Fic: when you find you (implied Lorne/McKay/Sheppard, PG-13)
Title: when you find you
Author: pandorablu
Recipient: lillyjk
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay/Lorne implied
Rating: Um, teen really
Summary: Sheppard is feeling off, and Rodney wants Lorne's input.
Notes: First time doing SGA fic, so I hope I didn't do too bad. Mentions events in 5x15, 'Fragments'.
an idea was planted in his mind, he couldn't let it go.'>*
Rodney was a nervous bundle of energy, bouncing on the heels of his feet. Lorne knew before he even opened his mouth that he was going to regret it. “Yes Rodney?”
“I’m worried about Sheppard.” Lorne only raised his eyebrow in response, continuing his mid-day crunches. He might have the military training to wake up at the crack of dawn, but that didn’t mean Evan was a morning person. Doing his exercises on one of the less traveled balconies overlooking the city usually meant he didn’t have an audience, but today it seemed Rodney had purposely gone looking for him.
“I mean, it’s not like John is ever the picture of stability or perfect mental health; if he had the chance he’d do more crazy things before noon before either you or I would do in a lifetime, but he just doesn’t seem all there, don’t you think?”
“Rodney, it’s not exactly like John’s just one of the guys that serve you the jello you love oh so much. So if he’s a little off, “ Lorne paused, finishing his last set of crunches and leaning back on his hands, “it’s not like he doesn’t have at least half a dozen good reasons not to be.”
“Okay, first of all? The blue jello has been, and always will be, the only thing the SGC kitchens makes, be it here or on Earth, that qualifies as anything remotely approaching what it actually *does* taste like. And second of all, you missed my point entirely, which is perfectly understandable since you haven’t known John nearly as long as I have, but all you have to do is *look* at him and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” Rodney said in a huff as he turned on his heel and walked back to the transporter that ported to the control room.
*~*~*
Lorne’s problem, ever since he was little, was that once an idea was planted in his mind, he couldn’t let it go. Made him great at tracking and figuring out enemy movements, but at the same time it meant that little things no one really took the time to notice drove him nuts.
It wasn’t that Lorne didn’t watch Sheppard before Rodney had put the idea in his head. He was the second IC, so of course he had to. But ever since Rodney had planted the notion that there was something off about John, Lorne was noticing things no one, maybe not even Ronon, had noticed.
Like how Sheppard had suddenly gotten into the habit of pausing before he said almost everything. Or how his left hand would twitch during Woosley’s long winded meetings about status updates on all the goings on in Atlantis, but other times Sheppard would be cradling his hand and kneeding it, almost like it wasn’t there and he was trying to will it back to life. Or that John was only ever truly comfortable if he had the wind at his back and either Rodney, Lorne, Ronon or Teyla with him, otherwise John tightened up and had a set in his shoulders that screamed ‘don’t touch me’ if you knew what to look for.
And when only the two of them were slated to do patrol around the city, Sheppard almost ran through the city, not wanting to stay out too long.
So maybe Rodney was right.
Still didn’t mean Lorne was going to let him rub it in.
*~*~*
Lorne found Rodney in his lab, head ducked behind his screen, the very top of his head the only thing visible. "That can't be right." Lorne heard Rodney muttering into his screen.
"Okay, so maybe you were right about Sheppard." Lorne said. He couldn't see Rodney roll his eyes, but he knew that he was probably doing it anyway. "So what do you suggest we do about it?"
Rodney's response was uncharacteristically silent, the only real sound coming from the clicking of the keys on his laptop. "You don't know do you?" The corners of Lorne's mouth upturned slightly.
Rodney let out a huge sigh as he finally shut the laptop's screen. "That's why I came to you in the first place. Ronon and Teyla are no help if they don’t get what’s wrong. And I'm really really not good at the whole... interpersonal thing. Just ask Sheppard if you don't believe me." He hand waved.
Lorne laughed. John had mentioned to Lorne more than once how Rodney's attempts at anything approaching intimacy had lead to some interesting results. John still cringed when Teyla mentioned baking homemade Athosian cakes and what passed for icing. He told Lorne it took him three days to really get it out of his hair. "Oh I believe you. I just..." Lorne trailed off.
"Just what?" Rodney started to get agitated when Lorne seemed to be lost in thought. "What?"
Lorne started backing up, about to run out of Rodney's lab. "Can you get me snowboards? And weren't you mentioning something the other day about how one of the anthropologists had found something that looked a hell of a lot like a portable Ancient teepee?"
"Yeah, but..." Lorne was gone before Rodney could finish his thought. Rodney hated when people did that to him. *He* was the one who was supposed to do that. "Snowboards?"
***
Lorne's idea was brilliant in it's simplicity.
Take John on a vacation.
