Author's Notes: I do not speak Czech… all words in this language are translated from English using an online translator. P

Ella – wraithbait huh? I'll admit I've never contemplated posting on there before (never mind getting an account!)… I'll have to think about it once I've completed it 'coz I don't think it's fair to post it somewhere else when it's barely half-written :D Thanks for the review!!

Chapter 3: Feigning Ignorance

The silence had rapidly grown uncomfortable, almost rising to nigh on hostile levels that for some reason surprised neither of them. A multitude of thoughts flitting around the room as each man tried to out stare the other, even though the act was determinately futile and even more to the point, rather more difficult when Mckay was determined not to make eye contact with Sheppard; if anything the gesture made it all the more unfriendly.

The second he had become aware of the lieutenant Colonel's company, Mckay had felt his hackles raise, the barriers that usually weakened somewhat when in the company of his team locking into place with the precision learnt by a schoolboy whose parents had not been the most supportive, and whose classmates had been less than objective in regards to weighing the value of smarts versus brawn. It was not a conscious thought but at the same time, he was unwilling to fight the walls back, even when they were in response to the presence of the closest thing he had ever had to a best friend, which by the way, had just been put under serious strain by something that – no. Nothing happened, remember, there was nothing to strain.

"I'll uh… see you later then," Sheppard said a moment later, and his voice sounded odd though Mckay pretended not to notice.

The scientist simply grunted in response, hunching over his desk and poking at the device that sat there placidly, the music had stopped several minutes ago, not that he could pinpoint the exact moment, but it was still glowing, albeit the light beginning to diminish somewhat, before disappearing completely as Sheppard exited the room, his heavy footfalls echoing down the corridor.

Teyla pivoted on one foot, her movements as precise and perfect as always, the fabric of her skirt swirled around her like a cloak as she came to a halt and slammed both bantos sticks down onto his own then in a lightening fast reflex she rapped him harshly across the back of his legs, sending him sprawling to the floor on his knees, heaving great pants of breath.

"Are you okay John?" the concern that laced her voice made him look up, jerking out of his blank reverie to regard her through bleary eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine," he flashed her a winning smile that everyone but Teyla accepts as a marker for just how 'fine' he is, somehow the slight Athosian woman manages to see straight through it every time.

"Are you sure?" she touched his elbow as he got to his feet, and brushed the back of his wrist across his forehead as sweat threatened to run into his eyes, "you appear…distracted,"

Faltering only slightly because a part of him felt guilty for reasons he wasn't willing to fathom he smirks willfully at her "I'm okay Teyla," he assured her, "ready to go again,"

Apparently she was placated enough to step back, assuming her sparring stance once and giving him a split second to lunge into a clumsy attack she deflected with ease; he hit the mats again only this time he scrambled for his feet, a sharp crack between his shoulder blades had him tumbling sideways, landing on his back and hissing a little as the just-hit injury site made contact with the floor. His Adams apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed convulsively as the tip of the bantos rod in her hand tickled the vulnerable flesh there.

She smiled at him, moving the weapon aside and offering him her hand, hauling him back to his feet with an effortless grace "I think that is it for today Colonel," she took the sticks from his hands and propped them against the wall, alongside her own.

He nodded, there was no point arguing, his body was aching in a new sort of way, a sharp burning in all his muscles that felt good, refreshing even, as he seized a towel from the bench against the wall and scrubbed it over his face before slinging it around his neck.

"Did you find Rodney?" she sipped a bottle of water she had brought with her, throwing one effortlessly in Sheppard's direction without bothering to ask if he wanted a drink; he caught it reflexively, twisting off the cap and swallowing half of it in seconds.

"Yeah," he replied casually, after all there was no need for him to be anything else, they had come to an agreement of sorts in Mckay's deserted lab, nothing had happened, and even so, it was certainly not something he was going to share with anybody, even Teyla.

She cocked her head to one side and he felt his heart rate pick up the way it always did when either she or Elizabeth looked at him in that manner; it felt as if they could see right through him, a thought that was not in the slightest bit reassuring.

"And you John?"

It was like she knew. Knew what he wasn't sure because there was nothing to know because nothing happened did it? Why did that question sound like it was going unanswered even when he knew the response it should elicit; a resounding no. Mckay had made it clear he did not believe anything had happened - though his instant response and the discomfort the topic had caused made it blatantly clear that something had – and Sheppard for sure, did not want to think about it anymore; there were more important things to consider than nightmarish-fantasies that threatened more things than he cared to reflect on.

