Or Else
Title: Or Else
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Prompt: Blackmail
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,749
Warnings: No standard Warnings Apply
Summary: Someone is pressuring David Parrish to Break it off with Evan Lorne, or else
David was surprised to find a folded piece of looselaf paper on the floor when he entered his quarters after his duty shift. Hardly anyone used paper in Atlantis, everyone had a datapad and access to the ethernet. He crouched down and picked it up, opening it as he straightened.
The note was unsigned, written in sloppy, childish printing. He turned it over, but there were no identifying marks on either the envelope or the note. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what the note meant. Someone knew. Someone in the city, presumably outside their small circle of friends, knew that he and Evan were dating.
Blackmail? Who could possibly have anything to gain by this? Someone with a grudge against him. Or someone that hated gays, more likely. The SGC had tried to weed out closed minded individuals when staffing Atlantis, but some got through.
They had been together for a year, the best year of David’s life. He had a job he loved and a boyfriend that - aside from the military regulation bullshit - was perfect. He was in love. And now someone was threatening him and his Major. Enraged, he started to tear the note to bits, but stopped at the last minute. He might need it for evidence. He stuffed it back in the envelope and shoved it into his dresser drawer.
He decided not to tell Evan about the note, hoping the writer would drop the idea.
Two days later, there was another message. The same childish scrawl on the same paper.
He put it with the other. When he met Evan for dinner that night in the mess hall, his hands were shaking and he almost told him about the notes, but held his tongue. He made an excuse about a headache when Evan asked him to go back to his quarters.
Two days later, another note.
It was movie night, he met his team in the rec hall and sat beside Evan. When Evan reached for his hand in the dark, he pulled away, sliding his chair slightly away from Evan’s and leaning against Cadman instead. They were being watched, and he needed to put distance between himself and Evan to protect his love.
When Evan radioed him to ask him to lunch, he made an excuse about planting some alien wheat in the greenhouse. The next day, it was alien beans, and the day after that, he had to put in a new experimental hybrid fruit tree.
He was digging in the planting bed, his heart breaking, missing his boyfriend when he heard Evan calling his name from the door of the greenhouse. He couldn’t really hide, Evan would find him soon enough. He had to face him. “I’m back here.”
“What’s going on, David?” Evan asked angrily as he stomped through the puddles on the walkway. “You’re avoiding me.”
He couldn’t look into Evan’s eyes. He looked down at the soil in the planting bed instead. “I... I can’t see you anymore.” There, he’d said it. It was done. Evan would be safe.
“What the hell? Just like that?”
“I can’t explain, I just can’t do this anymore. The sneaking around, breaking the regulations. It’s too much stress.”
Evan moved quickly and grabbed him by the arms, lifting him up from the where he had been crouched. “No,” he said simply. “Breakup not accepted. Not for a lame ass reason like this, a year into this thing. No.” He gave David a little shake. “Look at me.”
Damn it. Evan would know he was lying, he was a horrible liar. “No.”
“David,” his tone was pleading, hurt.
“Just let me go, Major.” Either his tone or calling him Major shocked him into releasing his grip on David’s arms. David turned and ran blindly for the side door that led through the science offices.
He had just reached his quarters when his radio chirped. “David, thank God you weren’t in the greenhouse. You need to come to the infirmary,” Laura sounded upset.
“What’s happened?”
“There’s been an accident, an explosion. Lorne is... you need to come.”
“I’ll be right there.” Breaking it off with Evan hadn’t made a difference. Somehow, deep in his gut, he knew this was no accident. He went to his dresser and grabbed the threatening notes. he would give them to Colonel Sheppard, as he should have done from the start.
Sils and Cadman met him at the door. “The greenhouse went up. We’re looking into the reason,” Laura said, squeezing his arm. “Evan is in critical condition, they took him into surgery a few minutes ago.”
His heart fell to his feet and all the sound around him dulled. This was his fault. He hadn’t acted quickly enough. He hadn’t done the right thing. He saw Colonel Sheppard speaking to Doctor Weir and he stumbled away from Cadman towards them. “Colonel, Doctor Weir, this wasn’t an accident.”
Doctor Weir’s eyebrow crooked up. David held out the envelopes containing the notes. “Someone did this. Someone wanted to hurt me. I think that explosion was meant for me. That’s my work area.”
