015 - Finding Home Part 1 (PG-13), art by strivaria, fic by ca_pierson
Title: Finding Home
Artist: strivaria
Author: ca_pierson
Beta: darkmoore
Challenge 15
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 12.273
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis doesn’t belong to me, neither do the characters. This is a work of love and I don’t make money from it.
Summary: 16 year old John Sheppard nearly drowns in a storm. And maybe he really did drown, because what comes next can only be a nightmare. Or a dream. One of the two, really.
Artist notes: Thanks to ca_pierson for taking my ramblings about what I saw in the APOD photo we chose and turning it into something wonderful. It was great working with you.
Author’s Notes:Well. This fic was quite sneaky. It was really supposed to be short, I swear, but apparently I can’t do short, so this is what I got. This really was entirely strivaria’s idea. I just took it and ran with it! Thanks to strivaria for inspiring me like that … with her idea, with her art and with her kind comments. Thanks to darkmoore for beta-ing and helping me through the parts that need medical knowledge, but especially for her pushing me to make this story what it is. Also, she told me I should make sure to say that apart from John, Rodney and Dave everybody else is the age they are in the show. All this was inspired by this Astronomy Picture of the Day!
Click the picture for further details and larger image
Click the picture for further details and larger image.
Coming Home
The strong wind blew water into John’s face as he fought to keep the small sailing boat on course. “Come on,” he muttered desperately as his stiff hands kept slipping on the wet knots. It had cooled down so abruptly that John was shivering, wishing he hadn’t dressed for the strangely warm, late summer. He shouldn’t be out on the water, really, but the weather had been fine three hours ago, and none of the predictions had said it would storm. “Fuck,” he chanted, “fuck, fuck, fuck.” This was not good. So not good. John’s heart raced with fear, he knew what could happen if the boat capsized. And in the current water condition, he didn’t think he’d make it to the shore on his own. Even though he was nearly scared out of his mind, he managed to keep a clear head. The last thing he needed was to freeze up with fear.
Finally the knot to take down the main sail opened and John hoped that he’d make it back to the harbor in one piece. His father would be so angry if anything happened to the boat and as it was, he’d already end up being grounded for a month for being reckless. As he was just about to adjust the sail yet again, a roar made him look up. The wave rolling towards him was huge. For a terrifying moment John wasn’t able to do anything but stare at the wall of water, then it was above him, crashing over the boat and pulling him out with it into the sea.
OooO00OooO
John came to coughing up water and feeling cold. “Oh. Good. You’re alive,” someone said from beside him. Carefully John turned his head to look at whoever had been talking. The first thing John noticed were intense blue eyes staring at him. The second was the crooked line of the other boy’s mouth. The third thing was a mop of blond curls framing the soft face of a boy who looked about John’s age.
“What ... what happened?” John asked, barely able to get out the words through clattering teeth.
“You decided to swim in the ocean during the storm, you moron,” the boy answered, sarcastically.
Pushing himself into a sitting position John looked around. “Where am I?” he rasped out. “And how the hell did I get here?” 'Here' was a small room, mainly made of metal. There was a puddle of water gathering underneath him and his clothes felt like they'd frozen on his body. “And I didn’t decide to do that, I was washed out of the boat,” he answered belatedly, but his words lacked heat. The whole situation was unreal somehow. One moment he'd been surrounded by water, fighting to get to the surface of a roiling ocean, the next he was lying on an unyielding metal floor, looking at someone whom his mother would describe as cherubic.
“A boat! Why would anyone go out in a boat in that storm?” the other boy asked, ignoring the really important things with his rather pointless question. He might have looked like an angel, but he certainly wasn't acting like one.
With a frown John started to undo the life vest he was still wearing. He was freezing and he had to get out of his wet clothes. “It wasn’t storming when I set out, it was actually quite sunny,” he said, his words broken by the clattering of his teeth that just wouldn’t stop. Peeling off the t-shirt was a challenge for his numb fingers and he got stuck half-way through.
“Hold on, I’ll help you,” his rescuer offered with an exasperated eye roll just as John was going to repeat his questions. He started pulling as well and nearly fell backward when the wet cloth came off rather abruptly, then turned around and opened a compartment John hadn’t even noticed before. He pulled out a blanket and wordlessly held it open for John.
With a muttered “gimme a sec” John slowly peeled off the rest of his clothes with shaking hands and then wrapped himself up in the offered blanket. The metal beneath his bare feet was strangely warm once he got out of the puddle and John was immensely glad about that. “Thanks,” he said. “For saving my life,” he added at the curious expression. He felt sluggish … cold. Sluggish, cold and so very tired. “I’m John,” he introduced himself. Thinking was hard at the moment, maybe his brain had frozen and that was why everything seemed so slow. “Who are you?” he asked again.
“Rodney,” Rodney said. “And you’re welcome. I couldn’t very well let you drown, could I? You really should rethink your opinion on sailing. Next time you might not get lucky enough to have me do a test on the engines when you’re falling off your boat.” He walked to the end of the room, and a door opened with a whoosh, revealing something that looked like a Star Trek console, only cooler. And a window that showed the ocean in turmoil. Rodney sat down in the chair on the left, turning it around to look expectantly at John. “Well, come on,” he gestured towards the chair next to him, “take a seat before you fall down.”
“What is this?” John asked, awed at the sight as he drew closer, clutching at his blanket, wishing he’d stop feeling so damn cold. Getting his clothes off had definitely been one of his brighter ideas at least he was dry and cold now instead of wet and cold. “Where am I?” John asked the question before he could really take everything in. He did sit down, though, mostly because he had trouble standing, what with shaking all over. It was all rather bizarre and for a moment John thought he was still drifting in the ocean, freezing to death and hallucinating. God, he was tired.
With a happy hum Rodney turned around the chair to face the window and touched the console. “This is a gateship. They set it aside for me so I can experiment on the engines in peace. Something about keeping out of their way and not breaking valuable equipment,” Rodney said, waving one hand around as if brushing his words away. “Ignorami, all of them, if you ask me. A genius shouldn’t be shackled. I already managed to up the speed of this ship by five percent. Five! Zelenka was trifling with half a percent and said it couldn’t be done. Serves them right if I won’t do the others now. And after what Sumner said to me last time,” Rodney paused to sniff in derision, “I don’t think I’ll help them upgrade the rest of the fleet. Unless he apologizes profoundly, of course.”
John couldn’t quite wrap his head around everything he’d seen and heard just then. He heard the words but putting the meaning to them got harder and harder. If he could only put down his head for a bit and get some sleep. Frowning John concentrated. This kid had pulled him out of the water into what looked like a futuristic spaceship right out of a TV show. Rodney. A boy who was - apparently - pretty intelligent and talked in big words. And he deserved that John at least listened to him. Or tried to. “Gateship?” John asked. Maybe he was hallucinating? He'd probably hit his head when he’d gone overboard, and the freezing water would have done the rest. This was just so … so … wow. John didn't even really have any words for how far out there this whole thing was.
Rodney turned towards him, the controls forgotten. “Oh. I’d forgotten that you - you wouldn’t know about the gateships. Of course. I’m sorry,” he offered with a rather endearing flush of embarrassment. “The gateships are Atlantis’ main means of transport outside of the city.”
“Atlantis.” John was starting to feel like a slow echo, but he couldn’t help it; Rodney wasn’t making any sense at all. For a moment he wondered why his subconscious would come up with someone like Rodney … but then he decided not to worry about it for now. Worrying took too much energy. Energy he didn’t have.
Instead of trying to explain Rodney turned back towards the window and put his hands on the controls. The only indication of the ship moving was the change of scenery outside. And wasn’t that cool. John had been in a lot of planes in his life, but he’d never had such a smooth ride. The ... gateship moved through the storm like a hot knife through butter. It gathered speed and then-
It was breathtaking. Spires upon spires, slowly coming into view while the ocean roiled about it, breaking against the bows of a city. Huge towers stretched heavenwards, thousands of windows illuminated, lightening their way.
“Wow,” John breathed.
The only answer he got was a crooked smile and a short nod, but John didn’t mind. Rodney seemed to need a lot of concentration to fly the gateship if the frown was any indication. It was marvelous, though, approaching from high above, safe from the freezing water and the giant waves. They flew to hover over the top of the central tower, then the gateship lowered through a hole that had opened in the ceiling. Soon they were parked in the middle of what looked to John like a garage. Full of gateships … gateship. What a funny name for a kind of plane.
“We should probably go see Elizabeth. She’ll want to know that I brought someone back,” Rodney said, then let his eyes travel over John’s blanket-wrapped figure. “But first I’ll get you something to wear. No need to shock Elizabeth by dropping your blanket in front of her,” Rodney said, grimacing, “no telling who’d be more mortified, you or her.”
Even not knowing who Elizabeth was John silently agreed. He didn’t want to test that theory. Girls were weird that way. He watched Rodney practically run outside and there was only a brief moment of panic when the gateship’s hatch closed behind Rodney. At least the light stayed on and John really didn’t think Rodney would leave him in there on his own for very long. He’d sounded very proud of his plane and John was surprised he was allowed to stay behind on his own. Closing his eyes John leaned back in his chair, just wanting to rest a little. He really was quite tired and he hurt all over.
Before he knew it Rodney was back with a bundle of clothes in his arms. “I hope they fit, but you’re about my size. Maybe they’ll be a bit baggy on you ... well, we’ll just have to get you a belt later,” he said the second the ramp lowered for him, like he was just continuing their one sided conversation from earlier. John didn’t mind much, it was rather reassuring to hear Rodney prattle on, actually. “Hurry up now, Elizabeth hates it when I wait too long to report back after I go out with the gateship.”
The clothes were simple enough, black cargo trousers that were maybe two sizes to big and a blue T-shirt that looked like it’d be too long. The socks were a brown color John didn’t bother to identify and there weren’t any shoes. When he tried to take the first piece of clothing - the pants - from Rodney they slipped through his uncooperative fingers. “Sorry,” he slurred and tried to get up to pick the underpants up and get dressed, but his body wasn’t listening to him. His eyes felt so heavy as well, it was hard to keep them open and look at Rodney.
Rodney frowned and John couldn’t tell if he was worried or if he was angry that John was so clumsy. When he said “let me help you” he definitely sounded like he was worried though.
