TITLE: Loving Rodney

AUTHOR: Lady Ra

E-MAIL ADDRESS: LadyRa11@yahoo.com

RATING: PG-13. Just smoochies boys and girls.

PAIRING: McKay/Sheppard

SUMMARY: Atlantis comes to love Rodney, and so does Sheppard: a romantic shmoop fest.

NOTES: Every bit of the science gobbledy gook is nonsense; I snitched it all from the internet. Really. So if you're someone who truly knows this stuff, just skip over those parts so you don't gag, and try not to mock me too much. LOL. Set in season 1 and goes AU

EPISODE SPOILERS: None, really, except for the whole show. And Trinity never happened because of what happens in this story.

DISCLAIMER: It all belongs to whoever the heck owns Stargate and Atlantis. Wah! But all honor and praise to the creators of such wonderful characters.

DISTRIBUTION: Wraithbait, Area 52 and my home site: www.visionsofprettyboys.com, ooh, ooh, and my LJ, http://ladyra.livejournal.com/, and a bunch of other places, too. FEEDBACK: Absolutely. In fact I insist on it. No, I'm begging you for it. My muse thinks it's better than chocolate.

THANKS: Thanks to my vunderbar betas. My stories are always so much better for their hard work. For this story that includes: Jenn, Joolz, Morr, and Prentice. Also thanks to Arduinna's Stargate Atlantis Handbook. I love obsessed people. And a special thanks to Serverusslave for letting me use her picture in my story on my website version.

Loving Rodney

As the new inhabitants woke the city, she searched for the people she had been created for. She found only one. Keeping her senses on him at all times, she lit the stairs for him, opened doors for him, turned her equipment on for him, and brought the ships to life for him.

There were some others who were similar to her people, but her awareness of them was muted. She allowed her secondary systems to keep track of them while she focused on the one.

*****

Rodney frowned as John turned on yet another piece of equipment that had been barely glimmering for him. Granted, they wouldn't have been able to come here at all without Sheppard's gene, and yes, Rodney's control over his injected ATA gene was growing stronger, but it still grated. Rodney was the one who--.

"How about this one?" John said, interrupting Rodney's silent gripefest. He held up a small device about the size of a deck of cards. When Rodney had tried to turn it on a few hours ago, it had vibrated for a moment and then stopped.

"Oh, sure, why not?" Rodney said caustically. He was already miserable enough that Sheppard had the power, like some follicle-steroid-enhanced He-Man with his magical sword; might as well make his day complete.

Under John's touch, the gadget emitted a hologram. "Cool," John said with a grin as he stared at it. "What's it say?"

Rodney moved closer, eyes squinted as he tried to read the Ancient script. Then he grinned, amused, despite himself. "Looks like the Ancient equivalent of Dr. Seuss."

John's eyebrows rose. "Green Eggs and Ham?"

"More like One Fish, Two Fish," Rodney said.

"I gotta learn to read Ancient," John said wistfully as he put the gadget down.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "While I'm sure you're grieving over having to leave your 'See Spot Run' books back on Earth, perhaps you could find--"

He was interrupted again, but this time by Radek over his headset. "Rodney, reluctant as I am to feed your monstrous ego, we need you in the eastern grounding station. The dielectric between conducting plates is emitting unscheduled fireworks show."

"And you need me, why? This is elementary stuff, even for you." Rodney snapped out, not that it stopped him from reaching for his portable tool kit.

"Thank you for vote of confidence," Radek responded dryly. "Perhaps I am lonely for your restful company."

"Very funny." Rodney checked to make sure he had everything. Eying John, he said, "Don't touch anything."

"Oh," John said airily, as he stood, "I'm coming with you. I love fireworks."

Rodney sighed dramatically. Of course John was coming with him, if for no other reason than to rub it in as the doors cheerily, and automatically, opened for him. Only the fact that Rodney sort of, for absolutely no reason that he could determine, liked being with John, kept him from saying no. Instead, he shot the Major a narrow-eyed glare and swept out of the lab, John directly behind him.

*****

John loved to watch Rodney in action. It was better than a good football game. Defense, offense, penalties, blitzes, blocking, punting, personal fouls--Rodney working on a problem had all of that and more.

"Don't touch that," Rodney griped at one of the scientists. John thought his name was Jenkins. He really needed to learn all their names, John chastised himself again. He ignored the fatalistic voice that told him not to bother. They'd probably die, and it would all have been a wasted effort.

He knew Rodney's name, and he knew Radek Zelenka's name. Unfortunately, he also knew Kavanaugh's name. The last one would never, ever die--being akin to a cockroach--and the first two had better not die, especially the first one, or they'd be up shitcreek without a paddle.

The scientist, who had been warned not to touch, touched and an arc of blue fire shot out at Rodney. John had him on his back in an instant, feeling the heat of the flame as it barely missed singeing his hair.

Rodney stared up at him.

John stared down at Rodney. He kind of liked this view.

Rodney blew out a breath. "Radek?"

"Yes, Rodney," Radek said, as if he always had conversations with Rodney while John was lying on top of him.

"Tell Jorgenson to go away or I'll have to kill him."

"Right." Radek proceeded to inform Jorgenson that perhaps this was not his day to learn about the grounding station. Very sad, yes, but Atlantis would be safer this way.

Rodney blew out another breath. "Major?"

"Yeah?" John was not only liking the view, he was liking the whole body against body thing, too.