Looking skeptical, Doctor Weir opened an envelope, handing another to the Colonel. Sheppard looked over at him. “You and Lorne? I can’t ask you...”
“And I’m not saying anything other than that explosion was meant for me. My teammate, my best friend, was caught in it. Please tell me you can find the person responsible.”
“We’re going to try. You should have come forward with this sooner, Doctor Parrish,” Doctor Weir said with a sad shake of her head as she handed the other notes to Colonel Sheppard.
“I thought it was a prank, at first, then I thought I could stop it by going along with it for a while and watching to see who was watching us.”
Drained of all energy and his emotions fluctuating between anger and grief, David leaned back against the wall as a nurse wearing surgical scrubs came over to them. “Doctor Beckett asked me to tell you that Major Lorne pulled through the surgery without any problems. He’ll be out to talk to you when he has finished wrapping things up.”
There was nothing to do but wait.
He stayed by the wall as Weir and Sheppard moved off to the side and spoke quietly. The doors to the infirmary whooshed open and loud, hurried footsteps drew David’s attention. An enraged marine was storming towards him, pointing a finger at him. “You! He’s dead because of you!”
There was nowhere to go, he was cornered. The large man reached him before anyone else could react and had David by the throat, lifting him off his feet and throttling him.
“Private Wells, drop him!” he heard Colonel Sheppard shout. All around there were voices raised in concern.
“His fault!” David’s vision was going grey around the edges as he was shaken. He slapped at the huge hands holding him, but it made no difference.
“Let him go, or I will shoot you, Private Wells!” Colonel Sheppard warned, and David heard the click of a sidearm being cocked.
“That won’t be necessary,” David heard someone say and then suddenly he was jolted painfully and the world went black.
When he woke, Cadman was leaning over him, watching him with concern. “Sorry, I got you too.”
“Huh?”
“I used a pair of paddles on him, it was a low charge, but it still knocked him down. You got zapped too, you know how electricity works.”
“Not really, do I look like Nikola Tesla to you?” he groused and looked over at Doctor Weir, standing on the other side of the gurney he was stretched out on. “Was that him?”
“Yes, we think so. Private Wells was indulging in some homemade illegal substances. Apparently some of the side effects are delusions, uncontrolled rage and paranoia. We’ll be sending him back to Earth on the Daedalus for treatment. He got it in his head that you had stolen Major Lorne away from him, and he acted on the delusion.”
“How is Evan?” David asked, sitting up and rubbing his throat, which was tingling, an aftereffect of the shock.
Cadman smiled. “He’s good, Doctor Beckett said he’ll be fine. He’s got a burn on his arm, and a few deep lacerations, but he should be okay. They got the shrapnel that was near his heart out without a problem. He’s strong, and healthy, he’ll be fine.”
He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the stretcher. “He tried to kill us,” David muttered and his chest heaved, and he couldn’t stop the sobs. Laura wrapped her arms around him and hugged him until he was calm again.
David couldn’t leave the infirmary until Evan woke up and he spoke to him, and assured himself that his boyfriend was okay. He sat in the chair beside Evan’s bed for hours. When Colonel Sheppard came in to check on Evan, he patted David’s shoulder and handed him a cup of tea, made just the way David liked it. “Lorne said you preferred tea with milk to coffee.”
“Did you know?” David asked without looking up.
“About you? Yeah. I’ve known for a while. Don’t worry, it isn’t a problem, Parrish. You’re going to stay until he wakes up?”
“Yeah.”
Sheppard nodded in approval. “Good. He should see you first. I’ll be by later.”
When Evan stirred and opened his eyes, David was out of the chair and leaning in, carefully holding his bandaged hand. ‘Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi,” Evan replied. ‘My head hurts.”
“Yeah, you got blown up this afternoon. That’ll leave a bruise.”
“Ow.” Evan squeezed his hand and then reached up to stroke David’s cheek. “You ran out on me.”
