The Space Between - McKay (Chapter 1/3)
The Space Between
Chapter 1/3
Season(s): Ten and Three
Gen, Crossover, Carter/McKay Friendship
Summary: Sam and Rodney have a little chat in between mid-season two-parters.
A/N: The Atlantis crew was Earthbound in “The Return, Part I” and “The Return, Part II” for roughly six weeks. Assuming both series run along a similar timeline, I figured that SG-1 probably came back from their mission in “The Quest, Part I and II” some time before that happened.
This tag takes place a week after the events from “Line in the Sand”, and a week or so before the crew from Atlantis hijacked a puddle jumper and headed for the Pegasus Galaxy to save Jack and Woolsey. In my world, the order of events was “Return, Part II,” “The Road Not Taken” and “The Shroud”. But I could be horribly wrong. :P
**********************************************************
“I don’t care what you have to do or who you have to harm to do it, just get me Colonel Carter,” Dr. Rodney McKay bellowed to the young scientist before him. “Now!”
He’d barely made it through security at the surface fifteen minutes prior, then narrowly dodged General Landry and his pipsqueak of a sidekick along the way to the labs. And he wasn’t about to let Junior here get in his way either. Where was Blondie when he needed her?
Dr. Kenneth Farrow felt his knees wobble slightly as he tried to find a phone - any phone - in the communal lab. “D-Dr. McKay,” he stammered, “I’m sorry, but I have express orders to - ”
“It’s OK, Kenneth,” a voice calmly stated from the doorway.
Both doctors twisted around to find Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter leaning casually against the doorframe, her arms crossed loosely over her chest.
McKay’s eyes widened and he jabbed his finger in Sam’s direction. “You!”
“Me?” Sam’s eyebrow raised slightly and she grinned.
“Yes, you!” He opened his mouth to elaborate, then remembered their visitor and stopped. “First things, first: You,” he turned back to Kenneth and snapped his fingers in rapid succession, “leave.”
Kenneth was all too happy to oblige.
Sam watched the young man scurry down the hall, and idly wondered if today would be his last day at the SGC. She’d have to talk to him later, she decided. When she glanced back at McKay, she was treated to a classic McKay Look of Rage. She’d gotten used to that one soon enough, she supposed. It wasn’t quite as offensive as the McKay Look of Disdain, nor as disarming as the McKay Look of Vulnerability. She could handle this, no sweat.
“So, Rodney,” Sam greeted as she slowly walked over to the lab counter and gingerly leaned forward, favoring her right side. “What can I do for you?”
McKay noticed her odd gait and stance, but said nothing, his mind on other things. “You know exactly why I’m here.”
Sam shook her head. “No. I don’t. In case you’ve forgotten,” she leaned forward even more as if to bestow upon him a great secret, “the galaxy doesn’t really revolve around you.”
“Hmm, maybe not this one,” McKay shot back. Then, “Look, this is important.”
The grin reemerged across Sam’s face as the source of his anger suddenly dawned on her. “This is about the Lantian technology, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” McKay exclaimed. “Why else would I waste my hard-earned miles to fly here, not to mention my meager vacation time, bamboozle base security to let me down here, and risk getting caught by General Landry in the process?”
“Listen, I - ” Sam stopped short and tilted her head in curiosity. “Did you just say ‘bamboozle’?”
Rolling his eyes, McKay groaned. “Yes, yes. Would you’ve rather I said ‘duped’? Is that monosyllabic enough for you?”
Sam’s eyes narrowed, but her smile remained. “I dunno. ‘Hoodwinked’ would’ve worked for me, too.” Then she paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing.
Explaining the situation to McKay wasn’t going to be easy, simply because she understood his pain. Area 51 was a dead-end on its own, let alone going there after years of being in the action. She’d nearly gone a bit crazy herself.
To be honest, the incessant politicking from all sides was becoming a burden on everyone involved, and Rodney wasn’t the first one to feel the brunt of the IOA’s heavy hand. Upon learning that Daniel had been “compromised,” they’d demanded that a team be organized to locate him and “eliminate” the threat, citing that his acquiring of Merlin’s knowledge put both Earth and Atlantis at risk.
Needless to say, General Landry had (thankfully) told them where to go.
