12 Days of Lorne: Day 11: C is for Cellblock Tango - Lorne/Sheppard (PG-13)
Title: C is for Cellblock Tango
Series: Part of the Overs and Unders ‘verse
Characters/Pairing: Lorne/broken!John, Kate Heightmeyer
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,499
Summary: Evan and John have to go to court.
Happy Holidays to all the little Broken!John fans. Here’s your Christmas prezzi.
Evan took a deep breath and steeled himself for a bad reaction to the news he had to give John. “John, I need to tell you something.”
Looking up from his datapad, John’s expression of mild curiosity turned worried when he caught Evan’s vibes and saw how nervous he was. “What?”
Clearing his throat, Evan said, “We have to go to Earth. The dial out is in half an hour.” He had waited as long as he could before telling John.
For moment, John just stared at him. Then he started to shake his head. “No.” The datapad slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. “No.”
“John, we have to. I’m sorry.”
His under leapt from the chair and stalked over to the balcony doors. “You don’t want me anymore. You’re taking me back.” He wrapped his arms around himself and slid to the floor, rocking back against the glass.
Rushing to his side, Evan tried to pull him into a hug, but John scooted back and away. “John, that isn’t true. I don’t want to go either. Believe me, I don’t want to go. But they’re demanding to see you. There’s a civilian court order, you have to be brought in and examined by the doctors the court assigned.”
“No, no, no. No more doctors!” John started tugging at his hair and rocking in place. When Evan grasped his chin and forced his face up, his eyes were wild with panic.
“I’m not leaving you John. I swear, I’m not leaving you. Please believe me. Calm down. I have to appear before the court and file properly for you, to be your over. They aren’t accepting the military proxy.”
John began to cry, wrapping his arms around his knees and hiding his face. Evan stroked a hand over his head and made shushing noises. Panic rising, John started to hit at him, pushing him away as he sobbed harder. “I don’t want to go. I want to stay here.”
Should he walk away and see if John calmed down? When he stood and took a few steps, John began to wail louder, lurching after him and grabbing onto his knees, clinging. “I’m sorry. Don’t send me away! I’ll do whatever you want. I know I’m bad I know it. Please, Evan!” He was sobbing uncontrollably now. Evan tried prying his hands away, trying petting his head, tried soothing noises, but nothing was getting through, John was working himself into a full blown panic attack.
“John! Stand up.” he barked, hoping that maybe the sharp tone would get through where soft words had not. He held his breath as John suddenly stopped crying and climbed to his feet. “Now, look at me.” Slowly, he raised his head and look, taking a gulping breath. “Good. Now, listen to me. I am not leaving you. You are MY under. I want you. No one is taking you from me, ever, do you understand?”
It took a few moments, but John finally gave an uncertain nod.
“Say it. I want to hear you say the words. What do you understand?” He hated using this tone with John, hated being harsh, but sometimes it was the only thing that got through when he was in a state.
“I’m your under. You aren’t letting anyone take me.”
“That’s right.” He opened his arms and John hurled himself against him. It could have been worse, he supposed. They might have had to put John in a straightjacket and sedate him to drag him back through the Gate. They still might. “Now, come on. We don’t want to be late.”
John stopped a few times along the way, but Evan was able to coax him into moving. He’d packed a bag for them and it was waiting in the Gate Room where he had left it when he went to collect John.
“I don’t want to go,” John whispered to Evan as Kate Heightmeyer came down the stairs to join them.
“It will be okay, John. Don’t worry,” she said. She was going along to give testimony about John’s progress.
Mostly for John’s benefit, Evan turned to Kate as the dialing sequence started and asked, “Whose side are you on these days, Kate?” John still had trouble trusting the doctor.
“I’m on John’s side, Major. I’ve always been on John’s side. I want what is best for him,” she said with a sad shake of her head.
Looking from Kate to Evan and back again, John cleared his throat and demanded, “And in your opinion, what is best for me, Kate?” Evan hid his smile behind his hand. He liked when John went back at Kate, showing some fire.
