Reminder:
"This is spoken English."
"This is spoken Czech."
This is a thought.

Last time: This is probably the worst few days of Zelenka's career on Atlantis (since chapter 23). And, as usual, Rodney pulls some stupid idea out of the nearest dumpster and makes it work for him, probably.

Chapter 30. Long Night.

Radek sighed and fell into the chair. He couldn't remember the last time he was this tired. But the remembrance of Rodney planting a passionate kiss on an unsuspecting Carson was one he wasn't soon to forget. Even if it wasn't technically Rodney.

In the meantime, he didn't remember the last time he'd eaten. It was probably in the last twenty-four hours, since he was reasonably certain he'd eaten since he last slept.

But when had he last slept?

"Whatever, whatever…" He stirred his chicken soup. It didn't matter when he last ate. He was eating now.

"Cursing your soup?"

Radek glanced up. He did not need this right now. "Hello, Doctor Weir."

"May I?" Elizabeth gestured at the seat across from Radek.

"What the hell," he mumbled. "Please."

Elizabeth didn't look convinced, but she sat anyway. She had a sandwich. Radek went straight for the canned chicken soup tonight. The best decision he'd made in a week. It was still too hot to eat, but he had hopes that it would sooth his throat. It was probably just sore from yelling at Rodney so much in the past few days.

Or had he been yelling? He knew he was yelled at. And the yelling only got louder as the days wore on.

"Are you alright?" she asked, unwrapping her sandwich.

"Yes." He slid his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes. "Just exhausted, I think."

Elizabeth looked sympathetic while Radek tried his soup. It almost burned his tongue off.

"You've been working nonstop since Rodney got stuck in that dart so… that's not surprising."

No. It wasn't surprising at all. He hadn't seen Anna in days—he lost count how many days—except when he was arguing with her. Atlantis was stressful by itself. Rodney was a handful. What made him think he could handle this place, Rodney, and Anna? He said he'd figure that out later. Rodney would die without him, but Anna would be fine. She'd understand.

She shouldn't have to understand. People didn't get multiple consciousnesses trapped in their heads on Earth, did they?

Why was he still having this conversation with himself?

He slurped up more soup, trying to ignore how hot it was. "How is Anna?" He was always asking everyone else this. Why did he not already know?

"She seems fine," Elizabeth said with a smile. "I think I saw her working on simulations of the Daedalus earlier today… She seemed pretty frustrated, to be honest." She chuckled, and Radek didn't know what seemed so funny. It was never funny to be frustrated. "Doctor Collins told me Rodney said she wasn't allowed to ask for help, so I didn't press it."

"Of course. Rodney." He should have guessed Rodney would take obscene pleasure in tormenting his daughter, too.

Elizabeth frowned. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I am just tired." Tired, yes. He looked into his soup bowl. He was so hungry he could have eaten more than a few sandwiches, but he also needed sleep. He wasn't sure what he needed more, to be honest. Disgusted with his letting Sheppard bully him into doing something he knew was a bad idea. Frustrated that Rodney, somehow, came up with his outrageous ideas that shouldn't have worked but did.

Humiliated. Just humiliated.

"Yes, I'm fine," he finished.

"Okay…" She was certainly not convinced. "Do you need anything?"

He paused and looked up. "No." He stirred the soup a few more times.

Best to just finish and go to bed. He could figure out everything else tomorrow. Tomorrow, except that Rodney was expecting him to help with the puddle jumper they were taking out on their next excursion through the 'gate.

He finished his soup and stood. "I don't mean to be rude."

"You're not." Elizabeth smiled up at him, shaking her head. "I just wanted to tell you. Good work today. Okay?"

"Okay, thank you."

He hurried away. What in the world was she talking about? Certainly not this day. Certainly not any of the previous days, either. They'd been a disaster. Everything he'd tried to do—nothing turned out right. He turned into the transporter, relieved to be alone for just a few seconds. No one could yell at him in here. Not Rodney. Not Colonel Sheppard. Not Anna.

Everyone said dwelling on anger was bad, right? Only made it last longer. But if he was angry, odds were low that he could be ashamed at the same time.

The south-east pier opened before him, dark and empty. Everyone else had long since gone to bed… except everyone kept up by the Rodney/Cadman problem.

The door slid open. A lamp was on near the chair by the window. Even though she was the only one in the room, Anna sat on the floor, reading under the lamp. Just... just like...

He shouldn't to bring that up. Instead, he asked, "You're still up?"

"So are you."

"Well, yeah, but if I could have been asleep hours ago, I would have been." And tomorrow he could choose between more sleep or breakfast. He looked at the book she was reading and then out the window. Had those lights always been that bright? He slid out of his jacket and tossed it on the nearest seat.

"Did Rodney's idea work?"

"Yes. It worked." Just like everything Rodney ever tried. Every stupid idea he ever had, somehow it managed to not kill everyone. It drove Radek crazy. Interfacing Ancient 'gate crystals with a Wraith dart? Who would think of that? And why should that even work? Ancient 'gate crystals and Wraith materializers were so different, it was a stupid idea to even try it. It wasn't Radek's fault that Rodney's stupid ideas worked when there was no reason they should have.

No wonder everyone treated Rodney like a god.

Anna smiled. "Good."

"Yes, good." He looked toward his bedroom. Even though he desperately wanted to be sleeping right now, he hadn't really talked to Anna in a while. So he sat down in a chair near her and tried to think of something to say. "Elizabeth told me that Rodney gave you a difficult assignment."

Anna shrugged. "It's just tedious."

"About the Daedalus?" he prodded.

"Rerouting power through different junctions. He wants me to do trial-and-error."

Radek nodded. There was a little bit of sense in that, he supposed. He remembered telling her that they would talk later about something, but he couldn't remember what it was. It was something unpleasant. He looked at her, pursed his lips.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing…"

"I'm exhausted."

She nodded a little. "I'm alright."

He didn't believe her. Not really. Well, he didn't know what alright meant. He wanted to ask her if she was happy. At least, not miserable. Did she regret coming to the Pegasus galaxy with him? Did she enjoy learning from these people who were so obviously not teachers?

Did she think he was as terribly incompetent as everyone else on Atlantis thought?

"Good." It wasn't what he wanted to say, but it was all he could think to say. He sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know… can we talk tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Sure."

She was just obliging him. She didn't really want to have anything to do with him—and who could blame her? He wasn't exactly a great conversationalist when he wasn't exhausted. Was he? He didn't remember. When was the last time he wasn't tired? He didn't remember that, either.

He went to his room and closed the blinds on his window. Tonight, Atlantis seemed too bright.

Next time: I'm too tired to form a proper objection to that...

A/N: Ah, poor Radek. That is not a good episode for him. As Rodney says, "You were... there." But that's Duet!
If you had finals, I hope they went well for you. Hopefully they went well for me. Next week will see us returned to our regular-length chapters. I think. I have no idea. Who even knows with holidays, am I right?