'Reprogrammed' Part 3
Title: Reprogrammed Part Three
Rating: PG, Rodney gets very irrate and uses some bad bad language
Character: McKay, Sheppard
Category: General, Angst, Friendship
Summary: Having returned from Lorania and released from Duyell's machine, Sheppard and McKay should be recovering nicely, shouldn't they? Apparently not, and the promised help to correct the reprogramming the machine did is no where to be seen. How will Rodney and John deal with the basic changes in their personalities? Will the effects of the change be more harmful than they initially suspected?
Catch Up: --PART 1--, --PART 2--
In the likely event you have no recollection of this story. It's a sequel to the following....
Title: The Program
Rating: All
Character: McKay, Sheppard
Category: General, Action Adventure maybe? Intrigue? Mystery? Oh no, suspense, that fits!
Summary: Meet Doctor Rodney McKay M.D. & Detective John Sheppard. Sheppard ends up in hospital from a gunshot wound on a failed raid with colleagues Lorne&Dex & finds himself under Dr. McKay's care. Both are experiencing strange flashbacks & memories. Not AU
When Elizabeth called him and McKay to her office, John knew he wasn’t going to like whatever it was she had to say. Despite the fact that that was more often than not the case when he was called to her office, he just had a feeling that this time in particular was not going to be one of his favourites.
He wasn’t disappointed.
"The planet’s been cleared," she told them; John sat stiffly in his seat, Rodney was leaning forward more casually, arms on his thighs. Neither needed to ask which planet she was talking about. "There’s a team gearing up as we speak."
She paused as they sat and looked at her expectantly. McKay rolled his hand in impatience and John smiled at the surprisingly reassuring, familiar gesture.
"Major Lorne is heading up a team of marines, along with Teyla and Ronon," she told them.
"I should be-" John began, but she cut him off.
"You resigned remember?" she said pointedly. From the tone of her voice he could tell she wasn’t happy that he had forgone discussing it with her first, and that she had had to hear it from Caldwell, thus he resisted from saying that he’d actually taken a temporary leave of absence. He didn’t think she’d appreciate the difference at the moment. Rodney shot him a sympathetic glance.
"It’d be boring anyway, they’re probably just doing a sweep of the area around the gate and the facility, or where it used to be," he said with a lopsided smile in John’s direction.
"Yes," Elizabeth nodded. "We’re going to send a UAV to scan the rest of the planet," she added.
"Right, puddlejumper wouldn’t get past all the trees," Rodney said with a wave of his hand. Elizabeth nodded.
"No, unfortunately not," she said. "I thought you should be apprised of the situation," she said with a smile.
"Thanks," John said, throwing her a smile he hoped looked sincere, but probably wasn’t. "If that’s all-?" he asked, standing up. Elizabeth shook her head, preventing John from making a hasty retreat. He felt both Rodney’s concerned eyes on him as he left them to it.
"John," she said before sighing and shifting her eyes heavenward, as though asking for help with her words. "I understand why you stepped down," she said at last.
"Good, I-"
"But I disagree with your decision, at least at this point. Your style of command is preferable for Atlantis even if it was delivered in your sleep in comparison to Stephen’s," she admitted with a smile. John ducked his head, uncomfortable with the praise, whilst simultaneously shoving down the desire to preen, alien in it’s sudden intensity.
"This city would be a completely different place without you as its military commander. The way you treat and interact with the civilians here has set an example for everyone under your command; an example which most have chosen to follow," she continued.
"Elizabeth," he protested.
"What I’m trying to say, is that I don’t want to lose that. We are not going to lose you, or Rodney.
John found the steely tone of conviction in her voice more comforting than he would have been willing to admit.
* * *
"Elizabeth!" Rodney called as he jogged to catch up with her as she left the commissary.
"Rodney," she greeted him with a nod as they continued walking.
"Did you get my email?"
"About the matter trans-"
"Matter transformer. It’s not important, we can change the name later. Thing is, its an amazingly interesting piece of technology. I mean it can actually rearrange-"
"Rodney," she interrupted. "I don’t doubt that it is amazing," she said sincerely, "But is it really what you should be concentrating right now?"
"I don’t see why not," he shrugged.
"Perhaps your efforts would be best focused on the Ancient database?" she asked. "I hear Colonel Sheppard is helping out the team involved," she told him.
"He is?" Rodney asked, looking surprised for about a second before adding, "Well its not like he has anything else to do," and waving a hand dismissively. "So, back to the matter at hand?" he asked.
Elizabeth sighed and nodded as he began to explain the newly discovered piece of Ancient technology.
* * *
John was sitting at a work stations in one of the science labs. Zelenka had explained how they’d designed a search program to locate any relevant information that might exist in the database. The results were then translated into English and sent to the terminal John was working at. Thus far they hadn’t found anything that would help them.
He had volunteered to help out because he was bored. But now he wished he hadn’t, because he’d much rather be bored than depressed. They’d been running this search for eight days and weren’t even point one of a percent through the database. At this rate it was going to take over twenty years to get through it all.
