NOTES: I'm not sure where this came from, but when I read about the 100-word Weir/McKay challenge, it just happened. I've received mixed advice about the rating. If enough people think it should be something else, I'll change it.

DISCLAIMER: Stargate: Atlantis and all things associated with it belong to other people.

SPOILERS: None in particular

RATING: PG-13

WITHOUT PRETENSE

Vicious words could fall from his lips with harsh vehemence, yet they were remarkably soft and gentle.
Hands that manipulated delicate instruments with deft certainty trembled when they touched her.
He had surpassed every instructor he'd ever had but eagerly learned all she would teach him.
A demanding man, for her he would humbly plead.
Arrogant and authoritative, he still willingly gave her control.
Beneath his bristling exterior lay a vulnerable and tender heart.
Rodney McKay was a complex man of contradictions, but when all pretenses were stripped away, he was just a man... and she was just a woman.