"Not that I'm not grateful for your saving me from being flambéed, but is there a reason you're trying to squeeze all the breath out of my body?"

John squinched his face up. "No." Obviously there was, with the liking and all, but John thought it wiser to keep that to himself.

"Ah." Rodney slapped a hand over his face. "Radek?" he asked through his fingers.

"Yes, Rodney?"

"Can you reach the Major's gun?"

John rolled off of Rodney. Not that he thought for a moment that Radek would shoot him, but Rodney might, and this close he probably wouldn't miss. He sat up, his legs crossed Indian-style, eyes on Rodney.

Rodney slowly sat up, one hand on his lower back, one on the back of his head. "Ow. Ow." He glowered at John. "Again, not to discount the rescue, but was the football tackle absolutely necessary? I bruise easily, you know."

John knew this. Everyone on Atlantis knew this. He suspected everyone in Colorado and Nevada knew this, not to mention every other state Rodney had spent more than two hours in. "I thought you'd rather be bruised than burnt to a crisp."

Rodney looked like he was thinking about it. Then he glanced at Radek. "Are we in any further danger from tongues of fire?"

Radek shook his head, holding up several wires showing signs of having been yanked out.

Rodney groaned again. "Could we please," Rodney said with an emphasis on please that meant anything but, "try to find a way to remedy a situation that doesn't include full-body bruising and the destruction of possibly vital parts of Atlantis?" He grabbed the wires from Radek's hand, glowering at him, too.

John met Radek's eyes and they shared a silent what-can-you-do? moment. To hate Rodney was to love him.

"What did he touch?" John asked.

"Does it matter?" Rodney griped. "I was relatively certain I told him not to touch anything. I was even fairly certain I said it in English." As Rodney inched back to the grounding station, his eyes flitted to Radek. "Did I say it in English?" He gingerly touched the metal there to determine its heat.

"Oh, yes," Radek assured him. "You always say in English."

Rodney let out a derogatory snort. "Idiots."

"So when you tell people not to touch things, you're not just saying it because you think they're stupid?" John asked. Being someone who was told that by Rodney all the time, he wanted some clarification.

"Is that a trick question?" Rodney asked as he started wiring, his fingers moving like magic over the multitude of connections that looked like an electrician's nightmare. "Sort of like: have you stopped beating your wife?"

John gave him a lopsided grin.

"The problem, Major," Radek said as he slapped a tool into Rodney's hand like an assistant to a trauma surgeon, "is that we have the wrong people here."

"What do you mean?"

Radek gestured toward the equipment that Rodney was working on. "We have chemists, geneticists, microbiologists, astrophysicists," here Rodney waved his hand as if Radek had been taking attendance then went back to his wiring, "meteorologists, even botanists."

"And?" John prompted him.

"What we need," Rodney took up, "are plumbers, electricians, mechanics, mechanical engineers, and heavy and civil construction engineers."

"Is true," Radek said sadly. "Jorgenson is brilliant--" At Rodney's interrupting glare, Radek amended, "above average--" that got another glare.

Radek glared back.

Rodney conceded with a sigh. "Fine, above average. That's one step above kindergarten for a place like this."

"Above average electrophysicist," Radek finished.

"Which," Rodney grumbled, "made me foolishly think he might know something about electricity." He barked out a derisive "ha" and went back to work.

"What does an electrophysicist do?" John inquired. He kept a cautious eye on the grounding station, not wanting a repeat of what had happened before. Not that it probably would with Rodney at the helm. Shit around Atlantis usually happened because someone else touched something. Usually.

"Ironically enough," Rodney said snidely, "they generally work with electronics. Which, incidentally," he added with a sneer, "goes hand in hand with electricity." He snorted indignantly. "Above average. He's an imbecile."

"Why is he an imbecile?" John asked, digging.

"For all he knows about electronics, the man might as well be an exobiologist studying about bolides," Rodney snapped.

That wasn't the least bit helpful. He turned to Radek, hoping he might have a better answer.

Before Radek could speak, Rodney stopped what he was doing and turned to John. "The problem is that Jorgenson, and most of the other scientists on Atlantis understand the theory behind their sciences. Jorgenson can probably tell you how this grounding station works and why. He, maybe, on a good day when hell freezes over, could design a better one. But he doesn't have the practical experience of working with impedances in CR, LR, or LCR circuits, or capacitance, or semiconductor or zenor diodes. Sure he can probably interpret an RMS value of an AC waveform, but he won't know how to fix it when it's wrong."

"Jorgenson would have secretary call for electrician," Radek offered. He pointed at the one loose wire. "Don't forget that one."

"Oh, thank you so much. I never could have finished this job without you," Rodney said with a sarcastic smile. "Wrench."

Radek smacked the tool sharply into his palm.

"Ow," Rodney said.

"Sorry," Radek said, not the least bit penitent.

"So why do you know how to do this stuff?" John asked Rodney. "You're an astrophysicist, not an electrician."

"Because," Rodney said as he connected the last wire, "I know everything." He closed the console, gave the grounding station a little pat, and switched it on. It whirred a little, and then began beeping reassuringly.

Radek sighed. "Is true. Is very annoying."

John pursed his lips. "So in other words, we have all these well-paid, highly educated scientists wandering around Atlantis, when what we need are a bunch of beer-guzzling plant operations guys?"

