Dr Yvonne Masterson sat in the lab she’d been assigned to, trying to calm down, extremely thankful it was empty. She’d worked hard on the piece of ancient technology she’d been given last week and had finished her report handing it to Dr Webber her Supervisor. Normally she’d move on to her next challenge but as she’d been leaving the lab she overheard Webber laugh and the words, ‘wait till McKay sees this’ had floated out behind her.
From the moment she’d stepped onto the Daedalus the legend of Dr Rodney McKay had reached her and she was terrified he was going to tear both her and her work apart. Yvonne knew she wasn’t very good at confrontation, her ex-husband had made sure of that and she knew if McKay started yelling at her then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it which would send her back to Earth.
“Sorry,” a new voice made her jump, “I didn’t realise anyone was in here.”
Yvonne looked round and saw one of the techs walking in, “Can I help you?”
“Just need to grab something for Radek,” she shrugged, “I’ll be two seconds.”
Yvonne nodded and turned to her computer to pretend she was working, she was trying to remember the younger woman’s name but just couldn’t.
“Are you okay?” the girl, and Yvonne couldn’t use another word for her as she looked so young, asked.
Yvonne sighed, “I’m just tired.”
“I’m Alisa by the way,” the girl slid onto the stool beside her, “Dr...Masterson, right?”
“Yvonne,” she smiled slightly.
“Nice to meet you,” Alisa told her, “So, having a bad day – I recognise the signs.”
Yvonne let out a long sigh, “I’m just not very good at conflict and I just know he’s going to rip my work to shreds.”
Alisa frowned confused, “You know I’m usually pretty good at translating scientist but you lost me on that one.”
Yvonne shook her head; she didn’t know why she was confiding in Alisa but she hadn’t made any friends in her few weeks here and needed to talk to someone.
“My report on the device discovered on P4X 5TY,” Yvonne explained, “I handed it in and
Dr Webber made this comment that Dr McKay...” she trailed off as she saw Alisa’s mouth form into an ‘o’.
After a few moments in silence, “He’s not as bad as people seem to think.”
Yvonne raised an eyebrow, “Really?”
“His bark is much worse than his bite,” Alisa told her, “You can trust me on that one and I can’t believe I actually used that phrase.”
Yvonne laughed at the wry look on Alisa’s face but before she could say another word someone else entered the room.
“There you are,” McKay said as he walked in, “I’ve been looking for you.”
Yvonne felt bile rise to her throat and forced herself to look him in the eye shocked as Alisa jumped off the stool with an annoyed sigh.
“I am not going to have dinner with you and your girlfriend,” Alisa snapped at him, “I don’t care what you say, it’s not happening.”
“Lissa,” McKay frowned, “Katie is...”
“The expression ‘dull as dishwater’ springs to mind,” Alisa cut him off.
Yvonne stared in amazement at what was going on trying to work out what was going on and suddenly feeling embarrassed as hell about complaining about McKay when it was obvious they were closer than she realised.
“She isn’t dull,” McKay retorted back, “She is...”
“Boring, uninteresting, dreary, tedious, mind-numbing,” Alisa listed, “I could go on.”
“Don’t,” McKay snapped, “Fine. I’ll see you when we get back from the drilling station. Don’t cause trouble while I’m gone.”
“When have I ever done that?” she asked cheekily making him grumble as he marched out the room.
Before he left, McKay turned back and looked at Yvonne, “Dr Masterson?”
“Yes,” Yvonne said softly.
“Good work on the thing from P4X 5TY,” he told her before walking out, “Finally they sent me someone with half a brain.”
Yvonne watched his back with astonishment before turning to Alisa standing there, “Huh?”
Alisa laughed, “Told you he wasn’t that bad.”
“And that whole thing was...”
“Alisa McKay,” Alisa introduced herself properly, “I guess you hadn’t heard that he’s my father. I’d better go, I’ve got to get back to my own lab before Radek leaves with Dad for the station and...never mind. Want to have lunch and we can talk again?”
Yvonne smiled, “That’d be nice.”
“See you in the mess at one then,” Alisa grinned grabbing the device she’d come for and heading back out the door.
*********************************************
Alisa checked her watch wondering when the team would be getting back. She’d met Yvonne for lunch and hoped to introduce her to some others; the other woman seemed very withdrawn and Alisa wanted to help her.
Turning her attention away from Yvonne Alisa looked at the things she’d received from Earth in the recent drop from the Daedalus. She had an idea what was in there and wanted to open them but also didn’t.
“Oh, don’t be stupid,” Alisa muttered to herself, “You wanted this.”
Shaking herself, Alisa opened the package and found a letter sitting on top. She slowly opened it and sighed.
“Yes,” Alisa laughed, placing the letter to one side and took the DVD sitting there, “Okay, General let’s see what you have to say.”
Slipping the disc into the computer at her side Alisa began to wonder what her father would say about her organising this new part of her life without even telling him. She thought it would either be pride or annoyance.
“Hi,” Jack said as the DVD started, “JD talked to me and I’ve started working on getting everything sorted for you. I’m assuming you opened the letter before you watched this. Since you not only got into the college of your choice and your friend Kirsty is there too I’ve managed to arrange it so that you two will be sharing a room. JD will also be there, though I’ll tell you now he’s going to bitch and moan about it a lot to you.”
Alisa chuckled softly to herself as Jack grinned at her from the screen.
“You know that coming back to Earth may put you on the radar of people we’d prefer you stay away from,” he reminded her, “So you’ll have to learn to live with the restrictions you’re put under.”
“Like that’s something new,” Alisa murmured to herself.
“I’m guessing from what JD told me you haven’t told your father about this,” Jack continued, “So, you need to talk to him soon, Alisa.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she sighed.
Jack chuckled, “That’s pretty much it. Send me your reply with the next data transmission; let me know you’ve not changed your mind.”
Alisa watched the screen turn to black and looked down at the letter she still held in her hand, now she had to tell her father she was leaving Atlantis.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
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