Mush Alert! This chapter doesn't even veer off road anywhere near inappropriate-for-twelve-year-olds (I guess? I don't know what's age-appropriate. Disney movies have more stuff than this, though, so.) territory, but I like to have warning on mushy stuff? Because? I don't know. Just because. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Long time coming, though, amirite?

Previously: After a long and confusing road, beginning and probably ending with Radek embarrassing himself beyond words (chapters 40, 51, 58-59, 72, and 76), he has more-or-less given up on trying to understand anything ever. Meanwhile, Anna gets to find out firsthand what it's like to work with Doctor McKay.

Chapter 83. By Any Other Name.

"Is this it?" Anna asked, showing Doctor McKay her tablet. A graph spiked and dipped on the screen.

Doctor McKay hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally acknowledging that what Anna had in her hands was precisely what he was looking for. He thanked her, quietly, and pointed toward an Ancient machine that looked like it had been switched off and gathering dust for ages. Doctor McKay didn't know what it did.

Doctor McKay asked her to call him Rodney. That was a little odd, but she appreciated the gesture. Maybe. It was hard to tell if it was a gesture. She tried to remember to call him Rodney when she had to, but she didn't really use his name all that often. She noticed that the others in his lab called him Doctor McKay, though, so it was a little weird. Even Radek called him Doctor McKay sometimes.

For some reason, he wanted her to like him. It was the only explanation she could come up with.

Anna walked over to the machine and inspected the labels on the switches and buttons, and found the one for the power. She glanced up at Rodney. "Can I turn it on?" she asked.

"Uh… yeah, yeah," Doctor McKay answered absently.

Anna didn't know whether to take him at his word or not. He'd definitely given the affirmative. Anyone would back her up… if anyone were here right now. The two other scientists went to look at the power junctions leading into this room.

"These junctions are really something else," Rodney muttered. "What the hell is this thing?"

Anna decided he hadn't been listening to her, after all. If he'd really wanted to know what it was, he might have turned it on a while ago, except that this room apparently ate up a lot of power. Anna could see that herself just judging by the rings in the top corners of the pipes outside. The rings tended to denote how much power could be fed into the adjacent room, as a sort of hint to treasure-hunters outside which rooms were worth exploring. They'd be useful for Ancient repair crews, too.

"It's about twelve times the power that goes to your lab," Anna said after some mental arithmetic.

"It's—yeah, almost exactly." Rodney arched an eyebrow at her. "Do you, uh…?" He looked at Anna's tablet in his hand, and then glanced at his by the door.

Had none of the Atlantis expedition seriously noticed the rings that were right in front of their faces? Well… Anna was the only one she could think of who spent a lot of time staring at the ceiling. She could show him later… Or maybe just show Radek and let him continue the tradition of freaking out Doctor McKay.

That sounded like more fun.

"I just remembered," she said.

"Hm." Rodney chuckled and went back to Anna's tablet. "Yes."

Anna smiled and went over to the machine's front. Or, rather, what looked like a front. It was the only machine in here, as far as Anna could tell. It looked much like other Ancient machines, with sloped consoles on the front, and enigmatic buttons decorated with runes. The machine attached to the console wrapped around the room, stopping at intervals to feed into large boxes with yet more glass consoles on them.

Anna traced the machine's path around the room to the end. There was a door there that opened easily when Anna pulled on it.

"What are you doing?" Rodney demanded, rising and discarding Anna's tablet as he did. "You don't know what it does—what if it zapped you or if you just let out some crazy, brain-eating virus or something." Rodney joined her next to the door and peered inside.

"Well…" Anna mumbled, thinking that was probably a good point. Except the door was quite obviously not sealed so as to keep any microorganisms inside and there was no indication that anything at all was going on with the machine, electrical or otherwise. But, then, it paid to be cautious.

Someone should tell Colonel Sheppard that.

"Nothing happened," she offered weakly.

"Yeah, this time," Rodney said. He looked inside, pulled out a tray of crystal chips, and then put it back inside. "This must be some sort of access port."

