“So what am I supposed to do now that I’ve been kicked out? I’ve never had this happen to me.” Sam looked up at him, not able to conceal her smirk. But she just shook her head and watched her hands as they powered everything down and organized her things.

“I don’t think I even have any food left in my apartment,” she tried not to laugh as he tiredly continued, “There’s nothing on television. Don’t have any movies. Don’t really have anything to do there.” He was still rambling and she found the smile was pulling painfully wider and the laughter was just barely controllable.

“I’m sure you can find something to entertain yourself,” she looked up at him, smirking as he processed all her words and scowled at the way she stressed the last few.

He sighed then, leaning his hip onto the edge of the lab bench. He watched her shuffle around a few things until she found their rightful spot, before, “You want to go out and grab something to eat?”

“Sorry, can’t.” She shrugged lightly, trying to make it seem apologetic.

“Why not?”

“Team night. Hey, you want to come?” She titled her head up to look at him. “We’re eating pizza and watching a really horrible sci-fi movie at Daniel’s house.”

“Um…” He shifted, readjusting his hip against the lab bench as his eyes fell in thought.

“Oh, come on. The food’s all right, the company’s good, and the movie is hysterical- in a ‘this science sucks so bad that I can’t help but laugh’ sort of way.”

“Ah, one of those,” he laughed and she smiled and shrugged her response.

“Come on,” she tried to goad him, smiling at him and hoping that he would eventually crack under her intense gaze.

“All right. All right. Do I need to bring anything?”

“Nope. We’re all heading over in about an hour. I could give you directions… or I could pick you up. Whichever.”

“You driving is probably the safer way to go about it.”

She nodded just in time to sling her computer bag over her shoulder and take a final glance around her lab. “You ready to go?”

“Um… yeah.”

He debated for a while, as he drove home, whether or not he needed to shower. He decided that he did for no real reason other than to kill the half an hour he had until Sam showed up. Absently, he flicked on the news as he walked into his room. Voices streamed through the room, but none of their words sank in as he stood in front of his closet. Jeans or khakis? T-shirt or button down? Or he could wear a sweater? Or…

He sighed, closing his eyes and randomly grabbing at one of the hangers. Jeans. He towelled off shortly, listening as the newsman told him about some coincidental arrest made in Ohio, before pulling on boxers and his favourite pair of faded jeans. He ruffled a hand through his hair as he looked back at the rest of his closet. T-shirt, he decided, but then grabbed a stripped button down as well.

He was barely dressed by the time he heard a horn honking outside. He switched the television off as he walked past it and stepped into his sneakers, leaning his butt into the wall as he tried to tie them.

He smiled up at her as he walked out the door. She was leaning calmly into the driver’s seat, watching him walk down the path to her car.

“Hey.”

“Hey. You ready?”

“Yep,” he nodded as he buckled his seatbelt.

By the time she had pulled out of the drive way, he was already mashing at the seek button on her radio. A lot of it was static and whatever he could find that was some kind of rap or country or hip-hop or some artist he didn’t know. It took a while before he just gave up and turned the volume down to nearly off.

“So…” he sighed out.

Sam glanced over at him, her eyes returning to the road as she echoed him, “So…?”

“How long have you guys had this team night?”

She shrugged at first; he watched her as she thought back. “Um, a long time. General O’Neil started it.”

“Is it always pizza and a bad movie?”

She laughed lightly and shook her head. “Naw. We go out to see good movies once in a while. We go out random places to eat sometimes. We cook for each other occasionally.” She smiled suddenly and looked over at him, “But you definitely don’t want Daniel cooking for you.”

“No?”

“No,” her head was shaking violently. “Coffee and MRIs are about the extent of his cooking abilities.”

Rodney chuckled at that and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The dark sky just beyond the housing developments caught his eye and he watched it instead, letting the car fade into the gentle tones of whatever song they were listening to. He absently took in the gas prices, watched children playing, mulled over poor car choices, and glanced at the occasional road sign. It wasn’t long before Sam slowed the car and pulled into small communal parking lot.

She didn’t bother to knock when they got to the door; she just pulled the screen door open and pushed the wooden door out of her way. It was awkward for him to just step inside after her, but she was already shrugging out of her jean jacket and stepping out of her shoes, as she listened and picked up on the direction of the conversation happening inside, and he followed her inside without questioning her.

“Sam!” a voice called from somewhere and he looked around as he tried to find something to hang onto as he tried to kick off his shoes. Cameron appeared with Daniel only a step behind him, “What should we get on the pizza?”