As far as how to tell McKay that he was never going to lay a finger on that technology again, that was a different story. Sam knew that General Landry had argued that issue to death, but had had to choose his battles with the IOA. Granting them full access to all Lantian technology and experiments was a small price to pay under the circumstances.
Still… McKay didn’t deserve what they were doing to him. She just didn’t know how to fix it yet. Maybe in a few more months or so, things would change.
Then again...
“What?” McKay asked softly. “You have that look in your eye.”
That knocked her out of her contemplation. Sam shot her head up and frowned. “What look?”
“The look that says you’re going to say something that you have to say, but don’t want to, because you don’t want to hurt me.” He smiled triumphantly and lifted onto the balls of his feet ever so slightly. “Huh, I never knew you cared, Sam.”
“All that from one look, eh?” Sam asked incredulously as she let her gaze fall to the lab counter. “It looks like you know me better than I thought.”
“And you,” he paused ever so slightly, his hand at his chest, “me.”
Sam nodded, and allowed that bit of knowledge to sink in for both of them. So she was having a moment of weakness with the guy. There were some things that transcended all their differences, and keeping a scientist from his pet projects would definitely fall into that category.
“Listen,” she whispered, mindful of any passersby, “you and I both know that a lot of what’s happened here has nothing to do with you, right?”
McKay tilted his chin indignantly. “Of course not. It’s General Lan -”
Sam held up a hand to stop him, knowing where he was going. “Nor does it have anything to do with General Landry.”
“Wha - ”
“Obviously it’s a matter of the IOA wanting to mark their territory,” Sam explained. “Why else would they choose Woolsey to remain on Atlantis over Dr. Weir? Woolsey couldn’t negotiate his way out of a game of Chinese checkers, let alone work with the Ancients on a deal that’s beneficial for everyone.” She sighed and shook her head, bemused. “And the fact that they threw General O’Neill in there for good measure probably didn’t help matters.”
McKay rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. But what does that have to do with me getting my chance to study what few items the Ancients have allowed us to keep?”
“Come on, McKay,” Sam replied. “Do you really think the IOA is going to let the leading expert on Lantian technology have his way after their own scientists could barely make heads or tails of it? I don’t think they’re ready to admit that defeat. In fact, they probably never will.”
She looked up to meet his gaze and found him smiling proudly again. Great. The McKay Look of Satisfaction.
Sam barely suppressed a groan as she realized what she’d done.
“So you admit that I’m the leading expert on Lantian technology then, hmm?” He picked up a pen and played with it in anticipation.
“Sure, McKay,” Sam conceded. “You are the leading expert on Lantian technology.”
“I knew it!”
Sam smiled mischievously. “But… I think Dr. Lee might be gaining on you.”
“What?!” McKay was outdone. “That boob?”
“‘Boob’?” Sam inquired dubiously.
“Yes, boob!”
“How old are we again?”
McKay stiffly flapped his arms in the air, looking distinctly like a deranged pigeon. “No, no, no, no, no. Be serious: Do you really think that Dr. Lee, as in Dr. Bill Lee, is coming even remotely close to me in experience with, and knowledge of, Lantian technology?”
Sam nodded, ready and willing to keep the charade up for as long as possible - if only to see him squirm. “Since you haven’t had access to it for over three weeks, yeah.”
“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you?”
She shrugged. “Then, of course, there’s Dr. Zelenka, who’s really always been gaining on you.”
“Please,” McKay replied. At her challenging look, he forged on, “OK, OK, I’ll admit this here because it’s private, and no one will believe it even if you do blab: If I’m honest with myself and with you, Dr. Zelenka is a brilliant scientist. Really. He’s better than, better than - ”
“Better than me?” Sam asked expectantly, easily anticipating the jab after years of practice.
McKay ceased his train of thought and looked earnest and almost apologetic all at once. “No, Sam,” he said quietly, uneasily meeting her gaze. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Oh.” Sam nodded quickly, not quite sure how to take that. It had been smooth sailing, following along the same line of conversation as it usually did between them, but now she didn’t know how to proceed.
Rodney was a lot like Daniel, in the sense that he could switch gears on a dime, at the drop of a hat. For him, the ebbs and flows of a conversation were like seamless transitions. The only problem was, it sometimes left the rest of the population in a mystified cloud of dust.
