Personal Item Challenge: Token by maverick4oz
Challenge: Personal Item
Title: Token
Author: Maverick
Pairing: McShep
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox or my galaxy. Just playing for fun, not profit.
Thanks to cheights for her usual amazing beta.
Dedicated to pirl as this story was written for her birthday and just happened to fit this challenge.
Token
by Maverick
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rodney woke to the feel of John Sheppard’s thighs pressing against his hips, the glide of Sheppard’s hands across his belly, and the weight of Sheppard’s ass firmly against his crotch. It was a dream come true. They’d been dancing around this for so long, and he was happy that they’d finally gotten to the naked groping part. He just wished he could remember how. And he wished that Sheppard would stop sticking what had to be his boney elbow into his side because it wasn’t sexy or arousing. Quite frankly it hurt. You’d think someone with the Major’s prowess would have a much better technique. But you’d be wrong. He sighed. Well there’d be plenty of time to teach him more finesse, and less...oh my GOD, searing pain. Rodney’s eyes flew open. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to stop the bleeding. If you’d stop squirming, that would be good.”
“Bleeding?”
“Yeah, Rodney. You got grazed by an arrow, and then when you saw your own blood, you passed out, you know probably from manly hunger again.”
It all came back to him. A meeting with the natives and an attack by a warring tribe. Running back toward the gate and sliding down an embankment, arrows flying from above. Sheppard pushing him out of the way and something hitting him from the back when he tried to return the favor. So much for getting to the naked groping part.
Rodney tried for an indignant look in response to John’s barb, but all he could manage was a hiss as Sheppard applied pressure to the cut. “Grazed? That feels like more than a flesh wound.” Rodney reached down to touch the gash to gage for himself, but John slapped his hand away.
“What part of hold still don’t you understand? It’s just a graze. If you’d quit moving, it would stop bleeding. Then I could clean and irrigate it and bandage it up.”
“Are you sure?”
John looked down at him and nodded. “Yes Rodney, I’m sure. Your death isn’t imminent.”
Rodney felt John press his hand harder against the wound and he did his best not to move, but it was hard not to squirm with the Major still straddling him. He liked the weight of the other man on top of him, and those thoughts were so not what he needed to be thinking about while he was bleeding to death on some god forsaken backwoods planet. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t dying. Sheppard had said that his death wasn’t imminent but...oh shit. He tried to sit up. “What if those were poisoned tipped arrows? The toxins could be spreading through my system right now.”
John pushed him back down and frowned. “Dammit Rodney, it had just about stopped. And I hate to point out the obvious, but chances are if the arrows were poisoned, you’d already be dead now.”
“It could be a slow moving poison.”
“Yes, you’re right. Those very angry natives with their rudimentary weapons have probably cooked up some extremely slow moving poison.”
Rodney tried for his best glare but he didn’t think it was very effective with him being pinned on his back. “It could happen. And even if it’s there’s not poison, I could still bleed to death.”
John hovered his surgical-gloved left hand over Rodney’s mouth to make him stop talking. “McKay, you’ll be fine,” he said checking the wound again. “There it’s stopped bleeding.”
Rodney nodded as John rifled through the first aid kit for what he was looking for.
John pulled out wipes and bandages from the kit and set them on Rodney’s bare stomach. He brought the first item up to his mouth. After ripping open the alcohol wipe package with his teeth, he looked down at Rodney, a sympathetic smile on his face. “This might sting a little.”
The pain burned through Rodney and he hissed again. “A little?”
“Okay, it’s clean. Let me get the iodine on it, and I’ll bandage it up so your insides don’t fall out,” John said with a wink.
“Very funny Major. Are you enjoying this?”
John looked down at him, his face cloaked in an expression that Rodney couldn’t decipher. “No, I’m not a big fan of my people getting injured.”
Rodney snorted “Your people? Who are you Gandhi?”
“Not so much. I don’t think Gandhi would have taken out the natives with a P-90.” He wiped the iodine across the wound and covered it with the sterile bandage. Once the gauze pad was secured in place with surgical tape, he smiled down at Rodney. “All finished.”
“Can I sit up now?”
“Slowly.” John swung his leg to the side so he was no longer straddling Rodney. Snapping off the latex gloves, he reached down into the medical kit once more and pulled out a packet of Tylenol. “Here, take these,” He handed Rodney the pills and his canteen.
“Thanks,” Rodney said while handing the canteen back to John. He shivered as the breeze picked up. “Can I have my shirt back now?”
John shook his head no. “Sorry Rodney, but your shirt’s a lost cause. It’s soaked in blood, and we really don’t want the scent of fresh blood attracting any of the indigenous animals.”
