(Untitled)

[scientificsnark]

It was later on in the afternoon and Rodney's head hurt. Not just from the multiple knocks it had taken today, but from the sheer amount of emotional crap that had come out. Seriously, he'd had no idea Sheppard was even capable of feeling such...feelings, but he had and he'd been very...vocal about it.

So had Rodney, come to think of it.

Oh, God.

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[jill_langston]

The morning had been a little... strange, to say the very least, but Jill wasn't quite sure what to make of any of it and so she'd fled. She hadn't actually run away, but she'd hurried away from the Compound at a very brisk pace and had somehow gone straight past her hut -- just in case Lucifer followed her there -- and had somehow ended up in New Atlantis.

Maybe Carson would give her asylum.

"Rodney," she said, sounding surprised to see him. This was probably a really terrible situation.

[scientificsnark]

Rodney started and lifted his head, poised in fight-or-flight mode until he saw Jill instead of Sheppard or Carson or somebody else more embarrassing.

"Oh," he said. "Hey, uh, Jill. What...what are you doing here?"

He really hoped Sheppard hadn't sent her to talk to him. He thought everything had been worked out, apart from the crippling embarrassment factor. And, well, the lasting trauma, of course.

[jill_langston]

"Avoiding the Compound," Jill answered abruptly, although that wasn't what she'd been preparing herself to say. A small frown creased her forehead and she opened her mouth again for a moment, then shook her head, looking confused. It was what she was doing, though, so she decided to let it slide.

"Walking away from it at a quick pace," she added with a soft laugh.

[scientificsnark]

"Ah? Oh. I see," said Rodney, who didn't. Presumably she hadn't run into Sheppard then, since they'd left the compound some hours before.

He wondered if she knew about the whole truth-telling thing, whatever it was.

"Why?" he prompted, after a moment. Maybe she'd bumped into someone also affected and had fled in terror.

[jill_langston]

"Because I've been saying things that I don't want to say," Jill told him, still frowning. "I've just been saying all sorts of ridiculous things." Things she usually kept bottled up quite happily inside, things that were never supposed to be heard by anyone.

"What about you? Why are you out here?" she asked, although she supposed he was allowed to be there. He lived there, after all. She no longer had that excuse.

[scientificsnark]

Oh, no.

This was going to be...interesting.

"Same reason, actually," he admitted, setting laptop and console aside. "John and I got into a huge fight in the kitchen. I hope whoever has to clean it up doesn't come looking for us..."

[jill_langston]

"You got into a food fight with John?" Jill asked, her eyebrows climbing higher as she looked at Rodney. "Why?" Of course, between the two of them, there could be any number of answers to that question, but she was most interested in the honest answer, which seemed to be the one Rodney would have to give her.

[scientificsnark]

"It wasn't exactly a food fight," Rodney said before he could stop himself. "More like a screaming-and-yelling-and-jumping-up-and-down kind of fight. I'm surprised he didn't hit me, actually." He wished he had, now. Maybe if he'd been unconscious for the rest of the day none of this would've happened.

Then again, maybe it was a good thing, in the long run.

Yeah, right.

[jill_langston]

"Why were you two fighting?" she asked, feeling that if she kept asking questions, she could avoid answering any that Rodney might have for her. This made her safe, at least for the time being, and she didn't feel any overwhelming desire to start telling him things that he didn't need to be told.

Well, she didn't feel the overwhelming desire yet.

[scientificsnark]

"Because he's a stubborn ass and I'm just as bad sometimes - look, can we talk about something else?" Rodney asked desperately, rubbing his sweaty palms together. "Like, uh, the weather or something, I don't know. How are you?"

There, maybe that would work.

[jill_langston]

Oh, God, there is was.

"I miss Bob," Jill answered with something that might have been a wince. "I miss him a lot. He sort of always made me feel like there was someone here who needed me. Someone who needed me to take care of them just a little bit and I liked that. I miss that. No one here needs me anymore, not like Bob did."

Fuck. Jesus Christ, she was so screwed.

[scientificsnark]

"Bob? Who's Bob?" Rodney asked blankly, searching his memory. "Oh! That's your friend who disappeared, right?" he asked brightly, when he remembered, then he winced. "...Sorry. I'm not so good with the tact thing. Or the comforting thing. Or anything much, really, when it comes to attractive wom-"

Aw, crap.

"-aaaaaanyway, uh. I'm sorry you're, uh. Feeling down. If it makes you feel any better, I like having you around, and I'd be disappointed if you disappeared, especially since I haven't had a chance to-"

Dammit!

"Nevermind," Rodney gulped.

[jill_langston]

"Wait, what?" Jill asked, not willing to let that one just slip by. Some things she might not have asked about, but Rodney had definitely started to say she was attractive and there was definitely something else about him not having the chance to do something.

"Especially since you haven't had the chance to do what, Rodney?" she asked, feeling a little better now that she was the one asking the questions instead. It made her feel like she had at least a little bit of power.

[scientificsnark]

"To...askyouout," Rodney said very quickly. "NotthatIwouldbecauseIhaveagirlfriendbackhome and anyways, I'm a very busy man, very busy, there's the Zed-PM to look after and I wouldn't have time for that sort of thing, very busy, excuse me..."

He turned away so Jill couldn't see how red his face was, and put a hand to his forehead.

Today was the worst day ever, he decided. Worse than the one when he'd turned up on the island. Worse than the one when he'd been shot in the ass by an arrow. Worse than...a thousand other incidents. Of all the horribly bad things that could have happened to him, being forced to tell the truth was probably the absolute, number one worst.

[jill_langston]

"You want to ask me out?" Jill asked, fighting down all urges she could feel rising up in her. Urges to tell him that he should, that she'd say yes, that she'd probably even stop sleeping with the Devil if he did, but she especially didn't want to say that last bit.

"You should," she said after a moment. "Because I would say yes, even though you have a girlfriend back home. I sometimes wonder if that makes me a bad person, actually, that I would date a man who has a girlfriend back home or that sometimes I think that I'd like to sleep with men who have girlfriends here."

Once again, too much information.

[scientificsnark]

"...What?"

Rodney turned around and lowered his hand, standing there with a very comical look of shock on his face, mouth open.

Maybe something good could come of this after all?

Yeah, right.

"I thought...I thought you had a boyfriend," he said weakly. "I mean, I know you never actually said and that I never actually asked, but it was just the impression I got, and I'm sure he's much more attractive than me." Though his love-handles were going away gradually the more he walked around the stupid island, he had to admit.