Hands across the water...

[dr_c_beckett]

Carson was stunned when Rachel burst through the doors of the infirmary, bracing one of her scientists. He and nurses surrounded the man, getting him to a gurney. "What happened? Dr. Antonelli! Someone get Dr. Antonelli, this looks like a bad burn!" He restrained himself from wincing when he saw the condition of the man's hand.

Comments

[dr_macgregor]

She stayed out of the way as they surrounded her colleague. "Someone left a project powered up without authorization. Smythe went to move it and got shocked. I brought him right here after having everyone power everything down, it's an electrical burn." A tall Italian woman on Carson's staff came rushing over. She took over, and Carson came over to Rachel, taking her by the arm. "Right then, Dr. Antonelli is a burn specialist. Come into my office, we'll talk about how this happened."

Rae opened her mouth as Carson surprisingly pushed her along into his office. She closed it, frowning at his hurry and obvious displeasure. As soon as they entered, he pointed at her, then the couch. "Have a seat. Are you hurt at all? What happened?"

She sat on the couch, scowling and rubbing her upper arm. "Consider yourself lucky I know you're just concerned, or I'd smack you for pushing me like that. Just like I told you, someone left an experiment powered up and Smythe was the unlucky one to touch it when we were moving things." Rachel stopped for a moment, then turned pale. "I- I was supposed to be the one to review that experiment before shift change. And Popov was running it."

Carson crossed his arms and frowned. "What does that mean? And ye haven't said if ye're alright."

She looked up at him. "I'm fine, nothing happened to me. But Rodney..." She tapped her comm. "Rodney. I'm fine, but you need to get Radek and come to Carson's office right now. Yes, I'm aware John's off on a mission. Get Radek and come now. I think I know who it is."

[dr_rodneymckay]

Rodney frowned at the freaked undertone to Rae's voice. "Are you sure you're okay?" Then she told him to get Radek and he sighed, already getting up from his desk. "Fine, fine. We'll be there in a few minutes. McKay out."

Rodney ducked his head into Radek's lab. "Hey, Radek, we're needed in the infirmary."

Radek's head snapped up at Rodney's words, hands already shutting down his laptop. "Is Rezavy..."

He shook his head. "Rachel says she's fine, but she sounded upset. She wants us in Carson's office. I'll explain on the way."

Lips thin, Radek finished locking up and glared at his minions. "Keep working. I want those reports done by end of day." Everyone grumbled but got to work as he and Rodney left the lab.

--

Radek was cursing under his breath in Czech as they entered Carson's office. "I am very tempted to just hand you over to this woman, Rodney. Foolish. You are very, very foolish!" As soon as the door was closed, Radek hurried to Rae's side and knelt at her feet. "Rezavy, love, are you well? Truly? What happened?"

Rodney leaned against Carson's desk, arms crossed. "Shenzi? What happened? We saw Smythe in back..."

[dr_macgregor]

She put her hand on Radek's face and kissed him. "No, Míly, I'm fine. Unfortunately, Smythe is the one whose hand is very badly burned."

She looked up at Rodney. "I think I know who your stalker is. The person who left that experiment powered up was one who was in Siberia in 2002. I was wondering why that made me hesitate for a moment. It's when you were there. Zasha Popov. Rodney..." She stayed pale. "I was the one that was supposed to review that experiment. It could have been me that was zapped..."

Carson was pissed. His scowl was deep. "That's it, You are banned from the labs. Don't argue, Rachel. Even low-voltage accidents have a high incidence of causing spontaneous abortion and fetal death in later trimesters. We're not taking this chance again."

[dr_rodneymckay]

Radek turned ashen when Carson mentioned the risk of spontaneous abortion and looked on the verge of a panic attack. //Yes. No more labs for you, love. Far too dangerous.//

Rodney, on the other hand, nodded absently in agreement. He was still puzzling over why that name, Zasha Popov, sounded so familiar...

