Physician and Physicist by AndromedaMarine
1422 ZULU
Rodney rubbed hard at the crease of his elbow, trying to banish the latent pain of Jamie Anderson drawing blood. Twerp. That test wasn't even required. The physicist sat hunched at his lab's workstation, typing out a complaint email to Jennifer, detailing exactly what he thought of the nurse's unnecessary actions. Okay, he really blamed Sheppard, since it was John's inappropriate behavior that ultimately led to Rodney needing refills of Advil and epinephrine anyway. Bastard. At John's age he shouldn't have been trying that move to begin with, let alone with the daughter of that dinky little village's leader.
Rodney muttered a curse under his breath. Having finished with writing the email, he moved the cursor over the send button and viciously stabbed down on the mouse. Complaint now hurtling on its way through cyberspace towards the infirmary, Rodney pushed away from his laptop and rolled across the room to the array of desktop monitors to pull up the diagnostic of the Ancient console Dr. Fox had nearly destroyed.
Talking primarily to himself and the empty lab (Radek had taken a break for his sanity's sake and all the techs were scared, or worse, of Rodney), the scientist grumbled, "Of all the twits the IOA had to approve, how did I manage to get stuck with Avery Fox?"
Soon Rodney became immersed in the diagnostic, formulating the best plan to fix the console. He would deal with Dr. Fox later.
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1507 ZULU
Jennifer sat heavily at the cluttered desk in her infirmary office and powered her computer. Smiling at the picture on her desktop background – a photo taken the year before of her, Rodney, Carson, and Laura all standing with arms around each other – the physician clicked on her email icon.
Pleasantly surprised to find a new email from Rodney waiting for her, she settled back and opened the message. Mildly amused by Rodney's description of John's injuries, and troubled by his mention of the lemon chicken incident, the doctor hit 'reply' and began to smoothly type. She finished and sent it a few minutes later, letting it drift to the back of her mind as she focused on John Sheppard's file and mission report.
Jennifer found John's injuries a cross between amusing and annoying, since the veteran playboy should have remembered his physical age. Having the mindset of an eighteen year-old didn't make up for the fact he lived inside a forty-plus year-old body that had problems of its own.
She had just reached the part of John's report that vaguely described how he had managed to twist both elbow and knee, and that Ronon had to carry him fireman-style back through the gate, when Carson stuck his head through the open doorway.
"That wouldn't be the colonel's file, would it, love?"
Jennifer grinned. "And if it is?"
Carson chuckled. "I'd hoped you'd lend it to me, since I wanted to read his report for myself. I've heard it's quite a tale."
She was about to hand the report to the Scot when the nurses outside called for them to help treat three Marines who had badly lost a no-rules bantos match with Teyla and Ronon. As the American took another glance at her computer, she realized she would have to wait to see what Rodney had said back: a new message from the grumpy physicist sat patiently waiting in her inbox.
Jennifer sighed and joined Carson.
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1526 ZULU
The unmistakable sound of a new email arriving drew Rodney away from the six monitors with console schematics on them. He stood and stretched, groaning as he both felt and heard his back pop. He pulled a stool over to the laptop and sat down, clicking on the bolded message from Jennifer Keller. As he read it, he scoffed, "Her fault? She wasn't holding the needle." He read over her second-to-last paragraph a few times, wondering if she really did want him to visit her at the end of her shift. That's a new one, he mused.
He didn't exactly think it over when he typed out his reply, telling her that she was perfect and that he didn't want to wake her up for something as "insignificant" as an allergic reaction. In fact he usually lost all higher brain functions when near, with, or talking to her, so it was no surprise that he didn't re-read the email before hitting send.
For a few moments he let his mind drift off to think about Jennifer, wondering why she paid him any attention anyway. He was just a grumpy scientist whose reputation for "emotionally injuring" the new science recruits preceded him all the way back to General O'Neill's post in Washington. Why would someone as gorgeous as Jennifer Keller want to spend time with him? Surely she found the military personnel much more appealing… Right?
He jumped off the stool in terror when Radek Zelenka came in cursing loudly in Czech.
"Oh, hello Rodney, did I startle you?" Radek stopped to observe Rodney. In his hands he held two cups of coffee.
Rodney smoothed invisible wrinkles in his blue shirt. "As a matter of fact, yes, yes you did." He reached out and grabbed one of the cups in Radek's hands. "Thanks," he muttered, meekly taking a sip.
Radek shook his head and swept past the astrophysicist to settle down at the monitors with the console schematics. Rodney yelped when the Czech clicked a button and they all disappeared.
"What are you doing?" Rodney cried, leaping in between Radek and the computers. "I was using those!"
Calmly, Radek pushed his glasses back up his nose and blinked up at his boss. "If you would please stop crushing my foot, and look at the bottom of the screens, you would see that I only minimized them. What is bothering you, Rodney? You seem jumpier than usual."
Rodney distanced himself from his second and noted that the windows were indeed minimized. "Yes, well…"
"Well, I think you should take a break from Dr. Fox's mistake. Go get lunch, Rodney. You have not eaten since breakfast at 0630."
He couldn't find a decent comeback to that one, so Rodney locked the laptop and slouched from the lab, muttering some of Radek's choice Czech swear words.
Once the physicist had disappeared, Radek chuckled, thinking back on Rodney's reaction.
