Fic: Reason (PG)
Title: Reason
Author: SGAtlantisLight
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Kavanaugh, Lorne
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, Zelenka/Beckett, mini!O'Neill/Corrigan
Rating: PG for this part, but the series as a whole is NC-17
Warnings: A bit of silliness, mostly
Spoilers: None
Summary: Part 30 of the Broken Series
Disclaimer: The characters, the setting, etc. are NOT mine, even if I wish they were.
Jenelle fell into an exhausted sleep in Radek's arms. He gently slipped his arms from around her, took off his glasses and cleaned the tear spots off the lenses on his shirt hem.
A small hand patted his knee. He slipped his glasses on to take in the sight of the small boy he'd freed from the Wraith transport. The boy had straw-coloured hair and eyes the colour of the twilight sky.
"Hello," Radek said gently.
The boy smiled and held up the model puddle jumper.
"Where did you get that?" Zelenka asked.
A small hand pointed at Kavanaugh, who was apparently using his time in the infirmary to catch up on some technical journal reading.
"I see you are giving away my presents, Kavanaugh," Radek chided.
Kavanaugh scowled at him. "It keeps him quiet."
"He talks?"
"Not so far as we can tell," Kavanaugh answered, returning to his journal. "But he screams quite loudly."
Carson sat down and set the boy in his lap. "From what I've learned from Jilia there," he nodded to the teenaged girl that Radek had also pulled from the transport, "Deyn has never spoken, though he appears to hear just fine." As if to prove the point, the boy had looked up at the sound of his name, then returned to his toy when he saw Carson was addressing Radek.
"I don't suppose any of his family were among those beamed from the transporter?" Radek asked.
Carson shook his head. "Jilia was a neighbor. Apparently he hadn't got much family anyway. He was being raised by an elderly aunt. Jilia and her young man were babysitting him... or, like as not, Jilia was supposed to be babysitting him and was being distracted by her young man." Carson smiled.
Deyn slid off Carson's lap and sat down on the floor in front of Radek. "What will be done with him?"
Carson shrugged. "I believe Rodney was going to send a malp through to the planet to see if anyone was left. If so, he'll be reunited with whoever's left of his people, but... the odds are that the whole population's been culled and everything else destroyed."
Radek shivered. He'd followed Rodney's logic to the same conclusion. "And then what?" he asked.
"I don't know. There's probably someone among the Athosians who could take him."
Radek nodded, his eyes thoughtful.
"It's not your fault, you know," Carson said quietly.
Radek looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, Rodney has already told me that no one blames me for not dying at hand of the wraith. He is very comforting."
Carson chuckled. "Aye. Not exactly a Heightmeyer is he now?"
"Speaking of which," Radek said, "I need to go. Rodney wants my help in analysing data."
"Hey, Zelenka," Kavanaugh called, nose still buried in his journal, "tell McKay I could use some distractions in here."
Radek nodded. "I will." He leaned over and gave Carson a brief kiss. Kavanaugh made a small sound in the back of his throat.
Carson rolled his eyes.
Radek grinned. "You should see how fast he disappears when the colonel walks into lab."
Kavanaugh snorted. "I'd do the same if it were Miko or Simpson he was coming to see. You shouldn't be allowed to get that affectionate in public."
"Like you wouldn't act the same way," Carson teased.
Kavanaugh looked up, eyes suddenly hard. "No, I wouldn't... and didn't..."
Carson blanched. Radek stumbled back away from that gaze. They'd forgotten. And as much as Edda Waldschmidt's memory filled him only with pain, rage and fear, he understood she had been a different person in Kavanaugh's eyes.
Kavanaugh ducked his head. "Sorry. Bad memories."
"It's all right," Radek replied stiffly, then turned and walked out.
***
Jack walked into the infirmary four and a half hours after he'd left it early this morning, short hair still damp from his shower. He nodded at Beckett and headed to Eric's private room.
Eric's eyes fluttered open as Jack took his hand and he smiled weakly.
"Hey," Jack said. "How are you feeling?"
"Mm." Eric seemed to be struggling to stay awake. "Hurts, I think, but... hm..." He fell silent a moment, eyes closed, then seemed to snap awake again. "Umm... painkillers making me... fluffy..."
"Fluffy?"
Eric moved his free hand in a circle. "Floating... cotton... clouds..."
"I see they have you on the good drugs."
"Oh, yeah!"
"Well, that's good, 'cause you look like shit."
Eric grinned loopily. "Such a romantic..."
There was a quick knock on the door, then Beckett walked in. "Are ye awake then, son?"
"Yeah," Eric answered.
"Well, sort of," Jack added.
Beckett did something to Eric's IV set-up. "I'm going to cut off the morphine drip for a while, son. It's going to be uncomfortable, but I need to talk to you while you're lucid. I'll be back in a few minutes."
They spent the next few minutes talking about nothing in particular as Eric woke up more and the tension in his body told Jack just how much pain he was feeling. Jack rubbed the back of his hand and arm, trying to distract him from it.