Rodney shivered again. Great, just great. Getting mauled by some mutant Pegasus predator wasn’t high on his to do list. But dammit, he was cold. “Don’t suppose you have an extra one on you?”
“Nope. Sorry, I must have left it in my other pants. I do have this lovely silver survival blanket for you,” he said, handing it over.
“Yeah, because silver’s so *my* color.”
John smiled. “Well it’s starting to get cold, so that will at least keep you warm,” he said packing up their supplies. “Do you think you can make it there?” He pointed to a large rock formation about 300 meters to the West. “That looks like the best place to set up camp.”
Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders and tying it at his neck like a cape, Rodney nodded. He had taken the hand that John extended to help him up before the words really sunk in. “Camp? We have to stay here?”
“Yes. There’s no way we can make it back to the Stargate before nightfall. And it’s not worth the risk in the dark. We’re going to have to wait until morning.”
“What about Teyla and Ford?” Rodney felt kind of guilty that he hadn’t asked about them earlier.
“Teyla got nicked by an arrow as well, but they made it back to the gate. I told them to go through and for Ford to bring back reinforcements in the morning. With this terrain, we don’t want to start an offensive at night.”
Rodney starting slowly walking toward the area that John had picked out. “I bet Ford was not happy about that.”
Picking up both their packs, John smiled slightly. “No, he wasn’t. He made me make it a direct order that he could not return until the morning.”
Finally reaching the rock formation, Rodney sat back down against a large boulder with John’s arm steadying him. His side was throbbing, but he looked up at John and gave him a crooked smile. “Knowing Ford, he’ll come back with more than half the soldiers on Atlantis and lots of fire power. There’s a strange comfort in that.”
John smiled back. “Yep. Ford will definitely have our six.”
Rodney watched as John gathered brush and twigs. He thought the other man was going to make a fire, until he saw him arrange the items in a large semi circle in front of their position. The Major was making sure they would hear anyone who tried to approach. “You think they might try to attack us again?”
John walked back to where Rodney was sitting. “Truthfully, no. Not tonight. All six in the attack party are dead. They now know what our weapons can do, so I don’t think they’ll risk it tonight. Come daybreak, that’s another story.”
Rodney realized John must have taken them all out while he had been unconscious. There was a strange comfort in that as well. But as the Major would say, he’d always known that Sheppard had his six as well. “So why the precautions?”
John sat down next to Rodney and started pulling things out of his pack. “Well in case you hadn’t noticed by now, things don’t always go as planned in the Pegasus Galaxy. Better safe than sorry. You hungry?”
Rodney just cocked his head and looked at John in response.
John smiled. “Okay, stupid question. When *aren’t* you hungry?”
“I firmly believe there should be some constants in this and every universe. If you’ll hand me my pack, I have a chicken tetrazzini MRE with my name on it.”
John reached over and handed Rodney his pack. “You’re lucky that the arrow caught the side it did, or no tetrazzini for you.”
“Proof that there is justice in the world.”
John laughed when he caught the sight of the MRE packet. It indeed had McKay’s name on it, literally in permanent ink across the side. “Do you label your underwear as well McKay?”
Rodney looked over at John startled by the comment as his attention was on the MRE. He frowned at John’s huge smile. “What? I have food allergies. I find it best to label the meals I can eat and you know not die a horrible death from.”
“So does that mean you don’t want the extra MRE I brought along for you?” John waved the package in front of Rodney’s face. “It’s meatloaf.”
Rodney grabbed the pack from John’s hand. “Meatloaf? How did you get meatloaf? I went through the entire supply. There was no meatloaf. I made a note to e-mail the president about it when we can contact Earth again.”
John smiled. “I have my ways. And you’d really e-mail the president about MREs?”
“Of course I would. I mean we are in a galaxy far, far away facing unfathomable challenges and imminent death each and every day. The least they could do is provide a few simple tastes of home.”
“The cafeteria serves meatloaf.”
Rodney tried to cross his arms but stopped as the motion pulled on his side. “It’s not the same. If I’m stuck shirtless on some planet with a gash in my side, I want my comfort food of choice.”
John grinned. “Well, then I’m glad I could oblige.”
Rodney smiled back as he ripped open the pack. “Thank you. You want the tetrazzini?”
“No, you have both. You don’t have to fight off Ford for seconds tonight. Besides, I’m perfectly happy with my,” John looked down at the other MRE he pulled out. “Spaghetti with meat sauce.”
“You are a prince among men, Major.”
John just smiled.
~*~*~*~*~*~
John did another quick walk around the perimeter as Rodney got settled for the night. He wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the ground, but the survival blanket was keeping him warm and the latest dose of Tylenol dulled the throbbing of his side. Plus, if he had to get stuck on an alien planet at least he was with Sheppard. He felt much more safe and content than he should considering what he’d been through that day. And thoughts of safety sent him searching through his vest for his small token of home. It was an old habit.
