FIC: Exposed (1/4) [Stargate: Atlantis]
TITLE: Exposed
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the SG:A characters. They belong to Gecko Productions, I believe? I could be wrong. Either way, they're not mine. Yes, I invented a few characters, and the race of people they encounter in this fic, but other than that, not mine.
FANDOM: Stargate: Atlantis
WORD COUNT: ~ 14,000
SPOILERS: AU. Assumes a certain event did not happen in "Sunday".
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: Radek/Rodney, Radek/Carson, Rodney/Carson
SUMMARY: After an off-world mission goes badly, Rodney and Radek learn something about Carson.
CHALLENGE: Written for the fic4radek fic-a-thon.
PROMPT: nickespix requested the following:
Include in the story Czech beer (Staropramen - to die for!), chess, chains.
Do not include: Ronon/Radek, Sheppard/Radek, no noncon or torture.
Preferred pairings: Rodney/Radek, Carson/Radek, or Rodney/Carson/Radek.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Forgive the cliche title -- I'm bad at titles! A very big thank-you goes out to niroby, and audreysmagic, who helped co-write parts of this. Wouldn't've been possible without you two. :)
* * * * *
"We're receiving a radio transmission, Dr. Weir," Chuck announced, tapping a few keys on one of the keyboards in front of him. "It's Colonel Sheppard."
"Patch it through." Weir nodded. "Colonel Sheppard?"
"Elizabeth, we're coming in hot, and Carson's wounded," John barked over her headset. "We need help, now."
"Lower the shield," Elizabeth ordered, tapping her earpiece quickly. "We need a crash team."
John and Rodney, carrying Carson, emerged from the event horizon, followed quickly by Teyla and Ronon, who were aiming their guns at the gate. When the horizon flashed out of existence, a team of EMTs wheeled a gurney onto the ramp.
John and Rodney disentangled Carson from their grip, and half-eased, half-dropped him onto the gurney.
They were dirty, grey with the crusted red of blood. They sprouted from Carson's back, through the shredded remains of Ace bandages, with feathers sticking out at uncomfortable angles, some of them hanging on by threads. They were twisted around, as if being in direct sunlight caused them to curl in on themselves out of fear.
They were unmistakably a pair of wings.
As the EMTs pushing the gurney sprinted out of the control room, Elizabeth turned to Colonel Sheppard and his team.
"I want each of your mission reports," she told John in a calm, firm voice. "And I want them now, one at a time."
John stared at her for a long moment, and then nodded. "Okay."
* * * * *
"As Colonel Sheppard stated in his check-in, we discovered the Harandans' new camp after having spent most of the day searching." Teyla began calmly, sitting across from Dr. Weir like she would have during any other mission de-briefing. Sitting in Dr. Weir's office overlooking the control room instead of at the conference room table wasn't lost on either of them, though. Nor was the tightly-clenched worry on Teyla's face and in the set of her shoulders. "Given the Harandans' nomadic lifestyle, it proved more difficult to locate them without a puddlejumper."
Elizabeth nodded. "Continue."
Ronon shrugged, his massive frame slouched into the chair opposite hers, looking for all the world like a boy who'd been sent to the principal's office. He loomed over the desk as he folded his hands on it. "They seemed happy to see us."
Elizabeth hid a smile. "I'm guessing that Carson's help was greatly appreciated."
"Of course it was," Rodney rolled his eyes, and Elizabeth could almost see him trying to bite back something rude. "He was practically a messiah, a modern-day Jesus. He showed them his voodoo medical stuff, they nattered on rather annoyingly about their voodoo religion." He slumped back in the chair in front of her desk, looking tired for a moment before shooting her a less than sunny look. "It was one big happy."
"We made arrangements to pick up the food they'd promised in the trade," John slouched in the chair, managing to look petulant and physically uncomfortable at the same time. "And they apparently don't move around as much as they used to."
Elizabeth frowned. "I thought Lorne's team had found out their entire culture was based on moving around frequently so that they had a chance of hiding when the Wraith came."
"Um, Elizabeth?" Rodney began in his my-IQ-can-beat-up-yours voice. "Our gate had trouble making a connection to their gate, remember? If we take into account that planets, I don't know, shift in their orbits ever so slightly every few millenia or so, it's possible that the Harandans' planet has drifted far enough away so that not even the Wraith can reliably get there 100% of the time."
Elizabeth nodded. "So you found the new camp, Carson went to work..."
Teyla nodded. "The Harandans offered us food and drink, and since night had fallen, they offered us what beds they could."
"They seemed friendly enough," Ronon offered. "Offered us food, water, beds for the night."
"I voted we come back, because who knew if these people would know citrus fruit from their--" At Elizabeth's arched eyebrow, Rodney paused. "Elbows. But I didn't go into anaphylactic shock, so that was good."
"Rodney complained about the food, and Carson seemed to be speaking with a few of the midwives of the camp, so I felt that nothing was amiss," Teyla said, his voice getting hard around the edges.
"Teyla headed for bed, Sheppard checked the perimeter, McKay kept stuffing his face, and Carson seemed to be fine, so I went to bed." Ronon shrugged. "Which was a bad move."
"It happened after we went to sleep," John admitted, looking sheepish and sounding annoyed. He picked at a spot on the top of Weir's desk. "I had insisted that we room together, but I hadn't noticed Carson go missing."
"I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to go," Rodney said, "and Carson wasn't there. I figured he was just chatting up the women, so I didn't think too much of it. But then I hear Carson shouting outside, and then there was this weird...."
"... It sounded like chanting." Ronon frowned. "Lots of male voices. We used to have crackpot religions on Sateda that were weird, but this... this was bad."
"Colonel Sheppard was the first to the door," Teyla said. "We followed suit, and when we reached the clearing at the outskirts of the camp, we found Carson chained to a... I believe your people call it a pillory?"
"Those bastards had Carson in chains," Rodney barked, his lip curled in a sneer, even as he wrapped his arms around his chest. "They were all standing around him, chanting. Carson was pleading with them to let him go, but they weren't listening. We didn't see the..." Rodney stopped for a moment, shaking his head. "Whatever those nutcases did to him... until later."
"Of course, seeing one of my team about to be executed doesn't exactly put me in a good mood," John replied with a careless shrug, "so I asked what the hell was going on."
