Physician and Physicist by AndromedaMarine
A/N: For clarity: "Shrine" took place, but Day 6 did not. "Brain Storm" did not happen at all.
7 April 2010 0512 ZULU
Jennifer woke from her nightmare in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, heart pounding. She'd fallen asleep only three hours earlier, expecting to fill the hours with dreams of Rodney McKay. Dreams, not nightmares. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to rein in her erratic breaths, slowing her heartbeat to manageable levels. She threw the covers off and sat on the edge of her bed, her forehead in her hands. The doctor had to physically stop herself from crying. There was only one answer for her problem.
Without bothering to change from her flannel Batman pajama pants and tank top, Jennifer palmed the door open and blinked a few times to make sure the night guards weren't in sight. Noting that the coast was clear she strode uneasily down the hall eight doors, to stand in front of Rodney's. For a moment she hesitated, wondering if she should be coming to him.
Jennifer waved her hand over the sensor three times, and waited.
Rodney opened the door rubbing his eyes.
Without waiting for the physicist to invite her in, Jennifer brushed past him and sat herself firmly on the sheets of his bed. She pulled her legs up under her. "I'm sorry for bothering you, Rodney," she said quietly, pressing a hand to her chest and wrapping the other around her waist.
The physicist remembered Carson's email and wisely sat beside the physician. He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. "What happened?"
"Nightmare," she whispered. "Remember that parasite you had last year?"
Rodney nodded. "Yeah. You saved my life."
"Not in the nightmare."
It was all that the scientist needed to hear before he wrapped both arms around Jennifer, pulled her back against his chest, and squeezed gently. "You want to tell me?" He rested his chin on her shoulder and took in a deep breath. He could still smell the honeysuckle.
Jennifer took in a deep breath and let it out again, shuddering as some tears escaped. Rodney rubbed his hands in smooth circles on her stomach and pressed his nose against the soft skin of her neck to comfort her. "We...we took you to the shrine and... I couldn't save you. It scared me, Rodney. It didn't feel like I could survive without you." All thoughts of embarrassing herself evaporated when she felt Rodney shift behind her. The next thing she knew, she and the physicist were lying lengthwise on his prescription mattress, his arms around her and his fingers laced through hers. If this didn't scare him off – comforting an upset woman – she had no idea what could. With his calming presence behind her and his familiar smell, she fell back asleep.
Rodney, amazingly, hadn't felt nervous at all. He rested his chin on her shoulder again, and before he could stop himself he kissed her neck and fell soundly into the black.
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0756 ZULU
Rodney felt completely relaxed and refreshed, and as he still wasn't fully awake, he had no idea why. Sensations began to filter through his foggy brain and he opened his eyes. In the two and a half hours since Jennifer fell asleep with him, she had turned to face him and draped an arm over his waist. The physicist smiled at her, even though her long, steady breathing indicated she was still asleep. "You are beautiful," he breathed happily, and kissed her forehead.
He saw the time and decided, since they were together anyway, that they could sleep longer and it wouldn't hurt their breakfast date. Rodney closed his eyes and simply let himself feel.
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0903 ZULU
Jennifer yawned and blinked the sleep from her eyes. The first thing she saw was the alarm clock reading the time as 09:03. She sat straight up without realizing Rodney was next to her, and so Rodney woke up too. It took Jennifer several moments to realize she wasn't in her own room, and that there was a warm, familiar body next to her that had its arm across her stomach and one of its legs over one of hers. The familiar part sunk in and she laid back down, her breathing under control. She turned her head and looked straight into a pair of gorgeous aqua eyes.
"Good morning," Rodney commented.
Jennifer lifted her hands to cover her face in embarrassment, but Rodney intercepted and brought one hand to his lips. He kissed her palm. "I've been here for about five hours," she said, her eyes closed. "Right?"
Rodney responded by lacing their fingers. "Yeah. So?"
"So we went on one date and all of the sudden I'm coming to you in the middle of the night because I had a bad dream – "
The physicist stopped her from continuing by cupping her cheek and giving her a smooth kiss. When he pulled back he rested his forehead on hers. "As far as I'm concerned, Jen, you don't ever have to apologize for coming to me at any hour – day or night, these quarters or wherever."
Physician had advice to not scare him off, and physicist had advice to not break her heart. So far neither had strayed.
"We missed our breakfast date," Jennifer said softly, losing herself in his eyes.
"It can be rescheduled."
"I have to take a shower."
"You smell wonderful to me."
Jennifer smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'll smell even better after I take a shower."
Rodney sighed unhappily. "Does that mean you have to get up?"
"Yeah... And this late in the morning, it's likely someone will witness me leaving your quarters."
