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misaffectionSummary: Elziabeth decides that everyone should offer random acts of kindness to another person over a week and Rodney gets Cadman's name...
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7_virtues
Prompt: #2 Kindness
Prompt Table
Cross posted tomckay_cadman
It had been Elizabeth's idea, of course. One of those unity, team-bonding exercises she tended to come up with on occasion. Whilst Rodney understood the need intellectually, he wasn't a champion of the whole buddy thing really.
The idea was beautifully simple: each member of the expedition would be given the name of another and for one week they had either do something for or give a gift to said person without them finding out whom the presents were coming from. Elizabeth called it “mystery angels”. John called it “random acts of kindness”.
Rodney called it “tacky” and was sticking with that.
Then he opened the little gold envelope on his lab desk and almost exploded. Because on the cream coloured card, in neat black letters, was the last name he'd wanted to see. It said “Laura Cadman”.
It was a conspiracy, it had to be. Rodney stared at the card in his hand and fought the urge to thrown his laptop across the room. Cadman. Why did it have to be Cadman? Dammit he had no idea what to get her.
Rodney blinked. Where had that thought come from? It wasn't like he was contemplating actually doing anything for her... Then his over-active imagination helpfully supplied an image of her watching everyone else opening presents and looking sad and knew in his heart he couldn't be that cruel.
Still the problem remained that he really hadn't a clue as to what she'd like to receive. He thought about it for some considerable time before coming up with what was really the obvious solution. Which was to wait until she was on the next away team and break into her quarters.
Entering Cadman's quarters brought back a whole load of memories Rodney could have done without remembering. He'd only been in here once before, but since that once he'd ending up naked and had had another consciousness – namely hers – in his head, it was a good chance that once was enough.
Avoiding looking at her bed – and attempting not to recall the odd smell of flowers mixed with spices that the pillow had smelt of – he crossed the room to her drawers. He knew full-well that if she ever found out he was rifling through her stuff he was a dead man. There was a momentary flash of guilt that he pushed aside, validating his actions on the basis that this was for her benefit. Plus it was payback for her taking over his body.
A half hour long search turned up a small pile of items that got his brain thinking creatively. Cadman's collection of CDs gave him a good insight into her taste in music, so he reckoned her could do something with that; the assortment of toiletries was another avenue. What had really surprised him was the few pieces of decidedly feminine clothing – Cadman had always struck him as the tomboy type, but he'd been wrong before.
Rodney carefully placed every item back where he'd found it, wiping off his fingerprints just to be on the safe side. The distant sound of the 'Gate activation alarm told him it was time to vacate and he left after one last look around.
He headed back to his lab, where he fired up his laptop. Entering the password, he routed through the folders nobody knew he had until he found his copious music library. A quick scan through the files told him he had enough stuff to make a compilation that Cadman would find... acceptable.
Before he knew it, he'd not only organised a list a songs to burn but also made a cover in a spurt of creativity he didn't know he possessed. He printed out the cover, burnt the CD, and then hit a small problem – he hadn't any cases. He chewed his thumb thinking, then, in a fit of generosity and wanting his first gift to be utterly perfect, he pulled one of his own CDs off his shelf, dropped the disc into a paper sleeve and removed the cover. He inserted his creation, snapped the new disc into the holder and admired his handiwork. The result was pretty pleasing but his next problem was he had no wrapping paper. However what he did have was a large sheet of foil... A couple of minutes later and the CD was wrapped.
Knowing that the standard routine was for the returning offworld team to have a medical followed by a debriefing session, Rodney surmised Cadman was probably busy. Heading back to her quarters, he revisited childhood by knocking on her door and then bolting round the first corner he came to. The door remained shut, indicating she was out. Over-riding the controls for the second time that day, he went in, put the gift on her bed, and then made a quick exit and ran back to the lab.
Closing the lab door, Rodney leant against it, breathing hard. That had been almost... fun. He found that he was grinning like an idiot. After a couple of minutes, the euphoria passed and he found himself itching to know if Cadman had gone back to her room yet. He was dying to know what she'd think. Would she like it? Would she guess who had given her the gift?
Going back was the best idea, but the need to know was overwhelming. However when he activated the lab door he was halted by a gift of his own. It was small and wrapped in several layers of blue film. Who had managed to get blue film? He glanced left and right but there wasn't a soul in sight. Rodney shrugged and picked up the gift.