"According to the Harandans, they believe that their god sends messengers to them, providing enlightenment to his chosen people," Teyla explained. "However, these messengers are capable of becoming evil. When a fallen messenger comes to them, they kill the messenger in order to release the messenger's soul from its evil, and so that the messenger may return to their god."
"And you think that the Harandans thought Carson was a fallen messenger?" Elizabeth asked skeptically, frowning.
Teyla nodded. "He brought them more advanced medical techniques. It would be easy to believe such knowledge came from the gods."
"Good point," Elizabeth murmured. "Go on."
"Sheppard ordered them to let Carson go," Ronon said, his mouth thin-lipped, "but no deal."
"That whackjob priest said something infinitely stupid about Carson needing to be returned to their 'god', whoever the hell that is," Rodney spat. "So, Colonel Sheppard pulled his gun--"
"The Harandans refused to obey," Teyla said quietly. "I do not disagree with Colonel Sheppard's actions, but I wish that we had been able to free Dr. Beckett and escape without bloodshed."
"We took out a lot of them in the clearing," Ronon reported, still meeting Elizabeth's gaze.
"They wouldn't back off," Rodney spluttered, his hands gesturing sharply. As he continued, his eyes widened, and Elizabeth was sure he couldn't see her across the desk. "They knew what our guns could do, and they refused to let him go. Sheppard ended up having to shoot the lock off the chains wrapped around the pillory--"
"But we still had to worry about the natives," John grumbled, still not looking Elizabeth in the eye directly. "I didn't want to mow them all down if I could help it, but I came close a couple times."
"We managed to return to the gate without injuring too many of the Harandans, though I suspect, after this incident, we will not be welcomed back." Teyla took a deep breath, and gusted a sigh. "The rest, you know. We returned to the gate as quickly as we could, with Colonel Sheppard and Rodney carrying Dr. Beckett between them."
Teyla didn't look happy at the end of her report, but after having heard John's, Rodney's, and Ronon's versions, Elizabeth couldn't blame her.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Elizabeth reached out a hand to cover Teyla's where it lay on the table.
Teyla looked up with a small smile, as if to reassure Elizabeth, before the smile slipped away. "Will Dr. Beckett recover?"
Elizabeth nodded. "It might take a while, but I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Shall I report to the medical bay for testing?" Teyla's eyebrows rose in a polite question.
Elizabeth frowned at her curiously. "Were you exposed to something while you were on the planet?"
Teyla frowned. "I am... unsure. Dr. Beckett appeared to have... wings growing out of his back when we found him chained to the pillory."
Elizabeth's expression cleared. "That's right. I promise, you have nothing to worry about. If you don't mind a friendly suggestion, you should go to your quarters and rest."
Teyla's frown deepened. "If we were exposed to the same things Dr. Beckett was, why--"
Elizabeth held up a hand to stop her, speaking in a gentle but firm voice. "I realize that it sounds very strange coming from me, and I know you're concerned, but I can safely say that Carson will be just fine. The medical team will take good care of him, and you should take care of yourself." She smiled almost apologetically. "I'm sure that you're exhausted after what happened on the mission--"
Teyla didn't miss the pointed look. Nodding slowly, her frown grew puzzled. "Very well, Dr. Weir, I will rest," she said reluctantly. "If Dr. Beckett's condition changes, would you let me know, please?"
Elizabeth smiled again. "Of course."
As Teyla walked out of her office, the door closing behind her, Elizabeth sighed heavily and sank back in her chair. "Oh, Carson, the things I do for you...."
* * * * *
"Look, you pretentious blowhard, I want to see Carson," Rodney spluttered, two spots of red shining in his cheekbones, "and I want to see him now, capiche?"
The nurse he was facing down, who was roughly twice as wide as he (though a few inches shorter), didn't look impressed by what Rodney felt was a well-reasoned argument against the utterly stupid, ridiculous policy of Carson not having visitors.
"I'm sorry, sir," the nurse said flatly, and how the hell did he manage to make 'sir' sound like an insult? But the young man continued, his eyes narrowed at Rodney. "But no means no. I'm not doing the midnight shift for going against a direct request from a patient."
"So you have spoken to Carson!" Rodney's face lit up. "He's been conscious since we brought him in! Now, you can run along, and go tell him that I'm coming in to s--"
The nurse held out an arm, barring Rodney's beeline to Carson's bed further inside the medical bay. "No dice, Dr. McKay. And no, for your information, he hasn't been awake since you brought him in."
Rodney glared down at him, but he glared back.
"Now, if you're not going to leave under your own steam, I'll get some Marines to do it, capiche?" the nurse sneered.
Rodney glared at him again for good measure, but just as he was about to let loose with another string of invectives about the nurse's family tree, and his possible ancestors arguing over coconuts somewhere in Africa, he saw a head of frizzy, brown hair appear in his vision, along with a pair of hopeful, blue eyes looking at the nurse.
"Is Carson awake?"
The nurse wheeled on the newcomer, but deflated visibly when he saw Radek. "I'm sorry, Dr. Zelenka, but he's not, and he's not accepting visitors." He glared at Rodney, who had tried yet again to make his way to Carson's bed. "I wasn't kidding about getting some Marines in here to escort you out, Doc. Don't push it."
Radek blinked at the hard tone, and when he looked at Rodney, who was unsuccessfully trying to will the nurse to spontaneously burst into flames, he sighed heavily. "I will take care of this," he told the nurse, and laid a heavier-than-usual hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Come, Rodney. I'm sure there is Jell-O in the mess hall."
"But--"
Radek looked at him sharply, adding a firm tug to punctuate his argument. Turning to the nurse, who looked a bit more mollified by the development, he smiled apologetically. "If Carson's condition changes...?"
"You'll be one of the first to know, Dr. Zelenka." The nurse nodded, returning the smile a bit unwillingly. "Good luck with Dr. Demented here."
"Hey, I'm still here." Rodney huffed, but Radek was already in the process of forcibly steering him out of the medbay. When the door closed behind them, Rodney turned around, batting Radek's hands away. "All right, so what was behind that? You realize that they haven't let me in to see him since we brought him back? And it's already been--" He looked at his watch quickly. "--Seven hours since we came back?"