If he was honest with himself, John doubted they’d find anything. What Duyell had done had been against the rest of the Ancients wishes. It was possible they hadn’t even known about it until he managed to ascend himself, in which case no details would have ever been recorded in the database.
But he didn’t want to give up. Not outwardly anyway. Internally he’d already begun thinking about what he’d do when they shipped him back to earth. But he had to keep up appearances, for Rodney’s sake, if not for his own.
* * *
"Hey Rodney!" Cadman called as she walked into his lab.
"Yes?" he responded without looking away from the data pad he was holding.
"I’m here to escort you to the infirmary," she told him.
"I don’t need an escort," he said, glancing briefly at her. "I can walk."
"Then why haven’t you gone? Carson said he’s called you on the radio repeatedly, as has Colonel Sheppard," she said, walking further into the lab. Rodney waved his hand towards the bench, where his radio was sitting. "Why’ve you taken it off?" she asked frowning.
"Because they were getting on my nerves," he told her. She shook her head.
"Come on, lets just go down to the infirmary," she said.
"I’m fine, thanks," he said and sat down and began typing on one of the laptops.
"You’re not fine McKay," she said sternly. "Pretending like you are isn’t going to make it better." He finally looked up and glared at her in a way completely altered from the usual, something darker replaced the irritation that usually danced in his eyes.
"And what would you know about it?" he said, and stood up.
"Rodney-" she began placatingly as he stalked towards her.
"Just because Sheppard’s given up on himself and let this beat him, doesn’t mean I have to," he said angrily, having now backed her up against a desk.
"It’s just a check-up Rodney!" she exclaimed as he grabbed her wrists in a vice-like grip.
"And," he continued as if she hadn’t spoken, "I’m fed up with you people telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing!" he shouted, having now backed her up against a desk.
"Rodney, you need to calm-"
"No," he glared and pushed her hard enough against the bench to leave bruises on her back to match the ones likely to form on her wrists. His eyes widened for a moment and his grip loosened. "Just leave me the fuck alone," he muttered.
"Rodney!" an exclamation from the doorway had them both looking in that direction. "What’s going on here?" Elizabeth demanded. Colonel Sheppard stood at her side frowning, his eyes darting to where Rodney’s hands were wound round Cadman’s wrists. He let go abruptly.
"I-" Rodney glanced to Cadman, who was rubbing at her sore wrists. "Sorry," he said to her, not able to look her in the eye.
There was a moment of tense silence before Sheppard walked into the lab.
"Come on Rodney," he said, patting him reassuringly on the back. "Let’s go see Carson."
"I- Maybe that’s a good idea, yeah," he said quietly, and let Sheppard steer him out of the room.
Read on with --PART 4--
Rating: PG, Rodney gets very irrate and uses some bad bad language
Character: McKay, Sheppard
Category: General, Angst, Friendship
Summary: Having returned from Lorania and released from Duyell's machine, Sheppard and McKay should be recovering nicely, shouldn't they? Apparently not, and the promised help to correct the reprogramming the machine did is no where to be seen. How will Rodney and John deal with the basic changes in their personalities? Will the effects of the change be more harmful than they initially suspected?
Catch Up: --PART 1--, --PART 2--
In the likely event you have no recollection of this story. It's a sequel to the following....
Title: The Program
Rating: All
Character: McKay, Sheppard
Category: General, Action Adventure maybe? Intrigue? Mystery? Oh no, suspense, that fits!
Summary: Meet Doctor Rodney McKay M.D. & Detective John Sheppard. Sheppard ends up in hospital from a gunshot wound on a failed raid with colleagues Lorne&Dex & finds himself under Dr. McKay's care. Both are experiencing strange flashbacks & memories. Not AU
When Elizabeth called him and McKay to her office, John knew he wasn’t going to like whatever it was she had to say. Despite the fact that that was more often than not the case when he was called to her office, he just had a feeling that this time in particular was not going to be one of his favourites.
He wasn’t disappointed.
"The planet’s been cleared," she told them; John sat stiffly in his seat, Rodney was leaning forward more casually, arms on his thighs. Neither needed to ask which planet she was talking about. "There’s a team gearing up as we speak."
She paused as they sat and looked at her expectantly. McKay rolled his hand in impatience and John smiled at the surprisingly reassuring, familiar gesture.
"Major Lorne is heading up a team of marines, along with Teyla and Ronon," she told them.
"I should be-" John began, but she cut him off.
"You resigned remember?" she said pointedly. From the tone of her voice he could tell she wasn’t happy that he had forgone discussing it with her first, and that she had had to hear it from Caldwell, thus he resisted from saying that he’d actually taken a temporary leave of absence. He didn’t think she’d appreciate the difference at the moment. Rodney shot him a sympathetic glance.
"It’d be boring anyway, they’re probably just doing a sweep of the area around the gate and the facility, or where it used to be," he said with a lopsided smile in John’s direction.
"Yes," Elizabeth nodded. "We’re going to send a UAV to scan the rest of the planet," she added.
"Right, puddlejumper wouldn’t get past all the trees," Rodney said with a wave of his hand. Elizabeth nodded.
"No, unfortunately not," she said. "I thought you should be apprised of the situation," she said with a smile.