He checked the pocket, but it wasn’t there. It was then that he realized the arrow had ripped a hole across the bottom of the pocket. “Oh no.”
John made his way over to Rodney and dropped to his knees, his hands on Rodney’s side. “What’s wrong McKay? Is the wound bleeding again?”
Rodney shook his head and looked up into John’s eyes. “No, nothing like that. I think something fell out of my vest when I got hit.”
John frowned. “Don’t scare me like that. What’d you lose, your favorite Power Bar?”
Rodney shot him a bitter smile. “No, not a Power Bar, Major. It’s a coin, actually. An ancient coin.”
John cocked an eyebrow. “Ancient, as is in the Ancients?”
“No as in ancient Earth, Greece, well Corinth actually, around 320 B.C. It’s silly, really I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s just...it was sort of a good luck charm I guess.”
“I thought you scientist types didn’t believe in luck,” John said, sitting down so he was facing Rodney.
“I don’t. But my grandfather gave it to me. He was a numismatist.” Rodney looked at John before continuing. “Coin collector.”
“I know what the word means, Rodney. I was just letting you tell your story.”
“Oh. Sorry. Anyway, he gave it to me when I was ten and said it was my future. I of course thought he was a few quarks short of a sub-atomic particle, but I thought it looked cool so I kept it.”
“Your future? He wanted you to study numismatics?”
Rodney laughed at the notion. “No, he knew better. It was the coin itself that he told me was my future. I thought he was a crazy old man, but it turns out he was right.”
“Really? What’s on the coin?”
On one side is a picture of Athena, the goddess of...” Rodney stopped when he caught John’s reflection. “Okay, you know that as well. I’m sorry, a lot of people aren’t versed in Greek Mythology. Anyway, Athena is on one side wearing a Corinth helmet and Pegasus is on the other.”
“So the Goddess of Wisdom and our winged mascot. Wow. That’s so cool. A little freaky, but mostly cool.”
Rodney smiled. “Believe me, I know. After we got the go ahead for Atlantis, there was no way I couldn’t bring it with me.”
“Is he still alive?”
Rodney shifted too quickly and winced. “No, he died when I was twelve. Brain tumor.”
John frowned. “I’m sorry. You’re sure it’s gone?”
Rodney nodded. “When we go out on missions, I stow it in the little inside pocket of my tactical vest, which as you can see,” Rodney stuck his finger through the hole the arrow left, “is right where the arrow went through before it went through me.”
“Maybe we can go back and find it in the morning.”
As much as Rodney wanted his coin back, he knew the risk was far too great. “Thanks Major, but I don’t want either of us in any more jeopardy. As you said, it’s likely they’ll stage another attack in the morning. It’s not worth the risk.”
John just nodded. He shifted positions and settled back against the boulder along side Rodney, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He crossed his ankles and turned to look at the other man. “I flipped a coin to decide whether or not to come to Atlantis.”
Rodney’s eyes got big. “Really?”
John smiled. “Yep, heads I came to Atlantis, tails I stayed at McMurdo.”
“So is that how you make all your huge life altering decisions? Heads or Tails?”
“Well it’s hard to play rock, paper, scissors with yourself.”
Rodney laughed, and then winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts to laugh.”
“Sorry.”
They were silent for a few minutes before Rodney asked quietly, “Do you regret it?”
John looked over startled. “Coming to Atlantis? Never. This is where I was meant to be.”
And maybe his grandfather had been right because Rodney felt the same way. This was where he was meant to be. “Well, personally I’m glad you’re here. Anyone who can rustle up meatloaf MREs is an invaluable asset in my book.”
“Glad I serve a purpose, McKay,” John said with a smile. “Why don’t you try and get some rest. I’m gonna just sit here and keep watch for a while.”
The day was finally catching up to Rodney, so he yawned his answer and closed his eyes. He was vaguely aware that his head had fallen to the side so it rested on Sheppard’s shoulder. As the other man wasn’t complaining, he left it there as he drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Rodney woke up for the second time that day, he found himself alone. It took a minute for him to remember where he was. It was pitch black, and his ass was numb. But he was pretty sure the Major had been right beside him when he had fallen asleep. And now he was nowhere to be found. He tried not to panic. Sheppard was probably just answering the call of nature. But when several minutes had passed, Rodney couldn’t hold back the feeling of dread.
Grabbing the boulder next to him, he pulled himself to his feet as his own call of nature took precedence over the ache in his side. He turned on the flashlight attached to his P-90 and scanned the area. Slowly walking to the edge of the tree line, he looked around for the Major before taking care of business. He zipped up quickly and headed back to camp. He had almost reached the site when he heard the snap of twigs from behind him. Spinning around much too quickly, he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his side that sent him crashing to his knees.
