Sorry for the delay. Merry Belated Christmas. No beta.

For the eight hundred and sixth time in the last six hours, Rodney caught himself scratching at his nose in a feeble and unwise attempt to alleviate the sunburn caused itch. He'd only looked in the mirror once and cringed at the redness that had greeted him. Not that he'd needed a visual verification of the redness caused by the sun. No. All he needed was the itch. Oh…and Cadman. Yes Cadman. Not Laura. Cadman.

She'd taken great delight all day in that fact that he'd forgotten to use his own personal sun block on his nose and allowed it to get burned, and used every excuse in the book to remind him of it.

It was almost to the point where he'd regretted coming along to Cadman's parents' house for Christmas. Almost. After all, the woman he adored more than anything in the world had spent the better part of three days wearing clothes that could be described as scandalous by some and barely existent by others. He called it sexy as hell. But then that was Laura Cadman in a nutshell: Sexy. As. Hell. He'd become particularly fond of the white shorts and black bikini top that she'd worn the day before…the one that had distracted him to the point of forgetting to slather his poor sensitive nose with sun block.

"How's it going there, my little red nosed Canuck?"

It wasn't fair. It was early evening and she was still wearing a very flattering (and tight) t-shirt and cut off jean shorts, 'short' being the operative word.

She was trying to kill him.

"Why don't you get sunburned?" he demanded crossly, avoiding answering her question altogether.

Laura smiled that evil little smile that she used on him and him alone and then sat down next to him at the table. "I grew up here, Rodney," she explained slowly as though she were talking to a child. "Besides, I remember to put on my sun block."

"Funny," he replied in a tone of voice that proved he thought otherwise.

Laura laughed and jumped up from her chair and held her hand out to Rodney. "Come on, Rodney. Let's go for a walk."

"A walk?" he repeated incredulously. "Cadman, it's still three hundred degrees out there!"

Laura gave him a good natured scowl. "It's only ninety-two degrees, Rodney."

"It's dark, Cadman!" he exclaimed with a wild gesture to window. "It's supposed to be cooler in the night time! And it's the twenty-third of December! What kind of twisted, natural law defying place did you grow up in?"

Laura's laughter was musical and lasted longer than it should have according to the way Rodney's face turned as red as his nose. "Let's go, McKay," she said as she reached over, grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "By the time we get back my parents will be ready to go to my sister's house and we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Blackmail, Cadman?" asked Rodney, though he knew his voice betrayed his piqued interest.

Laura took a step back and spread her arms as wide as she was able to while still keeping a hold of Rodney's hand. "Do I really need to resort to blackmail, Rodney?"

Not trusting himself to speak, Rodney simply shook his head eliciting more laughter from his beautiful girlfriend.

"Come on!" she said as she yanked on his arm.

They made their way through the house and out the front door. The heat hit Rodney like a brick wall and he sighed.

Laura squeezed his hand and gave him a wide smile. "I love you, you know."

Rodney grunted, but immediately replied with, "Love you, too," when Laura gave him a glare that would have disintegrated lesser men.

They walked through the neighborhood, looking at the lights and stopping when Laura saw someone she knew. It was quite often. She really was the opposite of him in that way. Where he barely knew anyone in his home neighborhood, she knew almost everyone. And everyone seemed genuinely delighted to see her. Not that he could blame them…she was simply incredible and he thought for the millionth time that he was the luckiest man alive.

"What the hell?"

Rodney looked to Laura, and after seeing the confused look on her face he followed her eyes to a darkened house. In front of the house were several local utilities trucks and city council trucks.

"Gary!" Laura called out.

Rodney shifted in his spot, anger and dread working their way up from the pit of his stomach and into his chest. Gary Layman turned and waved to Laura and then motioned for her to wait for a minute.

Gary Layman. Two days ago Rodney had returned back to the house after taking a quick trip to the local electronics store to get the parts needed to repair (aka upgrade) Mr. Cadman's beloved (aka antiquated) computer to find raucous laughter coming from the kitchen. When he'd entered the kitchen, his blood pressure had spiked into dangerous territory when he'd found the woman he loved sitting on the lap of a guy he'd never seen before. The man was tall and built like someone who had taken care of his body and worked out every day of his life, with short blond hair and blue eyes that seemed to light up the room. It only got worse when Laura introduced them, without getting up from her perch, and explained that Gary was a former boyfriend of hers that she still called a friend.

