The Shield and the Puddlejumper - Chapter 7
The Shield and the Puddlejumper - Chapter 7 - the plot thickens
Author: Fenchurch
Beta: Goddess47 whom I adore greatly.
****
When the Prince announced that he was coming home, there was a great deal of fuss in the Gate Room. Major Lorne’s team was able to stand down and Zelenka sighed with relief as he could now tell his people to cease searching for information that they all knew just wasn’t there.
The Lady Regent and the Lord Chamberlain were waiting on the balcony, ready to great and shout at the Prince but, as soon as John appeared from the Jumper Bay, it became obvious that there was something going on.
The Prince was clutching a scruffy young man by the hand and wearing the biggest grin anyone had ever seen on his handsome face. Atlantis started glowing brightly, all her lights lighting up and music playing through her speakers.
“John?” Elizabeth spoke first while John brought Rodney to the balcony, where he bowed.
“Elizabeth… this is Meredith… Rodney, this is my aunt Elizabeth, Regent of Pegasus and my Guardian and this is the Lord Chamberlain, Richard Woolsey.”
“My Lady… My Lord.” Rodney replied formally.
“You are Meredith?” Elizabeth asked, trying to keep her astonishment and disappointment in check.
“Yes, My Lady.”
“Where have you been?” Woolsey demanded. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Rodney has been held captive by his Stepfather but he’s free now and we are going to marry. Show them the shield, Rodney.”
Rodney held out the glowing shield and there was a gasp around the control room.
“You see? Your own proclamation states that I must marry who ever can control that device, so we will wed. Right now, though, I’m going to go and set up Rodney’s quarters.”
John pulled his fiancé towards him and kissed him in front of the whole court, before dragging Rodney away, and they could hear him pointing things out to his love, explaining why he had to have separate quarters and generally enthusing about everything.
Back in the Gate Room, however, Elizabeth exchanged sad glances with Woolsey and they went into the Regent’s office to talk.
***
It had been the most wonderful day and Rodney reflected on it, sitting on a wide and comfortable bed, in his own room in the city of Atlantis.
He could hardly believe it was true. The décor was tasteful and elegant, the bed promised a wonderful night’s sleep and, best of all, he was off that damned planet, away from his Stepfamily and safe. From now on, there would be no more days where he worked himself to death simply to please a man who could never be pleased. There would be food in plenty and real Science to play with and, best of all, there would be John.
Rodney McKay would never be lonely again.
There was a knock at the door and Rodney opened it with his mind, enjoying the little thrill at being able to do it. The Lord Chamberlain entered and Rodney sat up on his bed, somehow knowing that this was not going to be a pleasant chat.
“My Lord Chamberlain.” Rodney bowed, formally.
“My Lord Meredith.” Woolsey replied and Rodney couldn’t help grinning a little at the title.
Woolsey had been practicing what he was going to say - he even had a whole script written out in his pocket but now, faced with the actual situation, he couldn’t bring himself to be so cold. It was obvious in the boy’s demeanor that he loved the Prince, but…
“You wish to speak with me?” Rodney prompted.
“Yes… yes, I do…” Woolsey took a deep breath and looked directly at the boy. “You love Prince John, don’t you?”
“Yes!” Rodney replied, his eyes and face reflecting the joy he felt whenever he thought about the Prince. “I love him with all my heart.”
“That only makes it harder… Do you mind if I sit down?”
“Go ahead.” Rodney nodded towards the cushioned chairs by the large window and then joined the Chamberlain.
“I think that I should probably be blunt.”
“I would prefer that,” Rodney agreed.
“Then… Meredith, it will not be possible for you to marry Prince John.”
