SGA Fic: Ghost in the Machine Tag
Aug. 27th, 2008 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erdaTitle: The Good Enough Liar
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
keefaq
Word Count: 4034
Episode Tag for 5.05 Ghost in the Machine
Written for the Season 5 Tagathon at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sga_episodefic
Summary: John didn't come up with a plan to save Elizabeth, so Rodney has to do it himself.
No one monitored Rodney, which was a gaping flaw in security that he’d noticed before and hadn't addressed because, well, because of just this sort of situation. It served him well now. “I can’t save all of them,” Rodney had told her. “This'll buy us time until we figure out a better solution.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes in an almost human way before nodding. He motioned to her and she laid down on the dais while he transferred her consciousness into the laptop he’d prepared and carefully isolated from the rest of the city systems. With just a few lines of code changed, he placed a copy of Fran’s brain in the replicator body Elizabeth had vacated.
Elizabeth was safe and so was the city. He could relax now and take his time figuring out what to do. No one suspected anything. No one knew except him. It would be difficult to keep such a secret from Sheppard, but there was no reason to involve him. This way if he got caught it would be just that, only him. It was his problem and his responsibility. The time to tell John would come after he had the solution worked out.
It was only fair. He’d argued with Woolsey about keeping Elizabeth under guard on Atlantis, but everything he'd said to Woolsey had really been directed at Sheppard. Sheppard had helped the last time he’d laid bare his need to step up and take responsibility, when Jeannie’s life had been threatened, and in the back of his mind he’d thought perhaps Sheppard could help again, pull some crazy rabbit out of his hat and give him another option. But Sheppard didn’t, so it was up to him.
The city systems were back to normal, and he could do his regular work during the day. In his room in the evening he kept Elizabeth company, not an unpleasant task.
“You just have to be patient,” Rodney told her.
Elizabeth sighed. “I’m trying, Rodney. You don’t know what it’s like all day while you're in the lab and I’m alone here with nothing to do." Her voice was toneless, distracted, almost hers but without its old emotion.
During the day, Rodney puzzled over what to do about Elizabeth. He spent as much time with her as he could, but he could tell she was bored, cut off from the city's database with nothing to occupy her agile mind but the walls. It bothered him to think about her idly waiting for him to come up with some way for her to live again.
It was a particularly ridiculous hour in the middle of the night and he was just about to stagger into bed when he had an idea that even he knew was brilliant. He had realized how best to entertain Elizabeth, and it was genius, not that any of his ideas were anything less than that. Elizabeth could join Rodney, share his brain for part of the day. At least, he thought she could. It would take a little preparation on his part, but it would be worth it to bring back the old Elizabeth's triumphant laugh.
The next morning, after far too little sleep, the idea still looked good. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to implement, too. He just leaned back in his chair, both hands on the laptop, and relaxed. He felt a bit of pressure in his head and she was there. He turned his body over to her. He could still sense and observe everything that was happening, but Elizabeth was in control. After a few minutes of testing things out, moving his left arm, then his right until she could pick up Rodney's coffee cup with ease, she returned to the laptop. It was actually pretty cool. There were no after effects, and he figured if they just did it for a few hours now and then they probably wouldn’t run into any trouble. It was a relief to feel that Rodney was finally able to do something to cure her boredom.
Over the next few days he hosted Elizabeth for longer and longer time periods. A few times he even fell asleep without returning her to the laptop. It wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as when he’d shared his body with Cadman. For one thing, Elizabeth was unfailingly polite. She hardly ever spoke aloud to him, just stayed in the background, but he found he could access a good bit of her knowledge and abilities, so much so that Radek started making jokes about him getting soft.
Elizabeth liked to spend a few minutes before supper soaking up the sunset from the balcony at dusk. One night, Sheppard joined them, standing silently beside them. He was a bit close, Rodney thought, and he moved away. Sheppard was turned toward him, studying his face thoughtfully. “What?” he asked. The scrutiny made him nervous.
Sheppard shrugged. His hand came down casually and rested against Rodney's on the railing. He moved away again, giving Sheppard a quelling look, but Sheppard followed. All the time Sheppard had been circling him, literally for years, feeling him out, and now, at the worst possible moment, he seemed determined to pursue this thing between them. How could he have such incredibly bad instincts? The silence had gone on too long, and Rodney was hyper aware of Elizabeth observing them. “I’m going to turn in for the night now,” he said. He sounded nervous even to himself.
“I’ll walk back with you,” Sheppard said, and Rodney couldn't think of any way to refuse the offer.