Radek rolled his eyes. "Simpson, Miko, and Anderson have each informed me of your indignance. So, instead of beating your head against a wall, perhaps you would like to try going around it now?"
Rodney frowned, half-glaring at Radek as if that would make Radek make more sense. After a moment, it seemed to work, as Rodney's eyebrows rose sharply. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier." That said, he started off at a brisk clip toward the labs.
"That would be because you were being very worried over Carson," Radek replied, jogging a little to keep up, and then falling into step with him easily enough. "I believe Simpson said you were wringing your hands the first time you were not allowed to see him."
"I was not!" Rodney didn't shriek, but protested rather loudly. In a manly sort of tone, in fact. Either way, it wasn't a shriek of indignance, no matter what filthy lies were spread around on the science team message boards later that night.
Radek nodded. "Yes, Rodney. I think no one is using my laptop at the moment."
If Rodney started walking faster, well, Sheppard kept saying he needed more exercise. Not that Rodney ever believed him for a moment.
* * * * *
Radek's laptop was a thing of beauty, though Rodney would never tell Radek this. Snagging two spare stools from nearby workstations, they hunched over the table, Rodney's fingers flying over the keys, pulling up windows while Radek watched, and protested that Rodney didn't need to open that window, and smacked Rodney's hand and took over for exactly two seconds. At which point, Rodney took over again with a more vicious smack to Radek's hands.
Soon, there were security cameras inside the infirmary, covering all the beds. One or two Marines from Lorne's mission the week before were languishing away in two beds, one of them hitting on a morning-shift nurse, who smiled back. Or at least, that was what Rodney was guessing, at this angle.
Another camera revealed more empty beds. Click, what looked like Carson's office, and someone working on the computer. Click, another side office, someone looking in a microscope. Click, click, cli--
"There," Radek jabbed a finger at the screen, and Rodney was a heartbeat away from slapping it away when he remembered this was Radek's laptop he was using, and he didn't care if the crystals in the LCD got screwed up because of fingers poking them.
Still, the picture was a bit fuzzy -- they really needed to upgrade the cameras in the medbay, maybe they could requisition newer ones in the next databurst back to Earth -- there was a woman with a lined face taking a few notes on a clipboard, and Carson.
Carson, who was laying on his stomach, face crashed into his pillow, mouth open. Rodney would've thought he looked insufferably cute if it weren't for the wings that were wrapped in bandages growing out of his back. From what he could see, they were near or around where Carson's shoulderblades should be, and there seemed to be a lot of bandages wrapped around them. Some spots on the bandages showed bleed-through, but it wasn't alarming.
"Boze..." Radek whispered, and Rodney had no idea what he'd just said, but damned if he didn't agree with him.
It was then that Rodney realized something. "Wait." He clicked a few more of the windows, trying to get a few more angles of Carson's bed, and he saw the nurse looking at Carson fondly, but no other instruments in sight.
"What?" Radek asked, sounding peevish. "Would you stop-- There. Just leave it alone."
Rodney glared at him, but stopped changing views between the two -- only two! -- cameras. "Fine, but why aren't they amputating?"
"Amputating?" Radek frowned, turning away from the screen to look at Rodney. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Rodney huffed, jabbing a finger at the laptop's screen, "that isn't normal. He sure as hell didn't have wings growing out of his back when we left Atlantis yesterday."
Radek frowned at the screen. "Nilsson said that Carson was not having visitors, ano?"
"Who?" Rodney demanded, frowning.
"The nurse you were attempting to bludgeon with bad logic," Radek replied.
"Oh, him." Rodney dismissed the nurse with an distracted wave of his hand. "He said Carson had requested he not have visitors, but Carson hadn't woken up yet." He pointed at the screen, and stopped. "... though I could be wrong."
Both of them squinted at the screen, watching as one blue eye opened blearily, blinking a few times before the man on the bed winced, his mouth twisted as his tongue worked. When he tried to lift his head, the woman scribbling on the chart moved into view and smiled at him.
"Good morning, Dr. Beckett." The woman's voice sounded a bit warped coming out of Radek's speakers.
Jabbing at the volume button, Rodney got the sound down to a manageable level.
"Though in your current condition, I'd hesitate to call it 'good'," the woman continued wryly.
"Leslie?" Carson's voice was more like a croak.
"I'd hate to think I'm someone else." She smiled. "Hi, Carson."
"What..." Carson frowned muzzily for a moment before his eyes shot wide open. "Oh God, my wings--"
Rodney and Radek stared at the screen mutely, like a pair of wide-eyed hamsters.
"It's okay, Carson," Leslie said reassuringly, resting a hand on his shoulder gently. "No amputation was needed, though if you weren't on morphine right now, you might wish they weren't there."
Carson sighed heavily, his eyes closing before his head thumped back onto the pillow. "Thank God."
Leslie chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear you say that."
"Neither did I, to be honest..." Carson admitted, looking up at her. "Better the devil y'know, eh?"
"Now, that sounds more like you." She smiled. "You should get more rest. You've been through quite an ordeal."
Carson looked up at her gratefully before frowning. "Has anybody...?"
Leslie looked down at him, her smile fading. "The rumor mill's certainly in full force. I wouldn't be surprised if someone's already started a thread on the intranet by now."
Carson lay back on his pillow, closing his eyes. His lips pressed into a thin line. "Christ."
"For what it's worth..." she said slowly. "I'm sorry, Carson."
Carson shook his head. "It's not your fault."
"Hey, Dr. McKay?"
Rodney and Radek visibly jumped in their seats, Rodney's hand immediately slapping at the mouse, closing all the windows and exiting out of the programs he'd opened to hack the cameras. Radek looked like he'd shoved his fingers into an electrical socket.
"What?" Rodney barked loudly, scaring what he assumed to be a fresh-off-Daedalus scientist out of his wits.
When the scientist in question tried two different times to explain the problem -- something to do with an energy fluctuation -- Radek surreptitiously checked his laptop to make sure that Rodney hadn't caused any irreparable harm when he closed out the windows so quickly. That done, he willed his heart to stop beating twice as fast as normal, sent a quick email to Rodney to meet him in his quarters after their shifts were over, and deliberately tried not to think about what he'd seen over the security cameras.
