SG-1/SGA AU fanfic: "It Came On Fast", feat. Sam Carter & Ronnie McKay
More from this au. This fic is this 'verse's version of the events of the SG-1 episode "48 Hours", i.e. the first appearance of McKay. Some dialogue is borrowed from that.
Title: It Came On Fast
Sam fought to keep a rein on her irritation when McKay breezed into her workspace. Bad enough being saddled with a "helper" so obnoxious and egotistical, but to find out that it was the same person who had produced the completely arbitrary 48 hour time limit was adding injury to insult. Sam would have loved to go over McKay's calculations and disprove them, but -- thanks to McKay! -- she didn't have time.
"Major," McKay said by way of greeting.
"Doctor," Sam coolly replied.
"For the record, I don't work for Colonel Simmons."
"What difference does that make?"
"Well, I sensed a little tension there. I'm on the Air Force payroll, I report directly to the Chief of Staff."
Sam opened her mouth to say something sarcastic, but McKay, fidgeting, bulldozed right over her.
"Frankly, I don't trust Simmons. I mean, really, who'd he have to blackmail to get me pulled from my project so fast? Not that I'm not happy to help! Really, I'll do my best. Just, you know, consider yourself as having a standing invitation to interrupt if you see him corner me..."
She trailed off awkwardly, looking embarrassed under Sam's stunned stare. It was more than just the casual clothes that marked her as a civilian, Sam realized, studying the woman. She doubted McKay had ever been in a serious fight; she was plainly actually afraid of Simmons, but too proud to say so directly. But she was nevertheless asking, and it was Sam's duty, therefore, to protect her.
Argh!
Abruptly, Sam wondered if she'd be like McKay if she hadn't joined the military. That was an unhappy thought.
"Would you like to be assigned a guard?" Sam asked, finally. "Everyone will think it's just to keep you out of trouble when you aren't under my supervision."
"If you like," McKay said with a casual shrug, looking away -- but Sam saw her relax a little.
"I'll see to it. Now -- we have work to do."
They worked. It was a frustrating process, interrupted by Daniel's periodic "no progress yet" calls from Russia and a mysterious absence of Jack. Sam did remember to have a guard assigned to McKay, on the pretext of Area 51 not being as "exciting" as the SGC. She even got a female marine, mostly by implying that she thought McKay might sneak a cigarette in the washroom. Here under the mountain, air quality control was a very serious matter.
Jack showed up, finally, and then Sam was the one who got to tell McKay that Simmons was cutting deals with a Goa'uld. Her face went white as a sheet and she sat down very suddenly, so either she was a great actress or she hadn't known and was more than a little unnerved by the brush with danger.
They did save Teal'c, after Daniel managed to sweet talk Earth's only DHD out of the Russians. And, they did it outside of McKay's time limit, which Sam felt proved her calculations had been wrong. McKay argued that the fact that the DHD blew up supported her.
Apparently General Hammond thought the two physicists had bonded or something, because he assigned Sam the task of breaking the news about Russia. Sam privately felt he was punishing her for blowing up the DHD, but sighed and gave it a go.
She tried presenting things as an opportunity to get more hands-on experience, but McKay seemed to prefer working primarily as a theoretician, despite also having a doctorate in mechanical engineering. There was a lot of shouting. Sam had to admit that McKay was right about one thing: continuing to work on any theories she'd begun at Area 51 while in Russia would be frowned on by their superiours. They might not be at war with Russia anymore, but proprietary information was still proprietary information. McKay's colleagues and rivals would be getting ahead of her there.
On the other hand, Sam fast lost patience with the rest of McKay's list of objections. It started with the food and just went on and on. Sam found herself defensively tuning it out, until one word in particular jumped out at her.
"--wedding is next month, and --"
"You're getting married?" Sam interrupted, then winced internally at how shocked that had come out.
"No," McKay corrected her, emphatically. "My baby sister is. Don't think I haven't tried to talk her out of it, either! She is this close to finishing her doctorate --" She accompanied this with the expected pinching gesture. "--and he is all wrong for her! He's a Liberal Arts student, can you believe it? Maybe if our parents were alive they could make her see sense, but as it is she's all pregnant and hormonal --" This last was partnered with such sweeping arm gestures that Sam actually had to dodge out of the way -- and then dart back in to grab McKay's wrist before she knocked over the coffee perk. To Sam's complete lack of surprise, McKay kept talking, eyes wide and now fixed on Sam's face.
"And since she knows how I feel about this -- this gross folly, if I miss the wedding? She will never speak to me again."
"McKay, she's your sister. I'm sure if you --"
"You don't know Jeannie!" McKay said fervently. "She holds grudges."
Sam eyed the stubborn line of McKay's jaw and decided to believe it.
"Look," she tried, sighing. "I don't think there's any way you're not going to Russia BUT!" She held up a hand directly in front of McKay's face to forestall the next deluge of words. Also it was kind of funny, the way her eyes crossed. "But, I'll see what I can do about making sure you get to that wedding."
McKay's mouth slanted down in a crooked frown, but she nodded.
That night at Jack's house, the team convened to eat take-out and catch each other -- and Teal'c -- up on everything that had happened. Sam leaned back into the couch's plush embrace with a beer and a deep, deep sigh.
"I hear you went to bat for McKay with Hammond," Jack commented.
"I'm glad you two were able to work out your differences," Daniel said brightly, overcaffeinated and jetlagged.
"We didn't, exactly." Sam corrected. "It's just that I was kinda forced to learn enough about her to become mildly sympathetic."
"Forced?" Teal'c's voice was an ominous rumble.