Rodney tried to put on a gracious smile, but he knew he failed miserably. It didn't help that every time Laura laughed or moved in his lap, Gary gave him a sidelong glance and smirk that was too quick for anyone but him to see.

It was so easy to see that the bastard was enjoying himself, and enjoying rubbing it in Rodney's face to boot. So when he'd finally left late in the evening, Rodney excused himself and hacked into the power company's computer system. It was laughingly simple for him to do, and it only took fifteen minutes to hack in, find the necessary information and plant a program that would turn the power to his house on and off at random intervals. He was extraordinary lucky that the city's utilities were computer controlled. He might not have been able to pull this off in some other places.

Gary walked towards them and Rodney rolled his eyes. He was wearing beige dress shorts and a short-sleeved dress shirt that he had left unbuttoned to show off his rock hard abs. Rodney felt his blood pressure spike again when the smug bugger flexed his pecs and gave Laura a wide pearly white smile.

"Hey, Gary," said Laura warmly. "What's going on?"

Gary shrugged and glanced back to his house before answering. "I have no idea. The power keeps coming and going and they," he motioned to the assortment of trucks littering the street, "can't figure out why."

"That's weird," Laura said with a frown. "And during the holidays, too."

For the first time since Rodney had met him, the slug sighed and frowned. "I know. Diana was supposed to come over tomorrow, but now…" He shrugged and Laura released Rodney's hand and then hugged Gary.

Anger and that green eyed monster were rearing their ugly heads. Boo hoo, thought Rodney. So his girlfriend can't come over. Big deal. He can just go…

"How old is your daughter now?"

…crap!

"Daughter?" Rodney asked. He had a bad feeling about this…

Gary looked at him over Laura's shoulder, and then he eased away from her and gave Rodney an honest smile. "My daughter, Diana." He looked to Laura and said, "She'll be six next month." He turned back to Rodney and said, "My ex lets me have her for Christmas Eve and I take her back Christmas morning. Now I won't get to see her."

Rodney's stomach fell and bottomed out in the sandals he'd borrowed from Mr. Cadman. "Crap!"

Gary nodded in agreement, though Rodney noticed Laura giving him an odd look.

Rodney tore his eyes away from her to look at three of the utilities people looking at the house and literally scratching their heads. Now he really did feel like crap. It was one thing to mess with an arrogant ass, but to fool around with a child's Christmas…

"Rodney?"

Rodney jumped and looked to the source of the voice that had called his name. "What? Yes, what?"

Laura's eyes narrowed as her look of curiosity slowly morphed into one of suspicion. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" replied Rodney a little too enthusiastically for the situation. "Nothing. It's just sad that this is, you know, happening…out of the blue…like this." He cleared his throat and wondered if the temperature on the street really did climb twenty degrees in the last five minutes.

A look came over Laura's face, a look that Rodney knew all too well. She knew he'd done something.

"Mr. Layman," called one of the utilities guys, "can we see you, sir?"

"Gotta go," said Gary as he turned around. "See you guys later."

They watched him go and then Laura turned towards him, hands on her hips, and said, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," replied Rodney as he reached over and grabbed her hand. He ignored her indignant yelp as he started dragging her along the sidewalk. "We need to go back now."

"Rodney?"

He ignored her and kept walking at a pace that might have been called jogging by some.

"Rodney!"

And he would have been one of them. By the time Laura's house came into view he was sweating badly enough to need a shower and a change of clothes.

They were in front of the house when Laura tore her hand from his grasp and loudly demanded, "What the hell is going on with you?" Her hands once again went to her hips and she glared at him with enough force for him to wish he was stuck in the middle of a hive ship surrounded by Wraith. "No bullshit, McKay. What did you do to my friend?"

Rodney swallowed back the instant denial that almost made it to his mouth and glared right back at her. "Your friend?" he growled. "The same friend you gave a lap dance to the other night and kept smirking at me when nobody was watching?"