* * * * *
When Rodney knocked on the door to Radek's quarters that night, Radek dragged him inside and thrust an uncorked bottle into his hands. He looked down at it, a bit confused.
"It's Staropramen," Radek grunted, turning to his desk and sitting down in the chair. "I'm thinking that we'll need it tonight, after what we saw on the cameras." That said, he returned to typing quickly on his laptop.
Rodney frowned. "I don't know about you, but I've already toasted enough brain cells. While my brilliance wouldn't be diminished that much--"
Radek glared at him over the rims of his glasses before pushing them back into place. "Rodney, be quiet. I am trying to hack into Carson's medical file."
Rodney blinked again. Setting down the bottle on the dresser next to Radek's bed, he folded his arms across his chest and stood behind Radek's chair, watching the screen as Radek typed furiously. "You can't possibly be this stupid. It's frighteningly easy to get into anyone's medical records."
Radek tilted his head back, half-glaring up at Rodney while upside-down. "I am not this stupid. Carson's file has a subdirectory that is encrypted."
"What?" Rodney blinked. "Lemme see that." He bent over Radek's sitting form and skimmed the screen, absently noticing when Radek wriggled out from under him and surrendered his chair finally. Rodney sank down, ignoring the allergies, blood type, other various medical things that were completely irrelevant--
"Physical abnormality?" Rodney blurted out. "What the hell?"
Radek snorted. "Exactly." He took a swig from the bottle, swirling it around his mouth before swallowing. "At the end of the page is the--"
"The encryption, yeah, I see it." Rodney waved in Radek's general direction absently. "Shush, I'm working."
He distantly heard Radek snort, and probably take another swig -- Rodney hated foreign beer, but Radek sometimes tasted of it after they had survived yet another crisis on Atlantis, so Rodney couldn't say that it was totally unredeemable. Still, it had been a while since he and Radek had had a few uninterrupted hours, and what the hell was with this password? His usual security bypass codes weren't working, and neither were his usual hacking standbys. It was obviously a six-digit, alpha-numeric code, and maybe it was something stupid, like Carson's birthday.
When the program beeped annoyingly at him yet again, Rodney grit his teeth. "Is there a way to turn off the annoying beeping?"
"That was the first thing I tried," Radek admitted, shaking his head. "What have you tried so far?"
"Carson's birthday, a few typical passwords," Rodney grunted.
"Let me try again," Radek offered, standing over the desk and moving the laptop firmly in his direction. "What is Carson's mother's birthday?"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Rodney objected, though he had a niggling feeling--
Radek quickly pulled up Carson's personnel file, found what he was looking for, switched windows again, entered in six digits, and BLIP! a new window opened.
"Oh my God, I can't believe Carson used his mother's birthday as his password--" Rodney spluttered, grabbing the laptop and jerking it in his direction. Radek smacked one of his hands, rolled his eyes, and then moved to stand behind Rodney, hovering over Rodney's shoulder as they both stared at the screen.
DESCRIPTION: Two bone spurs from left and right scapulae, each with two malformed joints, mimicking the anatomy of avian wings.
Full extension of left scapular spur: 46.1 cm.
Full extension of right scapular spur: 30.5 cm.
Patient describes full extension of wings to be extremely painful.
Due to shape of spurs in resting position, patient is able to use heavy bandages in order to compact spurs against his back. Patient describes wearing heavy shirts and sweaters during initial growth period, but due to routine compaction of spurs, patient is able to wear normal clothing with little sign of abnormality. As a result of the compaction, the spurs grew along the curve of his back when patient is standing.
HISTORY: Patient describes that growth began at age fourteen, cause unknown. No specific changes in diet, medication, or other environmental conditions before and after initial growth. Bone spurs breaking the skin were described as extremely painful. Feathers grew along spurs two weeks after they initially broke the skin. Growth period lasted six years.
Patient exhibited self-abusive tendencies during growth period, attempting to break bone spurs manually.
Lack of medical treatment of fractures sustained during the initial growth period resulted in improper healing. The bone spurs set abnormally and fused - surgical breaking and resetting would be required in order to correct the bone growth, but there is serious doubt as to how successful such an attempt would be after so long.
NOTES: Patient has requested that amputation be considered as an absolute last resort if spurs become damaged.
Patient has been referred to Dr. Heightmeyer for psychiatric counseling.
The two of them stared at the screen for a long moment, having long digested the information. When Radek reached out and scrolled down, another dead silence passed between them as they discovered the pictures.
From the shape of the shoulders and chest, it was obvious this was Carson, a few freckles standing out near the base of his neck. The feathers were starkly grey, standing out against his skin. His shoulders were straight, even if the... spurs themselves were twisted around. There were pictures of the individual wings, and another of Carson standing with his back to the camera, holding out his arms to the sides and his wings looking blurry around the edges. In that picture, his hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists.
The left one looked a bit straighter, still broken and slightly twisted. There were two joints, badly damaged and uneven, looking like someone had tried to glue them together, but the glue had dried only halfway.
The right was gnarled, like a very old tree limb, turning in on itself, curling around, but still somehow sweeping toward Carson's body. Feathers stuck out in odd directions, going with and against the grain. A lot of them looked like they'd been scrubbed with a hard-bristled brush.
Rodney had to grit his teeth and fold his arms across his chest to stop himself from shaking.
Radek took a long swig of his beer, and then bumped it against Rodney's arm, offering it to him silently.
Rodney stared at the bottle for a long moment, not immediately recognizing it. Accepting it, he took a long pull before setting it down on the desk next to the laptop, standing, grabbing Radek's shoulders and kissing him hard.
He heard the laptop's lid close more than he felt Radek's hand move to do it, but at that point, he was past caring. Radek's mouth tasted like horrid foreign beer, but it was better than Rodney throwing up.
An hour later, when the lights were dark, and Rodney could feel Radek's head laying against his bare chest, his hand stroking Rodney's side slowly, Rodney viciously put what he'd seen on Radek's laptop out of his mind, and resolved to get Radek a new one, because he was going to destroy it as soon as he could reliably move.
When Radek found his laptop in pieces the next morning, Radek stared at the mess of keys, circuitry, and shattered LCD monitor, and then went to work on Rodney's laptop.