To Jennifer's surprise, Rodney didn't panic. "I hope someone does, that way it will filter back to those vulgar Jarheads we still need to talk to Sheppard about. Maybe if they know you're with someone, namely me, they'll learn to back off." Noticing that her expression indicated she was about to object, Rodney said, "I know, Carson's probably told Laura, who's told the entire base by now, but if it comes from a different source it will be that much more reliable. Think about it."
Jennifer closed her eyes and rested her head against Rodney. "It makes sense."
"Then what are you worried about?"
The physician laughed. "You'll think this is ridiculous, but I don't want the guards to see my pants."
"What?" Jennifer laughed again and kicked the covers off. Rodney took one look at her legs and cracked a grin. "Batman! Of course...they'll think you're wearing my PJ pants..."
"See what I mean?"
A glint shimmered in his eyes. "We could use this to our advantage. Make them think we've been together longer than rumored."
The smile disappeared from Jennifer's features.
Now, Rodney panicked. "Oh, god, I said something wrong, didn't I!"
Jennifer nipped it in the bud by planting a kiss on him that he couldn't ignore. "I just thought, Laura's the rumormonger on Atlantis, not us. It kind of crossed my mind that she'd know it's not true."
Relieved, Rodney threaded a hand through her golden hair. "It will be eventually," he said riskily, then claimed her lips.
Oh my god, Jennifer thought as they kissed. He wants this to still be happening in the future! Is this really the Rodney I met five years ago?? The American pushed the thought from her mind as Rodney skillfully convinced her that there was no chance those Jarheads would ever insult her again.
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0937 ZULU
Rodney waved a hand over the door sensor and the bulkhead slid open. Before even looking outside he seized Jennifer's waist and drew her into a fantastic kiss. When Rodney's hand made it to the back of the doctor's neck (it didn't look like they would surface for air in the next sixteen hours) the unexpected guest who had been about to "ring the doorbell" cleared his throat. Loudly.
Physician and physicist froze in mid-kiss, and looked out the door together, right at Colonel Jonathan Sheppard.
"Well, I guess now I know why you've been avoiding me."
Rodney kept one arm tightly wound around Jennifer's waist and sternly faced John.
"Ronon told me to leave it alone...but you know me. Can't resist an opportunity to tease." He gave them his charmer grin. When they didn't react he switched gears. "Okay, I meant to apologize to Rodney first, but since you're both here... I'll kill two birds with one really big stone. Rodney, I'm sorry about the lemon chicken incident...I honestly had no idea..."
The physicist cut him off with a hand gesture. "Sheppard, I've gotten all six of your apology emails. Consider yourself forgiven for that particular happenstance."
John nodded curtly. "Right. Okay then, Jen, I – "
Physician cut him off. "If you don't mind, Colonel, I would prefer it if you called me by my full first name."
"Ah. Right. Jennifer. I guess I should come clean and say that those painkillers wore off about two days ago. I've been purposely interfering..."
Rodney felt like kicking the crutch out from under the Air Force Officer. "Listen, John, if you want to make up for your meddling, I'd suggest you start by speaking with the new Marines about their conduct. I'm not sure they were paying attention when the IOA read them the policy on sexual harassment."
John stared at them. "What?"
"Two of the three Marines I stitched for bantos injuries two days ago made vulgar remarks after I finished eating dinner." Jennifer curled herself slightly against Rodney's side so she could be in contact with as much of him as possible. "And Rodney mentioned that some of his lab techs have been complaining about being felt up by the new Jarheads."
The colonel's expression went rigid. "Thanks for telling me, Rodney, Jennifer. I'll take care of it." He hobbled away, angrily jabbing at his earwig. "Evan! Get the most recent Marines from Daedalus into my office now!"
Jennifer wrapped her arms around Rodney's waist and let her cheek rest against his chest. "What do you say we call in a breakfast order to the commissary and just eat here? It seems a good a place as any to just sit and talk." They reentered Rodney's quarters and she sat on the edge of the bed. "Did you get my email last night?"
Physicist looked up from the computer. "No...I fell asleep right after I sent mine to you. Why?"
She smiled. "Go ahead and read it now." Jennifer pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
Rodney looked up at her a moment later, radiating something she couldn't identify. Joy? Ecstatic happiness? It seemed like both, maybe more. "Yesterday was the happiest you've been in a long time?"
Jennifer nodded. "Well, including today." She paused, letting the non-awkward silence fill the room. "And, I think, it will include every day following. You make me happy, Rodney. Safe...complete. I don't know if I can really describe it. It feels like I'm home."
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A/N: Okay, so I totally managed to keep the angst at like 25% of this chapter, which is 3.6% of the entire story. And this is growing into a full-fledged relationship development piece, so it might morph into a long-running project. :) Okay, I can't keep blaming Michael Vaughn for distracting me...but I can blame how addictive watching Alias is! R&R!