SGA fic: Gaijin pt 1, (NC-17, John/Rodney, Rodney/OFC, Rodney/Chuck/Evan, John/Carson)
Title: Gaijin
Rating: NC-17 overall
Pairing: Rodney/John (but only in one part), Rodney/OFC, Rodney/Chuck/Evan, Carson/John
Disclaimer: Believe me, if I owned these guys, things would be different. As it is, they belong to MGM, et al.
Spoilers: Through "Tao of Rodney"
Word Count: Total - 258,000+; each part has a minimum of 6250 words
Crossposted to: my website, sga_noticeboard, notmcshep. The full story can be found here.
Summary: A first contact mission goes wrong and Rodney is stranded on another planet. With no hope of returning to Atlantis, he adapts to his new life. But when he is rescued, returning to his former life isn't as easy as he had expected. And he's not sure he wants to.
Title Note: The word gaijin is Japanese and can mean "outsider" or "foreigner".
“Wow. I’d always figured that the Minotaur was the brainchild of a drunk Greek poet, not something the Ancients picked up along the way.”
“I’m surprised you even thought about it, Rodney,” John drawled from where he was slouched in his chair.
Rodney scowled at him and shifted around in his seat. “I did have to take a few Lit classes, Colonel.”
“I take it that in your culture, this Minotaur is not a good thing?” Teyla asked from where she and Ronon sat across the table while they waited for their Tesrakan diplomat to return.
“In one of Earth’s cultures, it’s a monster that has a man’s body and the head of a bull and is kept in the middle of a labyrinth and fed sacrificial victims,” John replied.
“And that’s bad because…?” Ronon asked. “If it’s not loose, what’s the problem?”
“I think it’s more the principle of the thing.”
“It’s also the basis for a story of great heroics,” Rodney added, “where Theseus - a hero of the Greeks - goes in and kills the Minotaur, freeing the locals from fear.”
“Doesn’t sound very exciting,” Ronon commented, slouching down further in his chair and resting his head against the high back. “When is Delsan coming back?” he asked Teyla.
“He should return soon,” she replied. “I assume that he’s conferring with the other elders on how to proceed.”
“Yeah, it’s not every day some unknown people come trooping in here asking about their ZedPMs,” Rodney replied dryly. “He even admitted that they don’t use them, so what’s the big deal?”
“Remember the planet that used them as religious objects, Rodney?” John asked mildly.
“I still think they were being stupid,” Rodney fumed, crossing his arms over his chest. “We would’ve gotten much better use out of them than they are.”
“That’s not the point,” John replied.
Ronon banged his head against the back of his chair with a huff. “Why do we spend most of our time on missions waiting?” he asked.
“To balance out the times we’re running around trying to save our skins?” John asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
The door opened and Delsan reentered, along with the rest of the town elders. “We have decided,” he began, “that if you really are committed to obtaining these…ZPMs that you must past the test of the Minotaur to prove your intent. If things are as you say, you will have no problems and we will be happy to give them to you.”
“I think it’s fair,” John said easily. “If Theseus can do it, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
Delsan held up a hand. “We have not finished. We only need one of you to pass this test. You must go in alone and cannot take anything in that may aid you aside from your wits and your physical strength - not even water or food. We believe that Dr. McKay, since he has been so vociferous regarding these power sources, should be the one to go through with the test.”
Rodney felt his face drain. “Y-you can’t be serious,” he stammered. “I don’t -” He straightened up quickly in his chair and turned to look at John. “John -”
“You’re the one that wanted to come here, buddy,” John replied easily, his expression giving away nothing. “How many times have you told me that genius will always win over brute strength?”
Rodney snapped his mouth shut before another protest could escape and turned back to face forward. “Fine,” he said resolutely. “When can we get started?”
“We can proceed now, if you wish,” Delsan replied.
“Then let’s go.” Rodney stood brusquely, the others on his team following his lead. “I’m a very busy man and I’d like to actually be able to use these ZedPMs in my lifetime.”
Delsan nodded and he, along with the elders, led the way out of the conference room, down a long corridor, and deeper into the bowels of the town’s meeting hall. At the bottom of a steep flight of steps which led into an empty stone-walled room, most of the elders moved to one side as Deslan moved to the center of the room and two elders separated themselves from the rest of the group. On his nod, they searched Rodney and divested him of his gun, tac vest, radio earpiece, and watch, along with three pens, an extra datapad stylus, six powerbars, and three pieces of hard candy. They also inspected his fingernails to make sure they weren’t too long. John raised an eyebrow, but none of them said anything.
“The entrance to the labyrinth is through this door,” Delsan said, gesturing to the door behind him. “Upon entering, you will be completely on your own. You have no time limit.”
“Not counting death,” Rodney muttered under his breath. “I’m ready.” As the door opened, Rodney felt a wave of panic wash over him and looked back and got a reassuring smile from Teyla and a nod of encouragement from John. Ronon was as stone-faced as usual.
“Lights will activate as you advance,” Delsan said, looking at Rodney expectantly. “We wish you the best of luck.”
Rodney bit back a scathing comment and nodded. He squared his shoulders and entered the doorway before turning. “If -” he started.
“Go get those damn ZPMs, Rodney,” John replied. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Rodney nodded, feeling slightly relieved, and turned back to the path in front of him, resolutely going forward and doing his best not to jump when he heard the door click shut behind him. As Delsan had said, light panels turned on as he walked, preceding him like some sort of herald.
Looking around as he moved forward and seeing nothing but gray stones on either side of him, white paneling above, smooth gray stones below his feet, and some shadows every so far - which Rodney guessed were either alcoves or branches of the labyrinth - Rodney idly wondered how quickly it would take for this environment to make him go crazy. He also hoped that the Minotaur had been either chained up or restrained somehow. He didn’t want to die before getting a crack at using the ZedPMs.
When Rodney came to the first intersection, the main corridor met one that went off to the right, he paused for a long moment - debating which direction to take. While the structure above ground hadn’t been overly large, he knew he was now underground and didn’t know how large the labyrinth was. Rodney knew that the odds were very good he could be wandering down here for a very long time without realizing it.
He finally decided to turn right, after glancing between the two corridors a few more times. The one he had been heading down seemed to go on forever without any change. But, as he looked down the one to his right, he thought he might see a shadow partway down which could be another passage. Seeing how he had a one in two chance of picking the right direction and without any illuminating information, he sighed and went to the right. Some action - however wrong it was - felt better than no action and the sooner he found the ZedPM, the better.
Starting down the new corridor, he couldn’t help but mutter, “If she’d have kept on going down that way, she would have gone straight to the castle,” not sure what made him think of Labyrinth at that particular moment.
As he walked, Rodney’s brain buzzed with ideas and thoughts. At first, he tried to calculate odds and probabilities for the labyrinth, but found that he didn’t like the odds and that there were too many unknown variables. He moved on to prioritizing which projects would go first once they had the ZedPMs and which of Atlantis’ systems would benefit the most from the additional power. Once that had been done, he began wondering about the Minotaur and calculating what he was up against. It was hard without any sort of reliable information source - but they all seemed to agree that it was big and frightening, as if *that* helped any. But any attempts at even mental sarcasm didn’t go very far. After meeting the Wraith, Rodney was wary of anything that the people in this galaxy called a monster.
He paused a few more times during his assessment to determine his way as he came upon more intersections and a couple dead ends. But even his prioritizing could only take him so far and soon he found himself walking almost aimlessly and dragging the fingers of his right hand along the wall as he started reciting the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. It had always been an easy way for him to keep his mind busy while trying to concentrate on something that didn’t require all of his attention.