* * * * *
Part Two
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the SG:A characters. They belong to Gecko Productions, I believe? I could be wrong. Either way, they're not mine. Yes, I invented a few characters, and the race of people they encounter in this fic, but other than that, not mine.
FANDOM: Stargate: Atlantis
WORD COUNT: ~ 14,000
SPOILERS: AU. Assumes a certain event did not happen in "Sunday".
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: Radek/Rodney, Radek/Carson, Rodney/Carson
SUMMARY: After an off-world mission goes badly, Rodney and Radek learn something about Carson.
CHALLENGE: Written for the fic4radek fic-a-thon.
PROMPT: nickespix requested the following:
Include in the story Czech beer (Staropramen - to die for!), chess, chains.
Do not include: Ronon/Radek, Sheppard/Radek, no noncon or torture.
Preferred pairings: Rodney/Radek, Carson/Radek, or Rodney/Carson/Radek.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Forgive the cliche title -- I'm bad at titles! A very big thank-you goes out to niroby, and audreysmagic, who helped co-write parts of this. Wouldn't've been possible without you two. :)
* * * * *
"We're receiving a radio transmission, Dr. Weir," Chuck announced, tapping a few keys on one of the keyboards in front of him. "It's Colonel Sheppard."
"Patch it through." Weir nodded. "Colonel Sheppard?"
"Elizabeth, we're coming in hot, and Carson's wounded," John barked over her headset. "We need help, now."
"Lower the shield," Elizabeth ordered, tapping her earpiece quickly. "We need a crash team."
John and Rodney, carrying Carson, emerged from the event horizon, followed quickly by Teyla and Ronon, who were aiming their guns at the gate. When the horizon flashed out of existence, a team of EMTs wheeled a gurney onto the ramp.
John and Rodney disentangled Carson from their grip, and half-eased, half-dropped him onto the gurney.
They were dirty, grey with the crusted red of blood. They sprouted from Carson's back, through the shredded remains of Ace bandages, with feathers sticking out at uncomfortable angles, some of them hanging on by threads. They were twisted around, as if being in direct sunlight caused them to curl in on themselves out of fear.
They were unmistakably a pair of wings.
As the EMTs pushing the gurney sprinted out of the control room, Elizabeth turned to Colonel Sheppard and his team.
"I want each of your mission reports," she told John in a calm, firm voice. "And I want them now, one at a time."
John stared at her for a long moment, and then nodded. "Okay."
* * * * *
"As Colonel Sheppard stated in his check-in, we discovered the Harandans' new camp after having spent most of the day searching." Teyla began calmly, sitting across from Dr. Weir like she would have during any other mission de-briefing. Sitting in Dr. Weir's office overlooking the control room instead of at the conference room table wasn't lost on either of them, though. Nor was the tightly-clenched worry on Teyla's face and in the set of her shoulders. "Given the Harandans' nomadic lifestyle, it proved more difficult to locate them without a puddlejumper."
Elizabeth nodded. "Continue."
Ronon shrugged, his massive frame slouched into the chair opposite hers, looking for all the world like a boy who'd been sent to the principal's office. He loomed over the desk as he folded his hands on it. "They seemed happy to see us."
Elizabeth hid a smile. "I'm guessing that Carson's help was greatly appreciated."
"Of course it was," Rodney rolled his eyes, and Elizabeth could almost see him trying to bite back something rude. "He was practically a messiah, a modern-day Jesus. He showed them his voodoo medical stuff, they nattered on rather annoyingly about their voodoo religion." He slumped back in the chair in front of her desk, looking tired for a moment before shooting her a less than sunny look. "It was one big happy."
"We made arrangements to pick up the food they'd promised in the trade," John slouched in the chair, managing to look petulant and physically uncomfortable at the same time. "And they apparently don't move around as much as they used to."
Elizabeth frowned. "I thought Lorne's team had found out their entire culture was based on moving around frequently so that they had a chance of hiding when the Wraith came."
"Um, Elizabeth?" Rodney began in his my-IQ-can-beat-up-yours voice. "Our gate had trouble making a connection to their gate, remember? If we take into account that planets, I don't know, shift in their orbits ever so slightly every few millenia or so, it's possible that the Harandans' planet has drifted far enough away so that not even the Wraith can reliably get there 100% of the time."
Elizabeth nodded. "So you found the new camp, Carson went to work..."
Teyla nodded. "The Harandans offered us food and drink, and since night had fallen, they offered us what beds they could."
"They seemed friendly enough," Ronon offered. "Offered us food, water, beds for the night."
"I voted we come back, because who knew if these people would know citrus fruit from their--" At Elizabeth's arched eyebrow, Rodney paused. "Elbows. But I didn't go into anaphylactic shock, so that was good."
"Rodney complained about the food, and Carson seemed to be speaking with a few of the midwives of the camp, so I felt that nothing was amiss," Teyla said, his voice getting hard around the edges.
"Teyla headed for bed, Sheppard checked the perimeter, McKay kept stuffing his face, and Carson seemed to be fine, so I went to bed." Ronon shrugged. "Which was a bad move."
"It happened after we went to sleep," John admitted, looking sheepish and sounding annoyed. He picked at a spot on the top of Weir's desk. "I had insisted that we room together, but I hadn't noticed Carson go missing."
"I woke up in the middle of the night because I had to go," Rodney said, "and Carson wasn't there. I figured he was just chatting up the women, so I didn't think too much of it. But then I hear Carson shouting outside, and then there was this weird...."
"... It sounded like chanting." Ronon frowned. "Lots of male voices. We used to have crackpot religions on Sateda that were weird, but this... this was bad."
"Colonel Sheppard was the first to the door," Teyla said. "We followed suit, and when we reached the clearing at the outskirts of the camp, we found Carson chained to a... I believe your people call it a pillory?"
"Those bastards had Carson in chains," Rodney barked, his lip curled in a sneer, even as he wrapped his arms around his chest. "They were all standing around him, chanting. Carson was pleading with them to let him go, but they weren't listening. We didn't see the..." Rodney stopped for a moment, shaking his head. "Whatever those nutcases did to him... until later."
"Of course, seeing one of my team about to be executed doesn't exactly put me in a good mood," John replied with a careless shrug, "so I asked what the hell was going on."
