Chapter 7

The gate activated and the three figures stepped out of the wormhole. One significantly more dishevelled than the others. Weir greeted them at the steps.

"Well?"

Sheppard had a look of concentration on his face and then he looked briefly sad, "Nothing" he said, "Its gone"

"Good" said Weir patting him on the shoulder, "Infirmary"

"Im going" said Sheppard rubbing at his nose. He pulled off his backpack and turned to Beckett, "Can you give me a hand with this" he asked smiling.

Beckett glared at him, "So I couldn't gone down the stairs"

"I gotta hand it to you, that's was a feat of true hilarity" said Rodney smiling, "Hand on heart, funniest thing"

"Hey you two had better get a handle on those jokes. They're not funny" said Beckett crossing his arms.

"Hand-le?" questioned Sheppard,

"Get to my infirmary"

"Im glad to hear that he's back on duty. Told you he could hear you" said Sheppard into his earpiece as he walked down the corridor towards the mess hall.

He turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder, jumping in the process and stumbling against a wall. "Rodney" he said with dismay, "Third time lucky or something?" he queried in regards for his knack to scare the crap out of him.

"Major. I was just wondering about the whole mind reading thing"

"what Rodney?" asked Sheppard leaning against the wall and deactivating his radio.

"You definitely cant hear anything anymore?" he asked.

Sheppard feigned a listless expression and then said, "Nope, cant hear a thing"

"Oh"

"You're disappointed?" asked Sheppard curling his lip.

"Well im acutely aware that the sound of nothingness is appealing" said Rodney, "Especially in your head"

"Watch it" said Sheppard standing up straight, "I promised never to tell anyone about me being a mensa champion, remember?"

Rodney stiffened his posture, "Yes well, I appreciate that."

"Why are you so interested anyway?" asked Sheppard crossing his arms.

"Oh no reason" lied Rodney, "I..uh..i wanted to know if you'd heard anything from Anna"

"Oh the cute scientist you like" said Sheppard nudging him, "I get it. Sorry"

Sheppard suddenly realised that Rodney had been hiding something behind his back and he held out his hand to Sheppard, "I have this sandwich, im not hungry" he said dodging a few staff, "You want it?"

Sheppard snatched the bag off him and opened it, peering inside, "Why?" he questioned?

"No reason"

Sheppard reached into the bag and shrugged, "Thanks" He took a big bite of it and chewed for a moment before realising his fatal error. He should have known that something was wrong, the instant Rodney Mckay said he wasn't hungry. "Oh wow" he said eyes beginning to water, "Turkey and chilli" he said smiling.

Rodneys face was a picture. He couldn't believe it., He watched Sheppard take another bite and say, "Is this…extra hot red chilli" he said chewing slowly, "My favourite, how did you know?"

Rodney waited for a moment and examined the Major carefully. He was smiling through the mouthfuls. Sweating profusely but smiling. He sighed and then irritated walked away. He couldn't believe that the Major was not reacting. Now that the Major couldn't read his mind he wanted to catch him off guard, but as he exited the corridor, he had one last look and saw that Sheppard was having another bite and waving at him.

As soon as Rodney had left, Sheppard let his composure fall and he spat out the sandwich into the bag, coughed and felt his eyes water down his cheeks. Bastard. "Hot" he said, "Hot" he said to no one in particular and stuck his tongue out in disgust.

He ran to the mess hall and pushed through the line of people, grabbing a carton of milk, opening it and drinking it all in one ridiculous move. He spilt milk down his t shirt, but he didn't care. Nor did he care what a spectacle he was proving to be, all he cared was that it was cool.

Sheppard found Weir out on the balcony staring out towards the ocean. She didn't turn when he came in, but she knew it was him.

"Beckett cleared you for full duty then I assume?" she asked giving him a sideways glance,

"Im fit for duty" he said, "No more headaches or nosebleeds"

"Thought free" she said smiling at him. "It's a shame"

Sheppard tilted his head, "Really?"

"Um" she murmured, "It's a shame you cant tell what im thinking right now?" she said inching closer to him.

"Well if its anything like I heard in your office then-"

"I knew it" she said hitting him in the chest with a fist, "I knew you heard that"

Sheppard took a step back and mentally calmed a certain part of his anatomy to go into hiding, "Wha-"

"You heard me thinking what I was thinking, and now you think that I think about you all the time. Well I don't" she said lying,

Sheppard put his hands up in defence, "Hey I thought it was flattering"

She raised an eyebrow, "You did?"

"Yeah" he said touching her arm,

She looked puzzled and he wondered what she was thinking now.

"So you up to anything now?" she asked looking out at the ocean agin.

He leaned against the balcony and stretched, "I have a date" he said looking up at her slowly.

Weir looked down at him and coolly said, "Oh..um..someone I know?" she asked.

He licked his lips, "Relax" he said standing up straight and touching her shoulder.

"Im not jealous" said weir smiling. "You think very highly of yourself Major Sheppard"

He began to walk towards the door, "Well im going to have to change of course, tear my shirt off" he said as the doors open, "Throw them to the ground"

Weir felt herself blush and she turned back towards her view, "Have a good evening" she said controlling her voice.

Sheppard walked into the communal area and spotted Susan sat on one of the couches. She was drinking coffee alone and had a book positioned in her lap.

He sat down beside her on the sofa and placed his own coffee on the table in front of them. She glanced up nervously and smiled.

"Don't worry" he said putting a hand up, "Im not going to ask you to think of a number"

Her eyes seemed to dart around, as if trying to determine whether he was talking to her or not. "I did kind of wonder about that" she said into her book.

Sheppard took a sip of his coffee and glanced over at her, "Is that War and Peace?" he questioned.

She lifted it to show him the title and he smiled, "Im reading that too. Page 89?"

"Well I figured…."

"…That you were here a long time" he finished.

"Yeah it my third time reading this, I love it" she said looking down at her page.

"Page 12, first time" he said embarrassed.

"So how you coping with the whole Atlantis experience?" she asked him.

Sheppard swallowed, taken aback. "Not quite what I thought it would be"

"I know" she said glancing furtively up at him, "Me either"

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Yeah sure"