“Mitchell!’

Cameron turned to see John jogging up to them. “Sheppard.’

“Hey, sorry, I wanted to catch you before you took off,’ John said, taking Cameron´s arm and leading him off to the side. His eyes darted over Cameron´s shoulder to where Rodney and Sam were bickering over… well. What didn´t they bicker over? “Can we talk?’

“Okay,’ Cameron said with a nod, walking with John into the corridor. “What´s up?’

“I was joking earlier,’ John said with a grimace. “About the lemon. I mean, yes, he´s allergic to lemons, but… but it occurs to me that I really kind of do need to give you a bit of a Rodney Primer.’

Cameron smirked. “A Rodney Primer.’

“Yeah,’ John said, shrugging. “A How To, if you will.’

“Well, I passed the How To Deal With an Obnoxious Scientist course in Major school, Sheppard, I´ll be fine,’ Cameron said, taking a step back towards the shipping dock.

“No,’ John said, reaching out and grabbing his arm. “No, you didn´t, because that´s not McKay. I mean sure, he´s obnoxious, but there´s more than that to dealing with him.’

Cameron sighed, slouching against the wall. “Okay.’

“Okay, see…’ John frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “I really don´t know how to explain it.’

Cameron laughed. “Listen, I can probably muddle through on my own--’

“The man has an ego the size of Canada,’ John said, interrupting him. “And the thing is, it´s deserved. He´s saved our asses so many times I can´t even begin to count them. But he has a tendency to stray off track. Sometimes you have to step in and sort of… steer him back.’

Cameron nodded. “Make sure he doesn´t get distracted by the shiny. Got it.’

“No,’ John said, shaking his head. “He knows too much for his own good. He knows everything that can possibly go wrong, and he knows the probability of it going wrong, and despite what his outward cockiness might lead you to believe, he´s always always worried about fucking up.’

“Well, then that´s good.’

“No, it´s not,’ John said, shaking his head, hand darting through the air. “It´s not good because that big brain of his is a scary place I think, and sometimes he gets lost in it. He needs someone to step up and go snap out of it McKay, I worry about the possible outcomes, you worry about fixing it.’

Cameron nods. “I think I can handle it.’

John´s hand tightens on Cameron´s arm. “Question him constantly, make him explain it. You won´t get what the hell he´s talking about but if he explains it he´ll catch his own mistakes.’

“Plus we´ll have Carter there, and she´ll know what he´s talking about.’

“Right,’ John said, nodding, his hand dropping. “If he starts with the doomsday talk, stroke his ego. Rodney doesn´t know the meaning of the word impossible except for when he´s the one saying it.’

Cameron grimaced. “You want me to stroke his ego?’

John nodded. “If you want him to come up with the impossible answer, yes.’

“Like what,’ Cameron asked, frown deepening. “Tell him he´s pretty?’

John laughed. “No. I don´t know. Tell him he´s not living up to his legend. Tell him he´s falling down on the job, that the McKay you´ve heard about would never give up.’ He shrugged again. “Hell, tell him I said it.’

“So basically what you´re saying is that he´s like a child,’ Cameron asked, smirking.

“Exactly,’ John said, grinning and nodding. “A child, with a really, really, big brain.’

Cameron nodded. “Okay.’

“Okay,’ John said, letting out a big breath and leaning on the wall next to him. “One more thing.’

“What´s that,’ Cameron asked, already walking back towards his team.

“Bring him back in one piece. He´s a pain in the ass, but he´s our pain in the ass.’ He gave Cameron a warning look that for the first time since they´d landed actually made him look like he was the leading military officer. “We need him here.’

Cameron looked at him and cocked his head to the side. “You actually like him, don´t you?’

John grinned, shrugging again. “What can I say. The guy grows on you.’

Notes:

1. Not sure I know how to write Mitchell. I haven't seen all that many SG1's with Mitchell in it. Plus, I keep wanting to write Crichton. LOL. The point is, I hope I did Mitchell okay, but mostly what this is is what I wanted to see SHEPPARD do in that episode. I thought the lemon thing was funny (I'm one of a very few on that, I'm aware), but I wanted something more.

2. I'm not even sure what ranking he is, so the Major line might be off but I think it works whether he's a Major or a Lt. Col. or a Col. Whatever he is. If he's above a Major, it just means it's something he learned a long time ago. That works too.