SGA: Illusion of Reality; McKay/Sheppard

[curia_regis]

Title: Illusion of Reality
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: R
Word Count: ~6000
Summary: Something goes wrong and Rodney finds himself having to rescue Sheppard from a virtual reality world.
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis does not belong to me. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made from this fanwork.
Warning: None
Author's Notes: Thank you to both lyndasty and reddwarfer for betaing! Originally written for sga_santa for the_cephalopod.



Illusion of Reality

Rodney fumed silently as he entered the room. Zelenka was standing in front of the controls of an Ancient terminal that was beeping madly. "What have you done now?" Rodney grumbled. "I can't come running every time something goes wrong. The transporters don't come this far. I had to walk for a good ten minutes." His feet ached like he had been on a ten hour hike. Ruefully, Rodney realised that he hadn't been attacked by aliens or humans recently. Running away from imminent danger tended to make a good exercise routine.

It was then that Rodney noticed that Sheppard lay unmoving on a raised platform beneath an Ancient device with sparkling lights. "What have you done now?" he muttered. Sometimes it seemed that Atlantis couldn't function without him.

Zelenka wrung his hands. "This is not good," he muttered. "We came to explore formerly flooded areas and came across this lab."

"Let me guess," Rodney said sarcastically as he crossed the floor to the Ancient terminal. "You turned this on and Sheppard decided to hook himself up."

Zelenka let out a long string of what Rodney surmised were expletives. "It's a virtual reality machine," Zelenka said finally. "Harmless."

Rodney poked Sheppard in the arm. He reached over and pried open one of Sheppard's eyelids. Sheppard was completely non-responsive. "I'm sure it is," Rodney muttered. "It only sends people into coma like states. Absolutely no harm in that!"

Zelenka glared at him. "It worked fine when I used it," he protested.

Rodney spun around. "You mean to say that you've used this before?"

Zelenka shrugged, his face going slightly pink. "It has good scenarios."

"I see," Rodney said flatly. Undoubtedly the Ancients were also randy little buggers on top of being great civilisation builders. He poked a few buttons on his portable computer. It seemed like Sheppard's life signs were solid, which was a good thing. However, his brain waves looked like that of a coma patient.

"Perhaps we should get Keller?" Zelenka ventured.

"Great idea," Rodney said sarcastically. "Why didn't you do that before?"

Zelenka just glared at him.

-***-

Keller looked worried as she looked over Sheppard's vitals. "He's in a coma," she said. "How did he get like this?"

Rodney looked up from where he was inspecting the logs of the Ancient terminal. He stared pointedly at Zelenka who sighed.

"We used the machine safely before," Zelenka said adamantly. "All he did was enter into one of the scenarios. They usually last around half an hour but he's been under for almost two hours now. I didn't realise he was in trouble until he didn't wake up."

Rodney rolled his eyes as he pulled up Sheppard's logs. "And as usual, I have to come and save the day. Why didn't you think before you started playing around with yet another Ancient machine?"

Keller looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Didn't you have an Ancient personal shield stuck on you when you first got to Atlantis?"

"Yes, well," Rodney said with a cough. He punched in a few more details as he found Sheppard's most recent interaction with the Ancient device. His eyes widened. "You said that he just entered one of the scenarios?"

Zelenka looked puzzled but nodded.

"That's not what the records indicate," Rodney said, jabbing his index finger at the screen. "There's an option to let the machine come up with its own virtual reality scenario tailored for each person. It's sort of a personal fantasy scenario except the machine learns from your mind and creates something that you would believe."

Keller looked interested. "So if you wanted to, say, be a famous actor, the machine would let you live out that fantasy?"

Rodney frowned at the screen. "Sort of. As far as I can tell, it doesn't let you consciously decide what scenario you want, but makes up a scenario from your subconscious mind."

"That doesn't sound like that much fun then," Keller said as she shone a light and peered into Sheppard's eyes. "This is strange."

"What is?" Rodney asked.

Keller pointed to her portable computer. "Some of my readings indicate that he's in a coma. Other readings indicate that his mind is very active. It's strange." She bit her lip and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I guess it's because of the virtual reality he's in."

"That makes sense," Zelenka said.

Rodney glared at him. "You got us into this situation," he pointed out.

Zelenka made a face at him. "This from the man who blew up an entire solar system."

"Five sixths!" Rodney corrected. It was an important distinction.

Keller suppressed a laugh.

