Rodney was busy checking the new sample nanites when he heard the familiar sound of Sheppard's boots approaching his workstation.

Looking up, he briefly noted how pissed the colonel looked, but putting it down to lack of sleep he broke into conversation. 'Ahhh. Good timing. If you're here for another update on Elizabeth, I can tell you that as of this very moment, the nanites are still behaving within expected parameters.'

'That's good to hear,' Sheppard replied, planting his hands on his hips. 'But I—'

'Now, I'm not one to say I told you so, but I believe I did say I could make sure those nanites were entirely safe.'

'Yes, you did, McKay. But –'

'Oh,' Rodney interrupted, tapping away to bring up some other files. 'I found something fascinating today...and when I say I, it was actually Zelenka who discovered it when he was working on repairing the connection between the weapons system and the chair, but I figured out exactly what it did.'

He spun his laptop toward Sheppard, whose eyes darted across the screen, then lifted to his in confusion. 'What exactly am I looking at?'

I thought this guy was supposed to be MENSA, Rodney thought, biting back a stream of barbed comments. 'It's a remote link between the chair and the jumpers.'

'Remote? What do you mean?' the colonel asked, his interest clearly piqued.

'I mean it facilitates the act of flying a jumper via the control chair. All you have to do is think it up into the sky, and there it goes.' He made a little upward soaring motion with his hand as if that would clarify things for the pilot far more than words could.

He watched as the annoyance marring Sheppard's expression slid from his face to be replaced by mild excitement. 'So someone can just go sit in the chair and send up a few jumpers?'

'Well, theoretically...' Rodney replied, scratching his hair. 'Of course, I have to activate the correct component in the jumpers to allow them to be controlled that way. And whoever sits in the chair has to have the ATA gene, and would preferably be a pilot, but that goes without saying. Apparently the Ancients used the facility to send out decoy ships if anyone got too close to the cloaked city. That way, they didn't have to lose personnel if it turned out they were aggressive.'

'Clever,' Sheppard said, nodding appreciatively. 'That could certainly come in useful some time. Can you get the jumpers activated to accept the remote commands?'

'Well, yes. Of course. And whereabouts on my list of jobs that should have been done yesterday should that go?' he snapped, watching Sheppard's scowl return.

'I told you to delegate, McKay,' he growled, folding his arms across his chest and standing firm in the face of what McKay could feel to be one of his rants building.

'I am delegating, but there are only twenty-four hours in the day if you hadn't noticed, and I'm already working twenty of them even after I've shared stuff out.'

'All right. Then, at the risk of annoying you further, have you had time to look into making the Replicator disruption weapon?'

'Ahhh, now that one I could delegate,' McKay grinned, grabbing his tablet and flashing it toward his friend. 'I've written a program that will, based on the information we've been able to gather from Elizabeth's nanites, extrapolate a frequency that should disrupt the bonds between the Replicator units should they spread. I can just sit back and let it run knowing it's in safe hands.' As if to demonstrate, he leaned back in his seat, knitting his fingers behind his head as he smirked at the colonel.

'Except, of course, you have some jumpers to align to the control chair,' Sheppard reminded him. 'And I'd still like you to figure out a way to get those nanites to fix Elizabeth up so we can shut them down.'

'Well, I was relaxed for...what was that...all of ten seconds?' McKay sniped.

'This isn't a holiday camp, McKay. I need everyone working to their full potential.'

'My team are working to their full potential and way beyond. I can't ask them for any more than they're already giving,' Rodney whined. Sometimes, having Sheppard think he was some kind of god was too much even for him to handle.

'Okay...you're right. We don't want anyone else getting sick. Looks like we should've kept the Daedalus around a while longer. I'm pretty sure the crew could have helped you out.'

The suggestion he couldn't get things up and running without SGC help soon had him on the defensive. 'Well, we weren't to know things would start breaking down after they left. And they have other duties to carry out. Anyway, I'm confident we'll have things back up and running in a couple more days.'

He watched Sheppard nodding, but sensed the man was still troubled by the holes in their defences.

'Just get me one jumper operating from the control chair, Rodney. D'you think you can manage that?' Sheppard asked.

'I could probably find time to fix one up, yes. But I doubt one jumper is going to provide an effective defence against the Replicators if they turn up.'

'It might create a diversion to buy us the extra time we need. Anyway, you leave worrying about defending this place to me, Rodney. You just need to focus on fixing things.'