“I… excuse me?” Rodney’s happiness crumbled all around him. He should have known that it was all too good to be true. Nothing nice ever happened to him without there being dire consequences, but he had really thought that this once…
“When we proposed the Ball to the Prince, it was an effort to find him a compatible princess. We hoped that it would lead him to finding what he wanted… he was searching for love. It worked, in a way, as he found you, but… Meredith, please bear in mind that he is not only a Prince, but that he is to be King on the day he marries. He needs a Consort, and I am certain that you would make a good Consort, but John’s position requires that this Consort should be a lady… preferably a princess.”
“To ensure the succession,” Rodney guessed gloomily.
“He must have children and those children must be sure. Since the death of his brother, David, the responsibility for the continuance of the Royal line rests with Prince John.”
“I… understand,” Rodney managed to say, even though his heart was breaking.
“There is more. In the past, a bride would have been chosen for the Prince, but we allowed him to search for himself. We hoped that he would be able to choose from the large number of princesses in our Galaxy, and that he would be able to find happiness in his marriage as well as political convenience.”
“We could have children,” Rodney argued hopefully.
“Indeed you could, Meredith, but what if the process is contaminated?”
“We could ensure it isn’t,” Rodney argued.
“You are young and you see love conquering all, but… sometimes cruel acts have to be committed in the name of politics and sacrifices must be made,” Woolsey stated gently.
“And that sacrifice is me… and John.”
Woolsey nodded. “Prince John has already offended a large number of planets who now look at us with greed and anger. Atlantis is not the safe leader of the Galaxy that it once was and, for peace and prosperity, we must ally ourselves with strong regimes and be seen to act decisively. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand,” Rodney agreed angrily, but then he controlled his anger and hurt and spoke again. “So… what happens to me?”
Woolsey sighed again. This was really the hard part.
“The Ancients left behind a few cities such as this. Atlantis is the crowning jewel, but there is another empty palace on a planet that only has a Space Gate. Dr Zelenka has agreed to go there with you to set up base there. You will have staff and laboratories to help you devote yourself to the science that you love and you will be the Lord of all that is there.”
“But I will still be a prisoner,” Rodney nodded. “He will find me. He will look and he will…”
“The address will be taken out of the database,” Woolsey interrupted.
“You… you have thought of everything,” Rodney was ashamed of the wobble in his voice, but he had glimpsed heaven and now it was being snatched away from him, cruelly.
“You have a few minutes to pack and then Major Lorne will accompany you to the Jumper Bay.”
Rodney turned away from the Chamberlain and willed his emotions away, his brain working fast to figure everything out. The Chamberlain got to his feet and moved towards the door, but Rodney had one more loose end to tie.
“Lord Woolsey?”
“Yes?”
“May I… I’m sorry, I understand and I won’t… I won’t make a fuss, but… in bowing to the Royal demands I must make one of my own.”
Woolsey opened his mouth to object, but Rodney carried on.
“Oh, it’s nothing much and I’m sure that with your tact and… and understanding… you know… I wish you to carry a message to him… to His Royal Highness…”
“What is the message?”
“Tell him… tell him that it wasn’t love…” Rodney stuttered. “That I lied about loving him. Tell him that I’m just an arrogant scientist… petty, rude and bad with people. Tell him that I’m already m… married and that I tr… tricked him… just don’t tell him how much I love him. Just make him feel glad that he avoided making a terrible mistake. Make him hate me… I just wanted the title and the power or something. Give him something… something to help him avoid feeling like this, because… I couldn’t bear it if he felt…”
The Chamberlain’s expression changed to one of empathy as he saw the struggle on the young man’s face, and he laid a hand on his shoulder. He gave Rodney a few minutes to collect the few things that he had, including the little shield. Rodney looked around the beautiful room and tried to commit it to memory before they came to take him away from that touch of heaven. It was all too soon that the Chamberlain retuned and led him to the door, where Lorne was waiting to take him to a puddlejumper.
~
When the ship was out of sight and the Gate had shut down, Woolsey went back to the Regent’s office, where Elizabeth waited patiently. She sat straight-backed and proud, knowing the hurt that this would cause her nephew, and she did not turn her head as the Chamberlain entered.
