SGA Fic: Reprogrammed (4/?)
Title: Reprogrammed Part Four
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 the Ancient, 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--, --PART 3--
A/N: Posted earlier than intended, due to smileleigh 's creative spelling of the word please, which made me smile (Pha'leeeeeeeze comment and let me know what you think :)
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
Two hours later they were all gathered in the briefing room.
"This is getting to be a problem," Elizabeth said.
"You’re telling me," Rodney muttered as he fiddled with the Band-Aid on his arm where Carson had taking some blood earlier.
"I would have thought my temporary resignation would have already clued you into that fact," Sheppard said with a raised eyebrow.
"On that note," Elizabeth looked toward Colonel Caldwell.
"We can only justify staying for another few days," he said. "In which case Major Lorne will take temporary command, and we’ll start looking for a suitable candidate to ship out from Earth, just in case," he added
"Sounds like a plan," Sheppard nodded, and got a few startled looks in response.
"This isn’t helping us solve the problem," Rodney said.
"No," Elizabeth said slowly. "But you’ve yet to explain to us exactly what the problem is," she paused. "All we know is that it isn’t a biological problem," she added glancing to Beckett who nodded.
"Aye, all tests back normal."
"So, gentlemen?" Elizabeth said expectantly.
"Its-" Sheppard began, glancing at Rodney. "Well you know how you know how you’re going to react to certain things, how you’re going to behave when someone irritates you or upsets you or…" he trailed off.
"We don’t," Rodney said bluntly. "I have no idea how I’m going to react to anything from one minute to the next."
"Which is why I felt the need to step down as military commander. I’m going to be no good in the field if I suddenly have an emotional breakdown because I miss a shot," Sheppard said with a self-depreciating smile.
Elizabeth looked a little lost for words for a moment, shocked by their blunt honesty.
"If I may, it sounds to me like the early stages of emotional development in children," Kate Heightmeyer said. "Maybe its merely a process of getting used to these new emotional responses," she suggested.
Rodney glanced at Sheppard, they both knew it wasn’t, couldn’t be that simple. Apparently Elizabeth read their expressions.
"There’s something else, isn’t there?" she asked. Rodney watched as Sheppard ducked his head and avoided her eyes. It looked like it was up to Rodney to field this one.
"It hurts," he managed to choke out, he swallowed. "Like when you’re upset and you get choked up, it, but ten times worse. And all the time," he told them. He heard Sheppard laugh quietly and looked at him.
"Rodney, we’re going to die of broken hearts," he laughed bitterly.
"Die?" Rodney said quietly.
"You don’t feel it?" Sheppard asked.
"Feel what?" Carson asked, concern entrenched in his tone.
"Like we’re slipping further and further away," Rodney answered quietly.
* * *
They’d left the briefing with strict instructions to return to Carson for check-ups regularly, and to attend appointments with Heightmeyer. It was a show of how serious the situation was that neither of them had argued.
John was currently sitting in one of the labs, continuing to sift through the data the search of the database threw up. Zelenka was then sifting through the data John had deemed relevant. There was a lot of muttering that John didn’t understand, but most of it sounded like cursing, so he doubted Radek was having that much luck.
They’d called Rodney on the radio several times, but had received no answer. John had thought the methodical nature of the task might have been relaxing for Rodney, and so had continued to try when Radek had given up. But it had proved futile and he’d eventually given up as well.
"John?" Elizabeth’s voice came over the radio.
"Here," he responded.
"Lorne and the team have returned from the planet," she informed him. He didn’t need to ask if they’d found anything, the tone of her voice said it all.
"Okay," he replied, eyes flickering over the screen in front of him.
"I was intending to call a briefing," she began.
"But?"
"But we can’t get hold of Rodney on the radio," she said. "We checked the life signs detector, he’s in his quarters," she told him. "I was wondering if you’d go and speak to him," she said hopefully.
"I don’t know if I’m the right person for that Elizabeth," he said hesitantly.
"John," she said, and she was using That Tone. He hated that tone. "You know full well you’re the best person to-"
"Yes, fine," he cut her off impatiently. "I’m on my way," he said, and closed the channel before she had a chance to respond.
* * *
When John opened the door to Rodney’s quarters all the lights were out. He walked in, closing the door behind him and giving his eyes a chance to adjust. Only then did he spot Rodney sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, one leg bent with his arm resting on it and his head resting on his arm.