McKay nodded grimly, the good humour the discovery with the control chair had brought now completely dissipated. 'Have you seen Elizabeth today?' he asked, unable to hold Sheppard's gaze when the colonel lifted his eyes to meet his.

'Yeah. She has a headache – second one she's had in twelve hours. I've asked the medical team to keep a twenty-four hour watch over her via feedback from the isolation room, and I've told Keller I want to know the minute she spots any kind of change.'

'Headaches? Huh,' Rodney mused, thinking that through. Although any symptom had to be checked out, he suspected Sheppard was being overly cautious in his approach. 'I'm sure she'll be fine. I think if I had that many nanites holding my brain together, I might get the occasional headache, too.'

'Yeah...hopefully, that's all there is to it,' Sheppard replied. 'Are you ready to update the IOA on the nanite situation?'

'Yes. I've prepared a file for them, and I plan to give them a quick reprise to ensure they understand the data. Are you going to sit in on it?'

Sheppard grimaced at the mere thought of it. 'No. You can technobabble to your heart's content, Rodney. I trust you to tell them what they need to know.'

'I do not 'technobabble'! Babbling suggests the use of more words than are entirely necessary.'

Sheppard just raised his eyebrows and Rodney immediately admitted defeat. 'Fine. Have it your way. So, just to clarify, fixing the control chair, sorting out the hyperdrive, extending the shield, setting up a jumper with remote access, recalibrating the Replicator disruptor, and fixing Elizabeth's nanites are my priorities, right?'

Sheppard nodded. 'Sounds right. Oh, and Rodney...one more thing...'

McKay rolled his eyes. He couldn't seriously be about to give him more work. 'What!'

'If you talk to Heightmeyer about my ability to cope behind my back again, I'll kick your ass into next week. Understood?'

His throat suddenly dry, Rodney forced down a nervous swallow. 'Y...you know about that?'

'It wasn't exactly subtle, Rodney. Now, maybe you did it out of genuine concern...I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt on that...but it doesn't happen again. Is that clear?'

'Yes...yes...I'm sorry. I was only trying to help.' The words tumbled out of his mouth as he saw the real anger in his friend's expression. He and John had already almost come to blows recently; he didn't think it would be wise to push him any further.

'I'll swing by for an update in a couple of hours,' Sheppard said, turning quickly and striding away, his hunched shoulders and tense demeanour now making complete sense.

Rodney was left wondering if approaching Heightmeyer with his concerns had been the right thing to do after all. Sheppard clearly wasn't doing so well; was he the only one who could see that?'

oooOOOooo

Sitting in the pilot seat of Jumper One, his tablet plugged into the flight controls, Rodney opened up the relevant systems to allow for remote flight from the city's control chair. It wasn't turning out to be as easy as he'd hoped, leaving him wondering why the Ancients seemed to do everything in the most complicated way possible. Unless, of course, none of this was complicated to them. He pondered that for a moment, before shaking the thought away. There was no way anyone was that much smarter than him, no matter how advanced their civilisation was.

Though he heard a shuffling sound behind him, he didn't bother turning to find out who was there as he was pretty certain he already knew.

'Rodney. Is that you?' he heard a gentle Czech voice ask.

'Yes, yes. Who else would it be?' he huffed, continuing to work without looking up.

'I thought you had things to do in the lab.'

'Yeah...you and me both.'

Radek hesitated before continuing. 'Is this to do with those remote systems we found for controlling the jumpers?'

'Yes, what else?'

'Are you sure there aren't more important things you should be working on?'

With a sigh, McKay slapped the tablet down onto his lap. 'You would think so, wouldn't you? But Colonel Sheppard has asked me to get one jumper connected to the control chair, so...here I am.'

Radek looked decidedly confused, his brow furrowing as he thought about what Rodney had said. 'Colonel Sheppard asked you to do this?'

'That's right. Honestly, if he wants to play with toys I'll buy him an RC car for Christmas. This is a ridiculous time to be working on this!'

'Well,' Radek countered thoughtfully, 'if Colonel Sheppard thinks you should fix it now, he must have a good reason.'

'Oh, you think so? Well, I can't think of one, can you?'

Radek shrugged, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. 'I don't have the kind of strategic sense Colonel Sheppard has. I'm sure he has a good idea of what he's doing.'

