(This was originally going to be a humorous piece but it took off without me, and now I have to follow it typing madly to keep up. There are no spoilers that I know of , although there will be reference to my story Carousel. This is my second story ever posted, and again, I find myself now a year later going back over when time permits to do some tidying.)

Disclaimers: Atlantis is property of MGM, Gekko, and the Sci-fi Channel. No infringement intended or implied. Written for fun.

Another Day in Paradise by nebbyJen

Chapter 1: Enough is Enough

The 'whoosh' of the closing gate signaled the completion of another team returning safely to Atlantis. Dr. Weir stood observing from her office window while people below scurried about on the main floor. Sometimes Atlantis reminded her of an anthill with the never-ending activity.

Spying Lt. Ford watching her from beside the gate, she nodded. He was temporarily in command while Major Sheppard was off duty. The confident dark grin at her nod brought a smile to her own face. He was a good officer and under guidance and grooming of his superiors, one day he would make a great officer. The major had wisely chosen Ford as his second.

The chirp of the intercom panel on her desk brought her out of her musings as Dr. McKay's irritated voice filled her office. "Elizabeth, I'm sorry to bother you, again, but I'm still looking for Sheppard. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

She stared at her desk as she listened to Rodney page her for the fourth time in the past hour. "No. As I told you earlier, he requested some down time and stated that he didn't wish to be disturbed. He is to report back on duty at 1600 tomorrow afternoon."

"Elizabeth, I really need to have his assistance in the lab," the physicist argued. "I can't magically make these devices work like the Major, and if I have to interrupt his little vacation, then so be it."

"Rodney," she warned as his tone edged on insubordination, "as I stated to you earlier, he is unavailable. I do not know where he is. All I do know is that if I put out a station wide emergency call, he said he would respond immediately."

The line remained silent for close to an entire second before a full-blown rant began. "I can't believe this! God forbid, I should decide to take some time off only to find myself paged at every blessed time of day or night to fix one thing or another, but when the time comes that all I ask is for a bit of assistance, people are unavailable. Do you have any idea how badly I might like a vacation of sorts? Well, since Sheppard has decided to take a break, so have I. If you need me, don't bother looking for me. I, too, will be gone until 1600 tomorrow." And with that, the line abruptly went dead.

Slowly sinking back into her padded chair, Elizabeth sighed and reached for her laptop, pulling it closer. Opening up the latest page from Dr. Beckett, she reread his note of concern in regards to how tightly wound certain members of her staff had become and how he was seriously considering forced leaves for her two senior members. Hitting the reply bar, she typed a brief message letting the good doctor know that as of 1600 hours today both Major Sheppard and Dr. McKay were on a temporary 24-hour leave.

She couldn't decide whether or not to add a precaution for extra staffing in the medical facility until the two men returned. Not wanting to scare Carson into taking the next 24 hours off as well, she remained silent. What could those two possibly get into when neither one knew where the other was?

SG:A

Sheppard jogged quietly through the lower uninhabited corridors of Atlantis. The itch of too much pent up energy gnawed inside him, burning to be used. Initially, he requested Elizabeth to let him take a Jumper out for a 'survey' tour of the mainland but she turned him down, stating that they were not available for personal use. He understood, really he did. It was just that it had been so long since he'd heard the whine of rotors picking up speed before lifting off or feeling the g's of a carrier launch. God he missed flying. Picking up speed, he broke into a hard run, enjoying the wind against his face as he raced through an empty docking bay.

This was exactly what he needed; peace and quiet. No one pestering him with petty problems, or ATA genes, or military commands. Before O'Neill had gotten a hold of him, he had lived a life of obscurity. Now, one little helicopter trip over the Antarctic and his life was suddenly shot to hell. Never had he imagined that this assignment would have entailed him living in the middle of several nationalities, running out of food, and having an ugly creature worse than any Alien movie he'd ever seen, wanting to suck the very life out of him. What the hell had he been thinking?

Stopping abruptly, he dropped his pack to the floor and grabbed his knees as his chest heaved from the exertion of the run. He could feel his blood pounding as he sucked in lung fulls of cool air before straightening back up, grabbing his pack once more. Adjusting it over his shoulders, he continued on his journey. If he was correct, his destination should be just at the end of the next corridor.

SG:A

Rodney McKay angrily stuffed several items into his pack along with his favorite MRE's, a few candy and energy bars, and his smuggled issue of Popular Mechanix, before slinging it over his shoulder and barging down the hallway. He'd had it with everyone else's idiotic suggestions on how to do something before they eventually turned to him for the answer. What, did they think just because he was a genius, that he suddenly was all knowing and with the tap of a few keys on the keyboard, he could tell them all they needed to know. Get real. He was nothing more than a glorified babysitter with a PHD.

Spotting Carson standing in the middle of the corridor looking as though he was about to ask a question, Rodney quickly avoided him by ducking down a stairwell. He could hear the Scotsman calling out his name but he chose to ignore him. After all, he was on vacation.

He made his way silently through the lower levels, enjoying the silence as he munched on a piece of chocolate. Usually he hated to be alone and the mere fact that that was exactly what he wanted at the moment struck him as rather odd. What if something happened and no one ever found him? Feeling the old familiar twinge of panic, he stopped to look behind from which he had come.

"Don't be stupid," he grumbled to himself as he turned and continued on his way. He knew the schematics of this level by heart, and knew exactly where he was going for he'd been there many times before. His destination was just around the end of the next corridor.

TBC