Physician and Physicist by AndromedaMarine
A/N: The events of "Sunday" and "Kindred" are still canon. Apologies if Laura seems OOC.
27 July 2010 1005 ZULU
When Radek entered the lab he immediately felt the effects of a scatterbrained Rodney McKay. Tablets and laptops littered all the desks as well as the floor, file folders stacked a foot and a half high sat crooked like the Tower of Pisa, and Rodney himself was at the crystal screen currently owning an intense game of chess against the base computer. Radek knew something must be on the scientist's mind for him to be this distracted from work. He cleared his throat, not surprised when Rodney didn't take notice, and began organizing the disarrayed data tablets, pausing between moments to see who was winning the match. Several minutes passed before Rodney had the computer in a clever checkmate involving a rook and a strategically placed bishop.
"Hah! Yes!" Rodney exclaimed, jumping up from his stool and pumping his fists. He noticed his second-in-command and after a moment his arms fell limply to his sides.
"And I thought that you and Colonel Sheppard playing with RC cars was bad enough," Radek commented with a slight grin as he finished straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa files. "But Jennifer must have you in a good mood for some reason or another."
Rodney tinged pink at the cheeks, then quickly managed to seize a laptop and log onto the server. "As a matter of fact...yes."
The Czech smiled and went to a console; a minute later he said, "Rodney, I will be working in the Janus lab if you need me. Oh, and give Jennifer my congratulations."
Startled, Rodney knocked over the stack of files Radek had fixed, and stammered, "Congratulations for what?"
"Why Rodney, my friend, I can see right through you. I do not believe I am mistaken when I assume you are asking her tonight to marry you?"
"How did – what...who – "
"Relax, Rodney. I figured it out on my own. After all, we work together every day, and you haven't been this relaxed and predictable for, well, a long time." Before Rodney could reply, the Czech scientist had disappeared down the hall humming an old tune from his native country.
The physicist had all of three minutes to recover before the new-Mrs. Beckett came in. Although he couldn't see them, he knew she owned several new scars across her chest, arms, legs, and neck, but great medical skill and smart dressing made it near impossible to tell it had only been about a month since the accident, and she wasn't even fully healed. Except for the creeping pinkness extending up to her right ear and temple, evidence of any burns were invisible.
"Laura, don't make me page your husband," he said jokingly. "Aren't you supposed to be off duty?"
Laura Beckett shrugged. "Yeah, but remember my duty involves defusing explosives, and when was the last time there were explosives on base that I had to defuse? My stand down is mostly that I'm grounded from gate travel."
Rodney's mind unwillingly thought of the disastrous mandatory day off that had robbed them of the original Carson Beckett. He had seen Laura's pain when that happened and also the crushing force his clone's unexpected appearance had placed on her being. But either way she loved the Scot, and it made no difference that he was only a copy. "No, you're right," he said a little belatedly, shaking the unwelcome image of Carson's crying mother and father back in Scotland. "But if you're 'technically'" – he used finger quotes – "off duty, what brings you to the department of science and research?"
Laura fiddled with her thumbs and hesitated for a few moments while Rodney closed the laptop lid and folded his hands, trying to mask his affectionate impatience with his best friend's wife. She pulled up a stool and sat perpendicular to him. "I want to know if and when you're going to propose to Jennifer."
Certainly not expecting that, Rodney gave an exasperated sign and ran his hands through his hair. "First Radek, now you...all within twenty minutes of my emailing John..."
"So you are asking her?" Laura said excitedly, sitting up straight so quickly a recovering rib gave protest. She winced.
"Laura, don't hurt yourself. Since you obviously already know, all I ask is that you keep your golden silence until tomorrow."
Mrs. Beckett gasped. "Tonight!" she whispered conspiratorially.
"Good Lord, did John really tell you and Radek?"
"Tell us what?"
"That...that I asked him to be...well, you know, best man..."
Laura grinned. "John hasn't told me anything. I had an interesting conversation with Jennifer this morning during my daily checkup, during which...well..."
Rodney groaned. "For God's sake, Cadman, don't string me along!"
"Okay, okay! She mentioned her computer's desktop background – you know, the picture of you, her, me and Carson? – well, she said something along the lines of: 'Half the people in that picture are married. I'm beginning to wonder if after all these years of knowing Rodney it'll take him a year and a half of dating before he proposes. I'm waiting for the day that picture becomes one of two couples instead of four individuals.' Now, naturally I had to come ask you straight out if it was in your good intentions to satisfy our dear CMO's mental musings."
"Laura Cadman-Beckett, if you so much as think about this in Jennifer's general direction, you and Carson had better be prepared to endure quarters at below-freezing temperatures and a reset of your waste system before the day is out." He gave her a half-assed version of his evil-eye.
"Don't worry, space cowboy. My lips are sealed. Until tomorrow, that is." She beamed at the man with whom she had once shared his head and brain.
Rodney gave a defeated chuckle. "You, my friend, are an incurable gossip."
Laura stood to leave and winked at him. "And tell me, tiger, are you really going to survive all day brooding over how you'll play it tonight?"
He had a response ready for her. "Why should I brood when you pretty much confirmed she'll say 'yes'?"
"No idea what you're talking about, McKay, since neither conversation actually took place, right?"
