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

Previously: Rodney is under water (since chapter 100). And I guess if you want to know what happened, you can watch the Stargate: Atlantis episode "Grace Under Pressure."

Chapter 102. Bends.

All of Atlantis seemed to relax once it was clear that Rodney wasn't going to drown in a Puddle Jumper 450 meters underwater. That would have ruined Anna's week. Probably Radek's, too, but he might be too in shock to process if something like that happened. John and Radek had reported they'd be back on Atlantis soon, but they wanted to take it a little slow to give Rodney the best chance at only having mild decompression sickness. Symptoms were, apparently, a given for all of them no matter what. They'd be worst for Rodney. But Doctor Beckett was sure he could utilize Atlantis's tech advantage to help him out a bit.

It would be a while before they returned, though. Anna found herself back in Elizabeth's office. She still had her paper to send…

She tiptoed to the chair in front of Elizabeth's desk and tried to sit without alerting Elizabeth to her presence. It didn't work.

"Hello, again." Elizabeth looked up with a bright smile. "Thank you for volunteering to search for Rodney and Griffin earlier today." She looked a bit apologetic. Maybe because they'd lost yet another brave soul.

But Griffin was a Daedalus pilot, not one of the Atlantis expedition members. He liked to watch birds.

"Yeah…" Anna sighed and pulled out her tablet. She put it on the desk so Elizabeth could look at the paper she'd written.

Elizabeth slid the tablet across the desk toward her and, after musing quietly about the title Anna had chosen, began to read silently. She didn't seem to notice that Anna shrank back in her chair. If she had noticed, she might have said something. Or maybe not. Maybe Elizabeth had planned to let Anna wallow in her feelings of guilt for a while before dragging it out of her.

Anna decided not to give Elizabeth the satisfaction.

"I think I should apologize." But, then, Anna hadn't really meant to blurt it out like that, either.

Elizabeth glanced up in surprise. "For what?"

Anna was momentarily glad that it wasn't very obvious to Elizabeth what Anna ought to apologize for. It was nice to be overlooked, in a way. "I was very rude to you."

"Oh, that." Elizabeth blushed a little, and shrugged. "It was completely my fault."

That may not have been completely incorrect. "Well, I shouldn't have been rude, anyway."

Anna took a deep breath and forced herself to look up at Elizabeth. Think of her, just a moment, as somebody other than her teacher and the leader of Atlantis. As somebody who might be around a lot. As somebody who… liked Radek?

"I hope we can still be friends," Elizabeth offered quietly.

Anna considered that for a moment. She hadn't considered what they had before to be a friendship that could be preserved, but maybe it was. Whatever the case, Anna didn't have many friends around here. She sighed. "Me, too."

If Elizabeth had been anybody else, she might have gone on to simply pick up Anna's tablet again and start reading, but she didn't. "Is there anything I can do to make this less awkward for you?" Elizabeth asked.

Less awkward. Making this less awkward wasn't going to solve much, at this point. The level of awkwardness was so high that Anna doubted it was a matter of degree anymore.

That wasn't the most diplomatic thing to say, though. Anna shook her head, offered, "I don't think so. It would be wrong to ask you to change I think."

Elizabeth didn't look convinced.

"You need a friend, too," Anna offered, by way of explanation. She wasn't sure that Radek was fit friend material, but she guessed that Elizabeth could make that judgment for herself…

Besides. They weren't friends.

Good lord, stop thinking about that. Anna squeezed her eyes shut, and shook her head. "I mean… you know what I mean."

Elizabeth seemed mildly amused. "I think so." She picked up the tablet and looked at it. It was clear she wasn't reading it. "I'm not suggesting Radek and I each pretend the other doesn't exist. But I don't want to take up time he might otherwise spend with you… especially if you don't want me there."

It was a little late for the first, anyway. "No, that's not… that's not what I want." Anna sighed and shook her head, a bit disbelieving of the words just about to come out of her mouth. "To be honest, I don't know if I want you there… but I haven't even given it a try."