"What's this about Teyla?" he was going for apathy but is pretty sure he missed that by a long shot.

Teyla gave him an odd look "am I not allowed to inquire as to your health?" she asked innocently, and for a moment fear flickered across her face like she thought she had crossed an invisible line.

He backpedalled "no… I mean yeah of course you are… sorry I'm a bit out of it," he gave her another lopsided grin, trying to deflect her discomfort and his own in one, not so subtle move.

"Perhaps you should visit the infirmary,"

He shakes his head, which twinges a little in response "nah… just a hangover. I'll be fine,"

She didn't look like she entirely believed him but he avoided looking in her eye as best he could "very well," she acquiesced as he exited the room a moment later.

"It is a child's toy yes?" Zelenka leaned over Mckay's shoulder like a particularly annoying parrot as the head scientist prodded the device once more with a pen.

"We don't know that," Mckay snapped, though it was likely that the Czech was correct, there was no other use for the so delightfully called 'singing light bulb' as it did not do very much else.

"We should call Colonel Sheppard," Zelenka said after a moment of silence.

"No!" and he felt himself start flushing at the abruptness of his reply but there was no way he was calling Sheppard back down to the labs despite in the fact that the device appeared to be entirely unresponsive to any of the artificial genes Mckay himself, or varying members of his science team carried; the other option was Beckett but that would raise too many questions given that Sheppard was the one who normally got to play switch-boy for the labs.

"You are very grumpy today Rodney," Zelenka harrumphed before going back to his own workstation "you do not usually object to the Colonel's company,"

"We don't need Sheppard down here thinking at things," he replied curtly, feeling rather foolish as he, himself, started to think on at the device in earnest; it remained completely unchanged.

"Tebe ar jeden povýšený man," the wispy-haired scientist muttered to himself as he hunched over his computer keyboard, ignoring Mckay as the other scientist refused to even acknowledge he had spoken.

Coming out of the shower and scrubbing his hair absently with the towel around his shoulders, Sheppard heard a voice coming from his radio beside his bed, he flinched a little when he saw that there were in fact, two radios residing there. Deciding to ignore the matter he put the earpiece in a tapped into the channel.

"John?" Elizabeth's voice rang through, slightly panicked, as if she had been calling for a while.

"Sorry, in the shower," he smirked even though she couldn't see him "everything okay?" he asked, rubbing the towel down his face to wipe the water droplets away.

"I've scheduled a briefing for your team at 1300," she spoke calmly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing serious," her tone was light, as if she knew by saying that she was risking, as the superstitious would say, jinxing whatever was going on, "but it'll be easier if I explain it to you all at once,"

"I'll be there," he assured her "need me to contact the others?"

"I've got it thank you Colonel,"

Sheppard knew she was smiling a little and there was a moment's silence before he closed the channel and went about getting re-dressed.

He found his mind wandering to try and determine what could possible cause a briefing to be called so late but it was not unusual, it had happened before and they would be there, as Elizabeth had requested. As he pulled on his shirt he caught sight, once more, of Mckay's earpiece on the nightstand. The simple object had him glancing at the bed, and his mind began racing again, trying to push all thoughts down that avenue from his mind he flipped open his laptop to check his email in an effort to try and ease his distraction efforts. Nonetheless, as he took his seat, his gaze wandered momentarily back to the bed and he could not stop a small knot of apprehension forming in his stomach.

This served only to make him feel strangely angry and he scrubbed his hands through his hair again, more viciously than necessary before slamming the computer closed, picking up the discarded towel and throwing it somewhere in the vague direction of the laundry basket as he left the room, the door swishing shut behind him.

The mess hall was a hive of activity, chatter echoing of the walls of the Ancient city as the kitchen staff served food that barely looked edible but most choked down anyway. Making his way over to the sort-of queue Sheppard had every intention of asking Teyla and Ronon if they were going to be at the briefing but the second he caught sight of Mckay sitting with them at their usual table he found he wasn't all that hungry anyway, snatched up a banana and left the commissary.

This wasn't going to work. Avoidance, embarrassment and anger weren't going to get him anywhere; it was all so ridiculous. They were grown men, adults who had made a mistake but they had to deal with that, particularly when they were in a completely alien galaxy with limited contact with Earth, and whilst the Daedalus made frequent trips between the two galaxies, ferrying people and supplies back and forth, it was beginning to feel more and more like Pegasus was home and everything else was just on the peripheral.