Cadman and the CD temporarily forgotten, Rodney went back to his seat and unwrapped the present. As the last piece of film fluttered to the ground he found his hands were shaking. Inside the wrapping was a jar of Columbian coffee. Real, proper coffee. He sat down hard in his chair.
He'd scoffed at Elizabeth's proposal mainly because he didn't believe in angels. Now he was beginning to rethink that belief. The list of people who knew his favourite brand of coffee was short, but unless someone had had insider information, there was no way to have gotten it to Atlantis in such a short space of time.
Unless, of course, that wasn't necessary because the gifter had already had the jar. Which led to an entirely different line of inquiry. Rodney thought about possible suspects for as long as it took him to open the jar and peel off the foil seal. As the long-sought-after aroma of coffee filled his nostrils, he decided he really didn't care. It was more fun not knowing.
* * *
Two days later, Rodney overheard Teyla expressing a wish to visit the mainland and interrupted her conversation with Elizabeth to volunteer his jumper flying abilities. Both women looked at him as if he was naked until he hastened to explain Sheppard was being mean and possessive and hadn't let him fly for a while and surely it was important to keep his skill polished?
Of course in reality, Rodney was more concerned about getting some time alone in the Athosian market. The fact he'd never displayed an interest in it to date didn't mean he didn't know the kinds of things up for trade and if he remembered rightly – and he always did – there were several items that he reckoned Cadman would like.
An hour later, he was immersing himself in the Athosian culture, after a flight so perfect he'd made Teyla promise to relate every single detail to Sheppard. She nodded and sworn an oath (since he'd insisted) and gone off to do whatever it was she'd come here to do. Rodney didn't much care; he was too intent in tracking down his next gift.
The marketplace was a bustle of stalls and people. Rodney hated crowds, and the closeness of the place kept threatening to spark off his claustrophobia. But he took deep breaths, occasionally thought of wide, open spaces and persevered. He reached a stall that displayed toiletries and stopped.
Before setting out, Rodney had had the foresight to raid the stores and after a quick negotiation, exchanged the small box of soap bars for something that passed for shower gel and smelt of trees - woody with a hint of pine - and a shampoo he refused to admit to getting for his own kicks, since the apply scent had an underlay of toffee.
Pleased with his acquisitions, he was headed out when a stall selling clothing caught his attention. He stopped, staring at the blue-green dress draped over the counter. The Athosian style was a little formal but the colour would suit Cadman perfectly. Before Rodney knew what he was doing, he was stood at the stall, fingering the soft fabric of the dress.
“Does the dress interest you?” the woman running the stall asked with a smile.
Rodney nodded silently. Yes it interested him. However...
“I have nothing to trade,” he told her bluntly.
The smile faded. “That is unfortunate. The dress is of fine quality.”
“I can see that,” Rodney replied testily. “It's... very nice. A little too much material but...”
“If your lady prefers less formality, I can accommodate you. I have many clothes.”
“Obviously but I still don't have- Wait a minute! She's not my lady, she's um, uh, a... friend.”
The smile returned as an amused expression came over the woman's face. “A friend. Of course.”
Rodney just glared at her.
“Let us see,” the woman continued. “If you like this colour I do have an outfit in the same fabric.”
“Really?” he asked intrigued, forgetting he had no way to barter for anything.
The woman had turned and was going through a pile of paper parcels.
“Here we are.”
There they were indeed. The outfit was very similar to Teyla's preferred get up; a vest top and skirt with splits up to... actually Rodney decided he didn't want to think about that right now. It was the same aqua colour as the dress, with cord lacing on both pieces in a deeper shade. He had absolutely no doubt Cadman would look as hot as hell in it.
“Whoa,” he whispered, then coughed. “It's okay, I guess. I still don't have anything to trade though.”
“You come from the City of the Ancients,” the woman said. “You shall visit here again?”
“More than likely,” Rodney said. “I'm only here today because I brought Teyla.”
“You brought Teyla?” The woman's expression brightened considerably and made Rodney wish he'd mentioned that earlier.
“Yeah...”
“Then take it. Your... friend will love it and you may bring something the next time you visit.”
Rodney could barely believe it and was about to refuse when he thought how Cadman would look in it again and decided to accept.
“Thank you,” he said, gathering the parcel to his chest protectively.
“You are most welcome,” the woman called out as he hurried away.
Rodney stumbled back to the jumper, hiding the gifts in one of the storage cabinets just moments before Teyla returned. He gave her a bright smile that made her raise an eyebrow at him. He coughed and quickly sat at the jumper controls.