Laura's hands fell from her hips, and her scowl remained in place even if her voice showed her confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"The other night when I came back from the store," explained Rodney, "you were sitting in the Greek god's lap having a great time. And so was he. He was the only one who saw how upset it made me, and kept smirking at me when no one was looking. He kept…you know what? It doesn't matter." He brushed past her and headed for the house.

He opened the door and rushed into the kitchen where his laptop was. He'd logged on and hacked into he utility company's site before Laura had even made it to the door. By the time she found him in the kitchen he'd removed the program and logged off.

"So you what?" she said from the doorway, a look of disappointment marring her usually beautiful face. "You messed around with his power?" When he didn't answer she took a step inside the kitchen and said, "Are you crazy, McKay?" Her hazel eyes burned into his, and while it hurt to see the anger and disappointment in them he couldn't tear his eyes from hers. "What were you thinking?"

Rodney jumped up from the chair and yelled, "I was thinking that he's a magnitude ten jerk who needed to be taught a lesson!"

"So you screwed up his power and ruined Christmas with his daughter?" Laura scoffed and threw her arms in the air in exasperation. "Nice, Rodney."

He flinched and said rather lamely, "I didn't know about his daughter."

"It doesn't matter," she yelled at him. "You had no right…"

"He was flirting with you!" he yelled back, and then he said something that he would regret quite possibly for the rest of his life, and even though his brain screamed at him not to say it he did. "Or was it you flirting with him? It was you sitting on his lap, after all, and you seemed to find it very comfortable."

Laura's eyes bulged open and her hands balled into fists so tight her knuckles turned white. "I can't believe you just said that, McKay." She stepped towards him and her voice lowered to a dangerous tone. "I can't believe it!"

Neither could he. "I'm sor…"

"Don't!" she said forcefully. "Don't you say it." She took a couple of deep breaths and gave him one last look of utter frustration before turning on her heel and storming from the room.

He thought about following her, but the way she slammed the door to her room made him pause and then abandon that plan. He looked around the kitchen and sighed, knowing full well he'd made a huge mess of things and that it was his fault…mostly his fault. He flinched as he heard thump after thump from upstairs, and he thought about what she was destroying in her room for only a moment before walking out of the kitchen and towards the door. He left the house, making sure the door was shut tight and walked down the path past the Christmas lights that he had helped Laura and her family put up the other day.

He didn't know where to go and just kept walking, and before he knew it he was in front of Gary Layman's house once again.

"Rodney?"

He looked up to see Gary walking towards him, a calm expression on his face. "Gary," Rodney replied coldly enough to lower the temperature in the neighborhood a few degrees. Rodney took a moment to count the utility trucks and found only one. "Seems as though your trouble is fixed."

"Where's Laura?"

Rodney was tempted to tell him a few things about Laura and her whereabouts being none of his business, but instead he simply replied with, "Home."

Gary's eyes narrowed as if he'd picked up on something. "Nothing wrong I hope."

Rodney shrugged his shoulders and motioned to the house behind Gary, ablaze with Christmas lights. "Power working fine is it?"

Gary turned to look behind them and then looked back to Rodney. "So far so good." His face fell a little as he added, "Still can't risk Diana coming over though." He gave Rodney a sad smile. "Don't know when it will go bonkers again.

Rodney felt the heat rise in his cheeks and he coughed to hide the grimace that his guilt was causing. Gary turned around to look at his house, but Rodney couldn't miss the look of sadness that flashed in his eyes before he turned away.

"You can bring your daughter over," Rodney said after a moment. "Nothing will happen."

"You can't be sure of that," said Gary. "The power guys…"

"Are not as brilliant as I am," said Rodney a little more sharply than he'd meant to. Gary faced him again and gave Rodney a curious expression that gave him just enough of a push to get him to spill. "The other night after I came back to find Laura sitting on your lap, I hacked into the power company's mainframe and caused," he motioned to the house with his hand, "this." Rodney sighed and added, "I was so pissed off at you and the way that…well, I was pissed. But when I found out about your daughter, I went back to the Cadman's and removed the program." Rodney hesitated and had to swallow back the bile that was trying to rise from his stomach. "I'm sorry for ruining time with your daughter. I wanted to teach you a lesson, not wreck her Christmas with her father."