“Oh shit. McKay, are you all right?” John asked crouching down beside him.
“Okay, that was not a good idea. You’d think a genius of my magnitude would understand the basics of cause and effect. But apparently that little tidbit of knowledge has exceeded my grasp. God, that hurts.”
John’s fingers were cool and gentle against his skin as he checked the wound. “Damn it, it’s bleeding again. Let’s get you back to camp. I’m sorry Rodney. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Placing Rodney’s arm over his shoulders, he slid his own arm around the other man’s waist being careful not to touch the wound.
Rodney let John settle him back against the boulder before he spoke. “Where did you go? I woke up, and you were gone.” He knew he sounded petulant, but he didn’t care.
John looked down at Rodney and gave him a small smile as he pulled out the first aid kit. “I’ll explain in a minute, let me get you fixed up first okay. Then you can yell at me all you want.”
“I wasn’t yelling. But you *did* leave me alone.”
Carefully removing the first bandage, John met Rodney’s eyes. “I know and I’m sorry. I had a good reason which I’ll share when I’m done here.”
“Fine.” Rodney hissed as the cold air hit the now exposed gash.
In the end, it didn’t take John long to re-bandage the wound as the bleeding stopped almost immediately. “Okay, all done. Fire away, McKay.”
“Where did you go?”
“Man, that’s the best you’ve got? You really must be in pain. Speaking of that,” John said crawling over Rodney’s legs to reach into his pack for the canteen. “Take some more Tylenol.”
Rodney closed his eyes as he swallowed the pills. “You still didn’t answer my question.”
John smiled wide and placed something in Rodney’s palm. “Here.”
Rodney knew the weight and feel of the item in his hand even without looking at it. “You found my coin.”
“I found your coin.”
Rodney stared down at it and then over at John, whose excitement lit up his face. It was a really good look for him. “You’re clearly insane. You could have been captured, killed, or mauled by some animal.”
“I found your coin,” John said again, the excitement still there.
And Rodney had to admit defeat. He couldn’t argue with that. Because while Sheppard could have been captured, killed or mauled, he had put himself in harm’s way so that Rodney could have his coin back, so Rodney could have his link to the past and the future. He risked himself to make Rodney happy, and no one, *no one* had ever done that before. He knew what he had to do. “I want you to have it.”
“What? No. I can’t take your coin McKay. Your granddad gave it to you.”
Rodney rubbed the coin one final time with his thumb before putting it in John’s hand. “I know, but I want you to have it.” And he really, really did. It felt inevitable and right that he give it to John.
John looked down at their hands, clasped together, the coin in-between them. “Why?”
Rodney smiled, knowing his eyes revealed the real reason even as his mouth said, “Well, if you’re gonna make life-altering decisions by flipping a coin, you should have a really cool coin to do it with. If it were me, I’d make Athena heads and Pegasus tails.”
John stared hard into Rodney’s eyes. “You really want me to have it?”
“I really do.”
John smiled and squeezed Rodney’s hand, the coin still between them. “Okay, thank you.” John let go of Rodney’s hand and turned on the flashlight to take a closer look at the coin before putting it in his pants pocket. “It is a really cool coin. You think your grandfather really knew we’d end up here?”
Rodney shifted and winced.
“Here, lie down on your good side.” John helped Rodney turn around. After much muttering about the ground being hard and cold on Rodney’s part, John said, “Put your head on my lap.”
Normally, Rodney would have thought it was weird, but for the first time since the arrow hit him, he felt comfortable. The pain was still there, but it was almost nonexistent next to the rightness he was feeling. It took him a moment before he realized he hadn’t answered Sheppard’s question. “Of course the logical side of me says, no, there’s no way he could have known. It was just some strange coincidence.”
“But?” John asked as he tucked the blanket closer around Rodney.
The gentle sweep of John’s fingers across his hair made Rodney stutter. “But, with what we’ve seen and experienced here, I think he did know. I don’t know how or why, but I think he did.”
“I think he knew too,” John said letting his hand rest on Rodney’s nape. “It’ll be daybreak soon.”
Rodney closed his eyes and nodded against John’s lap. “You think we’ll know when Ford gets here?” He could feel John smiling.
“I have no doubt we’ll hear him long before we see him.”
“I think I’m gonna sleep until he gets here,” Rodney said yawning. “Don’t go away again.”
“I’m not going anywhere McKay,” John said softly, his fingers tangled in the back of Rodney’s hair.
Rodney’s final thought when he drifted off to sleep was that they both were right where they were supposed to be.