* * *
Later that day, Rodney snuck into the training room whilst Cadman was working out and slipped the bottles into her bag. He paused to watch her sparring with Lorne, trying to ignore how the sweat glistened on her bare arms and the niggle of jealousy he experienced at her being with the major.
He snuck out without being seen, stopping in the corridor to lean against the wall and heave a sigh that he reasoned was relief. He pushed the bitter feeling in his stomach away and then pushed himself off the wall, heading to his quarters.
The door slid open and he wandered in despondently. He didn't really understand his mood – what did he care if she sparred with Lorne? It wasn't like he wanted to; he didn't see the point of hitting someone else with sticks. Or being hit. But there was a small dark corner in his mind that was finding the idea of beating Lorne appealing at the moment.
He kicked off his trainers and headed to bed. As his head hit the pillow, there was a rustling sound. Frowning Rodney felt under thee pillow and found a small rectangular object. He pulled his hand out and there in his grasp was a bar of chocolate. Canadian chocolate.
Rodney sat up quickly. There were a few other Canadian people on Atlantis, but he didn't think any of them would be willing to share chocolate. And the fact it was his very favourite kind hinted that it was someone who knew him well. Very well.
He frowned. Not even Sheppard knew his favourite brand of chocolate. Elizabeth might, but he wasn't sure. There was one person who definitely knew, knew because she'd inhabited his brain but if she was his angel then that smacked of a set up and he was going to get very pissed off if that were the case.
Still coffee and chocolate, whilst amongst his favourite things, were still not personal items. Rodney decided to bide his time and see what appeared next.
* * *
What appeared next took him totally aback.
It was a couple of days later and he was getting antsy about the outfit he'd gotten Cadman. It was currently hidden under his bed whilst he figured out how and when he should give it her. He had to do it soon, because it was getting close to the end of the week. However planning had to be put on a back burner because he still had the usual work to do.
After finishing a cup of my new coffee, Rodney headed to the lab. He had a couple of simulations to go over and there was always more of the Ancient database to translate. Entering the lab, he found most things as he'd left them. Most things. He frowned at the ready light on his laptop – he could have sworn he'd turned that off last night.
He opened the laptop and the screen flickered. The usual welcome screen came up and he shrugged. He sat down and clicked on his user name and entered the password. It was when he clicked on the start button he realised someone had indeed between tampering with his laptop. Okay, now he was pissed.
Clicking on the “new program loaded” indicator, Rodney's annoyance morphed to confusion. A flash screen had come up with the logo “Petz” emblazoned on it. Why the hell had someone loaded a pet sim onto his laptop? Curiosity overcame both the residual irritation and the confusion and he opened the program. Not only had someone loaded the damn thing on, they'd gone through the set up and he was now the (proud?) owner of a three-dimension tabby cat called... Stripey?
Rodney groaned aloud and sank his face into a hand. Whomever had done this needed to be banned from naming anything ever. Still he couldn't help opening the help file and reading through the instructions. Then he caught himself, huffed loudly, and shut the program down. He had work to do; he could play with it later.
* * *
Later that day, Rodney had only managed half the stuff he'd intended to do after temptation proved too strong and he'd wasted the entire afternoon playing with a computerised cat. He'd finally realised the time and shut down his laptop, heading to the mess for dinner and feeling irritated with himself.
The cooks had managed to create something that actually looked edible for once, not that Rodney required his food to look appetising. He took his tray to a table by the windows and sat down, his attention on the clouds scuttling across the sky. The food tasted as passable as it looked, which surprised him. The mess coffee was still disgusting though.
He glanced round the mess and saw Cadman at the counter. Her appearance reminded him that he had still to deliver the last gift. Cadman was talking to Doctor Miko and another couple of female personnel Rodney couldn't remember the names of. The discussion appeared to be in-depth and he reckoned that they might be at it for some time – which would give him ample opportunity to sneak the gift into Cadman's quarters.
Having decided on a course of action, he finished his meal quickly and took his tray back to the counter. He managed to avoid the group of giggling girls without seeming to and left the mess. Once out of sight of Cadman, he hurried to his quarters and retrieved the package from under his bed. Realising he was going to look odd carrying it around, he pulled out his spare laptop bag and slipped the parcel inside.