"Yes," Rodney said, "and no. We need smart plant operations guys who understand physics and yet are willing to be flexible, because the equipment here doesn't exactly follow all the rules we learned back on Earth."

"Or an astrophysicist who's also a part time handyman," John amended. The repaired grounding station case in point. He'd never really thought about it before, but half the stuff Rodney did was fixing things. Even though John knew that, he hadn't put two and two together. Rodney did it all. Plumbing, lights, heating and air conditioning, stuck doors, broken transporters, weapons. The ultimate handy-man. John's respect for Rodney and his capabilities increased exponentially. He turned to Radek. "You don't seem too shabby at this stuff."

"I had many opportunities for fixing things when growing up." Radek leaned in toward John as if to add a deep dark secret. "And I hate to say this where Rodney can hear, but is also because I listen to him."

"You are a wise man, my friend," Rodney said grandly.

"Yes, yes," Radek said with a roll of his eyes. He started to help Rodney pack up the tools they'd used. "Please to keep your ego on tight leash so it does not take over city."

John glanced at his watch. "We done here? I'm hungry. Let's go eat."

Rodney jumped to his feet. "I could eat."

"Surprise, surprise," Radek said dryly in response, but he followed John and Rodney as they headed to the closest transporter.

*****

Rodney was having a good day. Every Ancient gadget he'd tried to turn on had activated, revealing its secrets to him. Well, all right, there had been the one thing, roughly oval shaped, that had buzzed a little and then gone silent, but Rodney had shoved it under a pile of paper and was ignoring it.

It helped that it was the middle of the night, which allowed him to work undisturbed in the lab. He'd made his way here after he hadn't been able to sleep and decided that staring at the ceiling was a poor use of his valuable time.

He liked being alone in his lab. It was easier for him to run overall city diagnostics. There was less power being drawn and systems were quiescent enough to get a sense of how they were working. Rodney had also discovered that if he found something wrong, fixing it in the dark of night kept the very-not-helpful kibitzing down to a minimum.

He tapped his computer, his index finger flicking at a red light. Like this. He'd be able to go to the hydroponics lab and get that fixed before all the supposed experts showed up to make it worse.

Smiling in self-satisfaction, Rodney grabbed his laptop and his tool bag, and headed for hydroponics.

*****

The city knew parts of her had weakened while she had slept. She could sense her systems being worked on. Some were returned to full functioning, some were at partial strength, while other parts of her were sacrificed to keep other parts stronger. That was permissible. Her function, after all, was to sustain life.

The bright one, the one she was most aware of, walked her corridors in his attempt to know her more fully. Her sensors were effortlessly attuned to him now so she was able to focus more fully on the others who inhabited her.

She could hear and feel them. If they were near one of her vision sensors, she could see them. However, it was difficult to differentiate them by vision. The data elements required taxed her system.

It was simpler to sense the heat of their bodies, identify the whorls on their fingertips. It was more difficult to do with the ones who could not mentally interact with her, less challenging to do with the ones with whom she could partially interact, and instinctive with the bright one.

Over time, she came to know them as individuals.

She learned that the bright one's name was John Sheppard. She came to learn other names: Elizabeth Weir, Peter Grodin, Radek Zelenka, Carson Beckett. She learned their functions and aided them when she could. She also came to know Rodney McKay as the one who often repaired her.

She began to pay attention to him.

*****

John was bored. He'd done his patrols, worked out with Teyla, done the checking in with Elizabeth, even read his allotted pages of War and Peace. There were no missions slated for two more days, and John was really, really bored.

So he went in search of his favorite entertainment. It took him a while but he finally tracked down Rodney in one of the hallways outside the medlab. John could hear him blasting his poor hapless victim from around the corner.

"Where did you get your Ph.D.? Target?" Rodney asked scornfully.

"I was doing it right," his victim protested. John was pretty sure it was Nancy Forner. In Rodney's estimation, no doubt, yet another above-average scientist of some sort.

"If you're a blacksmith," Rodney said with withering disdain. "You're not trying to make horseshoes; you're working on a finely tuned terminal linear voltage regulator. Keep working on it the way you are with those fumble-fingers of yours and constant voltage will go the way of the dinosaur."

John turned the corner to find Rodney and Forner sitting on the floor, tools scattered between them. Rodney was watching Forner make another attempt, doing something to one of the hundreds of consoles that lined the hallway.

"Gently," Rodney yelled at her.

As Forner yanked her hands back, John bit back a grin. Ah, the dulcet tones of Dr. Rodney McKay.

"Don't you get that this is Atlantis?" Rodney pleaded loudly with her. "It's…it's Atlantis. You need to treat it with some…" Rodney ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "It's just…it's Atlantis. Okay?"

Forner stared at him with a furrowed brow. As she stared, John fought back the urge to go kiss Rodney senseless. These brief glimpses of Rodney truly and deeply caring were a total turn on.

Rodney sighed. "Try it again."

Deciding to announce his presence, John said, "Glad to see you're letting someone else get to play."

Rodney looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too, McKay." John slouched against a wall.

Ignoring John, Rodney went back to observing Forner. "Yeah, yeah, that's it."

John could see Rodney's fingers twitching, as if he was only a hairsbreadth away from taking over. Patience was not Rodney's strong suit, especially when John knew he could no doubt do it in a fraction of the time.

His eyes still focused on Forner, Rodney said to John, "Did you need something?"