"Remind me not to let any more buildings fall on me," Eric joked, though his voice was strained.
"I'll be sure and do that," Jack said. "Also, getting captured by Wraith-- bad idea."
"You think?"
There was a knock again and Beckett walked in. "All right. Are ye more awake now, Dr. Corrigan?"
"Yeah," he answered, tense.
"I'm sorry I had to do that," Beckett said, pulling up a chair across from Jack and sitting down. "I ran some tests this morning to try and determine the amount of aging you'd sustained from the wraith. Based on telomere damage, protein accumulation, and lipid peroxidation in your cells, my estimate is that you've been drained of somewhere between eight and nine years, putting your cellular age at around 34 to 35. And before ye start whinging too much about that age, keep in mind the age of your doctor," he added gently, with a sparkling smile.
Eric nodded. "What does that mean, in terms of... my continuing here?"
"Not a bloody thing, if you don't want it to. No one's going to blame you if you want to transfer back to Earth, but many of the staff here are the same age or older, so your health isn't an issue. We're still watching for ill effects of your head injury, of course. But assuming you fully recover from that, there's no reason for you not to return to your research and off-world team."
Eric relaxed visibly, though he was still tense from pain. "How long before we know whether the head injury's done anything?"
"A couple of weeks yet. Though your rapid recovery from surgery is a good indicator that there wasn't significant injury to the brain, so don't fret."
Eric nodded. "I'll try not."
"All right, then. I'm going to turn back on the morphine drip and leave you two alone. If you need anything, just buzz."
Jack squeezed Eric's hand. "Thanks, doc."
Carson smiled at the two. "You just be sure to let him rest, Lieutenant. I know ye need to talk, but you've got plenty of time."
Jack nodded and watched Beckett adjust the morphine drip and then leave with a nod.
"So... are you... okay with this?" Eric asked.
Jack leaned down and kissed his lover's lips quickly. "If you're okay with a lover who's a 55-year-old man in a 19-year-old body, I can live with a lover who's a 26-year-old man in a 35-year-old body."
***
The first job of attacking the Ancient wraith research was to figure out what sort of research had been done and in what sort of structure the information was stored. Rodney and Radek had spent the morning sorting through the linguists' translations of what amounted to file names, briefly interrupted by Rodney's meeting with Lorne's team before they set out. It rapidly became apparent that the Ancients had been running a virtual environment that the imprisoned wraith were interacting within, so there was a great deal of psychological and sociological data that got tagged for their soft-sciences specialists. There was technological information that had been gleaned as well, which they tagged for their own department. Additionally, toward the beginning, the Ancients had experimented with the effects of various chemicals on the wraith physiology, the stasis making it possible to watch in slow, agonising detail what the effects were.
"That would explain why there were ten pods and only six wraith," Rodney commented.
Radek shivered. "They are more ruthless than Carson."
"Carson's not ruthless."
Radek gave him a sad smile. "When it comes to protection of Atlantis and Earth, and the defeat of wraith, he is extremely ruthless. Haven't you noticed?"
Rodney stared at him a moment, thinking of their gentle, caring friend. "Um. Yeah. I guess he won't be winning any awards for his stellar sense of medical ethics." He was surprised that the realisation didn't really disturb him. "At any rate, I'm sure Carson will find this all very fascinating. There might be bioweapon applications here."
Radek nodded.
"So, do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?" Radek asked.
"Whatever it is that's been eating at you all morning," Rodney answered.
Radek looked surprised.
"I realise I'm not the most socially observant person," Rodney admitted, "but I do notice things after a while."
Radek sighed. "It's Kavanaugh."
"What about him?"
"I don't understand him."
Rodney snorted. "I don't think anyone understands Kavanaugh."
"Well, yes. But... I think... I think he still misses Dr. Waldschmidt. And I don't understand how he can feel that way."
"He was in love with her. Or thought he was, at least."
"But... she beat him, tried to kill him, used him to get to me. How can he...? I just don't understand how you could miss someone like that."
"L'amour a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point," Rodney answered.
"I suppose that is true," Radek answered, looking pensive.
"Look, take my word for it, you can have a lover that you know is hurting you on any number of levels and still feel powerless to leave."
Radek considered him. "You?"
"Twice," Rodney answered, eyes on the computer screen. "Some part of me still misses them both."
***
John wandered into the lab around lunch time and peered over their shoulders. "How's it going?"
"We're sorting the data into subject matter right now," Rodney answered, "but it looks incredibly promising."
"Cool," John answered, finding a stool to sit on. "So, when will you be at a good stopping place?"
"Give me... fifteen minutes."
"Okay." John let his eyes wander around the lab, looking at the Ancient devices in various stages of disassembly on the work benches. His eyes fell on a brightly-coloured object. "Hey! Is that a Rubik's Cube?"
Radek looked up and nodded. "Yes. It's mine."
"Wow. I haven't played with one of these since high school. Can I?"