Rodney walked rapidly to Cadman's quarters and again over-rode the lock. He walked over to the neatly made bed and carefully placed his gift on it, smoothing out a few wrinkles out of the paper. As he stood straight, the top drawer of her unit caught his attention. It was slightly ajar. He went over to close it but a quick glimpse through the gap revealed a familiar looking CD. Grinning, he opened the drawer a little more and took out the compilation he'd made for her. He opened it case and found it empty. Well that must be a good sign. Rodney felt pretty pleased with himself. Then he glanced into the drawer again.
In it was another case, covered partially by Cadman's underwear. However he could still see graphics that he recognised. He reached in a pulled out the case. It was the box of a PC game, the pets sim that had been loaded onto his laptop.
So Cadman had been his angel. Rodney felt a slight triumph of being proven right. He replaced both cases carefully, making sure that he was leaving the drawer as he'd found it. As he walked away from her quarters and back to his, he plotted on how he was going to revenge himself on her messing with his stuff.
* * *
The week was finally over. Rodney felt both relief and – oddly enough – regret. He was kind of going to miss sneaking around leaving gifts, even though he was glad he didn't have to come up with any more ideas because he was right out.
He was currently in his lab. Officially he was working, in actuality he was playing the pet sim Cadman had gotten him addicted too. He was just getting his 3D cat to chase a ball of wool when Elizabeth knocked of the doorway.
“Not interrupting anything am I?” Elizabeth asked archly and Rodney knew he'd not shut the laptop quick enough.
“What? No, no. I'm fine. What d'you want?”
“I thought the perfect closure to the week would be a party.”
Rodney looked at her. “Are you coming down with something?” he asked her. “Because that kind of idea must be the product of hallucinations brought on by a high temperature.”
Elizabeth smiled at this. “I'm fine.”
“I don't do parties,” he told her firmly, condescension in his tone. Elizabeth ignored it.
“You can manage an hour surely? Am I really asking so much?”
Rodney let out a breath; if there was one thing Elizabeth Weir could do well it was playing the guilt card.
“I suppose.” He gave in grudgingly. “If there's food, I can mingle and be sociable.”
Elizabeth gave a victorious smile. “I knew you'd say yes.”
* * *
So that evening Rodney prised himself away from his lab and went to the Gateroom. He didn't bother to change out of his uniform, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Elizabeth and she glared at him. Rodney ignored her and wandered to the tables where the food had been lain out to investigate what was on offer.
After two years and more in the Pegasus galaxy, he was used to the strange mixture of Athosian and Earthling delicacies. He picked over the buffet, his attention on the food so he didn't have to make conversation with other people.
Rodney was trying to figure out whether the fruit punch had got any citrus in it when he caught the fragrance of apples mixed with the sweeter smell of toffee; a fragrance he immediately recognised. He looked up to find Cadman stood next to him, her expression tight with the effort of containing amusement.
He narrowed his eyes and was about to say something cutting when he realised what she was wearing. When he'd gotten her the Athosian outfit, he'd imagined how she'd look in it. That imagination bore nothing to the reality. He'd never realised she was quite so... busty.
Rodney stood there, vaguely aware this his mouth was open and he was staring at her like an idiot.
Cadman's expression became even more amused, her eyes sparkling with delight.
“Good evening Rodney,” she said, her tone smug. He tore his gaze from her rather spectacular cleavage and focused on the table.
“What do you want Cadman?”
“Some of that punch please.”
He looked at her and she smiled brightly. He rolled his eyes and sighed but he still ladled a cupful of the drink out for her. He handed it over.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Hmm.” He turned round to scan the room. “Elizabeth does have the strangest ideas,” he muttered, more to himself than to Cadman.
“I don't know,” she said. “It gave me an excuse to wear this out.”
Rodney glanced at her. “Well you're certainly 'out',” he commented. “I didn't think it'd put that amount of skin on show.” Then he realised what he'd said. “Shit.”
Cadman chuckled softly. “Relax, I'd already worked it out, Rodney. Thank you, by the way.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “It was Elizabeth's idea...”
The hand on his arm surprised him. He looked at her and found her expression was soft, almost gentle.
“But you chose the gifts,” she reminded him.
“Well... um... uh... yeah. Yes, I did.” He brightened as the truth of this struck him. “I have good taste don't I?”
Cadman giggled. “Yes.”
“Cool.”
They stood next to each other for a while in companionable silence. Then Rodney broke it.
“Cadman?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you answer me one question?”
“Yes.”
