Laura opened the door to her quarters and called upon her inner strength and Marine training to keep from scowling and growling when she saw who it was.

"Rodney?" she said slowly as her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned into slight frown. "What do you want?"

Rodney bristled and anger flashed in his bright blue eyes, but it disappeared rather quickly which surprised Laura given the frostiness of her tone.

It had been three days since the incident with the Trust and Colonel Caldwell. The city was safe. She'd seen very little of Rodney. The Colonel was well on the way to recovery. Everything was as it should have been.

Except that she was being transferred back to Earth, early in her rotation and against her will and was leaving in only a few hours.

And she had to wonder just how much the man standing in front of her had to do with it.

"Cadman," he said, and he stopped and cleared his throat when her name had come out in a bit of a squeak. "Cadman," he said more clearly, "I wanted to apolo…to say, you know, I'm sorry."

Laura was stunned, and if she hadn't been so pissed off with him at the moment she was half sure she would have hugged him. As it was she still wanted to kick his ass.

"You're sorry?" she said, her surprise and doubt coming through in her voice enough for even socially inept Rodney to notice.

"Yes," he said softly, which was another surprise: Laura had no idea Rodney could speak softly. "I'm sorry."

Holy crap! thought Laura. He really is.

"It's alright, Rodney," she said with a sigh, knowing that she had to take the high road on this one. "I wanted to go home anyway," she lied easily.

"Well that's go…what?" Rodney's eyes widened as he leaned a few inches closer to her. "Home? What do you mean home?"

Laura backed a few steps into her quarters and was shocked when he followed her inside enough for the door to close. She motioned to her packed bags with her right hand and said, "I'm being transferred back to the SGC," she replied. "I thought you had something to do with it and that's what you were sorry for."

Rodney glanced around her room and his eyes darkened so that they were seas of stormy blue when he looked at her. "Transferred? I had nothing to do with it! I was apologizing for calling you a Trust spy!"

Laura felt like a heel. "It's okay, Rodney," she said with a smile that was only partly strained. "I can see how you would think that." Rodney's lips pressed together into a fine line and she stepped towards him and put her right hand on his arm. "Really. I accept your apology."

Her smile widened as Rodney gave her a curt nod, and she couldn't resist rubbing her hand downward along his arm as she let it go. "If I didn't know better, Rodney, I'd say you're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

She expected him to scoff at her and enthusiastically declare that she was out of her mind. What she didn't expect was for him to turn around and bolt out the door. She quickly ran to the door and looked down the way he'd gone, but he'd moved so fast she just caught a glimpse of him as he turned the corner.

What the hell?

Six hours later Laura walked into Rodney's lab and stopped just inside the door. She scanned the room and after a few moments found him talking to Zelenka in one of the corners. She zeroed in on him and moved toward him, quickly yet quietly, like a lioness on the prowl. She was only a few feet from him when Zelenka left- sputtering in Czech as he usually did after a 'consult' with Rodney- leaving her prey alone and defenseless.

She was only two steps away when he turned and saw her. He just managed to say, "Cad…" before her lips crushed against his in a kiss so hot it seared a trail from her lips downward into the deepest recesses of her belly.

She was just about to pull away when his arms circled around her waist, pulling her tight against him just as his tongue probed against her lips. She was surprised and gasped, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip his tongue past her lips.

Her hands gripped his shoulders as their kiss continued. She had almost completely given herself over to the experience, reserving the smallest amount of brain function to wonder just how it was that Rodney McKay was such a great kisser.

When the kiss finally ended they were both winded, flushed and filled with desire. At least she knew she was, and guessed he was by the way his eyes drilled into hers.

Rodney's arms slipped from her waist and she stepped away from him, noting with an equal amount of trepidation and interest that the heat between them didn't lessen with the change of proximity.

"What was that for?"

Laura waited for her breathing to even out before answering. "For getting my transfer cancelled." He looked ready to protest so she said, "I know it was you, Rodney." He said nothing so she shrugged and said, "Thanks."

"Yes, well, you're reasonably sufficient at helping out around here," he said with his usual snark, but his eyes betrayed the fact that he was only putting on a show. "And you seem to come in handy every once in a while."

"Tell me the truth, Rodney," she said with a smirk, "you want me to stay."

Rodney quick marched to within a few inches of her and looked about ready to blow up. Instead he whispered lowly enough so that only she could hear him, "Maybe."

Before she fully comprehended what had just happened he was gone. She looked around and saw nothing but a room full of scientists trying to look like they hadn't seen a thing and failing miserably. Laura walked through the room, past the gob smacked geeks and into the hall where she collapsed back against the wall and raised her hand to touch her still tingling lips.

"Damn," she said into the empty corridor as a smile spread across her face.

A/N: "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" was written by Kix Brooks, Don Cook and Ronnie Dunn and released by Brooks and Dunn on their 1994 album, Waitin' on Sundown.