Rodney’s stomach grumbled and he realized with a shock that he hadn’t eaten in some time. He stopped in his tracks and took a couple deep breaths, trying to keep his mind calm. He knew from experience that he had a few hours from the first time his stomach rumbled before the hypoglycemia would be a real issue, but given that he was - he was forced to admit it - lost in the middle of an alien labyrinth with no access to any food in the foreseeable future, he was having a hard time keeping completely calm. At that moment, any residual fear of the Minotaur killing him was overridden by the fear of dying because of something as stupid as going into hypoglycemic shock.
A noise brought Rodney out of his slowly forming freak-out. It was a faint sound, but it was there nonetheless, and Rodney knew he had to check it out - even if it led him to find he’d gone in a circle and was back at the door he had come in.
Rodney followed the intermittent sounds down the hallway, around a left turn and then two right turns before stopping just before the entrance of a large room. The lights slowly rose and Rodney could make out the two ZedPMs sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room, which he couldn’t help but think was all too clichéd as he noticed the Minotaur asleep on the floor in front of it, and damn, that thing was big. Even curled up on its side, Rodney could tell it was broader and taller than either Ronon or Teal’c. And much more frightening.
Rodney took a few deep breaths to control his unruly thoughts so he could come up with a plan that would include getting the ZedPMs, getting as far away from the Minotaur as possible before it woke up, and not getting lost in the labyrinth in the process.
“Rodney?” John called, and Rodney heard the familiar clumping of John’s boots as he jogged down the corridor.
Whirling around just as John rounded the last corner with all of his gear, Rodney glowered at him and hissed, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
John narrowed his eyes in response and replied in kind, “Saving your ass.”
“If you haven’t noticed,” Rodney said, keeping his voice soft, and gesturing behind himself, “there is, in fact, a real Minotaur in this labyrinth and I prefer to keep him asleep as long as possible. And, aside from the obvious, what does my ass need saving from this time?”
John rested his hands on the butt of his P-90. “Delsan wasn’t completely forthcoming. No one’s ever finished the labyrinth.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Rodney huffed as he folded his arms over his chest. “How long have I been down here?”
“About three hours. Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rodney waved him off as he turned back around to study the situation before them. “No one’s ever survived the labyrinth before.”
John’s voice had a dangerous note in it as he said, “I mean it, Rodney.”
“And when have stacked odds stopped me before? Are you going to help me figure this out or are you going to just stand there and glower?” John was quiet as Rodney mentally shifted through various variables and options, discarding most. “How long did it take you to get down here, anyway?”
“Twenty minutes - but I also ran.”
“*Twenty minutes*?” Rodney squeaked, looking at John suspiciously. “You’ve got the worst sense of direction of anyone I know and you made it in twenty minutes while I wandered around for three hours?”
John shrugged. “I’ve always been good at labyrinths and mazes. Plus, I kind of forced Delsan to tell me how to get here.”
“And what if I wasn’t here?”
“I made him draw me a map, but I figured you would be.”
Rodney decided to let the subject drop for now as he turned back to the problem in front of them. “Would you happen to have some Power Bars as well?” John handed him one and as Rodney unwrapped it, he asked, “Any ideas?”
“I’ve always been a fan of the grab-and-go technique whenever possible,” John replied amiably.
Rodney crossed one arm over his body and rested his other elbow on his hand, tapping his lips arhythmically with his fingers. “But what if it wakes up?”
John shrugged. “It’s stayed asleep so far.”
“Or it could be playing us and just waiting to pounce.”
“That’s always an option.”
“You’re really not helping any.”
“I’m more of an action kind of guy,” John replied easily.
“Yes, because your plans do tend to suck. Think we should just go for it?”
“Definitely, especially since I’d like to get out of here sooner rather than later.”
They moved into the room carefully, Rodney in the lead, but John coming level with him as they cleared the door. Carefully sidling around the sleeping Minotaur by its feet, John and Rodney made their way to the pedestal and picked up the ZedPMs, placing them in the pack Rodney hadn’t realized John had brought with him. As they made their second pass by the Minotaur to get out, John brushed the creature’s leg with his foot and in the blink of an eye, the monster was on its feet, towering over them and looking like fire was going to shoot out of its nostrils at any moment.
John held out his hands placatingly. “Hey, we didn’t mean any harm, buddy,” he said in as non-threatening a tone as possible. “We just came to get these ZPMs since we need them more than you do and we’re leaving now.”
The Minotaur advanced a few steps, nostrils flaring, causing Rodney and John to back up against the wall.
“Look,” Rodney said forcefully, trying another tack. “We didn’t do anything to you and somewhere in that pea-brain of yours, I know you know it. So, why don’t you be a good little monster and let us go? We’ll even lead you to the people who did do this to you.”
The Minotaur’s nostrils flared a few more times before it backed up to let them pass. John and Rodney looked at each other, slightly shocked, but wasted no time leaving the Minotaur’s den, painfully aware it was following them. John pulled out the map and silently led them back the way he had come, taking a very direct route back to the entrance.
“Let’s go,” John said tersely to Teyla and Ronon as they exited the labyrinth and they didn’t ask any questions as they fell in step with John and Rodney. None of them paid any attention to Delsan or any of the elders, who approached as John and Rodney exited, but in his peripheral vision, Rodney saw them fall back in shock as the Minotaur emerged from the labyrinth.
They pushed forward without a word as they mounted the steps, the elders’ screams echoing behind them. Once they reached the top step, they sprinted through the rest of the building to the Stargate and Teyla dialed quickly.
As the wormhole dissipated behind them, John looked up at Elizabeth, who was waiting on the balcony, and stated, “Mission accomplished.”
“Good job,” she replied. “Debriefing will be in half an hour.”
John took Rodney’s gear to put away so Rodney could go to the labs immediately with the ZedPMs, for which Rodney was extremely grateful.
“I come bearing gifts,” Rodney announced as he entered the mostly deserted lab.
“Congratulations,” Radek replied, merely glancing up from his computer screen. “Unless it’s a ZPM, I don’t care.”
“It’s two, actually,” Rodney replied as he set the pack on a clean lab table.
Radek’s head shot up - along with the rest of the present staff - as Rodney unpacked the ZedPMs and carefully sat them on the table. And, one by one, they crowded around the table as Rodney began his initial tests on the power sources. Rodney finally shooed them away once they saw that the ZPMs were fully charged and working properly. After giving Radek instructions to not let anyone touch them while he was gone, Rodney set off for the mission debriefing.
Throughout the very quick - and very normal - debriefing, Rodney felt John’s gaze slide to him and linger more than once - which was more than normal the second time he did it. And it was making him nervous.
“Did you want something, Colonel?” Rodney asked as they were leaving, “because your furtive staring was rather annoying.”
“Nope, don’t need anything,” John replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Did you want to get something to eat, or do you have to get back to the ZPMs?”
Rodney fell in step with John and they headed towards the mess. “They can wait a little longer, now that I know they’ll work. Besides, that Power Bar’s going to wear off any minute now.” Once they had settled with their food, Rodney said, “You. Staring. Spill. And don’t say it’s nothing. I know you well enough to know when it really is nothing. This isn’t one of those times.”
There was a long pause and Rodney was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to smack John in order to get him to answer. John finally said quietly, “It just hit me wrong today when Delsan said that no one had ever come out of the labyrinth that had gone in. I know we’ve defied those sorts of odds a lot, but I was afraid that this time would be the time you wouldn’t make it.”
“Oh, for the -” Rodney put his silverware down. “Stop whatever guilt trip you’ve got going, Colonel. I’m fine, you’re fine, Teyla and Ronon are fine. And defying the odds is what we’re meant to do. Let it go.”
“I know. But one of these days, the odds are going to bite us in the ass.”
