(no subject)
Title: Bleeding Hearts and Wishes
Rating: PG
Summary: He didn’t realize how quickly blood could seep into the ground.
Pairing: McShep
A/N: Written for the sga22_Slash prompt. Special thanks to jo_zed_pee_em and lyndasty for helping me. Also, all mistakes are my own.
He didn’t realize how quickly blood could seep into the ground.
He could tell you how long it took a person’s clothes, hair, and skin to be stained with it. War had taught him that. Watching friends die had taught him that, but in the break neck speed of war he’s never realized that soil could soak blood in like water, exchanging one life giving fluid for another.
He looks down at his hands, already stained with the blood the bandages were too soaked to hold. The ground under him, once brown with life, is now stained black as death. He’d been afraid to move him to get him to the gate, which stood only yards away. He was afraid moving him would only cause more damage so he’d sent the others ahead while he stayed.
He looks at the face below him, unmoving and far too pale. Only hours ago that face had been snarking at him about the temperature and sunburns. Now his pale face was covered in flecks of red.
He takes one of his hands and tries to rub away the blood only succeeding in smearing it further.
“I should have listened to you. We should have gone back but I was so damn persistent.”
He gets no reply but it’s not like he was expecting one. He’s been by himself for over fifteen minutes while Teyla and Ronon went to get Carson. That doesn’t stop him from talking.
“It’s your fault you know...why I was so persistent.” He pauses, instinctively waiting for a snarky comment.
“Lorne said they had chocolate...or at least something that tasted like it. I wanted to get it for you.” He sighs, “I was going to ask you to dinner and then give it to you. I-” He stops as a lump starts to grow in his throat.
He lowers his head and takes a deep breath before starting again. “Rodney, you’re exhausting you know that? You’re loud and obnoxious and self centered and have an ego bigger than the entire Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies combined but to me you’re perfect. I’ve been giving you hints for months now, hoping and wishing that you’d figure me out, but you’re so damn absorbed in your work that you just don’t get it.”
He looks around and touches his radio, “Teyla? Ronon? Where the hell are you guys?” He wipes at his eyes desperate to keep the tears from coming.
His radio crackles, “Sheppard we’ve got Beckett and we’re on our way,” Ronon’s voice sounds in his ear.
A small smile graces his lips but fades as he realizes the rising and falling of his hands on Rodney’s chest has slowed.
“McKay don’t you dare give up! You don’t do that. You’re too stubborn to give up; would mean something proved you wrong.” Still the motions slow further.
Bile rises in his throat as he realizes they’re running out of time.
“Rodney, please don’t do this. I’m the soldier, the reckless flyboy. I’m the one who gets hurt, not you.”
He can hear foot steps now but it doesn’t matter. His hands are no longer rising up and down.
He gets shoved away as Carson and his team arrives. They get Rodney onto the stretcher, Carson shouting commands as they move.
As John watches the stretcher enter the puddle he wonders how quickly tears can seep into the ground.
Rating: PG
Summary: He didn’t realize how quickly blood could seep into the ground.
Pairing: McShep
A/N: Written for the sga22_Slash prompt. Special thanks to jo_zed_pee_em and lyndasty for helping me. Also, all mistakes are my own.
He didn’t realize how quickly blood could seep into the ground.
He could tell you how long it took a person’s clothes, hair, and skin to be stained with it. War had taught him that. Watching friends die had taught him that, but in the break neck speed of war he’s never realized that soil could soak blood in like water, exchanging one life giving fluid for another.
He looks down at his hands, already stained with the blood the bandages were too soaked to hold. The ground under him, once brown with life, is now stained black as death. He’d been afraid to move him to get him to the gate, which stood only yards away. He was afraid moving him would only cause more damage so he’d sent the others ahead while he stayed.
He looks at the face below him, unmoving and far too pale. Only hours ago that face had been snarking at him about the temperature and sunburns. Now his pale face was covered in flecks of red.
He takes one of his hands and tries to rub away the blood only succeeding in smearing it further.
“I should have listened to you. We should have gone back but I was so damn persistent.”
He gets no reply but it’s not like he was expecting one. He’s been by himself for over fifteen minutes while Teyla and Ronon went to get Carson. That doesn’t stop him from talking.
“It’s your fault you know...why I was so persistent.” He pauses, instinctively waiting for a snarky comment.
“Lorne said they had chocolate...or at least something that tasted like it. I wanted to get it for you.” He sighs, “I was going to ask you to dinner and then give it to you. I-” He stops as a lump starts to grow in his throat.
He lowers his head and takes a deep breath before starting again. “Rodney, you’re exhausting you know that? You’re loud and obnoxious and self centered and have an ego bigger than the entire Pegasus and Milky Way galaxies combined but to me you’re perfect. I’ve been giving you hints for months now, hoping and wishing that you’d figure me out, but you’re so damn absorbed in your work that you just don’t get it.”
He looks around and touches his radio, “Teyla? Ronon? Where the hell are you guys?” He wipes at his eyes desperate to keep the tears from coming.
His radio crackles, “Sheppard we’ve got Beckett and we’re on our way,” Ronon’s voice sounds in his ear.
A small smile graces his lips but fades as he realizes the rising and falling of his hands on Rodney’s chest has slowed.
“McKay don’t you dare give up! You don’t do that. You’re too stubborn to give up; would mean something proved you wrong.” Still the motions slow further.
Bile rises in his throat as he realizes they’re running out of time.
“Rodney, please don’t do this. I’m the soldier, the reckless flyboy. I’m the one who gets hurt, not you.”
He can hear foot steps now but it doesn’t matter. His hands are no longer rising up and down.
He gets shoved away as Carson and his team arrives. They get Rodney onto the stretcher, Carson shouting commands as they move.
As John watches the stretcher enter the puddle he wonders how quickly tears can seep into the ground.