"No," John said with a grin, knowing those kinds of answers drove McKay crazy.

"Careful," Rodney bit out. "See that crystal? Do you see it? See how it looks smudged?"

Forner nodded, reaching for it, cautiously working it out. When she held it in her hand, even John could see how discolored one side was. "What's that for?" John asked.

"It's to light up the Atlantis Christmas tree," came McKay's sarcastic rejoinder.

"I want to know," John said. And he did. It was clear they all needed a better idea about how the city worked. He used to work on engines, first in cars, then in planes, he got how things worked; despite being in another galaxy, not all of this had to be rocket science. "Explain it to me."

Rodney rolled his eyes heavenwards as if looking for strength. "Fine." He gestured up and down the corridor. "These hallways are lined with superconducting material that allows for a safe level of low-voltage power to be transferred through the city. This," Rodney held the crystal up for display, "was creating a partial blockage that was only allowing the voltage to pass through when it built up to a much higher level."

"So if it kept doing that," John finished, taking an educated guess, "sooner or later the elevated voltage that got released would make its way to the grounding station and cause it to short out like it did last week, or it would start a chain reaction and knock out the rest of the crystals."

Rodney gave him an assessing look. He humphed and turned back to Forner.

John preened under Rodney's lack of criticism. That was almost a standing ovation.

"Replace it now," Rodney ordered Forner.

The woman nodded, reaching for a crystal.

Rodney shoved her hand away. "Not that one, you imbecile. Those are for environmental control." Rodney shot a see-what-I-have-to-put-up-with look at John.

Forner reached again and, apparently, chose the right one this time, carefully replacing it. She picked up the scanner, took some readings, smiled in vast relief when it was clear whatever had been broken was now fixed.

"Fine, fine, you can go," Rodney grumbled.

Forner didn't need a second invitation. She practically ran for freedom.

"Aww," John said. "You two almost had a moment. You let her go without ripping her beating heart out of her chest."

Rodney glared up at him from where he was still sitting on the floor.

Unaffected by Rodney's glare of death, repeated exposure having conferred a certain amount of immunity, John said, "I've been thinking."

Rodney groaned. "Please, tell me you haven't. Every time someone tries to think around this place, I end up paying the price for it."

"No, you'll like this idea." John hunkered down next to Rodney.

"I can feel my blood pressure climbing," Rodney groused, but he stayed put.

John took that for tacit permission to share his idea. "I was just thinking that maybe you should start some classes."

Rodney's eyebrows went up. "Classes?"

"Yeah, classes on the stuff you were talking about yesterday. And I don't mean just for the scientists. Some of the marines have a lot of experience working on building projects. They might be a good resource for you."

"Right, because that's just what I need, a bunch of grunts running around fixing Atlantis," Rodney said cuttingly.

"Hey," John protested. "We know stuff. I know stuff."

"That's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one." Rodney gathered up his tools. "And did you actually want something or did you just come down here to harass me?"

"I just came to harass you."

Rodney frowned. "Are you done?"

John shook his head, smirking.

Rodney sighed. "Can you harass me as we walk or does it have to take place in the hallway?"

"I can walk and harass. Harassing while walking is one of my many talents."

Rodney blinked at him, letting out a beleaguered what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this sigh.

"Actually," John continued. "Harassing is thirsty work. Let's go get something to drink."

Narrowing his eyes, studying John as if he was some experiment gone dreadfully wrong, Rodney said, "If I say no, will you leave me alone?"

John shook his head no.

"I didn't think so," Rodney said with a voice of doom. He started walking away, then noticed John was standing still. "Well, come on, come on, I'm a busy man."

Grinning, John fell into place at his side.

*****

The city found John Sheppard's presence restful. She found Rodney McKay's presence…stimulating. He was loud. His body was in constant motion. While there were parts of the city that had yet to be explored by her new inhabitants, every place they had discovered, he had been there and touched. And everywhere he touched, changed.

He directed the repairs. She understood that now. He chose what was repaired and in what order. He chose what was to be sacrificed and what was to be rebuilt. He rerouted and remapped and recalibrated her programs until, in many ways, she functioned at a higher level than originally intended.

Rodney McKay was not the only one who repaired her. But he was the most capable. When a part of her malfunctioned it would occupy her awareness as she attempted to self-diagnose and self-repair. When she sensed his presence at the trouble spot, she was able to turn her attention to other systems, knowing he would repair her in a way that would best allow her to fulfill her responsibilities.

He was important. She began to leave an array of senses on him at all times to ease his way.

*****

Before John could think the door open, it opened. Eyebrows high, he glanced at Rodney. "Did you do that?"

Rodney blinked at the door. "You mean you didn't?"

John shook his head.

"Hmm," Rodney said, stepping through, his face anxious as if he suspected a practical joke of some sort. The door slid easily shut behind them.

"Try the next one," John suggested.

Usually, Rodney had to think for a few seconds to get an unfamiliar door open, but this one easily opened, just like the other one had. "Maybe Atlantis is finally recognizing my genius."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is," John drawled. "Or maybe Atlantis is opening up a series of doors that lead right to the ocean in hopes you jump off."

Rodney shot John an I'm-not-amused look, but then the next door opened easily, too, and Rodney graced John with one of his few authentic smiles, clearly delighted.

John couldn't resist flinging his arm around Rodney's shoulder. "Oh, my little Rodney, all grown up," he teased.