Sheppard seemed impervious to the back-off signals Rodney was trying to send, and Rodney, overcome by nerves- because, Jesus, this was something he did not want Elizabeth to see- practically jogged down the corridor to his quarters. She couldn’t know about this, John wouldn’t want her to know, and he had better stop Sheppard now, if it wasn’t already too late. Elizabeth knew people, and she could read John as well as he could. “I’ve got a busy day tomorrow,” he said, “want to get an early start, so I’ll be going right to sleep now, need a clear head in the morning, you know, lots of important things to do-” He swiped his door control viciously and bolted into his room, but Sheppard prevented his escape by leaning in the doorway like some kind of stalker.
“What’s the big rush?” Sheppard asked.
“Could you get out of the doorway? You know, so the door can close?”
But Sheppard misread the dismissal and stepped into the room. “No no no no no,” he said, past exasperated with Sheppard's obtuseness. “Could you just leave now?” It came out a lot harder than he’d intended; he was only trying to protect Sheppard, and he winced at the flash of something across Sheppard’s face as he spun on his heel and left the room without a word.
Rodney sighed. He could patch things up with Sheppard later, for now he was just relieved that Sheppard hadn’t done anything too revealing in front of Elizabeth. He thought about asking her to return to the laptop, but he knew she wouldn’t like it and it wasn’t her fault that Sheppard had such bad timing.
*~*
John, Teyla and Ronon were all leaning together, talking softly, but the conversation stopped when Rodney joined them. “What’s going on?” he asked. John and Ronon shrugged in unison.
Teyla looked odd, almost uncomfortable. “How are you today, Rodney?” she asked, in the voice she usually reserved for John, the one where he’d just gotten out of the infirmary after a death defying crazy stunt.
“I’m fine,” he said, puzzling over her tone and refraining from blurting out an impatient “Why?”
Teyla didn’t seem to know what to say, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the table.
“What are your plans for today?” Rodney found himself asking John, who gave him a sharp, almost suspicious look before giving some answer Rodney didn't really pay much attention to. He'd only asked in order to derail the uncomfortable atmosphere around the table.
Rodney spent most of the day translating some particularly interesting passages from the Ancient database. Ancient was getting easier to read; it was a fascinating language, sharing some roots with earth-based languages but having an other-worldly character at the same time. The descriptions of the Ancients’ research into ascension fascinated him to the point where he totally ignored Radek’s fussing about power requirements, waving him off with a muttered, “I’m sure you can handle all that yourself,” until Radek gave up and left.
The peace and quiet didn’t last long. Only moments after Radek's retreat John strode into the lab and made a beeline for him. Rodney tried not to be distracted when John leaned into his space. “Whatcha working on there, Rodney?”
He sighed. “Just some information from the database,” he said. “Nothing that would interest you.”
“Try me,” John said, peering over his shoulder. “It’s in Ancient,” he said unnecessarily.
“Yes, thank you for the dazzling insight,” Rodney started to say, but stopped when he realized how undiplomatic that would be. “There’s a lot to learn here,” he said instead.
“Like what?” John asked.
The man clearly was not going to let him get anything done. “I’ll let you know as soon as I do.” Rodney said. “I’m gonna take a break.” He closed the laptop and gathered his things. Maybe he could get more done if he worked in his quarters, he thought, as he strode out of the lab without looking back. He sighed in relief when he reached his door and stepped over the threshold. At least John hadn’t been absurd enough to follow him. But instead of continuing with the translation, he let his mind drift to the problem of the other replicators, something he’d been thinking about more and more.
It was wrong to leave them floating in space, an inhumane punishment even for the most heinous of criminals, and they weren't actually criminals of any kind. He needed some kind of story, some compelling reason to check on the others, then they could be retrieved, warmed up and revived. But how could he persuade the humans to go to the rescue? He really only needed a jumper and a good pilot to keep her steady while he located and retrieved his comrades. If he could convince even one human to help, it could work. In fact it would be better with only one human, humans were always a bit unpredictable, and the more humans he involved the more likely something would go wrong. He needed a plan. He knew just the person to go to for help, and a plan was already forming in his mind for how to persuade him.
John agreed immediately to the suggestion to stop by Rodney’s quarters after dinner. He didn’t ask why, and Rodney didn’t offer any reason. It was almost laughably easy.
Rodney was working at his desk, translating some information about the ascension machine, when John sauntered into the room. He perched on the edge of Rodney’s bed and cocked an eyebrow. “So, what’s up?” he asked.
Rodney glanced up at him as he saved his work. John was a very attractive guy, and he felt a twinge of raw lust at the thought he could act on that attraction now. John was meeting his gaze for once, perhaps a little hesitant, but not glancing away. Rodney closed the laptop and stood. He couldn’t help smiling a little at the way John shifted, moving his legs slightly apart to make room as Rodney stepped into him. Not only was this going to work, it was going to be a pure and perfect pleasure. He leaned over and John was right there, tipping his head up eagerly, his hands circling Rodney’s neck and pulling him forward, kissing back rough and wet and familiar, the same way he’d kissed before, as Thalen.