Rodney was getting worried. John didn’t usually get like this when they were in near-death experiences as a group. True, in most cases said experiences were either on a huge “Atlantis is going to blow up” scale or a smaller “being threatened by scary locals” scale - which, while very real, they had become somewhat inured to. Something must’ve happened while he was in the labyrinth to have shaken John so much. Not sure what to say and knowing John would retreat if pressed, Rodney resumed eating, hoping he’d be able to figure out what exactly was bothering John.
A few days later and things were back to normal. Mostly.
The team had been grounded for a while so Rodney could have a chance to do some work with the new ZedPMs, Elizabeth could force John to get caught up on his paperwork and, as an added bonus, to give some of the newer teams more field experience. The four of them still met as a team for meals and hung out in the evenings - when they could pull Rodney away from the lab.
But Rodney did notice that, whenever possible, John hovered - picking him up from the lab under the guise of getting food (not that this had been uncommon before, but he was now doing it more often), sitting a little closer when possible, and getting underfoot whenever practically possible. It was driving Rodney insane, no matter how good at checking math John was.
“You can stop hovering, you know,” Rodney said one day as they walked to lunch. John opened his mouth to respond and Rodney continued, “I don’t know what you think is going on, Colonel, but nothing’s going to happen to me, so you can just lay off.”
John snapped his mouth shut and there was a pause before he replied, “Okay. I’ll do my best.”
“What is it with you being my babysitter, anyway?” Rodney asked as they grabbed trays. “Because I doubt it’s solely about being bored with paperwork and your love of math.”
“I just have a bad feeling,” John said tersely.
“That what?” Rodney laughed. “I’m going to die from a paper cut?”
John glared at him as he selected an apple and a bottle of water, adding them to his tray before stalking off.
Rodney watched him go, bewildered by John’s reaction to one of Rodney’s inane comments. He also grabbed a bottle of water and followed John. “Look,” he said, still holding onto his tray as John set his down on a table, “obviously this bad feeling is getting to you and since I seem to be the source of it, I’d like to know what’s going on instead of just telling you to get over it or see Heightmeyer. Let’s go somewhere and talk about it. I doubt it’ll fix it, but at least then I’ll know what to look out for.”
“Okay,” John replied, picking his tray back up and following Rodney to John’s quarters. “Why here?” he asked, puzzled, as they entered, the door sliding shut behind them.
“Well, it’s your secret. I figured you might as well be comfortable telling it.”
Rodney sat at John’s desk, while John made himself comfortable on his bed.
“Okay, out with it,” Rodney commanded, two bites into the meal. “And this had better be good.”
There was a long pause before John said, “I’ve been having a recurring dream where you get trapped on a desert planet and I can’t rescue you.”
“I take it back - you need to see Heightmeyer. Colonel, seriously, that’s nothing to be worried about. Factor in the amount of times we’ve been in danger and times we’ve been on sand planets, add in some stress and me getting put into that damned labyrinth, and there you go. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
John still looked troubled, but didn’t say anything else as he ate his sandwich.
Rodney sighed. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
John looked slightly guilty, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. This isn’t the fourth grade and we both know I couldn’t care less about the Air Force’s rules on - well - anything, so,” Rodney sighed, affecting a much put upon air, “out with it.”
“I like you, Rodney,” John finally said, studying his apple as he rolled it in his hands. “I *like* you, like you,” he clarified.
Rodney looked at John in shock. “Seriously? That’s what’s got you so upset? Colonel, your government’s idiocy aside, it’s not a big deal.”
“Not for you maybe.”
Rodney had a flash of insight as to what the real root problem was, but continued in the vein John had started. “And what? I doubt Elizabeth would really care. She’d probably be happy for us.”
“But there’s always someone else.”
“Look, Colonel, there’s always going to be someone to watch out for. You’ve probably had a lot of them already between what you did in Afghanistan and coming here, not to mention getting military command of Atlantis. But they’d be hard pressed to kick you out for something we both know they’d only have circumstantial evidence to support it since you’re going to be discreet. Besides, I don’t think anyone else wants your job - not even Lorne.”
John chuckled and Rodney took it as a good sign to approach. He moved to sit down gingerly on the corner of the bed, and said, seriously, “Look, I do understand where you’re coming from. This is new and big and scary, but believe me - it can be great too.”
“You’ve had experience?” John looked at him questioningly.
“Yes, I’ve had experience,” Rodney replied with a huff. “I’m no Kirk, but I can manage myself fairly well when the situation warrants it - regardless of evidence to the contrary.”
John laughed at that. “I’m sure you could, McKay.” Sobering, he said, “I didn’t freak you out, did I?”
“No more than normal,” Rodney replied. Looking at his watch and standing, Rodney said, “I better get back to the lab. I do have a few things I’d like to get done today aside from quelling any possible mutinies.” Pausing in the doorway, he said, “And I like you too, John.”
Heading back to the lab, Rodney felt relieved now that the air had been cleared between them. Part of him wanted to say he was stunned by John’s revelation, but at the same time, he could see him swinging both ways - given his good looks and Rodney’s more-accurate-than-not working assumption that most guys who looked that good did.
Rodney had been nursing his own private crush for John for so long, knowing that a fair amount, at least at first, had been hero worship, that his brain hadn’t completely caught up to John actually telling him how he felt. And he didn’t let himself dwell on what exactly they were going to do about it. The logistics of it made his head hurt worse than the time his high school math teacher had given him one of the unsolvable problems to see if he could crack it.
“Is everything okay?” Radek asked when Rodney entered the lab.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Rodney replied.
Radek raised an eyebrow. “Aside from Colonel Sheppard acting oddly lately and then the two of you disappearing at lunch?”
“It’s nothing,” Rodney said dismissively as he rifled through some papers on his workspace. “Miko! Where are my lab reports?”
During “self defense training” that night, which Rodney was convinced was just a way for Ronon to beat the crap out of him, though he had gotten better at deflecting at least some of the blows, Ronon seemed to be going easier on him.
“You and Sheppard get things worked out?” Ronon asked.
“I guess so?” Rodney replied, settling in to a defensive pose. “Though I’m not sure what things exactly you’re talking about.”
“He’s been acting weird lately. Like you’ve grown a second head.” Ronon thumped Rodney soundly on his padding as Rodney struggled to block him.
“Oh, that. Yeah, we’ve got that cleared up.”
“Good.” He thumped Rodney again. “Are you going to try to fight back? Because I don’t need you for target practice.”
“Oh, like I’m doing this for my own personal edification,” Rodney replied dryly. “No, I’m doing this because the injuries I get when we go off-world just aren’t enough.” And Rodney figured Ronon’s answering smile as he thumped him again was a good sign.
John and Teyla entered the exercise room a few minutes later as Rodney and Ronon were gathering their things. “Chess tonight?” John asked Rodney.
“Sure,” Rodney replied, gathering the last of his things. “What time?”
John glanced at his watch. “1930?”
Rodney nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll see you in the mess.” As he headed out, he heard Teyla say, “I’m glad to see you and Rodney have worked things out,” and John reply, “Nothing was wrong,” followed by Teyla’s laughter and he couldn’t help his smile.
After playing chess that night, John walked Rodney back to his quarters in comfortable silence. They stood in front of Rodney’s door for a few minutes before John said, “Well, good night,” and made a hasty retreat. Rodney laughed to himself as he went inside, feeling that, in some weird Atlantis way, they had just had their first date.
The second date went much smoother. Rodney appeared at John’s quarters with his laptop and some new movies. They ended up curling up on John’s floor with the pillows and blankets - given the size of his bed and lack of any other real seating arrangement that didn’t include his desk chair. Fifteen minutes into the first movie, they were both on their stomachs and John had his arm lying across Rodney’s back and they were touching along one side. By the end of the second movie, they were snuggled together.
“Is this okay?” John asked as Rodney reached forward to stop the movie.
“Believe me, I would’ve said something if it wasn’t,” Rodney replied turning over so he could look at John. He smiled as he settled an arm around John’s waist. “This is more than fine.”