“Just cheese,” she huffed, as if it was a common answer.

“Olives and pepperoni.” She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes glaring but her smile betrayed her.

“Now there’s a man after my own heart.”

“Get half olives and half cheese then.”

“But what about mushrooms?” Rodney looked over at Daniel. Somehow he felt that Daniel’s plea for toppings never got met. Rodney looked around absently, wondering where Teal’c was to break the argument.

“No one but you likes mushrooms.”

“So. If it wasn’t for McKay, no one else would like olives.”

“Teal’c eats them.”

“Teal’s eats everything.” Sam rolled her eyes, wandering towards the archway Daniel and Cameron had appeared through moments before. “You want me to just order the same thing we get every time?” The two men looked at each other and then shrugged. Sam just laughed lightly and shook her head.

“What do you get every time?”

“Large cheese. Large half mushroom and half olive.” Cam was rolling his eyes; Daniel just shrugged.

“Why do you bother arguing then?”

“Because Daniel never finishes his half.”

“Yes, but I take the rest home.” Rodney just laughed, reminded of his own team.

Cameron flopped down on the corner chair, pulling out the leg rest and settling back. Daniel claimed the cushioned leather chair and Teal’c seemed content to stake claim to the other reclined chair across from Cameron. All that was left was the love seat where Rodney assumed Sam usually splayed herself over. He smirked and collapsed onto it, his legs hanging over the armrest and his head tucked on the pillow.

“You best skooch over before Sam gets in here.” Rodney just laughed at Cameron’s warning.

Sam stopped in the archway between the kitchen and living room, her eyes narrowing as she spotted Rodney in her spot. “You better move.” He smirked. “I’ll sit on you.”

“No you won’t.” She stopped and tapped on his legs, trying to get him to move them out of her way. He smirked up at her, daring her. She smirked back, accepting the challenge. Then she turned and sank down onto his thighs, laughing when she nearly fell on him when he tried to shake her off. “You sat on me!”

“I said I would.”

“Get off.”

“No!”

“You have to get off if you want me to move my legs.” She sighed and stood just long enough for him to sit up.

“Will you two quiet down? Some of us are trying to watch a movie over here.” The two looked at each other, trying to stifle their laughter before looking back at the TV screen, watching as the opening credits finally stopped rolling over the screen.

They were well into the movie by the time the pizza arrived. Cameron got up silently- Rodney didn’t ever notice that he was gone until pizza boxes suddenly materialized on the floor and Sam was pushing a paper plate beneath his nose.

He shifted closer to her, getting close enough to elbow her gently and whisper, “You actually like this movie?”

She shrugged and smirked at him, “Teal’c loves it. I just like to laugh at all the mistakes.”

“I can see the allure.”

“Shh!”

“You’re shhing me?”

“This is the best part.” He scowled at her, though his eyes were smirking and she knew that he would stick out his tongue if he hadn’t felt the need to squash the childish urge.

He turned his attention away from her, his eyes once again finding the poorly dressed characters, blocked awkwardly with hideously painted sets surrounding him. He listened, trying to follow the science that was suddenly pouring out of the one man’s mouth. And then he laughed. Not because he had it all wrong or because whatever he was saying was obviously some pathetic attempt to fix a plot problem, but because she was laughing. The innocent giggle that started from deep within that just spread uncontrollably to the rest of the body, lighting up her face and her eyes and even her entire body. He laughed because her laugh was contagious.

/-

The pure suddenness of it surprised him more than the act itself.

It was night and lighting in the streets was virtually nonexistent. His eyes hadn’t adjusted to the shapes of buildings and he struggled to find which he was supposed to be entering. But in an instant, even those shapes were no longer visible.

He struggled against the darkness, against the rough thing that had found his mouth. He struggled to let out a cry for help. He struggled to see what was happening. He struggled to understand what was happening to him. But no amount of struggling could answer those questions.

It was a prink. Just a simple annoyance on his upper arm. He didn’t think much of it at first. His mind was more focused on the darkness and the silence. The silence filled with grunts of effort and feet scrapping against the stone road. But the darkness became even more pronounced and his voice became even more impossible to use against the rough thing covering his mouth and finally the grunts of effort calmed to complete stillness…

/- Two Weeks Later

His pillow couldn’t possibly be pounded any further into a small ball and his feet couldn’t possibly kick the blankets any further off his body. He shifted again, groaning at the sight of the slow moving clock. It took a lot of effort to just roll out of bed.