Rodney dropped to his knees, wanting more touch, running his hands up under John’s shirt and dragging his lips across John’s lean stomach. “Rodney,” John said. It was a thrill to hear his rapid breathing, his voice thick with lust, but he surprised Rodney by pushing him back suddenly. “Is this what’s been making you act so…nice?” he asked. Rodney shrugged, traced the outline of John’s cock, already hard,with one hand, and watched John lose his train of thought. “Yeah, okay,” John said, pulling awkwardly at Rodney’s clothes, pushing them down onto the bed. “Yeah, let’s…” he’d opened Rodney’s pants, freed his cock, and taken it into his mouth in one smooth motion.
Rodney lay back on the bed with a groan. This was going to be good, John was eager, almost frantic, his mouth tight and warm and welcoming, and Rodney had to struggle not to thrust into it too hard. “You can fuck me if you want,” he suggested. The thought of John fucking him, of having John inside him, made him flush with lust. He realized he’d wanted that, wanted John to fuck him, for a long time, years maybe.
He pushed John’s head away from his cock. “John, come up here, come on, I want you to fuck me.” John looked dazed and flustered. He stared at Rodney as if he hadn’t understood for a long moment before pushing to his feet and scrabbling in his bureau, rummaging through the drawers presumably in search of condoms, which Rodney thought was wholly unnecessary. This body wasn’t that important in the long run, but he didn’t think John would understand that, so he waited as patiently as he could.
John finally found what he wanted, but he came back to the bed slowly. He sat down and studied Rodney for a minute. “Are you okay?” he finally asked. He dropped his head. “Because you’ve been acting kind of strange. You never seemed interested in doing this before.”
John kept his head down, but he was watching Rodney from the corner of his eye. “I’ve always been interested,” Rodney said, and, surprisingly, it was the truth. “I just didn’t realize you were available,” and oh, John wanted to believe that, wanted it so bad it was almost painful to see his face light up with pleasure. He moved up, catching Rodney’s mouth with his own, and settled his long body down across Rodney’s, pushing Rodney’s legs apart and settling between them.
*~*
The reason it was so easy was because of the way John trusted him. When Rodney said they needed to get close to the other replicators in order to collect some data that would help them plan better strategies for any future attacks, John believed him, went to bat with Woolsey for him, got the whole thing approved without Rodney having to provide any details at all.
It was gratifying to see how happy John was to oblige. It seemed he’d agree to anything Rodney suggested. He didn’t protest the idea of going alone with Rodney when Rodney said there was no danger and no reason to take anyone else in the puddlejumper. Rodney could tell John liked the idea of being alone with him, and when they got close to the other replicators John didn’t protest when Rodney pulled him close and kissed him. It was touching the way John trusted him, and that trust made it easy to slip his hand down John’s thigh to his holster and remove his gun.
Rodney backed up quickly; he knew how deadly even an unarmed John could be, but John was just standing there gaping at him in amazement. He’d been caught completely off guard.
Rodney was braced for John’s fury, but not for the totality of his reaction. In a second John went from soft and pliable to fearless, attacking Rodney full on so that Rodney had no choice but to shoot him. He dropped the gun and aimed for John’s leg, because, after all, he didn’t want to kill him. John didn’t make a sound when the bullet hit, and though the force of it stopped his forward momentum for a moment, it was only a moment, and he was on Rodney, simultaneously backhanding him with one hand while disarming him with the other. Rodney went down and John followed, straddling him and punching him hard and straight in the face without hesitation. Rodney had only a moment to consider how much it was going to swell before the room spun and went dark.
It was to be expected after such a violent interaction that Rodney would wake up in the infirmary, but that wasn't the way it happened at all. There were no IV lines, no scratchy infirmary sheets, bustling nurses or glaring lights in his eyes when he regained consciousness. He lifted his head off the (hard, cold) floor and saw that he was back on Atlantis, in a cell rather than the infirmary, and an expressionless John Sheppard, no, Colonel Sheppard was on the other side of the bars, sitting quietly with what appeared to be a cattle prod in his lap. Wherever could he have gotten a cattle prod?
“Hey,” Sheppard said casually as he unlocked the cell door and entered. He leaned forward in a parody of chumminess and tapped Rodney’s knee with the cattle prod thing, which hurt like hell, and Rodney screamed and pushed himself backward across the smooth floor, but Sheppard followed him, poking him now in the chest with the prod and asking
politely, “Where’s Rodney?”
“I’m right here,” and he would have explained further but Sheppard pushed the prod into his shoulder and rolled it down to his hand and straight onto his thigh. He scrambled backward trying to get away but Sheppard practically fell on top of him, continuing to roll the prod down his leg, making it impossible for him to stop screaming.
“Where’s Rodney?” Sheppard repeated with a terrifying flat inflection. Rodney went cold all over at Sheppard’s expression; he’d seen that expression a few times before, though never directed at himself.
