiction:

The World's Worst Pickup Line

Part 3

To John Sheppard the barroom was a battlefield, and his dating lessons combat training. Lesson one: First impressions are key. Lesson two: Dating is a numbers game. Lesson three: Confidence breeds success. Lesson four: Outperform the competition. But this was no one-day seminar to success. Basic training took weeks not hours. You don't send recruits into battle without a commander, and you don't release a socially inept nerd into the dating pool alone.

That's why Sheppard pulled McKay back when he started toward the blond. As despondent as he was, he was in no condition to wage war against so formidable a foe. She'd have eaten him alive.

At least Sheppard had assumed so. Sitting next to the blond, he wondered if he'd made a tactical error. "You're interested in Rodney?"

She nodded slowly. "If Rodney is the guy with blue eyes and the really expressive face."

Sheppard needed to revise his tactics. He signaled for the bartender to fetch them two bottles.

"Not that you aren't cute," the blond added. "Obviously, you are. Cute and charming. It's just that I'm generally attracted to more reserved guys. My loss, I'm sure."

A grin exploded across Sheppard's face.

The blond furrowed her brow. "What?"

The nervous chatter, the self-effacing humor—this girl was right up McKay's alley. The two might have hit it off if only Sheppard hadn't interfered. Time for a strategic withdrawal.

As soon as the bartender laid out the beers, Sheppard snatched his up. "Wait right here. I'll send Rodney over." At his urging they clinked bottles to seal the deal.

He found a sullen McKay drowning his sorrows at a nearby table. "Get another entry for your little black book?" the scientist snapped.

"Nope. Crashed and burned." Sheppard was annoyed at his friend's sudden gleeful smirk but decided to give him a pass. "Seems I'm not her type."

McKay snorted. "She looked fairly intelligent, so I'm not surprised."

Sheppard took a deep breath. "One more crack like that, and you're on your own."

"Haven't I been?"

"McKay, I'm trying to tell you that there's a cute girl on that bar stool who's very interested in meeting you. Now get off your lazy butt and—"

"Where? I don't see anyone."

"Right back...there?" Sheppard turned around, but the stool was empty. The blond was gone.

TBC