-***-

"Why doesn't somebody just disconnect him?" Ronon asked, pointing out the obvious.

"Because we don't know what pulling the plug could do to his mind," Rodney snapped. "It could turn him into a vegetable."

"Then how are we going to help him?" Teyla asked.

Keller looked hesitant. "From what Zelenka has said about his experiences, it should be as easy as wishing that you were out of the simulation. The only thing I can think of is maybe he doesn't know that he's hooked up to the machine. In that case, somebody needs to go in and get him out."

Rodney could see Woolsey frown. Undoubtedly, this was against several protocols established by the IOA. The last time Rodney had looked at the list, it had grown to over a thousand protocols, not to mention sub-protocols. Apparently, the IOA wanted them to wear isolation suits to every planet, whether it was a known friendly planet or not and to send MALPs through the gate every single time they visited a planet. Although Rodney wasn't particularly adverse to these ideas, he had to admit that they weren't reasonably practical ones.

"If it comes to that, somebody will have to volunteer," Woolsey said, much to Rodney's surprise. The man really had relaxed quite a bit since he came to Atlantis.

"I'll do it," Ronon said gruffly.

Rodney was about to nod and agree but a little niggling voice inside his head clamoured for his attention. "As much as I'd like to agree," he said, with a sigh, "I am the only qualified person to do this."

Ronon stared at him.

After a few seconds, Rodney realised that was the only answer he was going to get. "If something goes wrong," he said, "then I'm the only person who has the technical skills to ensure that we don't end up dead."

"You are also the foremost scientific mind in Atlantis," Woolsey told him, his brow furrowing again. "Surely you can monitor the situation from outside."

"I don't particularly want to go inside Sheppard's mind," Rodney snapped, "but it's necessary. If I need to get out, all I need to do is think of myself in my own body again. Nothing will go wrong." His tone sounded unconvincing, even to him.

Woolsey raised an eyebrow.

-***-

Rodney opened his eyes. He didn't know what he had expected. Perhaps he had expected some sort of lurid sexual fantasy, although, that wasn't really in line with the John Sheppard he had gotten to know over the past five years. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had woken up in some sort of beautiful paradise, much like Chaya's planet.

However, he really didn't expect to wake up inside something that seemed like a hospital. Doctors and nurses bustled by, ignoring him. Rodney's eyes widened as he saw one particular person walk past.

"Sam!" he called out. "Sam! What are you doing here?"

The person ignored him and kept on walking. Rodney frowned. It was definitely Samantha Carter. It wasn't like her to be so rude. Unless Sheppard imagined her as such, but Rodney couldn't see a good reason for him to do that. Rodney sighed. He had to keep on reminding himself that he was part of Sheppard's fantasy. That the entirety of what he could see was part of Sheppard's sub-conscious.

Trying to seem inconspicuous, Rodney walked down the hallway. He tried his best not to look at anybody. He glanced into several of the rooms, all of which seemed to be filled with wild-eyed people.

"Excuse me," Rodney asked as he walked up to a desk. The woman sitting behind the desk didn't reply and continued to type at her keyboard. "Excuse me?" Rodney tried again. He frowned. She was still ignoring him. "Hey! I'm here, talking to you. There's no reason to be so rude."

To Rodney's surprise, she still didn't respond. A person came up beside him and, almost immediately, she favoured him with a bright smile. "How may I help you?" she asked.

"I was first!" Rodney protested but neither of them seemed to see him. Rodney was beginning to get a bad feeling about this. Cautiously, he waved a hand in front of their faces but neither of them blinked. "Hello!" he half-shouted but nobody in the room as much as twitched a muscle. "Crap," Rodney muttered. He had an inkling that this might happen. The Ancient terminal wasn't built for more than one user at a time. He had managed to connect himself to Sheppard's virtual reality, but the computer-generated scenario obviously didn't recognise him. Hence he couldn't interact with anybody.

Rodney looked around and sighed. Hopefully, Sheppard could see and hear him. Otherwise, this entire exercise would be in vain.

-***-

After about an hour, Rodney was getting rather irritated. He was inside Sheppard's fantasy. Surely Sheppard ought to be central to this fantasy. He didn't need to be naked and oiled, reclining on a lounge being fed grapes by semi-naked people waving fronds, but it shouldn't have taken Rodney this long to find him!