“Wait,” he said, okay begged, as he tried unsuccessfully to roll away. "Just let me explain for a minute." He tried to hold back a sob when Sheppard tapped him with the prod again. “Please.”
“I’m listening,” Sheppard said, totally as if they were having a casual chat over coffee and doughnuts.
“I’m in here and you’re hurting me, a lot, okay?” Which got him another stomach prod. “Damn it, listen, ” he said desperately. "We’re both in here. Together.”
Sheppard placed the prod on his knee and started rolling it upwards, making him yell again. “Stop, please, stop. I have an idea.” Sheppard lifted the prod. Rodney took a deep breath, and then it was the truth, he really did have an idea. “The ascension machine. We can use it. Elizabeth can ascend, and leave. I’ll be left here in my own body alone. Back to normal.”
Sheppard shook his head, gave a little smile, and poked him in the stomach with the prod. “Ascension doesn’t leave a body behind, he said. “See, I’m planning on keeping Rodney’s body so I can put his brain back just as soon as you, whoever you are, decide to tell me what you’ve done with him.” Sheppard twisted a little dial on the prod thing and pressed it against his arm. The dial apparently cranked up the voltage because the pain was twice as bad, so overwhelming that he couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except scream for a long time. There may have been some convulsing in there, too, because when it finally stopped he went limp and silent, too wrung out to scream or cry anymore, his muscles strained and exhausted.
Sheppard was sitting with his back against the cell door watching him. “Where’s Rodney?” he asked, still in the same conversational tone.
Rodney awkwardly raised a trembling arm that barely seemed part of him to ward off the crazy. “You’re not thinking,” he finally said, his voice sounding so normal it surprised him. “The body doesn’t disappear because of ascension, it disappears because it is empty of consciousness. Elizabeth can ascend and I’ll still be here to keep this body. I’m sorry for deceiving you, John, but I had to do it. It’s my fault, everything that happened to Elizabeth, all this misery, I did that, I caused that, and I had to try to help her. I couldn’t just let her drift in space, awake and aware. I had to try to save her. And now I think I can save her. You have to let me try, John.”
At last there was a chink in Sheppard’s expression, he looked uncertain.
“Don’t you see that I would never have agreed with the plan to dump Elizabeth through a space gate? I owe her better than that. I have to try to save her, you have to let me try, John.”
He could see the moment when John switched over to giving him a chance, and then John hauled him to his feet. His muscles were trembling, making it impossible to stand on his own for a moment. John, despite a noticeable limp, hauled him roughly out of the cell and into the corridor, past a guard who didn’t know where to look to avoid seeing the state he was in, and down to the thankfully nearby transporter, half carrying him to the ascension device.
The room the ascension device had been moved to had been extensively secured, and it took Rodney a while to open the door, hampered as he was by John’s refusal to let him use his laptop. He’d suggested getting Radek to open it, but John seemed reluctant to bring anyone else in on what they were doing. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. John didn’t want any witnesses, but who was he trying to protect, and from what?
John pushed him bodily through the door and straight to the ascension device, pausing only for a moment to tell Radek over the radio not to worry about the security breach he’d detected.
Rodney figured it would be painful or confusing, and he’d probably faint, because everybody seemed to think that hurting Rodney was the only way to get things done on Atlantis and if this wasn't to save his life he'd really be complaining more, but nothing seemed to happen when he touched the device except that Elizabeth, or whatever had possessed him, was gone. He shook his head a little, more out of surprise at how quickly it had happened than because of any particular sensation, and all the things he’d been doing since taking Elizabeth into his head suddenly seemed a lot less sensible.
“You couldn’t tell something was wrong?” he asked John, going with the whole offense-best defense thing, and it worked surprisingly well. John looked absolutely sick with remorse, and didn’t reproach him at all. He took a moment to parse that. “Oh, no,” he said, “don’t start being ridiculous, the sex was the only good part of this-”
John seemed to snap out of it a little and said, “It is you. You really were in there the whole time,” and then looked doubly stricken. “You were in there the whole time?”
He took a step back when Rodney reached out for him, but Rodney stepped with him, kept reaching, and eventually got hold of him and pulled until they were pressed chest to chest. “Don’t over think this, okay? That’s my job.” After everything that had happened, he expected John to be stiff and suspicious when he kissed him, but he wasn’t. He went soft and malleable just as he had the first time. He didn’t have to use any of the rationalizations he’d been working on to explain what he’d done. Rodney wasn't sure why he'd been surprised for a moment there, naturally John would forgive him. He was just that good at kissing. "You tortured me," he said accusingly as he pulled back from the kiss. He figured it would be best to keep John on the defensive for a while.
Author:
keefaqWord Count: 4034
Episode Tag for 5.05 Ghost in the Machine
Written for the Season 5 Tagathon at
sga_episodeficSummary: John didn't come up with a plan to save Elizabeth, so Rodney has to do it himself.