"Shut up," Rodney said, still grinning. He also didn't push John's arm off.

*****

Elizabeth turned her laptop toward John. "Rodney tells me this was your idea."

Puzzled, John leaned in so he could see the screen. His grin grew wider with each passing second as he read what was there:

Classes for the Galactically Uninformed

1. Electricity for dummies
2. Plumbing for idiots
3. How to tell a dark crystal from a light crystal 101
4. Machine repair for the mentally challenged
5. Fun with screwed up physics

Cost for classes is non-perishable food. In case you're too stupid to understand what that means: a) please don't sign up for any of my classes and b) it means coffee, chocolate, power bars or MREs. Different arrangements can be made for any athosians dimwitted enough to sign up.

Attendance for each class is limited to five people. I can't bear to have any more than five stupid people staring at me at one time. enroll online. I'd just as soon not talk to any of you until I have to.

Rodney McKay, Ph.d., Ph.d., Ph.d.

John was snickering by the time he was done. "Has anyone been brave enough to sign up?" he asked Elizabeth.

"Despite the fact that the class list only went up earlier this morning, they're all full, with a waiting list."

"You're kidding me," John said, stunned. Not that Rodney couldn't teach those classes with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back, but John was surprised that people were signing up on purpose to subject themselves to Rodney's abusive derision. John thought he was the only one who hung out with Rodney on purpose. It sort of annoyed him that other people maybe wanted to do it, too.

Elizabeth tapped a couple of keys and brought up a new page to show him. Just like she'd said, every class was full with waiting lists, enough to teach the class two or three times over. He took a closer look, pleased to see it was an equal mix of scientists and soldiers. No Athosians, but that wasn't really a surprise.

"He may rub people the wrong way," Elizabeth said, staring at the lists, "but I don't think anyone would dispute that he knows what he's talking about."

John wondered how well Rodney could teach. He knew Rodney used to teach before the government had recruited him, but John knew nothing more than that. Noting the schedule, he saw the first class was tonight and decided to drop in to check it out. "I don't see your name on any of those lists," John teased Elizabeth.

"You and I, along with Radek, apparently, have the right to audit any class we want," she said with a wry grin. "We are, however, still expected to bring him food."

John barked out a laugh. Only Rodney.

*****

As John sat in the back of the class, most of his attention was spent on loving Rodney. Yes, he was cutting and mocking, but he could take the most complex subject and, somehow, cut through all the bullshit and describe it in a way that made sense. It gave John an insight into how the universe must appear to Rodney. Laid out like some enormous civil engineering drawing revealing all the connections and how it fit together. Like the sky and wind pressure and speed all came together for John when he was flying.

When the class was over and everyone was leaving, John approached Rodney. "That seemed to go well."

Rodney shuddered. "Are you nuts? It was horrible. I need a drink."

Snickering, John said, "I have some of Zelenka's rot gut in my quarters. Want some?"

Rodney shot him a lopsided grin. "I knew there was a reason you were my best friend." He powered down his laptop and shut off the LCD projector.

John couldn't help grinning at the thought that Rodney called him his best friend. It wasn't everything John wanted, not by a long shot, but it still felt great.

Rodney shoved his equipment in a carrying case and zipped it shut. Then he glanced up at John. "You really think that went okay?"

"It was great, Rodney," John assured him. "Standing room only." Many more than the five who had signed up had shown up for the class. Rodney had scowled at them all but hadn't kicked anyone out. "Besides, look." John gestured at the pile of coffee, candy, powerbars, and MREs that were sitting on Rodney's desk. It was threatening to cascade to the floor.

Rodney's eyes lit up with an avaricious gleam. He began shoving his booty into every pocket he had.

John grabbed a Three Musketeers.

Rodney glared at him.

John grinned back.

Letting out a sigh, Rodney said, "Fine, but you're carrying the rest of it, then."

John could do that, and he'd find a way to help himself to another couple of candy bars while he was at it.

"And don't even think about stealing any more," Rodney warned him with a suspicious glare. "In fact," Rodney shoved the carrying case at him. "You carry this. I'll get the food."

John rolled his eyes but still managed to pocket a second candy bar.

Between the two of them they got everything back to John's. It all got dumped on his bed, while John poured them some of what passed for hard liquor on Atlantis. The Athosians also brewed a mild beer, but it didn't have much of a kick.

Rodney and John sat down on the bed as well, drinks in hand, the food a mountain between them. Rodney picked up a handful of the stuff and let it rain on the bed. "I should have done this a long time ago," he said with a grin.

"And only because it's the right thing to do for Atlantis," John mocked him. "I'm sure it has nothing to do with your ill-gotten gains."

"Ill-gotten?" Rodney said incredulously. "There's not enough chocolate in the world to ease the pain of teaching stupid people."

"So does that mean I owe you more chocolate?" John asked.

Rodney took a sip of the clear liquid, grimaced and then took another. "Nah. You're not quite as stupid as everyone else."

"You must be in a good mood tonight to be throwing such compliments around," John teased.

"Yeah, don't let it go to your head," Rodney grumbled. Then he spoiled his grouchy mien by grinning at John like a kid. "So it went okay?"

"It was good. You did good," John said, charmed at the insecurity. It hardly ever came out to play.

Rodney smiled quickly, then started poking around at the food on the bed, like he was rooting through Halloween candy for the best stuff.