He was about to try to exit from the scenario when he walked into yet another room. This room looked like some sort of recreational quarters. Sheppard was sitting in a corner watching TV. From the looks of it, he was watching some sort of reality show. Rodney raised an eyebrow. He would have never taken Sheppard for a reality show type man. Then again, Sheppard didn't seem particularly engrossed in the show. In fact, he had a very bored expression on his face.

"Right," Rodney said sharply as he marched up to Sheppard. "You're plugged into a virtual reality machine back in Atlantis. You need to think yourself out of here."

Sheppard's gaze flickered towards him for a second. Rodney could have sworn that there was some sort of light of recognition in his eyes, but Sheppard looked back at the screen again.

"Sheppard!" Rodney tried again but he was ignored again. "Crap," he muttered. "This shouldn't be happening." He waved a hand in front of Sheppard's face but there was still no reaction.

Briefly, Rodney considered picking up one of the board games scattered around the room and throwing it at Sheppard. They wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for Sheppard. As he was looking around the room, he saw a man in a doctor's coat enter.

"How are we today, John?" the doctor asked cheerfully as he walked over.

Rodney frowned. Just exactly what was supposedly wrong with Sheppard in this virtual reality? From the looks of it, Sheppard looked perfectly healthy.

Sheppard leaned forward and spoke in a low confiding tone to the doctor. "I'm not sure the pills are helping, Doctor Smith. I'm still seeing them."

Rodney stared. Seeing what? And what on earth had the man on the couch done with John Sheppard? The John Sheppard he knew wasn't so insipid. "What the hell is this?" he snapped. "Snap out of it, Sheppard!"

Doctor Smith nodded in a self-important manner and jotted down something in his notebook. "When was the last time you saw one of your visions?" he inquired, looking concerned. "We might have to up the dosage of your medication."

"Actually," Sheppard said quietly, glancing towards Rodney, "one of them is in the room with us right now. He's staring at me with his face all bunched up in confusion."

Doctor Smith nodded and wrote something else down, but Rodney couldn't help punching the air. "So you can see me!" Rodney said with glee. "I knew it!"

"Which one of your visions is it?" Doctor Smith asked.

Rodney could have sworn that Sheppard's face turned a slightly delicate shade of pink. "It's Rodney McKay."

"I see," Doctor Smith said, consulting his notes. "He's the one who you imagined yourself in a relationship with."

"What?" Rodney exclaimed. "Relationship? What on earth are you talking about?"

Sheppard nodded, carefully avoiding Rodney's stare.

"Look at me!" Rodney demanded, but it didn't seem to do anything. "Look, Sheppard, I know that this virtual reality machine has done something to your mind, but none of this is real. None of this," he waved his hands around to encompass the entire room, "is real. Doctor Smith isn't real. Incidentally, Doctor Smith? You could have come up with a better name! He's not particularly realistic either. And what's this about a relationship?" At the back of his mind, Rodney realised that he was getting rather off-topic.

"I think we'll increase your dosage for the next week and see what happens," Doctor Smith said, patting Sheppard's arm. "Don't worry, John. You're making progress."

-***-

"I'm real," Rodney said for what felt like the thousandth time in over an hour. He poked Sheppard who flinched away from his touch. "See? You wouldn't feel that if I wasn't real."

Sheppard turned away silently.

"Don't you remember Teyla and Ronon? Don't you remember Atlantis? The sheer size and beauty of the city?" Rodney said, hoping to jog Sheppard's memory.

Sheppard reached for the remote control and switched to another channel on the TV. Some colourful kids show was on and the characters were singing some headache-inducing song. Rodney thought he could remember Madison enjoying this show.

"You have to remember," Rodney insisted. "This isn't real. You're stuck in a virtual world." He was about to say more when he suddenly felt dizzy. It was as though somebody had taken him and tipped him over.

-***-

Before Rodney could blink, the world swirled around him and the next thing he realised was that he was in a darkened room with Sheppard. He looked around and could see Sheppard sitting on his bed, flipping idly through a book. Gingerly, Rodney made his way over to the edge of Sheppard's bed and sat down. He had no idea what had just happened. One second, he had been trying to convince Sheppard that he wasn't imaginary and the next second, he was here.

His stomach churned slightly and Rodney wished he had taken an antacid. Somehow he didn't think that imaginary antacids in this virtual reality would work as well as the real thing. He was beginning to get a really bad feeling about this.

"I'll be back soon," Rodney said, turning to Sheppard. He needed to get out of here to check on something. He wanted to confirm whether he was right about his really bad feeling or not.

