Fic Meetings 2: Obfuscator Calls
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis/The Sentinel
Title: Meetings 2: Obfuscator Calls
Notes: Slash (J/B), set late Season 1 SGA, post TSbyBS. For sentinel_thurs Challenge #401: Red
Rating: 13+ (adult language)
Length: 1,545 words
Summary: Blair plots to call Rodney's bluff.
A/N: I originally intended this 'verse(?) to be a one shot, but two geniuses butting heads is so much fun.
(Meetings 1 here)
Meetings 2: Obfuscator Calls
Blair rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and tried not to yawn. Dammit, he was going with SG-8 to Lamarat tomorrow. They'd be there for three full days and he had an opportunity to do some actual anthropology for a change. Spend some time immersed in a field semi-study, at least for a little while, before Elizabeth's diplomats got around to hammering out the particulars of their trade agreement.
From his own desk, Jim's head tilted to watch him through narrowed eyes. Blair squinted at him, before pulling his glasses back on and sticking his tongue out. "I know, man. I'm almost done here and we can go catch some z's."
"Sure, Chief." Jim sounded indulgent and patronizing. The jerk. "I've got that list for you but I don't know if I should hand it over."
Blair straightened up. "Seriously, man?"
"Seriously."
"Why wouldn't you hand it over? I promised you that I'd have down time and I've been having down time."
Jim wrinkled his nose. "They won't work for McKay." Jim poked at his laptop with a finger. "Putting up with his bullshit is way above their paygrade." Jim looked up. "Direct quote."
Blair slumped back in his chair and resisted the temptation to take off his glasses and rub his eyes again. They were stinging with tired, probably red in a way that a blind man couldn't miss it, let alone a sentinel ready, willing, and able to get all sneaky. This was exhausting as hell.
"But," Jim said, "they will work for you. A few of them have actual bachelor's degrees in useful stuff like engineering. Most of them have basic mechanic, plumbing, and carpentry skills. The ones who don't have the gene were selected not only on merit and psyche profile, but on skill sets that the city might need."
"Like shade tree mechanics and weekend plumbers." Blair grinned. "Who was the genius that came up with that idea?"
"And it's more like they were chosen from the marines doing mechanic and construction jobs for the military. We didn't get combat only troops. We got a variety of skill sets." Jim's eyes didn't quite meet his. "And, believe it or not, O'Neill."
Blair tried not to frown.
Jim sighed. "C'mon, Chief. It's been two years."
Blair gave in and glowered.
"He didn't mean it." Jim waved his hand around the very nicely appointed office. "And look where we're at now. We've got exciting opportunities here that we wouldn't have otherwise."
Blair didn't say anything, just transitioned from pissed off to sad. Atlantis was, well, great, but they lost so much…
Jim looked him in the eyes and offered a tiny smile. "Me, too, buddy. But I have you and that's all that matters, okay? We're fine and you're with me. Everything else just isn't that important. And you've been happy here, right?"
Blair nodded. "Yeah, mostly. And you're right. You and me are all that matters. Together all the way, right man?"
Jim flashed his heart-stopping smile, the big one that made his eyes shine and his face turn into beauty incarnate, beauty to make the gods sigh. God, he needed sleep; he was turning into a sap.
"How about this, Big Guy, I'll get Radek to work up a list of minor city repairs by specialty. I'll show him the list of skills, but not the marines that have them, so he can match repair to skill. Then I'll ask for volunteers, or you can if you think the marines'd like that better, that would be willing to do these under Radek's supervision for a few hours once a week. Once I have the first batch, I'll have Dean clear the volunteers from duty on the day Radek picks."
Jim looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "Why not Sheppard?"
"He's going to be stuck on Rodney-duty. Rodney is going to totally lose it and Sheppard gets to deal with the melt down." Blair shuddered. "Speaking of which, we gotta go with SG-8 tomorrow, no way can we skip even if I don't get enough sleep to make you happy."
"Should I start checking for bombs and booby traps?"
"Yeah, probably." Blair curled his fingers into his hair and pulled a little. "The projects list comes out tomorrow."
Jim smirked. "Who'll be dropping by to bribe me to give you blowjobs?"
