Fic: Paradigm Shift: Served Cold (SGA, Keller/OMC, G)
Title: Paradigm Shift: Served Cold
Rating: G
Character: OC
Pairings: Keller/OMC
Disclaimer: Not mine (except the mistakes, and the baby marine), no harm meant.
Summary: Tom Wright is having a bad year.
A/N: Sequel to/OC's perspective on Paradigm Shift and Three Weeks Later
Paradigm Shift: Served Cold
Tom Wright is having a bad year.
He's been dragged out of his platoon in Afghanistan (and that wasn't a barrel of laughs to begin with), told that he's a mutant freak, and stuck on a floating, flying city. A floating city. That flies. In space. And then they took him (on the flying city, natch) to an entire new galaxy.
That's when they told him about the life-sucking alien vampires.
Since then, he's nearly had the life sucked out of him (through the chest) three times, had an evil robot stick its hand in his head, accidentally started a land war on M3A-518 because he's a mutant freak and can turn on million-year-old technology just by walking into the wrong room, and become an integral part of the most dysfunctional gate team in Atlantis not lead by Colonel Sheppard.
They also make him fly. He's a Marine, he doesn't fly. It's just a bad idea on so many levels. It's not as if they can just replace the top three floors of tower 5D-East.
His ability to turn on 'Ancient' technology has landed him in the infirmary on no fewer than seven occasions, and while this has had the bonus of resulting in him falling in love, the migraines got real old, real fast.
He's fallen in love. That's bad enough, but he's fallen for the girlfriend of the most dangerous man to wield a wirelessly networked datapad in two galaxies.
And none of this - not the alien vampires, nor the evil robots, not Ancient tech that wants to sparkle him to a higher plane of existence, not Dr McKay on a tear, not Captain Rodriguez giving him flying lessons or Dr Gibson and Collins trying to educate him about Real Ale, not even moonlight walks with Jenny on Pier 3 - none of these is as terrifying as Ronon Dex grinning at him and saying "Hey, Wright, wanna spar?"
~
Ms Emmagen, Tom figures, is only being kind when she greets him in a corridor with that traditional Athosian greeting, forehead to forehead. She holds it long enough that he starts to get a crick in his neck. But then she says "I hope you and Jennifer will be very happy together,' and her tone is somewhere between 'I am vexed that one of my friends intends to kill you, because I am a very busy woman' and 'Young man, the trouble you're causing? I hope it's worth it'. She still manages to remind him of his mother.
He broaches the subject with Major Lorne, who looks at him sideways and says "If you're having problems with a member of Colonel Sheppard's team, you should really talk to the Colonel about it."
And, seriously, what did he do to piss Major Lorne off?
Walker and Reynolds are both still pissed at Tom, too, just because McKay's approach to vengeance is haphazard in details like exactly who Tom is, beyond being a grunt with the ATA gene and a name beginning with either W or an 'r' sound. He has no idea why all the gate technicians suddenly hate him, although in Sergeant Campbell's case it may be a Canadian solidarity thing.
Captain Rodriguez takes him aside to ask him if everything's okay, an expression of maternal concern on her face, which is pretty funny, because he knows for a fact that she's got the maternal instincts of an evil robot.
Collins is worse than useless. "Don't look at me, pal. I warned you." Useless, and kind of smug.
The only one who's remotely sympathetic is Dr Gibson, who brings beer and listens patiently while Tom explains that none of this is his fault. But after the Doc rolls out his third brewing analogy, Tom decides he really needs to take it to Colonel Sheppard.
~
In some ways, Ronon Dex is smarter than Dr McKay. Dex never actually hurts Tom enough to put him in the infirmary. Merely suffering intense physical pain isn't enough to justify it - Tom's a Marine, and while he's pretty sure 'Semper Fi' doesn't mean 'No, that's OK, you can disembowel me with a blunt object', that seems to be the way it's interpreted.
