fandomhighdorms | The Roof, Tuesday evening

Rodney came out onto the roof lugging his telescope case ~~because he really does have one OMG~~ and immediately saw Charlie. "Hi!" He waved awkwardly as he made his way over to her. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Almost like we planned it," Charlie teased, then raised her eyebrows. "Nice, um. Telescope." Blushing a little at remembered remarks in class. "Seriously."

"Amazing how that works out," he grinned. "Um, thanks," he said as he set the case down and started to set up the telescope. "I don't actually get that much chance to use it since I'm usually focused more on the theories than the actual view," he said sheepishly and totally ignored how that might have sounded.

Charlie smothered a grin, telling herself, Not like it sounds! Not!, then said, "What kind of theories? There's theories about stars? Aren't just kind of there?"

"Ah, but that's the thing," he said excitedly. "Why are they there? How did our galaxy form? What happens at the event horizon of a black hole? These are the kinds of questions theoretical astrophysicists try to answer. The great mysteries of the universe," he sighed.

"Ohhh, the big stuff," Charlie said, leaning against the telescope stand, smiling a little. "So? What's your favorite theory? Or favorite star?"

"Well, as for theories... dark matter is really fascinating. It's existence is purely hypothetical but it would explain a lot about what we've observed about the rotational speeds of galaxies and their evolution." Rodney could go on about this sort of thing ad infinitum but he didn't think that was what Charlie would want to hear about all night.

"Now, as for stars..." he said as he finished with the telescope. "Look at Orion's belt," he pointed to the appropriate place. "And then follow the line it makes downward to the really bright star. That's Sirius. See?"

Charlie nodded along with the explanation of dark matter, and decided to ask about it after she'd had a chance to maybe look it up at some point. She looked through the telescope, and smiled when she got a look at Sirius (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Sirius_A_and_B_Hubble_photo.jpg). "Oooo. Do I lose cool points if I just say 'shiny'?"

Rodney grinned. He was really glad that she didn't seem bored. "Not at all. Especially because you'd be totally correct. You see, Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It can be seen from almost anywhere on Earth and it's one of our closest galactic neighbors. And the really cool thing is that it's actually two stars (http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/wallpaper2/heic0516b.jpg) orbiting each other." Rodney? Is such a geek. He just hoped Charlie would find it cute.

"Coooool. So, two stars so close we can't separate them," Charlie mused, staring through the telescope again, then backing up, and giving Rodney a grin. "Behold, the power of gravity. Right? It isn't something else keeping them together, is it?"

Rodney smiled back. "You're absolutely right. Basically speaking, the gravitational pull of the larger star has caught the other one. We can use this to calculate the mass of both stars, and from there, the data can be extrapolated and applied to a other non-binary stars." He realized he was getting technical again and halted his mini lecture.

"So, not quite mutual attraction, but close." Charlie grinned at Rodney, amused at his enthusiasm. "You really like figuring things out, hunh?"

"Well, they are orbiting each other," he grinned. "So I'd say the attraction was pretty mutual," he looked straight at Charlie and then ducked his head, blushing just a little. "Um, yes, I do, I guess. I suppose I'd be really bored if I just accepted what I saw or what people told me without trying to understand it myself."

Charlie giggled, feeling pretty dorky, then said, "That's cool. They might miss something important, right?" She cocked her head, and asked, "How do I find Venus with this? That's the closest planet, right? Or wait, maybe that's Mars..."

"Right." It seemed as though Rodney couldn't stop smiling around Charlie. "Venus is closer, but because it's between us and the sun, it can only be seen around sunrise and sunset," and they were well beyond sunset at this point. "Mars, on the other hand, should be visible," he said as he adjusted the telescope. "Ah, there," he stepped back so Charlie could look. "It's the red one."

"That much, I guessed," Charlie teased gently. "But I didn't know that about Venus," she said, looking through the eyepiece at Mars. "Do you think there was ever life there? I mean, there was water once, right?" She glanced up from the telescope. "Do you want to work for NASA, or whatever the Canadian program is?"

"Yes, and you can sometimes see the polar ice caps," he nodded. "Statistically speaking, I'd say it's extremely unlikely that two neighboring planets in one solar system would both develop life. But since coming here? I imagine stranger things have happened."

Rodney sighed. "I used to want nothing more than to be a part of the space program. But now... it seems almost too small. I mean, I've only been here a few weeks and already my entire outlook has been changed. There's so much more out there than anyone other than sci-fi writers have imagined and I want to be part of it." He paused. "And win a Nobel, of course."

He grinned at Charlie again. "So what about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

She grinned without looking away from the telescope. "A sci-fi writer." Then she pulled back a little. "Okay, any kind of writer. But I like writing sci-fi stuff. Can I use you as a scientific resource? Just think! You can be in the acknowledgements of my first novel. 'And thanks to Dr. Rodney McKay, Nobel Prize winner, for checking the scientific accuracy and telling me what was theoretically impossible.' Not as cool as the actual prize, I know. But still fun."