~*~*~*~*~
Author's notes:
The image of the coin was taken from HERE
Another view of a similar coin can be found HERE
Title: Token
Author: Maverick
Pairing: McShep
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox or my galaxy. Just playing for fun, not profit.
Thanks to cheights for her usual amazing beta.
Dedicated to pirl as this story was written for her birthday and just happened to fit this challenge.
Token
by Maverick
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rodney woke to the feel of John Sheppard’s thighs pressing against his hips, the glide of Sheppard’s hands across his belly, and the weight of Sheppard’s ass firmly against his crotch. It was a dream come true. They’d been dancing around this for so long, and he was happy that they’d finally gotten to the naked groping part. He just wished he could remember how. And he wished that Sheppard would stop sticking what had to be his boney elbow into his side because it wasn’t sexy or arousing. Quite frankly it hurt. You’d think someone with the Major’s prowess would have a much better technique. But you’d be wrong. He sighed. Well there’d be plenty of time to teach him more finesse, and less...oh my GOD, searing pain. Rodney’s eyes flew open. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to stop the bleeding. If you’d stop squirming, that would be good.”
“Bleeding?”
“Yeah, Rodney. You got grazed by an arrow, and then when you saw your own blood, you passed out, you know probably from manly hunger again.”
It all came back to him. A meeting with the natives and an attack by a warring tribe. Running back toward the gate and sliding down an embankment, arrows flying from above. Sheppard pushing him out of the way and something hitting him from the back when he tried to return the favor. So much for getting to the naked groping part.
Rodney tried for an indignant look in response to John’s barb, but all he could manage was a hiss as Sheppard applied pressure to the cut. “Grazed? That feels like more than a flesh wound.” Rodney reached down to touch the gash to gage for himself, but John slapped his hand away.
“What part of hold still don’t you understand? It’s just a graze. If you’d quit moving, it would stop bleeding. Then I could clean and irrigate it and bandage it up.”
“Are you sure?”
John looked down at him and nodded. “Yes Rodney, I’m sure. Your death isn’t imminent.”
Rodney felt John press his hand harder against the wound and he did his best not to move, but it was hard not to squirm with the Major still straddling him. He liked the weight of the other man on top of him, and those thoughts were so not what he needed to be thinking about while he was bleeding to death on some god forsaken backwoods planet. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t dying. Sheppard had said that his death wasn’t imminent but...oh shit. He tried to sit up. “What if those were poisoned tipped arrows? The toxins could be spreading through my system right now.”
John pushed him back down and frowned. “Dammit Rodney, it had just about stopped. And I hate to point out the obvious, but chances are if the arrows were poisoned, you’d already be dead now.”
“It could be a slow moving poison.”
“Yes, you’re right. Those very angry natives with their rudimentary weapons have probably cooked up some extremely slow moving poison.”
Rodney tried for his best glare but he didn’t think it was very effective with him being pinned on his back. “It could happen. And even if it’s there’s not poison, I could still bleed to death.”
John hovered his surgical-gloved left hand over Rodney’s mouth to make him stop talking. “McKay, you’ll be fine,” he said checking the wound again. “There it’s stopped bleeding.”
Rodney nodded as John rifled through the first aid kit for what he was looking for.
John pulled out wipes and bandages from the kit and set them on Rodney’s bare stomach. He brought the first item up to his mouth. After ripping open the alcohol wipe package with his teeth, he looked down at Rodney, a sympathetic smile on his face. “This might sting a little.”
The pain burned through Rodney and he hissed again. “A little?”
“Okay, it’s clean. Let me get the iodine on it, and I’ll bandage it up so your insides don’t fall out,” John said with a wink.
“Very funny Major. Are you enjoying this?”
John looked down at him, his face cloaked in an expression that Rodney couldn’t decipher. “No, I’m not a big fan of my people getting injured.”
Rodney snorted “Your people? Who are you Gandhi?”
“Not so much. I don’t think Gandhi would have taken out the natives with a P-90.” He wiped the iodine across the wound and covered it with the sterile bandage. Once the gauze pad was secured in place with surgical tape, he smiled down at Rodney. “All finished.”
“Can I sit up now?”
“Slowly.” John swung his leg to the side so he was no longer straddling Rodney. Snapping off the latex gloves, he reached down into the medical kit once more and pulled out a packet of Tylenol. “Here, take these,” He handed Rodney the pills and his canteen.
“Thanks,” Rodney said while handing the canteen back to John. He shivered as the breeze picked up. “Can I have my shirt back now?”
John shook his head no. “Sorry Rodney, but your shirt’s a lost cause. It’s soaked in blood, and we really don’t want the scent of fresh blood attracting any of the indigenous animals.”
Rodney shivered again. Great, just great. Getting mauled by some mutant Pegasus predator wasn’t high on his to do list. But dammit, he was cold. “Don’t suppose you have an extra one on you?”