The TV flickered on as he flopped onto the couch. Voices faded into the room long before a picture ever appeared. He flipped through a couple of stations, ignoring commercials and late night shows and skipping just about everything he came upon. He stopped here and there when he noticed a movie playing but skipped past them only moments later. The history channel caught his eye for slightly longer but, finally, he just flicked off the TV altogether.

It felt almost automatic by then to flip open his cell phone that he had left lying on the coffee table and scroll to her name. It rang five times before there was a groggy “hello” on the other end.

“Sorry to wake you.”

“I’m getting used to it.”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” He listened as she shifted around in her bed. Probably shifting pillows so that she could sit up. And, as his eyes fell closed and he listened to her slow movements and her steady breathing, he couldn’t help but picture her in some revealing nightwear with soft white sheets covering her. “Bad dream?”

“Hmm?” He shook himself from the fantasy. “Yeah… same one.”

“And you’ve been talking with the doctor, right?”

“Yes,” he huffed, too tired to roll his eyes at her.

“Just asking… So…”

“So… What haven’t we talked about in the wee hours of the morning yet?”

“Dunno. I think we’ve covered the spectrum of topics.” She yawned into the receiver; another apology was on his lips as she said, “Tell me about Atlantis again.”

“What specifically?”

He could hear her shrug and he knew by the tone of her voice that her eyes were drooping closed. “Tell me about your favourite place there.”

“Favourite place? Um…” He couldn’t say that he had one. The cafeteria was certainly up there. His lab was where he spent most of his time. He, unfortunately, spent a lot of time in the infirmary. “The lifts.”

“Lifts?”

“Yeah. Well, they’re not really my favourite place- claustrophobia and all- but they’re certainly one of my favourite things. They’re like elevators, only better, because they can, not only bring you a few levels up, but they can transport you to the other side of the city. I’ve always really liked them for some reason.”

“Hmm…”

“And the south pier,” he said suddenly. “It’s a little balcony and, if you’re up early enough, you can watch as the sun rising over the ocean. It’s absolutely gorgeous.” She hummed softly in response and he knew that she was almost falling back asleep.

“When are you leaving?”

He shrugged and adjusted the phone. “The Daedalus should be back in a couple of days. A week’s trip from there.”

“Yeah…”

He shifted the phone again; his eyes dropped to watch his hands play with a piece of thread on his shirt. “Have you given any thought to coming with me?” he felt almost shy asking; an awkward request that was sure to be met with an even more awkward answer.

“I, um… no, I actually hadn’t.”

“Well, I was just thinking,” his fingers were now rubbing at his brow; he was wondering desperately why he had bothered to mention it. “I mean obviously if this thing works we’ll need to bring it to Atlantis and since it’s not going to be fixed by the time the Daedalus leaves, I’ll need help with it on the flight back.”

For a long time, he held his breath, waiting to let Sam mull over his words. Her breathing was calm and even and he worried for a time that maybe she had fallen back asleep. Until finally she said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll- I’ll talk to General Landry about it.” A grin took over his face and he felt foolish for laying there on his couch, beaming that she had agreed to come and work with him. “Always wanted to go.”

“Maybe we’ll find time to go check out the south pier.”

“We better.”

He chuckled and nodded, silently promising to find the time somewhere in what was sure to be a busy schedule to do just that. And then he sighed as he glanced at the clock and knew that he had better let her go back to sleep. She whispered a soft goodnight and he said it back. She hung up first and he laid there for a moment, trying to force away the nervous butterflies floating inside his stomach. His eyes drooped and fell closed long before he ever found the strength to place the cell phone back on the table behind him and he fell asleep awkwardly skewed across the couch.

/-

“Hey, Sam.”

Sam smirked over at Cam briefly before she grabbed a blue jello from the shelf. She turned and let Cam led them over to a near by table. He smirked at her for a moment but she ignored him, until he said, “So… what’s going on with Dr. McKay?”

“What?”

“You and McKay?” She turned to look at him. He was smirking at her; she just shook her head, pulling her brows together to look at him oddly.

“There’s nothing going on.”

“But there’s something there.”

“No, there’s not.”

But Cam didn’t stop smirking, “Yeah, whatever.” She rolled her eyes at him as she pulled out a chair and set down her tray on the table. Cam collapsed into the chair across from her. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“I don’t have a crush on Rodney.”