“Tired,” John muttered as Rodney helped him dress, “cold.”
“Yeah, I know. That bath in the ocean must have been quite unpleasant,” Rodney answered, pulling John into a standing position so he could get the trousers over his hips. John felt his world keel when Rodney let go of him for a moment to do the buttons. “Hey!” Rodney yelled close to John’s ear. “A little focus here, don’t fall over.”
“Sorry, “John said again. He let Rodney help him with the shirt, his fingers leaving warm trails where they touched. Leaning into Rodney he started to feel a bit warmer again, but he was dressed now and Rodney pulled away.
“There you go,” Rodney said and put the dry socks over John’s freezing feet, “now we’re all done.” He put the blanket around John and sat down in his chair again.
“You’re making the ship fly faster?” John asked, wanting to say something - anything - to distract from the fact that he’d needed help dressing like a toddler.
“Amongst other things,” Rodney answered absentmindedly as he picked up a little hand-held device that had a lot of numbers running over it. “I improve everything that I can. Energy consumption, speed, shield efficiency, maneuverability, the list goes on.”
“Aren’t you a bit young to do stuff like that?” John asked, his eyes closing on their own account for a moment. When he opened them again Rodney was glaring at him.
“I’m a genius,” Rodney said archly and turned back to his work. His voice softened again when he went on, “I’m far enough advanced to do some real work.”
He hadn’t wanted to upset Rodney. “Sorry, Rodney,” he said, hoping that was enough to make Rodney feel a little bit better. Maybe his age was a touchy subject? There’d been that really intelligent kid at his school a couple of years back and John remembered how much flack that one had gotten from everybody else. Rodney’d probably experienced similar things. Frowning John tried to remember what they were doing. Oh. Right. “Shouldn’t we go?” he asked. Rodney’d said they were going to see somebody. He’d forgotten the name though.
“Science is more important than the chain of command,” Rodney muttered as he put down his … thingie. “So much more important. It’s not funny how my genius is chained down by all this idiocy. I’m supposed to soar free, free of all the bureaucracy all the stupid people have to go through. But no, scientific advancement is obviously not important enough.”
“Sorry,” John mumbled again, wishing there was something else he could say to that.
All of the sudden the room tilted again and John did the only thing he could think of, he said Rodney’s name. The floor really was warmer than it looked like, even though the metal was quite hard. “Cold,” he managed to say before Rodney was there, helping him lie down completely. Nothing could get him off the floor again, John was quite sure of that. So wherever Rodney had wanted them to go, he’d just have to go on his own.
“Oh my, God, John,” Rodney muttered as he helped John straighten out his legs. “You look terrible.” Rodney’s hands brushed against John’s and he recoiled slightly. “And you’re still freezing.”
At least he’d stopped shaking so badly, that probably counted for something, didn’t it? He didn’t really care right now, because even with dry clothes and plastered to the floor John still felt cold. Maybe that's why he was seeing things and hallucinating Rodney. “Cold, Rodney,” he said with a shaking voice.
“Why did I even bother getting you something to wear?” Rodney suddenly asked, but he didn’t sound cross, he sounded frantic and didn’t seem to want an actual answer. Then he tapped a little thing that was in his ear. Weird. John hadn't even noticed that before. “McKay to the infirmary, I have an emergency in gateship five.”
He was just about to tell Rodney that he was fine and to stop bossing him around, but John’s teeth were still clattering and while he wasn’t shaking so much anymore, he was still freezing. So he found himself lying there, listening to the calming cadences of Rodney yelling at someone over the weird little phone that looked like it was inside of Rodney’s ear … feeling the blanket wrapped around him securely and Rodney’s hand on his chest. If he hadn’t been so sleepy John would have asked who Rodney was shouting at, instead John just lay there, listening. He was so very, very tired. Too tired to stay awake, he decided. He closed his eyes.
Next time John became aware of his surroundings there were people all around, talking calmly at him, pulling him onto a stretcher and wrapping him into a blanket that felt hot on his cold skin. Warmth flooded into his arm as well and John looked on as someone hung up an IV bag above him.
“Will he be okay?”
Rodney, John thought sluggishly, wanting to reassure the other boy, but unable to make his lips move properly. He could hear Rodney talk, though, while he was being pushed through what felt like kilometers of corridors at top speed. John didn't really know what happened after that. He had fuzzy memories of movement, of a bright light traveling over his body. Of people asking him questions and talking to each other. He had a particular vivid memory of one of the doctors telling a frowning, elegant woman that he'd 'damn well call her once the lad wakes up properly' and to 'stop hovering already'. The one thing he knew for sure was that every time he came to, Rodney was there. Sitting next to him reading most of the time. Once, Rodney looked at him while John blinked awake and asked him how he felt. John's answer had been a smile as his eyelids started to droop again.
Waking up properly was a peculiar feeling. He was warm and his head felt clear, but he was also staring at a metal ceiling. Just like that everything that had happened to him since the storm began rushed back. Gateships. Atlantis. “Rodney,” he managed to rasp. His throat felt dry. He cleared it and tried again. “Rodney? Where am I?”
“You're on Atlantis, John. Everything's fine. Carson made sure there was no water in your lungs, but the hypothermia complicated matters just a little bit. He said you'll be fine though, that you'll just need some rest.”
Exhausted John closed his eyes for a moment, but he didn't lose any time before he opened them again. “Atlantis is a myth,” he said because that was something that just needed to be said.
“On Earth it is,” Rodney answered. “We know all about the city that sank into the ocean, about how advanced it had been and how the people fled into all the directions of the heavens and all that drivel. Some of the 'Lanteans back then returned to Earth, all right, but the rest of them decided to bring their city home, a long journey even under normal circumstances. It took them ten years to get back and … well … we've been traveling ever since. Taking in people here, or there, staying invisible.”
Listening to Rodney talking was still very calming, even when he understood what was being said. “You're not a hallucination,” he finally said when Rodney looking at him expectantly became just a little too creepy. He watched as Rodney's expression became one of utmost confusion.
“No,” Rodney answered, “I'm not a hallucination.” Like it was all so very clear and John should have known that he wasn't.
“I'm on Atlantis?” he asked, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. It was overwhelming to be told he was in a mythical city, even more than the dream-like memories John had of the flight in the gateship, his arrival in the city … it was just … wow.
“Yes, you're on Atlantis,” Rodney confirmed, but he looked decidedly uneasy. For a moment all they did was stare at each other, then Rodney turned away and screamed, “Hey, Carson! You didn't tell me nearly drowning would make him stupid.”
And that just sounded so … Rodney that John had to laugh, forgetting to be scared.
“Now he's laughing like a loon,” Rodney yelled, “come over here and fix him.”
John remembered this doctor, but only in the vaguest sense possible. “This is Atlantis,” he told him happily, still laughing. “I'm on Atlantis.”
“Oh my God. Carson, what did you give him?” Rodney asked, completely aghast, making John laugh even harder.
“Shut up, Rodney,” Carson said, taking John's temperature. “Yes, lad, this is Atlantis. It's alright, we all,” and here he stopped to glare at Rodney, “know it can be a wee bit overwhelming. You're not dreaming though, it's all real. No reason to be afraid either.”
John turned around to his side and curled up, watching both of them carefully. They didn't look like he needed to be scared of them. And up to now all they'd done was save his life, care for him medically and treat him well. “Yeah,” John said, deciding that those facts alone were enough for him to trust these people. “Okay.”
“Carson?”
John twitched at the new - female - voice and watched as Rodney practically shrunk into the background.
“Is he well enough now?”
Carson rolled his eyes and drew the curtain around John's bed open to let a well groomed … well … lady in, who proceeded to look at John and smile at him kindly. “You can have a minute, Elizabeth,” Carson told her. “There are a couple of tests I want to do before I let him go.” Then Carson grinned at John and winked at him before leaving the enclosure.
“Hi there,” Elizabeth said kindly.
Huh, John thought. So this was Elizabeth. The woman Rodney had been so scared of.
“Rodney,” she said, just as kindly and nodded at Rodney who had melted into the curtain behind him.
“Elizabeth,” Rodney replied. It sounded rather tame and John wouldn't have guessed that Rodney had it in him.
John muttered a quick “hello”, not sure what to expect from this rather friendly person who seemed to inspire fear in Rodney. The dissonance made John feel rather uncomfortable and he decided to just wait and see what was going to happen. Elizabeth surely wasn't frightening at all. Actually she smiled at both Rodney and John, fine laugh lines appearing around her eyes. And against his will John liked her instantly.
“How are you?” she asked John.
John wasn't used to being asked questions like these. Nobody cared how he was most of the time and it was stunning that this stranger would. “I'm … I'm fine,” he finally settled on saying. And he was. He was warm all over, the bed was incredibly comfortable. He could think and he could move his fingers.
“I'm very glad to hear that, John,” she said, smiling again. “Can you tell me what happened? Rodney was very vague, but he was worried about your well-being, so I won't hold it against him.” There was a light in her eyes and she grinned mischievously at John as they both listened to Rodney sputter and huff about how he hadn't been any more worried than was warranted.
“I fell off the boat in the storm and Rodney fished me out before I could drown,” John said, seeing the humor in her eyes and figuring she was trustworthy enough to tell her everything. Not that it was such a secret, apart from hurting his pride a bit. “The rest is a bit hazy I'm afraid.”
Rodney had calmed down again and butted in, “I called Carson to the gateship when he started shaking.” He looked at John, his face shuttered. “Carson said if I hadn't gotten to him when I did it would probably have been too late.”
“Yes, so he said,” Elizabeth confirmed, looking between the two young men, clearly wondering what to do with either of them. “You've been in the infirmary for over a day now, John, and once Carson allows you to leave you can stay with Rodney until we know you'll be alright. I'm sure your parents will be out of their minds with worry about your whereabouts, but I'm afraid we can't let them know what happened to you without giving away our presence here and I can't allow that. I hope you won't get into too much trouble when we bring you to the mainland.”