"I like those," John said, pointing at a honey-oatmeal flavored powerbar.

Rodney clutched everything to him like a three-year-old, but then he relaxed. "Okay, fine," he snapped, searching and handing John three of them. "Just remember this the next time I'm dying from low blood sugar."

"I'm sure you'll remind me if I do happen to forget," John drawled, even as he stashed his powerbars away, feeling like Rodney had practically proposed. He wondered what Rodney would do if he leaned over and kissed him. John bit back a grin. He'd probably bitch at John for crushing his food.

*****

She began to notice that John Sheppard and Rodney McKay were frequently together. And they left Atlantis together as well. She did not like it when they were gone. Even if she was aware of their presence while on one of her ships, when they left it she lost track of them, the scanners alone not sufficient for her to sense them.

And while they were gone, others were responsible for repairing her.

Because Rodney was often absent, she began to categorize those that remained based on the level of autonomy granted them by Rodney McKay when he was present. First were the three that McKay allowed complete access to her systems in his absence. Next, were those allowed repair access when accompanied by McKay or one of the other three. Last were the ten that were only allowed access to specific systems. And, of those, there were two that Rodney consistently interfered with or followed up on if they attempted to repair her.

When Rodney was gone, she kept close watch on those two.

*****

After lying in bed for two hours, Rodney got up, deciding sleep was overrated. Getting dressed, he left his room and began to walk the city. He trailed his hand along the walls, feeling the hum of the city's systems, allowing it to seep into him.

He'd never considered himself an intuitive man, being someone who thrived on facts and figures, but he liked to imagine he would sense it through his fingertips if something was wrong. That somehow Atlantis would communicate with him if there was need.

He found himself wandering by John's room, tempted to share his sleeplessness with his friend. John would be grumpy at first, but he'd rally and get behind the fun of being awake when everyone else was asleep. There was no better time to plan practical jokes, after all.

But Rodney passed by his door, although he did run his fingers over it.

"Mine," he whispered, not sure if he was talking about the city or about John. Both, he decided.

*****

Inside his room, John woke up for a second, felt a sense of warmth and well-being, smiled, and drifted back to sleep.

*****

John really began noticing the next time Rodney flew a jumper. "You're doing a lot better," he told Rodney.

Rodney smiled smugly. "I am, aren't I?"

He really was. John frowned, puzzled, watching as Rodney actually flew in a straight line. He thought of the doors and now the jumper. "I think the city is actually starting to like you, Rodney," John said in a taunting drawl.

"Atlantis loves me," Rodney stated emphatically. He frowned. "Or it should."

"Of course it does," John assured him patronizingly. As much as John liked Rodney, he agreed with Zelenka that feeding the ego too much could be dangerous. "The city clearly has indiscriminate taste."

Rodney shot him a disgruntled look. "Listen, just because you have some genetic anomaly doesn't give you favored nation status."

John just raised a superior eyebrow at Rodney.

"Okay, fine, maybe it does," Rodney allowed in a disgruntled tone, "but only because you and your hair are a freak of nature. And if Atlantis likes me, it simply means that the city has very discriminating taste." Rodney didn't say it, but the 'so, there' was clearly implied.

Not put off by the freak of nature comment, John grinned as he watched Rodney, who, in his pique, did his usual not paying any attention to what he was doing. Only one hand was on the controls, and the other was moving back and forth in counterpoint to his talking. But Rodney was still flying in a straight line. The jumper was compensating for his lack of skill, which indicated that the jumper was interfacing with Rodney's brain, the way it got in John's, so it could anticipate where Rodney wanted to fly. "I think the city likes you fine, Rodney," John said, this time without the teasing note.

Slightly mollified, Rodney put his second hand back on the controls. "Hey, look," he said in an excited tone, the hand coming back off to point at the overhead communication panel. "I'm flying in a straight line! I really am doing better." He smiled brightly at John.

John didn't have the heart to tell him that the jumper was doing it for him. Besides, it really didn't matter, did it? If the jumper did what Rodney needed, that was all that mattered.

*****

"Wanna watch a movie tonight?" John asked Rodney as they ate dinner.

"I've got a class to teach," Rodney said with a heavy sigh.

The classes continued to be very popular. Rodney had even added a couple new ones: Bomb Basics for Bozos and Computer Crises for Cretins. Rodney was getting off on alliteration. Maybe the next class would be Databases for Dummies, or Jumpers for Jackasses.

Rodney wasn't the only one offering classes now. He'd started a trend. Or John had, as he'd been the one to suggest it to Rodney. Elizabeth had started a class on reading Ancient. One of the botanists was teaching a class on identifying dangerous plants and Carson was doing one on basic first aid.

And Zelenka, although it wasn't advertised through the regular channels, was teaching a class on distilling alcohol. That class was by personal invitation only. Rodney had hand-delivered John's to him yesterday. John was definitely planning on attending.

John was thinking of offering a few classes himself, like teaching self-defense to the scientists on Atlantis. Ultimately, everyone needed to have a certain amount of self-sufficiency. There wasn't always going to be an expert to call on when the chips were down. They were all learning that the hard way.

"How about after?" John asked, getting back to the conversation.

"I could do that," Rodney agreed after hastily swallowing a mouthful of something that was maybe a potato. "What do you have?"

"Spiderman."

"Cool," Rodney said enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together with maniacal glee.