“Rodney? When did you two get on a first name basis?”

She sighed and rolled her eyes for effect. Her head shifted back and forth slowly as she picked up a fork and started picking at her chicken.

“Hey, mind if we join you?” Daniel and Teal’c were approaching their table with trays clasped between two hands. “What’s up?”

“Sam has a crush on this new doctor guy.”

“What new doctor?” Daniel’s fork was already in hand and a scoop of mashed potatoes was nearing his mouth.

“McKay.”

Daniel’s hacking cough and shocked eyes made Cam laugh. Even Sam was chuckling. “What?”

Sam clamed herself and looked over at Cam, her face and voice stern as she said, “I don’t have a crush on McKay.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Daniel shrugged. “If anything, McKay has got a crush on Sam.”

Cam shrugged back. “There was never any dispute there. I’m just more curious about how Sam feels about him.”

“And whatever that may be, it’s none of your business.”

“Mmhmm… Denial.”

“Shut up.” Sam’s final words left them all in silence for a while, the quiet filled only by the sounds of forks scrapping the trays and chewing.

“I’m leaving for Atlantis in two days.”

Daniel was frozen in place, hunched over the table with his elbows near his tray. Only his eyes rolled up to find her. Teal’c was stoic as ever. He looked easily over at her, surprised but not enough to show more than the casual cock of his eyebrow. Cameron’s reaction was, by far, the most interesting. Fork gripped in his hand, half-way to his mouth, he stopped and looked up at her.

Sam sucked in a deep breath, preparing herself to say, “We still haven’t figured out how to make this device work and McKay will need some help with it. It wouldn’t be for long- just until we get this thing working. Hopefully only a week or two.”

“You think you’re that close to figuring this out?”

She shrugged, “Or giving up.”

Sam’s eyes strayed towards Daniel. He had found control over his muscles once again. He was leaning back in his chair, seemingly relaxed, but the muscles in his cheeks had tightened. She could see the anger hidden in his eyes and she sighed. She had known that he would be upset that she was going before him. She reached across the table, her hand wrapping around his arm. Their eyes caught and a comforting smile pulled at her lips. “You’ll get to Atlantis before too long.”

He tried to laugh a little and the he just shrugged, finding her eyes again. He looked away, finding his food again.

“So two days, huh?”

Sam’s eyes flickered up to Cameron’s. “Yeah.”

“We get down time while you’re gone?” Sam laughed at him and shook her head; he just smiled at his own joke.

It was really an accident that she noticed him. Her eyes flickered up for just a moment and she caught sight of him. “Hey, Rodney,” she called as she watched him exit the food line, “Come over here.”

He looked over at the sound of her voice. He shrugged as he walked nearer; shaking his head as he said, “I don’t want to interrupt-”

Cam was smirking at Sam as Rodney was speaking. She tried to raise an eyebrow at him and cock her head to the side to warn him, but he just smirked wider. Looking over at Rodney, he said, “No, no. It’s okay. We were just leaving.”

Daniel glared at his tray, frowning at how much was still left on it. Then he looked back at Cam, his brows knotted in confusion. “We were?” Cam made a face at him, shaking his head to add to the effect. “Oh yeah. Right.”

Rodney shook his head as he watched the three men rise, pick up their trays, and, nodding in Rodney’s direction, retreated from the table. He kept an eye on them, shaking his head as they held onto their trays even as they left the commissary. “You have a weird team, you know that?” He sat down in Cam’s seat and looked up to see Sam shrug.

“Yep. Men.” She smirked at him and he tried only a half-assed attempt to glare at her.

“So…”

“So…?”

“What’s up?”

“Not much.”

“Hmm…”

“So, you ready to go?”

Rodney shrugged, “Eh, just gotta throw a few outfits into a duffle bag. I’m good.”

“I meant more, are you ready to leave Earth again?”

He took a moment to let his eyes stray from hers as he took a long swig from his water bottle. Finally, he just shrugged. “Wasn’t really much that I actually wanted to do here.”

“What about your family? Have you spoken to them or gone and visited?”

For a moment, his eyes couldn’t meet hers. He found his fingers grasping onto his water bottle, the gleam off his fork that he had forgotten on his plate. “Um, no. I mean, there’s not much point.”

“Not much point?”

Her tone- confused and angered- caught his attention and he looked up at her. “Yeah,” he shrugged, “I don’t really talk to my parents as it is and… well I would think that my sister is mad at me about the first time I left.”