He remembered Sergeant Smithson had mentioned something about seeing mountains that were perfect for skiing when they had first started surveying the planet way back when. And after a quick recon with the man before he started shift, a snowboarding trip was sounding more and more likely. Smithson, a marine who loved skiing almost as much as Sheppard loved flying, had gone out for a weekend almost immediately after finding the mountain and had gone almost every time he had free since then. The only problem was that there was no clear place to land any of the jumpers… which was hopefully where the teepee would come in. If Rodney could get it.
The other obstacle in Evan's way was Woolsey. Allowing your First and Second IC to go on a vacation, together, wasn't exactly protocol. But one of the unwritten rules of Atlantis was that normal protocol didn’t exist. Elizabeth didn’t believe military protocol had ever been logical, and after being on SG-1 for so long, Carter knew that as long as she didn’t outright see it, she didn’t have to report it. Woolsey tried to bring everyone in line, but even he was starting to bow to the pressure that was Atlantis. Lorne knew just what to tell the former IOA bureaucrat to get him to yield. There was a reason after all that Lorne had been handling all military protocols since coming to Atlantis. Sheppard had no will to do it at all.
Woolsey had given in to the request rather willingly though, which surprised Lorne. But even Woolsey had been acting a little less like a stuffed shirt since he'd gotten that visit from the other member of the IOA.
Which was how Lorne found himself carrying two snowboards under his arm and a pack on his back, while Rodney struggled with something that looked like a large, hard backpack as they walked towards the jumper bay. “You sure you don’t need help Rodney?” Lorne turned around and started walking backwards.
Rodney grunted. “I’m… fine.” He said as he readjusted his grip on the pack. Lorne turned back around to pass his hand over the sensor to open the door that granted access to the jumper bay.
Lorne made his way over to the jumper that already contained a pair of skis, “I’m Canadian, I don’t *snowboard*.” Rodney had insisted, and two other packs containing winter weather gear and some food from the kitchens that could be reheated; a special order from one of the cooks that had figured out a way to make what they had in Atlantis a bit something more than the mess hall food they had day in and day out.
Rodney exhaled when he put the pack down on the padded bench on the right hand side of the jumper. He collapsed on the bench next to it.
Lorne let the pack on his back fall to the floor and put the snowboards upright against the wall. “Are you sure that thing’s going to work?” He said as he sat down opposite Rodney and inclined his head towards the pack Rodney had been carrying.
“The insta-teepee? It’ll be fine. How…”
Lorne smiled as he tapped his comm link and said, “Sheppard, McKay’s dealing with a… glitchy puddle jumper interface and he’s wondering if he could get your magic touch for a moment.”
“McKay doesn’t need my help.”
McKay tapped his own comm link. “He does when my third work around to get to the kernel to improve the interface on one of the damaged jumpers is met with yet another force out and *another* electric burn. Do you know that the human body can only take so much electric shock before it permanently damages the heart and I go into cardiac arrest? The amps…”
Sheppard laughed. “I’m coming.” The two of them heard John start running before he cut the link.
Lorne smiled at Rodney. “You take fake freaking out to a whole new level.”
Rodney gave Lorne a Look. “With the amount of times I’ve been shocked in this place? It only takes .05 amps to kill a person, and with the electricity required to run some of the stuff in this place? I’m surprised I haven’t been killed already.”
“And there’s the McKay we know and love.” Lorne said sarcastically.
“Lorne, McKay, where’s the fi…re.” Sheppard poked his head around the opening of the jumper and stopped when he noticed the two of them sitting comfortably in the back of the jumper surrounded by all the bags. “Okay guys, what’s going on?”
Both Evan and Rodney had wry smiles on their faces. “Surprise?”
Then Sheppard noticed the snowboards in the corner. “Snowboards?”
Lorne looked at John. “You know that mountain Smithson keeps raving about? Figured we’d try it ourselves.”
“Skis?” John noticed the slim sticks standing up just out of sight.
“I *don’t* snowboard.” Rodney said vehemently. “Don’t even ski really, but snowboarding is for insane people.”
“Are you calling me insane?” John stepped into Rodney’s personal space.
Rodney looked up. “On a good day.” He smiled slightly.
John cupped Rodney’s face. “I can handle that.”
*~*~*
The jumper trip took them a little over half a day; so they were forced to camp in the jumper on their first night. John asked what the hard case was, but Rodney wouldn’t tell him. Apparently he wanted it to be a surprise.
The next day started way too early for Rodney’s taste. “But Rodney, we actually slept in.” Sheppard smiled.
Rodney scoffed. “Getting up with the sunrise when you usually get up *before* the sunrise is not actually sleeping in.” Rodney rolled his eyes. “You know that right?”
Lorne poked his head in. “Let’s get going guys. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.”