Elizabeth didn't respond, probably because she wasn't sure what Anna meant. Anna wasn't very sure what Anna meant. No, Anna knew. She wanted Elizabeth to let Anna have the chance to give the relationship a sporting try of acceptance. Anna couldn't do that if it was a secret.

Anna stood up and said, "I want to know what it would be like… if the three of us were together. After all… I'm part of Radek's family." Anna twisted her toe slightly on the floor, itching to run out of the room. That wasn't happening, though. "Right?" She glanced up to see what Elizabeth thought of that.

Elizabeth smiled, and nodded. "That's a good point. I really should be the one apologizing to you. You are part of Radek's family, and it was pretty unfair of me to not think of you that way."

And if Elizabeth realized that, well… Anna thought maybe this wouldn't be as awful as she originally thought. "Then I think we can be friends."

#

Last time Radek was going anywhere near thousands of meters under water. He didn't care if Rodney's life was on the line or not. Sheppard could do it himself. Rodney at least had the luxury of descending at a nice, comfortable rate of twenty feet a minute. Sheppard and Radek maybe doubled that in their panicked state to find him.

Carson walked by, glanced at him, and then looked back with a more serious expression. "You okay?"

Radek shrugged. "I suppose I'm just getting a preview of what joint pain might be for me in another ten years…" He tried not to move, since that only made it worse. Unfortunately, that was his first impulse when his shoulders started to feel sore.

"Oh, aye…" Carson sighed sympathetically, coming to a stop next to Radek's gurney. "Colonel Sheppard's feeling about the same right now. I'll get you some pain killer, as well."

"It's not that bad," Radek objected before considering. When did he start turning down drugs…?

Carson gave him a sad look. "I'm afraid it's going to get worse before it gets better."

"Oh…"

Radek and Carson both looked to Radek's right. Rodney sprawled on a gurney, staring at the ceiling plaintively. "It's going to get worse?" He moaned and sat up to face them. "What do you mean, 'it's going to get worse'?"

"I mean…" Carson seemed to consider his words carefully. "The mild symptoms of decompression sickness are things like… you know, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, a general feeling of illness…"

"Oh, god!" Rodney shrank with each word Carson spoke. "I have almost all of those. I'm fatigued—I feel like I can't even stand. I'm not hungry…"

"Well, that's not normal," Radek muttered, trying to conceal a grin.

Rodney looked up with alarm. "You're right! Carson, I'm not hungry! Feeling of illness? I'm way past that."

"Rodney…" Radek sighed, jumping in before Carson had a chance to reassure him. "You have a general feeling of illness just from getting out of bed in the morning."

"Oh." Rodney shot Radek a look. "And there's the headache. Thanks, Radek!"

Carson smirked and went to stand beside Rodney to take his pulse.

"If you don't take this seriously, how is Carson going to know whether you're embellishing or you actually have more serious symptoms?" Radek asked.

Rodney snapped at him a few times. "Wait, wait, shut up. Hold up some fingers."

Radek obliged, with three of his fingers, and sighed. "Rodney…"

With a blinking stare at Radek's extended phalanges, Rodney whimpered. "Oh, god… is that three fingers or six?"

Radek pulled his hand back and frowned. "Get ahold of yourself, Rodney."

"You're not the one who's gonna die of arterial gas embolism!"

"You're not gonna die." Carson rolled his eyes and gave Rodney a gentle guide to lying back down on the bed. "You're going to be just fine. Sheppard took the ascent slowly enough. You probably won't even have any serious symptoms."

When Rodney said nothing for a few minutes, inspecting the back of his hand, Carson started to walk away. Presumably for some aspirin, or a pill to knock Rodney out for a few hours until the worst of it was over.

Rodney suddenly sat up again and winced. He wasn't put off by that, though. He held his hand aloft for Carson's inspection. "Uh, wait, Carson, I'm molting."

Carson sighed and motioned for Rodney to follow him instead.