It started with looming. That was while Tom still thought his problem was Dr McKay, and he spent a lot of time in places where McKay wouldn't think to look for him, or wouldn't dare mess with the environmental controls. That meant the sociology labs (pretending that the anthropologists weren't watching him and scribbling notes furiously), botany, the mess (but only after Collins checked ahead - Tom was eating at some pretty funny hours) and, of course, the training rooms.
There was safety in numbers, at least. Or that's what Tom thought.
Then Ronon turned up, and started looming, and suddenly everyone vanished. The first time this happened, Captain Rodriguez hustled up to drag Tom to the jumpers, and he didn't think any more of it until he went to the mess at 20-hundred hours, and there was Ronon, looming.
Even then, Tom didn't realise what was going on, because Ronon's expression was merely contemplative. Dex wasn't scowling at him, just watching. And looming. Tom's barely more than an inch shorter than Ronon, but what with the hair and the eyebrows, Dex is really tall.
When Tom finally realised that all this looming wasn't just a side-effect of Ronon's height and was, in fact, focussed on Tom, he naturally assumed it was Dex's response to Tom stealing his teammate's girl (which wasn't Tom's fault, it just happened, and he still doesn't know why everybody blames him). But after a few weeks, Tom found that he could return to his room with out risking hypothermia, hypoxia or the re-routed ventilation of Atlantis' sewers. And Ronon was still looming.
Tom even walked right past McKay - the Colonel's team coming into the city, Captain Rodriguez leading their team offworld - without getting so much as a death glare. McKay might not remember his name, but he sure knows what Tom looks like, and the scientist looked him right in the eyes, and didn't even insult Tom's intelligence.
Three days later, Tom was back in the city, Collins in the infirmary and Dr Gibson on one of his periodic retreats into esoteric physics that meant he wouldn't leave Atlantis for at least a month. Captain Rodriguez didn't even make Tom fly that weekend, so he was left burning off energy in the gym. And there was Ronon, looming.
"Hey, Wright, wanna spar?"
Tom's sparred with Dex before - everybody does, because it's the best way to learn Satedan fighting styles. It took a few moments for Tom to realise that this wasn't 'learn by doing', this was Dex kicking Tom's ass.
~
He lasts five days, three of which Ronon isn't even in the city. During those three days Tom works out that he hasn't just stolen the girl Dr McKay's in love with, he's stolen the girl Ronon Dex wants, too. Also, when Jenny fusses over his bruises (every cloud, and all that), he tells her what happened and her eyes go wide. "Oh," she says, in a small, embarrassed voice. "Ronon and I- we- uh- there was this quarantine lockdown-" He kisses her, because he loves her, and doesn't blame her, and he really doesn't want to know anything more about her and Ronon and a locked room. The ATA gene doesn't give him the ability to sink into the floor, so he kisses her, because he might as well die happy.
Tom limps into Sheppard's office, and waits. At least, he thinks, as little as the Colonel is in there, Dex goes there even less frequently.
He knows that it's the right thing to do - any problem with a gate team member, you always go to the team leader first. It's just - the first thing he learnt about Colonel Sheppard - both told and observed - is that the Colonel is loyal, and prizes loyalty above everything. Loyalty to Atlantis, loyalty to the city's people. Loyalty to team.
He's pretty sure that Sheppard's loyalty to his team will outweigh the minor fact that Tom is Atlantis personnel. And Tom has betrayed two members of the Colonel's team. He's beginning to think that the best he's going to get out this is reassignment out of Atlantis. It's a measure of just how much the past year has messed with his head that even this seems like a bad thing.
So it's disconcerting that Sheppard looks almost sympathetic when Tom starts to stutter out his apologies. But then Tom realises that Sheppard thinks he's just talking about Dr McKay, and his heart drops even further.
"Um, it's about Specialist Dex, sir?"
Colonel Sheppard's expression cycles through confusion, realisation, surprise, embarrassment and finally resignation (and Tom wonders why Sheppard has this reputation for being cool and inscrutable, because he's hardly less obvious than Dr McKay). "I thought he-" The Colonel stops, and slaps his radio. "Ronon. My office. Now."