"Ah, well," Blair pulled his hair a bit more.
"Let go, Phyllis, you'll give yourself a headache."
"Yeah, well, I pushed two of Rodney's projects back and put one of Simpson's on top." Blair smirked a bit. "The yelling is going to be epic. You know, totally epic. Maybe even apocalyptic."
Jim's eyebrows went up in inquiry.
"Honestly, only one of them actually needed to be backburnered in favor of Simpson's, which needs the same labspace and is more important, but the other one is his idea showing me who's boss." Blair tried to look innocent. "I'm calling his bluff."
"Jesus Christ, Blair."
"Yeah, well, it's gonna be worse when we get back from Lamarat, man. So much worse."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, you know he's gonna break protocol the second he's done throwing his temper tantrum."
"Yeah. And you're gonna what? He's co-CSO."
Blair leaned forward, propping elbows on his desk so he could rest his chin on his twined fingers. "See, here's the thing. Since we started this thing, he's thought of himself as the only CSO and me as his go-between lackey. He thinks he sets all science policy and I do the scut work."
Jim nodded.
"I'm surprised it took him three weeks to get around to rubbing it in my face, but he was making the compression program and we did run into Ancient Elizabeth and then Rodney's team had that problem on Dagan. It's not like he wasn't a bit busy." Blair smiled gently at Jim. "I knew it was coming, Big Guy. He wants to assert his authority and I can't let him get away with it or I might as well have never done the study in the first place."
"You did good with that and you're doing good as the guy in charge. We wouldn't be doing another meet and greet with Lamarat if you hadn't changed the protocols." Jim smiled. "I'm proud of you, Blair."
Blair couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Jim. I'm proud of you, too."
"So, Einstein, what happens when we get back?"
"I'll act surprised when I find out that Rodney ignored the project schedule and be suitably chagrined when I hand him the same punishment I hand everyone else."
"We might need to vacation on the mainland indefinitely."
Blair grinned. "I'll just have to stick close to you. I have faith that you'll be able to figure out his traps before I get caught."
"You're showering on your own."
"Don't worry about that. Atlantis loves me more than she does Rodney."
Jim shook his head. "You're willing to bet cold showers and transporters that stop working for hours on that?"
"Have to, babe. Atlantis herself is the only thing that can keep Rodney out of his lab. He's gonna be seriously pissed, I mean, like woah pissed when the transporters will only take him to the secondary sewage control center, which needs some serious work, man. Not quite cleaning the septic system, but it is one of the sewer issues and Rodney is one of the few people qualified to deal with it."
Jim eventually nodded. "I'll keep my ears open. You want me to email this to you?"
"No way, man. Put it on a jump drive and I'll put it on my old laptop. Then empty off the spreadsheet. Maybe change the data to something else, like a times table or something. Don't delete it 'cause he'd just find it. Hope he doesn't know a way of looking at previous versions of saved files."
"Why the old laptop?"
"He can't hack a computer that's not hooked up to anything. Especially if he doesn't know it exists."
Jim pursed his lips and turned to his keyboard, probably doing as Blair requested. "You know, it's probably a good idea to give Sheppard a head's up."
Blair tilted his head. "Huh?"
"He's going to be in between the shit and the fan tomorrow, Chief. Someone should let him know the shit is heading his way so he can take measures." Jim tapped a few keys purposefully. "Not unless you want to see if Atlantis likes you better than Sheppard."
Blair pouted. "It's not fair."
Jim peered at him over the screen, eyebrows up. "What, are you four?"
"I need the gene and it didn't take."
"Blair," Jim said on a sigh, "if Beckett wasn't hiding your results on paper, McKay would have you vivisected to find out why Atlantis loves you so much."
"You suck."
"Damned well, too."
Blair suddenly grinned, the miffed falling away like cottonwood fluff on a breeze. "That's the second time you've mentioned blowjobs, babe. That a hint?"
Jim grinned, too. "For a smart guy, you don’t take hints very well."
Blair stood up and stretched. "I'm done here. Last one home is on his knees!"
He could hear Jim laughing as he raced down the hall for the nearest transporter.