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1610 ZULU
With the Marines patched up and taken care of, and having given Ronon a firm talking-to about beating up the new recruits, Jennifer found herself back in her office. It had taken her and Carson just under an hour to give the bloodied soldiers a total of forty-two stitches. For a moment Jennifer's mind went to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, amused that the stitches just happened to be at 42. She wondered what Rodney thought of those books, and decided it would be entertaining to ask him when he stopped by later. If anything she could laugh while he picked apart every little bit of Douglas Adams's ridiculous science (not to mention that Babel Fish).
The physician opened the email and as soon as she started reading her reply formed in her head.
She pulled the elastic band from her hair and shook out her blonde strands, reading her first sentence aloud as she typed it. "First off, I'm not perfect, and don't argue with me about it. That's final." She sighed and read Rodney's email again. "How can you not tell me about something as serious as an allergic reaction to citrus, Rodney?" she asked herself quietly, typing quickly with determination. This was one physicist who would know exactly how she felt. She knew it would be important for her to support Rodney's work. Where did that come from? It's not like we're dating. The hopeful side of her brain interrupted. Yet.
Jennifer realized that by 1900 she would be already in her quarters, getting ready for bed. Not feeling entirely sure of herself, she asked Rodney if he wouldn't mind coming by her quarters instead. She remembered Dr. Fox from that morning, when he came to her nearly in tears, his hands looking sufficiently charred. He had managed to give her the basics of what happened, but forgot to mention he hadn't followed safety protocols. She decided that during his next checkup she would press him for more details (having already gotten the whole story from Rodney anyway) to see if he would be honest.
The American hit 'send' and rubbed her hands over her face, musing about the strange relationship between herself and the Department Head of Science and Research. For a few moments she wondered why he even gave her a second glance at all, being the smartest man in three galaxies. Didn't he have more important things to worry about than how much sleep she got? Pushing the thought from her mind, Jennifer once again picked up John Sheppard's file and began reading where she left off.
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1635 ZULU
Rodney hit his head on the underside of the monitor table when he heard the email notification go off. Cursing loudly, he crawled into view and rubbed the base of his skull. He really hoped it wasn't Sheppard sending another apology email, claiming he seriously didn't know that chicken had been practically painted with lemon. So far he had gotten about six. This would be seven. Radek had left again to speak with Dr. Fox about his destructive mistake. The Czech had rightly predicted that Rodney would shred Fox limb from limb if he had to do it himself.
The physicist reached the laptop and smiled when he saw this: RE: Re: re: (no subject). He opened the message and nearly stopped breathing when he read that she wanted him to come by her quarters that evening. He sucked in a breath of air to remind his heart it had to keep beating. Chuckling to himself (because he thought he was crazy) he typed out a calm, neutral reply, adding at the end that Avery Fox had brought the burns on himself and that he deserved it.
Quickly he changed the title in the subject line, read the email over, and clicked send.
He collected the lonesome tablet PC lying next to the schematic monitors, swept the lab with his eyes to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and set off for Janus's lab. He passed John in the hallway.
"Hey," Sheppard called out belatedly, as a few seconds had gone by between Rodney passing and John realizing it was Rodney.
Rodney turned and smirked. "You know, you had amazing luck to have sprained your left elbow...and your right knee. That way you can just barely manage on the crutches."
John scowled at him, having apparently forgotten his question or comment.
Shrugging, Rodney continued on his way, the tablet PC tucked under his arm. "It's your own damn fault," he called out over his shoulder, leaving an irately confused John Sheppard in the corridor.
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1746 ZULU
As soon as her shift ended at 1730, Jennifer speed-walked to the commissary and ate dinner as quickly as she could; she knew Rodney had probably sent her a reply by now and she wanted to get back to her quarters to check it out in private. Just as she was about to get up and dispose of her tray, two of the three Marines she'd stitched up earlier sat down at her table. One, with exceedingly broad shoulders, grinned at her.
"Can we sit here?"
Nonchalantly, Jennifer shrugged. "Go ahead. I'm leaving anyway."
The other Marine lifted an eyebrow. "You sure? Haven't you gotten dessert yet?"
"I'm not in the mood for dessert." Jennifer asked herself why she was still sitting. She started to get to her feet when Broad Shoulders spoke again.
"What are you in the mood for?"
Feeling confident, she leaned towards them. When they leaned in to meet her, she said loudly, "Most certainly NOT what you're thinking." With that crystal clear statement, she stood and walked away without a backwards glance. She could tell that the Marines were grumbling to themselves, and she smiled because of it. Served them right, being vulgar to women – and especially her! Their doctor! Next time they came into her infirmary she would use on them those big needles that Rodney despised.
Ten minutes later she passed through the doorway of her quarters, sighing and pulling off her medical department jacket, tossing it onto the back of a chair. She retrieved her laptop and sat cross legged on her bed, the laptop on her legs. She clicked on the email icon again, and smiled at Rodney's email. Vaguely it crossed her mind that she hadn't been this excited about an email from a colleague/friend since Carolyn Lam had sent her a heavily encrypted message inviting her to Cheyenne Mountain to learn about her new assignment.
This was Rodney she was corresponding with. Rodney. Just Rodney. Right?
Settling back into the pillows, Jennifer Keller began writing an email destined for Rodney McKay's personal email account.
For some reason, that thought sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.