He leaned down to murmured in her ear, “What kind of name is 'Stripey'?”
Written for:
7_virtuesPrompt: #2 Kindness
Prompt Table
Cross posted to
mckay_cadmanIt had been Elizabeth's idea, of course. One of those unity, team-bonding exercises she tended to come up with on occasion. Whilst Rodney understood the need intellectually, he wasn't a champion of the whole buddy thing really.
The idea was beautifully simple: each member of the expedition would be given the name of another and for one week they had either do something for or give a gift to said person without them finding out whom the presents were coming from. Elizabeth called it “mystery angels”. John called it “random acts of kindness”.
Rodney called it “tacky” and was sticking with that.
Then he opened the little gold envelope on his lab desk and almost exploded. Because on the cream coloured card, in neat black letters, was the last name he'd wanted to see. It said “Laura Cadman”.
It was a conspiracy, it had to be. Rodney stared at the card in his hand and fought the urge to thrown his laptop across the room. Cadman. Why did it have to be Cadman? Dammit he had no idea what to get her.
Rodney blinked. Where had that thought come from? It wasn't like he was contemplating actually doing anything for her... Then his over-active imagination helpfully supplied an image of her watching everyone else opening presents and looking sad and knew in his heart he couldn't be that cruel.
Still the problem remained that he really hadn't a clue as to what she'd like to receive. He thought about it for some considerable time before coming up with what was really the obvious solution. Which was to wait until she was on the next away team and break into her quarters.
Entering Cadman's quarters brought back a whole load of memories Rodney could have done without remembering. He'd only been in here once before, but since that once he'd ending up naked and had had another consciousness – namely hers – in his head, it was a good chance that once was enough.
Avoiding looking at her bed – and attempting not to recall the odd smell of flowers mixed with spices that the pillow had smelt of – he crossed the room to her drawers. He knew full-well that if she ever found out he was rifling through her stuff he was a dead man. There was a momentary flash of guilt that he pushed aside, validating his actions on the basis that this was for her benefit. Plus it was payback for her taking over his body.
A half hour long search turned up a small pile of items that got his brain thinking creatively. Cadman's collection of CDs gave him a good insight into her taste in music, so he reckoned her could do something with that; the assortment of toiletries was another avenue. What had really surprised him was the few pieces of decidedly feminine clothing – Cadman had always struck him as the tomboy type, but he'd been wrong before.
Rodney carefully placed every item back where he'd found it, wiping off his fingerprints just to be on the safe side. The distant sound of the 'Gate activation alarm told him it was time to vacate and he left after one last look around.
He headed back to his lab, where he fired up his laptop. Entering the password, he routed through the folders nobody knew he had until he found his copious music library. A quick scan through the files told him he had enough stuff to make a compilation that Cadman would find... acceptable.
Before he knew it, he'd not only organised a list a songs to burn but also made a cover in a spurt of creativity he didn't know he possessed. He printed out the cover, burnt the CD, and then hit a small problem – he hadn't any cases. He chewed his thumb thinking, then, in a fit of generosity and wanting his first gift to be utterly perfect, he pulled one of his own CDs off his shelf, dropped the disc into a paper sleeve and removed the cover. He inserted his creation, snapped the new disc into the holder and admired his handiwork. The result was pretty pleasing but his next problem was he had no wrapping paper. However what he did have was a large sheet of foil... A couple of minutes later and the CD was wrapped.
Knowing that the standard routine was for the returning offworld team to have a medical followed by a debriefing session, Rodney surmised Cadman was probably busy. Heading back to her quarters, he revisited childhood by knocking on her door and then bolting round the first corner he came to. The door remained shut, indicating she was out. Over-riding the controls for the second time that day, he went in, put the gift on her bed, and then made a quick exit and ran back to the lab.
Closing the lab door, Rodney leant against it, breathing hard. That had been almost... fun. He found that he was grinning like an idiot. After a couple of minutes, the euphoria passed and he found himself itching to know if Cadman had gone back to her room yet. He was dying to know what she'd think. Would she like it? Would she guess who had given her the gift?
Going back was the best idea, but the need to know was overwhelming. However when he activated the lab door he was halted by a gift of his own. It was small and wrapped in several layers of blue film. Who had managed to get blue film? He glanced left and right but there wasn't a soul in sight. Rodney shrugged and picked up the gift.