Worried? John repeated in his head? His parents? No, they wouldn't be worried. He doubted they even realized he was missing yet. They'd been gone for the weekend, attending a conference in Europe, and Dave didn't care where he was as long as John was back before their parents. The housekeeper was used to both of them coming and going as they pleased, so that wasn’t a problem either. “It's okay,” John said, trying to ease the frown lines on Elizabeth's face a little. That someone would worry about getting him into trouble was something new as well. “I wasn't supposed to be back home before Sunday night anyway.” It wasn't technically a lie, because he had meant to stay out on the boat for the night anyway.
Elizabeth nodded seriously. “We'll be able to bring you back to the mainland before that,” she said. “Now I'd better go before Carson throws me out.”
Rodney grumbled about her assuming he would want to share his quarters with someone, but John could see he was only doing that to keep up a front. The fact that he kept grinning at John like it was the best thing to happen to him in a while might have clued him in if Rodney hadn't stage whispered 'yay, you can stay with me' at him when Elizabeth had left the enclosure.
And John really didn't mind at all. As long as Rodney stayed close by while Carson did his tests John just didn't care at all. Rodney was the only one around he really knew. While John never thought of himself as easily frightened he was in a strange city, with strange people and having someone there he knew - well, knew was the wrong word, but someone who wasn’t quite so strange at least - was … nice. Even if Rodney was one of said strange people and he didn't know him for much longer than the rest of them. It was just that … he liked Rodney.
Liked Rodney a lot actually.
“We’ll start by putting you through the scanner,” Carson said as he came back through the curtain, rubbing his hands and looking altogether too cheery. “Shouldn’t take too long.”
‘Shouldn’t take too long’ actually turned out to be two hours of waiting alternated by being pushed around and waved at with strange things. Carson took as well. John didn’t mind so much, but Rodney had been complaining constantly the whole time. How the room was way too cold for John to sit around in a hospital gown, how Carson had said it wouldn’t take long, how they should better make sure he was completely alright. Carson and the nurses just seemed to ignore it, but he could see the odd smile now or then.
Before they could finally go, Carson had smiled at them broadly and told them - like a proud father - that John had the strongest expression of the ATA gene he’d ever seen. Something that obviously excited him a lot while Rodney only looked at him with wide eyes. Then Rodney practically shooed John outside while Carson laughed and threatened him with long needles. They stood just outside the door for a moment before Rodney pulled himself together again. He smiled at John shyly, then said, “I want to show you something. You’ll love it!”
John just nodded and smiled back. He allowed Rodney to take his hand and start dragging him away. Really, he didn’t mind going sightseeing with Rodney. There was something about the city that made John feel safe. He’d never felt anything quite like it. Like he could relax here, without fear of anything. It was the most peaceful place John had ever been to in his whole life. And there was this warmth that filled an empty place inside of him he hadn’t been aware of before, one he only noticed now that it was absent. Looking left and right into the open doors of what looked like workrooms John followed Rodney in speechless awe. The city was wonderful. “So, where are we going?” John asked.
Rodney shrugged, but his face lightened up a bit, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “The Gateroom,” he said. “It’s awesome, really. Maybe we get lucky and a team is just returning, that’d be great.” He sniffed in disdain before he continued, “They won’t let me close to the ‘gate. Elizabeth said that I’m still too young to go through.”
“‘Gate?” John asked, already starting to feel slightly lost again with all the unknown terms and the way Rodney talked like he should know about all this. He knew Rodney just didn’t know better, but it was annoying.
The put upon sigh was something John had expected from Rodney and it made him smile, his annoyance melting into something. “The Stargate. We use it to go to other planets to trade for food and other things we can’t produce ourselves.”
“That sounds fun,” John commented not entirely sure what a Stargate was supposed to look like, but totally getting why Rodney would want to go through it. John had always loved science fiction, reading everything he could get his hands on. Maybe it was something like a transporter in Star Trek? Other planets, he thought excitedly, though. With aliens. The thought alone ... but if Rodney was too young to go through, then John was most likely as well. “How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” Rodney said, his frown a sure sign about how unhappy he was about that. “There’s a stupid decree by the Council that forbids anyone who isn’t at least eighteen to go through the ‘gate. I’m in the process of appealing it, but they haven’t even agreed to hear me yet.”
“Oh,” John said. Aliens and different planets really had sounded too good to be true. “I’m sixteen,” he offered in the hope it would give Rodney a small measure of comfort that John would be too young to go through the ‘gate as well.
For a moment Rodney just looked at John, and then he smiled as if he had just figured out why John was saying random things. His whole face lit up and for a moment John was struck at how much like an angel Rodney looked with his big blue eyes and the blond curls. If he never opened his mouth he would definitely come across as what John’s mother would call ‘cute’. As it was, the way Rodney seemed to say whatever came into his mind without censoring it along the way really appealed to John. He guessed that didn’t make Rodney a lot of friends, though. Especially with the way he was so clever. Intelligence practically shone out of Rodney’s eyes and he kept reminding people of it as well. John had always curbed himself, somehow knowing if he let it show too much, he’d only suffer. At home, at school, wherever, it wouldn’t do him any good.
His father expected too much of him already and there was a part of John that was determined not to give a father who never showed the slightest bit of caring, the satisfaction of excelling at anything. Even though he could, John did just enough to slide by and the rest of the time he played dumb.
Content with following Rodney in silence, they made their way down a set of stairs and into a huge room. A metal ring dominated the ground floor and John guessed that had to be the Stargate. It looked completely different from what he’d imagined. A little disappointing actually. Just a big circle of metal. No dials, no lights, nothing. That was … until it suddenly sprang to life.
An alarm started and people ran past them to their stations as lights ran along the Stargate, lighting up pictures. A sudden burst of blue something shot out of the ring, settling into a moving surface of what looked like water.
“It’s Teyla’s IDC,” someone called out and a slight haze that had covered the Stargate vanished and then John stared open mouthed as a small group of people stepped out of the blue puddle.
Rodney nudged his side. “Cool, isn’t it?” he asked, grinning at John from ear to ear. “We can go to any other ‘gate in the system from here. Even to other galaxies,” Rodney explained proudly and John finally understood the longing in Rodney’s voice.
To step through this metal ring, this Stargate, to other galaxies ... to see different planets, different people … John had always wanted to become an astronaut, hoping that by the time he was old enough to go into space they could go further than just to the moon. This? This was what he wanted to do. Explore. “Other galaxies?” he finally asked Rodney, embarrassed when his voice broke in the middle of his sentence.
Smiling smugly Rodney nodded once. “Yup.”
Looking back down towards the ‘Gate he watched as the woman and the three men who had come through stepped to the side, waiting for large crates coming through the ‘gate and pushing them to the side. “Cool,” was all he could think of, but it covered the whole thing so well. It was beyond cool. A city that floated on the ocean. A ring of metal you could use to go to other planets - galaxies - with. A small ship that could hover over the ocean and fly so smoothly like nothing John had ever heard of before. “How come I’ve never heard of any of this before?” he asked, suddenly aware of how huge all this was.
Rodney just waved with both of his hands, like it wasn’t anything special. “Oh, we’re not here all the time and we keep it tightly under wraps. Usually Atlantis is underway. We’re basically nomadic. Never stay in one place too long, that’s the current standpoint of our Council. Doesn’t give us a lot of time to settle down anywhere, but we do find the nicest planets. Earth is just one of our usual stops, mostly because it’s the home of our ancestors and some people are just so bound to tradition they couldn’t even go to the loo without a map drawn five hundred years ago, if you get what I mean.”
John did get that. Sounded a lot like his family actually. Things were always done the same way. His grandfather had gone to Harvard, his father had gone to Harvard, and John was expected to do the very same thing. That John wanted to fly, that he wanted to maybe become an astronaut really didn’t matter at all. That John didn’t want to take over the family business or join the Army wasn’t of any consequence either. John was supposed to do what his father had done, what his grandfather had done, and that was that. But John wasn’t only stubborn, there was a core of steel inside of him, and he knew one thing: There was no way he’d do what his father expected of him. “I know how that works,” he told Rodney. “My family is the same.”
“Oh, I’m not related to any of them. A trading team found me on Earth when they were looking for children with the gene ten years ago. The orphanage wasn’t unhappy to get rid of me at all. I only know that my parents died in a car crash and that there was no family to take me in. Because I reacted positively to Carson’s gene therapy they took me in. They do that kind of thing all the time. Mostly because it’s so rare, nowadays, and it doesn’t breed true, for some weird reason. Genetics,” Rodney snorted, “it’s voodoo anyway. Give me a nice engineering problem any day, at least that is solvable.”
They looked at the ‘gate for a little while longer, watching as boxes and crates and baskets came through and were moved out of the way quickly. “It’s a big haul, they’ll have to redial a few times,” he said, then turned and led back the way they’d come in.
“So how is it possible to hide all this? The city is huge and it’s not that far away from the mainland, is it?” John asked, wondering if maybe Rodney didn’t actually want to tell him that, if it was a secret.
“Well. It’s complicated,” he eyed John and looked him up and down once before he sighed. “The city has a shield that allows us to move through space in the first place. When we land we usually bring a storm with us, like the one you nearly drowned in,” Rodney said, looking quite uncomfortable saying it. “It’s all the cold we bring with us hitting the warm air masses. The initial storm hides us well enough, after that they change the settings of the shield. From the outside Atlantis is hidden by a great mass of fog and anyone gazing out at the sea will see what looks like a fogbow. A reflection of the sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. It’s all quite interesting, really. Weather and all that.”
Sensing that Rodney was quite uncomfortable with the turn in their conversation John grinned and changed the topic, “Elizabeth seemed quite nice. Not sure why you’re so scared of her.”
Rodney spared him only a quick glance as they kept walking through corridors that all looked the same to John. “It’s a front. To lure you in. She’s actually quite mean most of the time. She’s locked me out of my lab no less than four times this month alone and the number of times I’ve been forced to socialize? Uncountable,” he said, then hesitated and looked at John again rather shyly. “Aside from Lorne and Carson there are only five more natural gene carriers in Atlantis right now, not counting you,” Rodney said, his jaw clenching visibly, obviously jealous. John didn’t even know why. Some kind of gene shouldn’t be such a big deal, should it? Rodney looked away from him, “There’s a fifty percent higher chance for children of a natural to have the gene than from an artificial. Some of the machinery only reacts to naturals and really, the prospect of having another gene carrier like yourself around must be very tempting.”