“Mad at you for what?”

He sighed and shifted as he picked his fork back up. “When I left, I said I wouldn’t be able to call her and I couldn’t leave a number and I couldn’t even tell her where I was going or when I’d be back. She doesn’t like that I work for the US military and she hates the whole secrecy thing.”

“Why? Why does she hate you working for us?”

He shrugged. “She gave it a try for a while. It wasn’t her thing.”

“She’s a scientist?”

“Astrophysicist, yep. Gave it up though to have a family.”

“Really?” He smirked faintly up and her and nodded. If she had looked hard enough, she might have noticed the briefest glimmers of pride and an even briefer hint of anger. “And you’re still not going to see her? We have beaming technology and everything now, it’s not like you’d have to stay for long or travel there.”

He chuckled a little at that and shook his head lightly. “No… I haven’t seen her in a while and it’s probably best to just leave it that way for now.” Sam half shrugged at him. She sighed as she shook her head at him.

/-

With his butt slid so far to the edge of the chair, he was nearly ready to fall flat off and his shoulders were resting half-way down on the backrest. He had dug his heels into the floor to keep from falling but had started to shift his weight from one foot to the other, rocking himself back and forth. His head was resting against the backrest as well, keeping his eyes level with the device laid out before him.

But he had nothing. He had stared at the data for the three days he had been on board the Daedalus and yet he had come up with nothing. Staring at the device had yielded nothing yet either.

He sighed and rubbed at his face. The device itself seemed to work and they couldn’t find anything within the device that seemed incomplete. They had even mastered connecting the ZPM and the device. But it wouldn’t power up. And that, of course, was the real problem.

“It won’t spontaneously fix itself if you stare at it.”

He twisted around to look over the chair, finding Sam smirking lightly at him. She held out a hand to him as she walked in front of his chair and he reached out to take the coffee mug she was offering. “Would be nice of it.”

“Any thoughts?”

“Nope.” His focus returned to the device as he brought the edge of the mug to his lips.

The sound of material rustling and a chair groaning under new weight caught his attention. He looked over to watch as Sam slouched down in her own chair, adopting a similar position as his, her eyes staring at the device as well as she sipped at her coffee.

“Seven hundred seventy three.”

“Sorry?” He looked back at her to find her looking at him, her brows scrunched together to form her face into a question mark.

“Hmm?” He blinked slowly and his eyes widened a bit when he suddenly understood her confusion. He shook his head in apology and, “Oh… Sorry, Zelanka and I play sometimes.”

“Play…?”

“Prime, not prime. It’s-”

“Prime.”

“Um, yeah.”

“I see the rules are relatively simple.” She smirked over at him and he just shrugged.

“Relatively, yes.”

“One thousand, two hundred, and seventy three.”

“Not prime. Easy. Twenty-two eight-one.”

“Prime.”

“Hmm… Want to go grab a snack?”

She shrugged, “Sure.” He loved the fact that the mess was on the same level as the science labs. Just down the hall, turn left, then right, then straight down the hall again. Space ships were so convenient.

He mulled over it for a while, looking at all the options, checking a few off, looking at all the remaining options, checking more off, and finally finding himself stuck between two choices.

“Oh just pick one already.”

He chuckled over his shoulder at her. “Sam, this isn’t just a simple matter of choosing anything. Whichever thing I choose, I have to enjoy for not only the few minutes it takes to eat it but also the next few hours until I eat something else.”

“You’re pondering aftertaste? Rodney, just pick a damn candy bar.”

“Fine.” The quarters slipped past his fingertips, sliding into the money slot. His eyes gazed over the choices one last time before he finally settled on one. He tapped at the letter-number code and waited as the metal coil turned and the candy bar dropped from its hold.

“Coffee?” Sam made a slight face and he shrugged. Just because she couldn’t have a lot of caffeine didn’t mean that he wasn’t addicted to the stuff. He tossed a water bottle over his shoulder at her before he reached for the coffee pot.

“So…”

“So…?”

“We need to stop hanging out with each other. We’re running out of things to discuss.” She laughed lightly, nodding absently. He turned so he could lean his back against the table and look at her. “Say the first word that comes to mind.”

“What?”

“Any word.”

“Okay-”

“Bad word. I can’t work with that at all.”

She punched him in the shoulder and sighed, looking to the side as she tried to think up a suitable word. “Chair.”

