Sorry for the lateness of this one. I've been having problems with fanfiction at my house, and I keep forgetting to post at school. Hope you enjoy this one!

I do not own Stargate: Atlantis, but I do own Lieutenant Cooper

. . .

Sheppard awoke to the sound of his alarm combined with an odd buzzing noise. He smacked the button on his sidetable and pulled himself out of the welcoming depths of his pillow. His left shoulder was sore from carrying a case of rocks for one of the scientists all across a damn planet yesterday, but he figured a good hour or so in the training room would help loosen that up. It was the buzzing sound that was concerning him right now.

The noise was annoying and slightly familiar, like fluorescent lighting that was going bad. But the lights in Atlantis weren't fluorescent and never made a sound except when they were turning on. He played with the lights in his room for a moment, flipping them on and off. The noise persisted through it all. Frowning, he figured he'd get one of the engineers on it and left for the mess hall.

"Good morning, John," Teyla said brightly, ever the early riser.

He simply nodded in reply, heading straight for the coffee. He needed a good dose of caffeine before he was prepared for any sort of social interaction.

"Elizabeth wishes to meet with you when you can find the time," Teyla continued as he sat down.

He nodded, leaning back in his chair. "Yep. I haven't been on Atlantis much in the last week. She probably just misses me."

The Athosian smiled. "I think the term Lieutenant Ford taught me was... booty call?"

Sheppard almost choked on his coffee, the inside of his mouth burning. "What?" he spluttered.

"Was I incorrect?"

"I - uh..." He trailed off, running a hand through his hair. "If you meant it as a joke, and I really hope you did, then yeah, you got it right."

"Teaching the locals new vocabulary again, sir?" Cooper asked dryly as she sat down with her tray.

He gave her a look. "This one wasn't me."

"As you say, sir."

He looked at the girls. "Is there some kind of plan that I don't know about? 'Piss Off Sheppard Day' or something?"

"No, sir, you already told me you'd have me court marshalled for such a thing."

"Damn right," he said, pointing an aggressive finger at her. "I'm gonna go see Elizabeth. If you get up to any nonsense while I'm gone, just remember where I am."

"We will do our best to behave," Teyla promised with a smirk.

He nodded once, then stood and headed out of the mess hall. Sometimes, he didn't know how he ever got along without his team.

Something collided into his right side, unfortunately the side holding his coffee, and hot liquid spilled down his uniform. "Ow, dammit!" He whipped around, looking for the assailant, then saw Rodney on the ground, muttering something as he picked up his tablet. "What the hell, Rodney?"

"Sorry, sorry about the - the coffee." He blinked, looking like he was having trouble focusing on the colonel. "What?"

"Where are you going?" Sheppard asked, flicking coffee off of his hand. "Somebody light a fire under your ass?"

"I did, Colonel," McKay said stiffly. "And I need to get back to it."

Sheppard frowned, looking at the scientist uncertainly. "Well... just be more careful, alright?" he suggested, but he was afraid his words fell on deaf ears. Rodney was already striding away, continuing his steady stream of muttering. Sheppard hated it when he got like this, but knew there would be no stopping him. He looked down at his stained clothes and sighed, but was so close to Elizabeth's office that it would be a waste of time to go back to his room and change. She'd just have to deal with his informal countenance.

"John," she said with a smile as he walked in, then raised an eyebrow. "Already an exciting day?"

"Rodney," he said, jerking his thumb behind him. "Sometimes I think he's a little unstable."

"But he's brilliant, and a necessary part of this expedition," she reminded him. "But we try not to let him know that."

Sheppard smirked. "So, Teyla said you wanted to talk to me?"

She leaned back, adopting her business-like demeanor. "Right. We're going to have visitors on Atlantis today. People from a planet called Aora are arriving so that we might continue our negotiations for an alliance. We've been going there, but they thought it was only fair that we should play host at some point, too."

"And you want me there in case anything goes wrong?" Sheppard guessed.

"Correct. You know how hard it is to trust anyone in this galaxy. I just want you standing by in case all doesn't go according to plan. I'm not expecting it won't," she added quickly. "It's just nice to be prepared."

He nodded. "You got it. When are they coming?"

"In about three hours, so you've got some time."

He rolled his shoulders a bit, feeling the pull of his sore muscles and the cold, uncomfortable wet of the coffee. "Well, I'm gonna go change, and if you need me, I'll be working out my frustrations in the training room."

She smiled. "Have fun."