| For What it's Worth "You wanna explain to me what all that 'Captain Kirk' crap was about?" Rodney jumped, startled by Sheppard's voice; he'd been so engrossed in his simulation that he hadn't even heard the major enter the room. "Excuse me?" "You've just spent the last day and a half harping on me. Why?" Surprisingly, Sheppard didn't sound angry. Rodney wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "Well, let's see. You fall for an alien woman about a second after meeting her, you bring her back to Atlantis without knowing the first thing about her, you sleep with her, you get pissed off when I try to tell you she's not who she seems to be � which, by the way, I was right about, Mr. Ranking Military Officer." Sheppard looked annoyed but didn't rise to the bait, and Rodney had to wonder what the hell had happened on that planet. "But why were you taking it so personally?" Rodney spoke without thinking. "Because Elizabeth wasn't." And then he winced when he realized what he'd said. Maybe Sheppard would let it pass? The major took a step closer. "What does Elizabeth have to do with this?" Shit. "I don't suppose we could forget I said that?" he asked nervously, looking around the room in the hopes that someone would come in and disturb them. No one appeared. "No, we can't. I want to know what you meant by that." Rodney sighed and hoped he wouldn't get into too much trouble for what he was about to divulge. Elizabeth didn't even know that he knew, and would probably kill him if she ever found out what he was about to tell Sheppard. "Look, I've known Elizabeth for a while now and it's kind of obvious that she�" here he paused; how best to word this? "�has strong feelings for you," he finished, hoping the Major would understand what he was telling him. Sheppard blinked and stood motionless for a moment, and Rodney eyed the exit, wondering if he could make it to the door before� "She's the one who asked me to look after Chaya." Damn. "Yeah, well, that's Elizabeth for you. Either she hasn't realized it herself yet or she has it all figured out and now she's overcompensating." Personally, he was leaning towards the latter but for such a smart woman, she could be surprisingly dense sometimes. Almost as dense as the man standing in front of him, because after the whole Genii incident it was pretty obvious to Rodney that Sheppard had those same feelings for Elizabeth. Although apparently the major hadn't realized it yet. Yeah, they were made for each other, Rodney thought unsympathetically. Sheppard was quiet for so long that Rodney began to entertain the hope that the conversation was over. No such luck. "And this is your business because�?" Oh, well, let's see. Because I've been in love with her for a year even though I don't stand a chance in hell? But that doesn't mean that I don't want her to be happy. He sighed; yeah, Rodney was sure that would go over really well. "Because she's my friend and I respect her. I don't want to see her hurt." The way Sheppard looked at him made Rodney think maybe he'd given too much away, but if he had the major chose not to call him on it. Instead, he turned to leave. Rodney had just turned back to his simulation � equations were infinitely preferable to emotions � when Sheppard spoke quietly, and he raised his head to look at the man standing by the door. "For what it's worth, I didn't sleep with her." Rodney waited until Sheppard met his eyes. "I'm not the one who needs to know that." He watched as Sheppard nodded shortly before turning to the door, and he'd already stepped into the hall before Rodney relented. "Major?" He stopped but didn't turn around. "Yeah?" "It's Elizabeth's birthday on Thursday." Sheppard didn't move for a long minute and Rodney went back to his work. He thought he heard a soft "Thanks" but when he looked up, no one was there. --end-- back to Atlantis fanfic |