A pause, in which Tom regrets everything he's just told Sheppard. "Yes, I have an office. You've been here, don't play dumb." Tom starts to regret everything he's said or done in the past three months.
"Because I want you to apologise to one of my Marines." Another pause, and whatever Ronon is rumbling over the radio causes Sheppard's eyes to widen, and he hisses, "That is not the point. She dumped you, she dumped Rodney. She'll probably dump-" Here Sheppard breaks off, and shoots Tom an apologetic glance. "Anyway, it's her choice. It definitely doesn't mean you can-" He rolls his eyes. "I'm not having you break my Marines, Ronon. We only get a limited number every year."
Sheppard suddenly leans back with the air of someone who has just formulated a foolproof plan. "I'll sic Teyla on you." Another rumble. "Besides, what happened to Amelia?" Oh, thinks Tom. That's why the gate techs hate him.
"Why? Because it's not his fault! Besides, they might sympathise with you now, but sooner or later they'll be on his side." Sheppard lowers his voice further, and Tom only catches the words "baby marine" and "cookies". He didn't think anyone knew about the cookies.
"Fine!" snaps Sheppard. "Fine." Sheppard taps off his radio with a look of disgust, and turns back to Tom. "Sit down, Wright."
Oh hell no, thinks Tom, and sits in the chair opposite Sheppard.
"How long you been here, kid?" Sheppard still looks sympathetic, which is surprising, because the amount of paperwork that will be generated when Dex kills him - oh. That's how he pissed off Major Lorne.
"Seven months, sir. Came over with the city."
Sheppard almost smiles. "You sat in the chair yet?"
"Nossir." He doesn't like to think what would happen if they made him do that.
"But you've been flying the jumpers."
That's one way of putting it. "Sir."
Sheppard frowns at that. "You've got, what, five months left?"
In theory. "Yessir." Less if Dex has his way, more if-
"You know she's going to stay, don't you?"
Of course he knows Jenny's going to stay. She's the CMO. (He fell in love with the CMO of a floating alien city. He's crazy.) "Yessir."
Sheppard looks at him expectantly. "Well?" he prompts.
Tom's at a loss. What does the Colonel expect? Tom can't very well throw a tantrum because he doesn't want to leave the city - his girl. Doesn't want to leave his girl. The city is driving him insane.
"What would you be prepared to do?" Do? "To stay with her?" Anything, but he's not going to tell Sheppard that. "How about if she was threatened?"
"Anything."
There's an annoyed sound behind him, and he spins the chair to see Dex leaning on the door frame, arms crossed. Tom's on his feet before he can think, and suddenly they're toe to toe.
"Ronon," says Sheppard, a warning tone in his voice.
Ronon scowls, and says "Fine!"
"Fine?" echoes Sheppard.
"Fine. But I want some of those cookies." Tom can understand. They're pretty good cookies, even if they are blue. He nods, and Ronon gives a sharp nod in return, before stalking out the door.
Tom turns back to Colonel Sheppard, who looks indecently smug at this turn of events. "Dismissed, Wright."
Tom stares at him, then heads for the door.
"Oh, and Wright?" Tom turns back again, and Sheppard's expression is serious. "The jumpers? The turning things on and off again? The-" The Colonel hesitates, then presses on. "The city?"
Tom stiffens. He's heard from Captain Rodriguez often enough about how easy it is, and he knows Sheppard's the poster boy for the ATA gene. It doesn't matter how strongly he feels about Jenny, or how well he does offworld: Tom's there because of the gene, and Sheppard won't keep him if he thinks Tom can't cope with it.
"It's- You don't have to push?" Sheppard looks embarrassed. "You just have to listen."
Further A/N: This is so, so, not what I intended for young Tom, who's part of a larger, multiple OC fic full of angst and trauma - which was taking over my brain to the extent that I missed Torchwood - and I realised that the poor lad needed a personality, because I couldn't exactly make him an Iowa farm boy, and then I thought 'Ah! Wisconsin' (as one does), and then he went and fell in love with Keller, and, well...
*sighs* I miss the angst.