She patted his arm. “Evan. I believe that without any doubt, John. And that is what I will be telling the court, in no uncertain terms.”
John nodded and pressed up against Evan’s side, clasping his hand and intertwining their fingers. He walked slowly through the event horizon, but he walked. No sedation or straight jackets required.
~*~
They walked straight into a sea of legal activity and red tape. When they were dragged into an office at the SGC, John ended up kneeling at Evan’s side, pressed up against his leg, clearly on the edge of panic. After about an hour of doing paperwork and listening to legal arguments, John pressed his face to Evan’s thigh and tugged on his hand to get his attention. Evan tried pulling him up, but they were in a roomful of strange officers from the legal department and he wouldn’t budge. He crouched down instead so that they were eye to eye. “Do you want something?”
John nodded. “Collar. Leash.”
It grated on Evan’s nerves, the symbology of collar and leash, it wasn’t the kind of relationship he wanted with an under, and not what he wanted with John. He knew it was acceptable, even expected in certain circumstances, but it was not his thing. “Why? Everyone knows you’re mine, John. That is why we’re here and doing all of this, to make it legal.”
“Please,” John begged, squeezing Evan’s hand. He needed to do what was best for John, despite his personal preferences.
“Gentlemen, I need to take a little break, if you don’t mind,” Evan said as he stood and looked over at the lawyers. They waved and nodded in agreement.
“Come on John,” he led him to the elevator and then over to the base quartermaster. They were able to get a simple collar and a long woven lead. It wasn’t fancy, it was merely a token set, but it would do. John calmed considerably when Evan fastened the thin leather collar around his neck and kissed his cheek. He drew the line at holding the leash. He handed the end of it to John. If they were going to be projecting an image and using symbology, he was damn well making sure everyone knew that he trusted his under to do as he said and follow him without being dragged along.
The collar had such a positive effect that John even sat in the chair beside Evan as they met with other officials for the rest of the day. When they were done, Evan insisted on staying at a hotel. After they checked in and went to the room, John flopped on the bed and was asleep instantly, worn out from the emotional roller coaster of a day.
They spent the next day meeting with the court-appointed mental health team. John nearly panicked when they took him into a room without Evan. They had to let Evan in twice to calm John down and assure him that he had not left and was waiting right outside while he was interviewed.
He wouldn’t eat in the restaurant, so Evan had room service delivered, which John picked at before collapsing into bed again.
The next day, after parking the rental car, they arrived at court to find the lawyers from the SGC and Kate Heightmeyer waiting. Clad in a black suit and his token collar, John sat pressed against Evan, trembling noticeably as they waited to be called before the judge.
Kate testified and what she said did not contradict the findings of the court's health people, which was a relief. She told the judge what she had told John in the Gate Room, that she believed the best place for him to be was with Evan as his over.
The judge listened to all the testimonies and then called John forward and made him stand in front of the bench, after making Evan step out into the hallway, where he could not influence Sheppard with his presence. “Mister Sheppard, I've heard a lot of people talking about you today. I’ve read a lot of things in these reports. Before I make my decision, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Yes, your honor.”
“Do you like your current situation, are you comfortable?”
“Yes, your honor.”
“Evan Lorne treats you well?”
“Yes, your honor.”
“And if I remanded you back to the custody of the state, how would you react, Mister Sheppard?”
John was silent for a moment. “I’d be very upset. I wouldn’t like it and I’d probably try to run away. Your honor.”
“To get back to Evan?”
“If I could, yes, your honor.”
The judge waved to bailiff to bring Evan back in. “I’m not going to complicate the matter. Mister Sheppard seems to be in the best possible situation, under the circumstances. I’m going to grant Major Lorne’s petition to be entered as his over of record, duly recognized by the state of Colorado.” The judge banged his gavel and that was that. Out in the corridor, Evan hugged John and kissed his forehead as Kate came over and hugged John and Evan in turn. They shook hands with the lawyers and then they were in the car and heading back to the hotel.