"According to the Harandans, they believe that their god sends messengers to them, providing enlightenment to his chosen people," Teyla explained. "However, these messengers are capable of becoming evil. When a fallen messenger comes to them, they kill the messenger in order to release the messenger's soul from its evil, and so that the messenger may return to their god."
"And you think that the Harandans thought Carson was a fallen messenger?" Elizabeth asked skeptically, frowning.
Teyla nodded. "He brought them more advanced medical techniques. It would be easy to believe such knowledge came from the gods."
"Good point," Elizabeth murmured. "Go on."
"Sheppard ordered them to let Carson go," Ronon said, his mouth thin-lipped, "but no deal."
"That whackjob priest said something infinitely stupid about Carson needing to be returned to their 'god', whoever the hell that is," Rodney spat. "So, Colonel Sheppard pulled his gun--"
"The Harandans refused to obey," Teyla said quietly. "I do not disagree with Colonel Sheppard's actions, but I wish that we had been able to free Dr. Beckett and escape without bloodshed."
"We took out a lot of them in the clearing," Ronon reported, still meeting Elizabeth's gaze.
"They wouldn't back off," Rodney spluttered, his hands gesturing sharply. As he continued, his eyes widened, and Elizabeth was sure he couldn't see her across the desk. "They knew what our guns could do, and they refused to let him go. Sheppard ended up having to shoot the lock off the chains wrapped around the pillory--"
"But we still had to worry about the natives," John grumbled, still not looking Elizabeth in the eye directly. "I didn't want to mow them all down if I could help it, but I came close a couple times."
"We managed to return to the gate without injuring too many of the Harandans, though I suspect, after this incident, we will not be welcomed back." Teyla took a deep breath, and gusted a sigh. "The rest, you know. We returned to the gate as quickly as we could, with Colonel Sheppard and Rodney carrying Dr. Beckett between them."
Teyla didn't look happy at the end of her report, but after having heard John's, Rodney's, and Ronon's versions, Elizabeth couldn't blame her.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Elizabeth reached out a hand to cover Teyla's where it lay on the table.
Teyla looked up with a small smile, as if to reassure Elizabeth, before the smile slipped away. "Will Dr. Beckett recover?"
Elizabeth nodded. "It might take a while, but I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Shall I report to the medical bay for testing?" Teyla's eyebrows rose in a polite question.
Elizabeth frowned at her curiously. "Were you exposed to something while you were on the planet?"
Teyla frowned. "I am... unsure. Dr. Beckett appeared to have... wings growing out of his back when we found him chained to the pillory."
Elizabeth's expression cleared. "That's right. I promise, you have nothing to worry about. If you don't mind a friendly suggestion, you should go to your quarters and rest."
Teyla's frown deepened. "If we were exposed to the same things Dr. Beckett was, why--"
Elizabeth held up a hand to stop her, speaking in a gentle but firm voice. "I realize that it sounds very strange coming from me, and I know you're concerned, but I can safely say that Carson will be just fine. The medical team will take good care of him, and you should take care of yourself." She smiled almost apologetically. "I'm sure that you're exhausted after what happened on the mission--"
Teyla didn't miss the pointed look. Nodding slowly, her frown grew puzzled. "Very well, Dr. Weir, I will rest," she said reluctantly. "If Dr. Beckett's condition changes, would you let me know, please?"
Elizabeth smiled again. "Of course."
As Teyla walked out of her office, the door closing behind her, Elizabeth sighed heavily and sank back in her chair. "Oh, Carson, the things I do for you...."
* * * * *
"Look, you pretentious blowhard, I want to see Carson," Rodney spluttered, two spots of red shining in his cheekbones, "and I want to see him now, capiche?"
The nurse he was facing down, who was roughly twice as wide as he (though a few inches shorter), didn't look impressed by what Rodney felt was a well-reasoned argument against the utterly stupid, ridiculous policy of Carson not having visitors.
"I'm sorry, sir," the nurse said flatly, and how the hell did he manage to make 'sir' sound like an insult? But the young man continued, his eyes narrowed at Rodney. "But no means no. I'm not doing the midnight shift for going against a direct request from a patient."
"So you have spoken to Carson!" Rodney's face lit up. "He's been conscious since we brought him in! Now, you can run along, and go tell him that I'm coming in to s--"
The nurse held out an arm, barring Rodney's beeline to Carson's bed further inside the medical bay. "No dice, Dr. McKay. And no, for your information, he hasn't been awake since you brought him in."
Rodney glared down at him, but he glared back.
"Now, if you're not going to leave under your own steam, I'll get some Marines to do it, capiche?" the nurse sneered.
Rodney glared at him again for good measure, but just as he was about to let loose with another string of invectives about the nurse's family tree, and his possible ancestors arguing over coconuts somewhere in Africa, he saw a head of frizzy, brown hair appear in his vision, along with a pair of hopeful, blue eyes looking at the nurse.
"Is Carson awake?"
The nurse wheeled on the newcomer, but deflated visibly when he saw Radek. "I'm sorry, Dr. Zelenka, but he's not, and he's not accepting visitors." He glared at Rodney, who had tried yet again to make his way to Carson's bed. "I wasn't kidding about getting some Marines in here to escort you out, Doc. Don't push it."
Radek blinked at the hard tone, and when he looked at Rodney, who was unsuccessfully trying to will the nurse to spontaneously burst into flames, he sighed heavily. "I will take care of this," he told the nurse, and laid a heavier-than-usual hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Come, Rodney. I'm sure there is Jell-O in the mess hall."
"But--"
Radek looked at him sharply, adding a firm tug to punctuate his argument. Turning to the nurse, who looked a bit more mollified by the development, he smiled apologetically. "If Carson's condition changes...?"
"You'll be one of the first to know, Dr. Zelenka." The nurse nodded, returning the smile a bit unwillingly. "Good luck with Dr. Demented here."
"Hey, I'm still here." Rodney huffed, but Radek was already in the process of forcibly steering him out of the medbay. When the door closed behind them, Rodney turned around, batting Radek's hands away. "All right, so what was behind that? You realize that they haven't let me in to see him since we brought him back? And it's already been--" He looked at his watch quickly. "--Seven hours since we came back?"