“It is done,” Woolsey announced softly.
“He accepted?”
“He certainly behaved like a prince.” Woolsey sat opposite the Lady Regent. “He understood the political situation and why we had to remove him. He controlled his emotions, not shedding a tear until he was at the Stargate. He… he would have been a good, intelligent Consort to the Prince.”
“And John?”
“The Prince will be informed in the morning that Meredith left without saying goodbye.”
Elizabeth nodded, but did not speak. Woolsey left her to her thoughts.
****
The next morning saw John causing a ruckus in the castle, grabbing a puddlejumper and flying to as many planets on the list of recent addresses as he could, with only Sir Ronon to attend him and a life-signs detector in his hand, but Rodney was long gone and the Prince came home empty-handed.
He strode to the office, where his aunt was waiting and didn’t give her a chance to speak.
“Aunt Elizabeth, Woolsey, I have no idea what you hope to gain by this action… and don’t even begin to repeat that nonsense you were spouting this morning, Woolsey! This is true love and you have ruined everything! Pick a princess… I really don’t give a damn which one… I’ve rejected all of them at least once. Pick a bride and I’ll do my Royal Duty to the altar,” John stabbed a finger at Elizabeth. “But it ends there. The royal line shall die with me!”
The Prince of Atlantis spun on his heel and left the gate room, leaving stunned silence in his wake.
***
The morning of the Marriage of Prince John, Crown Prince of Atlantis to Her Royal Highness Princess Mara of the Tower dawned, but John couldn’t shake the feeling that he was betraying Rodney.
He understood his duty and he even understood why Rodney had agreed to this separation, but he didn’t know if he could accept it. He had searched and looked, paid money to bribe travelers for information and even tried consulting the AI of Atlantis, but none of them could help him find his soul mate.
Music filled his room as the Prince stared out of the window over the sea. He had always enjoyed the music of Johnny Cash, but now this song in particular seemed to have much more meaning than before, so he played it over and over again.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way.
It meant so much more but John had already decided that this would be the last time. After the wedding he would be nothing more than an empty shell, destined to live alone for ever more.
Sighing deeply, saying his private goodbye to Rodney, John allowed Ronon to help him don his wedding cloak, and he left the room to go to his doom.
***
“What in God’s name are you doing here Rodney?” Carson’s exasperated voice brought Rodney out of his daydream. He had his own lab and minions to shout at, technology to use and build and everything he had ever wanted… or at least, everything he had wanted before he had met John. Now it all seemed worthless.
He looked over at his bizarre Godfather and noticed his clothes.
“All dressed up and nowhere to go?” he asked, his tone a long way short of the scathing one he had aimed at.
“You are missing your own wedding!” Carson cried, his accent thickening in agitation.
“My wedding!” Rodney snorted. “No one to marry, Carson.”
“You are supposed to marry Prince John! Oh….”the doctor said something in Scottish that was obviously not complimentary. “You stayed longer than three hours didn’t you! Oh….” Rodney was pretty sure that last bit was a swear word. “I told you we’d be in trouble if you did that!”
“Look!” Rodney replied crossly. “I’m miserable enough as it is! I don’t need you having a go at me.”
“Of course you’re miserable! You’re missing your own wedding! So, who is he marrying then?”
“I don’t know. Some princess from somewhere or other.” Rodney sighed. “Mara? Cara? Zara?”
“I’m going to have to do something really spectacular now, I hope you realize that!” Carson complained.
“Spectacular?”
“Aye. Turn those damned machines off and we’ll get going.”
“Turn them… but Carson…”
“Do ye want to marry your Prince or not?”
“Me? Marry John?”
“I thought you were supposed to be intelligent!” Carson teased.
“You can really do that?”
Carson smiled his widest smile and his blue eyes twinkled.
“I love weddings!”
******
CHAPTER 8 - THE GRAND FINALE!