Gary stayed eerily still and quiet, then he sighed and gave Rodney a weak smile. "It's alright, Rodney," the man said in a voice that sounded truthful. "And I deserved it." Something happened to Gary, his bravado left him or something that made him seem smaller and not as great as he had been. "I was totally goading you the other night. I just couldn't help it." He took a deep breath and let it out in a huff before going on. "Laura…she's the one that got away, Rodney. I loved her, still do in a fashion." Gary's smile faded and was replaced by a melancholy frown. "She's very special in just about every way, and I can see by the way you look at her that you've figured that out."

Rodney didn't want to speak, couldn't really trust himself to, so he nodded.

Gary nodded back and said, "When her father told me last week that she was coming home for the holidays, I thought I might be able to, I don't know, rekindle the flame, if you'll excuse the cheesy phrase. But I could tell right from the get go that it wouldn't work." Gary smiled and added, "Because she loved someone else. You. That made me mad and that's why I kept rubbing it in that she was sitting with me." Gary held out his right hand and said, "I'm sorry."

Rodney took the other man's hand and shook it. "Me too."

Gary nodded as he released Rodney's hand and smiled. "At least I know I can go get my daughter." He gave Rodney and odd look and added, "You should go and do whatever it is you need to do to fix things with Laura."

"He's already done it," replied a voice that was very familiar to them both.

Both men turned towards Laura. She spared a glance to Gary before focusing on Rodney. "He came here and apologized, which was all I could ask of him." Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she said, "Though he did say something that he will pay for later."

"You!" declared Rodney with a point of his finger. "You followed me here?"

Laura daintily shrugged her shoulder. "Maybe." She walked towards him, her steps sure and true with a small grin starting out as she took her first step that was a full fledged smile by the time she reached him. "I am a Marine, McKay," she said playfully. "I know a little something about stealth and pursuit."

"But why…" He trailed off not knowing exactly what he was trying to ask. Luckily for him Laura Cadman knew him better than he knew himself.

She put her hands on his arms and then moved them up until her arms were encircling his neck. "I wanted you to realize what you had to do. I wanted you to see that you are the brilliant and caring man I know you are."

Before Rodney could respond Laura's lips were gently smashing against his. When they stopped the kiss they found that Gary had left and they were alone on the street. They smiled at each other and Rodney took Laura's hand and started the trek back to her parent's house. When they reached it they paused at the walkway and Laura sighed.

"I'll cause you pain the likes of which you've never felt before if you tell anyone this," she said seriously, "but I miss the snow around the lights."

"Really," said Rodney with amusement making his voice higher than usual. "I can't believe Laura 'I was born under the sun and hate the snow' Cadman misses the snow."

Laura smiled and gave Rodney a gentle push before saying, "You so need a shower! Let's head into my air conditioned house, my little polar bear." She released his hand and started walking towards the house. She was almost there when she realized Rodney wasn't following her. She stopped and looked back towards him and found him looking at the sky with a contemplative look on his face. "Hey, McKay?" When he looked at her she gave him a devilish smile and said nonchalantly, "Did I mention my parents have left?"

Before she knew it she was backed up against the door with Rodney ravishing her mouth in a way that said he most definitely didn't know her parents had left.

The television was on out of habit more than anything else.

'Again, our top story this morning is the freak snow storm that hit our area late last night and early this morning. Weather experts are struggling to explain how an area that hasn't seen snow of this magnitude ever before has had two inches of the fluffy white stuff in the last ten hours. Some are taking it as a sign…'

Rodney tuned out the babbling weather announcer and focused instead on the beautiful woman he was holding in his arms. They were standing in front of the patio door, with Laura standing in front of him, her back pressing against his chest and his arms hugging around her waist so that his hands rested on her stomach. Her hands in turn were on top of his, her fingers tracing lazy random patterns on his skin.

"Do I even want to know how you did this?" she asked, her voice soft with wonder as she watched the snowflakes fall gently to the earth.

"No," he replied just as softly. He rested his chin on her shoulder and said, "Let's enjoy it while we can. Unfortunately it won't last long in this microwave you call home."

Laura sighed in contentment and tried not to laugh when he said, "Two inches a snowstorm? What a bunch of wimps."

"Speaking of wimps, Rodney," she whispered musically, "how's the nose?"

"Funny, Cadman. Funny."