"Go ahead," Radek answered, then turned his attention back to the computer screen, pointing to something. "I don't think this is translated right, considering its position in database..."
John picked up the cube which was thoroughly scrambled and studied it for a few seconds, then began rapidly turning sides.
"...think you may be right. I'll tag it for both departments," Rodney was saying as John set the finished cube down.
Radek blinked at him. "You are already done?"
John nodded and showed him the solved puzzle. Radek took the cube, looking between it and John in shock. "That... must have been only forty-five seconds."
"I'm a bit rusty," John said, grinning.
Radek turned away and started mixing up the sides. After a minute, he turned back around, handed John the cube, and hit a button on his watch. "Go."
John's hands flew. Rodney paused, watching his husband in admiration.
"Done," John said, holding up the puzzle.
Radek muttered something in Czech. "Thirty-eight seconds!"
"That long? I really have lost my edge."
"What was your best time?" Rodney asked, curious.
"Twenty-six seconds," John answered. "But, you know, that was a few years ago."
Radek took the cube back and handed it to Rodney. "You mess it up this time."
The door slid open and Carson walked in, leading the boy Deyn. "Ah, still all here, I see."
"Just getting to a good stopping place," Rodney said, eyes on the cube. "I could get done sooner if your boyfriend there would stop porning over John's speed with a Rubik's Cube." He looked up and caught sight of the child holding Carson's hand. "What are you doing bringing one of those into my lab?"
"'Those,' Rodney?"
"The kid. What is he doing in my lab?"
"He's waiting for Radek to get done so we can go to lunch," Carson answered.
"We're not done yet. Give us ten minutes. And keep him quiet."
John and Radek exchanged amused looks as Carson rolled his eyes. "You'll like this one, Rodney; he doesn't talk."
"Oh, well... that's good. Just keep him out of things. Here. He can play with this." Rodney shoved the cube at Carson, then turned back to the computer screen.
John slipped off the stool and sat down on the floor with the boy. "Hey. Let me show you how this works..."
***
"Wow. If I'd known the combination of a cute kid and a Rubik's Cube could get the attention of practically everyone," Rodney commented around a bite of chocolate pudding, "I could have gotten laid a lot more often in college."
John chuckled, watching Cadman and Brown wave goodbye to Deyn. The boy smiled back at them, then returned his attention to the puzzle. "How old would you guess he is, doc?"
"According to his babysitter from the planet and converting their years to Earth's, somewhere between four and five," Carson answered. "He's small for his age."
The boy let out a triumphant cry.
"Hey, you did it, Deyn!" John said, grinning from ear to ear.
Carson looked over in surprise. "Good Lord! He did, didn't he?"
"Did you go easy on him, John?" Rodney asked.
His husband shook his head. "It was thoroughly scrambled. That took him, what? Half an hour?"
"About right," Radek said.
"Hey, let me show you something," John said, holding out his hand. The boy handed him the puzzle. John turned and quickly rearranged it and then turned back, revealing the checkerboard pattern he'd created. "See this? Take a good look."
The boy studied the puzzle with quiet concentration, then handed it back, eyes on John.
"Okay, I'm going to put it back straight again and I want you to make this pattern. Okay?"
The boy nodded.
John once again turned his back and quickly set the cube to its solved state, then turned and handed it back.
"Six minutes, forty-seven seconds," Radek reported as Deyn handed the patterned cube back to John.
"Can you solve it from here?" John asked.
The boy nodded, took the cube, and proceeded without a hitch.
"He's absorbing the principles behind it amazingly well," John commented.
"You can't keep him," Rodney said.
John looked up and smiled at him. "Hey, it's not every day I get to play with a kid this smart. Indulge me."
Rodney shook his head and grinned, watching his husband demonstrating another pattern to the kid.
"It's cute, isn't it?" Radek whispered.
Rodney chuckled and nodded. "And disturbingly hot," he replied in an equally low voice. Rodney didn't even like kids, but watching John with one...
Carson started combining their trays, leaning over the table toward Radek. "Am I going to have to take ye back to our quarters for a reminder of who your lover is, Radek?"
Radek grinned. "You don't have to, milacku, though I certainly wouldn't object."
"I would," Rodney interrupted. "We have work to finish."
Carson and Radek both gave him hurt looks. "Bloody interfering bugger," Carson muttered.
"You could take some time with John," Radek pointed out. "I'm sure he wouldn't object."
"You two are as bad as he is," Rodney muttered.
"Ah. He is smarter man than I had realised," Radek said.
Rodney rolled his eyes and took the trays from Carson. "I'll leave you two to your depravity. Just keep your hands and eyes off my husband."
The two chuckled as Rodney walked off, then turned to see John grinning at them, hazel eyes sparkling.
Carson grinned back at him, then stepped over to Deyn. "All right, lad. Time to get back to the infirmary. Give Radek back his puzzle, please."
"He can keep it," Radek said.
Deyn greeted the offer with a huge grin and then turned his deep blue eyes on Carson.