“Are you sure?” John asked, sounding very unsure. “I just -.” He licked his lips. “I’ve never done this before - with a guy.”
“You’re doing just fine,” Rodney replied. He leaned forward slowly and gently brushed his lips over John’s. John froze and Rodney pulled back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, it’s not your fault,” John quickly told him. “I was just surprised. Can we try again?”
Rodney nodded and John met him halfway, gently cupping Rodney’s cheek with his hand. Rodney let John lead the kiss, letting him establish what he was comfortable with. John was hesitant at first, but slowly deepened the kiss and Rodney easily followed along, encouraging him by gently pulling him closer and yielding his mouth to him. John slowly explored Rodney’s mouth with his tongue before allowing Rodney to do the same to him. Rodney’s hand wandered down to John’s ass and John pulled back quickly, looking shocked.
“Sorry,” Rodney said quickly.
“It’s okay,” John said with a quick breath. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“I should go,” Rodney said softly. “It’s getting late.”
“I’m sorry, Rodney,” John said, sounding repentant.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rodney replied. “I moved a little too quickly and that’s that.” He smiled reassuringly and gave John a quick peck on the lips before turning over to get up. “We still on for chess tomorrow?”
“Yep, we’re still on,” John replied as he also got up, dumping their “nest” on the bed in the process.
Falling into a rhythm with their new relationship was much easier than Rodney had expected. He found John’s hesitancy and uncertainty more endearing than they would be in most people and John was very eager to do things “the right way”, much to Rodney’s amusement. The only downside was that John became more protective of him when they were out in the field. He was very careful about showing it, of course, but Rodney knew John better than John thought he did and he started resenting it.
“You do realize,” Rodney said one evening, as the door to John’s quarters slid open, “that if you keep this up, people are really going to start noticing. Well, more than they already are.”
“And what would ‘this’ be, Rodney?” John asked, looking up from where he had been taking his boots off, as Rodney entered. “And what do you mean, ‘more than they already are’?”
“Your overprotective streak. I think you’re being worse now than when we first started going off-world because you don’t want anything to happen to me. If you suddenly can’t trust me, I think we need to have a serious talk. Are you being serious? At least half the base has thought you and I were together from the beginning. So far it’s worked in our favor because they never actually took it seriously.”
John let his boot fall with a ‘thunk’. “Maybe we do need to have a talk.”
Rodney crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? About what?”
John folded his hands in his lap and looked up at Rodney. “This. Us. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. Like you said, I worry too much.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t base our relationship - or whatever it is - on a failed marriage and a bunch of space bimbos.”
John quirked an eyebrow and leaned back on his hands. “Are you going to clarify that statement?”
Rodney sat down next to him. “I think you’re being stupid for not trying. And playing chess three times and watching two movies with make-out session afterwards don’t count.” At John’s hesitance, Rodney said, “Look, let’s give it a real shot after we go off-world tomorrow. If then it doesn’t look like it’ll work, we’ll call it off then and never speak of it again, okay?”
“Okay,” John replied.
“Good,” Rodney replied with a smile. “Now, I’ve been wanting to do this all day.” And he leaned over and kissed John, softly at first, but easily dominating the kiss as John opened up underneath him. Pulling away, he asked, “So, what movie are we watching tonight?”
“Come on, Rodney,” John said through the radio. “This is a standard recon and possible meet and greet. We’re not planning on spending a week there.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Rodney said with a huff as he rounded the corner and came into view. “Just because *some* of us view these explorations as a good time to get valuable information and wish to be prepared doesn’t mean everyone else needs to get huffy, Colonel.”
John simply raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s in a crabby mood this morning,” he murmured as Rodney joined the team. “We’re all set, Chuck,” he said into his earpiece.
The ‘Gate started to dial as Elizabeth said from the balcony, “Good luck and be careful.”
John gave her a small salute and Rodney said to John, “I’m not looking forward to a sand planet. The last time we went to one of those, I was getting sand out of my shoes for weeks,” as the ‘Gate whooshed and Teyla and Ronon preceded them through the event horizon.
“Well, isn’t this exciting?” Rodney commented dryly as they looked about, seeing sand in every direction. “No sign of human life anywhere. This is going to be a monumental waste of our time, Colonel. Why did we even come here?”
“Teyla?” John asked.
“I was told that this planet was the site of a great market that is held once every few months,” she said, her tone slightly confused. “I was certain I had calculated the dates correctly.”
“Well,” John said, shifting his tac vest. “This isn’t the first time a settlement hasn’t been right next to a ‘Gate. Let’s look around and see if we can find it.”
Rodney pulled out a Life Signs Detector and activated it. “Huh,” he said as they walked down the steps of the Gate’s base. “I’m not getting anything from this - not even us.”
“Well, we did get only basic intel from the MALP before it stopped working,” John commented. “Must be something in the atmosphere or a magnetic field or something.”
“Thank you for that, Captain Obvious,” Rodney groused.
“Are you okay?” John asked quietly after sidling up to Rodney.
“I’m fine,” Rodney replied. “I just don’t feel very well.”
John looked at him, concerned. “After-effect of the Ascension device?”
Rodney shook his head. “I think it’s the stomach bug that’s been going around.”
John still looked at him speculatively, and said, “Let me know if you start feeling too bad and we’ll go home.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
They searched until their allotted check-in, at one point breaking off into pairs to cover a wider area around the ‘Gate, but found absolutely nothing.
Rodney pressed the first button to start dialing the ‘Gate, but nothing. He looked up confused, and tried again, but again, nothing. “Well, this is unexpected.”
“Can you fix it, Rodney?” John asked from where he was leaning against the MALP, eating a Power Bar.
“I hope so,” Rodney replied as he knelt down to open the panel on the DHD. “But it’s not like I actually prepared for this.”
“We have every faith in you, Rodney,” Teyla commented from where she was seated on the steps.
“Thank you,” he replied, setting the panel covering aside. Looking inside, he said, “Shit,” and began gently brushing the sand out. Taking out a couple of the crystals, he examined them more closely and found evidence of erosion from the sand. Replacing them, he tried dialing again, but still nothing.
“What’s going on, Rodney?” John asked.
“It looks like the sand got into the DHD and eroded the crystals. I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“So, what are our options?” Ronon asked.
Rodney sat back. “Right now, hope that either one of the non-existent locals shows up and helps us out, or Elizabeth calls us because we missed our check in and sends a Jumper through. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck here for the very limited time we have left.”
“Couldn’t we rig the MALP up to the ‘Gate and use it as a power source?” John asked.
“Not enough power, Colonel. Remember when Johnson tried that and it shorted out and fried his fingers?”
John groaned in sympathy. “Okay, not an option.” At that moment, the ‘Gate activated. “Let’s hope that’s Atlantis.”
“Sheppard?” Elizabeth’s voice came through their earpieces. “Your team missed its check-in.”
“Not our fault,” Rodney replied testily. “The DHD’s broken.”
“Can you send a Jumper through to pick us up?” John asked. “There’s nothing here.”
“No problem,” she replied. “It’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
As they waited, Rodney continued fiddling with the DHD, but to no avail.
A gentle wind started blowing, and John grimaced. “This isn’t good,” he said, brushing some sand off his uniform. “The Jumper better get here before the sandstorm really starts. Those are not fun.”
The ‘Gate activated again and a Jumper came through, positioning itself as it landed so it was facing the ‘Gate. As it finished lowering the ramp, the wind picked up and started whipping the sand around.
“Let’s go, Rodney!” John shouted as he, Teyla, and Ronon boarded the Jumper.
Rodney looked up, shocked that he could barely make out the Jumper a few feet away. He quickly rose and started running, tripping over the DHD panel in the process and knocking his head on something on the way down, everything going black before he hit the ground.