John anticipated much movie mocking. "I'll bring the chips." That had been a pleasant surprise. The things that were almost potatoes made excellent almost potato chips. The kitchen staff could barely keep up with the demand.

Rodney's eyes lit up with pleasure and, for a startling moment, John imagined Rodney fucking him with that look in his eyes. John surreptitiously adjusted himself, his cock clearly behind that image one hundred percent. He so needed to get laid. Preferably by Rodney.

*****

"Have you noticed anything different about Rodney lately?" Elizabeth asked John the next day.

John shot her a look. "What do you mean?" Guessing about anything having to do with Rodney was always a crap shoot.

"The city seems to be responding to him as quickly as it responds to you," she said.

"Yeah," John replied. "I noticed that."

"Do we know why?" she asked.

John shook his head. "I have no idea. It's not just the city. The jumpers are responding to him better, too." He grinned at Elizabeth. "They're helping him fly in a straight line."

Her eyebrows went up.

He continued, his grin growing more lopsided, "Even when he doesn't have his hands on the control."

The eyebrows went up higher. "Is this something we need to be concerned about?" she asked, her eyebrows now furrowing.

John shrugged.

"Is it happening to anybody else who received the ATA gene therapy?"

John shrugged again. "That's a good question. I'll check around and get back to you."

She nodded. "I'd appreciate that."

Feeling dismissed, John nodded, leaving Elizabeth's office to go chat with the others who'd gotten the ATA gene therapy.

*****

Jorgenson pursed his lips as he stared at the data on his laptop. The northwest grounding station was starting to short out. McKay's rebuke about his participation in the repair to the eastern grounding station still stung and was, he felt, undeserved. McKay, to put it simply, was an asshole with delusions of grandeur. Just ask anyone.

Jorgenson was as capable as McKay. He'd had a large staff working for him at MIT, and he had supervised several labs. Sure McKay was smart, but they all were smart. They wouldn't be here if they weren't the most brilliant minds on Earth. McKay had no right to treat him with anything less than respect.

The one small piece of Jorgenson, not consumed by his immense dislike of McKay, strove to remind him that McKay was frighteningly brilliant, that his range of knowledge was immense, that he'd saved them all a dozen times already with his skills, that Jorgenson had almost roasted him alive last week, and that maybe he should swallow his pride and ask McKay to accompany him and teach him what he'd done wrong before.

With a vicious mental swipe, Jorgenson swept those thoughts aside, and headed out to the northwest grounding station.

*****

Rodney sat through the morning's team meeting with a small lopsided smile on his face. He was almost being, John thought, pleasant. His new standing with the city agreed with him. Or maybe it was because Elizabeth had mentioned it in front of everyone so Rodney could bask in it being common knowledge.

John could understand. He knew what it felt like to have Atlantis love you, respond to you. It was a very heady feeling. And rather than feel petulant that he was no longer the only one upon whom Atlantis smiled, John was fiercely glad that Rodney now shared it with him. That made them different together, and John liked the idea of that.

*****

The city had known her northwest grounding station was malfunctioning but knew Rodney would, in time, find his way there, long before it presented any kind of danger. Because of it she realized too late that one of the two people Rodney did not trust had begun repairs. Unsure how to proceed, she sent her attention to Rodney.

*****

"Ah," Rodney said, startled.

Elizabeth stopped talking mid-stream and glanced at him. "Something wrong?"

He reached for his pocket and pulled out the scanner he was never without. "It just started vibrating," he answered, perplexed. He exchanged a puzzled look with Radek.

"Gave you a cheap thrill, Rodney?" John teased.

"Ha ha," Rodney said distractedly, studying the scanner now, trying to determine why it had vibrated when it had never done that before. He hoped it wasn't going to explode.

The door to the conference room opened. Everyone in the room looked to see who was entering, but there was no one there. Rodney frowned. "Who opened the door?"

"Not me," John answered. "You didn't?"

Rodney shook his head. The door closed and opened again. "Weird." Rodney got up and approached the door. The lights seemed to brighten as he moved nearer. It was as if he was being encouraged to go through the doors. He frowned again, then, after hesitating for a moment, he exited the room. The door slid shut behind him.

He tried to get the door to open but it wouldn't. He rolled his eyes and then slowly turned, reading the scanner as he did so, taking a moment to glance around him. A door to his left opened up; no one came through.

The door behind him opened and John, Elizabeth, Carson, and Radek stood there. "What's going on?" John asked.

Rodney gestured at the other open door. "I think I'm supposed to go that way," he said, feeling partly alarmed, partly excited. He was glad John had managed to join him. If Rodney's presence was being requested somewhere, he'd rather have John accompany him. Even better would be John in a thigh holster, but John didn't generally come to science team meetings armed.

Which was a pity because Rodney liked looking at John when he was wearing his thigh holster. Maybe it was a kink, but Rodney was okay with that.

Rodney started heading for the still open door, but he was held back by John, who ran quickly up the stairs to the main control area, opened up a cabinet and retrieved a P90.

Not as sexy as the thigh holster, but it would do. And it had more bullets which could never be a bad thing. When John returned, Rodney headed for the door.

His path continued to be made obvious, doors opening, lights brightening. As they made their way in a northwesterly direction, Rodney kept glancing at his scanner. It showed life signs all over the city, nothing indicating what it was he was being drawn to.