She tried to ignore the dull ache in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Daniel. For weeks now, she’d tried to maintain the brave face for Vala, Cam and General Landry. Having experienced Daniel’s nine lives first hand, it was expected of both her and Teal’c to be the somber ones. Though Cameron took on that role seemingly without any issue, Sam knew that everyone expected them to maintain their stoicism. This was, after all, like old hat to them.
“Is something, uh, bothering you?” McKay asked. Sam’s eyes widened at the question, and when she looked at him, it was clear that he was as surprised as she was. He quickly moved to clear it up, “I mean, because I saw you sort of limping earlier, and just now, you looked…”
“Looked what?” Sam asked softly.
“Upset.” McKay shook his head briefly in confusion.
Why was he asking her these questions? For one thing, he’d come here for a specific reason, and she’d managed to side-track him more than once. For another, it was Colonel Carter, and she probably had a dozen other people she could discuss this with. It so wasn’t his problem, and he half-expected her to call him on that.
“It’s nothing,” she finally said, having observed his evident war with himself. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it anyway. “Thanks for asking, though. Just… make sure you don’t make too many waves in Nevada, OK? General Landry really is trying to work things out with the IOA, and it hasn’t been easy. And he doesn’t need any more reports coming in about your… dissatisfaction.”
McKay nodded resolutely. He trusted Sam. Deep down, he really did trust General Landry, too. It was just going to take some time. The sooner, the better. “Done.” He came around the counter and stopped in front of her. “General Landry won’t hear a peep from me. Not a sound. You won’t even know I’m there.”
Sam chuckled and placed a reassuring hand on McKay’s shoulder as they both headed for the door. “Oh, don’t make promises you can’t keep, Rodney.”
“What?!” McKay demanded with a halt. “I was being serious!”
“I know.” Slowly, she guided him out of the office and leaned in closely to his ear. “That’s what frightens me.”
“Hmmph.” McKay wasn’t amused.
“Now, I know this may only have a moderate affect on your mood right now,” Sam said as they headed down the hall, “but I think you’ll be quite happy with the chef’s special today. And you don’t even have to take my word for it…”
The End - 1/3
Chapter 1/3
Season(s): Ten and Three
Gen, Crossover, Carter/McKay Friendship
Summary: Sam and Rodney have a little chat in between mid-season two-parters.
A/N: The Atlantis crew was Earthbound in “The Return, Part I” and “The Return, Part II” for roughly six weeks. Assuming both series run along a similar timeline, I figured that SG-1 probably came back from their mission in “The Quest, Part I and II” some time before that happened.
This tag takes place a week after the events from “Line in the Sand”, and a week or so before the crew from Atlantis hijacked a puddle jumper and headed for the Pegasus Galaxy to save Jack and Woolsey. In my world, the order of events was “Return, Part II,” “The Road Not Taken” and “The Shroud”. But I could be horribly wrong. :P
**********************************************************
“I don’t care what you have to do or who you have to harm to do it, just get me Colonel Carter,” Dr. Rodney McKay bellowed to the young scientist before him. “Now!”
He’d barely made it through security at the surface fifteen minutes prior, then narrowly dodged General Landry and his pipsqueak of a sidekick along the way to the labs. And he wasn’t about to let Junior here get in his way either. Where was Blondie when he needed her?
Dr. Kenneth Farrow felt his knees wobble slightly as he tried to find a phone - any phone - in the communal lab. “D-Dr. McKay,” he stammered, “I’m sorry, but I have express orders to - ”
“It’s OK, Kenneth,” a voice calmly stated from the doorway.
Both doctors twisted around to find Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter leaning casually against the doorframe, her arms crossed loosely over her chest.
McKay’s eyes widened and he jabbed his finger in Sam’s direction. “You!”
“Me?” Sam’s eyebrow raised slightly and she grinned.
“Yes, you!” He opened his mouth to elaborate, then remembered their visitor and stopped. “First things, first: You,” he turned back to Kenneth and snapped his fingers in rapid succession, “leave.”
Kenneth was all too happy to oblige.