Continue to Part 2
Rating: NC-17 overall
Pairing: Rodney/John (but only in one part), Rodney/OFC, Rodney/Chuck/Evan, Carson/John
Disclaimer: Believe me, if I owned these guys, things would be different. As it is, they belong to MGM, et al.
Spoilers: Through "Tao of Rodney"
Word Count: Total - 258,000+; each part has a minimum of 6250 words
Crossposted to: my website, sga_noticeboard, notmcshep. The full story can be found here.
Summary: A first contact mission goes wrong and Rodney is stranded on another planet. With no hope of returning to Atlantis, he adapts to his new life. But when he is rescued, returning to his former life isn't as easy as he had expected. And he's not sure he wants to.
Title Note: The word gaijin is Japanese and can mean "outsider" or "foreigner".
“Wow. I’d always figured that the Minotaur was the brainchild of a drunk Greek poet, not something the Ancients picked up along the way.”
“I’m surprised you even thought about it, Rodney,” John drawled from where he was slouched in his chair.
Rodney scowled at him and shifted around in his seat. “I did have to take a few Lit classes, Colonel.”
“I take it that in your culture, this Minotaur is not a good thing?” Teyla asked from where she and Ronon sat across the table while they waited for their Tesrakan diplomat to return.
“In one of Earth’s cultures, it’s a monster that has a man’s body and the head of a bull and is kept in the middle of a labyrinth and fed sacrificial victims,” John replied.
“And that’s bad because…?” Ronon asked. “If it’s not loose, what’s the problem?”
“I think it’s more the principle of the thing.”
“It’s also the basis for a story of great heroics,” Rodney added, “where Theseus - a hero of the Greeks - goes in and kills the Minotaur, freeing the locals from fear.”
“Doesn’t sound very exciting,” Ronon commented, slouching down further in his chair and resting his head against the high back. “When is Delsan coming back?” he asked Teyla.
“He should return soon,” she replied. “I assume that he’s conferring with the other elders on how to proceed.”
“Yeah, it’s not every day some unknown people come trooping in here asking about their ZedPMs,” Rodney replied dryly. “He even admitted that they don’t use them, so what’s the big deal?”
“Remember the planet that used them as religious objects, Rodney?” John asked mildly.
“I still think they were being stupid,” Rodney fumed, crossing his arms over his chest. “We would’ve gotten much better use out of them than they are.”
“That’s not the point,” John replied.
Ronon banged his head against the back of his chair with a huff. “Why do we spend most of our time on missions waiting?” he asked.
“To balance out the times we’re running around trying to save our skins?” John asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
The door opened and Delsan reentered, along with the rest of the town elders. “We have decided,” he began, “that if you really are committed to obtaining these…ZPMs that you must past the test of the Minotaur to prove your intent. If things are as you say, you will have no problems and we will be happy to give them to you.”
“I think it’s fair,” John said easily. “If Theseus can do it, we shouldn’t have any problems.”
Delsan held up a hand. “We have not finished. We only need one of you to pass this test. You must go in alone and cannot take anything in that may aid you aside from your wits and your physical strength - not even water or food. We believe that Dr. McKay, since he has been so vociferous regarding these power sources, should be the one to go through with the test.”
Rodney felt his face drain. “Y-you can’t be serious,” he stammered. “I don’t -” He straightened up quickly in his chair and turned to look at John. “John -”
“You’re the one that wanted to come here, buddy,” John replied easily, his expression giving away nothing. “How many times have you told me that genius will always win over brute strength?”
Rodney snapped his mouth shut before another protest could escape and turned back to face forward. “Fine,” he said resolutely. “When can we get started?”
“We can proceed now, if you wish,” Delsan replied.
“Then let’s go.” Rodney stood brusquely, the others on his team following his lead. “I’m a very busy man and I’d like to actually be able to use these ZedPMs in my lifetime.”
Delsan nodded and he, along with the elders, led the way out of the conference room, down a long corridor, and deeper into the bowels of the town’s meeting hall. At the bottom of a steep flight of steps which led into an empty stone-walled room, most of the elders moved to one side as Deslan moved to the center of the room and two elders separated themselves from the rest of the group. On his nod, they searched Rodney and divested him of his gun, tac vest, radio earpiece, and watch, along with three pens, an extra datapad stylus, six powerbars, and three pieces of hard candy. They also inspected his fingernails to make sure they weren’t too long. John raised an eyebrow, but none of them said anything.
“The entrance to the labyrinth is through this door,” Delsan said, gesturing to the door behind him. “Upon entering, you will be completely on your own. You have no time limit.”
“Not counting death,” Rodney muttered under his breath. “I’m ready.” As the door opened, Rodney felt a wave of panic wash over him and looked back and got a reassuring smile from Teyla and a nod of encouragement from John. Ronon was as stone-faced as usual.
“Lights will activate as you advance,” Delsan said, looking at Rodney expectantly. “We wish you the best of luck.”
Rodney bit back a scathing comment and nodded. He squared his shoulders and entered the doorway before turning. “If -” he started.
“Go get those damn ZPMs, Rodney,” John replied. “We’re not going anywhere.”
Rodney nodded, feeling slightly relieved, and turned back to the path in front of him, resolutely going forward and doing his best not to jump when he heard the door click shut behind him. As Delsan had said, light panels turned on as he walked, preceding him like some sort of herald.
Looking around as he moved forward and seeing nothing but gray stones on either side of him, white paneling above, smooth gray stones below his feet, and some shadows every so far - which Rodney guessed were either alcoves or branches of the labyrinth - Rodney idly wondered how quickly it would take for this environment to make him go crazy. He also hoped that the Minotaur had been either chained up or restrained somehow. He didn’t want to die before getting a crack at using the ZedPMs.
When Rodney came to the first intersection, the main corridor met one that went off to the right, he paused for a long moment - debating which direction to take. While the structure above ground hadn’t been overly large, he knew he was now underground and didn’t know how large the labyrinth was. Rodney knew that the odds were very good he could be wandering down here for a very long time without realizing it.
He finally decided to turn right, after glancing between the two corridors a few more times. The one he had been heading down seemed to go on forever without any change. But, as he looked down the one to his right, he thought he might see a shadow partway down which could be another passage. Seeing how he had a one in two chance of picking the right direction and without any illuminating information, he sighed and went to the right. Some action - however wrong it was - felt better than no action and the sooner he found the ZedPM, the better.
Starting down the new corridor, he couldn’t help but mutter, “If she’d have kept on going down that way, she would have gone straight to the castle,” not sure what made him think of Labyrinth at that particular moment.
As he walked, Rodney’s brain buzzed with ideas and thoughts. At first, he tried to calculate odds and probabilities for the labyrinth, but found that he didn’t like the odds and that there were too many unknown variables. He moved on to prioritizing which projects would go first once they had the ZedPMs and which of Atlantis’ systems would benefit the most from the additional power. Once that had been done, he began wondering about the Minotaur and calculating what he was up against. It was hard without any sort of reliable information source - but they all seemed to agree that it was big and frightening, as if *that* helped any. But any attempts at even mental sarcasm didn’t go very far. After meeting the Wraith, Rodney was wary of anything that the people in this galaxy called a monster.
He paused a few more times during his assessment to determine his way as he came upon more intersections and a couple dead ends. But even his prioritizing could only take him so far and soon he found himself walking almost aimlessly and dragging the fingers of his right hand along the wall as he started reciting the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. It had always been an easy way for him to keep his mind busy while trying to concentrate on something that didn’t require all of his attention.