No one monitored Rodney, which was a gaping flaw in security that he’d noticed before and hadn't addressed because, well, because of just this sort of situation. It served him well now. “I can’t save all of them,” Rodney had told her. “This'll buy us time until we figure out a better solution.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes in an almost human way before nodding. He motioned to her and she laid down on the dais while he transferred her consciousness into the laptop he’d prepared and carefully isolated from the rest of the city systems. With just a few lines of code changed, he placed a copy of Fran’s brain in the replicator body Elizabeth had vacated.
Elizabeth was safe and so was the city. He could relax now and take his time figuring out what to do. No one suspected anything. No one knew except him. It would be difficult to keep such a secret from Sheppard, but there was no reason to involve him. This way if he got caught it would be just that, only him. It was his problem and his responsibility. The time to tell John would come after he had the solution worked out.
It was only fair. He’d argued with Woolsey about keeping Elizabeth under guard on Atlantis, but everything he'd said to Woolsey had really been directed at Sheppard. Sheppard had helped the last time he’d laid bare his need to step up and take responsibility, when Jeannie’s life had been threatened, and in the back of his mind he’d thought perhaps Sheppard could help again, pull some crazy rabbit out of his hat and give him another option. But Sheppard didn’t, so it was up to him.
The city systems were back to normal, and he could do his regular work during the day. In his room in the evening he kept Elizabeth company, not an unpleasant task.
“You just have to be patient,” Rodney told her.
Elizabeth sighed. “I’m trying, Rodney. You don’t know what it’s like all day while you're in the lab and I’m alone here with nothing to do." Her voice was toneless, distracted, almost hers but without its old emotion.
During the day, Rodney puzzled over what to do about Elizabeth. He spent as much time with her as he could, but he could tell she was bored, cut off from the city's database with nothing to occupy her agile mind but the walls. It bothered him to think about her idly waiting for him to come up with some way for her to live again.
It was a particularly ridiculous hour in the middle of the night and he was just about to stagger into bed when he had an idea that even he knew was brilliant. He had realized how best to entertain Elizabeth, and it was genius, not that any of his ideas were anything less than that. Elizabeth could join Rodney, share his brain for part of the day. At least, he thought she could. It would take a little preparation on his part, but it would be worth it to bring back the old Elizabeth's triumphant laugh.
The next morning, after far too little sleep, the idea still looked good. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to implement, too. He just leaned back in his chair, both hands on the laptop, and relaxed. He felt a bit of pressure in his head and she was there. He turned his body over to her. He could still sense and observe everything that was happening, but Elizabeth was in control. After a few minutes of testing things out, moving his left arm, then his right until she could pick up Rodney's coffee cup with ease, she returned to the laptop. It was actually pretty cool. There were no after effects, and he figured if they just did it for a few hours now and then they probably wouldn’t run into any trouble. It was a relief to feel that Rodney was finally able to do something to cure her boredom.
Over the next few days he hosted Elizabeth for longer and longer time periods. A few times he even fell asleep without returning her to the laptop. It wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as when he’d shared his body with Cadman. For one thing, Elizabeth was unfailingly polite. She hardly ever spoke aloud to him, just stayed in the background, but he found he could access a good bit of her knowledge and abilities, so much so that Radek started making jokes about him getting soft.
Elizabeth liked to spend a few minutes before supper soaking up the sunset from the balcony at dusk. One night, Sheppard joined them, standing silently beside them. He was a bit close, Rodney thought, and he moved away. Sheppard was turned toward him, studying his face thoughtfully. “What?” he asked. The scrutiny made him nervous.
Sheppard shrugged. His hand came down casually and rested against Rodney's on the railing. He moved away again, giving Sheppard a quelling look, but Sheppard followed. All the time Sheppard had been circling him, literally for years, feeling him out, and now, at the worst possible moment, he seemed determined to pursue this thing between them. How could he have such incredibly bad instincts? The silence had gone on too long, and Rodney was hyper aware of Elizabeth observing them. “I’m going to turn in for the night now,” he said. He sounded nervous even to himself.
“I’ll walk back with you,” Sheppard said, and Rodney couldn't think of any way to refuse the offer.
Sheppard seemed impervious to the back-off signals Rodney was trying to send, and Rodney, overcome by nerves- because, Jesus, this was something he did not want Elizabeth to see- practically jogged down the corridor to his quarters. She couldn’t know about this, John wouldn’t want her to know, and he had better stop Sheppard now, if it wasn’t already too late. Elizabeth knew people, and she could read John as well as he could. “I’ve got a busy day tomorrow,” he said, “want to get an early start, so I’ll be going right to sleep now, need a clear head in the morning, you know, lots of important things to do-” He swiped his door control viciously and bolted into his room, but Sheppard prevented his escape by leaning in the doorway like some kind of stalker.
