MGM owns all characters and a lot of dialogue from GateWorld.

A/N: I wrote most of this over a year ago. I was never going to publish it, but I've been inspired by some recent work by Betherdy Babe, Sineout and Koinekid regarding Brainstorm to brush the dust off this. Since Brainstorm is THE holy grail of McKeller, I was loath to touch it.

Thanks Betherdy Babe, as always for beta and your prodding ;-)

Rodney stared at the invitation on his computer screen. The SGC had administrative staff to open the mail of those stationed on Atlantis and scan it to them. An ornate invitation for Doctor Rodney McKay arrived at his post office box several days ago according to the postmark. It was from Doctor Malcolm Tunney.

Doctor M. F. Tunney requests the honor of your presence…

Atlantis' resident super genius stared at the calligraphy on what was obviously a heavy card stock invitation, wondering why Tunney wanted him to come to a talk about his latest research. The intense competition between the two of them during their doctoral work left no love loss between them. His mind wandered back to graduate school and all the animosity he and his fellow doctoral candidates had for one another.

Join the greatest minds in Physics to hear about a life-altering discovery.

I bet he just wants to rub in my face that he's got a fancy job and I don't exist as far as my peers are concerned. Life-altering? From that little prick, I doubt it.

Later that morning Rodney saw Jennifer entering the mess hall from the opposite direction and a grin spread over his face. He had been thinking about Tunney's invitation all morning and it left him unsettled. There was nothing he wanted to do more than show up well-dressed and able to put Tunney and the others in their respective places. I do work they could never dream of. A drop-dead gorgeous woman on my arm would round out the picture.

If you said woman to Rodney for the last two years, only one face came to mind: blond hair, bright brown eyes and a smile that made him weak in the knees, Jennifer Keller. The young CMO was a constant in Rodney's life and he longed to make their relationship much more than friendship, but he could never get her alone other than for the occasional meal. Tunney might actually have given me the opportunity.

"Hello, Rodney," Jennifer said, walking up to him with a big grin on her face. "You look happy today. Did Radek get reassigned?"

Rodney stared at her as an idea formed in his head. He knew she was going back to Earth tomorrow for vacation like he was. Maybe she'd consider…

"Are you there?" Jennifer waved a hand in front of his face. A brief flash of concern for him washed over the physician, but passed quickly when he seemed to snap out of his thoughts.

"Sorry," Rodney replied. "Would you like to grab lunch?"

"Sure, I'd love to," Jennifer smiled broadly, trying to convey her immense joy at eating with the cranky astrophysicist. Meals with Rodney were far between, so she needed to cherish them.

They talked about their day and the latest rumor about John and one of the new botanists. Both geniuses never had a shortage of things to talk about but Jennifer thought Rodney was taking great pains to make small talk. When she went to get the drinks, water for her and coffee with one scoop of sugar for Rodney, she glanced back to see him staring at her. Quickly turning away to grab desserts, he almost collided with Master Gunnery Sergeant Dwayne Richards, who entered the mess hall with the usual crowd of big Marines that accompanied him. The Marine reached a hand out quickly to catch Rodney's tray before it dropped.

Richards was the most senior of the Sergeants on the base and a veteran of the SGC, having been recruited out of the Marine Special Forces, Recon Unit, by General O'Neill shortly after the Stargate program was launched. He had a larger-than-life status among the Marines and even Air Force personnel around the base and the fact that the man had a great deal of respect for Rodney meant that the military did not harass the physicist.

Jennifer finished getting their drinks, smiling at Richards as she passed him, and followed Rodney to a table near the back of the mess hall. Once seated, they talked about how busy their last week had been since the incident with the Sekari ended. Jennifer babysat Torren a couple of days ago and told Rodney about the little boy's love of the Classical Baby CD that Rodney gave Teyla. Laughing, the physicist critiqued the arrangement of one of the songs, launching Jennifer into a fit of giggles as she harassed him about listening to baby music.

Since Jennifer was in a good mood, Rodney decided to see if she would help him out with the Tunney problem. Taking a deep breath and sitting up straight after letting his guard down and relaxing during the meal, he said, "Say, I know we only get fourteen days on Earth a year and you miss your dad and all."

"But?" Jennifer got control of her laughter and looked with uncertainty at the man across from her. What's this all about?