John walked over and sat down next to him. When Rodney looked up with red-rimmed eyes it wasn’t surprising that he felt the compulsion to hug him, but the fact that he had to fight that compulsion ten times as hard as he might have otherwise was. He compromised by resting a hand on his shoulder.
Rodney squeezed his eyes shut and moved his face back to the confines of the crook of his arm.
"This is completely undignified and unmanly behaviour," he said unhappily into his arm, making John smile.
"Brains reprogrammed by a crazy alien," he reminded him.
"Still," Rodney muttered before they lapsed into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes Rodney sat up and looked at him. "We should get to that briefing?" he asked.
"Yeah," John nodded.
"Okay then," Rodney said, stood up and offered John a hand to pull him to his feet.
* * *
"We searched the area thoroughly, but there was nothing remaining," Teyla said.
"The UAV didn’t pick up any energy readings," Elizabeth told them.
"Sorry, sir," Lorne said, looking towards Sheppard.
"Well it’s not like we expected to find anything," Rodney said. "But something had to be done, for appearances at least."
"Rodney," Elizabeth chastised.
"Come on Elizabeth, we knew damn well they wouldn’t find anything. But you couldn’t just stand by and watch our gradual descent into insanity, so-"
"Rodney, shut up," Sheppard snapped in irritation. "You’re not helping the situation."
"Not helping the-? At least I’m facing up to the situation. We are slowly drifting into a big dark void of nothingness. I’m sorry if I’m a little tetchy!" he exclaimed. He flinched as Sheppard grabbed his wrist in a vice like grip.
"Stop," he said roughly. Rodney took a deep breath.
"Right. Only panic about the things that might kill us, not the things that definitely will. I can do that," he said. "I used to do that," he added with an ironic smile.
"Good," Sheppard muttered, releasing Rodney’s arm.
"Now," Rodney said, looking round the room of subdued onlookers. "We’ve decided to be positive," he said glancing at Sheppard who raised an eyebrow. "Or at least less negative," he amended. "So lets-"
Unfortunately, the rest of the Lanteans gathered in the room didn’t get to hear what Rodney thought they should do, as both he and Sheppard disappeared in a flash of bright white light.
PART 5
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 the Ancient, 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--, --PART 3--
A/N: Posted earlier than intended, due to smileleigh 's creative spelling of the word please, which made me smile (Pha'leeeeeeeze comment and let me know what you think :)
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
Two hours later they were all gathered in the briefing room.
"This is getting to be a problem," Elizabeth said.
"You’re telling me," Rodney muttered as he fiddled with the Band-Aid on his arm where Carson had taking some blood earlier.
"I would have thought my temporary resignation would have already clued you into that fact," Sheppard said with a raised eyebrow.
"On that note," Elizabeth looked toward Colonel Caldwell.
"We can only justify staying for another few days," he said. "In which case Major Lorne will take temporary command, and we’ll start looking for a suitable candidate to ship out from Earth, just in case," he added
"Sounds like a plan," Sheppard nodded, and got a few startled looks in response.
"This isn’t helping us solve the problem," Rodney said.
"No," Elizabeth said slowly. "But you’ve yet to explain to us exactly what the problem is," she paused. "All we know is that it isn’t a biological problem," she added glancing to Beckett who nodded.
"Aye, all tests back normal."
"So, gentlemen?" Elizabeth said expectantly.
"Its-" Sheppard began, glancing at Rodney. "Well you know how you know how you’re going to react to certain things, how you’re going to behave when someone irritates you or upsets you or…" he trailed off.
"We don’t," Rodney said bluntly. "I have no idea how I’m going to react to anything from one minute to the next."
"Which is why I felt the need to step down as military commander. I’m going to be no good in the field if I suddenly have an emotional breakdown because I miss a shot," Sheppard said with a self-depreciating smile.
Elizabeth looked a little lost for words for a moment, shocked by their blunt honesty.
"If I may, it sounds to me like the early stages of emotional development in children," Kate Heightmeyer said. "Maybe its merely a process of getting used to these new emotional responses," she suggested.
Rodney glanced at Sheppard, they both knew it wasn’t, couldn’t be that simple. Apparently Elizabeth read their expressions.
"There’s something else, isn’t there?" she asked. Rodney watched as Sheppard ducked his head and avoided her eyes. It looked like it was up to Rodney to field this one.
