This started off as a pre-series story about how Carson and Rodney became good friends. Then it sort of evolved. It also mentions the Pegasus Project and Sheppard giving Mitchell the lemon, but that's just in the last chapter.

I don't own Atlantis or SG1.

Carson fidgeted in the elevator, and glanced over at the soldier riding down with him. He'd just been flown in on a helicopter from Scotland, where he'd been visiting his Mum for her birthday. They'd flown him down here to Antarctica with no explanation. All they would give him was some nonsense about the gene he'd recently discovered and the fate of the world. All hyperbole, he was sure. He glanced at his escort again, a Robert Stackhouse, but the man was infuriatingly difficult to read.

The elevator finally reached the bottom floor and Carson was swept up in a whirlwind of information that just left him more confused. Apparently, aliens were real. So was the lost city of Atlantis. The gene he'd discovered? Was magical and could make the alien technology work.

Yeah, right.

He was looking around for the hidden cameras. But, if it was a gag, it was elaborate one and remarkably well pulled off. Did he know anyone who could pull off this sort of thing? No, not really. He was whisked off to a med lab and put in charge.

Oh dear.

"Dr Beckett. I hope you've settled in." He'd been there a few hours and had started reading through various files. "We have your first patient inbound. Someone's slipped Dr McKay some lemon."

"What? I'm sorry, I haven't had time to get acquainted with everyone's patient history..."

"He's the head of science, and an annoying hypochondriac, and the head scientist." She reached into a filing cabinet as she spoke and handed over a file, as a plump man was wheeled in on a gurney. He was in a severe state of anaphylactic shock.

"Right, epinephrine, now. Oxygen." He barked out as he assessed his patient. The man's lips were turning blue and he was swollen up something terrible. "Yeah, I don't like his colour. We need to trach him."

Carson sat at Dr McKay's bedside, feeling somewhat proprietary about his first patient as CMO. He was still trying desperately to get up to speed with everything that was going on.

"Dr Beckett." Dr Weir, the project leader, said as she entered the infirmary. "How is he?"

"Oh, he'll be fine. We did have a couple of scares, but he's doing better now. It'll be a while before he's up to much though, and he'll need at least a couple of days in the infirmary."

"Good to hear he's doing alright." She paused, standing by the head of the bed. "I don't understand what happened. He's usually so careful with about what he eats."

"Aye, with the list of allergies in his file, he'd have to be."

"I'll be speaking to the cooks about this. They know better than to serve Rodney citrus, he's reminded them often enough." She smiled and her hand twitched as though she wanted to stroke his hair. She cleared her throat. "Well, I'm sure you're busy, I'll leave you to it."

"Dr Weir."

It was an hour or so later when Carson closed the file he was on and scrubbed a hand across his face. This was just... he felt like Alice down the rabbit hole. 'Star-gates', ancient Gods, people who've come back from the dead. Repeatedly. And he'd barely made a dent in the stack of files. He traced a finger over the 'Classified' stamp on the buff background. Why him? He wasn't one for adrenaline and adventure. He was a Doctor, not an action hero!

He became aware of an increase in the steady beep of the heart monitor, and found himself looking into frightened blue eyes.

"Ah, Dr McKay I presume." He smiled. "I'm Dr Beckett, the new CMO. You had an allergy attack, and went into severe anaphylactic shock." He was surprised that at that news, the fear in the man's eyes faded, and his heart rate and breathing slowed. "We had to put you on the ventilator an you've had epinephrine and intravenous antihistamines. I wouldn't be surprised if you were feeling a little shaky or if you have a headache." He grinned at the eye roll he received. He supposed that Dr McKay had been through this quite a few times, he was very blasé about it all. Carson had never met anyone with such expressive blue eyes. "We'll keep the vent and the IV on for now, but you'll be right as rain in no time flat."

Rodney made a writing motion, and Carson handed him a pen and paper.

Someone spiked my food.

"What? Are ye sure?"

I had the meatloaf. It's supposed to be safe. The only food allergy I haven't grown out of that's severe enough to do this is citrus. That's not in the meatloaf. I've had it dozens of times.

"Maybe the chefs made a mistake?"

No. They know better. They know that if they I'll show them exactly why the words evil and genius commonly go together.

That startled a laugh from Carson, and McKay gave him a pained smirk.

"Dr Weir, this is Dr Beckett." Carson said, fumbling with the radio headset he'd been given. "Dr McKay is awake."

"Rodney!" She entered the infirmary within a few minutes and came to stand by the bed. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine." Carson grinned as he noticed the eye roll McKay gave as they spoke over him. "But he says someone spiked his food."

"What? Rodney, are you sure?"

Yes, Elizabeth. I'm not a complete idiot. I know what food is safe, and this should have been.

"The chefs...?"

The chefs know better, they're all scared of me anyway. They know what I'll do if they feed me lemon.

"Do you have any idea who would do this?"

Well, all my staff hate me. And most of the soldiers. And probably the chefs, but I think they fear me more. The only people who don't hate me are you, that little Japanese chickie who's always underfoot, and Dr Beckett. But he's only just got here this morning.

"Rodney! I'm sure that's not true!" Elizabeth said, as Carson was yet again startled into a laugh.

Oh, you think that Beckett already hates me?

"Rodney!" This time Dr Weir couldn't hold back an exasperated smile. Beckett laughed again as he noticed the twinkle of mischief in his patients eyes.

"Please, Dr McKay, it's Carson." Rodney gave a shallow nod. From the panic when he woke, Carson had expected him to be more upset and afraid, but then he supposed this was fairly old hat to Rodney. Maybe not the people trying to kill him (although in his file it said the NID had tried), but he'd had his first allergy attack at two years old.

You see the pretty little review button? It's feeling neglected. Go on, give it a push, you know you want to...