“What’s the big rush?” Sheppard asked.
“Could you get out of the doorway? You know, so the door can close?”
But Sheppard misread the dismissal and stepped into the room. “No no no no no,” he said, past exasperated with Sheppard's obtuseness. “Could you just leave now?” It came out a lot harder than he’d intended; he was only trying to protect Sheppard, and he winced at the flash of something across Sheppard’s face as he spun on his heel and left the room without a word.
Rodney sighed. He could patch things up with Sheppard later, for now he was just relieved that Sheppard hadn’t done anything too revealing in front of Elizabeth. He thought about asking her to return to the laptop, but he knew she wouldn’t like it and it wasn’t her fault that Sheppard had such bad timing.
John, Teyla and Ronon were all leaning together, talking softly, but the conversation stopped when Rodney joined them. “What’s going on?” he asked. John and Ronon shrugged in unison.
Teyla looked odd, almost uncomfortable. “How are you today, Rodney?” she asked, in the voice she usually reserved for John, the one where he’d just gotten out of the infirmary after a death defying crazy stunt.
“I’m fine,” he said, puzzling over her tone and refraining from blurting out an impatient “Why?”
Teyla didn’t seem to know what to say, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the table.
“What are your plans for today?” Rodney found himself asking John, who gave him a sharp, almost suspicious look before giving some answer Rodney didn't really pay much attention to. He'd only asked in order to derail the uncomfortable atmosphere around the table.
Rodney spent most of the day translating some particularly interesting passages from the Ancient database. Ancient was getting easier to read; it was a fascinating language, sharing some roots with earth-based languages but having an other-worldly character at the same time. The descriptions of the Ancients’ research into ascension fascinated him to the point where he totally ignored Radek’s fussing about power requirements, waving him off with a muttered, “I’m sure you can handle all that yourself,” until Radek gave up and left.
The peace and quiet didn’t last long. Only moments after Radek's retreat John strode into the lab and made a beeline for him. Rodney tried not to be distracted when John leaned into his space. “Whatcha working on there, Rodney?”
He sighed. “Just some information from the database,” he said. “Nothing that would interest you.”
“Try me,” John said, peering over his shoulder. “It’s in Ancient,” he said unnecessarily.
“Yes, thank you for the dazzling insight,” Rodney started to say, but stopped when he realized how undiplomatic that would be. “There’s a lot to learn here,” he said instead.
“Like what?” John asked.
The man clearly was not going to let him get anything done. “I’ll let you know as soon as I do.” Rodney said. “I’m gonna take a break.” He closed the laptop and gathered his things. Maybe he could get more done if he worked in his quarters, he thought, as he strode out of the lab without looking back. He sighed in relief when he reached his door and stepped over the threshold. At least John hadn’t been absurd enough to follow him. But instead of continuing with the translation, he let his mind drift to the problem of the other replicators, something he’d been thinking about more and more.
It was wrong to leave them floating in space, an inhumane punishment even for the most heinous of criminals, and they weren't actually criminals of any kind. He needed some kind of story, some compelling reason to check on the others, then they could be retrieved, warmed up and revived. But how could he persuade the humans to go to the rescue? He really only needed a jumper and a good pilot to keep her steady while he located and retrieved his comrades. If he could convince even one human to help, it could work. In fact it would be better with only one human, humans were always a bit unpredictable, and the more humans he involved the more likely something would go wrong. He needed a plan. He knew just the person to go to for help, and a plan was already forming in his mind for how to persuade him.
John agreed immediately to the suggestion to stop by Rodney’s quarters after dinner. He didn’t ask why, and Rodney didn’t offer any reason. It was almost laughably easy.
Rodney was working at his desk, translating some information about the ascension machine, when John sauntered into the room. He perched on the edge of Rodney’s bed and cocked an eyebrow. “So, what’s up?” he asked.
Rodney glanced up at him as he saved his work. John was a very attractive guy, and he felt a twinge of raw lust at the thought he could act on that attraction now. John was meeting his gaze for once, perhaps a little hesitant, but not glancing away. Rodney closed the laptop and stood. He couldn’t help smiling a little at the way John shifted, moving his legs slightly apart to make room as Rodney stepped into him. Not only was this going to work, it was going to be a pure and perfect pleasure. He leaned over and John was right there, tipping his head up eagerly, his hands circling Rodney’s neck and pulling him forward, kissing back rough and wet and familiar, the same way he’d kissed before, as Thalen.
Rodney dropped to his knees, wanting more touch, running his hands up under John’s shirt and dragging his lips across John’s lean stomach. “Rodney,” John said. It was a thrill to hear his rapid breathing, his voice thick with lust, but he surprised Rodney by pushing him back suddenly. “Is this what’s been making you act so…nice?” he asked. Rodney shrugged, traced the outline of John’s cock, already hard,with one hand, and watched John lose his train of thought. “Yeah, okay,” John said, pulling awkwardly at Rodney’s clothes, pushing them down onto the bed. “Yeah, let’s…” he’d opened Rodney’s pants, freed his cock, and taken it into his mouth in one smooth motion.