"That's really cool," he said sincerely. "I've always loved to read that stuff but I don't have the kind of artistic talent to write my own. And of course you can use me! As a resource." Just when he thought he was over it, there he'd go again. "Besides, I'm sure more people would know that I was credited in a bestseller than about my Nobel."

"I wish. I hope. A bestseller would be awesome," Charlie said wistfully, trying not to blush at the whole using-him detour the conversation had taken there. "But if you're wanting to do more than go to another planet, what kind of 'more' are you thinking of?"

"I'm sure you'll be able to do it," he encouraged.

"Now, don't get me wrong, I think going to another planet would be amazing! I don't know what things are like where you're from, but my NASA is no where near that level yet and travel to other dimensions or through time is all still purely theoretical back home. That's what I mean by 'small,'" he made air quotes. "Now that I know all of this is not only possible but also happening right now, I can't imagine being satisfied with only ever taking a shuttle around Earth. I mean, that would still be cool and all but with everything else?" He shrugged helplessly.

"No, I get that. I'm going to have a hard time going home in a year or two, knowing all this stuff is happening somewhere that's not my life. We've got a shuttle up, and a space station, but yeah, some people here have been to other planets or are from other planets or the future, or *some* future." Charlie shook her head. "There's nothing that exciting where I'm from."

"Yeah," Rodney sighed. "But maybe if I learn enough while I'm here, I'll be able to ~~work for the SGC~~ bring some of this knowledge back with me so that we can start exploring other worlds for real. With the right kind of advanced technology, who knows what'll be possible?" He ended with a grin.

"That would be great. An improved rocket-launch, or a better spacecraft-- you could end up with those colonies on Mars before the next century. Science fiction becomes fact," Charlie said, looking thoughtful. "I don't know what I'm going to do while I try to get published. I should probably start thinking about that, so I don't have to starve in an attic apartment somewhere."

"There are so many things I want to work on, I don't know how I'll ever have the time to get to them all. On the bright side, I doubt I'll ever be bored," he grinned. "And I'm sure you'll come up with something. Or who knows? Maybe you'll get published right away and you won't have to worry about anything else. Before you know it, you'll be the next J.K. Rowling." He reached out to place a supportive hand on her arm.

Encouraged, Charlie smiled a little more flirtily, and stepped closer. "So, you'll go see the movies they make of my books? Whenever that happens. And I'll just have to track your career through Scientific American and the International Journal of Genius Types to know what you're on to next."

"Of course I'll see the movies! In fact, I'd be honored to escort the author to the premieres. That is, if she wanted me to," he smiled shyly and attempted to smoothly run his hand down her arm to take her hand. He didn't have a lot of practice at this sort of thing. "And you could always just ask me what I'm working on. You know, as long as it isn't some sort of top secret government project," he joked a little nervously.

"That would be kind of awesome. Oh! Dean and I are going to make a zombie movie! Someday. When we've both got time to sit down and figure it out. You could escort me then," Charlie said, fingers knotting together for a second before she managed to free them to let Rodney take one hand. Maybe if she pretended he wasn't doing that, she wouldn't get nervous. "And, sure. Top secret government project exemption, that's normal. We don't want either one of us going to jail, right?" She swung his hand back and forth lightly.

Rodney was suppressing the urge to bounce over the fact that Charlie was actually letting him hold her hand. "Really? Zombie movies are always fun. Who doesn't like to see the walking dead trying to eat brains and not succeeding. As entertainment, of course. I'd never want to see zombies for real. That would be beyond creepy," he shuddered a little. "But you can absolutely count on me as your escort," he grinned. "And, yeah, jail would be bad."

"Very bad," Charlie echoed. "Much worse than a little Detention. But oh! Zombies! At Caritas! I don't think they were there for the Three-Minute Dates, but usually? The band is undead. We should go. Sometime," she added hastily, not wanting to push him. "Everyone needs to see the living dead musicians, though."

"Wow. I think I would've noticed real live zombies. I have to admit, I have a certain morbid curiosity that makes me want to see them. As long as they don't pose a threat, that is. So yeah, I would like to see them. With you," he added, hoping this meant there was a possibility of a third date at some point.

"Super." Charlie swung his hand back and forth, smiling. "So, maybe this weekend? I work on Saturday, but. You know. Other days are open."

"That would be great," he beamed. "How about Sunday?" Yes! Third date here we come!

"Sunday's good. Great. Caritas and zombies and maybe more curfew-breaking, if we're having fun." Charlie grinned, and squeezed Rodney's hand.

Rodney returned the squeeze. "Great," he repeated. He was sort of stuck on that.

He was also really glad they had decided to break curfew tonight. This was definitely worth any consequences. And since they couldn't get in any more trouble by staying out then they already might be for being out, he continued to show Charlie some of his other favorite stars.

The Roof, Tuesday evening

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