Cadman and the CD temporarily forgotten, Rodney went back to his seat and unwrapped the present. As the last piece of film fluttered to the ground he found his hands were shaking. Inside the wrapping was a jar of Columbian coffee. Real, proper coffee. He sat down hard in his chair.
He'd scoffed at Elizabeth's proposal mainly because he didn't believe in angels. Now he was beginning to rethink that belief. The list of people who knew his favourite brand of coffee was short, but unless someone had had insider information, there was no way to have gotten it to Atlantis in such a short space of time.
Unless, of course, that wasn't necessary because the gifter had already had the jar. Which led to an entirely different line of inquiry. Rodney thought about possible suspects for as long as it took him to open the jar and peel off the foil seal. As the long-sought-after aroma of coffee filled his nostrils, he decided he really didn't care. It was more fun not knowing.
* * *
Two days later, Rodney overheard Teyla expressing a wish to visit the mainland and interrupted her conversation with Elizabeth to volunteer his jumper flying abilities. Both women looked at him as if he was naked until he hastened to explain Sheppard was being mean and possessive and hadn't let him fly for a while and surely it was important to keep his skill polished?
Of course in reality, Rodney was more concerned about getting some time alone in the Athosian market. The fact he'd never displayed an interest in it to date didn't mean he didn't know the kinds of things up for trade and if he remembered rightly – and he always did – there were several items that he reckoned Cadman would like.
An hour later, he was immersing himself in the Athosian culture, after a flight so perfect he'd made Teyla promise to relate every single detail to Sheppard. She nodded and sworn an oath (since he'd insisted) and gone off to do whatever it was she'd come here to do. Rodney didn't much care; he was too intent in tracking down his next gift.
The marketplace was a bustle of stalls and people. Rodney hated crowds, and the closeness of the place kept threatening to spark off his claustrophobia. But he took deep breaths, occasionally thought of wide, open spaces and persevered. He reached a stall that displayed toiletries and stopped.
Before setting out, Rodney had had the foresight to raid the stores and after a quick negotiation, exchanged the small box of soap bars for something that passed for shower gel and smelt of trees - woody with a hint of pine - and a shampoo he refused to admit to getting for his own kicks, since the apply scent had an underlay of toffee.
Pleased with his acquisitions, he was headed out when a stall selling clothing caught his attention. He stopped, staring at the blue-green dress draped over the counter. The Athosian style was a little formal but the colour would suit Cadman perfectly. Before Rodney knew what he was doing, he was stood at the stall, fingering the soft fabric of the dress.
“Does the dress interest you?” the woman running the stall asked with a smile.
Rodney nodded silently. Yes it interested him. However...
“I have nothing to trade,” he told her bluntly.
The smile faded. “That is unfortunate. The dress is of fine quality.”
“I can see that,” Rodney replied testily. “It's... very nice. A little too much material but...”
“If your lady prefers less formality, I can accommodate you. I have many clothes.”
“Obviously but I still don't have- Wait a minute! She's not my lady, she's um, uh, a... friend.”
The smile returned as an amused expression came over the woman's face. “A friend. Of course.”
Rodney just glared at her.
“Let us see,” the woman continued. “If you like this colour I do have an outfit in the same fabric.”
“Really?” he asked intrigued, forgetting he had no way to barter for anything.
The woman had turned and was going through a pile of paper parcels.
“Here we are.”
There they were indeed. The outfit was very similar to Teyla's preferred get up; a vest top and skirt with splits up to... actually Rodney decided he didn't want to think about that right now. It was the same aqua colour as the dress, with cord lacing on both pieces in a deeper shade. He had absolutely no doubt Cadman would look as hot as hell in it.
“Whoa,” he whispered, then coughed. “It's okay, I guess. I still don't have anything to trade though.”
“You come from the City of the Ancients,” the woman said. “You shall visit here again?”
“More than likely,” Rodney said. “I'm only here today because I brought Teyla.”
“You brought Teyla?” The woman's expression brightened considerably and made Rodney wish he'd mentioned that earlier.
“Yeah...”
“Then take it. Your... friend will love it and you may bring something the next time you visit.”
Rodney could barely believe it and was about to refuse when he thought how Cadman would look in it again and decided to accept.
“Thank you,” he said, gathering the parcel to his chest protectively.
“You are most welcome,” the woman called out as he hurried away.
Rodney stumbled back to the jumper, hiding the gifts in one of the storage cabinets just moments before Teyla returned. He gave her a bright smile that made her raise an eyebrow at him. He coughed and quickly sat at the jumper controls.