Rodney’s stomach grumbled and he realized with a shock that he hadn’t eaten in some time. He stopped in his tracks and took a couple deep breaths, trying to keep his mind calm. He knew from experience that he had a few hours from the first time his stomach rumbled before the hypoglycemia would be a real issue, but given that he was - he was forced to admit it - lost in the middle of an alien labyrinth with no access to any food in the foreseeable future, he was having a hard time keeping completely calm. At that moment, any residual fear of the Minotaur killing him was overridden by the fear of dying because of something as stupid as going into hypoglycemic shock.
A noise brought Rodney out of his slowly forming freak-out. It was a faint sound, but it was there nonetheless, and Rodney knew he had to check it out - even if it led him to find he’d gone in a circle and was back at the door he had come in.
Rodney followed the intermittent sounds down the hallway, around a left turn and then two right turns before stopping just before the entrance of a large room. The lights slowly rose and Rodney could make out the two ZedPMs sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room, which he couldn’t help but think was all too clichéd as he noticed the Minotaur asleep on the floor in front of it, and damn, that thing was big. Even curled up on its side, Rodney could tell it was broader and taller than either Ronon or Teal’c. And much more frightening.
Rodney took a few deep breaths to control his unruly thoughts so he could come up with a plan that would include getting the ZedPMs, getting as far away from the Minotaur as possible before it woke up, and not getting lost in the labyrinth in the process.
“Rodney?” John called, and Rodney heard the familiar clumping of John’s boots as he jogged down the corridor.
Whirling around just as John rounded the last corner with all of his gear, Rodney glowered at him and hissed, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
John narrowed his eyes in response and replied in kind, “Saving your ass.”
“If you haven’t noticed,” Rodney said, keeping his voice soft, and gesturing behind himself, “there is, in fact, a real Minotaur in this labyrinth and I prefer to keep him asleep as long as possible. And, aside from the obvious, what does my ass need saving from this time?”
John rested his hands on the butt of his P-90. “Delsan wasn’t completely forthcoming. No one’s ever finished the labyrinth.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Rodney huffed as he folded his arms over his chest. “How long have I been down here?”
“About three hours. Did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rodney waved him off as he turned back around to study the situation before them. “No one’s ever survived the labyrinth before.”
John’s voice had a dangerous note in it as he said, “I mean it, Rodney.”
“And when have stacked odds stopped me before? Are you going to help me figure this out or are you going to just stand there and glower?” John was quiet as Rodney mentally shifted through various variables and options, discarding most. “How long did it take you to get down here, anyway?”
“Twenty minutes - but I also ran.”
“*Twenty minutes*?” Rodney squeaked, looking at John suspiciously. “You’ve got the worst sense of direction of anyone I know and you made it in twenty minutes while I wandered around for three hours?”
John shrugged. “I’ve always been good at labyrinths and mazes. Plus, I kind of forced Delsan to tell me how to get here.”
“And what if I wasn’t here?”
“I made him draw me a map, but I figured you would be.”
Rodney decided to let the subject drop for now as he turned back to the problem in front of them. “Would you happen to have some Power Bars as well?” John handed him one and as Rodney unwrapped it, he asked, “Any ideas?”
“I’ve always been a fan of the grab-and-go technique whenever possible,” John replied amiably.
Rodney crossed one arm over his body and rested his other elbow on his hand, tapping his lips arhythmically with his fingers. “But what if it wakes up?”
John shrugged. “It’s stayed asleep so far.”
“Or it could be playing us and just waiting to pounce.”
“That’s always an option.”
“You’re really not helping any.”
“I’m more of an action kind of guy,” John replied easily.
“Yes, because your plans do tend to suck. Think we should just go for it?”
“Definitely, especially since I’d like to get out of here sooner rather than later.”
They moved into the room carefully, Rodney in the lead, but John coming level with him as they cleared the door. Carefully sidling around the sleeping Minotaur by its feet, John and Rodney made their way to the pedestal and picked up the ZedPMs, placing them in the pack Rodney hadn’t realized John had brought with him. As they made their second pass by the Minotaur to get out, John brushed the creature’s leg with his foot and in the blink of an eye, the monster was on its feet, towering over them and looking like fire was going to shoot out of its nostrils at any moment.
John held out his hands placatingly. “Hey, we didn’t mean any harm, buddy,” he said in as non-threatening a tone as possible. “We just came to get these ZPMs since we need them more than you do and we’re leaving now.”
The Minotaur advanced a few steps, nostrils flaring, causing Rodney and John to back up against the wall.
“Look,” Rodney said forcefully, trying another tack. “We didn’t do anything to you and somewhere in that pea-brain of yours, I know you know it. So, why don’t you be a good little monster and let us go? We’ll even lead you to the people who did do this to you.”
The Minotaur’s nostrils flared a few more times before it backed up to let them pass. John and Rodney looked at each other, slightly shocked, but wasted no time leaving the Minotaur’s den, painfully aware it was following them. John pulled out the map and silently led them back the way he had come, taking a very direct route back to the entrance.
“Let’s go,” John said tersely to Teyla and Ronon as they exited the labyrinth and they didn’t ask any questions as they fell in step with John and Rodney. None of them paid any attention to Delsan or any of the elders, who approached as John and Rodney exited, but in his peripheral vision, Rodney saw them fall back in shock as the Minotaur emerged from the labyrinth.
They pushed forward without a word as they mounted the steps, the elders’ screams echoing behind them. Once they reached the top step, they sprinted through the rest of the building to the Stargate and Teyla dialed quickly.
As the wormhole dissipated behind them, John looked up at Elizabeth, who was waiting on the balcony, and stated, “Mission accomplished.”
“Good job,” she replied. “Debriefing will be in half an hour.”
John took Rodney’s gear to put away so Rodney could go to the labs immediately with the ZedPMs, for which Rodney was extremely grateful.
“I come bearing gifts,” Rodney announced as he entered the mostly deserted lab.
“Congratulations,” Radek replied, merely glancing up from his computer screen. “Unless it’s a ZPM, I don’t care.”
“It’s two, actually,” Rodney replied as he set the pack on a clean lab table.
Radek’s head shot up - along with the rest of the present staff - as Rodney unpacked the ZedPMs and carefully sat them on the table. And, one by one, they crowded around the table as Rodney began his initial tests on the power sources. Rodney finally shooed them away once they saw that the ZPMs were fully charged and working properly. After giving Radek instructions to not let anyone touch them while he was gone, Rodney set off for the mission debriefing.
Throughout the very quick - and very normal - debriefing, Rodney felt John’s gaze slide to him and linger more than once - which was more than normal the second time he did it. And it was making him nervous.
“Did you want something, Colonel?” Rodney asked as they were leaving, “because your furtive staring was rather annoying.”
“Nope, don’t need anything,” John replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Did you want to get something to eat, or do you have to get back to the ZPMs?”
Rodney fell in step with John and they headed towards the mess. “They can wait a little longer, now that I know they’ll work. Besides, that Power Bar’s going to wear off any minute now.” Once they had settled with their food, Rodney said, “You. Staring. Spill. And don’t say it’s nothing. I know you well enough to know when it really is nothing. This isn’t one of those times.”
There was a long pause and Rodney was beginning to wonder if he was going to have to smack John in order to get him to answer. John finally said quietly, “It just hit me wrong today when Delsan said that no one had ever come out of the labyrinth that had gone in. I know we’ve defied those sorts of odds a lot, but I was afraid that this time would be the time you wouldn’t make it.”
“Oh, for the -” Rodney put his silverware down. “Stop whatever guilt trip you’ve got going, Colonel. I’m fine, you’re fine, Teyla and Ronon are fine. And defying the odds is what we’re meant to do. Let it go.”
“I know. But one of these days, the odds are going to bite us in the ass.”
Rodney was getting worried. John didn’t usually get like this when they were in near-death experiences as a group. True, in most cases said experiences were either on a huge “Atlantis is going to blow up” scale or a smaller “being threatened by scary locals” scale - which, while very real, they had become somewhat inured to. Something must’ve happened while he was in the labyrinth to have shaken John so much. Not sure what to say and knowing John would retreat if pressed, Rodney resumed eating, hoping he’d be able to figure out what exactly was bothering John.
