All I Ask Of You

All I Ask Of You

“When you're soaring through the air, I'll be your solid ground. Take every chance you dare, I'll still be there, when you come back down.” Rodney's focus must have been fuzzy and muddled, because he swore that he could hear someone singing. It sounding like it was coming from the vicinity of his bathroom, but he couldn't be sure.

He lifted his head, vaguely noticing that he was clad only in his boxers. He didn't remember going to sleep or even leaving the lab.

“I'll keep looking up, awaiting you return. My greatest fear will be that you will crash and burn, and I won't feel your fire.” Yes, he was sure that there was singing coming from his bathroom now. He knew he recognized the voice, but once again he was telling himself it couldn't possibly be her. There was no way she could be here, right? Right.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, managing to swing his legs off of the bed and swayed, almost falling back onto the bed. He must have grunted or made some sort of noise because suddenly it was too quiet. The singing had stopped.

“Rodney!” He jumped, he couldn't help it. He looked towards his bathroom and stared. He continued to stare. He shook his head and rubbed his hands over his eyes. Nope. Didn't work. She was still standing there.

“Wha-huh?” Well, wasn't that intelligent? She smiled, walking over to the bedside, gentle stroking his cheek.

“How're you feeling? Are you still tired? Do you want something to eat?” He continued to stare, his mind having a full debate on whether or not he was seeing things. She sighed, rolling her eyes affectionately.

“Ok, here's the deal, Rodney. You paying attention?” He nodded, dumbly. “Good. Ok. Yes, I'm here. Yes, I'm here and yes! I'm here!” she chuckled at the end. His eyes widened, his hands coming to slowly rest on her hips.

“Rachel.”

“Yes, Rodney. I'm here.” she smiled.

“I... how, when?” His mind was still trying to wrap around the situation.

“I've been here for about two days now. You've been asleep for one of them.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling her stomach.

“God, I missed you.” Her fingers raked through his hair.

“I missed you, too, Rodney. But right now I need you to focus, ok? Are you hungry? Do you wan to get something to eat before you go back to sleep?” He had to think for a moment before he could answer. Well, he didn't answer, his stomach did. By growling. Loudly. He looked up at her sheepishly.

“Yeah, something to eat would be good.” She nodded, stepping back and pulling him up with her.

“Right. Go and brush you teeth, I'll pick out some clothes for you. We're going to go to the mess to get you some food. Walking around will help you sleep better, I think.” He mumbled something unintelligible and dutifully went to brush his teeth.

~

He was sitting at a table in the mess, against a wall, leaning back, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Rachel move through the line to get them something to eat. People were looking curiously at him, but he wasn't awake enough to notice.

Rachel came walking back towards him, carrying a tray piled with a few sandwiches and two bottles of water. She set the tray down, taking the seat next to Rodney. He smiled, grabbing one of the sandwiches and taking a bite. Rachel opened the bottles of water and looked at him somewhat hesitantly.

“Rodney?”

“Hm?” he asked around a mouthful of food. She handed him a water.

“You might want to finish that bite first before I talk to you.” He gave her a quizzical look but nodded none the less. He gave her an expectant look after finishing his bite and a drink of water.

“I'm pretty sure that most of the people here now know that we're married.” She had to react quickly, taking the bottle from his hands to prevent him from dropping it and splattering them both with water.

“W-what?” She sighed.

“I asked Carson to tell whoever,” she made an innocuous hand signal, “to bring my things to your room because I'm going to be living with you. I told him that we were married and that's what married people usually do. You know, living together and everything.” Rodney pushed his sandwich away, burying his head in his arms. Rachel put her hand on his back gently.

“I had to tell him the truth because it was bound to come out sometime, since it is in my personal file that we are married, you know. That is one of the main reasons I'm here, and some people might have had some questions about why we weren't living together. I'm sorry.” she apologized. Rodney sighed, looking at her through his arms.

“When I'm able to function properly, I'm going to kill you.” She nodded, patting his back.

“Yes, I know, sweetie.” She snapped her fingers suddenly. “I almost forgot. Here.” she took off a thick white gold band from around her thumb of her left hand, offering it to Rodney. He sat back up, taking it and slipping it onto his ring finger, smiling softly.

“Told you I'd keep it and give it back to you when I saw you again.” He gave her a soft smile, bringing her left hand to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to the engagement and wedding ring around her finger. Her engagement ring was a simple Celtic, white gold band with one diamond flanked by two emeralds. Her wedding band was a smaller version of Rodney's and they fit together perfectly.

“And you always did keep you word.” She beamed.

“Yes, well. I suggest you finish eating and we go back to our rooms. No doubt I'm going to have to do some damage control soon.” His smiled faded as he groaned.

“Damnit. It John leaves me or something, I really am going to kill you.” She sighed and patted his back again.

“Just eat your sandwich. I promise I'll take care of everything. You won't loose anyone.”
He gave her a mild glare, doubting she could prevent something bad from happening between him and John but he went back to eating his sandwich in peace for a while.