That stopped John dead in his tracks as his vivid imagination went overboard on what Rodney had just said. “What exactly are you saying? Do they want to keep me here? Am I a prisoner?” John asked, panicked all of a sudden. These people had seemed so nice that John had never even thought they’d do anything like that to him. He’d been grounded for misbehavior often enough to know exactly what it meant to be kept somewhere against his will. And as wonderful as Atlantis seemed at first glance, John didn’t want to be locked up anywhere.
“No!” Rodney exclaimed, obviously shocked at what John had said. He turned to John with big, surprised eyes. “No-one here would ever do that. But I’m sure they’d like for you to stay. Only if you want to, though, they’d never lock anyone up because of that.”
John had to laugh at that. “How do you know that? They don’t even know me. You can’t be certain that they’ll want me around. I’m just a kid,” he said. He knew he wasn’t anything special, his dad told him that often enough. The only one in his life who had ever made him feel welcome at all was his mother.
Rodney smiled at him, an open and happy and John couldn’t help but smile back. “Of course they’d want you here. You’re a gene carrier, they always want naturals around. It’s standard policy, really. I’m sure Elizabeth would even ask your whole family to come with us.”
John shook his head ‘no’. His father wouldn’t leave. Never. He’d most likely call the police for kidnapping, though and make sure John wouldn’t leave the house again until he turned fifty. The thought alone made John feel imprisoned. “That’s a bad idea,” he muttered. He didn’t want anything to happen to these people, especially not Rodney. “This place is amazing and there are people who would feel threatened by it.” Like dad, John added silently, not wanting to scare Rodney.
Rodney frowned, but gave a perky nod. It felt wonderful that someone just took his word, that John didn’t need to explain or justify himself for everything. That someone trusted him. Elated, John drew closer to Rodney . “Is it a lot farther to your room?” he asked, Suddenly realizing how very tired he was. It had been a long day.
“No, we’re here,” Rodney answered and stopped and turned to door to their left. He waved his hand in front of the sensor and it opened before them.
John followed Rodney inside. “You live here all alone?” John asked, his eyes wandering over he room. It was rather bare, the décor very much like everything else he’s seen in Atlantis.
Rodney toed off his shoes and sat down heavily on the couch that dominated the room. “There are people living all around. I wouldn’t call that ‘alone’. But yes, this is my room.” He watched as John walked around, touching things here and there.
“But you can lock the door and everybody leaves you alone.” That sounded so wonderful to John.
“Yes,” Rodney answered, then his face scrunched up in dismay. “Well,” he said, “if I don’t answer the door for too long they get Carson or Elizabeth to override my lock. They’re afraid I could build something deadly and blow the city up or some other nonsense. And of course that one time I had some lemon on accident and nearly suffocated before I could get Atlantis to sound the alarm might have something to do with it, too. So really, they don’t leave me alone and locking the door is a bad idea because all it gets me is a lecture and a month of being grounded.”
“That’s alone enough, though,” John answered, thinking of how often his father barged into his room just because. How often his father searched his room. How often he’d been locked in with no way to leave and no-one checking on him for hours without food when he was being punished for something or other. John shuddered at these thoughts and pushed them away again. He hated thinking of them because there was nothing he could do about it until he could get out of his father’s house. How often had he thought of running away? Gee, how often had he run away? But his father’s money made it really easy for Patrick Sheppard to get what he wanted and apparently he wanted John to be right there. John didn’t understand it. He’d been shuffled about so often, to a boarding school, summer camp, just as long as his father had his peace and quiet. But actually leaving was something he wasn’t allowed to do. John shook his head and forced himself to smile at Rodney, who’d leaned back and closed his eyes tiredly. “So where do I sleep?” he finally asked.
“Oh,” Rodney said and practically jumped up. “I have a guest room. The quarters here are really quite large.”
When John was finally stripped and under a soft blanket, he was asleep so fast he barely managed to pull the blanket up to his shoulders.
OooO00OooO
“You’ll love this,” Rodney enthused as he shooed John into his lab. “Hurry, Radek will be here soon and I really don’t want him breathing down our necks while I show you the good stuff.” When he’d pulled John out of the water he had been torn about it … on the one hand he didn’t want anyone to die if he could help it, but on the other hand he just knew he’d be saddled with their visitor. John was interesting, though, and Rodney knew he wouldn’t have regretted saving a life even if John had been the most annoying person on the whole planet. He was … different. Almost Rodney’s age and he didn’t mind Rodney’s social inabilities. And he looked at everything that was ordinary to Rodney with such … awe. Like he’d never seen anything like it, which - admittedly - he hadn’t. It made Rodney want to drag him all over the city and show off her beauty.
John sauntered over to Rodney’s workplace and leaned against it, looking at the pieces lying about curiously. “What are you going to show me?”
Instead of answering, Rodney got the box Radek had deemed harmless from the shelf and put it on the desk between him and John. “These are things we’ve found around the city or while trading. We forgot how a lot of the stuff worked over time. I mean, we’re not even using all of the city, just the central parts. In the outlining areas there are such awesome things.” John looked at Rodney expectantly and Rodney felt warm all over. “Here,” he said and handed John the topmost Ancient device, “just think ‘on’ at it.”
He watched nervously as John frowned at the small, round thing Rodney had handed him. “It doesn’t seem to do anything,” John said.
“What?” Rodney asked and reached out to take a closer look at it. It should at least light up briefly as it had when Lorne had touched it to see if it was broken or not. Impressing John was working really well up to now. And he’d hoped to be done by the time Radek showed up. “I don’t-” Then he touched the metallic surface and instantly lost his track of thought as electricity surged through his arm, shocking his whole body. His vision blacked out for a moment as Rodney tried to force his fingers away from the obviously malfunctioning device, but he was paralyzed. He couldn’t even scream at John to think ‘off’, to let go of the thing.
As suddenly as it had started it stopped and both John and Rodney let go of the Ancient device at the same time. It clattered to the floor, blinking innocently a few times before finally going back to a dormant state.
“What the-” John yelped, rubbing his hand on his trousers. “What was that?”
Rodney’s whole arm was still prickling from the electronic charge. “Oh my God, oh my God,” he gasped, grabbed hold of John and started dragging him towards the infirmary. “This isn’t good,” he muttered.
“What did it do?” John asked, but at least he was following. “And is your hand still tingling?”
“I have no idea what it did. All we know about the stuff in that particular box is that it won’t explode when activated.” They finally reached the infirmary, and no moment too soon. Rodney felt like he was about to throw up. There was no telling what that thing had done to them. Nervously he checked his still tingling hand. There were no extra digits growing out of it quite yet, but he felt … odd. Rodney couldn’t quite describe the sensation, but he didn’t need to in order to get help. “Carson!” Rodney exclaimed the moment they barreled through the door. “Carson!” Even though Carson Beckett was old enough to be Rodney’s father they had become close friends. In Atlantis age didn’t matter when one was a genius, apparently. “We’ve got an emergency,” he screamed when the nurses didn’t even bat an eyelash.
“What did you touch this time?” Carson asked as he came into the main area of the infirmary.
Panicked enough already, Rodney didn’t really need Carson’s attitude right then, though. “We touched one of the artifacts in the non-exploding box,” Rodney growled, pulling John forward. “It shocked us. Do something!”
Rodney pushed John onto one of the beds and sat next to him, his mind going through all the scenarios about the multitude of ways they could possibly be dying in within the next hour. It wasn’t pleasant, but Rodney just couldn’t stop himself from doing that. Worrying was something he was exceptionally good at. Oh my God, oh my God, he repeated in his head, his fingers tugging the hem of his t-shirt.
“Stop being so negative, Rodney, I’m sure the doctor can help us,” John suddenly said, reached out and took his hand, probably to still the jittery movement.
As soon as John touched him, Rodney felt calmer. It was a strange, foreign feeling, warm and fluffy and … “Oh God,” he groaned and bent over to put his head on his knees to stop hyperventilating. “I think we have a problem,” he muttered into the fabric of his trousers.
“Do you always feel this way?” John asked, his voice a bit pinched. “That much tension’s gotta hurt.”
Rodney stared at John, lost for words. “What … how?” He wanted to ask how this was possible, but he’d seen a lot of weird things during his work on Ancient artifacts. There was no telling what their revered Ancestors had come up with. Even if Rodney sometimes thought they were just taking the piss. “You feel my emotions?” he asked, terrified by the possibility.
John squinted at him then rubbed his head, “Gee, Rodney, stop it. I get it that you’re afraid, but can you dial it down a bit? You’re giving me a headache.”
Rodney didn’t know what to say to that. He did try and curb his anxiousness and could feel something like … calm … seeping into him. The hugeness of this thing suddenly hit him and he wanted to scream. Instead he just offered Carson his arm for bloodletting. “Take it all, Carson,” he said without looking at either of them. “Just take it all.”
“What have you lads done?” Carson asked though, not doing the nice thing and killing Rodney by bleeding him out. He looked back and forth between them with a rather alarmed expression on his face.
That question put Rodney on the spot just a little bit though. “Well … hmmm … we … well …”
“I touched this thing and when Rodney wanted to take it from me because it wasn’t working, it shocked us. No clue how long exactly, but whatever it was stopped and we could let go. Then Rodney started dragging me off and here we are again,” John said brightly and Rodney could feel the excitement coming off of John in huge waves. It was downright sickening.
“Oh my God,” Rodney gasped, “you’re an adrenaline junkie!” He pulled his hand from John’s grasp and felt instantly bereft. For a second he wanted to crawl in John’s lap and hug him, but Rodney got up and started pacing - well out of John’s reach. “It was in the ‘not dangerous’ box,” he said to Carson curtly. “And I thought it was a toy,” he added.
“Rodney! You’re not supposed to activate anything unless Radek is there with you to monitor,” Carson reprimanded Rodney sternly, then pushed him back on the hospital bed next to John and took some blood. “I’ll call Radek and let him know we’ve got a situation.”
With a sigh Rodney slumped against John, calmer again. If he hadn’t felt so wonderful he’d be kicking himself for being a moron. When John’s arm slipped around his shoulders, Rodney thought that it could have been something far, far worse. He could have been forced to work together with Kavanaugh.