Later: I got my angst back, with my Newcomers, starting with Thomas Wright, USMC
Rating: G
Character: OC
Pairings: Keller/OMC
Disclaimer: Not mine (except the mistakes, and the baby marine), no harm meant.
Summary: Tom Wright is having a bad year.
A/N: Sequel to/OC's perspective on Paradigm Shift and Three Weeks Later
Paradigm Shift: Served Cold
Tom Wright is having a bad year.
He's been dragged out of his platoon in Afghanistan (and that wasn't a barrel of laughs to begin with), told that he's a mutant freak, and stuck on a floating, flying city. A floating city. That flies. In space. And then they took him (on the flying city, natch) to an entire new galaxy.
That's when they told him about the life-sucking alien vampires.
Since then, he's nearly had the life sucked out of him (through the chest) three times, had an evil robot stick its hand in his head, accidentally started a land war on M3A-518 because he's a mutant freak and can turn on million-year-old technology just by walking into the wrong room, and become an integral part of the most dysfunctional gate team in Atlantis not lead by Colonel Sheppard.
They also make him fly. He's a Marine, he doesn't fly. It's just a bad idea on so many levels. It's not as if they can just replace the top three floors of tower 5D-East.
His ability to turn on 'Ancient' technology has landed him in the infirmary on no fewer than seven occasions, and while this has had the bonus of resulting in him falling in love, the migraines got real old, real fast.
He's fallen in love. That's bad enough, but he's fallen for the girlfriend of the most dangerous man to wield a wirelessly networked datapad in two galaxies.
And none of this - not the alien vampires, nor the evil robots, not Ancient tech that wants to sparkle him to a higher plane of existence, not Dr McKay on a tear, not Captain Rodriguez giving him flying lessons or Dr Gibson and Collins trying to educate him about Real Ale, not even moonlight walks with Jenny on Pier 3 - none of these is as terrifying as Ronon Dex grinning at him and saying "Hey, Wright, wanna spar?"
~
Ms Emmagen, Tom figures, is only being kind when she greets him in a corridor with that traditional Athosian greeting, forehead to forehead. She holds it long enough that he starts to get a crick in his neck. But then she says "I hope you and Jennifer will be very happy together,' and her tone is somewhere between 'I am vexed that one of my friends intends to kill you, because I am a very busy woman' and 'Young man, the trouble you're causing? I hope it's worth it'. She still manages to remind him of his mother.
He broaches the subject with Major Lorne, who looks at him sideways and says "If you're having problems with a member of Colonel Sheppard's team, you should really talk to the Colonel about it."
And, seriously, what did he do to piss Major Lorne off?
Walker and Reynolds are both still pissed at Tom, too, just because McKay's approach to vengeance is haphazard in details like exactly who Tom is, beyond being a grunt with the ATA gene and a name beginning with either W or an 'r' sound. He has no idea why all the gate technicians suddenly hate him, although in Sergeant Campbell's case it may be a Canadian solidarity thing.
Captain Rodriguez takes him aside to ask him if everything's okay, an expression of maternal concern on her face, which is pretty funny, because he knows for a fact that she's got the maternal instincts of an evil robot.
Collins is worse than useless. "Don't look at me, pal. I warned you." Useless, and kind of smug.
The only one who's remotely sympathetic is Dr Gibson, who brings beer and listens patiently while Tom explains that none of this is his fault. But after the Doc rolls out his third brewing analogy, Tom decides he really needs to take it to Colonel Sheppard.
~
In some ways, Ronon Dex is smarter than Dr McKay. Dex never actually hurts Tom enough to put him in the infirmary. Merely suffering intense physical pain isn't enough to justify it - Tom's a Marine, and while he's pretty sure 'Semper Fi' doesn't mean 'No, that's OK, you can disembowel me with a blunt object', that seems to be the way it's interpreted.
It started with looming. That was while Tom still thought his problem was Dr McKay, and he spent a lot of time in places where McKay wouldn't think to look for him, or wouldn't dare mess with the environmental controls. That meant the sociology labs (pretending that the anthropologists weren't watching him and scribbling notes furiously), botany, the mess (but only after Collins checked ahead - Tom was eating at some pretty funny hours) and, of course, the training rooms.