Evan was sleepy and didn’t need to talk about this now, so David kept it simple. “I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
“Always,” Evan whispered. David leaned over and brushed his lips in a light kiss, which made Evan sigh as he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
The End
fififolle
Originally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Prompt: Blackmail
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,749
Warnings: No standard Warnings Apply
Summary: Someone is pressuring David Parrish to Break it off with Evan Lorne, or else
David was surprised to find a folded piece of looselaf paper on the floor when he entered his quarters after his duty shift. Hardly anyone used paper in Atlantis, everyone had a datapad and access to the ethernet. He crouched down and picked it up, opening it as he straightened.
The note was unsigned, written in sloppy, childish printing. He turned it over, but there were no identifying marks on either the envelope or the note. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what the note meant. Someone knew. Someone in the city, presumably outside their small circle of friends, knew that he and Evan were dating.
Blackmail? Who could possibly have anything to gain by this? Someone with a grudge against him. Or someone that hated gays, more likely. The SGC had tried to weed out closed minded individuals when staffing Atlantis, but some got through.
They had been together for a year, the best year of David’s life. He had a job he loved and a boyfriend that - aside from the military regulation bullshit - was perfect. He was in love. And now someone was threatening him and his Major. Enraged, he started to tear the note to bits, but stopped at the last minute. He might need it for evidence. He stuffed it back in the envelope and shoved it into his dresser drawer.
He decided not to tell Evan about the note, hoping the writer would drop the idea.
Two days later, there was another message. The same childish scrawl on the same paper.
He put it with the other. When he met Evan for dinner that night in the mess hall, his hands were shaking and he almost told him about the notes, but held his tongue. He made an excuse about a headache when Evan asked him to go back to his quarters.
Two days later, another note.
It was movie night, he met his team in the rec hall and sat beside Evan. When Evan reached for his hand in the dark, he pulled away, sliding his chair slightly away from Evan’s and leaning against Cadman instead. They were being watched, and he needed to put distance between himself and Evan to protect his love.
When Evan radioed him to ask him to lunch, he made an excuse about planting some alien wheat in the greenhouse. The next day, it was alien beans, and the day after that, he had to put in a new experimental hybrid fruit tree.
He was digging in the planting bed, his heart breaking, missing his boyfriend when he heard Evan calling his name from the door of the greenhouse. He couldn’t really hide, Evan would find him soon enough. He had to face him. “I’m back here.”
“What’s going on, David?” Evan asked angrily as he stomped through the puddles on the walkway. “You’re avoiding me.”
He couldn’t look into Evan’s eyes. He looked down at the soil in the planting bed instead. “I... I can’t see you anymore.” There, he’d said it. It was done. Evan would be safe.
“What the hell? Just like that?”
“I can’t explain, I just can’t do this anymore. The sneaking around, breaking the regulations. It’s too much stress.”
Evan moved quickly and grabbed him by the arms, lifting him up from the where he had been crouched. “No,” he said simply. “Breakup not accepted. Not for a lame ass reason like this, a year into this thing. No.” He gave David a little shake. “Look at me.”
Damn it. Evan would know he was lying, he was a horrible liar. “No.”
“David,” his tone was pleading, hurt.
“Just let me go, Major.” Either his tone or calling him Major shocked him into releasing his grip on David’s arms. David turned and ran blindly for the side door that led through the science offices.
He had just reached his quarters when his radio chirped. “David, thank God you weren’t in the greenhouse. You need to come to the infirmary,” Laura sounded upset.
“What’s happened?”
“There’s been an accident, an explosion. Lorne is... you need to come.”
“I’ll be right there.” Breaking it off with Evan hadn’t made a difference. Somehow, deep in his gut, he knew this was no accident. He went to his dresser and grabbed the threatening notes. he would give them to Colonel Sheppard, as he should have done from the start.
Sils and Cadman met him at the door. “The greenhouse went up. We’re looking into the reason,” Laura said, squeezing his arm. “Evan is in critical condition, they took him into surgery a few minutes ago.”
His heart fell to his feet and all the sound around him dulled. This was his fault. He hadn’t acted quickly enough. He hadn’t done the right thing. He saw Colonel Sheppard speaking to Doctor Weir and he stumbled away from Cadman towards them. “Colonel, Doctor Weir, this wasn’t an accident.”
Doctor Weir’s eyebrow crooked up. David held out the envelopes containing the notes. “Someone did this. Someone wanted to hurt me. I think that explosion was meant for me. That’s my work area.”