Part 2
Artist: strivaria
Author: ca_pierson
Beta: darkmoore
Challenge 15
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 12.273
Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis doesn’t belong to me, neither do the characters. This is a work of love and I don’t make money from it.
Summary: 16 year old John Sheppard nearly drowns in a storm. And maybe he really did drown, because what comes next can only be a nightmare. Or a dream. One of the two, really.
Artist notes: Thanks to ca_pierson for taking my ramblings about what I saw in the APOD photo we chose and turning it into something wonderful. It was great working with you.
Author’s Notes:Well. This fic was quite sneaky. It was really supposed to be short, I swear, but apparently I can’t do short, so this is what I got. This really was entirely strivaria’s idea. I just took it and ran with it! Thanks to strivaria for inspiring me like that … with her idea, with her art and with her kind comments. Thanks to darkmoore for beta-ing and helping me through the parts that need medical knowledge, but especially for her pushing me to make this story what it is. Also, she told me I should make sure to say that apart from John, Rodney and Dave everybody else is the age they are in the show. All this was inspired by this Astronomy Picture of the Day!
Click the picture for further details and larger image
Click the picture for further details and larger image.
Coming Home
The strong wind blew water into John’s face as he fought to keep the small sailing boat on course. “Come on,” he muttered desperately as his stiff hands kept slipping on the wet knots. It had cooled down so abruptly that John was shivering, wishing he hadn’t dressed for the strangely warm, late summer. He shouldn’t be out on the water, really, but the weather had been fine three hours ago, and none of the predictions had said it would storm. “Fuck,” he chanted, “fuck, fuck, fuck.” This was not good. So not good. John’s heart raced with fear, he knew what could happen if the boat capsized. And in the current water condition, he didn’t think he’d make it to the shore on his own. Even though he was nearly scared out of his mind, he managed to keep a clear head. The last thing he needed was to freeze up with fear.
Finally the knot to take down the main sail opened and John hoped that he’d make it back to the harbor in one piece. His father would be so angry if anything happened to the boat and as it was, he’d already end up being grounded for a month for being reckless. As he was just about to adjust the sail yet again, a roar made him look up. The wave rolling towards him was huge. For a terrifying moment John wasn’t able to do anything but stare at the wall of water, then it was above him, crashing over the boat and pulling him out with it into the sea.
OooO00OooO
John came to coughing up water and feeling cold. “Oh. Good. You’re alive,” someone said from beside him. Carefully John turned his head to look at whoever had been talking. The first thing John noticed were intense blue eyes staring at him. The second was the crooked line of the other boy’s mouth. The third thing was a mop of blond curls framing the soft face of a boy who looked about John’s age.
“What ... what happened?” John asked, barely able to get out the words through clattering teeth.
“You decided to swim in the ocean during the storm, you moron,” the boy answered, sarcastically.
Pushing himself into a sitting position John looked around. “Where am I?” he rasped out. “And how the hell did I get here?” 'Here' was a small room, mainly made of metal. There was a puddle of water gathering underneath him and his clothes felt like they'd frozen on his body. “And I didn’t decide to do that, I was washed out of the boat,” he answered belatedly, but his words lacked heat. The whole situation was unreal somehow. One moment he'd been surrounded by water, fighting to get to the surface of a roiling ocean, the next he was lying on an unyielding metal floor, looking at someone whom his mother would describe as cherubic.
“A boat! Why would anyone go out in a boat in that storm?” the other boy asked, ignoring the really important things with his rather pointless question. He might have looked like an angel, but he certainly wasn't acting like one.
With a frown John started to undo the life vest he was still wearing. He was freezing and he had to get out of his wet clothes. “It wasn’t storming when I set out, it was actually quite sunny,” he said, his words broken by the clattering of his teeth that just wouldn’t stop. Peeling off the t-shirt was a challenge for his numb fingers and he got stuck half-way through.
“Hold on, I’ll help you,” his rescuer offered with an exasperated eye roll just as John was going to repeat his questions. He started pulling as well and nearly fell backward when the wet cloth came off rather abruptly, then turned around and opened a compartment John hadn’t even noticed before. He pulled out a blanket and wordlessly held it open for John.
With a muttered “gimme a sec” John slowly peeled off the rest of his clothes with shaking hands and then wrapped himself up in the offered blanket. The metal beneath his bare feet was strangely warm once he got out of the puddle and John was immensely glad about that. “Thanks,” he said. “For saving my life,” he added at the curious expression. He felt sluggish … cold. Sluggish, cold and so very tired. “I’m John,” he introduced himself. Thinking was hard at the moment, maybe his brain had frozen and that was why everything seemed so slow. “Who are you?” he asked again.
“Rodney,” Rodney said. “And you’re welcome. I couldn’t very well let you drown, could I? You really should rethink your opinion on sailing. Next time you might not get lucky enough to have me do a test on the engines when you’re falling off your boat.” He walked to the end of the room, and a door opened with a whoosh, revealing something that looked like a Star Trek console, only cooler. And a window that showed the ocean in turmoil. Rodney sat down in the chair on the left, turning it around to look expectantly at John. “Well, come on,” he gestured towards the chair next to him, “take a seat before you fall down.”
“What is this?” John asked, awed at the sight as he drew closer, clutching at his blanket, wishing he’d stop feeling so damn cold. Getting his clothes off had definitely been one of his brighter ideas at least he was dry and cold now instead of wet and cold. “Where am I?” John asked the question before he could really take everything in. He did sit down, though, mostly because he had trouble standing, what with shaking all over. It was all rather bizarre and for a moment John thought he was still drifting in the ocean, freezing to death and hallucinating. God, he was tired.
With a happy hum Rodney turned around the chair to face the window and touched the console. “This is a gateship. They set it aside for me so I can experiment on the engines in peace. Something about keeping out of their way and not breaking valuable equipment,” Rodney said, waving one hand around as if brushing his words away. “Ignorami, all of them, if you ask me. A genius shouldn’t be shackled. I already managed to up the speed of this ship by five percent. Five! Zelenka was trifling with half a percent and said it couldn’t be done. Serves them right if I won’t do the others now. And after what Sumner said to me last time,” Rodney paused to sniff in derision, “I don’t think I’ll help them upgrade the rest of the fleet. Unless he apologizes profoundly, of course.”
John couldn’t quite wrap his head around everything he’d seen and heard just then. He heard the words but putting the meaning to them got harder and harder. If he could only put down his head for a bit and get some sleep. Frowning John concentrated. This kid had pulled him out of the water into what looked like a futuristic spaceship right out of a TV show. Rodney. A boy who was - apparently - pretty intelligent and talked in big words. And he deserved that John at least listened to him. Or tried to. “Gateship?” John asked. Maybe he was hallucinating? He'd probably hit his head when he’d gone overboard, and the freezing water would have done the rest. This was just so … so … wow. John didn't even really have any words for how far out there this whole thing was.
Rodney turned towards him, the controls forgotten. “Oh. I’d forgotten that you - you wouldn’t know about the gateships. Of course. I’m sorry,” he offered with a rather endearing flush of embarrassment. “The gateships are Atlantis’ main means of transport outside of the city.”
“Atlantis.” John was starting to feel like a slow echo, but he couldn’t help it; Rodney wasn’t making any sense at all. For a moment he wondered why his subconscious would come up with someone like Rodney … but then he decided not to worry about it for now. Worrying took too much energy. Energy he didn’t have.
Instead of trying to explain Rodney turned back towards the window and put his hands on the controls. The only indication of the ship moving was the change of scenery outside. And wasn’t that cool. John had been in a lot of planes in his life, but he’d never had such a smooth ride. The ... gateship moved through the storm like a hot knife through butter. It gathered speed and then-
It was breathtaking. Spires upon spires, slowly coming into view while the ocean roiled about it, breaking against the bows of a city. Huge towers stretched heavenwards, thousands of windows illuminated, lightening their way.
“Wow,” John breathed.
The only answer he got was a crooked smile and a short nod, but John didn’t mind. Rodney seemed to need a lot of concentration to fly the gateship if the frown was any indication. It was marvelous, though, approaching from high above, safe from the freezing water and the giant waves. They flew to hover over the top of the central tower, then the gateship lowered through a hole that had opened in the ceiling. Soon they were parked in the middle of what looked to John like a garage. Full of gateships … gateship. What a funny name for a kind of plane.
“We should probably go see Elizabeth. She’ll want to know that I brought someone back,” Rodney said, then let his eyes travel over John’s blanket-wrapped figure. “But first I’ll get you something to wear. No need to shock Elizabeth by dropping your blanket in front of her,” Rodney said, grimacing, “no telling who’d be more mortified, you or her.”
Even not knowing who Elizabeth was John silently agreed. He didn’t want to test that theory. Girls were weird that way. He watched Rodney practically run outside and there was only a brief moment of panic when the gateship’s hatch closed behind Rodney. At least the light stayed on and John really didn’t think Rodney would leave him in there on his own for very long. He’d sounded very proud of his plane and John was surprised he was allowed to stay behind on his own. Closing his eyes John leaned back in his chair, just wanting to rest a little. He really was quite tired and he hurt all over.
Before he knew it Rodney was back with a bundle of clothes in his arms. “I hope they fit, but you’re about my size. Maybe they’ll be a bit baggy on you ... well, we’ll just have to get you a belt later,” he said the second the ramp lowered for him, like he was just continuing their one sided conversation from earlier. John didn’t mind much, it was rather reassuring to hear Rodney prattle on, actually. “Hurry up now, Elizabeth hates it when I wait too long to report back after I go out with the gateship.”
The clothes were simple enough, black cargo trousers that were maybe two sizes to big and a blue T-shirt that looked like it’d be too long. The socks were a brown color John didn’t bother to identify and there weren’t any shoes. When he tried to take the first piece of clothing - the pants - from Rodney they slipped through his uncooperative fingers. “Sorry,” he slurred and tried to get up to pick the underpants up and get dressed, but his body wasn’t listening to him. His eyes felt so heavy as well, it was hard to keep them open and look at Rodney.
Rodney frowned and John couldn’t tell if he was worried or if he was angry that John was so clumsy. When he said “let me help you” he definitely sounded like he was worried though.