"If he says ye can have it, then it's yours, lad. Come on, then." He turned and gave Radek a quick kiss. "See you tonight, love. Don't work too late."
Rodney returned to the table, bid his goodbyes to John with a kiss and a promise to not work too late, and the three men left the cafeteria, Rodney and Radek turning one way and John the other. Behind them, a table of marines watched.
"Goddamned fags," one of their number muttered. "Bad enough they do that in public, but in front of a kid..."
There was a rumble of agreement around the table.
***
"Dr. McKay... ah... -Sheppard," Caldwell greeted. "How are things on Atlantis?"
"Getting back to normal. We've got some potentially valuable new data, but I'll wait for your arrival to fill you in."
"How's Dr. Weir?"
"Better. She should be resuming her duties in a couple of days," Rodney assured him, as thankful of that news as Caldwell seemed to be.
"I'm glad to hear she's doing well," Caldwell said. "We're still a good two weeks out, but I wanted to beam you the records for the new personnel so you'd be prepared for them."
"Excellent. We're ready to receive."
"Sending now. We'll see you in two weeks, doctor."
"Looking forward to it, colonel."
***
"Shouldn't Elizabeth be looking at those?" John asked as Rodney paged through the personnel records in their apartment over dinner.
Rodney shrugged. "I'm going to see all the science personnel records anyway and you'd tell me about any interesting military personnel, so it's not like I wouldn't be seeing all this information anyway."
"There is that."
Rodney paused, hands frozen over the keyboard. "What the hell?"
John sat up. "Something interesting?"
"Lieutenant Nelson Gilchrist."
"What service?"
"U.S. Navy," Rodney answered.
"Wow. That's different."
"That wasn't why I was surprised. He's a chaplain."
John sat up in surprise. "A chaplain? What do we need a chaplain for?"
"I have no idea, but we're getting one."
John flopped back down onto the bed. "Great. Just what we needed-- someone else to scowl disapprovingly anytime we're together."
"Else?" Rodney asked.
John nodded. "Believe me, Rodney, there's more than a few people who aren't real happy about the Protocols, especially when it results in the head of the military and the head of the science division being not only openly involved in a gay relationship, but married to boot."
Rodney sighed. "I suppose I knew that. It was just nice to pretend, you know?"
"Lenoir to McKay," the radio interrupted.
"McKay here. What's up?"
"Major Lorne's team is reporting some problems, sir. Patching him through right now."
"Thank you, sergeant. Major Lorne?"
"I'm here, doctor," Lorne's voice crackled through.
John slid off the bed and joined him, looking concerned.
"What seems to be the problem, major?" Rodney asked.
"It seems we've offended the Nathalians by, er, Parrish and I not being married, sir."
"Um... Okay. Do you have any idea why?"
"Apparently the Nathalians only negotiate trade agreements with married traders-- something about it proving the trader is capable of honouring commitments. At any rate, they asked us a couple of questions which we misunderstood and, ah, left them with the wrong impression."
John was standing with his ear pressed to Rodney's, so he could hear the conversation. Rodney jabbed him in the ribs when he started to chuckle. "Okay, I'm following so far, I think."
"Well, negotiations were going rather well until mealtime when one of the women commented to Parrish on how, er, handsome his husband was and he, ah, corrected her mistake. And now..." Rodney pulled his head away to glare at John, who was fighting laughter. "... Well, I guess you'd say they, ah, want me to make an honest man of him."
Rodney sighed. Nothing like this happened when Elizabeth was in charge. He looked at John for advice. John shrugged.
"What happens if you don't, major?"
"Apparently the whole team gets put on trial for, well, what amounts to fraudulent trading, which is a pretty serious charge from what I can gather, and I get some additional charges... ah, I believe the term is fornication."
"My God, man, what did you say you two had done? No. Don't answer that. Look, this marriage ceremony, does it involve ingesting any sort of unknown substance or actually consummating the marriage?"
"Ah. No, sir."
"Then marry the man and get your asses back here."
"Sir?"
"You need to marry Parrish to get your team out of there in one piece, so marry him and get back here. You can, ah, get a quickie Mexican divorce once you get here."
"Very funny, sir. All right. I'll convey your... advice to Doctor Parrish. Lorne out."
John grinned at him. "Can we throw them a reception? Please?"
"You are absolutely evil, you know that?"
"Aw, come on, Rodney. We could really, really use an excuse to let off a little steam."
"Hey, you notice I didn't say no. I just said you were evil," Rodney said, then clicked on his radio. "McKay to Heightmeyer." He grinned at John as the counselor answered the page. "Kate, are you up for helping put on a little impromptu... ah... wedding reception?"
The two men grinned at each other.
"Yes," Rodney said into his radio. "Hold on a minute. John, go get Cadman. If we're going to do this, we need to do it right."
John laughed delightedly and kissed Rodney. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Rodney kissed him back, then shooed him away. "Go, go. We don't have much time."
John headed out the door, already calling Cadman to see where she was.
This, Rodney thought with a smile, was going to be fun.