He had no desire to talk about it, at least not any more. Wavering momentarily in the aftermath of a hangover it had seemed like a good idea but now… he was just angry, furious in some ways and he could not think why. There was no reason to be angry, at least not in such a way that did not make a great deal of sense, he wasn't angry at himself and more than anything, that's what he expected, no the fury was more deep seated, curling in his belly and wrapping tight fingers around his chest but there was no where to direct it; an almighty pressure rising behind a damn with nothing to stop it.

Elizabeth was sat in her usual seat in the briefing room when he got there, glancing intermittently between her laptop and her PDA, occasionally typing something into one of them and she jumped a little when he cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"John," she smiled pleasantly at him, closing her laptop and pushing it to one side as she folded her hands on the table in front of her.

"Elizabeth," he found his lips quirking upwards and his mood shifting slightly; compartmentalizing, he was good at that… sometimes.

"You're early,"

He glanced at his watch, a little surprised to see that he was, especially given the fact he usual made a point of coming to briefings, whether last minute or not, bang on time, and certainly not… twenty minutes early. Though Elizabeth's presence begged the question as to how early she got there, "guess I am," he looked up at her, smirking in his usual manner and she nodded curtly, glancing at her PDA as it lit up with a new message she then pulled it towards her and proceeded to read it.

"John," Teyla greeted pleasantly as she walked gracefully over to take her seat "you appeared to be hurried at lunch, I trust everything is well?" she fixed him with a piercing, but concerned gaze, her brown eyes boring into him until he squirmed and glanced at Mckay as the scientist took his normal seat as if he had not noticed Sheppard at all.

"Yeah," he breathed, an inexplicable anger sparking in his chest, flushing when he realized he was glowering at the scientist and the pretty Athosian woman was watching him curiously, he cleared his throat "yeah Teyla, everything's fine,"

Teyla did not seem full placated but she took her seat when Elizabeth looked up as Ronon sauntered in, folding his huge frame into his chair and observing the expedition leader with an expectant look.

"Thank you," Elizabeth folded her hands neatly on the desk in front of her, PDA discarded.

"What's going on?" Ronon asked; his face void of all expression and his large form sprawled across his chair, fingers drumming idly on his thigh.

"We received a message in the early hours of the morning from the MX5 GH9-"

"That the planet with the bright orange mead and those weird pink bananas?" Sheppard drawled, smiling a little in remembrance of the mission – turned out the mead wasn't all that strong, except in the company of the bananas and… wow; he shared a look with Ronon who smirked a little – or as much as the former Runner would smirk – at him before refocusing his attention on Elizabeth as she pursed her lips in disapproval.

"Yes Colonel," she replied tersely before continuing "apparently they have had problems with some of their generators and they've requested that your team go and check it out,"

"Why us?" Mckay jumped in "I've got enough work to do here without going out and doing charity work for a bunch of sun-worshippers who wouldn't know the way to their own ass without stopping for directions,"

Sheppard blinked at the harshness of the scientist's comment, sure Mckay was brash and acerbic at the best of times but he wasn't so vehemently against going off-world that he – actually yeah he was; "there can't be that much to do that you can't spare a few hours to help out some friends,"

"I have plenty to do thank you Colonel," he stared directly at his team leader and Sheppard found himself becoming a little more agitated by the fact that though Mckay was looking at him, he wasn't actually making eye contact.

"You go off-world all the time Doctor Mckay," Teyla argued, perplexed "this is no different,"

"There-"

"You're either on the team or not Mckay," Sheppard found himself blurting angrily "you can't just pick and choose which missions to go on,"

"I'm Head of Science and-" he started hotly.

"Rodney," Elizabeth said, every inch the diplomat, but her tone suggesting he was trying her patience, "Zelenka is more than capable of keeping the city standing in your absence,"

Mckay's mouth opened as he went to say something in reply but when he could think of nothing that he knew would change Elizabeth's mind it snapped shut and he gave a jerky inclination of his head to show his reluctant agreement. He could feel Sheppard's eyes burning into him even as he refused to take his steady gaze of Elizabeth. Well sor-ry Colonel, for actually having important work to do. It wasn't his fault that Zelenka and the morons that passed for scientists in his department weren't capable of doing their jobs properly. Well maybe Zelenka… but that was hardly the point. He shook himself a little when he realized Elizabeth was speaking again.

"-will you be able to be ready in two hours Colonel?"

Sheppard spared a glance at each of his team members, his gaze lingering a moment longer on Mckay before turning back to the exhibition leader with a swift nod and a trademark smile; "we'll be ready,"

Literal translations:

Tebe ar jeden povýšený man.

- You are a supercilious man.