Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters of Stargate Atlantis.

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“Ohhh, this isn’t happening. This is not happening. THIS ISN’T HAPPENING!” McKay kept telling himself over and over again in his head. Each time he squeezed his eyes closed and then opened them finding the same scene still playing out. He just could not believe that he and she had a thing going right under his nose for that long and now they were talking about marriage and children. It just wasn’t right. It should have been him. Okay, so maybe he did not exactly make it clear to her that he was in fact interested, but this was absolutely absurd. Elizabeth Weir was not supposed to marry John Sheppard. It was wrong, completely wrong. And now they were parading it in front of him. He couldn’t stand it anymore, so he did the only thing he could do in his incoherent desperation.

: P

Elizabeth was not in the least bit shocked by what happened when she and John announced their “engagement” as it were. They really weren’t engaged, nor had they even had a romantic relationship. Everyone thought they had, they almost did, but after discussing the awkwardness of such a situation they decided to remain friends. Elizabeth had her eye on someone else anyway. He just never seemed to take the bait when she put it in front of him so, as one last act of desperation to finally get him to make a move she and John created a scheme. So it was they were “engaged.” And the desired reaction occurred.

: P

Later he would say he lost his mind, forgot who and what he was. That wasn’t at all true and everyone knew it. It did, however, have the desired affect. Less than a year later she was announcing her engagement to him, not Sheppard. Oddly, the other man was a bit jealous even though he had taken part in the original scheme. Rodney, of course, was relentless in rubbing that in his face. He would smile as he walked down the hall and discreetly point to his ring finger. It was a small but significant act that drove Sheppard crazy and, once, to near violence. Rodney McKay never stopped smiling through it all though.

: P

Zelenka was a bit taken aback the moment he started to move. It was like McKay was in a zone and couldn’t be talked out of his decision. His actions were resolute and purely out of jealousy. Zelenka just barely avoided the fist that approached his head. After that he let McKay be on his way. He watched the astrophysicist approach Doctor Weir and Lt. Colonel Sheppard. He watched as McKay pulled Weir away from the other man and proceeded to kiss her firmly. He then watched as a rather shocked McKay took in the look on Weir’s face and Sheppard’s clapping. Zelenka smiled and realized what Weir had just done for McKay. Although his gloating would never cease to end, Zelenka was glad that McKay would stop being miserable and would finally get a life. In the long run it would make life on Atlantis easier for everyone, at least in theory.