Author: SGAtlantisLight
Characters: McKay, Sheppard, Beckett, Zelenka, Kavanaugh, Lorne
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, Zelenka/Beckett, mini!O'Neill/Corrigan
Rating: PG for this part, but the series as a whole is NC-17
Warnings: A bit of silliness, mostly
Spoilers: None
Summary: Part 30 of the Broken Series
Disclaimer: The characters, the setting, etc. are NOT mine, even if I wish they were.
Jenelle fell into an exhausted sleep in Radek's arms. He gently slipped his arms from around her, took off his glasses and cleaned the tear spots off the lenses on his shirt hem.
A small hand patted his knee. He slipped his glasses on to take in the sight of the small boy he'd freed from the Wraith transport. The boy had straw-coloured hair and eyes the colour of the twilight sky.
"Hello," Radek said gently.
The boy smiled and held up the model puddle jumper.
"Where did you get that?" Zelenka asked.
A small hand pointed at Kavanaugh, who was apparently using his time in the infirmary to catch up on some technical journal reading.
"I see you are giving away my presents, Kavanaugh," Radek chided.
Kavanaugh scowled at him. "It keeps him quiet."
"He talks?"
"Not so far as we can tell," Kavanaugh answered, returning to his journal. "But he screams quite loudly."
Carson sat down and set the boy in his lap. "From what I've learned from Jilia there," he nodded to the teenaged girl that Radek had also pulled from the transport, "Deyn has never spoken, though he appears to hear just fine." As if to prove the point, the boy had looked up at the sound of his name, then returned to his toy when he saw Carson was addressing Radek.
"I don't suppose any of his family were among those beamed from the transporter?" Radek asked.
Carson shook his head. "Jilia was a neighbor. Apparently he hadn't got much family anyway. He was being raised by an elderly aunt. Jilia and her young man were babysitting him... or, like as not, Jilia was supposed to be babysitting him and was being distracted by her young man." Carson smiled.
Deyn slid off Carson's lap and sat down on the floor in front of Radek. "What will be done with him?"
Carson shrugged. "I believe Rodney was going to send a malp through to the planet to see if anyone was left. If so, he'll be reunited with whoever's left of his people, but... the odds are that the whole population's been culled and everything else destroyed."
Radek shivered. He'd followed Rodney's logic to the same conclusion. "And then what?" he asked.
"I don't know. There's probably someone among the Athosians who could take him."
Radek nodded, his eyes thoughtful.
"It's not your fault, you know," Carson said quietly.
Radek looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, Rodney has already told me that no one blames me for not dying at hand of the wraith. He is very comforting."
Carson chuckled. "Aye. Not exactly a Heightmeyer is he now?"
"Speaking of which," Radek said, "I need to go. Rodney wants my help in analysing data."
"Hey, Zelenka," Kavanaugh called, nose still buried in his journal, "tell McKay I could use some distractions in here."
Radek nodded. "I will." He leaned over and gave Carson a brief kiss. Kavanaugh made a small sound in the back of his throat.
Carson rolled his eyes.
Radek grinned. "You should see how fast he disappears when the colonel walks into lab."
Kavanaugh snorted. "I'd do the same if it were Miko or Simpson he was coming to see. You shouldn't be allowed to get that affectionate in public."
"Like you wouldn't act the same way," Carson teased.
Kavanaugh looked up, eyes suddenly hard. "No, I wouldn't... and didn't..."
Carson blanched. Radek stumbled back away from that gaze. They'd forgotten. And as much as Edda Waldschmidt's memory filled him only with pain, rage and fear, he understood she had been a different person in Kavanaugh's eyes.
Kavanaugh ducked his head. "Sorry. Bad memories."
"It's all right," Radek replied stiffly, then turned and walked out.
***
Jack walked into the infirmary four and a half hours after he'd left it early this morning, short hair still damp from his shower. He nodded at Beckett and headed to Eric's private room.
Eric's eyes fluttered open as Jack took his hand and he smiled weakly.
"Hey," Jack said. "How are you feeling?"
"Mm." Eric seemed to be struggling to stay awake. "Hurts, I think, but... hm..." He fell silent a moment, eyes closed, then seemed to snap awake again. "Umm... painkillers making me... fluffy..."
"Fluffy?"
Eric moved his free hand in a circle. "Floating... cotton... clouds..."
"I see they have you on the good drugs."
"Oh, yeah!"
"Well, that's good, 'cause you look like shit."
Eric grinned loopily. "Such a romantic..."
There was a quick knock on the door, then Beckett walked in. "Are ye awake then, son?"
"Yeah," Eric answered.
"Well, sort of," Jack added.
Beckett did something to Eric's IV set-up. "I'm going to cut off the morphine drip for a while, son. It's going to be uncomfortable, but I need to talk to you while you're lucid. I'll be back in a few minutes."
They spent the next few minutes talking about nothing in particular as Eric woke up more and the tension in his body told Jack just how much pain he was feeling. Jack rubbed the back of his hand and arm, trying to distract him from it.