“Nope. Sorry, I must have left it in my other pants. I do have this lovely silver survival blanket for you,” he said, handing it over.
“Yeah, because silver’s so *my* color.”
John smiled. “Well it’s starting to get cold, so that will at least keep you warm,” he said packing up their supplies. “Do you think you can make it there?” He pointed to a large rock formation about 300 meters to the West. “That looks like the best place to set up camp.”
Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders and tying it at his neck like a cape, Rodney nodded. He had taken the hand that John extended to help him up before the words really sunk in. “Camp? We have to stay here?”
“Yes. There’s no way we can make it back to the Stargate before nightfall. And it’s not worth the risk in the dark. We’re going to have to wait until morning.”
“What about Teyla and Ford?” Rodney felt kind of guilty that he hadn’t asked about them earlier.
“Teyla got nicked by an arrow as well, but they made it back to the gate. I told them to go through and for Ford to bring back reinforcements in the morning. With this terrain, we don’t want to start an offensive at night.”
Rodney starting slowly walking toward the area that John had picked out. “I bet Ford was not happy about that.”
Picking up both their packs, John smiled slightly. “No, he wasn’t. He made me make it a direct order that he could not return until the morning.”
Finally reaching the rock formation, Rodney sat back down against a large boulder with John’s arm steadying him. His side was throbbing, but he looked up at John and gave him a crooked smile. “Knowing Ford, he’ll come back with more than half the soldiers on Atlantis and lots of fire power. There’s a strange comfort in that.”
John smiled back. “Yep. Ford will definitely have our six.”
Rodney watched as John gathered brush and twigs. He thought the other man was going to make a fire, until he saw him arrange the items in a large semi circle in front of their position. The Major was making sure they would hear anyone who tried to approach. “You think they might try to attack us again?”
John walked back to where Rodney was sitting. “Truthfully, no. Not tonight. All six in the attack party are dead. They now know what our weapons can do, so I don’t think they’ll risk it tonight. Come daybreak, that’s another story.”
Rodney realized John must have taken them all out while he had been unconscious. There was a strange comfort in that as well. But as the Major would say, he’d always known that Sheppard had his six as well. “So why the precautions?”
John sat down next to Rodney and started pulling things out of his pack. “Well in case you hadn’t noticed by now, things don’t always go as planned in the Pegasus Galaxy. Better safe than sorry. You hungry?”
Rodney just cocked his head and looked at John in response.
John smiled. “Okay, stupid question. When *aren’t* you hungry?”
“I firmly believe there should be some constants in this and every universe. If you’ll hand me my pack, I have a chicken tetrazzini MRE with my name on it.”
John reached over and handed Rodney his pack. “You’re lucky that the arrow caught the side it did, or no tetrazzini for you.”
“Proof that there is justice in the world.”
John laughed when he caught the sight of the MRE packet. It indeed had McKay’s name on it, literally in permanent ink across the side. “Do you label your underwear as well McKay?”
Rodney looked over at John startled by the comment as his attention was on the MRE. He frowned at John’s huge smile. “What? I have food allergies. I find it best to label the meals I can eat and you know not die a horrible death from.”
“So does that mean you don’t want the extra MRE I brought along for you?” John waved the package in front of Rodney’s face. “It’s meatloaf.”
Rodney grabbed the pack from John’s hand. “Meatloaf? How did you get meatloaf? I went through the entire supply. There was no meatloaf. I made a note to e-mail the president about it when we can contact Earth again.”
John smiled. “I have my ways. And you’d really e-mail the president about MREs?”
“Of course I would. I mean we are in a galaxy far, far away facing unfathomable challenges and imminent death each and every day. The least they could do is provide a few simple tastes of home.”
“The cafeteria serves meatloaf.”
Rodney tried to cross his arms but stopped as the motion pulled on his side. “It’s not the same. If I’m stuck shirtless on some planet with a gash in my side, I want my comfort food of choice.”
John grinned. “Well, then I’m glad I could oblige.”
Rodney smiled back as he ripped open the pack. “Thank you. You want the tetrazzini?”
“No, you have both. You don’t have to fight off Ford for seconds tonight. Besides, I’m perfectly happy with my,” John looked down at the other MRE he pulled out. “Spaghetti with meat sauce.”
“You are a prince among men, Major.”
John just smiled.
~*~*~*~*~*~
John did another quick walk around the perimeter as Rodney got settled for the night. He wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the ground, but the survival blanket was keeping him warm and the latest dose of Tylenol dulled the throbbing of his side. Plus, if he had to get stuck on an alien planet at least he was with Sheppard. He felt much more safe and content than he should considering what he’d been through that day. And thoughts of safety sent him searching through his vest for his small token of home. It was an old habit.