Rodney lay back on the bed with a groan. This was going to be good, John was eager, almost frantic, his mouth tight and warm and welcoming, and Rodney had to struggle not to thrust into it too hard. “You can fuck me if you want,” he suggested. The thought of John fucking him, of having John inside him, made him flush with lust. He realized he’d wanted that, wanted John to fuck him, for a long time, years maybe.
He pushed John’s head away from his cock. “John, come up here, come on, I want you to fuck me.” John looked dazed and flustered. He stared at Rodney as if he hadn’t understood for a long moment before pushing to his feet and scrabbling in his bureau, rummaging through the drawers presumably in search of condoms, which Rodney thought was wholly unnecessary. This body wasn’t that important in the long run, but he didn’t think John would understand that, so he waited as patiently as he could.
John finally found what he wanted, but he came back to the bed slowly. He sat down and studied Rodney for a minute. “Are you okay?” he finally asked. He dropped his head. “Because you’ve been acting kind of strange. You never seemed interested in doing this before.”
John kept his head down, but he was watching Rodney from the corner of his eye. “I’ve always been interested,” Rodney said, and, surprisingly, it was the truth. “I just didn’t realize you were available,” and oh, John wanted to believe that, wanted it so bad it was almost painful to see his face light up with pleasure. He moved up, catching Rodney’s mouth with his own, and settled his long body down across Rodney’s, pushing Rodney’s legs apart and settling between them.
The reason it was so easy was because of the way John trusted him. When Rodney said they needed to get close to the other replicators in order to collect some data that would help them plan better strategies for any future attacks, John believed him, went to bat with Woolsey for him, got the whole thing approved without Rodney having to provide any details at all.
It was gratifying to see how happy John was to oblige. It seemed he’d agree to anything Rodney suggested. He didn’t protest the idea of going alone with Rodney when Rodney said there was no danger and no reason to take anyone else in the puddlejumper. Rodney could tell John liked the idea of being alone with him, and when they got close to the other replicators John didn’t protest when Rodney pulled him close and kissed him. It was touching the way John trusted him, and that trust made it easy to slip his hand down John’s thigh to his holster and remove his gun.
Rodney backed up quickly; he knew how deadly even an unarmed John could be, but John was just standing there gaping at him in amazement. He’d been caught completely off guard.
Rodney was braced for John’s fury, but not for the totality of his reaction. In a second John went from soft and pliable to fearless, attacking Rodney full on so that Rodney had no choice but to shoot him. He dropped the gun and aimed for John’s leg, because, after all, he didn’t want to kill him. John didn’t make a sound when the bullet hit, and though the force of it stopped his forward momentum for a moment, it was only a moment, and he was on Rodney, simultaneously backhanding him with one hand while disarming him with the other. Rodney went down and John followed, straddling him and punching him hard and straight in the face without hesitation. Rodney had only a moment to consider how much it was going to swell before the room spun and went dark.
It was to be expected after such a violent interaction that Rodney would wake up in the infirmary, but that wasn't the way it happened at all. There were no IV lines, no scratchy infirmary sheets, bustling nurses or glaring lights in his eyes when he regained consciousness. He lifted his head off the (hard, cold) floor and saw that he was back on Atlantis, in a cell rather than the infirmary, and an expressionless John Sheppard, no, Colonel Sheppard was on the other side of the bars, sitting quietly with what appeared to be a cattle prod in his lap. Wherever could he have gotten a cattle prod?
“Hey,” Sheppard said casually as he unlocked the cell door and entered. He leaned forward in a parody of chumminess and tapped Rodney’s knee with the cattle prod thing, which hurt like hell, and Rodney screamed and pushed himself backward across the smooth floor, but Sheppard followed him, poking him now in the chest with the prod and asking
politely, “Where’s Rodney?”
“I’m right here,” and he would have explained further but Sheppard pushed the prod into his shoulder and rolled it down to his hand and straight onto his thigh. He scrambled backward trying to get away but Sheppard practically fell on top of him, continuing to roll the prod down his leg, making it impossible for him to stop screaming.
“Where’s Rodney?” Sheppard repeated with a terrifying flat inflection. Rodney went cold all over at Sheppard’s expression; he’d seen that expression a few times before, though never directed at himself.
“Wait,” he said, okay begged, as he tried unsuccessfully to roll away. "Just let me explain for a minute." He tried to hold back a sob when Sheppard tapped him with the prod again. “Please.”
“I’m listening,” Sheppard said, totally as if they were having a casual chat over coffee and doughnuts.