'Do you? Well, you'd better hope so, because if he's cracking under the weight of his position, we're all going down with him.'

Rodney saw the look of barely contained horror creep onto Radek's face and felt a little guilty about his outburst – not that he was going to back down.

'Is that what you really think?' Radek asked.

'Well, he's never wanted to run this place. He should hand the reins over to someone who wants them.'

'And by that you mean someone like you, I suppose,' Zelenka said, quirking an eyebrow.

'Well, Atlantis could do worse.'

Radek muttered something that sounded remarkably like 'And they could do a lot better, too,' but Rodney chose to ignore it. 'I still think Colonel Sheppard is the best person for the job right now,' the Czech said, this time loud enough for McKay to be sure of what he said.

'He doesn't even want the job. The IOA should pick someone else to lead the expedition and get it over with. And let's face it – who's saved our asses more times than anyone can remember?'

'Err...Colonel Sheppard?' Radek suggested, wincing even before McKay could erupt.

'Me, Zelenka. I've saved us countless times. Every time there's a scientific problem, who does everyone turn to...me!'

'Well, yes...that's true. And you are definitely the person to call on in a scientific crisis, but leading Atlantis requires more than just academic intelligence.'

'Such as?'

'A level head, the ability to negotiate, diplomacy, people skills...'

'I have all those things,' McKay snapped.

Radek peered at him over the top of his glasses, looking doubtful.

'What, so you think Sheppard is better at all those things than I am?'

Scratching his head, Radek shrugged his shoulders again. 'Well...yes...actually.'

'That is so like you! I suppose you think threatening to kick my ass into next week is 'diplomatic', do you?'

'What did you do to upset him, Rodney?' his Czech friend asked wearily.

'Oh that's right, blame me. You are such a suck up, Radek!'

'What did you do, Rodney?' Radek repeated, folding his arms and fixing him with a disappointed stare.

'Well...I may have told Heightmeyer I thought he was struggling to cope,' Rodney confessed, pulling his collar away from his hot neck. 'And that she might need to do an assessment.'

'Then I'm not surprised he's mad with you. You had no right.'

'No right. The whole station is in his hands and he's freaking out over a friend showing a little concern!'

'He's a private man, just as you are, Rodney. How would you feel if someone had done that to you?'

Rodney hated it when Radek was right. It didn't happen often, because the man suffered from a hugely inferior intellect, but every now and again he made a valid point that forced Rodney to rethink his position on things. 'Well, that's beside the point. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to finish this up and then report to the IOA regarding the condition of Elizabeth's nanites. Off you go!' He clicked his fingers, then flicked his wrist to gesture toward the rear hatch.

Zelenka scowled, shuffling away. 'Tebe arogantní polda!'

'One of these days I'm gonna learn Russian and then I'll know exactly what you're saying,' Rodney called after him, annoyed that he couldn't understand Zelenka's insults.

'I'm from Czech Republic, Rodney,' Zelenka grunted.

'So you don't speak Russian there? How am I supposed to know that? I never claimed to be an expert in linguistics, did I?'

'Hlupák blbec,' the Czech spat back at him, leaving before he could be drawn any further on that.

'Huh! Wonder what's eating him?'Rodney muttered to himself, picking up his tablet and continuing with his work. With only two hours left before he needed to update the IOA, he couldn't afford to waste any more time trying to work it out.

'Thank you for agreeing to feed back to us, Dr McKay. We appreciate your input in this serious matter.'

'Well, you know me. Always happy to help,' McKay said, giving Mr Woolsey a lop-sided smile via the video link.

'Yes...quite. So what can you tell us about Dr Weir's condition?'

'Well, I'm not really qualified to comment on her medical condition, but if you want to know what's happening with the nanites, they're behaving just the way I programmed them to.'

'That's good to hear, Dr McKay. And you're monitoring them on a regular basis, I presume.'

'Every half an hour,' he said, throwing the bespectacled bureaucrat a self-satisfied smirk.

'Very good. And how does Dr Weir seem to you, Doctor?'

That flustered him a little. In truth he hadn't been back to see her in person since her slip-up in the interview with Sheppard. He didn't handle things like that very well, so it was easier just to avoid the chance of any awkward questions she might pose about the colonel. 'Well, as you can imagine, my team and I have been tied up with all the repairs Atlantis needs, so I haven't had a chance to visit her in the last twenty-four hours. However, I did speak with Colonel Sheppard a short while ago, and he told me she was experiencing a few headaches, so he's asked the medical team to keep a round the clock vigil via the live feedback.'