"It hurts," he managed to choke out, he swallowed. "Like when you’re upset and you get choked up, it, but ten times worse. And all the time," he told them. He heard Sheppard laugh quietly and looked at him.
"Rodney, we’re going to die of broken hearts," he laughed bitterly.
"Die?" Rodney said quietly.
"You don’t feel it?" Sheppard asked.
"Feel what?" Carson asked, concern entrenched in his tone.
"Like we’re slipping further and further away," Rodney answered quietly.
* * *
They’d left the briefing with strict instructions to return to Carson for check-ups regularly, and to attend appointments with Heightmeyer. It was a show of how serious the situation was that neither of them had argued.
John was currently sitting in one of the labs, continuing to sift through the data the search of the database threw up. Zelenka was then sifting through the data John had deemed relevant. There was a lot of muttering that John didn’t understand, but most of it sounded like cursing, so he doubted Radek was having that much luck.
They’d called Rodney on the radio several times, but had received no answer. John had thought the methodical nature of the task might have been relaxing for Rodney, and so had continued to try when Radek had given up. But it had proved futile and he’d eventually given up as well.
"John?" Elizabeth’s voice came over the radio.
"Here," he responded.
"Lorne and the team have returned from the planet," she informed him. He didn’t need to ask if they’d found anything, the tone of her voice said it all.
"Okay," he replied, eyes flickering over the screen in front of him.
"I was intending to call a briefing," she began.
"But?"
"But we can’t get hold of Rodney on the radio," she said. "We checked the life signs detector, he’s in his quarters," she told him. "I was wondering if you’d go and speak to him," she said hopefully.
"I don’t know if I’m the right person for that Elizabeth," he said hesitantly.
"John," she said, and she was using That Tone. He hated that tone. "You know full well you’re the best person to-"
"Yes, fine," he cut her off impatiently. "I’m on my way," he said, and closed the channel before she had a chance to respond.
* * *
When John opened the door to Rodney’s quarters all the lights were out. He walked in, closing the door behind him and giving his eyes a chance to adjust. Only then did he spot Rodney sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, one leg bent with his arm resting on it and his head resting on his arm.
John walked over and sat down next to him. When Rodney looked up with red-rimmed eyes it wasn’t surprising that he felt the compulsion to hug him, but the fact that he had to fight that compulsion ten times as hard as he might have otherwise was. He compromised by resting a hand on his shoulder.
Rodney squeezed his eyes shut and moved his face back to the confines of the crook of his arm.
"This is completely undignified and unmanly behaviour," he said unhappily into his arm, making John smile.
"Brains reprogrammed by a crazy alien," he reminded him.
"Still," Rodney muttered before they lapsed into a comfortable silence. After a few minutes Rodney sat up and looked at him. "We should get to that briefing?" he asked.
"Yeah," John nodded.
"Okay then," Rodney said, stood up and offered John a hand to pull him to his feet.
* * *
"We searched the area thoroughly, but there was nothing remaining," Teyla said.
"The UAV didn’t pick up any energy readings," Elizabeth told them.
"Sorry, sir," Lorne said, looking towards Sheppard.
"Well it’s not like we expected to find anything," Rodney said. "But something had to be done, for appearances at least."
"Rodney," Elizabeth chastised.
"Come on Elizabeth, we knew damn well they wouldn’t find anything. But you couldn’t just stand by and watch our gradual descent into insanity, so-"
"Rodney, shut up," Sheppard snapped in irritation. "You’re not helping the situation."
"Not helping the-? At least I’m facing up to the situation. We are slowly drifting into a big dark void of nothingness. I’m sorry if I’m a little tetchy!" he exclaimed. He flinched as Sheppard grabbed his wrist in a vice like grip.
"Stop," he said roughly. Rodney took a deep breath.
"Right. Only panic about the things that might kill us, not the things that definitely will. I can do that," he said. "I used to do that," he added with an ironic smile.
"Good," Sheppard muttered, releasing Rodney’s arm.
"Now," Rodney said, looking round the room of subdued onlookers. "We’ve decided to be positive," he said glancing at Sheppard who raised an eyebrow. "Or at least less negative," he amended. "So lets-"
Unfortunately, the rest of the Lanteans gathered in the room didn’t get to hear what Rodney thought they should do, as both he and Sheppard disappeared in a flash of bright white light.
PART 5