Sam watched the young man scurry down the hall, and idly wondered if today would be his last day at the SGC. She’d have to talk to him later, she decided. When she glanced back at McKay, she was treated to a classic McKay Look of Rage. She’d gotten used to that one soon enough, she supposed. It wasn’t quite as offensive as the McKay Look of Disdain, nor as disarming as the McKay Look of Vulnerability. She could handle this, no sweat.
“So, Rodney,” Sam greeted as she slowly walked over to the lab counter and gingerly leaned forward, favoring her right side. “What can I do for you?”
McKay noticed her odd gait and stance, but said nothing, his mind on other things. “You know exactly why I’m here.”
Sam shook her head. “No. I don’t. In case you’ve forgotten,” she leaned forward even more as if to bestow upon him a great secret, “the galaxy doesn’t really revolve around you.”
“Hmm, maybe not this one,” McKay shot back. Then, “Look, this is important.”
The grin reemerged across Sam’s face as the source of his anger suddenly dawned on her. “This is about the Lantian technology, isn’t it?”
“Yes!” McKay exclaimed. “Why else would I waste my hard-earned miles to fly here, not to mention my meager vacation time, bamboozle base security to let me down here, and risk getting caught by General Landry in the process?”
“Listen, I - ” Sam stopped short and tilted her head in curiosity. “Did you just say ‘bamboozle’?”
Rolling his eyes, McKay groaned. “Yes, yes. Would you’ve rather I said ‘duped’? Is that monosyllabic enough for you?”
Sam’s eyes narrowed, but her smile remained. “I dunno. ‘Hoodwinked’ would’ve worked for me, too.” Then she paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing.
Explaining the situation to McKay wasn’t going to be easy, simply because she understood his pain. Area 51 was a dead-end on its own, let alone going there after years of being in the action. She’d nearly gone a bit crazy herself.
To be honest, the incessant politicking from all sides was becoming a burden on everyone involved, and Rodney wasn’t the first one to feel the brunt of the IOA’s heavy hand. Upon learning that Daniel had been “compromised,” they’d demanded that a team be organized to locate him and “eliminate” the threat, citing that his acquiring of Merlin’s knowledge put both Earth and Atlantis at risk.
Needless to say, General Landry had (thankfully) told them where to go.
As far as how to tell McKay that he was never going to lay a finger on that technology again, that was a different story. Sam knew that General Landry had argued that issue to death, but had had to choose his battles with the IOA. Granting them full access to all Lantian technology and experiments was a small price to pay under the circumstances.
Still… McKay didn’t deserve what they were doing to him. She just didn’t know how to fix it yet. Maybe in a few more months or so, things would change.
Then again...
“What?” McKay asked softly. “You have that look in your eye.”
That knocked her out of her contemplation. Sam shot her head up and frowned. “What look?”
“The look that says you’re going to say something that you have to say, but don’t want to, because you don’t want to hurt me.” He smiled triumphantly and lifted onto the balls of his feet ever so slightly. “Huh, I never knew you cared, Sam.”
“All that from one look, eh?” Sam asked incredulously as she let her gaze fall to the lab counter. “It looks like you know me better than I thought.”
“And you,” he paused ever so slightly, his hand at his chest, “me.”
Sam nodded, and allowed that bit of knowledge to sink in for both of them. So she was having a moment of weakness with the guy. There were some things that transcended all their differences, and keeping a scientist from his pet projects would definitely fall into that category.
“Listen,” she whispered, mindful of any passersby, “you and I both know that a lot of what’s happened here has nothing to do with you, right?”
McKay tilted his chin indignantly. “Of course not. It’s General Lan -”
Sam held up a hand to stop him, knowing where he was going. “Nor does it have anything to do with General Landry.”
“Wha - ”
“Obviously it’s a matter of the IOA wanting to mark their territory,” Sam explained. “Why else would they choose Woolsey to remain on Atlantis over Dr. Weir? Woolsey couldn’t negotiate his way out of a game of Chinese checkers, let alone work with the Ancients on a deal that’s beneficial for everyone.” She sighed and shook her head, bemused. “And the fact that they threw General O’Neill in there for good measure probably didn’t help matters.”
McKay rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. But what does that have to do with me getting my chance to study what few items the Ancients have allowed us to keep?”
“Come on, McKay,” Sam replied. “Do you really think the IOA is going to let the leading expert on Lantian technology have his way after their own scientists could barely make heads or tails of it? I don’t think they’re ready to admit that defeat. In fact, they probably never will.”