A few days later and things were back to normal. Mostly.
The team had been grounded for a while so Rodney could have a chance to do some work with the new ZedPMs, Elizabeth could force John to get caught up on his paperwork and, as an added bonus, to give some of the newer teams more field experience. The four of them still met as a team for meals and hung out in the evenings - when they could pull Rodney away from the lab.
But Rodney did notice that, whenever possible, John hovered - picking him up from the lab under the guise of getting food (not that this had been uncommon before, but he was now doing it more often), sitting a little closer when possible, and getting underfoot whenever practically possible. It was driving Rodney insane, no matter how good at checking math John was.
“You can stop hovering, you know,” Rodney said one day as they walked to lunch. John opened his mouth to respond and Rodney continued, “I don’t know what you think is going on, Colonel, but nothing’s going to happen to me, so you can just lay off.”
John snapped his mouth shut and there was a pause before he replied, “Okay. I’ll do my best.”
“What is it with you being my babysitter, anyway?” Rodney asked as they grabbed trays. “Because I doubt it’s solely about being bored with paperwork and your love of math.”
“I just have a bad feeling,” John said tersely.
“That what?” Rodney laughed. “I’m going to die from a paper cut?”
John glared at him as he selected an apple and a bottle of water, adding them to his tray before stalking off.
Rodney watched him go, bewildered by John’s reaction to one of Rodney’s inane comments. He also grabbed a bottle of water and followed John. “Look,” he said, still holding onto his tray as John set his down on a table, “obviously this bad feeling is getting to you and since I seem to be the source of it, I’d like to know what’s going on instead of just telling you to get over it or see Heightmeyer. Let’s go somewhere and talk about it. I doubt it’ll fix it, but at least then I’ll know what to look out for.”
“Okay,” John replied, picking his tray back up and following Rodney to John’s quarters. “Why here?” he asked, puzzled, as they entered, the door sliding shut behind them.
“Well, it’s your secret. I figured you might as well be comfortable telling it.”
Rodney sat at John’s desk, while John made himself comfortable on his bed.
“Okay, out with it,” Rodney commanded, two bites into the meal. “And this had better be good.”
There was a long pause before John said, “I’ve been having a recurring dream where you get trapped on a desert planet and I can’t rescue you.”
“I take it back - you need to see Heightmeyer. Colonel, seriously, that’s nothing to be worried about. Factor in the amount of times we’ve been in danger and times we’ve been on sand planets, add in some stress and me getting put into that damned labyrinth, and there you go. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
John still looked troubled, but didn’t say anything else as he ate his sandwich.
Rodney sighed. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
John looked slightly guilty, but didn’t say anything.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. This isn’t the fourth grade and we both know I couldn’t care less about the Air Force’s rules on - well - anything, so,” Rodney sighed, affecting a much put upon air, “out with it.”
“I like you, Rodney,” John finally said, studying his apple as he rolled it in his hands. “I *like* you, like you,” he clarified.
Rodney looked at John in shock. “Seriously? That’s what’s got you so upset? Colonel, your government’s idiocy aside, it’s not a big deal.”
“Not for you maybe.”
Rodney had a flash of insight as to what the real root problem was, but continued in the vein John had started. “And what? I doubt Elizabeth would really care. She’d probably be happy for us.”
“But there’s always someone else.”
“Look, Colonel, there’s always going to be someone to watch out for. You’ve probably had a lot of them already between what you did in Afghanistan and coming here, not to mention getting military command of Atlantis. But they’d be hard pressed to kick you out for something we both know they’d only have circumstantial evidence to support it since you’re going to be discreet. Besides, I don’t think anyone else wants your job - not even Lorne.”
John chuckled and Rodney took it as a good sign to approach. He moved to sit down gingerly on the corner of the bed, and said, seriously, “Look, I do understand where you’re coming from. This is new and big and scary, but believe me - it can be great too.”
“You’ve had experience?” John looked at him questioningly.
“Yes, I’ve had experience,” Rodney replied with a huff. “I’m no Kirk, but I can manage myself fairly well when the situation warrants it - regardless of evidence to the contrary.”
John laughed at that. “I’m sure you could, McKay.” Sobering, he said, “I didn’t freak you out, did I?”
“No more than normal,” Rodney replied. Looking at his watch and standing, Rodney said, “I better get back to the lab. I do have a few things I’d like to get done today aside from quelling any possible mutinies.” Pausing in the doorway, he said, “And I like you too, John.”
Heading back to the lab, Rodney felt relieved now that the air had been cleared between them. Part of him wanted to say he was stunned by John’s revelation, but at the same time, he could see him swinging both ways - given his good looks and Rodney’s more-accurate-than-not working assumption that most guys who looked that good did.
Rodney had been nursing his own private crush for John for so long, knowing that a fair amount, at least at first, had been hero worship, that his brain hadn’t completely caught up to John actually telling him how he felt. And he didn’t let himself dwell on what exactly they were going to do about it. The logistics of it made his head hurt worse than the time his high school math teacher had given him one of the unsolvable problems to see if he could crack it.
“Is everything okay?” Radek asked when Rodney entered the lab.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Rodney replied.
Radek raised an eyebrow. “Aside from Colonel Sheppard acting oddly lately and then the two of you disappearing at lunch?”
“It’s nothing,” Rodney said dismissively as he rifled through some papers on his workspace. “Miko! Where are my lab reports?”
During “self defense training” that night, which Rodney was convinced was just a way for Ronon to beat the crap out of him, though he had gotten better at deflecting at least some of the blows, Ronon seemed to be going easier on him.
“You and Sheppard get things worked out?” Ronon asked.
“I guess so?” Rodney replied, settling in to a defensive pose. “Though I’m not sure what things exactly you’re talking about.”
“He’s been acting weird lately. Like you’ve grown a second head.” Ronon thumped Rodney soundly on his padding as Rodney struggled to block him.
“Oh, that. Yeah, we’ve got that cleared up.”
“Good.” He thumped Rodney again. “Are you going to try to fight back? Because I don’t need you for target practice.”
“Oh, like I’m doing this for my own personal edification,” Rodney replied dryly. “No, I’m doing this because the injuries I get when we go off-world just aren’t enough.” And Rodney figured Ronon’s answering smile as he thumped him again was a good sign.
John and Teyla entered the exercise room a few minutes later as Rodney and Ronon were gathering their things. “Chess tonight?” John asked Rodney.
“Sure,” Rodney replied, gathering the last of his things. “What time?”
John glanced at his watch. “1930?”
Rodney nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll see you in the mess.” As he headed out, he heard Teyla say, “I’m glad to see you and Rodney have worked things out,” and John reply, “Nothing was wrong,” followed by Teyla’s laughter and he couldn’t help his smile.
After playing chess that night, John walked Rodney back to his quarters in comfortable silence. They stood in front of Rodney’s door for a few minutes before John said, “Well, good night,” and made a hasty retreat. Rodney laughed to himself as he went inside, feeling that, in some weird Atlantis way, they had just had their first date.
The second date went much smoother. Rodney appeared at John’s quarters with his laptop and some new movies. They ended up curling up on John’s floor with the pillows and blankets - given the size of his bed and lack of any other real seating arrangement that didn’t include his desk chair. Fifteen minutes into the first movie, they were both on their stomachs and John had his arm lying across Rodney’s back and they were touching along one side. By the end of the second movie, they were snuggled together.
“Is this okay?” John asked as Rodney reached forward to stop the movie.
“Believe me, I would’ve said something if it wasn’t,” Rodney replied turning over so he could look at John. He smiled as he settled an arm around John’s waist. “This is more than fine.”