Looking skeptical, Doctor Weir opened an envelope, handing another to the Colonel. Sheppard looked over at him. “You and Lorne? I can’t ask you...”
“And I’m not saying anything other than that explosion was meant for me. My teammate, my best friend, was caught in it. Please tell me you can find the person responsible.”
“We’re going to try. You should have come forward with this sooner, Doctor Parrish,” Doctor Weir said with a sad shake of her head as she handed the other notes to Colonel Sheppard.
“I thought it was a prank, at first, then I thought I could stop it by going along with it for a while and watching to see who was watching us.”
Drained of all energy and his emotions fluctuating between anger and grief, David leaned back against the wall as a nurse wearing surgical scrubs came over to them. “Doctor Beckett asked me to tell you that Major Lorne pulled through the surgery without any problems. He’ll be out to talk to you when he has finished wrapping things up.”
There was nothing to do but wait.
He stayed by the wall as Weir and Sheppard moved off to the side and spoke quietly. The doors to the infirmary whooshed open and loud, hurried footsteps drew David’s attention. An enraged marine was storming towards him, pointing a finger at him. “You! He’s dead because of you!”
There was nowhere to go, he was cornered. The large man reached him before anyone else could react and had David by the throat, lifting him off his feet and throttling him.
“Private Wells, drop him!” he heard Colonel Sheppard shout. All around there were voices raised in concern.
“His fault!” David’s vision was going grey around the edges as he was shaken. He slapped at the huge hands holding him, but it made no difference.
“Let him go, or I will shoot you, Private Wells!” Colonel Sheppard warned, and David heard the click of a sidearm being cocked.
“That won’t be necessary,” David heard someone say and then suddenly he was jolted painfully and the world went black.
When he woke, Cadman was leaning over him, watching him with concern. “Sorry, I got you too.”
“Huh?”
“I used a pair of paddles on him, it was a low charge, but it still knocked him down. You got zapped too, you know how electricity works.”
“Not really, do I look like Nikola Tesla to you?” he groused and looked over at Doctor Weir, standing on the other side of the gurney he was stretched out on. “Was that him?”
“Yes, we think so. Private Wells was indulging in some homemade illegal substances. Apparently some of the side effects are delusions, uncontrolled rage and paranoia. We’ll be sending him back to Earth on the Daedalus for treatment. He got it in his head that you had stolen Major Lorne away from him, and he acted on the delusion.”
“How is Evan?” David asked, sitting up and rubbing his throat, which was tingling, an aftereffect of the shock.
Cadman smiled. “He’s good, Doctor Beckett said he’ll be fine. He’s got a burn on his arm, and a few deep lacerations, but he should be okay. They got the shrapnel that was near his heart out without a problem. He’s strong, and healthy, he’ll be fine.”
He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the stretcher. “He tried to kill us,” David muttered and his chest heaved, and he couldn’t stop the sobs. Laura wrapped her arms around him and hugged him until he was calm again.
David couldn’t leave the infirmary until Evan woke up and he spoke to him, and assured himself that his boyfriend was okay. He sat in the chair beside Evan’s bed for hours. When Colonel Sheppard came in to check on Evan, he patted David’s shoulder and handed him a cup of tea, made just the way David liked it. “Lorne said you preferred tea with milk to coffee.”
“Did you know?” David asked without looking up.
“About you? Yeah. I’ve known for a while. Don’t worry, it isn’t a problem, Parrish. You’re going to stay until he wakes up?”
“Yeah.”
Sheppard nodded in approval. “Good. He should see you first. I’ll be by later.”
When Evan stirred and opened his eyes, David was out of the chair and leaning in, carefully holding his bandaged hand. ‘Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi,” Evan replied. ‘My head hurts.”
“Yeah, you got blown up this afternoon. That’ll leave a bruise.”
“Ow.” Evan squeezed his hand and then reached up to stroke David’s cheek. “You ran out on me.”
Evan was sleepy and didn’t need to talk about this now, so David kept it simple. “I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
“Always,” Evan whispered. David leaned over and brushed his lips in a light kiss, which made Evan sigh as he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
The End
fififolle
Originally posted at http://rinkafic.dreamwidth.org/