“Chair? Hmm… You know, I really need to get a new chair in my lab in Atlantis. When I went to Russia- and this is the only good thing you’ll ever hear me say about that country- I had the most amazing chair ever. It was comfortable, it rolled really nicely, it was nicely padded-”

He had to stop then- both because some group of MPs were standing, waiting in a frustrated line for him to move out of the way of the coffee, and because Sam was not laughing so much that he doubt she would hear him if he kept going.

“New word,” he said after he had moved out of the MPs’ way and Sam’s laughter had calmed to nothing.

“Orange.”

“Never liked the colour orange. Probably because it reminds me of oranges- the fruit- which, inevitably, reminds me of when I was first introduced to the fruit. I was eight and I didn’t know what citric was I just knew I couldn’t have it. But I didn’t know that oranges were citric and so I tried it. Nearly died. Not a fond memory of mine.”

“Wow, you’re good at this.”

Rodney just shrugged. “It’s fun. Okay, your turn… Envelope.”

“Envelope?”

“Yeah… Go.”

“What are you supposed to say about an envelope?”

“What was I supposed to say about a chair?” She just shrugged, then sighed as her eyes rolled back and she tried to think of something to say. “Okay, I’ll be nice and give you an easier one… Light bulb.”

“Hmm… It always bothered me as a kid when light bulbs would spontaneously appear over cartoon characters’ heads. I dunno, but it never made sense to me that they could light up if there were just some suspended light bulb with no power source.”

“Weird, I was always bothered by the same thing.” Rodney smirked at her; Sam smiled, blinking her eyes closed as she ducked her head down. “Not too bad… how about…”

“Hang on.”

“What?” He looked up at her, brows pulling together. Her eyes had clouded over and were focused on some distant spot on the floor. He watched her face as it tightened and relaxed and she thoughts through something in her mind. He gave her a moment before, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’ve got an idea.” He was powerless to stop her as she nearly threw her half empty water bottle onto the table, pivoted, and marched towards the doors.

Rodney looked down at his hands, sighing as he thought about leaving the candy bar and coffee mug behind. He shrugged and started at a trot behind her, holding his coffee safely away from him and cringing when some did manage to slosh over onto his hand.

She was already at her computer by the time he caught up. The candy bar was forgotten on the nearest table; the coffee remained in his hand.

She glanced over at him, her fingers still typing as she explained, “We’ve been going at this all wrong. We’re trying to get the device to activate and power the ZPM, but I don’t think that’s how it works.”

He sipped at it as he watched over her shoulder, nodding slowly as he caught onto her train of thought. “Oh… oh, I see where you’re going… oh, that’s good.”

“Thanks.”

He smirked at her as he turned to his laptop, “You think the power needs to come from somewhere else? Subspace, obviously.”

“Right. This device only interfaces the ZPM with subspace.”

“Allowing it to recharge. Obviously.”

Sam was leaning against the counter next to him a few minutes later, absently sipping at the coffee he had forgotten about. He made a face at her but kept typing. “I think this might actually work.”

She looked at him and smirked back. “Let’s find out.”

“You remember how to connect the ZPM, right?”

He sent her another dirty look, rolling his eyes as he picked up the ZPM. “Yes, I still remember how to connect the ZedPM.”

Rodney gave her a nervous smile as he set the ZPM on the device. It lowered slightly, locking into place. They watched, their smiles faltering when nothing happened.

Rodney rubbed his face, groaning into his hand as he collapsed forward onto the tale. He glanced up at Sam’s sigh, watching as she dropped herself into her chair. “Well, it was a good thought while it lasted.”

“Yeah, it was. Well, now we can look forward to-”

The glowing startled both of them into silence, their eyes captured by the sight of a low powered ZPM. Rodney looked to Sam, his smirk firmly in place and his eyes glowing in excitement. Slowly Sam turned to look up at him, a slow smirk crawling over her face.

Rodney glanced around himself and then snatched up a scanner laying on the table nearby. “There are very faint energy readings coming from the ZedPM.” He looked up at her, “It looks like this thing might actually be charging.”

Sam smirked back at him and, rising suddenly from her chair, “Now the real question is- how long do we have to wait until it’s fully charged?”

“Hmm… my camera battery takes years.”

“And the ZMP has always struck me as slightly more complex and powerful.”

“Hmm… slightly.”

She laughed suddenly at his tone. He looked at her for a moment as his smirk threatened to break into a smile, before he joined her, his stomach flexing painfully as he laughed.