He could hear Radek, Elizabeth and Carson muttering behind him, John a silent presence at his side. A few minutes later, Rodney said, "The northwest grounding station. I think that's where we're going." He glanced again at the scanner. "One person is there." He frowned, looked at John.

"Human?" John asked.

Rodney nodded.

Holding his weapon in front of him, John gestured at Rodney to keep going. "Let's go, then."

In another five minutes they were there. Rodney thought the door open and when he saw who was there, he groaned. "Jorgenson, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up, McKay," the man snapped back. "I know what I'm doing. And why are you here?" he added, outraged. "Are you spying on me?"

"No," McKay said, "but apparently Atlantis is."

"What does that mean?" Jorgenson said, clearly peeved.

"It means," John answered with a drawl, "that apparently Atlantis would feel more comfortable having Rodney oversee your repairs."

"And as long as I'm here," Rodney said, walking toward Jorgenson, "let me take a look at whatever it is you've no doubt completely screwed up." With one quick glance, Rodney saw that the fool was about to do what he'd done the last time. "Stop!" Rodney hollered.

And once again, Jorgenson didn't.

And once again, the blue flames shot out, except this time Rodney didn't think he'd get out of the way in time. Then someone slammed into his back, and he was down on the floor on his stomach, the crackle of flame shooting over him instead of through him. He heard John say, "We have to stop meeting like this."

Rodney felt an insane urge to giggle. Then he felt a second insane urge to push his ass up against John's groin. Rodney let out a groan, knocked his forehead to the ground a couple of times. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to knock some sense into him. "Radek?"

"Already on it," Radek assured him.

Rodney listened as Radek moved across the area and proceeded to light into Jorgenson for his incompetence. While the haranguing couldn't possibly measure up to the blistering Rodney wanted to inflict on Jorgenson, it was nonetheless impressive. Meanwhile, John was still lying on top of him. Again. And if he didn't get off soon, Rodney was going to have to beat his head on the ground even harder to make his erection go away and that would hurt.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, John rolled off. Rodney lay there another few seconds before sitting up. He opened his mouth to second Radek's comments toward Jorgenson when John beat him to it.

"You come near one of the grounding stations again, Dr. Jorgenson, and I'll shoot you myself," John told the man very seriously.

Rodney found vast enjoyment from the ensuing pallor of the man's face and the flash of fear in his eyes.

"John," Elizabeth reproved.

John turned to her. "That's twice he's almost killed Rodney. Twice in one week, both times doing something Rodney told him not to do."

"These grounding stations fall under my area of responsibility," Jorgenson insisted.

"Which makes it all the more ironic," Rodney said with a vicious smile, "that you've almost destroyed two of them. Go away so I can fix what you've broken. If I could send you back to Earth you'd already be gone."

Jorgenson glared at Rodney through angry eyes until he happened to glance at John who had his acute dislike of the man written all over his face. Jorgenson swallowed and backed up a few steps.

Elizabeth pursed her lips, studying them all. "Thank you, Dr. Jorgenson, I think you're done here for the time being. I'll schedule some time for us to speak later."

Jorgenson's gaze swept the room as if looking for allies, but he was with the wrong group for that. With one last frustrated glare, he left the room.

Rodney moved next to Radek and the two of them began initiating repairs.

*****

As the door slid shut behind Jorgenson, John said to Elizabeth. "What do we do with him?"

"I don't know," she answered.

"We need to do something," Rodney said, as he began to take readings. "The man's a menace to this city." He glanced up at Elizabeth. "I'm serious. He's incapable of functioning here."

John got how that happened. Not all the soldiers had been able to function here either. Not everyone could handle a new environment, let alone one filled with danger around every corner. Sad as it was, the soldiers who couldn't fit in usually ended up dying. If John was lucky they didn't take anyone with them.

Brutal but expedient.

"When and if we're able to communicate with Earth," Elizabeth said, "we'll send him back. But in the meantime, you need to find a way to use his strengths and defend against his weaknesses." A small smile graced her face. "It would appear that Atlantis is on your side in this."

That got a confused grin out of Rodney. "I know. Quite remarkable. I suppose I can rest a little easier knowing that she can take care of herself." Absentmindedly, Rodney reached out and patted the sea wall. John wasn't even sure he realized he was doing it.

"I hadn't realized she could tell us apart quite so efficiently," Elizabeth commented.

"And even if she can," John warned, "Rodney's not always here."

"She'll have to get Radek then," Rodney said, touching the wall again. "One of us is usually here."

John hoped the city was listening. "Is Jorgenson the kind of guy I need to watch out for, Rodney? Will he do something stupid if he's angry?"

Rodney lifted annoyed eyes to John. "You mean stupider than this?" He gestured impatiently at the mass of wires Radek was separating.

"No, I mean against you."

Rodney's eyebrows went up and he glanced at Radek. Radek shook his head. Rodney thought about it for a second and shook his head as well. "Nah. He'll just go sulk." He sighed unhappily at all the wires again. "The man is a fool."

As Rodney continued to repair what Jorgenson had damaged, Elizabeth and Carson eventually left. John chose to stay. Not just to make sure Jorgenson didn't come back, but also because Rodney-watching was one of his favorite things.

*****

Later that day John sat in Elizabeth's office. "So did what I think happened, happen?" she asked.

"You mean did the city actually come and get Rodney to stop Jorgenson from destroying the northwest grounding station?" John guessed. Not that it was too difficult to guess.