Date day!

[scientificsnark]

A week, Rodney McKay had decided, was not a sufficient amount of time in which to plan a truly spectacular date. In fact, the date he had planned was merely spectacular, in his own humble opinion. Granted, he hadn't exactly gotten the idea on his own - he'd seen a blonde woman tugging a man out of the Compound the other day carrying a picnic basket

Comments

[jill_langston]

It had been two days since the far too truthful conversation with Lucifer and Jill was doing with it what she did best. She was blocking it out. If she didn't think about it, she could convince herself that it didn't happen and that things were fine. Everything was fine and normal and nothing at all in the world had to change.

Except for the fact that Rodney was currently at her door, prepared for a date. If said date went well, there was a possibility that things would have to change, but she was refusing to think about that right now. All she was going to do was enjoy her date and see where it went.

"Hi," she said with a smile, pushing open the door to see Rodney waiting there. With flowers. That was definitely a step up from what she was used to.

[scientificsnark]

"Yes!" said Rodney, suavely. Or maybe not. "I mean...hi." Off to a great start, there. He grimaced inwardly, collected his composure as much he could, and thrust out the flowers almost as if they were some kind of shield.

"It's Saturday," he explained. "I brought you flowers. The...the date was on Saturday, wasn't it? Or was it Friday?" He looked slightly panicked. All right, a little more than slightly panicked. "I'm pretty sure I said Saturday...anyway, it's Saturday and I brought you flowers, so, hi. Here," he added, proffering the flowers again in her direction.

[jill_langston]

For all the ways in which Rodney was like David, that moment was a perfect example of how he was different and she smiled, unable to help herself, then took the flowers from him. "Thank you, they're beautiful," she answered with a laugh, deciding to leave the rest of his slightly panicked greeting alone. Maybe if she didn't comment on it, he'd relax a little.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, stepping outside and tugging the door closed behind her. She'd left it up to him, after all, and although she didn't expect anything elaborate, she imagined he'd practically made himself sick trying to plan their date.

[scientificsnark]

"Um, well..." Rodney began, holding up the picnic basket. "I've taken care of the food and drink, but there won't be any music unless you want to go to the rec room and that jukebox never plays anything appropriate." It'd probably play Barry White or something like that. On second thoughts...

"As for where we're going," he continued, "I thought I'd leave that up to you. I was thinking, we could go to one of the waterfalls, or maybe the beach, or even somewhere near the Compound if you'd like. You look nice, by the way," he added, remembering only at the last minute that women generally liked compliments on their appearance. "Very nice. Beautiful, in fact, but you always look like that and...uh. Where do you want to go?"

[jill_langston]

"The beach," Jill answered after thinking about it for a moment. The waterfalls were nice, but she found they were often too populated with people wanting to take a swim as they were both located close to a number of huts. The beach was large enough that she was sure they could find at least one corner where they could be alone.

"I know the sand gets everywhere, but it's better than being interrupted by a splashing and screaming child and their dog," she added, smiling at the compliment. "And thank you. You look great, too."

[scientificsnark]

"Okay! I mean, thank you. And yes." Thankfully, he'd anticipated the possibility that Jill might want to go to the beach and had packed a large blanket with the food. "Though I'm sure that's a very real danger anywhere on this island. There're far too many unsupervised children wandering around here," he added, scowling as he remembered that horrible planet populated entirely by Peter Pan wannabes. Now that had not been a fun mission.

But this wasn't a mission. It was a date. McKay made a conscious effort to get out of...well...McKay the Bad-Ass Gun-Toting Scientist mode and into Rodney the Suave, Cool, Desirable Man on a Date mode.

He wasn't doing so well so far.

[jill_langston]

"Tell me about it," Jill answered, rolling her eyes and it wasn't that she didn't like children, it was just that... no, it was that she didn't particularly like children. They were loud and dirty and most of the time they smelled.

"Let me just put these inside and then we can go," she added, holding up the flowers before she disappeared back into the hut. She didn't have a vase handy or anything, but there was a wooden sort of cup on one of her shelves and she set the flowers carefully inside that before heading back out. "Alright, I'm ready."