She looked up to meet his gaze and found him smiling proudly again. Great. The McKay Look of Satisfaction.
Sam barely suppressed a groan as she realized what she’d done.
“So you admit that I’m the leading expert on Lantian technology then, hmm?” He picked up a pen and played with it in anticipation.
“Sure, McKay,” Sam conceded. “You are the leading expert on Lantian technology.”
“I knew it!”
Sam smiled mischievously. “But… I think Dr. Lee might be gaining on you.”
“What?!” McKay was outdone. “That boob?”
“‘Boob’?” Sam inquired dubiously.
“Yes, boob!”
“How old are we again?”
McKay stiffly flapped his arms in the air, looking distinctly like a deranged pigeon. “No, no, no, no, no. Be serious: Do you really think that Dr. Lee, as in Dr. Bill Lee, is coming even remotely close to me in experience with, and knowledge of, Lantian technology?”
Sam nodded, ready and willing to keep the charade up for as long as possible - if only to see him squirm. “Since you haven’t had access to it for over three weeks, yeah.”
“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you?”
She shrugged. “Then, of course, there’s Dr. Zelenka, who’s really always been gaining on you.”
“Please,” McKay replied. At her challenging look, he forged on, “OK, OK, I’ll admit this here because it’s private, and no one will believe it even if you do blab: If I’m honest with myself and with you, Dr. Zelenka is a brilliant scientist. Really. He’s better than, better than - ”
“Better than me?” Sam asked expectantly, easily anticipating the jab after years of practice.
McKay ceased his train of thought and looked earnest and almost apologetic all at once. “No, Sam,” he said quietly, uneasily meeting her gaze. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Oh.” Sam nodded quickly, not quite sure how to take that. It had been smooth sailing, following along the same line of conversation as it usually did between them, but now she didn’t know how to proceed.
Rodney was a lot like Daniel, in the sense that he could switch gears on a dime, at the drop of a hat. For him, the ebbs and flows of a conversation were like seamless transitions. The only problem was, it sometimes left the rest of the population in a mystified cloud of dust.
She tried to ignore the dull ache in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Daniel. For weeks now, she’d tried to maintain the brave face for Vala, Cam and General Landry. Having experienced Daniel’s nine lives first hand, it was expected of both her and Teal’c to be the somber ones. Though Cameron took on that role seemingly without any issue, Sam knew that everyone expected them to maintain their stoicism. This was, after all, like old hat to them.
“Is something, uh, bothering you?” McKay asked. Sam’s eyes widened at the question, and when she looked at him, it was clear that he was as surprised as she was. He quickly moved to clear it up, “I mean, because I saw you sort of limping earlier, and just now, you looked…”
“Looked what?” Sam asked softly.
“Upset.” McKay shook his head briefly in confusion.
Why was he asking her these questions? For one thing, he’d come here for a specific reason, and she’d managed to side-track him more than once. For another, it was Colonel Carter, and she probably had a dozen other people she could discuss this with. It so wasn’t his problem, and he half-expected her to call him on that.
“It’s nothing,” she finally said, having observed his evident war with himself. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it anyway. “Thanks for asking, though. Just… make sure you don’t make too many waves in Nevada, OK? General Landry really is trying to work things out with the IOA, and it hasn’t been easy. And he doesn’t need any more reports coming in about your… dissatisfaction.”
McKay nodded resolutely. He trusted Sam. Deep down, he really did trust General Landry, too. It was just going to take some time. The sooner, the better. “Done.” He came around the counter and stopped in front of her. “General Landry won’t hear a peep from me. Not a sound. You won’t even know I’m there.”
Sam chuckled and placed a reassuring hand on McKay’s shoulder as they both headed for the door. “Oh, don’t make promises you can’t keep, Rodney.”
“What?!” McKay demanded with a halt. “I was being serious!”
“I know.” Slowly, she guided him out of the office and leaned in closely to his ear. “That’s what frightens me.”
“Hmmph.” McKay wasn’t amused.
“Now, I know this may only have a moderate affect on your mood right now,” Sam said as they headed down the hall, “but I think you’ll be quite happy with the chef’s special today. And you don’t even have to take my word for it…”
The End - 1/3