It had almost all gone off without a hitch.
Evan pulled the car into a spot and he and John got out. John spotted the trouble first, coming across the parking lot at them. He gasped and grabbed Evan’s arm, rushing to get behind him. “Evan. Evan, he’s coming.”
As soon as John had panicked, Evan had seen the reason. Passing the keys over his shoulder he said sternly, “Get back in the car, John.” Then he turned to face the enraged man stalking towards them with an expression of pure rage on his face.
“You have what’s mine!”
“No, I don’t,” Evan snarled, moving to get between Harry Maybourne and John as his under clambered into the car and slammed the door. “Not according to the State of Colorado, I don’t.”
Maybourne shoved at him. “You little shit. You think you can keep my property from me?”
Evan shoved back with both hands. “John is not property.” He would have said more, but Maybourne started swinging, throwing the first punch at Evan’s gut. That was all the excuse Evan needed to let loose. He broke Maybourne’s nose with the first punch. The second broke his jaw with an audible crack. The rapid jabs to his ribcage certainly busted a rib or two, and he kneed him to the groin for good measure, pushing him back to lie in an unconscious heap on the asphalt. He might be a Colonel, but he was an out of shape Colonel and out of practice tussling with an opponent that would actually fight back.
Stepping over Maybourne’s feet, Evan went to the car and slapped the window. “Come on, get out, John, it’s okay now.” John slid from the car, his eyes wide as he stared at Maybourne as Evan took his hand and led him past the prone form of his former tormentor.
Going inside the hotel, Evan went to the front desk. “You’re going to need to call the police and an ambulance. We were attacked in the parking lot. You’ll need to pull the security footage as well. Make sure you do, and make copies, the asshole lying unconscious in your lot is big trouble. I’ll be in my room, 545, when the police arrive to take a statement.”
He led John through the lobby and into the elevator. John stared at him, but said nothing. He waited until they were in the room to pull John into his arms and hold him.
“You didn’t let him take me,” John whispered, pushing away.
“Of course I didn’t.” Evan went to sit in the chair in the corner and pulled John into his lap, cradling him there and rubbing his back in wide circles until the police knocked on the door and he had to get up to let them in. John sat quietly on the chair, watching and listening as Evan made a report. He just nodded in agreement when the cops asked him if what Evan said was true and signed off on the witness statement they handed him.
“I want to go home now, Evan,” John said when the cops left. “I don’t want to stay here, I want to go home.”
“Are you okay?” Evan asked, stroking his cheek.
“I’m better. I just don’t want to be here. I miss Atlantis. It feels weird here. Can we go back?”
“Let me see what I can do. We were supposed to stay a week.” Evan pulled out his cell phone and called Walter at the SGC. He hung up and looked at John. “Sorry buddy. We have to wait for the scheduled dial out and go with the resupply. What we can do is blow town and head for my mom’s.”
“Your mom’s?”
“Yeah, I thought we’d head up to San Francisco and see my mom for a few days.”
John tilted his head and considered it. “Okay.”
Relieved, Evan started collecting their stuff. “I didn’t tell Kate about this. You’ll have to go a few days without a session.”
“Good. I don’t want to talk to Kate right now. I want to meet your mom. Does your mom know about me?”
“Not a thing. We’re going to surprise her. She’s been after me for years to take an under, she worries that I’m alone.”
John smiled as Evan zipped up the suitcase. “Can we pretend that we’re like everybody else, that you wanted me for your under?”
Evan dropped the bag and crossed the room, pulling John roughly into his arms. “I wanted you, John. I want you now. We don’t have to pretend to be anything we’re not, okay? My mom is going to like you. She might try to feed you pastries to fatten you up, but otherwise, she will like you the way you are because you’re my partner.”
“You broke Maybourne’s nose,” John smiled as he said it.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months.”