“Tired,” John muttered as Rodney helped him dress, “cold.”
“Yeah, I know. That bath in the ocean must have been quite unpleasant,” Rodney answered, pulling John into a standing position so he could get the trousers over his hips. John felt his world keel when Rodney let go of him for a moment to do the buttons. “Hey!” Rodney yelled close to John’s ear. “A little focus here, don’t fall over.”
“Sorry, “John said again. He let Rodney help him with the shirt, his fingers leaving warm trails where they touched. Leaning into Rodney he started to feel a bit warmer again, but he was dressed now and Rodney pulled away.
“There you go,” Rodney said and put the dry socks over John’s freezing feet, “now we’re all done.” He put the blanket around John and sat down in his chair again.
“You’re making the ship fly faster?” John asked, wanting to say something - anything - to distract from the fact that he’d needed help dressing like a toddler.
“Amongst other things,” Rodney answered absentmindedly as he picked up a little hand-held device that had a lot of numbers running over it. “I improve everything that I can. Energy consumption, speed, shield efficiency, maneuverability, the list goes on.”
“Aren’t you a bit young to do stuff like that?” John asked, his eyes closing on their own account for a moment. When he opened them again Rodney was glaring at him.
“I’m a genius,” Rodney said archly and turned back to his work. His voice softened again when he went on, “I’m far enough advanced to do some real work.”
He hadn’t wanted to upset Rodney. “Sorry, Rodney,” he said, hoping that was enough to make Rodney feel a little bit better. Maybe his age was a touchy subject? There’d been that really intelligent kid at his school a couple of years back and John remembered how much flack that one had gotten from everybody else. Rodney’d probably experienced similar things. Frowning John tried to remember what they were doing. Oh. Right. “Shouldn’t we go?” he asked. Rodney’d said they were going to see somebody. He’d forgotten the name though.
“Science is more important than the chain of command,” Rodney muttered as he put down his … thingie. “So much more important. It’s not funny how my genius is chained down by all this idiocy. I’m supposed to soar free, free of all the bureaucracy all the stupid people have to go through. But no, scientific advancement is obviously not important enough.”
“Sorry,” John mumbled again, wishing there was something else he could say to that.
All of the sudden the room tilted again and John did the only thing he could think of, he said Rodney’s name. The floor really was warmer than it looked like, even though the metal was quite hard. “Cold,” he managed to say before Rodney was there, helping him lie down completely. Nothing could get him off the floor again, John was quite sure of that. So wherever Rodney had wanted them to go, he’d just have to go on his own.
“Oh my, God, John,” Rodney muttered as he helped John straighten out his legs. “You look terrible.” Rodney’s hands brushed against John’s and he recoiled slightly. “And you’re still freezing.”
At least he’d stopped shaking so badly, that probably counted for something, didn’t it? He didn’t really care right now, because even with dry clothes and plastered to the floor John still felt cold. Maybe that's why he was seeing things and hallucinating Rodney. “Cold, Rodney,” he said with a shaking voice.
“Why did I even bother getting you something to wear?” Rodney suddenly asked, but he didn’t sound cross, he sounded frantic and didn’t seem to want an actual answer. Then he tapped a little thing that was in his ear. Weird. John hadn't even noticed that before. “McKay to the infirmary, I have an emergency in gateship five.”
He was just about to tell Rodney that he was fine and to stop bossing him around, but John’s teeth were still clattering and while he wasn’t shaking so much anymore, he was still freezing. So he found himself lying there, listening to the calming cadences of Rodney yelling at someone over the weird little phone that looked like it was inside of Rodney’s ear … feeling the blanket wrapped around him securely and Rodney’s hand on his chest. If he hadn’t been so sleepy John would have asked who Rodney was shouting at, instead John just lay there, listening. He was so very, very tired. Too tired to stay awake, he decided. He closed his eyes.
Next time John became aware of his surroundings there were people all around, talking calmly at him, pulling him onto a stretcher and wrapping him into a blanket that felt hot on his cold skin. Warmth flooded into his arm as well and John looked on as someone hung up an IV bag above him.
“Will he be okay?”
Rodney, John thought sluggishly, wanting to reassure the other boy, but unable to make his lips move properly. He could hear Rodney talk, though, while he was being pushed through what felt like kilometers of corridors at top speed. John didn't really know what happened after that. He had fuzzy memories of movement, of a bright light traveling over his body. Of people asking him questions and talking to each other. He had a particular vivid memory of one of the doctors telling a frowning, elegant woman that he'd 'damn well call her once the lad wakes up properly' and to 'stop hovering already'. The one thing he knew for sure was that every time he came to, Rodney was there. Sitting next to him reading most of the time. Once, Rodney looked at him while John blinked awake and asked him how he felt. John's answer had been a smile as his eyelids started to droop again.
Waking up properly was a peculiar feeling. He was warm and his head felt clear, but he was also staring at a metal ceiling. Just like that everything that had happened to him since the storm began rushed back. Gateships. Atlantis. “Rodney,” he managed to rasp. His throat felt dry. He cleared it and tried again. “Rodney? Where am I?”
“You're on Atlantis, John. Everything's fine. Carson made sure there was no water in your lungs, but the hypothermia complicated matters just a little bit. He said you'll be fine though, that you'll just need some rest.”
Exhausted John closed his eyes for a moment, but he didn't lose any time before he opened them again. “Atlantis is a myth,” he said because that was something that just needed to be said.
“On Earth it is,” Rodney answered. “We know all about the city that sank into the ocean, about how advanced it had been and how the people fled into all the directions of the heavens and all that drivel. Some of the 'Lanteans back then returned to Earth, all right, but the rest of them decided to bring their city home, a long journey even under normal circumstances. It took them ten years to get back and … well … we've been traveling ever since. Taking in people here, or there, staying invisible.”
Listening to Rodney talking was still very calming, even when he understood what was being said. “You're not a hallucination,” he finally said when Rodney looking at him expectantly became just a little too creepy. He watched as Rodney's expression became one of utmost confusion.
“No,” Rodney answered, “I'm not a hallucination.” Like it was all so very clear and John should have known that he wasn't.
“I'm on Atlantis?” he asked, just to make sure he hadn't misheard. It was overwhelming to be told he was in a mythical city, even more than the dream-like memories John had of the flight in the gateship, his arrival in the city … it was just … wow.
“Yes, you're on Atlantis,” Rodney confirmed, but he looked decidedly uneasy. For a moment all they did was stare at each other, then Rodney turned away and screamed, “Hey, Carson! You didn't tell me nearly drowning would make him stupid.”
And that just sounded so … Rodney that John had to laugh, forgetting to be scared.
“Now he's laughing like a loon,” Rodney yelled, “come over here and fix him.”
John remembered this doctor, but only in the vaguest sense possible. “This is Atlantis,” he told him happily, still laughing. “I'm on Atlantis.”
“Oh my God. Carson, what did you give him?” Rodney asked, completely aghast, making John laugh even harder.
“Shut up, Rodney,” Carson said, taking John's temperature. “Yes, lad, this is Atlantis. It's alright, we all,” and here he stopped to glare at Rodney, “know it can be a wee bit overwhelming. You're not dreaming though, it's all real. No reason to be afraid either.”
John turned around to his side and curled up, watching both of them carefully. They didn't look like he needed to be scared of them. And up to now all they'd done was save his life, care for him medically and treat him well. “Yeah,” John said, deciding that those facts alone were enough for him to trust these people. “Okay.”
“Carson?”
John twitched at the new - female - voice and watched as Rodney practically shrunk into the background.
“Is he well enough now?”
Carson rolled his eyes and drew the curtain around John's bed open to let a well groomed … well … lady in, who proceeded to look at John and smile at him kindly. “You can have a minute, Elizabeth,” Carson told her. “There are a couple of tests I want to do before I let him go.” Then Carson grinned at John and winked at him before leaving the enclosure.
“Hi there,” Elizabeth said kindly.
Huh, John thought. So this was Elizabeth. The woman Rodney had been so scared of.
“Rodney,” she said, just as kindly and nodded at Rodney who had melted into the curtain behind him.
“Elizabeth,” Rodney replied. It sounded rather tame and John wouldn't have guessed that Rodney had it in him.
John muttered a quick “hello”, not sure what to expect from this rather friendly person who seemed to inspire fear in Rodney. The dissonance made John feel rather uncomfortable and he decided to just wait and see what was going to happen. Elizabeth surely wasn't frightening at all. Actually she smiled at both Rodney and John, fine laugh lines appearing around her eyes. And against his will John liked her instantly.
“How are you?” she asked John.
John wasn't used to being asked questions like these. Nobody cared how he was most of the time and it was stunning that this stranger would. “I'm … I'm fine,” he finally settled on saying. And he was. He was warm all over, the bed was incredibly comfortable. He could think and he could move his fingers.
“I'm very glad to hear that, John,” she said, smiling again. “Can you tell me what happened? Rodney was very vague, but he was worried about your well-being, so I won't hold it against him.” There was a light in her eyes and she grinned mischievously at John as they both listened to Rodney sputter and huff about how he hadn't been any more worried than was warranted.
“I fell off the boat in the storm and Rodney fished me out before I could drown,” John said, seeing the humor in her eyes and figuring she was trustworthy enough to tell her everything. Not that it was such a secret, apart from hurting his pride a bit. “The rest is a bit hazy I'm afraid.”
Rodney had calmed down again and butted in, “I called Carson to the gateship when he started shaking.” He looked at John, his face shuttered. “Carson said if I hadn't gotten to him when I did it would probably have been too late.”
“Yes, so he said,” Elizabeth confirmed, looking between the two young men, clearly wondering what to do with either of them. “You've been in the infirmary for over a day now, John, and once Carson allows you to leave you can stay with Rodney until we know you'll be alright. I'm sure your parents will be out of their minds with worry about your whereabouts, but I'm afraid we can't let them know what happened to you without giving away our presence here and I can't allow that. I hope you won't get into too much trouble when we bring you to the mainland.”