The infirmary felt empty, now, even though the usual people bustled around, working on whatever it was medical doctors and nurses worked on. Carson didn't expect Radek to have any of the worst symptoms. Besides mild joint pain, Radek didn't feel anything beyond mixed relief and regret they'd been able to get to Rodney in time. Rescuing Rodney was always like that.

In a few days, Rodney would forget the scathing lecture he'd given Radek about how to do his job correctly, because, in a few days, Radek would make some other mistake and Rodney's attention would be diverted. Radek would get another lecture, and the cycle would repeat. Hopefully Rodney wouldn't be put in mortal danger again anytime soon, though.

And all Radek had to do for the next few minutes was wait for a pain killer.

"Whose idea was it to go underwater this time?" Anna wondered from beside him, quite suddenly.

He didn't know how she'd gotten there so silently, but maybe the infirmary was louder than he originally thought. Or else his ears weren't quire cooperating. Radek chuckled as he shrugged. "Who knows?"

"It is kind of cool that the Jumpers can go underwater, though, isn't it?" Anna asked. Her eyes lit up, presumably at the possibility that she could add "has piloted a submarine" on her future resume.

"I suppose," Radek said.

He tried not to wince at a new wave of pain washing through his spine and shoulders. He wished Carson would hurry up because he was exactly right when he said things would get worse before they got better. That was usually true, anyway.

"I talked to Elizabeth…" Anna said quietly.

Radek couldn't imagine this conversation going well, either. More than one reason to have that pain killer sooner rather than later. "Oh?"

She nodded. "I thought… I thought I should apologize to her. For being rude. And I should apologize to you, too. Even though you definitely should have told me, I still shouldn't have been rude."

Oh, good. Now not only was he suffering from arduous joint pain, but also from the distinct impression that he was a pretty crappy human being, too. Either that, or hallucinations.

"No, please don't apologize," he mumbled. "It was really my fault. I'm very sorry."

"I know…" With a sigh, Anna jumped up to sit next to him on the gurney. Their shoulders touched. "I told Elizabeth that… I thought it would be better if I got to know her a little more, and different from when she's my teacher. And what it would be like… if the three of us would do things together. Like… have dinner?"

Radek blinked, and looked at her. "You invited Elizabeth to dinner with us?"

Anna nodded, looking back at him. "Yes." She seemed confused.

"What did she say?"

If it was possible, Anna seemed even more confused. "She said yes."

"Oh." Radek considered that. Maybe he should just have Anna ask Elizabeth to dinner for him all the time. Much easier. Virtually none of the requisite anxiety. Even better, Elizabeth might be more inclined to say yes to Anna. Additional testing was necessary. "When?"

"Tonight? Will you be able to have dinner tonight?"

Radek didn't know, but he was going to try. "Oh, yes. I will sneak out of here if I have to."

Anna giggled. "We can reschedule."

"No, no." Radek smiled at her. "I could not possibly back out of dinner with the two most beautiful girls on Atlantis, could I?"

Anna frowned, but he could tell she was still pleased with his inept compliment. Maybe Radek was getting better at the whole 'dad' thing, whether she called him that or not. Anyway, he certainly hoped so.

A/N: There was a whole thing here about the way Sheppard and Weir treat Radek in this episode. Like, at one point Weir says something like, "If Rodney can't count on you, then who can he count on?" And, man, that's rough. I mean? Hello? Radek is the one that got him into this situation in the first place. Radek is thinking at this precise moment that Rodney can't count on him. Heck, he was probably a medal-winning swimmer in high school and just didn't want to face to the fact that he'd probably killed Rodney.

Kidding, just kidding. Radek doesn't swim.

Anyway, that was a thread I wanted to follow, but didn't. I started, but boy it got long and I have more important things to do here. I wanted to share it anyway. Someone write an episode tag about it please? Tell me when you do. I'll be waiting.

Next time: An all-new "adventure," featuring everyone trying their best to find some sort of excitement.