"Remind me not to let any more buildings fall on me," Eric joked, though his voice was strained.
"I'll be sure and do that," Jack said. "Also, getting captured by Wraith-- bad idea."
"You think?"
There was a knock again and Beckett walked in. "All right. Are ye more awake now, Dr. Corrigan?"
"Yeah," he answered, tense.
"I'm sorry I had to do that," Beckett said, pulling up a chair across from Jack and sitting down. "I ran some tests this morning to try and determine the amount of aging you'd sustained from the wraith. Based on telomere damage, protein accumulation, and lipid peroxidation in your cells, my estimate is that you've been drained of somewhere between eight and nine years, putting your cellular age at around 34 to 35. And before ye start whinging too much about that age, keep in mind the age of your doctor," he added gently, with a sparkling smile.
Eric nodded. "What does that mean, in terms of... my continuing here?"
"Not a bloody thing, if you don't want it to. No one's going to blame you if you want to transfer back to Earth, but many of the staff here are the same age or older, so your health isn't an issue. We're still watching for ill effects of your head injury, of course. But assuming you fully recover from that, there's no reason for you not to return to your research and off-world team."
Eric relaxed visibly, though he was still tense from pain. "How long before we know whether the head injury's done anything?"
"A couple of weeks yet. Though your rapid recovery from surgery is a good indicator that there wasn't significant injury to the brain, so don't fret."
Eric nodded. "I'll try not."
"All right, then. I'm going to turn back on the morphine drip and leave you two alone. If you need anything, just buzz."
Jack squeezed Eric's hand. "Thanks, doc."
Carson smiled at the two. "You just be sure to let him rest, Lieutenant. I know ye need to talk, but you've got plenty of time."
Jack nodded and watched Beckett adjust the morphine drip and then leave with a nod.
"So... are you... okay with this?" Eric asked.
Jack leaned down and kissed his lover's lips quickly. "If you're okay with a lover who's a 55-year-old man in a 19-year-old body, I can live with a lover who's a 26-year-old man in a 35-year-old body."
***
The first job of attacking the Ancient wraith research was to figure out what sort of research had been done and in what sort of structure the information was stored. Rodney and Radek had spent the morning sorting through the linguists' translations of what amounted to file names, briefly interrupted by Rodney's meeting with Lorne's team before they set out. It rapidly became apparent that the Ancients had been running a virtual environment that the imprisoned wraith were interacting within, so there was a great deal of psychological and sociological data that got tagged for their soft-sciences specialists. There was technological information that had been gleaned as well, which they tagged for their own department. Additionally, toward the beginning, the Ancients had experimented with the effects of various chemicals on the wraith physiology, the stasis making it possible to watch in slow, agonising detail what the effects were.
"That would explain why there were ten pods and only six wraith," Rodney commented.
Radek shivered. "They are more ruthless than Carson."
"Carson's not ruthless."
Radek gave him a sad smile. "When it comes to protection of Atlantis and Earth, and the defeat of wraith, he is extremely ruthless. Haven't you noticed?"
Rodney stared at him a moment, thinking of their gentle, caring friend. "Um. Yeah. I guess he won't be winning any awards for his stellar sense of medical ethics." He was surprised that the realisation didn't really disturb him. "At any rate, I'm sure Carson will find this all very fascinating. There might be bioweapon applications here."
Radek nodded.
"So, do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?" Radek asked.
"Whatever it is that's been eating at you all morning," Rodney answered.
Radek looked surprised.
"I realise I'm not the most socially observant person," Rodney admitted, "but I do notice things after a while."
Radek sighed. "It's Kavanaugh."
"What about him?"
"I don't understand him."
Rodney snorted. "I don't think anyone understands Kavanaugh."
"Well, yes. But... I think... I think he still misses Dr. Waldschmidt. And I don't understand how he can feel that way."
"He was in love with her. Or thought he was, at least."
"But... she beat him, tried to kill him, used him to get to me. How can he...? I just don't understand how you could miss someone like that."
"L'amour a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point," Rodney answered.
"I suppose that is true," Radek answered, looking pensive.
"Look, take my word for it, you can have a lover that you know is hurting you on any number of levels and still feel powerless to leave."
Radek considered him. "You?"
"Twice," Rodney answered, eyes on the computer screen. "Some part of me still misses them both."
***
John wandered into the lab around lunch time and peered over their shoulders. "How's it going?"
"We're sorting the data into subject matter right now," Rodney answered, "but it looks incredibly promising."
"Cool," John answered, finding a stool to sit on. "So, when will you be at a good stopping place?"
"Give me... fifteen minutes."
"Okay." John let his eyes wander around the lab, looking at the Ancient devices in various stages of disassembly on the work benches. His eyes fell on a brightly-coloured object. "Hey! Is that a Rubik's Cube?"
Radek looked up and nodded. "Yes. It's mine."
"Wow. I haven't played with one of these since high school. Can I?"
