(Untitled)

[scientificsnark]

It had been exactly a month since the...weekend debacle, and everything seemed to be fine with Jill, which meant Rodney McKay didn't have an excuse to stay hidden in his hut for much longer. Avoiding Sheppard and everyone else seemed a little immature, and Rodney did not want such an unflattering adjective attached to his name

Comments

[jill_langston]

Even though she and Rodney had seemed to work everything out and she was sure everything was fine, it was still unusual to see him up at the Compound. These days, he tended to avoid it about as much as she had during those first few days following the disaster she promised him she'd never speak of again.

"Hey," she said, dropping her hand to his shoulder and squeezing lightly as she passed by on her way to the coffee. "You're here."

[scientificsnark]

Were Jill anyone else - which she wasn't - Rodney probably would have replied with something snide or sarcastic. Maybe even both. But fortunately for Jill, she was Jill, which meant he could ignore obvious observations - even acknowledge them.

"A man has to eat," he replied. "Lemons or no lemons. Hey, pour me a cup, would you? Thanks."

[jill_langston]

"Of course," Jill answered, pouring them both a cup of coffee before she went to the table and sat down beside him. "It's good to see you up here in the daylight," she said lightly, giving him a smile. In truth, it just felt good to know they'd survived maybe the worst of the shit the island had thrown at them. Switching bodies was one thing, but being completely out of control was something else entirely.

[scientificsnark]

"Tell that to the melanomas developing even now on my extremely sensitive skin," Rodney grumbled, but his heart wasn't really in it. He found he couldn't be grumpy for long around Jill. He took his cup of coffee from her and downed a long swig.

"Urgh, what's in this? Did someone get the cinnamon mixed up with the saffron again?" He sighed. "I miss Atlantis coffee. It was swill, but it was our swill, you know?"

[jill_langston]

"You miss it," Jill murmured, watching Rodney for a moment before she took a sip of her own coffee. She thought it was pretty good, but she'd also adjusted to the idea of never going back home and she didn't think she missed NorBAC the same way Rodney missed Atlantis.

"Atlantis, I mean," she clarified. "Not just the coffee."

[scientificsnark]

"I spent four years there," Rodney said. "Granted, it was four years of getting shot at, chased by aliens and generally traumatized in varying ways, but...it was home." He sighed.

"I wish I could say it wasn't as weird as this place, but I can't." A small, wry smile. "Pretty much anything that's happened here could have happened in Atlantis, too. Except maybe the dinosaurs."

[jill_langston]

She wasn't going to ask that question that anyone else might ask in the same situation. Anyone else might ask if he'd choose to go home if someone gave him the chance, but Jill didn't want to ask. She didn't want to make him answer that.

"It would be nice to see," she said instead, genuinely meaning it. "Everything everyone has said to me about it... it sounds amazing."

[scientificsnark]

"Right up until you turn a corner and a Wraith pops out and eats you, yeah, it's a regular funhouse," said Rodney. He actually didn't miss that part of living in Atlantis. Okay, so what he had to worry about here was pretty traumatizing, but at least he wasn't as likely to die.

Much.

[jill_langston]

"Well, we had some of those on the island once, too," Jill reminded him. And she remembered that they weren't particularly fun, especially having nearly been eaten by one herself. "Just the once, though, so I definitely think you win in that category."

[scientificsnark]

"They disappeared without you having to hunt them down, though," Rodney pointed out. "They don't usually do that. They're known for not doing that. I wonder what Carson did with the ones Ronon showed up with," he grimaced. "I bet he's growing Wraith testicles in a jar or something now."

[jill_langston]

"Oh, he dissected them," Jill answered, then took a sip of her coffee before she set she mug down on the table again. "I helped him with it. We pulled the mask off one of them, it was repulsive. They're much less terrifying when they're dead."

[scientificsnark]

"...See, I didn't need to know that," Rodney said, looking down at his unfinished banana. "The testicles? Not so bad, but that..." He carefully placed the banana on the table and pushed his chair back.

[jill_langston]

"Pulling the mask off a Wraith is worse than Carson growing their testicles in a jar?" she asked, an eyebrow arching curiously as she watched Rodney push away from the table. "Actually, you know what, we'll just leave the Wraith conversation at that, shall we?"

[scientificsnark]

"We shall," Rodney agreed. "Pity it's too late to save my appetite." He grimaced again, shook his head then stood up.

"Have you seen Sheppard lately?"

[jill_langston]

"Yeah a few days ago," Jill answered, nodding. "I was reading at the ferris wheel and he came over and we talked for a bit. What about you?" She wasn't sure if Rodney was avoiding John even more than he'd been avoiding her and if he was, he likely hadn't seen him just yet.

[scientificsnark]

"I've seen him," Rodney said slowly. What he neglected to mention was that usually it was from a distance. A large distance.

"What about Mayko?" He hadn't been great friends with her before, but now he was pretty sure if he ever saw the woman again he was in for it.