Worried? John repeated in his head? His parents? No, they wouldn't be worried. He doubted they even realized he was missing yet. They'd been gone for the weekend, attending a conference in Europe, and Dave didn't care where he was as long as John was back before their parents. The housekeeper was used to both of them coming and going as they pleased, so that wasn’t a problem either. “It's okay,” John said, trying to ease the frown lines on Elizabeth's face a little. That someone would worry about getting him into trouble was something new as well. “I wasn't supposed to be back home before Sunday night anyway.” It wasn't technically a lie, because he had meant to stay out on the boat for the night anyway.
Elizabeth nodded seriously. “We'll be able to bring you back to the mainland before that,” she said. “Now I'd better go before Carson throws me out.”
Rodney grumbled about her assuming he would want to share his quarters with someone, but John could see he was only doing that to keep up a front. The fact that he kept grinning at John like it was the best thing to happen to him in a while might have clued him in if Rodney hadn't stage whispered 'yay, you can stay with me' at him when Elizabeth had left the enclosure.
And John really didn't mind at all. As long as Rodney stayed close by while Carson did his tests John just didn't care at all. Rodney was the only one around he really knew. While John never thought of himself as easily frightened he was in a strange city, with strange people and having someone there he knew - well, knew was the wrong word, but someone who wasn’t quite so strange at least - was … nice. Even if Rodney was one of said strange people and he didn't know him for much longer than the rest of them. It was just that … he liked Rodney.
Liked Rodney a lot actually.
“We’ll start by putting you through the scanner,” Carson said as he came back through the curtain, rubbing his hands and looking altogether too cheery. “Shouldn’t take too long.”
‘Shouldn’t take too long’ actually turned out to be two hours of waiting alternated by being pushed around and waved at with strange things. Carson took as well. John didn’t mind so much, but Rodney had been complaining constantly the whole time. How the room was way too cold for John to sit around in a hospital gown, how Carson had said it wouldn’t take long, how they should better make sure he was completely alright. Carson and the nurses just seemed to ignore it, but he could see the odd smile now or then.
Before they could finally go, Carson had smiled at them broadly and told them - like a proud father - that John had the strongest expression of the ATA gene he’d ever seen. Something that obviously excited him a lot while Rodney only looked at him with wide eyes. Then Rodney practically shooed John outside while Carson laughed and threatened him with long needles. They stood just outside the door for a moment before Rodney pulled himself together again. He smiled at John shyly, then said, “I want to show you something. You’ll love it!”
John just nodded and smiled back. He allowed Rodney to take his hand and start dragging him away. Really, he didn’t mind going sightseeing with Rodney. There was something about the city that made John feel safe. He’d never felt anything quite like it. Like he could relax here, without fear of anything. It was the most peaceful place John had ever been to in his whole life. And there was this warmth that filled an empty place inside of him he hadn’t been aware of before, one he only noticed now that it was absent. Looking left and right into the open doors of what looked like workrooms John followed Rodney in speechless awe. The city was wonderful. “So, where are we going?” John asked.
Rodney shrugged, but his face lightened up a bit, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “The Gateroom,” he said. “It’s awesome, really. Maybe we get lucky and a team is just returning, that’d be great.” He sniffed in disdain before he continued, “They won’t let me close to the ‘gate. Elizabeth said that I’m still too young to go through.”
“‘Gate?” John asked, already starting to feel slightly lost again with all the unknown terms and the way Rodney talked like he should know about all this. He knew Rodney just didn’t know better, but it was annoying.
The put upon sigh was something John had expected from Rodney and it made him smile, his annoyance melting into something. “The Stargate. We use it to go to other planets to trade for food and other things we can’t produce ourselves.”
“That sounds fun,” John commented not entirely sure what a Stargate was supposed to look like, but totally getting why Rodney would want to go through it. John had always loved science fiction, reading everything he could get his hands on. Maybe it was something like a transporter in Star Trek? Other planets, he thought excitedly, though. With aliens. The thought alone ... but if Rodney was too young to go through, then John was most likely as well. “How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” Rodney said, his frown a sure sign about how unhappy he was about that. “There’s a stupid decree by the Council that forbids anyone who isn’t at least eighteen to go through the ‘gate. I’m in the process of appealing it, but they haven’t even agreed to hear me yet.”
“Oh,” John said. Aliens and different planets really had sounded too good to be true. “I’m sixteen,” he offered in the hope it would give Rodney a small measure of comfort that John would be too young to go through the ‘gate as well.
For a moment Rodney just looked at John, and then he smiled as if he had just figured out why John was saying random things. His whole face lit up and for a moment John was struck at how much like an angel Rodney looked with his big blue eyes and the blond curls. If he never opened his mouth he would definitely come across as what John’s mother would call ‘cute’. As it was, the way Rodney seemed to say whatever came into his mind without censoring it along the way really appealed to John. He guessed that didn’t make Rodney a lot of friends, though. Especially with the way he was so clever. Intelligence practically shone out of Rodney’s eyes and he kept reminding people of it as well. John had always curbed himself, somehow knowing if he let it show too much, he’d only suffer. At home, at school, wherever, it wouldn’t do him any good.
His father expected too much of him already and there was a part of John that was determined not to give a father who never showed the slightest bit of caring, the satisfaction of excelling at anything. Even though he could, John did just enough to slide by and the rest of the time he played dumb.
Content with following Rodney in silence, they made their way down a set of stairs and into a huge room. A metal ring dominated the ground floor and John guessed that had to be the Stargate. It looked completely different from what he’d imagined. A little disappointing actually. Just a big circle of metal. No dials, no lights, nothing. That was … until it suddenly sprang to life.
An alarm started and people ran past them to their stations as lights ran along the Stargate, lighting up pictures. A sudden burst of blue something shot out of the ring, settling into a moving surface of what looked like water.
“It’s Teyla’s IDC,” someone called out and a slight haze that had covered the Stargate vanished and then John stared open mouthed as a small group of people stepped out of the blue puddle.
Rodney nudged his side. “Cool, isn’t it?” he asked, grinning at John from ear to ear. “We can go to any other ‘gate in the system from here. Even to other galaxies,” Rodney explained proudly and John finally understood the longing in Rodney’s voice.
To step through this metal ring, this Stargate, to other galaxies ... to see different planets, different people … John had always wanted to become an astronaut, hoping that by the time he was old enough to go into space they could go further than just to the moon. This? This was what he wanted to do. Explore. “Other galaxies?” he finally asked Rodney, embarrassed when his voice broke in the middle of his sentence.
Smiling smugly Rodney nodded once. “Yup.”
Looking back down towards the ‘Gate he watched as the woman and the three men who had come through stepped to the side, waiting for large crates coming through the ‘gate and pushing them to the side. “Cool,” was all he could think of, but it covered the whole thing so well. It was beyond cool. A city that floated on the ocean. A ring of metal you could use to go to other planets - galaxies - with. A small ship that could hover over the ocean and fly so smoothly like nothing John had ever heard of before. “How come I’ve never heard of any of this before?” he asked, suddenly aware of how huge all this was.
Rodney just waved with both of his hands, like it wasn’t anything special. “Oh, we’re not here all the time and we keep it tightly under wraps. Usually Atlantis is underway. We’re basically nomadic. Never stay in one place too long, that’s the current standpoint of our Council. Doesn’t give us a lot of time to settle down anywhere, but we do find the nicest planets. Earth is just one of our usual stops, mostly because it’s the home of our ancestors and some people are just so bound to tradition they couldn’t even go to the loo without a map drawn five hundred years ago, if you get what I mean.”
John did get that. Sounded a lot like his family actually. Things were always done the same way. His grandfather had gone to Harvard, his father had gone to Harvard, and John was expected to do the very same thing. That John wanted to fly, that he wanted to maybe become an astronaut really didn’t matter at all. That John didn’t want to take over the family business or join the Army wasn’t of any consequence either. John was supposed to do what his father had done, what his grandfather had done, and that was that. But John wasn’t only stubborn, there was a core of steel inside of him, and he knew one thing: There was no way he’d do what his father expected of him. “I know how that works,” he told Rodney. “My family is the same.”
“Oh, I’m not related to any of them. A trading team found me on Earth when they were looking for children with the gene ten years ago. The orphanage wasn’t unhappy to get rid of me at all. I only know that my parents died in a car crash and that there was no family to take me in. Because I reacted positively to Carson’s gene therapy they took me in. They do that kind of thing all the time. Mostly because it’s so rare, nowadays, and it doesn’t breed true, for some weird reason. Genetics,” Rodney snorted, “it’s voodoo anyway. Give me a nice engineering problem any day, at least that is solvable.”
They looked at the ‘gate for a little while longer, watching as boxes and crates and baskets came through and were moved out of the way quickly. “It’s a big haul, they’ll have to redial a few times,” he said, then turned and led back the way they’d come in.
“So how is it possible to hide all this? The city is huge and it’s not that far away from the mainland, is it?” John asked, wondering if maybe Rodney didn’t actually want to tell him that, if it was a secret.
“Well. It’s complicated,” he eyed John and looked him up and down once before he sighed. “The city has a shield that allows us to move through space in the first place. When we land we usually bring a storm with us, like the one you nearly drowned in,” Rodney said, looking quite uncomfortable saying it. “It’s all the cold we bring with us hitting the warm air masses. The initial storm hides us well enough, after that they change the settings of the shield. From the outside Atlantis is hidden by a great mass of fog and anyone gazing out at the sea will see what looks like a fogbow. A reflection of the sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colors. It’s all quite interesting, really. Weather and all that.”
Sensing that Rodney was quite uncomfortable with the turn in their conversation John grinned and changed the topic, “Elizabeth seemed quite nice. Not sure why you’re so scared of her.”
Rodney spared him only a quick glance as they kept walking through corridors that all looked the same to John. “It’s a front. To lure you in. She’s actually quite mean most of the time. She’s locked me out of my lab no less than four times this month alone and the number of times I’ve been forced to socialize? Uncountable,” he said, then hesitated and looked at John again rather shyly. “Aside from Lorne and Carson there are only five more natural gene carriers in Atlantis right now, not counting you,” Rodney said, his jaw clenching visibly, obviously jealous. John didn’t even know why. Some kind of gene shouldn’t be such a big deal, should it? Rodney looked away from him, “There’s a fifty percent higher chance for children of a natural to have the gene than from an artificial. Some of the machinery only reacts to naturals and really, the prospect of having another gene carrier like yourself around must be very tempting.”