"Go ahead," Radek answered, then turned his attention back to the computer screen, pointing to something. "I don't think this is translated right, considering its position in database..."
John picked up the cube which was thoroughly scrambled and studied it for a few seconds, then began rapidly turning sides.
"...think you may be right. I'll tag it for both departments," Rodney was saying as John set the finished cube down.
Radek blinked at him. "You are already done?"
John nodded and showed him the solved puzzle. Radek took the cube, looking between it and John in shock. "That... must have been only forty-five seconds."
"I'm a bit rusty," John said, grinning.
Radek turned away and started mixing up the sides. After a minute, he turned back around, handed John the cube, and hit a button on his watch. "Go."
John's hands flew. Rodney paused, watching his husband in admiration.
"Done," John said, holding up the puzzle.
Radek muttered something in Czech. "Thirty-eight seconds!"
"That long? I really have lost my edge."
"What was your best time?" Rodney asked, curious.
"Twenty-six seconds," John answered. "But, you know, that was a few years ago."
Radek took the cube back and handed it to Rodney. "You mess it up this time."
The door slid open and Carson walked in, leading the boy Deyn. "Ah, still all here, I see."
"Just getting to a good stopping place," Rodney said, eyes on the cube. "I could get done sooner if your boyfriend there would stop porning over John's speed with a Rubik's Cube." He looked up and caught sight of the child holding Carson's hand. "What are you doing bringing one of those into my lab?"
"'Those,' Rodney?"
"The kid. What is he doing in my lab?"
"He's waiting for Radek to get done so we can go to lunch," Carson answered.
"We're not done yet. Give us ten minutes. And keep him quiet."
John and Radek exchanged amused looks as Carson rolled his eyes. "You'll like this one, Rodney; he doesn't talk."
"Oh, well... that's good. Just keep him out of things. Here. He can play with this." Rodney shoved the cube at Carson, then turned back to the computer screen.
John slipped off the stool and sat down on the floor with the boy. "Hey. Let me show you how this works..."
***
"Wow. If I'd known the combination of a cute kid and a Rubik's Cube could get the attention of practically everyone," Rodney commented around a bite of chocolate pudding, "I could have gotten laid a lot more often in college."
John chuckled, watching Cadman and Brown wave goodbye to Deyn. The boy smiled back at them, then returned his attention to the puzzle. "How old would you guess he is, doc?"
"According to his babysitter from the planet and converting their years to Earth's, somewhere between four and five," Carson answered. "He's small for his age."
The boy let out a triumphant cry.
"Hey, you did it, Deyn!" John said, grinning from ear to ear.
Carson looked over in surprise. "Good Lord! He did, didn't he?"
"Did you go easy on him, John?" Rodney asked.
His husband shook his head. "It was thoroughly scrambled. That took him, what? Half an hour?"
"About right," Radek said.
"Hey, let me show you something," John said, holding out his hand. The boy handed him the puzzle. John turned and quickly rearranged it and then turned back, revealing the checkerboard pattern he'd created. "See this? Take a good look."
The boy studied the puzzle with quiet concentration, then handed it back, eyes on John.
"Okay, I'm going to put it back straight again and I want you to make this pattern. Okay?"
The boy nodded.
John once again turned his back and quickly set the cube to its solved state, then turned and handed it back.
"Six minutes, forty-seven seconds," Radek reported as Deyn handed the patterned cube back to John.
"Can you solve it from here?" John asked.
The boy nodded, took the cube, and proceeded without a hitch.
"He's absorbing the principles behind it amazingly well," John commented.
"You can't keep him," Rodney said.
John looked up and smiled at him. "Hey, it's not every day I get to play with a kid this smart. Indulge me."
Rodney shook his head and grinned, watching his husband demonstrating another pattern to the kid.
"It's cute, isn't it?" Radek whispered.
Rodney chuckled and nodded. "And disturbingly hot," he replied in an equally low voice. Rodney didn't even like kids, but watching John with one...
Carson started combining their trays, leaning over the table toward Radek. "Am I going to have to take ye back to our quarters for a reminder of who your lover is, Radek?"
Radek grinned. "You don't have to, milacku, though I certainly wouldn't object."
"I would," Rodney interrupted. "We have work to finish."
Carson and Radek both gave him hurt looks. "Bloody interfering bugger," Carson muttered.
"You could take some time with John," Radek pointed out. "I'm sure he wouldn't object."
"You two are as bad as he is," Rodney muttered.
"Ah. He is smarter man than I had realised," Radek said.
Rodney rolled his eyes and took the trays from Carson. "I'll leave you two to your depravity. Just keep your hands and eyes off my husband."
The two chuckled as Rodney walked off, then turned to see John grinning at them, hazel eyes sparkling.
Carson grinned back at him, then stepped over to Deyn. "All right, lad. Time to get back to the infirmary. Give Radek back his puzzle, please."
"He can keep it," Radek said.
Deyn greeted the offer with a huge grin and then turned his deep blue eyes on Carson.