"Yeah, it's just, you know, defensively picking out key points. Boy, can that woman ever talk!"
She never figured out why Jack choked on his chow mein just then.
Con-crit welcomed!
Title: It Came On Fast
Sam fought to keep a rein on her irritation when McKay breezed into her workspace. Bad enough being saddled with a "helper" so obnoxious and egotistical, but to find out that it was the same person who had produced the completely arbitrary 48 hour time limit was adding injury to insult. Sam would have loved to go over McKay's calculations and disprove them, but -- thanks to McKay! -- she didn't have time.
"Major," McKay said by way of greeting.
"Doctor," Sam coolly replied.
"For the record, I don't work for Colonel Simmons."
"What difference does that make?"
"Well, I sensed a little tension there. I'm on the Air Force payroll, I report directly to the Chief of Staff."
Sam opened her mouth to say something sarcastic, but McKay, fidgeting, bulldozed right over her.
"Frankly, I don't trust Simmons. I mean, really, who'd he have to blackmail to get me pulled from my project so fast? Not that I'm not happy to help! Really, I'll do my best. Just, you know, consider yourself as having a standing invitation to interrupt if you see him corner me..."
She trailed off awkwardly, looking embarrassed under Sam's stunned stare. It was more than just the casual clothes that marked her as a civilian, Sam realized, studying the woman. She doubted McKay had ever been in a serious fight; she was plainly actually afraid of Simmons, but too proud to say so directly. But she was nevertheless asking, and it was Sam's duty, therefore, to protect her.
Argh!
Abruptly, Sam wondered if she'd be like McKay if she hadn't joined the military. That was an unhappy thought.
"Would you like to be assigned a guard?" Sam asked, finally. "Everyone will think it's just to keep you out of trouble when you aren't under my supervision."
"If you like," McKay said with a casual shrug, looking away -- but Sam saw her relax a little.
"I'll see to it. Now -- we have work to do."
They worked. It was a frustrating process, interrupted by Daniel's periodic "no progress yet" calls from Russia and a mysterious absence of Jack. Sam did remember to have a guard assigned to McKay, on the pretext of Area 51 not being as "exciting" as the SGC. She even got a female marine, mostly by implying that she thought McKay might sneak a cigarette in the washroom. Here under the mountain, air quality control was a very serious matter.
Jack showed up, finally, and then Sam was the one who got to tell McKay that Simmons was cutting deals with a Goa'uld. Her face went white as a sheet and she sat down very suddenly, so either she was a great actress or she hadn't known and was more than a little unnerved by the brush with danger.
They did save Teal'c, after Daniel managed to sweet talk Earth's only DHD out of the Russians. And, they did it outside of McKay's time limit, which Sam felt proved her calculations had been wrong. McKay argued that the fact that the DHD blew up supported her.
Apparently General Hammond thought the two physicists had bonded or something, because he assigned Sam the task of breaking the news about Russia. Sam privately felt he was punishing her for blowing up the DHD, but sighed and gave it a go.
She tried presenting things as an opportunity to get more hands-on experience, but McKay seemed to prefer working primarily as a theoretician, despite also having a doctorate in mechanical engineering. There was a lot of shouting. Sam had to admit that McKay was right about one thing: continuing to work on any theories she'd begun at Area 51 while in Russia would be frowned on by their superiours. They might not be at war with Russia anymore, but proprietary information was still proprietary information. McKay's colleagues and rivals would be getting ahead of her there.
On the other hand, Sam fast lost patience with the rest of McKay's list of objections. It started with the food and just went on and on. Sam found herself defensively tuning it out, until one word in particular jumped out at her.
"--wedding is next month, and --"
"You're getting married?" Sam interrupted, then winced internally at how shocked that had come out.
"No," McKay corrected her, emphatically. "My baby sister is. Don't think I haven't tried to talk her out of it, either! She is this close to finishing her doctorate --" She accompanied this with the expected pinching gesture. "--and he is all wrong for her! He's a Liberal Arts student, can you believe it? Maybe if our parents were alive they could make her see sense, but as it is she's all pregnant and hormonal --" This last was partnered with such sweeping arm gestures that Sam actually had to dodge out of the way -- and then dart back in to grab McKay's wrist before she knocked over the coffee perk. To Sam's complete lack of surprise, McKay kept talking, eyes wide and now fixed on Sam's face.
"And since she knows how I feel about this -- this gross folly, if I miss the wedding? She will never speak to me again."
"McKay, she's your sister. I'm sure if you --"
"You don't know Jeannie!" McKay said fervently. "She holds grudges."
Sam eyed the stubborn line of McKay's jaw and decided to believe it.
"Look," she tried, sighing. "I don't think there's any way you're not going to Russia BUT!" She held up a hand directly in front of McKay's face to forestall the next deluge of words. Also it was kind of funny, the way her eyes crossed. "But, I'll see what I can do about making sure you get to that wedding."
McKay's mouth slanted down in a crooked frown, but she nodded.
That night at Jack's house, the team convened to eat take-out and catch each other -- and Teal'c -- up on everything that had happened. Sam leaned back into the couch's plush embrace with a beer and a deep, deep sigh.
"I hear you went to bat for McKay with Hammond," Jack commented.
"I'm glad you two were able to work out your differences," Daniel said brightly, overcaffeinated and jetlagged.
"We didn't, exactly." Sam corrected. "It's just that I was kinda forced to learn enough about her to become mildly sympathetic."
"Forced?" Teal'c's voice was an ominous rumble.
"Yeah, it's just, you know, defensively picking out key points. Boy, can that woman ever talk!"
She never figured out why Jack choked on his chow mein just then.
Con-crit welcomed!