Radek rolled his eyes. "Simpson, Miko, and Anderson have each informed me of your indignance. So, instead of beating your head against a wall, perhaps you would like to try going around it now?"
Rodney frowned, half-glaring at Radek as if that would make Radek make more sense. After a moment, it seemed to work, as Rodney's eyebrows rose sharply. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier." That said, he started off at a brisk clip toward the labs.
"That would be because you were being very worried over Carson," Radek replied, jogging a little to keep up, and then falling into step with him easily enough. "I believe Simpson said you were wringing your hands the first time you were not allowed to see him."
"I was not!" Rodney didn't shriek, but protested rather loudly. In a manly sort of tone, in fact. Either way, it wasn't a shriek of indignance, no matter what filthy lies were spread around on the science team message boards later that night.
Radek nodded. "Yes, Rodney. I think no one is using my laptop at the moment."
If Rodney started walking faster, well, Sheppard kept saying he needed more exercise. Not that Rodney ever believed him for a moment.
* * * * *
Radek's laptop was a thing of beauty, though Rodney would never tell Radek this. Snagging two spare stools from nearby workstations, they hunched over the table, Rodney's fingers flying over the keys, pulling up windows while Radek watched, and protested that Rodney didn't need to open that window, and smacked Rodney's hand and took over for exactly two seconds. At which point, Rodney took over again with a more vicious smack to Radek's hands.
Soon, there were security cameras inside the infirmary, covering all the beds. One or two Marines from Lorne's mission the week before were languishing away in two beds, one of them hitting on a morning-shift nurse, who smiled back. Or at least, that was what Rodney was guessing, at this angle.
Another camera revealed more empty beds. Click, what looked like Carson's office, and someone working on the computer. Click, another side office, someone looking in a microscope. Click, click, cli--
"There," Radek jabbed a finger at the screen, and Rodney was a heartbeat away from slapping it away when he remembered this was Radek's laptop he was using, and he didn't care if the crystals in the LCD got screwed up because of fingers poking them.
Still, the picture was a bit fuzzy -- they really needed to upgrade the cameras in the medbay, maybe they could requisition newer ones in the next databurst back to Earth -- there was a woman with a lined face taking a few notes on a clipboard, and Carson.
Carson, who was laying on his stomach, face crashed into his pillow, mouth open. Rodney would've thought he looked insufferably cute if it weren't for the wings that were wrapped in bandages growing out of his back. From what he could see, they were near or around where Carson's shoulderblades should be, and there seemed to be a lot of bandages wrapped around them. Some spots on the bandages showed bleed-through, but it wasn't alarming.
"Boze..." Radek whispered, and Rodney had no idea what he'd just said, but damned if he didn't agree with him.
It was then that Rodney realized something. "Wait." He clicked a few more of the windows, trying to get a few more angles of Carson's bed, and he saw the nurse looking at Carson fondly, but no other instruments in sight.
"What?" Radek asked, sounding peevish. "Would you stop-- There. Just leave it alone."
Rodney glared at him, but stopped changing views between the two -- only two! -- cameras. "Fine, but why aren't they amputating?"
"Amputating?" Radek frowned, turning away from the screen to look at Rodney. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Rodney huffed, jabbing a finger at the laptop's screen, "that isn't normal. He sure as hell didn't have wings growing out of his back when we left Atlantis yesterday."
Radek frowned at the screen. "Nilsson said that Carson was not having visitors, ano?"
"Who?" Rodney demanded, frowning.
"The nurse you were attempting to bludgeon with bad logic," Radek replied.
"Oh, him." Rodney dismissed the nurse with an distracted wave of his hand. "He said Carson had requested he not have visitors, but Carson hadn't woken up yet." He pointed at the screen, and stopped. "... though I could be wrong."
Both of them squinted at the screen, watching as one blue eye opened blearily, blinking a few times before the man on the bed winced, his mouth twisted as his tongue worked. When he tried to lift his head, the woman scribbling on the chart moved into view and smiled at him.
"Good morning, Dr. Beckett." The woman's voice sounded a bit warped coming out of Radek's speakers.
Jabbing at the volume button, Rodney got the sound down to a manageable level.
"Though in your current condition, I'd hesitate to call it 'good'," the woman continued wryly.
"Leslie?" Carson's voice was more like a croak.
"I'd hate to think I'm someone else." She smiled. "Hi, Carson."
"What..." Carson frowned muzzily for a moment before his eyes shot wide open. "Oh God, my wings--"
Rodney and Radek stared at the screen mutely, like a pair of wide-eyed hamsters.
"It's okay, Carson," Leslie said reassuringly, resting a hand on his shoulder gently. "No amputation was needed, though if you weren't on morphine right now, you might wish they weren't there."
Carson sighed heavily, his eyes closing before his head thumped back onto the pillow. "Thank God."
Leslie chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear you say that."
"Neither did I, to be honest..." Carson admitted, looking up at her. "Better the devil y'know, eh?"
"Now, that sounds more like you." She smiled. "You should get more rest. You've been through quite an ordeal."
Carson looked up at her gratefully before frowning. "Has anybody...?"
Leslie looked down at him, her smile fading. "The rumor mill's certainly in full force. I wouldn't be surprised if someone's already started a thread on the intranet by now."
Carson lay back on his pillow, closing his eyes. His lips pressed into a thin line. "Christ."
"For what it's worth..." she said slowly. "I'm sorry, Carson."
Carson shook his head. "It's not your fault."
"Hey, Dr. McKay?"
Rodney and Radek visibly jumped in their seats, Rodney's hand immediately slapping at the mouse, closing all the windows and exiting out of the programs he'd opened to hack the cameras. Radek looked like he'd shoved his fingers into an electrical socket.
"What?" Rodney barked loudly, scaring what he assumed to be a fresh-off-Daedalus scientist out of his wits.
When the scientist in question tried two different times to explain the problem -- something to do with an energy fluctuation -- Radek surreptitiously checked his laptop to make sure that Rodney hadn't caused any irreparable harm when he closed out the windows so quickly. That done, he willed his heart to stop beating twice as fast as normal, sent a quick email to Rodney to meet him in his quarters after their shifts were over, and deliberately tried not to think about what he'd seen over the security cameras.