John smiled and kissed him on the lips. “I’m glad you did.”
The End
Series: Part of the Overs and Unders ‘verse
Characters/Pairing: Lorne/broken!John, Kate Heightmeyer
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,499
Summary: Evan and John have to go to court.
Happy Holidays to all the little Broken!John fans. Here’s your Christmas prezzi.
Evan took a deep breath and steeled himself for a bad reaction to the news he had to give John. “John, I need to tell you something.”
Looking up from his datapad, John’s expression of mild curiosity turned worried when he caught Evan’s vibes and saw how nervous he was. “What?”
Clearing his throat, Evan said, “We have to go to Earth. The dial out is in half an hour.” He had waited as long as he could before telling John.
For moment, John just stared at him. Then he started to shake his head. “No.” The datapad slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. “No.”
“John, we have to. I’m sorry.”
His under leapt from the chair and stalked over to the balcony doors. “You don’t want me anymore. You’re taking me back.” He wrapped his arms around himself and slid to the floor, rocking back against the glass.
Rushing to his side, Evan tried to pull him into a hug, but John scooted back and away. “John, that isn’t true. I don’t want to go either. Believe me, I don’t want to go. But they’re demanding to see you. There’s a civilian court order, you have to be brought in and examined by the doctors the court assigned.”
“No, no, no. No more doctors!” John started tugging at his hair and rocking in place. When Evan grasped his chin and forced his face up, his eyes were wild with panic.
“I’m not leaving you John. I swear, I’m not leaving you. Please believe me. Calm down. I have to appear before the court and file properly for you, to be your over. They aren’t accepting the military proxy.”
John began to cry, wrapping his arms around his knees and hiding his face. Evan stroked a hand over his head and made shushing noises. Panic rising, John started to hit at him, pushing him away as he sobbed harder. “I don’t want to go. I want to stay here.”
Should he walk away and see if John calmed down? When he stood and took a few steps, John began to wail louder, lurching after him and grabbing onto his knees, clinging. “I’m sorry. Don’t send me away! I’ll do whatever you want. I know I’m bad I know it. Please, Evan!” He was sobbing uncontrollably now. Evan tried prying his hands away, trying petting his head, tried soothing noises, but nothing was getting through, John was working himself into a full blown panic attack.
“John! Stand up.” he barked, hoping that maybe the sharp tone would get through where soft words had not. He held his breath as John suddenly stopped crying and climbed to his feet. “Now, look at me.” Slowly, he raised his head and look, taking a gulping breath. “Good. Now, listen to me. I am not leaving you. You are MY under. I want you. No one is taking you from me, ever, do you understand?”
It took a few moments, but John finally gave an uncertain nod.
“Say it. I want to hear you say the words. What do you understand?” He hated using this tone with John, hated being harsh, but sometimes it was the only thing that got through when he was in a state.
“I’m your under. You aren’t letting anyone take me.”
“That’s right.” He opened his arms and John hurled himself against him. It could have been worse, he supposed. They might have had to put John in a straightjacket and sedate him to drag him back through the Gate. They still might. “Now, come on. We don’t want to be late.”
John stopped a few times along the way, but Evan was able to coax him into moving. He’d packed a bag for them and it was waiting in the Gate Room where he had left it when he went to collect John.
“I don’t want to go,” John whispered to Evan as Kate Heightmeyer came down the stairs to join them.
“It will be okay, John. Don’t worry,” she said. She was going along to give testimony about John’s progress.
Mostly for John’s benefit, Evan turned to Kate as the dialing sequence started and asked, “Whose side are you on these days, Kate?” John still had trouble trusting the doctor.
“I’m on John’s side, Major. I’ve always been on John’s side. I want what is best for him,” she said with a sad shake of her head.
Looking from Kate to Evan and back again, John cleared his throat and demanded, “And in your opinion, what is best for me, Kate?” Evan hid his smile behind his hand. He liked when John went back at Kate, showing some fire.