Closing his eyes, Rodney imagined himself back within his own body, on the stretcher next to Sheppard inside the Ancient laboratory. There was no telltale tingling sensation that he experienced when entering the virtual reality. Rodney could feel his heartbeat speed up and his breathing become heavier. This shouldn't be happening. It should have been easy. He should have just been able to imagine himself out of the scenario.

Except, he couldn't. Rodney resisted the urge to panic.

He couldn't talk to any of the imaginary people inside Sheppard's virtual reality either. It seemed as though he couldn't interact with any elements of this world except Sheppard. It was as though his mind was inextricably linked to Sheppard's and he wasn't going to get out of this world unless Sheppard did.

Rodney punched the bed.

"You're still here."

Rodney looked over at Sheppard in surprise. "What?"

"You're still here," Sheppard repeated.

"I heard you the first time," Rodney said impatiently. "But you're talking to me. I thought that I was just some sort of figment of your imagination."

"You are," Sheppard said, with just a hint of his old self coming through. "But since we're alone, I figured I'd talk to you."

Rodney was slightly alarmed when Sheppard edged closer. "I'm not," he said quickly. "A figment of your imagination, I mean. We're both real. You can get us both out of this horrible place just by wishing that we were back in Atlantis."

Sheppard gave him a sad smile. "I wish it were so simple."

"It is!" Rodney protested. "Why don't you just try it?"

To his surprise, Sheppard closed his eyes. He certainly looked as though he was trying to imagine himself out of the mental hospital. Rodney glanced around the plain room, expecting it to disappear at any second. He wanted to see the room melt away and to see the concerned faces of Teyla, Ronon, Keller and Woolsey peering down at them. But there was no change.

"Try harder," Rodney insisted, his voice becoming strained. If Sheppard couldn't wish them out of this scenario then they were screwed. At the back of his mind, Rodney reminded himself that this was precisely why he had volunteered for the mission. Or at least, this was what he had told the others. The fact was that he wanted to help Sheppard. They had been rescuing each other so many times over the past few years that it had become habit. He was almost positive that it was his turn anyway.

"Sorry," Sheppard said, looking over at him. "It doesn't seem to be working." He gave a bitter laugh. "Here I am, taking advice from my imaginary boyfriend."

Rodney frowned. Sheppard was going on about the whole boyfriend thing again. "What do you mean, boyfriend?"

Sheppard stared at him. "I found out a few months ago that you weren't real. We've been dating for over a year and you're not even real." There was a twist to his lips that Rodney didn't like. "Why am I even telling you this anyway?" He turned away. "Doctor Smith said that this would hinder my recovery."

Rodney reached over and grabbed Sheppard by the shoulder. "Doctor Smith. Doesn't that strike you as a made-up name?"

Sheppard turned back and raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me that there are no Doctor Smiths in the world?"

Rodney opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"Stop trying to drag me back into ... this made-up world," Sheppard said tiredly. "There are no aliens. No Atlantis. I had a breakdown when I came back from serving overseas. That's all."

"No," Rodney said forcibly. He couldn't stand seeing Sheppard like this. "That isn't all. It isn't. You were fine. You ended up in Antarctica and sat in the Ancient chair. They found that you had the Ancient gene and you came with us to Atlantis. You're our top military officer."

"And doesn't that all sound a little contrived to you?" Sheppard asked wearily. "That somehow I end up as this person with this super special gene and end up essential to a top secret mission that involves aliens? Doesn't it make more sense that I simply had a breakdown?"

"It makes more sense that you're in Atlantis, stuck in an Ancient device that is malfunctioning and creating this nightmarish world," Rodney snapped.

"I wish..." Sheppard said softly.

Rodney pounced. "You wish what?"

"That none of this had happened." Sheppard turned to look at him. "We were happy in Atlantis."

Rodney had no idea what to say. He suddenly wished that he had let Ronon come instead but given how badly the Ancient machine seemed to be malfunctioning, perhaps it would have fixated on Ronon as Sheppard's sexual partner instead. "That wasn't real," he said awkwardly.

"I know that," Sheppard said.

"But the Atlantis bit was real," Rodney added quickly. "We've never... you know, but we both live in Atlantis."

Sheppard's lips curved into a slight smile. To Rodney's surprise, Sheppard leaned over and brushed a strand of hair away from his face. Rodney shivered slightly at the feeling. He had no idea how the conversation had taken this turn but it made him feel rather uncomfortable. Sheppard was staring at him in a way that made him feel like he was naked.