“I’m in here and you’re hurting me, a lot, okay?” Which got him another stomach prod. “Damn it, listen, ” he said desperately. "We’re both in here. Together.”
Sheppard placed the prod on his knee and started rolling it upwards, making him yell again. “Stop, please, stop. I have an idea.” Sheppard lifted the prod. Rodney took a deep breath, and then it was the truth, he really did have an idea. “The ascension machine. We can use it. Elizabeth can ascend, and leave. I’ll be left here in my own body alone. Back to normal.”
Sheppard shook his head, gave a little smile, and poked him in the stomach with the prod. “Ascension doesn’t leave a body behind, he said. “See, I’m planning on keeping Rodney’s body so I can put his brain back just as soon as you, whoever you are, decide to tell me what you’ve done with him.” Sheppard twisted a little dial on the prod thing and pressed it against his arm. The dial apparently cranked up the voltage because the pain was twice as bad, so overwhelming that he couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except scream for a long time. There may have been some convulsing in there, too, because when it finally stopped he went limp and silent, too wrung out to scream or cry anymore, his muscles strained and exhausted.
Sheppard was sitting with his back against the cell door watching him. “Where’s Rodney?” he asked, still in the same conversational tone.
Rodney awkwardly raised a trembling arm that barely seemed part of him to ward off the crazy. “You’re not thinking,” he finally said, his voice sounding so normal it surprised him. “The body doesn’t disappear because of ascension, it disappears because it is empty of consciousness. Elizabeth can ascend and I’ll still be here to keep this body. I’m sorry for deceiving you, John, but I had to do it. It’s my fault, everything that happened to Elizabeth, all this misery, I did that, I caused that, and I had to try to help her. I couldn’t just let her drift in space, awake and aware. I had to try to save her. And now I think I can save her. You have to let me try, John.”
At last there was a chink in Sheppard’s expression, he looked uncertain.
“Don’t you see that I would never have agreed with the plan to dump Elizabeth through a space gate? I owe her better than that. I have to try to save her, you have to let me try, John.”
He could see the moment when John switched over to giving him a chance, and then John hauled him to his feet. His muscles were trembling, making it impossible to stand on his own for a moment. John, despite a noticeable limp, hauled him roughly out of the cell and into the corridor, past a guard who didn’t know where to look to avoid seeing the state he was in, and down to the thankfully nearby transporter, half carrying him to the ascension device.
The room the ascension device had been moved to had been extensively secured, and it took Rodney a while to open the door, hampered as he was by John’s refusal to let him use his laptop. He’d suggested getting Radek to open it, but John seemed reluctant to bring anyone else in on what they were doing. He wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. John didn’t want any witnesses, but who was he trying to protect, and from what?
John pushed him bodily through the door and straight to the ascension device, pausing only for a moment to tell Radek over the radio not to worry about the security breach he’d detected.
Rodney figured it would be painful or confusing, and he’d probably faint, because everybody seemed to think that hurting Rodney was the only way to get things done on Atlantis and if this wasn't to save his life he'd really be complaining more, but nothing seemed to happen when he touched the device except that Elizabeth, or whatever had possessed him, was gone. He shook his head a little, more out of surprise at how quickly it had happened than because of any particular sensation, and all the things he’d been doing since taking Elizabeth into his head suddenly seemed a lot less sensible.
“You couldn’t tell something was wrong?” he asked John, going with the whole offense-best defense thing, and it worked surprisingly well. John looked absolutely sick with remorse, and didn’t reproach him at all. He took a moment to parse that. “Oh, no,” he said, “don’t start being ridiculous, the sex was the only good part of this-”
John seemed to snap out of it a little and said, “It is you. You really were in there the whole time,” and then looked doubly stricken. “You were in there the whole time?”
He took a step back when Rodney reached out for him, but Rodney stepped with him, kept reaching, and eventually got hold of him and pulled until they were pressed chest to chest. “Don’t over think this, okay? That’s my job.” After everything that had happened, he expected John to be stiff and suspicious when he kissed him, but he wasn’t. He went soft and malleable just as he had the first time. He didn’t have to use any of the rationalizations he’d been working on to explain what he’d done. Rodney wasn't sure why he'd been surprised for a moment there, naturally John would forgive him. He was just that good at kissing. "You tortured me," he said accusingly as he pulled back from the kiss. He figured it would be best to keep John on the defensive for a while.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-28 08:13 am (UTC)And then John taking him down:O
Really enjoyable.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-29 12:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-29 05:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-30 02:09 pm (UTC)I feel like Rodney wouldn't have underestimated John at the end there
I think you're totally right here. Thanks for reading so carefully.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-29 07:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-30 02:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-30 03:07 pm (UTC)Wonderful original story from an episode that didn't inspire anything in me, so I'm doubly impressed.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-30 06:54 pm (UTC)