He checked the pocket, but it wasn’t there. It was then that he realized the arrow had ripped a hole across the bottom of the pocket. “Oh no.”
John made his way over to Rodney and dropped to his knees, his hands on Rodney’s side. “What’s wrong McKay? Is the wound bleeding again?”
Rodney shook his head and looked up into John’s eyes. “No, nothing like that. I think something fell out of my vest when I got hit.”
John frowned. “Don’t scare me like that. What’d you lose, your favorite Power Bar?”
Rodney shot him a bitter smile. “No, not a Power Bar, Major. It’s a coin, actually. An ancient coin.”
John cocked an eyebrow. “Ancient, as is in the Ancients?”
“No as in ancient Earth, Greece, well Corinth actually, around 320 B.C. It’s silly, really I don’t know why I’m so upset. It’s just...it was sort of a good luck charm I guess.”
“I thought you scientist types didn’t believe in luck,” John said, sitting down so he was facing Rodney.
“I don’t. But my grandfather gave it to me. He was a numismatist.” Rodney looked at John before continuing. “Coin collector.”
“I know what the word means, Rodney. I was just letting you tell your story.”
“Oh. Sorry. Anyway, he gave it to me when I was ten and said it was my future. I of course thought he was a few quarks short of a sub-atomic particle, but I thought it looked cool so I kept it.”
“Your future? He wanted you to study numismatics?”
Rodney laughed at the notion. “No, he knew better. It was the coin itself that he told me was my future. I thought he was a crazy old man, but it turns out he was right.”
“Really? What’s on the coin?”
On one side is a picture of Athena, the goddess of...” Rodney stopped when he caught John’s reflection. “Okay, you know that as well. I’m sorry, a lot of people aren’t versed in Greek Mythology. Anyway, Athena is on one side wearing a Corinth helmet and Pegasus is on the other.”
“So the Goddess of Wisdom and our winged mascot. Wow. That’s so cool. A little freaky, but mostly cool.”
Rodney smiled. “Believe me, I know. After we got the go ahead for Atlantis, there was no way I couldn’t bring it with me.”
“Is he still alive?”
Rodney shifted too quickly and winced. “No, he died when I was twelve. Brain tumor.”
John frowned. “I’m sorry. You’re sure it’s gone?”
Rodney nodded. “When we go out on missions, I stow it in the little inside pocket of my tactical vest, which as you can see,” Rodney stuck his finger through the hole the arrow left, “is right where the arrow went through before it went through me.”
“Maybe we can go back and find it in the morning.”
As much as Rodney wanted his coin back, he knew the risk was far too great. “Thanks Major, but I don’t want either of us in any more jeopardy. As you said, it’s likely they’ll stage another attack in the morning. It’s not worth the risk.”
John just nodded. He shifted positions and settled back against the boulder along side Rodney, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He crossed his ankles and turned to look at the other man. “I flipped a coin to decide whether or not to come to Atlantis.”
Rodney’s eyes got big. “Really?”
John smiled. “Yep, heads I came to Atlantis, tails I stayed at McMurdo.”
“So is that how you make all your huge life altering decisions? Heads or Tails?”
“Well it’s hard to play rock, paper, scissors with yourself.”
Rodney laughed, and then winced. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts to laugh.”
“Sorry.”
They were silent for a few minutes before Rodney asked quietly, “Do you regret it?”
John looked over startled. “Coming to Atlantis? Never. This is where I was meant to be.”
And maybe his grandfather had been right because Rodney felt the same way. This was where he was meant to be. “Well, personally I’m glad you’re here. Anyone who can rustle up meatloaf MREs is an invaluable asset in my book.”
“Glad I serve a purpose, McKay,” John said with a smile. “Why don’t you try and get some rest. I’m gonna just sit here and keep watch for a while.”
The day was finally catching up to Rodney, so he yawned his answer and closed his eyes. He was vaguely aware that his head had fallen to the side so it rested on Sheppard’s shoulder. As the other man wasn’t complaining, he left it there as he drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Rodney woke up for the second time that day, he found himself alone. It took a minute for him to remember where he was. It was pitch black, and his ass was numb. But he was pretty sure the Major had been right beside him when he had fallen asleep. And now he was nowhere to be found. He tried not to panic. Sheppard was probably just answering the call of nature. But when several minutes had passed, Rodney couldn’t hold back the feeling of dread.
Grabbing the boulder next to him, he pulled himself to his feet as his own call of nature took precedence over the ache in his side. He turned on the flashlight attached to his P-90 and scanned the area. Slowly walking to the edge of the tree line, he looked around for the Major before taking care of business. He zipped up quickly and headed back to camp. He had almost reached the site when he heard the snap of twigs from behind him. Spinning around much too quickly, he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his side that sent him crashing to his knees.
