"Heads up, Chuck," whispered Amelia as she sat down in her customary place next to Atlantis' head gate tech. "Dusty is headed this way and she's looking pissed."

Chuck looked up from his workstation to find his fiancé approaching his position from the secondary access corridor. And Banks was right. She looked pissed, and from the glare he was getting she was pissed off at him.

Again.

He took a deep breath and released it slowly so that by the time his lungs were empty and he was forced to take in another breath she had reached him. As usual she was blunt and to the point.

"What did you say to Lieutenant Sloan?" she demanded as she crossed her arms across her chest. She puckered her lips and blew a bubble of her ever present gum, popped it and then said, "Well?"

"You should ask him," Chuck replied, the casual tone of his voice belying the anger he was feeling at the whole affair. Sloan had been spending a lot of energy in trying to be around her as much as possible lately for reasons that were obvious to everyone but Dusty and he wasn't liking it one bit.

Dusty popped another bubble, shot Amelia a glance and then focused on Chuck again. "I'm asking you," she was softly yet oh so dangerously.

But it didn't bother Chuck this time, for love and honor were on his side. Chuck looked his love in her piercing brown eyes and calmly said, "I told him I didn't appreciate him spending so much time with you."

Her eyes narrowed and a sound emanated from her chest that sounded an awful lot like a growl. "You said what?"

Chuck stood up from his chair and walked around the console- the only protective obstacle between them- so that he could stand in front of her. "I told him," he said slowly, "that I didn't appreciate him spending so much time with you." Chuck waited for a moment as Dusty took a deep breath in preparation for giving him a verbal barrage that would sting for some time and said before she could speak, "And I told him it wasn't okay for him to rub another man's rhubarb."

Dusty's eyes widened in surprise and the breath she had taken in left her mouth in burst of laughter as the absurdity of what Chuck had said took hold. She laughed for nearly a minute, drawing looks from everyone within earshot and even causing Mr. Woolsey to peer around his doorframe to see what was going on. When she finally calmed down she smiled and slowly shook her head as she looked at Chuck.

"Damn it," she whispered with good natured resignation as she reached over and took his hand. She turned and starting leading him towards the exit when he stopped and said, "Hey! I've got work…"

Dusty leaned to her right to look past him and said with sparkling eyes, "Banks, can you…"

"Go!" declared Amelia as she held up her hand to stop Dusty from saying anything else. "I've got it covered."

Dusty popped another bubble and winked at Amelia. "Thanks, Banks."

Amelia nodded and as Dusty led Chuck away to whatever glorious fate awaited him, all she could do was chuckle quietly and say with more than a little amusement, "Another man's rhubarb? How cute is that!"

A/N: "The Code" part 4: "It's Never Okay to Rub Another Man's Rhubarb."