* * * * *
When Rodney knocked on the door to Radek's quarters that night, Radek dragged him inside and thrust an uncorked bottle into his hands. He looked down at it, a bit confused.
"It's Staropramen," Radek grunted, turning to his desk and sitting down in the chair. "I'm thinking that we'll need it tonight, after what we saw on the cameras." That said, he returned to typing quickly on his laptop.
Rodney frowned. "I don't know about you, but I've already toasted enough brain cells. While my brilliance wouldn't be diminished that much--"
Radek glared at him over the rims of his glasses before pushing them back into place. "Rodney, be quiet. I am trying to hack into Carson's medical file."
Rodney blinked again. Setting down the bottle on the dresser next to Radek's bed, he folded his arms across his chest and stood behind Radek's chair, watching the screen as Radek typed furiously. "You can't possibly be this stupid. It's frighteningly easy to get into anyone's medical records."
Radek tilted his head back, half-glaring up at Rodney while upside-down. "I am not this stupid. Carson's file has a subdirectory that is encrypted."
"What?" Rodney blinked. "Lemme see that." He bent over Radek's sitting form and skimmed the screen, absently noticing when Radek wriggled out from under him and surrendered his chair finally. Rodney sank down, ignoring the allergies, blood type, other various medical things that were completely irrelevant--
"Physical abnormality?" Rodney blurted out. "What the hell?"
Radek snorted. "Exactly." He took a swig from the bottle, swirling it around his mouth before swallowing. "At the end of the page is the--"
"The encryption, yeah, I see it." Rodney waved in Radek's general direction absently. "Shush, I'm working."
He distantly heard Radek snort, and probably take another swig -- Rodney hated foreign beer, but Radek sometimes tasted of it after they had survived yet another crisis on Atlantis, so Rodney couldn't say that it was totally unredeemable. Still, it had been a while since he and Radek had had a few uninterrupted hours, and what the hell was with this password? His usual security bypass codes weren't working, and neither were his usual hacking standbys. It was obviously a six-digit, alpha-numeric code, and maybe it was something stupid, like Carson's birthday.
When the program beeped annoyingly at him yet again, Rodney grit his teeth. "Is there a way to turn off the annoying beeping?"
"That was the first thing I tried," Radek admitted, shaking his head. "What have you tried so far?"
"Carson's birthday, a few typical passwords," Rodney grunted.
"Let me try again," Radek offered, standing over the desk and moving the laptop firmly in his direction. "What is Carson's mother's birthday?"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Rodney objected, though he had a niggling feeling--
Radek quickly pulled up Carson's personnel file, found what he was looking for, switched windows again, entered in six digits, and BLIP! a new window opened.
"Oh my God, I can't believe Carson used his mother's birthday as his password--" Rodney spluttered, grabbing the laptop and jerking it in his direction. Radek smacked one of his hands, rolled his eyes, and then moved to stand behind Rodney, hovering over Rodney's shoulder as they both stared at the screen.
DESCRIPTION: Two bone spurs from left and right scapulae, each with two malformed joints, mimicking the anatomy of avian wings.
Full extension of left scapular spur: 46.1 cm.
Full extension of right scapular spur: 30.5 cm.
Patient describes full extension of wings to be extremely painful.
Due to shape of spurs in resting position, patient is able to use heavy bandages in order to compact spurs against his back. Patient describes wearing heavy shirts and sweaters during initial growth period, but due to routine compaction of spurs, patient is able to wear normal clothing with little sign of abnormality. As a result of the compaction, the spurs grew along the curve of his back when patient is standing.
HISTORY: Patient describes that growth began at age fourteen, cause unknown. No specific changes in diet, medication, or other environmental conditions before and after initial growth. Bone spurs breaking the skin were described as extremely painful. Feathers grew along spurs two weeks after they initially broke the skin. Growth period lasted six years.
Patient exhibited self-abusive tendencies during growth period, attempting to break bone spurs manually.
Lack of medical treatment of fractures sustained during the initial growth period resulted in improper healing. The bone spurs set abnormally and fused - surgical breaking and resetting would be required in order to correct the bone growth, but there is serious doubt as to how successful such an attempt would be after so long.
NOTES: Patient has requested that amputation be considered as an absolute last resort if spurs become damaged.
Patient has been referred to Dr. Heightmeyer for psychiatric counseling.
The two of them stared at the screen for a long moment, having long digested the information. When Radek reached out and scrolled down, another dead silence passed between them as they discovered the pictures.
From the shape of the shoulders and chest, it was obvious this was Carson, a few freckles standing out near the base of his neck. The feathers were starkly grey, standing out against his skin. His shoulders were straight, even if the... spurs themselves were twisted around. There were pictures of the individual wings, and another of Carson standing with his back to the camera, holding out his arms to the sides and his wings looking blurry around the edges. In that picture, his hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists.
The left one looked a bit straighter, still broken and slightly twisted. There were two joints, badly damaged and uneven, looking like someone had tried to glue them together, but the glue had dried only halfway.
The right was gnarled, like a very old tree limb, turning in on itself, curling around, but still somehow sweeping toward Carson's body. Feathers stuck out in odd directions, going with and against the grain. A lot of them looked like they'd been scrubbed with a hard-bristled brush.
Rodney had to grit his teeth and fold his arms across his chest to stop himself from shaking.
Radek took a long swig of his beer, and then bumped it against Rodney's arm, offering it to him silently.
Rodney stared at the bottle for a long moment, not immediately recognizing it. Accepting it, he took a long pull before setting it down on the desk next to the laptop, standing, grabbing Radek's shoulders and kissing him hard.
He heard the laptop's lid close more than he felt Radek's hand move to do it, but at that point, he was past caring. Radek's mouth tasted like horrid foreign beer, but it was better than Rodney throwing up.
An hour later, when the lights were dark, and Rodney could feel Radek's head laying against his bare chest, his hand stroking Rodney's side slowly, Rodney viciously put what he'd seen on Radek's laptop out of his mind, and resolved to get Radek a new one, because he was going to destroy it as soon as he could reliably move.
When Radek found his laptop in pieces the next morning, Radek stared at the mess of keys, circuitry, and shattered LCD monitor, and then went to work on Rodney's laptop.
* * * * *
Part Two