There was safety in numbers, at least. Or that's what Tom thought.
Then Ronon turned up, and started looming, and suddenly everyone vanished. The first time this happened, Captain Rodriguez hustled up to drag Tom to the jumpers, and he didn't think any more of it until he went to the mess at 20-hundred hours, and there was Ronon, looming.
Even then, Tom didn't realise what was going on, because Ronon's expression was merely contemplative. Dex wasn't scowling at him, just watching. And looming. Tom's barely more than an inch shorter than Ronon, but what with the hair and the eyebrows, Dex is really tall.
When Tom finally realised that all this looming wasn't just a side-effect of Ronon's height and was, in fact, focussed on Tom, he naturally assumed it was Dex's response to Tom stealing his teammate's girl (which wasn't Tom's fault, it just happened, and he still doesn't know why everybody blames him). But after a few weeks, Tom found that he could return to his room with out risking hypothermia, hypoxia or the re-routed ventilation of Atlantis' sewers. And Ronon was still looming.
Tom even walked right past McKay - the Colonel's team coming into the city, Captain Rodriguez leading their team offworld - without getting so much as a death glare. McKay might not remember his name, but he sure knows what Tom looks like, and the scientist looked him right in the eyes, and didn't even insult Tom's intelligence.
Three days later, Tom was back in the city, Collins in the infirmary and Dr Gibson on one of his periodic retreats into esoteric physics that meant he wouldn't leave Atlantis for at least a month. Captain Rodriguez didn't even make Tom fly that weekend, so he was left burning off energy in the gym. And there was Ronon, looming.
"Hey, Wright, wanna spar?"
Tom's sparred with Dex before - everybody does, because it's the best way to learn Satedan fighting styles. It took a few moments for Tom to realise that this wasn't 'learn by doing', this was Dex kicking Tom's ass.
~
He lasts five days, three of which Ronon isn't even in the city. During those three days Tom works out that he hasn't just stolen the girl Dr McKay's in love with, he's stolen the girl Ronon Dex wants, too. Also, when Jenny fusses over his bruises (every cloud, and all that), he tells her what happened and her eyes go wide. "Oh," she says, in a small, embarrassed voice. "Ronon and I- we- uh- there was this quarantine lockdown-" He kisses her, because he loves her, and doesn't blame her, and he really doesn't want to know anything more about her and Ronon and a locked room. The ATA gene doesn't give him the ability to sink into the floor, so he kisses her, because he might as well die happy.
Tom limps into Sheppard's office, and waits. At least, he thinks, as little as the Colonel is in there, Dex goes there even less frequently.
He knows that it's the right thing to do - any problem with a gate team member, you always go to the team leader first. It's just - the first thing he learnt about Colonel Sheppard - both told and observed - is that the Colonel is loyal, and prizes loyalty above everything. Loyalty to Atlantis, loyalty to the city's people. Loyalty to team.
He's pretty sure that Sheppard's loyalty to his team will outweigh the minor fact that Tom is Atlantis personnel. And Tom has betrayed two members of the Colonel's team. He's beginning to think that the best he's going to get out this is reassignment out of Atlantis. It's a measure of just how much the past year has messed with his head that even this seems like a bad thing.
So it's disconcerting that Sheppard looks almost sympathetic when Tom starts to stutter out his apologies. But then Tom realises that Sheppard thinks he's just talking about Dr McKay, and his heart drops even further.
"Um, it's about Specialist Dex, sir?"
Colonel Sheppard's expression cycles through confusion, realisation, surprise, embarrassment and finally resignation (and Tom wonders why Sheppard has this reputation for being cool and inscrutable, because he's hardly less obvious than Dr McKay). "I thought he-" The Colonel stops, and slaps his radio. "Ronon. My office. Now."
A pause, in which Tom regrets everything he's just told Sheppard. "Yes, I have an office. You've been here, don't play dumb." Tom starts to regret everything he's said or done in the past three months.