He started to walk away while Anna pulled the tray back out. "I don't think so," she said.

Rodney halted. He didn't say anything for a second, but he chuckled derisively. "Oh, you don't? What else could it be, hm?"

Anna pulled a few of the chips inside out. To her surprise, Rodney didn't scold her, maybe because it would be simple enough to put it back where she'd found it. She turned it in her fingers and then put it back before pushing it back into its hatch.

"I don't know," she said quietly. She turned around the room and pointed at the obviously main console in the room, clear on the other side where she'd started. "I think that's where it starts." She shouldn't have said anything. Not until she had some explanation for her thought.

"Where it starts…?" Rodney mumbled under a half-scoff, and went back to his tablet. He left Anna's on the console.

Anna went back to the console. She thought she'd seen the word somewhere. The word in Ancient, something like beginning or start. She was mostly unfamiliar with Ancient, still, but she knew a handful of words by sight because she saw them around a lot.

"What was your first clue?" Rodney wondered, pointing out the word on the console that had the Ancient word that Anna remembered. "The question is, what does it start?"

"If that's the start, I think that's the end," Anna said finally. "I think it makes the chips."

Rodney put down his tablet and looked around. "You think this is a crystal-manufacturing room?"

Anna nodded. "They have to make them somehow, don't they?"

"Well, yeah," Rodney said. He looked at the console at the beginning of the room, his finger tracing over the Ancient runes quickly, almost like he was reading his native English instead of Ancient. "I suppose they would have to have one of those around here somewhere, wouldn't they?"

"They'd have to make a lot of things here," Anna said. "Everything. Crystals, ZPMs."

Rodney's eyes flickered up at the mention of ZPMs.

Anna continued. "This was their biggest and best city, right? This was the one they picked to make their last stand against the Wraith. They let everything else go, so they must have been fairly confident in their ability to sustain themselves, right?"

Rodney nodded, waving his finger in her direction. "Of course, yeah, that makes sense. Atlantis wasn't just a place for research for them, but it's that, too. My god, they must have all sorts of industrial mechanisms all over the place just to keep the city running for thousands of years. They had no idea how long they'd be here, did they?"

Anna shook her head.

"I wonder if we could figure out how to make it work… what kind of crystals would it make? If, you know, that's what it does," he added, quietly. He attached his tablet to the console by a wire and tapped around.

Anna felt a bit puffed up as she walked over to see what it was he was doing, but the Ancient scrolled by on his screen so fast that she couldn't decipher them. Rodney didn't even stop to read.

"But it's not a bad idea, is it?" she asked. She didn't know why she wanted so badly for Rodney to tell her that it was a reasonable thought she'd had. Maybe even a good thought.

"Yeah, I guess, it's not bad," Rodney agreed. Suddenly, he paused and glanced at her with a grin. "You sure you're a Zelenka?"

Anna gave him a well-meaning elbow in the arm. He looked a little pleased about it, and went back to his tablet. One need only look at her to see the resemblance. Anyway, it wasn't like Radek was an idiot.

And it wasn't like Anna was particularly all that smart, figuring this little puzzle out. Rodney just wanted everything to be amazing, complicated, and magical. He forgot that people had to live somehow, they had to put their cities together and keep them running. They had to do the day-to-day boring, methodical, and mundane. There wasn't anything smart about that…

Rodney didn't know how to not be smart.

Anna's heart fell with the realization that she couldn't possibly be as smart as Rodney, not ever. Kind of like how Radek would never be like Rodney. He got pretty close, but he'd never be like him.

"I'm sure I am," she said finally, for lack of anything else to say. She wished she could be more like Rodney, just a little bit. She wanted to see the amazing, complicated, and magical, too.

But, not everything was that way. Most of life was boring, methodical, and mundane. That meant that, even if it wasn't exciting, she was still seeing things that Doctor McKay wasn't. Maybe being a Zelenka wasn't so bad.