"If he says ye can have it, then it's yours, lad. Come on, then." He turned and gave Radek a quick kiss. "See you tonight, love. Don't work too late."
Rodney returned to the table, bid his goodbyes to John with a kiss and a promise to not work too late, and the three men left the cafeteria, Rodney and Radek turning one way and John the other. Behind them, a table of marines watched.
"Goddamned fags," one of their number muttered. "Bad enough they do that in public, but in front of a kid..."
There was a rumble of agreement around the table.
***
"Dr. McKay... ah... -Sheppard," Caldwell greeted. "How are things on Atlantis?"
"Getting back to normal. We've got some potentially valuable new data, but I'll wait for your arrival to fill you in."
"How's Dr. Weir?"
"Better. She should be resuming her duties in a couple of days," Rodney assured him, as thankful of that news as Caldwell seemed to be.
"I'm glad to hear she's doing well," Caldwell said. "We're still a good two weeks out, but I wanted to beam you the records for the new personnel so you'd be prepared for them."
"Excellent. We're ready to receive."
"Sending now. We'll see you in two weeks, doctor."
"Looking forward to it, colonel."
***
"Shouldn't Elizabeth be looking at those?" John asked as Rodney paged through the personnel records in their apartment over dinner.
Rodney shrugged. "I'm going to see all the science personnel records anyway and you'd tell me about any interesting military personnel, so it's not like I wouldn't be seeing all this information anyway."
"There is that."
Rodney paused, hands frozen over the keyboard. "What the hell?"
John sat up. "Something interesting?"
"Lieutenant Nelson Gilchrist."
"What service?"
"U.S. Navy," Rodney answered.
"Wow. That's different."
"That wasn't why I was surprised. He's a chaplain."
John sat up in surprise. "A chaplain? What do we need a chaplain for?"
"I have no idea, but we're getting one."
John flopped back down onto the bed. "Great. Just what we needed-- someone else to scowl disapprovingly anytime we're together."
"Else?" Rodney asked.
John nodded. "Believe me, Rodney, there's more than a few people who aren't real happy about the Protocols, especially when it results in the head of the military and the head of the science division being not only openly involved in a gay relationship, but married to boot."
Rodney sighed. "I suppose I knew that. It was just nice to pretend, you know?"
"Lenoir to McKay," the radio interrupted.
"McKay here. What's up?"
"Major Lorne's team is reporting some problems, sir. Patching him through right now."
"Thank you, sergeant. Major Lorne?"
"I'm here, doctor," Lorne's voice crackled through.
John slid off the bed and joined him, looking concerned.
"What seems to be the problem, major?" Rodney asked.
"It seems we've offended the Nathalians by, er, Parrish and I not being married, sir."
"Um... Okay. Do you have any idea why?"
"Apparently the Nathalians only negotiate trade agreements with married traders-- something about it proving the trader is capable of honouring commitments. At any rate, they asked us a couple of questions which we misunderstood and, ah, left them with the wrong impression."
John was standing with his ear pressed to Rodney's, so he could hear the conversation. Rodney jabbed him in the ribs when he started to chuckle. "Okay, I'm following so far, I think."
"Well, negotiations were going rather well until mealtime when one of the women commented to Parrish on how, er, handsome his husband was and he, ah, corrected her mistake. And now..." Rodney pulled his head away to glare at John, who was fighting laughter. "... Well, I guess you'd say they, ah, want me to make an honest man of him."
Rodney sighed. Nothing like this happened when Elizabeth was in charge. He looked at John for advice. John shrugged.
"What happens if you don't, major?"
"Apparently the whole team gets put on trial for, well, what amounts to fraudulent trading, which is a pretty serious charge from what I can gather, and I get some additional charges... ah, I believe the term is fornication."
"My God, man, what did you say you two had done? No. Don't answer that. Look, this marriage ceremony, does it involve ingesting any sort of unknown substance or actually consummating the marriage?"
"Ah. No, sir."
"Then marry the man and get your asses back here."
"Sir?"
"You need to marry Parrish to get your team out of there in one piece, so marry him and get back here. You can, ah, get a quickie Mexican divorce once you get here."
"Very funny, sir. All right. I'll convey your... advice to Doctor Parrish. Lorne out."
John grinned at him. "Can we throw them a reception? Please?"
"You are absolutely evil, you know that?"
"Aw, come on, Rodney. We could really, really use an excuse to let off a little steam."
"Hey, you notice I didn't say no. I just said you were evil," Rodney said, then clicked on his radio. "McKay to Heightmeyer." He grinned at John as the counselor answered the page. "Kate, are you up for helping put on a little impromptu... ah... wedding reception?"
The two men grinned at each other.
"Yes," Rodney said into his radio. "Hold on a minute. John, go get Cadman. If we're going to do this, we need to do it right."
John laughed delightedly and kissed Rodney. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
Rodney kissed him back, then shooed him away. "Go, go. We don't have much time."
John headed out the door, already calling Cadman to see where she was.
This, Rodney thought with a smile, was going to be fun.