"Because I want you to apologise to one of my Marines." Another pause, and whatever Ronon is rumbling over the radio causes Sheppard's eyes to widen, and he hisses, "That is not the point. She dumped you, she dumped Rodney. She'll probably dump-" Here Sheppard breaks off, and shoots Tom an apologetic glance. "Anyway, it's her choice. It definitely doesn't mean you can-" He rolls his eyes. "I'm not having you break my Marines, Ronon. We only get a limited number every year."
Sheppard suddenly leans back with the air of someone who has just formulated a foolproof plan. "I'll sic Teyla on you." Another rumble. "Besides, what happened to Amelia?" Oh, thinks Tom. That's why the gate techs hate him.
"Why? Because it's not his fault! Besides, they might sympathise with you now, but sooner or later they'll be on his side." Sheppard lowers his voice further, and Tom only catches the words "baby marine" and "cookies". He didn't think anyone knew about the cookies.
"Fine!" snaps Sheppard. "Fine." Sheppard taps off his radio with a look of disgust, and turns back to Tom. "Sit down, Wright."
Oh hell no, thinks Tom, and sits in the chair opposite Sheppard.
"How long you been here, kid?" Sheppard still looks sympathetic, which is surprising, because the amount of paperwork that will be generated when Dex kills him - oh. That's how he pissed off Major Lorne.
"Seven months, sir. Came over with the city."
Sheppard almost smiles. "You sat in the chair yet?"
"Nossir." He doesn't like to think what would happen if they made him do that.
"But you've been flying the jumpers."
That's one way of putting it. "Sir."
Sheppard frowns at that. "You've got, what, five months left?"
In theory. "Yessir." Less if Dex has his way, more if-
"You know she's going to stay, don't you?"
Of course he knows Jenny's going to stay. She's the CMO. (He fell in love with the CMO of a floating alien city. He's crazy.) "Yessir."
Sheppard looks at him expectantly. "Well?" he prompts.
Tom's at a loss. What does the Colonel expect? Tom can't very well throw a tantrum because he doesn't want to leave the city - his girl. Doesn't want to leave his girl. The city is driving him insane.
"What would you be prepared to do?" Do? "To stay with her?" Anything, but he's not going to tell Sheppard that. "How about if she was threatened?"
"Anything."
There's an annoyed sound behind him, and he spins the chair to see Dex leaning on the door frame, arms crossed. Tom's on his feet before he can think, and suddenly they're toe to toe.
"Ronon," says Sheppard, a warning tone in his voice.
Ronon scowls, and says "Fine!"
"Fine?" echoes Sheppard.
"Fine. But I want some of those cookies." Tom can understand. They're pretty good cookies, even if they are blue. He nods, and Ronon gives a sharp nod in return, before stalking out the door.
Tom turns back to Colonel Sheppard, who looks indecently smug at this turn of events. "Dismissed, Wright."
Tom stares at him, then heads for the door.
"Oh, and Wright?" Tom turns back again, and Sheppard's expression is serious. "The jumpers? The turning things on and off again? The-" The Colonel hesitates, then presses on. "The city?"
Tom stiffens. He's heard from Captain Rodriguez often enough about how easy it is, and he knows Sheppard's the poster boy for the ATA gene. It doesn't matter how strongly he feels about Jenny, or how well he does offworld: Tom's there because of the gene, and Sheppard won't keep him if he thinks Tom can't cope with it.
"It's- You don't have to push?" Sheppard looks embarrassed. "You just have to listen."
Further A/N: This is so, so, not what I intended for young Tom, who's part of a larger, multiple OC fic full of angst and trauma - which was taking over my brain to the extent that I missed Torchwood - and I realised that the poor lad needed a personality, because I couldn't exactly make him an Iowa farm boy, and then I thought 'Ah! Wisconsin' (as one does), and then he went and fell in love with Keller, and, well...
*sighs* I miss the angst.
Later: I got my angst back, with my Newcomers, starting with Thomas Wright, USMC