Go to Meetings 3
Go to Meetings Index
Title: Meetings 2: Obfuscator Calls
Notes: Slash (J/B), set late Season 1 SGA, post TSbyBS. For sentinel_thurs Challenge #401: Red
Rating: 13+ (adult language)
Length: 1,545 words
Summary: Blair plots to call Rodney's bluff.
A/N: I originally intended this 'verse(?) to be a one shot, but two geniuses butting heads is so much fun.
(Meetings 1 here)
Meetings 2: Obfuscator Calls
Blair rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and tried not to yawn. Dammit, he was going with SG-8 to Lamarat tomorrow. They'd be there for three full days and he had an opportunity to do some actual anthropology for a change. Spend some time immersed in a field semi-study, at least for a little while, before Elizabeth's diplomats got around to hammering out the particulars of their trade agreement.
From his own desk, Jim's head tilted to watch him through narrowed eyes. Blair squinted at him, before pulling his glasses back on and sticking his tongue out. "I know, man. I'm almost done here and we can go catch some z's."
"Sure, Chief." Jim sounded indulgent and patronizing. The jerk. "I've got that list for you but I don't know if I should hand it over."
Blair straightened up. "Seriously, man?"
"Seriously."
"Why wouldn't you hand it over? I promised you that I'd have down time and I've been having down time."
Jim wrinkled his nose. "They won't work for McKay." Jim poked at his laptop with a finger. "Putting up with his bullshit is way above their paygrade." Jim looked up. "Direct quote."
Blair slumped back in his chair and resisted the temptation to take off his glasses and rub his eyes again. They were stinging with tired, probably red in a way that a blind man couldn't miss it, let alone a sentinel ready, willing, and able to get all sneaky. This was exhausting as hell.
"But," Jim said, "they will work for you. A few of them have actual bachelor's degrees in useful stuff like engineering. Most of them have basic mechanic, plumbing, and carpentry skills. The ones who don't have the gene were selected not only on merit and psyche profile, but on skill sets that the city might need."
"Like shade tree mechanics and weekend plumbers." Blair grinned. "Who was the genius that came up with that idea?"
"And it's more like they were chosen from the marines doing mechanic and construction jobs for the military. We didn't get combat only troops. We got a variety of skill sets." Jim's eyes didn't quite meet his. "And, believe it or not, O'Neill."
Blair tried not to frown.
Jim sighed. "C'mon, Chief. It's been two years."
Blair gave in and glowered.
"He didn't mean it." Jim waved his hand around the very nicely appointed office. "And look where we're at now. We've got exciting opportunities here that we wouldn't have otherwise."
Blair didn't say anything, just transitioned from pissed off to sad. Atlantis was, well, great, but they lost so much…
Jim looked him in the eyes and offered a tiny smile. "Me, too, buddy. But I have you and that's all that matters, okay? We're fine and you're with me. Everything else just isn't that important. And you've been happy here, right?"
Blair nodded. "Yeah, mostly. And you're right. You and me are all that matters. Together all the way, right man?"
Jim flashed his heart-stopping smile, the big one that made his eyes shine and his face turn into beauty incarnate, beauty to make the gods sigh. God, he needed sleep; he was turning into a sap.
"How about this, Big Guy, I'll get Radek to work up a list of minor city repairs by specialty. I'll show him the list of skills, but not the marines that have them, so he can match repair to skill. Then I'll ask for volunteers, or you can if you think the marines'd like that better, that would be willing to do these under Radek's supervision for a few hours once a week. Once I have the first batch, I'll have Dean clear the volunteers from duty on the day Radek picks."
Jim looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "Why not Sheppard?"
"He's going to be stuck on Rodney-duty. Rodney is going to totally lose it and Sheppard gets to deal with the melt down." Blair shuddered. "Speaking of which, we gotta go with SG-8 tomorrow, no way can we skip even if I don't get enough sleep to make you happy."
"Should I start checking for bombs and booby traps?"
"Yeah, probably." Blair curled his fingers into his hair and pulled a little. "The projects list comes out tomorrow."
Jim smirked. "Who'll be dropping by to bribe me to give you blowjobs?"