"You...Laura! She asked you not to talk to me! Didn't she!' Rodney pursed his lips and glared at the explosives expert.
Laura looked at him long and hard, sizing him up, thinking over her next words carefully. She shifted her weight to one foot and rested a hand on the side of the desk. "Rodney, when will you learn that no threat deters me (or John for that matter), and when it comes to family we all get involved whether we like it or not. But no, I will not tell Jennifer anything, because when Carson told you he was going to ask me, you willingly kept your silence. Besides that, all of Atlantis is waiting for the other shoe to drop. We all know you're crazy about her, and we all know you want to marry her. We buck up. We get in each other's lives, because we care. And since I've had the distinct pleasure of being inside your head, I'd think you should know me better than to automatically assume I would willingly ruin the surprise of a marriage proposal that only comes once in a lifetime." Rodney could see her eyes shimmer with the beginnings of tears.
"I know that you thought of when he died four years ago, Rodney, I saw it in your eyes. It crushed me. Destroyed me. And when he came back the pain was almost unbearable. Do you know what I did that whole week? I sat in my quarters, unable to breathe because of the crying. I thought of every moment I'd had with him before that damn explosion...I thought of how I would finally be able to kiss him, hug him again, except he wasn't...wasn't my Carson. At first I saw a replacement, not a second chance. But we pushed through it. We survived. Because that's what we do, right? We survive. That's the least I can hope for you and Jennifer, and I hope to whatever God is out there that she never has to deal with that kind of pain. Her or you. We never know how much we love someone until they're gone, Rodney. It's true any way you look at it. I just hope that you give her everything she could possibly want and more...because you're both worth it." By this point the tears had made distinct tracks down her cheeks and Rodney had her in a hug.
For a few moments Rodney was unable to speak. "Your speech is being processed, Laura." He stepped back and smiled at her. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
She wiped her eyes. "You better. Or else your ass will be sore from some kicking."
"You're missing my point. I'm incapable of willfully hurting Jennifer. My intent is to make her the happiest woman on the planet, in the galaxy, in this universe, because that's how much I love her." Rodney's eyes focused on some point past Laura. "That's how much it means to me to make her happy."
Laura lightly punched his shoulder. "All right, McKay. The deep, sappy stuff is over. Consider the rumor mill started at the crack of four tomorrow."
"Four?" he yelped. "Five at the earliest."
The bomb chick winked at him. "No promises, tiger." With that, Laura Beckett left the lab, and thanks to Laura's monologue, Rodney could not, for the life of him, sit down to focus on whatever work Laura had interrupted.
27 July 2010 1900 ZULU
Rodney squeezed Jennifer's hand as he led them to one of the outer piers. He relished the feel of their entwined fingers, the warmth of her palm against his...if not for his wildly pounding heart and a barely suppressed smile, it would have been like any other date. But this...this was the date. Laura Beckett's speech resounded in his head, reminding him that sheer luck had played an enormous part in the marriage of Carson and Laura, considering the groom had died four years previously. Dr. McKay wanted everything perfect: the proposal, the planning, the actual wedding, the honeymoon...but he was well aware that things rarely went according to plan.
The couple emerged onto one of the farthest piers from the control tower. Evening had just begun to descend, the twilight sky a deep, resounding cobalt. Stars and close planets winked into view, and the summer ocean air remained comfortably warm. Together, Rodney and Jennifer walked slowly along the expanse meant for docking ships like the Daedalus and the General Hammond. Rodney's mind absorbed every little detail as they walked. He briefly remembered saying a horrible goodbye to the original Carson on this pier, so long ago, and thought it time to associate it with a better memory than that of losing a friend.
Jennifer leaned into Rodney as they walked, unaware of the intention with which Rodney had brought her here, thinking of how wonderful it would be if the man she loved proposed marriage. She wondered if he would ever be ready.
Physician looked up at the growing collection of stars, in awe of how many were really planets with Stargates. Suddenly Rodney released her hand, and a moment later, physicist had his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. "I love you," he whispered before kissing her temple. Jennifer smiled in spite of herself, and halted their progression by turning and hugging him, her cheek against his chest.
"I love you too."
Rodney gave her a brief squeeze. "When...when Carson died four years ago, I came out here. This is where I said goodbye to him. For so long...I've associated this part of the city with sadness. I want to change that."
Jennifer's heart skipped a beat.
Physicist pulled away so he could see her. One hand went into his pocket, where his fingers closed around an all-important box. "My happiness is entirely credited to you. And for a long time now, I've known that I always want to wake up beside you, to hold your hand...to be home." He lowered himself to one knee, bringing the box up and open, revealing a golden band with a diamond solitaire resting atop it. "Jennifer Keller, will you marry me?"
Without hesitating, Jennifer breathed, "Yes!" She took Rodney's wrists and forced him to stand, then weaved her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely. "A thousand times yes."
Dazed, Rodney tugged the ring from its bed and slipped it onto her ring finger. The low lights of the city just barely reached them out on the pier, giving Jennifer a soft glow. The twilight had deepened; the sky now two shades away from black. More stars lit up the horizon. The engaged couple turned to face the illuminated city, full of friends and family, memories both good and bad, and the unexplainable, wondrous feeling of being in love.