* * *
Later that day, Rodney snuck into the training room whilst Cadman was working out and slipped the bottles into her bag. He paused to watch her sparring with Lorne, trying to ignore how the sweat glistened on her bare arms and the niggle of jealousy he experienced at her being with the major.
He snuck out without being seen, stopping in the corridor to lean against the wall and heave a sigh that he reasoned was relief. He pushed the bitter feeling in his stomach away and then pushed himself off the wall, heading to his quarters.
The door slid open and he wandered in despondently. He didn't really understand his mood – what did he care if she sparred with Lorne? It wasn't like he wanted to; he didn't see the point of hitting someone else with sticks. Or being hit. But there was a small dark corner in his mind that was finding the idea of beating Lorne appealing at the moment.
He kicked off his trainers and headed to bed. As his head hit the pillow, there was a rustling sound. Frowning Rodney felt under thee pillow and found a small rectangular object. He pulled his hand out and there in his grasp was a bar of chocolate. Canadian chocolate.
Rodney sat up quickly. There were a few other Canadian people on Atlantis, but he didn't think any of them would be willing to share chocolate. And the fact it was his very favourite kind hinted that it was someone who knew him well. Very well.
He frowned. Not even Sheppard knew his favourite brand of chocolate. Elizabeth might, but he wasn't sure. There was one person who definitely knew, knew because she'd inhabited his brain but if she was his angel then that smacked of a set up and he was going to get very pissed off if that were the case.
Still coffee and chocolate, whilst amongst his favourite things, were still not personal items. Rodney decided to bide his time and see what appeared next.
* * *
What appeared next took him totally aback.
It was a couple of days later and he was getting antsy about the outfit he'd gotten Cadman. It was currently hidden under his bed whilst he figured out how and when he should give it her. He had to do it soon, because it was getting close to the end of the week. However planning had to be put on a back burner because he still had the usual work to do.
After finishing a cup of my new coffee, Rodney headed to the lab. He had a couple of simulations to go over and there was always more of the Ancient database to translate. Entering the lab, he found most things as he'd left them. Most things. He frowned at the ready light on his laptop – he could have sworn he'd turned that off last night.
He opened the laptop and the screen flickered. The usual welcome screen came up and he shrugged. He sat down and clicked on his user name and entered the password. It was when he clicked on the start button he realised someone had indeed between tampering with his laptop. Okay, now he was pissed.
Clicking on the “new program loaded” indicator, Rodney's annoyance morphed to confusion. A flash screen had come up with the logo “Petz” emblazoned on it. Why the hell had someone loaded a pet sim onto his laptop? Curiosity overcame both the residual irritation and the confusion and he opened the program. Not only had someone loaded the damn thing on, they'd gone through the set up and he was now the (proud?) owner of a three-dimension tabby cat called... Stripey?
Rodney groaned aloud and sank his face into a hand. Whomever had done this needed to be banned from naming anything ever. Still he couldn't help opening the help file and reading through the instructions. Then he caught himself, huffed loudly, and shut the program down. He had work to do; he could play with it later.
* * *
Later that day, Rodney had only managed half the stuff he'd intended to do after temptation proved too strong and he'd wasted the entire afternoon playing with a computerised cat. He'd finally realised the time and shut down his laptop, heading to the mess for dinner and feeling irritated with himself.
The cooks had managed to create something that actually looked edible for once, not that Rodney required his food to look appetising. He took his tray to a table by the windows and sat down, his attention on the clouds scuttling across the sky. The food tasted as passable as it looked, which surprised him. The mess coffee was still disgusting though.
He glanced round the mess and saw Cadman at the counter. Her appearance reminded him that he had still to deliver the last gift. Cadman was talking to Doctor Miko and another couple of female personnel Rodney couldn't remember the names of. The discussion appeared to be in-depth and he reckoned that they might be at it for some time – which would give him ample opportunity to sneak the gift into Cadman's quarters.
Having decided on a course of action, he finished his meal quickly and took his tray back to the counter. He managed to avoid the group of giggling girls without seeming to and left the mess. Once out of sight of Cadman, he hurried to his quarters and retrieved the package from under his bed. Realising he was going to look odd carrying it around, he pulled out his spare laptop bag and slipped the parcel inside.