Woolsey nodded appreciatively. 'That would seem a wise move under the circumstances.'

Rodney thought about it. Although he'd considered it somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction at the time, he supposed he could see the sense in it. Although the headaches alone weren't anything serious, if the symptoms changed, they might prove to be relevant in making a diagnosis. 'Yes, I agree. Colonel Sheppard certainly seems to have a good handle on the situation.'

'That's good to hear, Dr McKay. I was wondering if you'd mind giving me your assessment of how Colonel Sheppard has performed his duty over the past several days since Dr Weir's unfortunate accident.'

For once, McKay picked up on an undercurrent. They wanted him to tell them Sheppard wasn't coping. He supposed it was no surprise; despite the fact Sheppard had, time and time again, saved the Atlantis expedition from certain doom – oh, God. Zelenka had been right about that – the IOA and the SGC saw him as something of a loose cannon because of his propensity to break the rules. Well, maybe they did want to shoot Sheppard down, but they weren't going to get the ammunition with which to do it from him. The colonel was doing a good job; he could see that now.

'I think everyone here would agree he's coping admirably under exceptionally difficult circumstances,' he assured Woolsey.

'Yes, but I'm sure he's finding the situation with Dr Weir particularly...distracting.'

Though he knew exactly what Woolsey was hinting at, once again, Rodney leapt to the defence of his friend. 'We all are. Elizabeth has been a great leader and a good friend over the years. None of us want anything bad to happen to her. In fact, I'm currently working on re-writing the nanite programming to get them to repair Elizabeth's tissue itself – it was Colonel Sheppard's idea. He wants to neutralise the threat completely by shutting them down.'

'Yes, Colonel Sheppard told us about that this morning. It certainly would seem the best way to deal with them. And do you believe you are able to do that, Doctor?' Woolsey asked, leaning forward with his increased interest.

'Well, I'm not going to pretend it'll be easy, but gimme a couple of weeks and I should have it done. Soon, Dr Weir will be one hundred percent organic again.'

'I imagine that would be a relief for everyone involved there...particularly Dr Weir. I would be very grateful if you could keep us apprised of your progress.'

'Certainly,' Rodney smirked. 'I'll schedule it in between the one hundred and one other jobs I have to do.'

Woolsey looked mildly annoyed, but kept his tone civilised. 'I appreciate you're a very busy man, Dr McKay, but I'm sure you understand the importance of keeping everyone here up to date on what's happening on Atlantis. We want to offer all the assistance we can in this difficult time.'

'Of course,' McKay sneered, wondering why, if that was the case, they hadn't asked Sam Carter to return. But he was a proud man; he wasn't about to suggest they send her in. He would figure it out eventually. 'There's no need for you to worry. We have everything under control here.'

'I'm very glad to hear that. We look forward to analysing your datafile. Now, I won't keep you any longer since you're obviously in demand. Could you tell Colonel Sheppard that we'll discuss the matter further with him in our scheduled update tomorrow morning?'

What am I, an errand boy? Rodney thought, but what he said was something quite different. 'Of course, Mr Woolsey. I'll make sure he gets the message as soon as I leave here. Would you like me to give you a rundown of what's in the file I sent you before I go? '

'No, that won't be necessary. We'll have our experts take a look at it. They're familiar with Replicator tech so I imagine they will have no difficulty unravelling it all.'

Feeling somewhat rejected, Rodney floundered for a response. 'Oh...right. Well, if you do need any explanations, you know where you can reach me.'

'We do indeed.' Woolsey forced on a smile and a moment later the screen went dark. McKay sat back and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe leadership wasn't as simple as he'd thought. No wonder Sheppard was keen to pass the torch to someone else. Dealing with bureaucrats was like treading on eggshells, and neither of them were very good at it, although, he reluctantly admitted to himself, Sheppard did seem able to practice more self-restraint than he did.

Checking his watch, he realised there was still an hour before the dinner break he'd built into his crazy schedule. His stomach complained, so he pulled out a power bar and chomped down on it, hoping it would tide him over well enough to prevent him going into hypoglycaemic shock.

All this stress was far too hard on his metabolism; maybe being the resident genius was as much pressure as he needed.