[scientificsnark]

Rodney nodded, and waited outside, not quite fidgeting but not exactly staying still either. When Jill emerged from the hut again, he smiled at her - a rare, genuine smile without so much as a hint of derision.

"Shall we?" He held out his free arm.

[jill_langston]

"Absolutely," Jill answered, mirroring his smile and taking his arm. It was nice to see Rodney smile, especially when it was so genuine. He looked different, but in a good way and she found herself wishing he'd do it more.

"So what sort of food do I have to look forward to?" she asked as they headed away from her hut and toward the east beach. "You told me once that you only did sandwiches."

[scientificsnark]

"Well, I wasn't sure if you're a vegetarian or not, so I cooked up a couple of steaks just in case you aren't and made a huge salad in case you are," Rodney said proudly. "Oh, and I managed to...er...'find' some wine." And someone back in the Compound would 'find' that their wine was 'missing'.

"It's nothing fancy, and I think the steaks are from a boar or something disgusting like that, but it smelled good while I was cooking it and I'm a dab hand at salads. I've tried dieting before," he explained, perhaps unnecessarily.

[jill_langston]

"I'm not a vegetarian and that all sounds..." Well, Rodney himself had used the word 'disgusting', but Jill didn't want to say that. "It sounds perfect," she finished, because it did. He'd done a hell of a good job, especially considering the island made dating a little more difficult than it would have been back home.

Then again, she supposed he'd had practice with strange dating situations on Atlantis.

"Why in the hell have you tried dieting?" she asked, looking over at him. It was probably one of those things she should have just let go, but she was curious.

[scientificsnark]

"When I first got to Atlantis, I was...er...let's just say I've always eaten a lot, and my metabolism was not always as fast as it is now," Rodney said, embarrassed. "I guess fighting for your life against life-sucking space-monsters has a trimming effect, though. And having to walk everywhere on a huge island helps, too." He shrugged.

Thank God she wasn't a vegetarian. He'd gone to a lot of effort on those steaks, and he wasn't sure he could eat them both. He wouldn't have minded trying, though...

"Anyways." He wasn't sure what to say next, so he was silent for a moment as they walked. "Uh..." Yeah, still not sure what to say. But that wasn't new. That was just Rodney McKay.

[jill_langston]

"So I guess you've still got that great mattress in your place in New Atlantis, right?" Jill asked, mostly just to fill the silence, then immediately cringed when she realized just how that sounded. "I mean... I heard about it before and I used to tell John that I was going to take it to my own hut after you... after you disappeared. But I never got around to it, which is probably for the best now."

Because then she would've had to give it back.

Bringing up someone's mattress probably wasn't the best date topic, but she'd already said it and if she tried to cover it up with something else now, he'd know exactly what she was doing.

[scientificsnark]

"It's a prescription mattress tailored specifically for my back," Rodney informed her, trying not to get too irritated. She was probably coming onto him or something. "I don't think you'd like it very much." The words we could always test it out were way too tempting to say, but he was trying to be chivalrous right now and would wait at least until the third glass of wine before even trying to kiss Jill.

Damn, now he was thinking about kissing her, and that just made him want to all the more. He cleared his throat and fixed his gaze ahead of him, intently.

[jill_langston]

"It was a joke, Rodney," she assured him, giving his arm a gentle squeeze as they made their way off the path and only the beach. At least, now that she realized how ridiculous it sounded, it was a joke.

Stepping into the sand, her sandals were immediately filled, but at least it was quiet. Jill had learned as soon as she'd moved into her new place by Mayko that the east beach never seemed to attract as many people for some reason. Likely because they all lived too far away.

"Alright, where should we sit?" she asked, sliding her hand down to Rodney's as she turned to face him. Walking backwards over the sand, she pulled him along, appraising the beach.

[scientificsnark]

"Er...somewhere with the least amount of sand?" he suggested, trying not to trip and send the carefully-prepared picnic flying everywhere. Thankfully, he didn't, even though he was fairly sure his shiny shoes were already inundated with sand. He'd forgotten to wear socks.

"Here?" He pointed to a spot beneath a lonely-looking palm tree. Hopefully no coconuts would fall on them. Setting down the basket, he gave Jill's hand a squeeze before letting go and fishing the blanket out, spreading it with some difficulty over the sand.