"Thanks," John said, throwing her a smile he hoped looked sincere, but probably wasn’t. "If that’s all-?" he asked, standing up. Elizabeth shook her head, preventing John from making a hasty retreat. He felt both Rodney’s concerned eyes on him as he left them to it.
"John," she said before sighing and shifting her eyes heavenward, as though asking for help with her words. "I understand why you stepped down," she said at last.
"Good, I-"
"But I disagree with your decision, at least at this point. Your style of command is preferable for Atlantis even if it was delivered in your sleep in comparison to Stephen’s," she admitted with a smile. John ducked his head, uncomfortable with the praise, whilst simultaneously shoving down the desire to preen, alien in it’s sudden intensity.
"This city would be a completely different place without you as its military commander. The way you treat and interact with the civilians here has set an example for everyone under your command; an example which most have chosen to follow," she continued.
"Elizabeth," he protested.
"What I’m trying to say, is that I don’t want to lose that. We are not going to lose you, or Rodney.
John found the steely tone of conviction in her voice more comforting than he would have been willing to admit.
* * *
"Elizabeth!" Rodney called as he jogged to catch up with her as she left the commissary.
"Rodney," she greeted him with a nod as they continued walking.
"Did you get my email?"
"About the matter trans-"
"Matter transformer. It’s not important, we can change the name later. Thing is, its an amazingly interesting piece of technology. I mean it can actually rearrange-"
"Rodney," she interrupted. "I don’t doubt that it is amazing," she said sincerely, "But is it really what you should be concentrating right now?"
"I don’t see why not," he shrugged.
"Perhaps your efforts would be best focused on the Ancient database?" she asked. "I hear Colonel Sheppard is helping out the team involved," she told him.
"He is?" Rodney asked, looking surprised for about a second before adding, "Well its not like he has anything else to do," and waving a hand dismissively. "So, back to the matter at hand?" he asked.
Elizabeth sighed and nodded as he began to explain the newly discovered piece of Ancient technology.
* * *
John was sitting at a work stations in one of the science labs. Zelenka had explained how they’d designed a search program to locate any relevant information that might exist in the database. The results were then translated into English and sent to the terminal John was working at. Thus far they hadn’t found anything that would help them.
He had volunteered to help out because he was bored. But now he wished he hadn’t, because he’d much rather be bored than depressed. They’d been running this search for eight days and weren’t even point one of a percent through the database. At this rate it was going to take over twenty years to get through it all.
If he was honest with himself, John doubted they’d find anything. What Duyell had done had been against the rest of the Ancients wishes. It was possible they hadn’t even known about it until he managed to ascend himself, in which case no details would have ever been recorded in the database.
But he didn’t want to give up. Not outwardly anyway. Internally he’d already begun thinking about what he’d do when they shipped him back to earth. But he had to keep up appearances, for Rodney’s sake, if not for his own.
* * *
"Hey Rodney!" Cadman called as she walked into his lab.
"Yes?" he responded without looking away from the data pad he was holding.
"I’m here to escort you to the infirmary," she told him.
"I don’t need an escort," he said, glancing briefly at her. "I can walk."
"Then why haven’t you gone? Carson said he’s called you on the radio repeatedly, as has Colonel Sheppard," she said, walking further into the lab. Rodney waved his hand towards the bench, where his radio was sitting. "Why’ve you taken it off?" she asked frowning.
"Because they were getting on my nerves," he told her. She shook her head.
"Come on, lets just go down to the infirmary," she said.
"I’m fine, thanks," he said and sat down and began typing on one of the laptops.
"You’re not fine McKay," she said sternly. "Pretending like you are isn’t going to make it better." He finally looked up and glared at her in a way completely altered from the usual, something darker replaced the irritation that usually danced in his eyes.
"And what would you know about it?" he said, and stood up.
"Rodney-" she began placatingly as he stalked towards her.
"Just because Sheppard’s given up on himself and let this beat him, doesn’t mean I have to," he said angrily, having now backed her up against a desk.
"It’s just a check-up Rodney!" she exclaimed as he grabbed her wrists in a vice-like grip.
"And," he continued as if she hadn’t spoken, "I’m fed up with you people telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing!" he shouted, having now backed her up against a desk.
"Rodney, you need to calm-"
"No," he glared and pushed her hard enough against the bench to leave bruises on her back to match the ones likely to form on her wrists. His eyes widened for a moment and his grip loosened. "Just leave me the fuck alone," he muttered.
"Rodney!" an exclamation from the doorway had them both looking in that direction. "What’s going on here?" Elizabeth demanded. Colonel Sheppard stood at her side frowning, his eyes darting to where Rodney’s hands were wound round Cadman’s wrists. He let go abruptly.
"I-" Rodney glanced to Cadman, who was rubbing at her sore wrists. "Sorry," he said to her, not able to look her in the eye.
There was a moment of tense silence before Sheppard walked into the lab.
"Come on Rodney," he said, patting him reassuringly on the back. "Let’s go see Carson."
"I- Maybe that’s a good idea, yeah," he said quietly, and let Sheppard steer him out of the room.
Read on with --PART 4--