Rodney walked rapidly to Cadman's quarters and again over-rode the lock. He walked over to the neatly made bed and carefully placed his gift on it, smoothing out a few wrinkles out of the paper. As he stood straight, the top drawer of her unit caught his attention. It was slightly ajar. He went over to close it but a quick glimpse through the gap revealed a familiar looking CD. Grinning, he opened the drawer a little more and took out the compilation he'd made for her. He opened it case and found it empty. Well that must be a good sign. Rodney felt pretty pleased with himself. Then he glanced into the drawer again.
In it was another case, covered partially by Cadman's underwear. However he could still see graphics that he recognised. He reached in a pulled out the case. It was the box of a PC game, the pets sim that had been loaded onto his laptop.
So Cadman had been his angel. Rodney felt a slight triumph of being proven right. He replaced both cases carefully, making sure that he was leaving the drawer as he'd found it. As he walked away from her quarters and back to his, he plotted on how he was going to revenge himself on her messing with his stuff.
* * *
The week was finally over. Rodney felt both relief and – oddly enough – regret. He was kind of going to miss sneaking around leaving gifts, even though he was glad he didn't have to come up with any more ideas because he was right out.
He was currently in his lab. Officially he was working, in actuality he was playing the pet sim Cadman had gotten him addicted too. He was just getting his 3D cat to chase a ball of wool when Elizabeth knocked of the doorway.
“Not interrupting anything am I?” Elizabeth asked archly and Rodney knew he'd not shut the laptop quick enough.
“What? No, no. I'm fine. What d'you want?”
“I thought the perfect closure to the week would be a party.”
Rodney looked at her. “Are you coming down with something?” he asked her. “Because that kind of idea must be the product of hallucinations brought on by a high temperature.”
Elizabeth smiled at this. “I'm fine.”
“I don't do parties,” he told her firmly, condescension in his tone. Elizabeth ignored it.
“You can manage an hour surely? Am I really asking so much?”
Rodney let out a breath; if there was one thing Elizabeth Weir could do well it was playing the guilt card.
“I suppose.” He gave in grudgingly. “If there's food, I can mingle and be sociable.”
Elizabeth gave a victorious smile. “I knew you'd say yes.”
* * *
So that evening Rodney prised himself away from his lab and went to the Gateroom. He didn't bother to change out of his uniform, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Elizabeth and she glared at him. Rodney ignored her and wandered to the tables where the food had been lain out to investigate what was on offer.
After two years and more in the Pegasus galaxy, he was used to the strange mixture of Athosian and Earthling delicacies. He picked over the buffet, his attention on the food so he didn't have to make conversation with other people.
Rodney was trying to figure out whether the fruit punch had got any citrus in it when he caught the fragrance of apples mixed with the sweeter smell of toffee; a fragrance he immediately recognised. He looked up to find Cadman stood next to him, her expression tight with the effort of containing amusement.
He narrowed his eyes and was about to say something cutting when he realised what she was wearing. When he'd gotten her the Athosian outfit, he'd imagined how she'd look in it. That imagination bore nothing to the reality. He'd never realised she was quite so... busty.
Rodney stood there, vaguely aware this his mouth was open and he was staring at her like an idiot.
Cadman's expression became even more amused, her eyes sparkling with delight.
“Good evening Rodney,” she said, her tone smug. He tore his gaze from her rather spectacular cleavage and focused on the table.
“What do you want Cadman?”
“Some of that punch please.”
He looked at her and she smiled brightly. He rolled his eyes and sighed but he still ladled a cupful of the drink out for her. He handed it over.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Hmm.” He turned round to scan the room. “Elizabeth does have the strangest ideas,” he muttered, more to himself than to Cadman.
“I don't know,” she said. “It gave me an excuse to wear this out.”
Rodney glanced at her. “Well you're certainly 'out',” he commented. “I didn't think it'd put that amount of skin on show.” Then he realised what he'd said. “Shit.”
Cadman chuckled softly. “Relax, I'd already worked it out, Rodney. Thank you, by the way.”
He shrugged uncomfortably. “It was Elizabeth's idea...”
The hand on his arm surprised him. He looked at her and found her expression was soft, almost gentle.
“But you chose the gifts,” she reminded him.
“Well... um... uh... yeah. Yes, I did.” He brightened as the truth of this struck him. “I have good taste don't I?”
Cadman giggled. “Yes.”
“Cool.”
They stood next to each other for a while in companionable silence. Then Rodney broke it.
“Cadman?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you answer me one question?”
“Yes.”
He leaned down to murmured in her ear, “What kind of name is 'Stripey'?”