She patted his arm. “Evan. I believe that without any doubt, John. And that is what I will be telling the court, in no uncertain terms.”
John nodded and pressed up against Evan’s side, clasping his hand and intertwining their fingers. He walked slowly through the event horizon, but he walked. No sedation or straight jackets required.
~*~
They walked straight into a sea of legal activity and red tape. When they were dragged into an office at the SGC, John ended up kneeling at Evan’s side, pressed up against his leg, clearly on the edge of panic. After about an hour of doing paperwork and listening to legal arguments, John pressed his face to Evan’s thigh and tugged on his hand to get his attention. Evan tried pulling him up, but they were in a roomful of strange officers from the legal department and he wouldn’t budge. He crouched down instead so that they were eye to eye. “Do you want something?”
John nodded. “Collar. Leash.”
It grated on Evan’s nerves, the symbology of collar and leash, it wasn’t the kind of relationship he wanted with an under, and not what he wanted with John. He knew it was acceptable, even expected in certain circumstances, but it was not his thing. “Why? Everyone knows you’re mine, John. That is why we’re here and doing all of this, to make it legal.”
“Please,” John begged, squeezing Evan’s hand. He needed to do what was best for John, despite his personal preferences.
“Gentlemen, I need to take a little break, if you don’t mind,” Evan said as he stood and looked over at the lawyers. They waved and nodded in agreement.
“Come on John,” he led him to the elevator and then over to the base quartermaster. They were able to get a simple collar and a long woven lead. It wasn’t fancy, it was merely a token set, but it would do. John calmed considerably when Evan fastened the thin leather collar around his neck and kissed his cheek. He drew the line at holding the leash. He handed the end of it to John. If they were going to be projecting an image and using symbology, he was damn well making sure everyone knew that he trusted his under to do as he said and follow him without being dragged along.
The collar had such a positive effect that John even sat in the chair beside Evan as they met with other officials for the rest of the day. When they were done, Evan insisted on staying at a hotel. After they checked in and went to the room, John flopped on the bed and was asleep instantly, worn out from the emotional roller coaster of a day.
They spent the next day meeting with the court-appointed mental health team. John nearly panicked when they took him into a room without Evan. They had to let Evan in twice to calm John down and assure him that he had not left and was waiting right outside while he was interviewed.
He wouldn’t eat in the restaurant, so Evan had room service delivered, which John picked at before collapsing into bed again.
The next day, after parking the rental car, they arrived at court to find the lawyers from the SGC and Kate Heightmeyer waiting. Clad in a black suit and his token collar, John sat pressed against Evan, trembling noticeably as they waited to be called before the judge.
Kate testified and what she said did not contradict the findings of the court's health people, which was a relief. She told the judge what she had told John in the Gate Room, that she believed the best place for him to be was with Evan as his over.
The judge listened to all the testimonies and then called John forward and made him stand in front of the bench, after making Evan step out into the hallway, where he could not influence Sheppard with his presence. “Mister Sheppard, I've heard a lot of people talking about you today. I’ve read a lot of things in these reports. Before I make my decision, I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Yes, your honor.”
“Do you like your current situation, are you comfortable?”
“Yes, your honor.”
“Evan Lorne treats you well?”
“Yes, your honor.”
“And if I remanded you back to the custody of the state, how would you react, Mister Sheppard?”
John was silent for a moment. “I’d be very upset. I wouldn’t like it and I’d probably try to run away. Your honor.”
“To get back to Evan?”
“If I could, yes, your honor.”
The judge waved to bailiff to bring Evan back in. “I’m not going to complicate the matter. Mister Sheppard seems to be in the best possible situation, under the circumstances. I’m going to grant Major Lorne’s petition to be entered as his over of record, duly recognized by the state of Colorado.” The judge banged his gavel and that was that. Out in the corridor, Evan hugged John and kissed his forehead as Kate came over and hugged John and Evan in turn. They shook hands with the lawyers and then they were in the car and heading back to the hotel.