"Ah, well," Blair pulled his hair a bit more.
"Let go, Phyllis, you'll give yourself a headache."
"Yeah, well, I pushed two of Rodney's projects back and put one of Simpson's on top." Blair smirked a bit. "The yelling is going to be epic. You know, totally epic. Maybe even apocalyptic."
Jim's eyebrows went up in inquiry.
"Honestly, only one of them actually needed to be backburnered in favor of Simpson's, which needs the same labspace and is more important, but the other one is his idea showing me who's boss." Blair tried to look innocent. "I'm calling his bluff."
"Jesus Christ, Blair."
"Yeah, well, it's gonna be worse when we get back from Lamarat, man. So much worse."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, you know he's gonna break protocol the second he's done throwing his temper tantrum."
"Yeah. And you're gonna what? He's co-CSO."
Blair leaned forward, propping elbows on his desk so he could rest his chin on his twined fingers. "See, here's the thing. Since we started this thing, he's thought of himself as the only CSO and me as his go-between lackey. He thinks he sets all science policy and I do the scut work."
Jim nodded.
"I'm surprised it took him three weeks to get around to rubbing it in my face, but he was making the compression program and we did run into Ancient Elizabeth and then Rodney's team had that problem on Dagan. It's not like he wasn't a bit busy." Blair smiled gently at Jim. "I knew it was coming, Big Guy. He wants to assert his authority and I can't let him get away with it or I might as well have never done the study in the first place."
"You did good with that and you're doing good as the guy in charge. We wouldn't be doing another meet and greet with Lamarat if you hadn't changed the protocols." Jim smiled. "I'm proud of you, Blair."
Blair couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Jim. I'm proud of you, too."
"So, Einstein, what happens when we get back?"
"I'll act surprised when I find out that Rodney ignored the project schedule and be suitably chagrined when I hand him the same punishment I hand everyone else."
"We might need to vacation on the mainland indefinitely."
Blair grinned. "I'll just have to stick close to you. I have faith that you'll be able to figure out his traps before I get caught."
"You're showering on your own."
"Don't worry about that. Atlantis loves me more than she does Rodney."
Jim shook his head. "You're willing to bet cold showers and transporters that stop working for hours on that?"
"Have to, babe. Atlantis herself is the only thing that can keep Rodney out of his lab. He's gonna be seriously pissed, I mean, like woah pissed when the transporters will only take him to the secondary sewage control center, which needs some serious work, man. Not quite cleaning the septic system, but it is one of the sewer issues and Rodney is one of the few people qualified to deal with it."
Jim eventually nodded. "I'll keep my ears open. You want me to email this to you?"
"No way, man. Put it on a jump drive and I'll put it on my old laptop. Then empty off the spreadsheet. Maybe change the data to something else, like a times table or something. Don't delete it 'cause he'd just find it. Hope he doesn't know a way of looking at previous versions of saved files."
"Why the old laptop?"
"He can't hack a computer that's not hooked up to anything. Especially if he doesn't know it exists."
Jim pursed his lips and turned to his keyboard, probably doing as Blair requested. "You know, it's probably a good idea to give Sheppard a head's up."
Blair tilted his head. "Huh?"
"He's going to be in between the shit and the fan tomorrow, Chief. Someone should let him know the shit is heading his way so he can take measures." Jim tapped a few keys purposefully. "Not unless you want to see if Atlantis likes you better than Sheppard."
Blair pouted. "It's not fair."
Jim peered at him over the screen, eyebrows up. "What, are you four?"
"I need the gene and it didn't take."
"Blair," Jim said on a sigh, "if Beckett wasn't hiding your results on paper, McKay would have you vivisected to find out why Atlantis loves you so much."
"You suck."
"Damned well, too."
Blair suddenly grinned, the miffed falling away like cottonwood fluff on a breeze. "That's the second time you've mentioned blowjobs, babe. That a hint?"
Jim grinned, too. "For a smart guy, you don’t take hints very well."
Blair stood up and stretched. "I'm done here. Last one home is on his knees!"
He could hear Jim laughing as he raced down the hall for the nearest transporter.
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