That stopped John dead in his tracks as his vivid imagination went overboard on what Rodney had just said. “What exactly are you saying? Do they want to keep me here? Am I a prisoner?” John asked, panicked all of a sudden. These people had seemed so nice that John had never even thought they’d do anything like that to him. He’d been grounded for misbehavior often enough to know exactly what it meant to be kept somewhere against his will. And as wonderful as Atlantis seemed at first glance, John didn’t want to be locked up anywhere.
“No!” Rodney exclaimed, obviously shocked at what John had said. He turned to John with big, surprised eyes. “No-one here would ever do that. But I’m sure they’d like for you to stay. Only if you want to, though, they’d never lock anyone up because of that.”
John had to laugh at that. “How do you know that? They don’t even know me. You can’t be certain that they’ll want me around. I’m just a kid,” he said. He knew he wasn’t anything special, his dad told him that often enough. The only one in his life who had ever made him feel welcome at all was his mother.
Rodney smiled at him, an open and happy and John couldn’t help but smile back. “Of course they’d want you here. You’re a gene carrier, they always want naturals around. It’s standard policy, really. I’m sure Elizabeth would even ask your whole family to come with us.”
John shook his head ‘no’. His father wouldn’t leave. Never. He’d most likely call the police for kidnapping, though and make sure John wouldn’t leave the house again until he turned fifty. The thought alone made John feel imprisoned. “That’s a bad idea,” he muttered. He didn’t want anything to happen to these people, especially not Rodney. “This place is amazing and there are people who would feel threatened by it.” Like dad, John added silently, not wanting to scare Rodney.
Rodney frowned, but gave a perky nod. It felt wonderful that someone just took his word, that John didn’t need to explain or justify himself for everything. That someone trusted him. Elated, John drew closer to Rodney . “Is it a lot farther to your room?” he asked, Suddenly realizing how very tired he was. It had been a long day.
“No, we’re here,” Rodney answered and stopped and turned to door to their left. He waved his hand in front of the sensor and it opened before them.
John followed Rodney inside. “You live here all alone?” John asked, his eyes wandering over he room. It was rather bare, the décor very much like everything else he’s seen in Atlantis.
Rodney toed off his shoes and sat down heavily on the couch that dominated the room. “There are people living all around. I wouldn’t call that ‘alone’. But yes, this is my room.” He watched as John walked around, touching things here and there.
“But you can lock the door and everybody leaves you alone.” That sounded so wonderful to John.
“Yes,” Rodney answered, then his face scrunched up in dismay. “Well,” he said, “if I don’t answer the door for too long they get Carson or Elizabeth to override my lock. They’re afraid I could build something deadly and blow the city up or some other nonsense. And of course that one time I had some lemon on accident and nearly suffocated before I could get Atlantis to sound the alarm might have something to do with it, too. So really, they don’t leave me alone and locking the door is a bad idea because all it gets me is a lecture and a month of being grounded.”
“That’s alone enough, though,” John answered, thinking of how often his father barged into his room just because. How often his father searched his room. How often he’d been locked in with no way to leave and no-one checking on him for hours without food when he was being punished for something or other. John shuddered at these thoughts and pushed them away again. He hated thinking of them because there was nothing he could do about it until he could get out of his father’s house. How often had he thought of running away? Gee, how often had he run away? But his father’s money made it really easy for Patrick Sheppard to get what he wanted and apparently he wanted John to be right there. John didn’t understand it. He’d been shuffled about so often, to a boarding school, summer camp, just as long as his father had his peace and quiet. But actually leaving was something he wasn’t allowed to do. John shook his head and forced himself to smile at Rodney, who’d leaned back and closed his eyes tiredly. “So where do I sleep?” he finally asked.
“Oh,” Rodney said and practically jumped up. “I have a guest room. The quarters here are really quite large.”
When John was finally stripped and under a soft blanket, he was asleep so fast he barely managed to pull the blanket up to his shoulders.
OooO00OooO
“You’ll love this,” Rodney enthused as he shooed John into his lab. “Hurry, Radek will be here soon and I really don’t want him breathing down our necks while I show you the good stuff.” When he’d pulled John out of the water he had been torn about it … on the one hand he didn’t want anyone to die if he could help it, but on the other hand he just knew he’d be saddled with their visitor. John was interesting, though, and Rodney knew he wouldn’t have regretted saving a life even if John had been the most annoying person on the whole planet. He was … different. Almost Rodney’s age and he didn’t mind Rodney’s social inabilities. And he looked at everything that was ordinary to Rodney with such … awe. Like he’d never seen anything like it, which - admittedly - he hadn’t. It made Rodney want to drag him all over the city and show off her beauty.
John sauntered over to Rodney’s workplace and leaned against it, looking at the pieces lying about curiously. “What are you going to show me?”
Instead of answering, Rodney got the box Radek had deemed harmless from the shelf and put it on the desk between him and John. “These are things we’ve found around the city or while trading. We forgot how a lot of the stuff worked over time. I mean, we’re not even using all of the city, just the central parts. In the outlining areas there are such awesome things.” John looked at Rodney expectantly and Rodney felt warm all over. “Here,” he said and handed John the topmost Ancient device, “just think ‘on’ at it.”
He watched nervously as John frowned at the small, round thing Rodney had handed him. “It doesn’t seem to do anything,” John said.
“What?” Rodney asked and reached out to take a closer look at it. It should at least light up briefly as it had when Lorne had touched it to see if it was broken or not. Impressing John was working really well up to now. And he’d hoped to be done by the time Radek showed up. “I don’t-” Then he touched the metallic surface and instantly lost his track of thought as electricity surged through his arm, shocking his whole body. His vision blacked out for a moment as Rodney tried to force his fingers away from the obviously malfunctioning device, but he was paralyzed. He couldn’t even scream at John to think ‘off’, to let go of the thing.
As suddenly as it had started it stopped and both John and Rodney let go of the Ancient device at the same time. It clattered to the floor, blinking innocently a few times before finally going back to a dormant state.
“What the-” John yelped, rubbing his hand on his trousers. “What was that?”
Rodney’s whole arm was still prickling from the electronic charge. “Oh my God, oh my God,” he gasped, grabbed hold of John and started dragging him towards the infirmary. “This isn’t good,” he muttered.
“What did it do?” John asked, but at least he was following. “And is your hand still tingling?”
“I have no idea what it did. All we know about the stuff in that particular box is that it won’t explode when activated.” They finally reached the infirmary, and no moment too soon. Rodney felt like he was about to throw up. There was no telling what that thing had done to them. Nervously he checked his still tingling hand. There were no extra digits growing out of it quite yet, but he felt … odd. Rodney couldn’t quite describe the sensation, but he didn’t need to in order to get help. “Carson!” Rodney exclaimed the moment they barreled through the door. “Carson!” Even though Carson Beckett was old enough to be Rodney’s father they had become close friends. In Atlantis age didn’t matter when one was a genius, apparently. “We’ve got an emergency,” he screamed when the nurses didn’t even bat an eyelash.
“What did you touch this time?” Carson asked as he came into the main area of the infirmary.
Panicked enough already, Rodney didn’t really need Carson’s attitude right then, though. “We touched one of the artifacts in the non-exploding box,” Rodney growled, pulling John forward. “It shocked us. Do something!”
Rodney pushed John onto one of the beds and sat next to him, his mind going through all the scenarios about the multitude of ways they could possibly be dying in within the next hour. It wasn’t pleasant, but Rodney just couldn’t stop himself from doing that. Worrying was something he was exceptionally good at. Oh my God, oh my God, he repeated in his head, his fingers tugging the hem of his t-shirt.
“Stop being so negative, Rodney, I’m sure the doctor can help us,” John suddenly said, reached out and took his hand, probably to still the jittery movement.
As soon as John touched him, Rodney felt calmer. It was a strange, foreign feeling, warm and fluffy and … “Oh God,” he groaned and bent over to put his head on his knees to stop hyperventilating. “I think we have a problem,” he muttered into the fabric of his trousers.
“Do you always feel this way?” John asked, his voice a bit pinched. “That much tension’s gotta hurt.”
Rodney stared at John, lost for words. “What … how?” He wanted to ask how this was possible, but he’d seen a lot of weird things during his work on Ancient artifacts. There was no telling what their revered Ancestors had come up with. Even if Rodney sometimes thought they were just taking the piss. “You feel my emotions?” he asked, terrified by the possibility.
John squinted at him then rubbed his head, “Gee, Rodney, stop it. I get it that you’re afraid, but can you dial it down a bit? You’re giving me a headache.”
Rodney didn’t know what to say to that. He did try and curb his anxiousness and could feel something like … calm … seeping into him. The hugeness of this thing suddenly hit him and he wanted to scream. Instead he just offered Carson his arm for bloodletting. “Take it all, Carson,” he said without looking at either of them. “Just take it all.”
“What have you lads done?” Carson asked though, not doing the nice thing and killing Rodney by bleeding him out. He looked back and forth between them with a rather alarmed expression on his face.
That question put Rodney on the spot just a little bit though. “Well … hmmm … we … well …”
“I touched this thing and when Rodney wanted to take it from me because it wasn’t working, it shocked us. No clue how long exactly, but whatever it was stopped and we could let go. Then Rodney started dragging me off and here we are again,” John said brightly and Rodney could feel the excitement coming off of John in huge waves. It was downright sickening.
“Oh my God,” Rodney gasped, “you’re an adrenaline junkie!” He pulled his hand from John’s grasp and felt instantly bereft. For a second he wanted to crawl in John’s lap and hug him, but Rodney got up and started pacing - well out of John’s reach. “It was in the ‘not dangerous’ box,” he said to Carson curtly. “And I thought it was a toy,” he added.
“Rodney! You’re not supposed to activate anything unless Radek is there with you to monitor,” Carson reprimanded Rodney sternly, then pushed him back on the hospital bed next to John and took some blood. “I’ll call Radek and let him know we’ve got a situation.”
With a sigh Rodney slumped against John, calmer again. If he hadn’t felt so wonderful he’d be kicking himself for being a moron. When John’s arm slipped around his shoulders, Rodney thought that it could have been something far, far worse. He could have been forced to work together with Kavanaugh.
Part 2