"W-what?" Rodney stammered as Sheppard leaned in to press a soft warm kiss onto his lips. "What was that for?" he said as Sheppard drew back.

Sheppard shrugged. "You're a figment of my imagination. I'm talking to you. Why can't I kiss you?"

The logic of that sounded insane to Rodney. More insane, however, was the hammering of his heart at that one small kiss. It was ridiculous. Sheppard was his friend but nothing more. The kiss meant nothing. It was just a malfunctioning Ancient device messing with his friend's mind. "Don't do that," he said awkwardly.

Sheppard looked slightly amused.

-***-

Rodney found the virtual reality world rather disorientating. The longer Rodney was in the world, the more it seemed to take on a dreamlike quality. He seemed to be skipping forward randomly in time. When he had mentioned this, Sheppard didn't seem to notice.

Rodney was beginning to panic. Nothing he said to Sheppard seemed to work. He was beginning to wonder whether it was possible to get out of this virtual reality world. Maybe he should have let Ronon volunteer after all. Atlantis could surely survive without one more soldier but Rodney wasn't sure whether it could survive without him.

"You're looking morose," Sheppard commented when he was alone with Rodney. "For a figment of my imagination, you're quite a downer."

Rodney glared at him. "This is all your fault," he snapped.

"Well I know that," Sheppard said. "You're my imaginary boyfriend. If I wasn't crazy, you wouldn't be here to be upset at me."

Rodney resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. He wondered if he did it hard enough he might wake up in the real world. "If you hadn't hooked yourself up to the virtual reality machine," he said irritably, "then none of this would have happened." He didn't want to spend his entire life in this bizarre virtual reality world being unable to interact with anybody except Sheppard.

-***-

Rodney was feeling strange. There was an unusual tingling in his extremities. It was almost like the feeling when he entered the virtual reality except it wasn't as strong. He would have gotten a bad feeling about the tingling, except Rodney felt like he was out of bad feelings.

Sheppard gave him a concerned look as he swallowed his daily anti-psychotic tablet.

Rodney could feel his head spinning slightly as he saw Doctor Smith enter the room and offer Sheppard another brand of anti-psychotic. Doctor Smith was saying something about fewer side effects and more effectiveness, except his voice echoed slightly and Rodney could have sworn that Smith looked transparent.

"What's wrong?" Sheppard asked quietly.

Rodney closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. When he opened his eyes, Doctor Smith had left the room. Rodney was about to open his mouth and say something when the door to the room opened again.

Doctor Smith strode in and walked towards Sheppard. "How are we today, John?" he asked with a smile.

"Could be worse," Sheppard said.

Rodney stared. "Wasn't he just here?" he asked slowly walking around to stare at Doctor Smith.

Doctor Smith pulled a bottle of pills out of his coat pocket. "I have these new pills I'd like you to try, John," he said. "Hopefully these won't have the same side effects that your old ones had."

Sheppard took the pills. "Thanks, doc," he said, with a wan smile.

Doctor Smith patted him on the shoulder. "Keep smiling, John. You're doing great." He walked away, his coat billowing behind him.

Rodney watched as he exited the door. "What the hell?" he muttered. He had the strongest feeling of déjà vu. He could have sworn that he had just seen the same thing twice. "Did the doc come in twice or something?"

Sheppard stared at him. "I thought I was supposed to be the crazy one. You're my delusion. You're supposed to be sane!"

"There's no rule that says that," Rodney said absent-mindedly as he tried to figure out what just went on. He wasn't crazy. He was almost positive about that. He'd been tested enough times by the military. It was possible that the Ancient device had finally managed to find a way of interacting with his mind, but then, Rodney reasoned, he ought to be able to interact with other people. Given that Doctor Smith had ignored him, he obviously still couldn't talk to anybody except Sheppard.

The only other solution Rodney could think of involved somebody from the outside tampering with the scenario they were in.

"Zelenka!" Rodney said loudly. That was why he was seeing flashes of what was about to happen. He had no idea why Zelenka would have programmed something like that into the machine, but the only alternative was that he was crazy. Rodney didn't want to believe that. "It must have been Zelenka."

There was an amused twitch to Sheppard's lips as he turned back to reading a magazine.