"Oh shit!" Rodney ignored the three pairs of eyes on him as he tried not to throw up. He couldn't stop the shudders of revulsion, however. "Ew! Dear god, she's here?! Who the hell let her in the city?" At everyone's questioningly looks, Rodney turned red and hugged himself. "Shenzi, remember that one, um, accident in Siberia I mentioned? Well..."

[dr_c_beckett]

Carson just looked at his husband. The husband that approved all personnel transfers... "The one you mentioned before? You said you knew her from Siberia, but not that you knew her well..." He turned back to Rae and tried to project calm at Radek. "She's fine, love. She's not hurt at all."

Rae looked at Rodney, knowledge dawning in her eyes. "That one? Gods, with so many Russians, who would connect the names... Oh yes, she has to go. Immediately. Preferably before John kills her."

She turned back to Radek when Carson focused on him. Calming herself, she put both her hands on his face and made him look in her eyes. She could see panic forming in the stormy blue behind his glasses, and knew the fear he was thinking of. Her voice was soft and steady. "Love..." //Muj Manzel, look at me. I am fine. The baby is fine, neither of us were harmed at all. Nothing happened to us, and nothing will, alright? I love you, and we're fine. Breathe, my heart."

Carson was scowling again as he turned back to Rodney. "Intent or not, that accident itself can't go unpunished. From what I saw, Smythe may lose the use of his hand, if not a few fingers. It's a deep burn, and he'll likely have to go back to Earth to have it properly taken care of. Now someone want to tell me why this might have been directed towards our wife?"

[dr_rodneymckay]

Rodney looked around the room, anywhere but at Carson. Oh yeah, he'd messed up. "Yes, well, I knew Popov was the slut of Siberia, in that sense. I didn't connect her with the same woman I accidently dated because I mistook her for a guy!"

Radek nuzzled Rae's lap, removing his glasses when they got in the way and closing his eyes with a sigh. //My heart, I know, love, you're safe now, but...// He wrapped his arms around her waist. //I could not bear it, for it to happen again. Not to you.// He took heart in the calm he could feel Carson and Rae and, even if slowly, Rodney were sending his way.

Pushing some papers aside, Rodney hopped up on Carson's desk. "Well, a while ago I got an email from someone who more or less declared their undying love, said Shenzi was weak and unworthy of me and that something would happen to her soon to prove she was weak and unworthy of me. This stalker--rather helpfully, I think--pointed out that Shenzi's been flagging lately at work, so I called her into my office. I told her about the email and, well...you know the rest, I think." He shrugged.

Radek's eyes slowly opened, though his head didn't lift from Rae's lap. "I will kill her."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I thought we were passed this, Radek! Enough with the caveman routine! No killing. And, yes Carson, I agree. She needs to be dealt with. I've saved the emails into my personal laptop, which as you know isn't connected to the servers, and family-locked my office before coming here. Do we have anymore evidence?"

[dr_macgregor]

Rae slowly combed her hand through Radek's hair. This had to be doubly hard for him, to deal with such a fear from the past. Rachel remembered when he'd first told her about Magda, and how she'd made a silent vow never to worry him like that. Fat lot of good that did now. But still... If it made them happy, if it protected her baby... She could still do the administrative part of her job, even it that was her least favorite part. She could oversee the work, just not participate. Carson just looked like he expected her to fight the decision, so she felt strangely justified that he was shocked when she spoke.

//Then I will not let it happen, my love. Not to me, not to us, not to our baby.// "Fine, Carson. I'll stick to the administrative and oversight part of it from now on. At least that, I can do from home if necessary, and I'll stick to my office when there. I won't use the lab exit unless it's an emergency, alright? This just proves I can't control everything, and I won't risk our child. Don't worry, Rodney, I can still do quite a bit of my job. I can even take on a little of your paperwork to make up the slack." //Will that work, my heart? I can still contribute and be more safe.//

She looked up when Rodney spoke. "I can provide proof that she knew procedures, that it was her experiment, and that it was common knowledge I was going to be the one to review it today. Will that help?"