“Are you sure?” John asked, sounding very unsure. “I just -.” He licked his lips. “I’ve never done this before - with a guy.”
“You’re doing just fine,” Rodney replied. He leaned forward slowly and gently brushed his lips over John’s. John froze and Rodney pulled back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, it’s not your fault,” John quickly told him. “I was just surprised. Can we try again?”
Rodney nodded and John met him halfway, gently cupping Rodney’s cheek with his hand. Rodney let John lead the kiss, letting him establish what he was comfortable with. John was hesitant at first, but slowly deepened the kiss and Rodney easily followed along, encouraging him by gently pulling him closer and yielding his mouth to him. John slowly explored Rodney’s mouth with his tongue before allowing Rodney to do the same to him. Rodney’s hand wandered down to John’s ass and John pulled back quickly, looking shocked.
“Sorry,” Rodney said quickly.
“It’s okay,” John said with a quick breath. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“I should go,” Rodney said softly. “It’s getting late.”
“I’m sorry, Rodney,” John said, sounding repentant.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rodney replied. “I moved a little too quickly and that’s that.” He smiled reassuringly and gave John a quick peck on the lips before turning over to get up. “We still on for chess tomorrow?”
“Yep, we’re still on,” John replied as he also got up, dumping their “nest” on the bed in the process.
Falling into a rhythm with their new relationship was much easier than Rodney had expected. He found John’s hesitancy and uncertainty more endearing than they would be in most people and John was very eager to do things “the right way”, much to Rodney’s amusement. The only downside was that John became more protective of him when they were out in the field. He was very careful about showing it, of course, but Rodney knew John better than John thought he did and he started resenting it.
“You do realize,” Rodney said one evening, as the door to John’s quarters slid open, “that if you keep this up, people are really going to start noticing. Well, more than they already are.”
“And what would ‘this’ be, Rodney?” John asked, looking up from where he had been taking his boots off, as Rodney entered. “And what do you mean, ‘more than they already are’?”
“Your overprotective streak. I think you’re being worse now than when we first started going off-world because you don’t want anything to happen to me. If you suddenly can’t trust me, I think we need to have a serious talk. Are you being serious? At least half the base has thought you and I were together from the beginning. So far it’s worked in our favor because they never actually took it seriously.”
John let his boot fall with a ‘thunk’. “Maybe we do need to have a talk.”
Rodney crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? About what?”
John folded his hands in his lap and looked up at Rodney. “This. Us. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. Like you said, I worry too much.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t base our relationship - or whatever it is - on a failed marriage and a bunch of space bimbos.”
John quirked an eyebrow and leaned back on his hands. “Are you going to clarify that statement?”
Rodney sat down next to him. “I think you’re being stupid for not trying. And playing chess three times and watching two movies with make-out session afterwards don’t count.” At John’s hesitance, Rodney said, “Look, let’s give it a real shot after we go off-world tomorrow. If then it doesn’t look like it’ll work, we’ll call it off then and never speak of it again, okay?”
“Okay,” John replied.
“Good,” Rodney replied with a smile. “Now, I’ve been wanting to do this all day.” And he leaned over and kissed John, softly at first, but easily dominating the kiss as John opened up underneath him. Pulling away, he asked, “So, what movie are we watching tonight?”
“Come on, Rodney,” John said through the radio. “This is a standard recon and possible meet and greet. We’re not planning on spending a week there.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Rodney said with a huff as he rounded the corner and came into view. “Just because *some* of us view these explorations as a good time to get valuable information and wish to be prepared doesn’t mean everyone else needs to get huffy, Colonel.”
John simply raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s in a crabby mood this morning,” he murmured as Rodney joined the team. “We’re all set, Chuck,” he said into his earpiece.
The ‘Gate started to dial as Elizabeth said from the balcony, “Good luck and be careful.”
John gave her a small salute and Rodney said to John, “I’m not looking forward to a sand planet. The last time we went to one of those, I was getting sand out of my shoes for weeks,” as the ‘Gate whooshed and Teyla and Ronon preceded them through the event horizon.
“Well, isn’t this exciting?” Rodney commented dryly as they looked about, seeing sand in every direction. “No sign of human life anywhere. This is going to be a monumental waste of our time, Colonel. Why did we even come here?”
“Teyla?” John asked.
“I was told that this planet was the site of a great market that is held once every few months,” she said, her tone slightly confused. “I was certain I had calculated the dates correctly.”
“Well,” John said, shifting his tac vest. “This isn’t the first time a settlement hasn’t been right next to a ‘Gate. Let’s look around and see if we can find it.”
Rodney pulled out a Life Signs Detector and activated it. “Huh,” he said as they walked down the steps of the Gate’s base. “I’m not getting anything from this - not even us.”
“Well, we did get only basic intel from the MALP before it stopped working,” John commented. “Must be something in the atmosphere or a magnetic field or something.”
“Thank you for that, Captain Obvious,” Rodney groused.
“Are you okay?” John asked quietly after sidling up to Rodney.
“I’m fine,” Rodney replied. “I just don’t feel very well.”
John looked at him, concerned. “After-effect of the Ascension device?”
Rodney shook his head. “I think it’s the stomach bug that’s been going around.”
John still looked at him speculatively, and said, “Let me know if you start feeling too bad and we’ll go home.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
They searched until their allotted check-in, at one point breaking off into pairs to cover a wider area around the ‘Gate, but found absolutely nothing.
Rodney pressed the first button to start dialing the ‘Gate, but nothing. He looked up confused, and tried again, but again, nothing. “Well, this is unexpected.”
“Can you fix it, Rodney?” John asked from where he was leaning against the MALP, eating a Power Bar.
“I hope so,” Rodney replied as he knelt down to open the panel on the DHD. “But it’s not like I actually prepared for this.”
“We have every faith in you, Rodney,” Teyla commented from where she was seated on the steps.
“Thank you,” he replied, setting the panel covering aside. Looking inside, he said, “Shit,” and began gently brushing the sand out. Taking out a couple of the crystals, he examined them more closely and found evidence of erosion from the sand. Replacing them, he tried dialing again, but still nothing.
“What’s going on, Rodney?” John asked.
“It looks like the sand got into the DHD and eroded the crystals. I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“So, what are our options?” Ronon asked.
Rodney sat back. “Right now, hope that either one of the non-existent locals shows up and helps us out, or Elizabeth calls us because we missed our check in and sends a Jumper through. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck here for the very limited time we have left.”
“Couldn’t we rig the MALP up to the ‘Gate and use it as a power source?” John asked.
“Not enough power, Colonel. Remember when Johnson tried that and it shorted out and fried his fingers?”
John groaned in sympathy. “Okay, not an option.” At that moment, the ‘Gate activated. “Let’s hope that’s Atlantis.”
“Sheppard?” Elizabeth’s voice came through their earpieces. “Your team missed its check-in.”
“Not our fault,” Rodney replied testily. “The DHD’s broken.”
“Can you send a Jumper through to pick us up?” John asked. “There’s nothing here.”
“No problem,” she replied. “It’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
As they waited, Rodney continued fiddling with the DHD, but to no avail.
A gentle wind started blowing, and John grimaced. “This isn’t good,” he said, brushing some sand off his uniform. “The Jumper better get here before the sandstorm really starts. Those are not fun.”
The ‘Gate activated again and a Jumper came through, positioning itself as it landed so it was facing the ‘Gate. As it finished lowering the ramp, the wind picked up and started whipping the sand around.
“Let’s go, Rodney!” John shouted as he, Teyla, and Ronon boarded the Jumper.
Rodney looked up, shocked that he could barely make out the Jumper a few feet away. He quickly rose and started running, tripping over the DHD panel in the process and knocking his head on something on the way down, everything going black before he hit the ground.
Continue to Part 2