"See, one of my old... this guy who was doing his doctorate the same time as me, he's giving a big secret presentation about some new thing that he's working on, and everyone and anyone in the physics community's gonna be there and... well... see the thing is, there's this perception out there that, uh, I'm, um..." Rodney could not believe he was saying this to the one person in the known universe whose opinion of him meant everything, but he soldiered on through his embarrassment, "... like a washout recluse."

"Why?" Anger, as she often felt if Rodney was slighted in any way, filled her voice.

"Well, cause I do this for a living. I mean, super double tip-top secret stuff. I mean, I haven't published a paper in nearly a decade, not one that could be read by the general public… and I'm kinda hard to get a hold of, what with living in another galaxy and all," Rodney said.

"Yeah, I know what that's like." Jennifer had only been there two years, but already had disappeared from her academic community so she did know what he was talking about.

"Exactly. They think I'm a shut-in. So I was thinking that, um, if I was to, say, show up with a woman..." Rodney stammered. Why is this so hard? Because if she refuses you, it'll be the worst thing imaginable.

"Uh-huh." Jennifer held her breath. Is he going to ask me on a date?

"A-a beautiful woman..." Rodney looked down and back up to her face.

Jennifer smiled and tried to remain the poised professional everyone expected her to be. Inside, she was a mess, like a teenager waiting for the star of the school football team to ask her to the prom. He's complimenting me. Stay calm. Make eye contact. No sudden movements.

"That, um, they would maybe not think that I was... like, a complete loser. It'd be, like, one day… the first night we were there and then you could be off to Chippewa Falls," he paused, looking hopeful, "I mean, it could be fun."

"Hmm. Now, let's see: a room full of physicists, a long-winded presentation to put me to sleep. Yeah, it doesn't really sound like much fun to me. Are there any other incentives you can offer me?" Because she waited over two years for this moment, her pride took over and refused to give him an inch.

"Well, there'll be drinks, probably, and maybe those little sandwiches..." Rodney said obviously grasping for anything to make her agree to go. Realizing he had no choice but to be the arrogant man he was, he offered, "And... me. I'll be there."

"You don't have to fabricate all these reasons on why you need me to be with you. You could just ask me out on a date." Jennifer threw caution to the wind and asked for what she wanted more than anything. Rodney was so cute she could not keep him sweating for too long.

"Hey, I didn't wanna... I mean, I know... you..." Jennifer Keller did not date. It was a known fact among the men of Atlantis. In the two years the most beautiful, desirable woman on the base lived there, she never dated anyone. Part of it was fear of Lorne and Richards, but the other part was a sense that she was just not the type of woman you dated a few times and moved on from. Rodney would be content spending the rest of his life dating her if that's what she wanted.

"I'll say yes," she nearly shouted, afraid he was going to back off.

"Well, you wanna go to this thing with me?" he said, trying to suddenly look confident and self-assured.

"Sure," Jennifer said with a big grin. "I'd love to."

"What? I love... I mean, that's good. Good. Great! That's..." The relieve that coursed through the physicist almost made him say the wrong thing. Deep breaths and don't get too excited. It's just a conference, not like she's going to your room to have a romantic dinner.

"It's a date," Jennifer said. Finally! The physician was so excited she wanted to reach across the table and kiss him. Slow down, girl! Go on the date first and then make out with him.

"That's a date." I can't believe I asked Jennifer out and she said YES! His heart was racing. He realized that he must have never been happy before in his life. Just because of this, I might be nice to Tunney.

"So, what's the presentation?" Act normal. You can go to your quarters and scream later.

"I don't know. He doesn't wanna tell anyone until we all get there but if I know this guy, it'll be a, you know, first class presentation... with, like, second rate science," Rodney said. I'll have the woman I love on my arm so I don't care what he babbles about.

They picked up their trays and left the table, both visibly glowing to anyone who looked at them.

"Probably some minor adjustment to someone else's work, but the food'll be good," But not as good as…

"And the company," Jennifer smiled, finishing his thought.

Hearing Jennifer speaking his thoughts out loud caused Rodney to pause for a moment, still smiling broadly at her. Does she feel the same way I do? No, can't be. She's being nice like she always is. That's all.

TBC

I used to switch POV all the time when I first started writing, so apologies for that. I did not want to rewrite all that I wrote. Reviews are the food of my muse, so thank you for any you see fit to leave.