A/N: Earlier this season, knowing that we were both short on cash of late, I told Ebbtide, 'Let's not get each other Christmas gifts this year.' Then she went and got me one anyway. Naturally, I couldn't let her get away from that, so I asked what she would like. It took heckling before she finally said that she would like me to write her a fic. One seemed insufficient, so I told her she could request several from any fandom I'm familiar with and I would write them for her.
This is the first in that endeavor...
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His Element
The town was deserted. Not a sign of life anywhere. Vegetation grew in the middle of the streets, buildings were rundown. Clearly, no one had been there in quite some time—it was very much a ghost town.
It seemed the people who'd last lived there were moderately advanced. More likely than not, the wraith were to blame for the utter desolation that now reigned. Rodney wondered how a place could be so peaceful and creepy at the same time.
"Rodney," John's voice came over the radio. "Find anything?"
"Nothing," Rodney replied a bit crankily. "Just a bunch of abandoned junk." The colonel checked in with the other members of the team, receiving similar responses from both of them. A few minutes later, the scientist moved on to the next dwelling. Coming around the corner in time to see him disappear into the house, John jogged over to catch up to him.
Rodney let out a sigh. What a waste of time this was. If he had his choice, they would head back to Atlantis and send another team back to explore the abandoned town. He passed something on his way back to what looked like it might be a kitchen of sorts. Pausing, he turned to look closer. It looked a lot like... a piano, he thought.
Gently, he brushed at the dust-covered keys, wiping some of it away. Tentatively, he depressed one of the keys, receiving a clear, resonant tone in response. He picked out a scale and cringed. "Oh, that is horribly out of tune!" He turned to continue through the house, but he was drawn back to the instrument. Looking around, he set down his stuff and stretched his fingers.
John stopped as a stream of music emerged from the structure, hesitant and simple at first, then growing in confidence and complexity. He edged forward until he could peer in through the broken window. Rodney was playing a piano-like instrument. The colonel hadn't know the scientist could play the piano, though, he had heard classical music playing in his lab on various occasions. The tune was a bit off, but that was purely the instrument's poor tuning at fault—Rodney was good.
"What is that sound?" Teyla asked as she and Ronon approached.
"Shh!" John said, putting a finger up to his lips and nodding towards the window. The other two members of his team approached and looked in on the scene.
"I didn't know he could play an instrument," Ronon stated quietly, his eyebrows raised slightly, impressed.
"Neither did I!" the colonel whispered back.
"It is beautiful," Teyla breathed. They stood there in awe, spying in as Rodney continued to be lost in the music drifting up from under his flying fingers. He was in his element—just like when he was working on something requiring his knowledge and expertise. There one was significant difference, though...
As he stood there, chords and melody pouring from his heart into the keys in front him, not only was Rodney McKay in his element... he was also at peace.
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End.
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A/N: Kindly leave a review...