-***-

Despite everything else that he hated about this virtual world, Rodney had to admit that the food was quite good. Then again, he'd always enjoyed hospital and aeroplane food. "Why aren't you having any?" Rodney asked, his mouth full of beef brisket.

"Not hungry," Sheppard said quietly, not looking at him.

"You're not trying to pretend that I don't exist, are you?" Rodney asked irritably. "I exist. Deal with it." He placed his clean bowl of beef brisket on the table. It was bizarre how he could eat the food in this world, sit in surfaces, but couldn't interact with any of the humans. Rodney had long ago decided to stop questioning the idiosyncrasies of Sheppard's imaginary world.

"This would be much easier if you didn't," Sheppard told him. He turned and stared at Rodney. There was an expression in his eyes that Rodney couldn't quite place but it made him feel warm all over. "Then I wouldn't want to do this."

Rodney held his breath as Sheppard leaned over and kissed him softly on the cheek. Rodney shivered at the sensation of Sheppard's warm lips on his stubble. He turned his head slightly, intending to move away, but somehow, Rodney found himself staring into Sheppard's eyes. He could feel his nerves strumming. He wanted to lean forward and kiss Sheppard. He wanted to push Sheppard down onto the bed and explore his body for hours.

Rodney licked his lips nervously. He was supposed to be convincing Sheppard that this world wasn't real, that they hadn't had a relationship and that Sheppard most definitely wasn't crazy. He wasn't supposed to want to actually kiss Sheppard.

Sheppard shifted slightly, his hand brushing against Rodney's arm. "I should be ignoring this," Sheppard breathed.

"I'm real," Rodney said irritably. "If I wasn't real, could I do this?" Without thinking, Rodney leaned forward and kissed Sheppard. It wasn't the soft, almost chaste kiss that Sheppard had given him. This kiss was messy, awkward and real. Rodney explored Sheppard's mouth with his tongue and gasped as Sheppard groaned and pressed up against him.

Rodney could feel himself hardening. He closed his eyes as Sheppard pressed kisses down his jaw line. He never realised that the curve of his neck was an erotic spot but now that Sheppard was kissing it, it seemed to be directly connected to his groin. He could see what was going to happen. He could see himself fumbling with Sheppard's clothing. He could see himself nervously and slowly licking the tip of Sheppard's cock. He could see Sheppard gasping and he could taste Sheppard in his mouth.

Rodney shook his head slightly as he came back to the present. Sheppard was still kissing his neck. Rodney shivered as Sheppard's hand began to stroke him; he abandoned himself to the sensation.

-***-

"I can see the future," Rodney said.

Sheppard raised an eyebrow.

"No, really. I can," Rodney insisted. He was beginning to get used to the tingling sensation he felt every time he got a vision of the future. "I saw what was going to happen last night."

Sheppard closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I really am crazy," he said. "My delusion is having delusions of his own."

"Oh shut up," Rodney retorted. "I know exactly what's going to happen. The janitor guy is going to come in and he'll trip over his mop."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sheppard said. "Barry's never done that before."

Rodney smirked. "He will." The vision was clear as crystal in his mind. "Just wait, he'll come in any second now."

Sheppard idly flipped a page in the magazine he was reading. "If you say so," he muttered.

Rodney sat back on his chair and waited. Sure enough, about ten seconds later, the door to Sheppard's room opened and Barry stepped in. "Don't mind me," Barry said cheerfully. "I'm just here to mop the floor."

"Wait for it," Rodney said. He could see Sheppard looking up despite what he had said about not believing him.

Barry stepped forward and seemed to trip over his feet. He stepped on the wet mop and slid forward on his ass, coming to a halt in front of Sheppard. His face was beet red when he stood up. "Excuse me," he muttered as he collected his bucket and mop and hurried out the door.

"I told you so," Rodney said smugly.

-***-

It took Rodney several more times to convince Sheppard but finally, Sheppard turned to him, a disbelieving look in his eyes. "I have powers of premonition?" Sheppard asked.

"No, no, no," Rodney said, rolling his eyes. "I do. Well, I don't, not really. But I think Zelenka has given me the powers. So I can see a few minutes into the future while I'm plugged into the Ancient virtual reality device."

From the look in Sheppard's eyes, Rodney was finally beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, he actually believed him. "So," Sheppard said slowly, gesturing around, "I'm actually in Atlantis?"

Rodney nodded. "You're hooked up to an Ancient machine. I'm on a stretcher next to you."