#

Radek squinted at the screen flashing the error message at his face. "No, no, no," he begged it, shoving off from that desk to roll over to another one. "Why do you do this? What have I done to you?" He started clacking away at the keyboard. This was going to be a long night, or else a long day tomorrow. Or maybe both.

"You have an error message," Elizabeth joked from the doorway.

She usually made such an entrance. Not that she came to see him with any predictable frequency… Though, more now than before. He had noticed that. It was strange, but pleasant. Especially since only sometimes did she come with various technological complaints that he was supposed to fix. Even when she did, those line items in their talks seemed more superficial.

She walked in without invitation, not that she needed one, and set a bottle of wine on the table. Two plastic cups followed.

"Uh, yeah…" he mumbled uncertainly. He stood, because it seemed the thing to do, and cast a glance over his shoulder toward the computer displaying its insistent error. "I don't know what's wrong with it." Might as well not bother to explain what it was. He was far more interested in what this was. "What is going on?"

"Všechno nejlepší," * Elizabeth said, brandishing a wine-opener. "It's March twenty-first. Don't tell me you don't celebrate your name day because then I'll have gone to all this trouble for nothing."

He half-smiled. "I won't say it's for nothing. It has been a long time since I observed it."

"Maybe it's time to get back to it," Elizabeth offered. She poured a bit of wine into each glass.

Radek swore to himself after he got his degrees, he would never celebrate any occasion with liquor in plastic cups again. However, he didn't plan for another galaxy, either, so he figured this was the right place for exceptions.

There was no legitimate complaint he could have with this, plastic or not.

"I used to try to send Anna a card for hers." And, he guessed, he should get her some flowers or something this year. It wasn't for a long time yet, and he was sure when it came down to it he'd remember. Or Elizabeth would remember. "Will this become tradition, then?" He took the cup Elizabeth offered him.

"I don't know," Elizabeth said. "I hope so." She offered the rim of the cup in a toast.

The cups made a hollow sound when they touched.

She hoped so? Well… in that case, so did he.

"Thank you for this." He supposed he could find out which day was for the Czech equivalent of Elizabeth. Get her some flowers or something. "It's very nice." The wine was good, too.

Elizabeth picked up the wine bottle and observed the label. She sighed and set it back down. "I'm glad." But she didn't sound glad. She sounded like this was a mistake.

He looked down at his wine. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said with a sudden smile. "I'm fine."

He knew very little about women anymore. Or maybe he never did. That sort of thing took time and study, and he hadn't ever dedicated the effort it obviously required. But he happened to know the words I'm fine rarely delivered as advertised.

On the other hand, calling her out on skirting the truth right now seemed like a bad idea. He did the next best thing and took a sip of wine.

"I just realized what a hypocrite I am," Elizabeth said, so suddenly and unexpectedly that he didn't know how—or if—to respond right away. He knew enough to not choke on his wine, though. "I got this bottle to share with Simon. At the time, I thought for sure he would come on the Atlantis expedition. Who would want to pass up this chance? Who wouldn't want all this?" She gestured around the room.

She was right. Who wouldn't?

Apparently, Simon. He could have had all this and Elizabeth. What on Earth could compare?

"But why is that hypocritical?" He put his cup down in case she said something else shocking.

"Because I loved Simon."

Radek blinked in confusion. He was simply not following. He'd have to just hold his breath and hope that Elizabeth explained herself. He couldn't make a very convincing case for her not being a hypocrite—though he was still sure she wasn't counterfeit in any sense, not pretending, not a fraud—without knowing why she thought that.

"And it wasn't as though if Simon came on the expedition, I was going to give up my office."

Oh.

Radek looked down, simply to avoid letting on that, while he hadn't thought of that before, he couldn't exactly say she was wrong. She was willing to make exception for the man she loved—the very thing she wanted to never do; she never wanted to be accused of favoritism like that. It was the reason she presented for backing away from him…

She probably had other reasons, but she shouldn't feel she had to lie. He didn't have much of an ego to save. At least, he shouldn't have, working with Rodney.