It had almost all gone off without a hitch.
Evan pulled the car into a spot and he and John got out. John spotted the trouble first, coming across the parking lot at them. He gasped and grabbed Evan’s arm, rushing to get behind him. “Evan. Evan, he’s coming.”
As soon as John had panicked, Evan had seen the reason. Passing the keys over his shoulder he said sternly, “Get back in the car, John.” Then he turned to face the enraged man stalking towards them with an expression of pure rage on his face.
“You have what’s mine!”
“No, I don’t,” Evan snarled, moving to get between Harry Maybourne and John as his under clambered into the car and slammed the door. “Not according to the State of Colorado, I don’t.”
Maybourne shoved at him. “You little shit. You think you can keep my property from me?”
Evan shoved back with both hands. “John is not property.” He would have said more, but Maybourne started swinging, throwing the first punch at Evan’s gut. That was all the excuse Evan needed to let loose. He broke Maybourne’s nose with the first punch. The second broke his jaw with an audible crack. The rapid jabs to his ribcage certainly busted a rib or two, and he kneed him to the groin for good measure, pushing him back to lie in an unconscious heap on the asphalt. He might be a Colonel, but he was an out of shape Colonel and out of practice tussling with an opponent that would actually fight back.
Stepping over Maybourne’s feet, Evan went to the car and slapped the window. “Come on, get out, John, it’s okay now.” John slid from the car, his eyes wide as he stared at Maybourne as Evan took his hand and led him past the prone form of his former tormentor.
Going inside the hotel, Evan went to the front desk. “You’re going to need to call the police and an ambulance. We were attacked in the parking lot. You’ll need to pull the security footage as well. Make sure you do, and make copies, the asshole lying unconscious in your lot is big trouble. I’ll be in my room, 545, when the police arrive to take a statement.”
He led John through the lobby and into the elevator. John stared at him, but said nothing. He waited until they were in the room to pull John into his arms and hold him.
“You didn’t let him take me,” John whispered, pushing away.
“Of course I didn’t.” Evan went to sit in the chair in the corner and pulled John into his lap, cradling him there and rubbing his back in wide circles until the police knocked on the door and he had to get up to let them in. John sat quietly on the chair, watching and listening as Evan made a report. He just nodded in agreement when the cops asked him if what Evan said was true and signed off on the witness statement they handed him.
“I want to go home now, Evan,” John said when the cops left. “I don’t want to stay here, I want to go home.”
“Are you okay?” Evan asked, stroking his cheek.
“I’m better. I just don’t want to be here. I miss Atlantis. It feels weird here. Can we go back?”
“Let me see what I can do. We were supposed to stay a week.” Evan pulled out his cell phone and called Walter at the SGC. He hung up and looked at John. “Sorry buddy. We have to wait for the scheduled dial out and go with the resupply. What we can do is blow town and head for my mom’s.”
“Your mom’s?”
“Yeah, I thought we’d head up to San Francisco and see my mom for a few days.”
John tilted his head and considered it. “Okay.”
Relieved, Evan started collecting their stuff. “I didn’t tell Kate about this. You’ll have to go a few days without a session.”
“Good. I don’t want to talk to Kate right now. I want to meet your mom. Does your mom know about me?”
“Not a thing. We’re going to surprise her. She’s been after me for years to take an under, she worries that I’m alone.”
John smiled as Evan zipped up the suitcase. “Can we pretend that we’re like everybody else, that you wanted me for your under?”
Evan dropped the bag and crossed the room, pulling John roughly into his arms. “I wanted you, John. I want you now. We don’t have to pretend to be anything we’re not, okay? My mom is going to like you. She might try to feed you pastries to fatten you up, but otherwise, she will like you the way you are because you’re my partner.”
“You broke Maybourne’s nose,” John smiled as he said it.
“I’ve wanted to do that for months.”
John smiled and kissed him on the lips. “I’m glad you did.”
The End