“Oh shit. McKay, are you all right?” John asked crouching down beside him.
“Okay, that was not a good idea. You’d think a genius of my magnitude would understand the basics of cause and effect. But apparently that little tidbit of knowledge has exceeded my grasp. God, that hurts.”
John’s fingers were cool and gentle against his skin as he checked the wound. “Damn it, it’s bleeding again. Let’s get you back to camp. I’m sorry Rodney. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Placing Rodney’s arm over his shoulders, he slid his own arm around the other man’s waist being careful not to touch the wound.
Rodney let John settle him back against the boulder before he spoke. “Where did you go? I woke up, and you were gone.” He knew he sounded petulant, but he didn’t care.
John looked down at Rodney and gave him a small smile as he pulled out the first aid kit. “I’ll explain in a minute, let me get you fixed up first okay. Then you can yell at me all you want.”
“I wasn’t yelling. But you *did* leave me alone.”
Carefully removing the first bandage, John met Rodney’s eyes. “I know and I’m sorry. I had a good reason which I’ll share when I’m done here.”
“Fine.” Rodney hissed as the cold air hit the now exposed gash.
In the end, it didn’t take John long to re-bandage the wound as the bleeding stopped almost immediately. “Okay, all done. Fire away, McKay.”
“Where did you go?”
“Man, that’s the best you’ve got? You really must be in pain. Speaking of that,” John said crawling over Rodney’s legs to reach into his pack for the canteen. “Take some more Tylenol.”
Rodney closed his eyes as he swallowed the pills. “You still didn’t answer my question.”
John smiled wide and placed something in Rodney’s palm. “Here.”
Rodney knew the weight and feel of the item in his hand even without looking at it. “You found my coin.”
“I found your coin.”
Rodney stared down at it and then over at John, whose excitement lit up his face. It was a really good look for him. “You’re clearly insane. You could have been captured, killed, or mauled by some animal.”
“I found your coin,” John said again, the excitement still there.
And Rodney had to admit defeat. He couldn’t argue with that. Because while Sheppard could have been captured, killed or mauled, he had put himself in harm’s way so that Rodney could have his coin back, so Rodney could have his link to the past and the future. He risked himself to make Rodney happy, and no one, *no one* had ever done that before. He knew what he had to do. “I want you to have it.”
“What? No. I can’t take your coin McKay. Your granddad gave it to you.”
Rodney rubbed the coin one final time with his thumb before putting it in John’s hand. “I know, but I want you to have it.” And he really, really did. It felt inevitable and right that he give it to John.
John looked down at their hands, clasped together, the coin in-between them. “Why?”
Rodney smiled, knowing his eyes revealed the real reason even as his mouth said, “Well, if you’re gonna make life-altering decisions by flipping a coin, you should have a really cool coin to do it with. If it were me, I’d make Athena heads and Pegasus tails.”
John stared hard into Rodney’s eyes. “You really want me to have it?”
“I really do.”
John smiled and squeezed Rodney’s hand, the coin still between them. “Okay, thank you.” John let go of Rodney’s hand and turned on the flashlight to take a closer look at the coin before putting it in his pants pocket. “It is a really cool coin. You think your grandfather really knew we’d end up here?”
Rodney shifted and winced.
“Here, lie down on your good side.” John helped Rodney turn around. After much muttering about the ground being hard and cold on Rodney’s part, John said, “Put your head on my lap.”
Normally, Rodney would have thought it was weird, but for the first time since the arrow hit him, he felt comfortable. The pain was still there, but it was almost nonexistent next to the rightness he was feeling. It took him a moment before he realized he hadn’t answered Sheppard’s question. “Of course the logical side of me says, no, there’s no way he could have known. It was just some strange coincidence.”
“But?” John asked as he tucked the blanket closer around Rodney.
The gentle sweep of John’s fingers across his hair made Rodney stutter. “But, with what we’ve seen and experienced here, I think he did know. I don’t know how or why, but I think he did.”
“I think he knew too,” John said letting his hand rest on Rodney’s nape. “It’ll be daybreak soon.”
Rodney closed his eyes and nodded against John’s lap. “You think we’ll know when Ford gets here?” He could feel John smiling.
“I have no doubt we’ll hear him long before we see him.”
“I think I’m gonna sleep until he gets here,” Rodney said yawning. “Don’t go away again.”
“I’m not going anywhere McKay,” John said softly, his fingers tangled in the back of Rodney’s hair.
Rodney’s final thought when he drifted off to sleep was that they both were right where they were supposed to be.
~*~*~*~*~
Author's notes:
The image of the coin was taken from HERE
Another view of a similar coin can be found HERE