Sheppard looked pensive. "Or, perhaps, I'm even crazier than I originally thought."

"No," Rodney said quickly. "Stick with the other thought. Atlantis is real. I'm real." He grasped Sheppard by the hand. "Imagine Atlantis. Imagine that you're hooked up to a virtual reality machine and imagine yourself back in your own body."

Sheppard gave him a dubious look but closed his eyes. "This didn't work last time," he pointed out.

Rodney crossed his fingers behind his back. "It'll work," he said. It had better work, he thought. He was beginning to run out of ideas and that was a ridiculous notion in and of itself. Rodney McKay should never run out of ideas.

Rodney held his breath as Sheppard frowned in concentration. He was almost about to give up when a sudden warm, tingling feeling slid through him. The world wavered around him like the lines on a TV that hadn't been tuned properly.

"Oh thank god," Rodney muttered.

-***-

Rodney turned over on the stretcher and glared at Zelenka. "You did that, didn't you? You made me see the future."

Zelenka shrugged. "You needed help," he said. "It was malfunctioning so much that I couldn't program anything else. You're lucky that I managed to do that."

"I thought the Ancient device was affecting my mind as well," Rodney complained. "I thought I was going crazy."

"Well it worked, didn't it?" Zelenka pointed out. He gestured towards the platform Sheppard was lying on. Sheppard was stirring slightly.

Rodney had to concede that point. As ridiculous as Zelenka's plan had been, it had managed to help him convince Sheppard of the veracity of what he was saying. They were out of the nightmarish virtual reality world. "Yes, it worked," Rodney said grumpily.

"You're welcome," Zelenka said pointedly.

Rodney shifted slightly on his stretcher and looked over at Sheppard. After what had happened inside the virtual reality world, he wasn't sure he wanted to be here when Sheppard woke up. Groaning slightly, he sat up.

"You're not going anywhere," Keller said as she walked over. She pushed him back down. "You've just been through quite an ordeal."

"I'm fine," Rodney protested. He tried to swing his legs off the stretcher but they didn't seem to move properly.

"You're obviously not," Keller pointed out. "I'll get somebody to take you to the med lab. Sheppard too. You both need to rest."

-***-

There was a knock on the door. Rodney looked up from where he was attempting to write up the latest report regarding the virtual reality without actually mentioning anything that had gone on between him and Sheppard. "Come in," he said.

Sheppard walked in, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I was wondering how you were," he said.

"I'm fine," Rodney said shortly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The air suddenly felt so much thicker.

Sheppard nodded. "You left the med lab before I woke up so I didn't get the chance to thank you before."

Rodney nodded curtly. He felt like he was looking everywhere in the room except at Sheppard. He wanted to ask Sheppard whether he remembered anything of the virtual reality world but he couldn't think of a good way to say it. It seemed like Sheppard either didn't remember or had elected to pretend that it didn't happen. Rodney knew that that was probably the best plan. There was no way he could have any kind of relationship with Sheppard. It was ridiculous. "You're welcome."

"About what happened..." Sheppard said awkwardly. "I thought..."

"It's all a bit of a blur," Rodney said quickly. A bit too quickly, Rodney realised. He hurried to add, "I don't really remember what happened but I'm sure that I was fantastic as usual. In saving the day, of course. That's what I mean. Anyway, I think we should just forget about it. I'm sure nothing important happened."

Sheppard held up a hand. "I..." he said and then swallowed. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go and catch a bite to eat. If you're feeling up for it."

Rodney stared. "A bite to eat?" he repeated, confused.

"Some food," Sheppard elaborated. He held out several bags. "I brought some MREs."

Rodney wasn't sure what to say. He still wasn't sure whether Sheppard remembered what happened or not. Was this all some elaborate joke? He stared at the MREs in the bags that Sheppard was holding and felt his stomach rumble. He was hungry though. "Sure, I guess," Rodney said. "We don't have to have MREs though."

"Nonsense," Sheppard said briskly. "I've already brought them. And we can have them right here."

Rodney shivered as Sheppard brushed up against him as he walked past. The door closed behind him.

"I have beef ravioli, beef brisket or pork ribs," Sheppard called from where he was setting up the MREs on the table. "Which do you want?"

Rodney could remember having beef brisket in the hospital in the virtual reality. It was right before he had kissed Sheppard. Rodney could feel his face turning red. "I'll have the brisket," he said as he walked over.

Sheppard winked at him and grinned. "I thought you would."

-finis