"Dr Zelenka, is everything alright? You seem agitated."
"I visit McKay in infirmary. Man is infuriating! He insisted on working, even though he can barely breathe, and he's doing his best to drive man who's trying to help him crazy!" He went off on a rant in his native Czech, that left Sumner staring, confused. He shook himself.
"I heard that some of my soldiers have been harassing Dr McKay."
"Yes." Zelenka's voice was tight.
"Do you know who?"
"Of course. Just look for the soldiers without hot water and electricity."
"Excuse me?"
In the infirmary, Rodney had shaken off his strange mood and was back to being bored and pissy.
"I want out of here, Carson." Rodney growled, a cross between angry alpha male, and petulant two year old.
"And I said no." Carson replied, calm as anything. He flipped the page over in the file he was reading.
"Why not!" Rodney's voice went up an octave.
"Because I said so." Carson replied. But Rodney looked so miserable, and he really was so desperate to get back to work, that Carson relented slightly. "I know it's hard for you, but you're still weak. You still have a hole in your throat. And I want you where I can treat you if something happens again. We don't know if the food is entirely safe."
"But it's annoying! I can't get anything done here, and Ziplonka is sure to screw something up if I leave him unsupervised for too long."
"The Doc's right, McKay." The current guard said. "You're safe in an infirmary bed."
"Oh, oh, I see! This is a conspiracy, isn't it? You just want to keep me here!" Rodney folded his arms. He glared at the soldier. "And who are you anyway?"
"No one of any importance, sir." The soldier, Evan Lorne, replied, without missing a beat. He'd actually known McKay for a while, since the scientist had visited the SGC back when Lorne worked there. Every time they'd run into each other since, Rodney had claimed not to know him. Lorne was never sure how much of it was pretence.
"Rodney, enough!" Carson growled. "We want to keep you safe, lad. If anything else nearly kills you, I'll be able to treat you right away. If we let you out on the base, you might get yourself killed. What if someone slipped something more deadly into your food? It's just not safe for you to wander around by your lonesome."
"You make me sound like a retarded five year old."
"If the boot fits." Lorne coughed at the angelic look on Carson's face as he delivered that line.
"Genius here! Anyway, I'm sure Soldier-Boy is competent enough to protect me. I just want to go to the labs! He can handle a few scientists!"
"That's Fly-Boy!" Lorne put in.
"Whatever!"
"Never mind, Rodney. I'm the Doctor here, and you're staying put." Carson nodded as though that settled things.
"Ha! I'm a doctor too! And not of some pseudo-scientific voodoo like medicine! And I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I've been doing it for twenty odd years!"
"And doing a terrible job by my standards!" Carson shot back. "You really are in terrible condition, you know."
"Hey! I'm a scientist, not an action hero!" That reflected Carson's thoughts on the first day so perfectly that he did a double take.
"Can't you be both?" Lorne asked, and then played his ace in the hole. "Like Dr Carter?"
"Who asked you? Anyway, Samantha is special. She's a genius and an air force officer. Not to mention a stunner. She wants me. I can tell. There's a lot of chemistry there." Rodney went off in a daydream of Carter.
Carson and Lorne moved away from the bed.
"Well done, lad. I'll have to remember that one."
"It's an ill kept secret that he's got a crush on her. He's famous for it at the SGC, especially since she kissed him.
"What was that last bit?" Carson was shocked. It seemed that Rodney's stories of Carter weren't the exaggerations he'd believed.
"It was just a peck on the cheek. It's only really interesting because of the curse. There's a pool on how long he'll live. In fact, this bad luck might have something to do with it."
"Curse?"
"Yeah, anyone who Dr Carter kisses on the lips dies rather spectacularly. McKay was only kissed on the cheek, so he might survive."
"You can't actually believe that." Carson frowned, uneasily.
"Hey, I worked at the SGC for years. I've learned to believe the unbelievable."
Carson had to concede that point, just from the handful of reports he'd managed to wade through.
"Besides," Lorne continued, a dark look on his face. "I was there the day Martouf died." Carson decided not to ask any more. He didn't really want to know.
I couldn't resist mentioning the curse. And that is the curse which shall fall on you, that is, if you don't review!