"I was perfectly fine with putting myself in the position of having to make a decision between Simon and any other doctor on Atlantis…" She looked a bit thoughtful. "I'm not sure what I thought of my judgement then. Did I think I'd never have to choose? Who do I send into a dangerous situation, Carson or Simon? Or did I honestly think my judgement wouldn't suffer?"

Radek didn't like where this conversation was going. He was sure Elizabeth would make the right decision, but if Elizabeth didn't agree, it didn't matter what he thought. It didn't matter if this could work.

It wouldn't, anyway. They were both so busy. Their interests and personalities were nothing alike.

Yet, they were not dissimilar, either.

He ventured to ask, "Have you decided which, um…?" He set his jaw and determined to say nothing else. Should have taken a drink instead, you moron…

She nodded a little and poured a bit more wine in her cup, and then in his. "I think I have." She took a drink and set the cup down. "I've decided I should trust the Elizabeth that trusted herself to make the right decisions."

Radek could drink to that. He reached for his plastic cup to lift it in a toast, when his movement, his thoughts, his existence was disrupted.

Elizabeth stepped closer, her lips brushing his cheek, and his heart might have stopped.

She retreated almost immediately, a soft, cute pink rising to her cheeks. "I'm, um…"

"Oh, no." He couldn't get a grip on his voice at first, but it came back just in time for him to say, "Neomlouvej." He wasn't sure why he said it that way—it was just the first thing that came to mind. Well… maybe not the first thing. He put his hand on her arm, and she didn't pull away. "Don't apologize."

Radek put the plastic cup back down and watched Elizabeth, because nothing else in the room seemed to exist anymore. Had they danced around this long enough, now? Had he? Elizabeth probably had no idea…

Radek had no idea, either. No idea how long he'd wanted to hold her. No idea since when he'd wanted to kiss her. No idea if this was actually happening. If his throbbing pulse was any indication…

She let him step closer without backing away. Let him put his arms around her. Let him kiss her.

She kissed him back.

Afterward, Elizabeth stayed close, her eyes low.

He watched her, though. She was blushing, her color warming the room's cool blue lights. A smile played at the corners of her perfect lips… if he could kiss them again… But he didn't. Not yet. He pushed a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, his fingertips burning with her touch.

"I've loved you a long time, you know," he said quietly.

Elizabeth laughed a little, the sound almost as wonderful as the kiss. Almost. She lifted her eyes to meet his, eyebrows arching. "Oh? You have?"

Radek nodded. It felt like a long time, anyway. It felt like… like something he couldn't remember anymore. Not right now. "Yeah, I have."

The universe did not treat Radek Zelenka this way, did it?

Better not question it, in case the universe should realize.

"Well," Elizabeth said. "I wasn't exactly sure about you at first. It took a little bit to decide you weren't just completely crazy."

Radek almost laughed, since that was probably the understatement of her life. And she was the diplomat. "Understandable." Probably shouldn't ask how long it took for her to change her mind… or if she did. It was true, after all.

When she leaned closer, it decidedly didn't matter. He didn't need an explanation, anyway.

"Many happy returns, Radek," she said softly.

He really hoped so.

Czech Things

* Všechno nejlepší = All the best.

A/N: Alright. *shakes hands out* That was uncomfortable for me. I just don't do this romance stuff, guys, not with characters that aren't mine. Feels just wrong. I could explain why, but this would get long. I just. I—*facedesk*
It is important for the story, though, you know. The "how Radek and Anna become a family" story.
…
Oh, you didn't know I had a story I was working on?
…
Understandable.

But, you know, it's Radek's birthday, so there had to be something special. So. You know. Happy birthday.

Thank yous & etc.

Missmeow1968 - I'm glad you've been liking Iskaan. It is sad about the crew-members, though. I get the feeling that Atlantis is really much more dangerous than the outlandish success rate of Sheppard's team would have us believe. As for that other thing...? Well, I mean, we'll just have to wait and see what happens, won't we? *shifty eyes* (Seriously, I think that's the second or third time you predicted a concept I was using in one way or another... Hopefully you'll like my variation on it when the time comes.)

Next time: There is a problem, though…