[dr_c_beckett]

Carson focused on Rodney's words after being stunned at Rachel's easy capitulation. He'd fully expected her to protest, to try to go back to the lab. "Well, we'll let John know as soon as he gets back, and you can call Sgt. Bates to take her into custody until then. And Rachel's doing too much at work?" He frowned over at his stubborn wife. "What d'ye mean, flagging? Rachel, if you're feeling unwell, ye've got ta tell me. It's natural for you to be tired, especially in the first trimester as your body re-adjusts. But you've got to keep me informed so we know if it's too much."

[dr_rodneymckay]

Radek could not help the deep sigh of relief when Rae agreed to give up the lab work. He kissed her thigh then leaned up to kiss her properly. //Thank you, my heart.//

Rodney frowned slightly, but nodded. "If you think you can. I just don't want you taxing yourself, Shenzi."

Radek climbed up onto the couch beside Rae and pulled her into his arms. //Yes, love, thank you.//

Nodding, Rodney lightly kicked his feet. "That will go a long way to proving she had something to do with the 'accident' with Smythe, yes." At Carson's tone and words, he rolled his eyes. "I didn't know or I would have reduced her load, Carson. Didn't you just hear me say that I was only informed a little bit ago by Popov, my would-be stalker?"

[dr_c_beckett]

Carson sighed. "I'm not upset with you, Rodney. If anyone, Rachel herself should have told us if she had too much to do."

Rae herself finally frowned, still in Radek's embrace. "Carson, it wasn't too much. I have headaches, but you know about those and my alternate warned you about them anyway. Yes, I've been a little tired, but not that bad. I may be pregnant, but I'm not an invalid. Really, dammit! If it gets to be too much, I'll tell you, I swear."

[lt_col_sheppard]

John shuffles in, Ronon and Teyla in tow, Parrish close behind. Teyla tossed her hair over her shoulder and slid into an available gurney, kicking her feet lazily.

"I still don't think it was wise, Colonel--that man could have seriously hurt you."

John snorted and leaned against the other end of the gurney, zipping and unzipping his tac vest rhythmically.

"oh please, it was an alpha male thing...he was trying to make himself look good in front of his little groupies and I didn't let him, simple."

Ronon grunted and sprawled across his own gurney, feet dirtying the pristine sheets beneathfoot. "I still say you should have skewered him...it would have been good for a laugh, and would have gotten rid of a potential risk."

John shook his head and glanced around, wondering where his usually-prompt husband was off to. "nah, kid needed a lesson, not a belly wound...anyway, I've got plenty of spouses, I don't need to win any more in tests of manliness."

He waved a nurse over and gestured to his team. "reporting as always, Ma'am--ready to provide you with the finest bodily fluids available."

[dr_macgregor]

SHelly noticed the team come in and came over to smile at the Colonel. "Mmm, so I hear. But then, I don't need Dr. Beckett's descriptions, now do I?" She winked and started to check them out. A few moments later, Shelly put away her stethoscope after drawing blood. "Good to go, the lot of you."

She put a hand on the Colonel's arm and drew him aside after he hopped off the hospital bed. "Colonel, you might want to go in Carson's office. Dr. MacGregor came in earlier with an injured co-worker she brought down. They went in to talk, and then Drs. McKay and Zelenka came down. They're still in there."

[lt_col_sheppard]

Shelley's decision to postpone telling him until after she'd divested him of a bit of blood and piss showed just how wise a woman she really was. He gave her half a smile in thanks before his legs darted him off toward the office without him really asking them to. He took a deep breath at the door-calm...calm...Shelley would have said something if Rae were injured..and he'd have heard as soon as he stepped foot on base..she was fine....probably.

He still rushed through the door and loped to her side, usually-stoic features a mask of worry.

"you're ok, right? I mean, of course you are, they would have told me...but still....tell me you're alright so I can stop having a stroke."

[dr_rodneymckay]

Radek rolled his eyes when the door opened and John entered. Despite his husband's best efforts, Radek was still smacked with John's worry for their wife. "Calm, John, she is fine."

Rodney snorted and in his most scathing tone, "Oh yes, Colonel, we're all fine, thank you for asking. And how was your day, hm? Meet any homocidal natives?"