The three of them split the load in the jumper. Rodney took the pack containing most of the food and his skis, while Sheppard took on the task of carrying the pack containing the insta-teepee, as well as one of the snowboards. Lorne took the last bag and snugged the second snowboard under his arm before enabling the cloak on the jumper.
Thankfully, the path to the base of the mountain was relatively clear. They made good time, even with Rodney moaning about hiking. The sun was just about to set when they decided to set up camp.
“So let’s see your magic teepee Rodney.” Lorne said as Rodney pressed a sequence of Ancient symbols that circled the seam of the pack.
John sniggered. “Magic Teepee?”
“Lyons found this in one of the Ancient crates down in the storage unit.” Rodney said as the pack started to unfold on it’s own. In minutes, what passed for a small pup tent had been created. “Well that’s smaller than what I expected.”
“Oh come on Rodney, it’s not that bad.” Lorne hid a smile.
John shrugged. “We need to conserve body heat anyway. I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing.” He said as he dove into the tent.
Rodney and Lorne shared a look as they dove in after him.
Author: pandorablu
Recipient: lillyjk
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay/Lorne implied
Rating: Um, teen really
Summary: Sheppard is feeling off, and Rodney wants Lorne's input.
Notes: First time doing SGA fic, so I hope I didn't do too bad. Mentions events in 5x15, 'Fragments'.
an idea was planted in his mind, he couldn't let it go.'>*
Rodney was a nervous bundle of energy, bouncing on the heels of his feet. Lorne knew before he even opened his mouth that he was going to regret it. “Yes Rodney?”
“I’m worried about Sheppard.” Lorne only raised his eyebrow in response, continuing his mid-day crunches. He might have the military training to wake up at the crack of dawn, but that didn’t mean Evan was a morning person. Doing his exercises on one of the less traveled balconies overlooking the city usually meant he didn’t have an audience, but today it seemed Rodney had purposely gone looking for him.
“I mean, it’s not like John is ever the picture of stability or perfect mental health; if he had the chance he’d do more crazy things before noon before either you or I would do in a lifetime, but he just doesn’t seem all there, don’t you think?”
“Rodney, it’s not exactly like John’s just one of the guys that serve you the jello you love oh so much. So if he’s a little off, “ Lorne paused, finishing his last set of crunches and leaning back on his hands, “it’s not like he doesn’t have at least half a dozen good reasons not to be.”
“Okay, first of all? The blue jello has been, and always will be, the only thing the SGC kitchens makes, be it here or on Earth, that qualifies as anything remotely approaching what it actually *does* taste like. And second of all, you missed my point entirely, which is perfectly understandable since you haven’t known John nearly as long as I have, but all you have to do is *look* at him and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” Rodney said in a huff as he turned on his heel and walked back to the transporter that ported to the control room.
*~*~*
Lorne’s problem, ever since he was little, was that once an idea was planted in his mind, he couldn’t let it go. Made him great at tracking and figuring out enemy movements, but at the same time it meant that little things no one really took the time to notice drove him nuts.
It wasn’t that Lorne didn’t watch Sheppard before Rodney had put the idea in his head. He was the second IC, so of course he had to. But ever since Rodney had planted the notion that there was something off about John, Lorne was noticing things no one, maybe not even Ronon, had noticed.
Like how Sheppard had suddenly gotten into the habit of pausing before he said almost everything. Or how his left hand would twitch during Woosley’s long winded meetings about status updates on all the goings on in Atlantis, but other times Sheppard would be cradling his hand and kneeding it, almost like it wasn’t there and he was trying to will it back to life. Or that John was only ever truly comfortable if he had the wind at his back and either Rodney, Lorne, Ronon or Teyla with him, otherwise John tightened up and had a set in his shoulders that screamed ‘don’t touch me’ if you knew what to look for.
And when only the two of them were slated to do patrol around the city, Sheppard almost ran through the city, not wanting to stay out too long.
So maybe Rodney was right.
Still didn’t mean Lorne was going to let him rub it in.
*~*~*
Lorne found Rodney in his lab, head ducked behind his screen, the very top of his head the only thing visible. "That can't be right." Lorne heard Rodney muttering into his screen.
"Okay, so maybe you were right about Sheppard." Lorne said. He couldn't see Rodney roll his eyes, but he knew that he was probably doing it anyway. "So what do you suggest we do about it?"
Rodney's response was uncharacteristically silent, the only real sound coming from the clicking of the keys on his laptop. "You don't know do you?" The corners of Lorne's mouth upturned slightly.
Rodney let out a huge sigh as he finally shut the laptop's screen. "That's why I came to you in the first place. Ronon and Teyla are no help if they don’t get what’s wrong. And I'm really really not good at the whole... interpersonal thing. Just ask Sheppard if you don't believe me." He hand waved.
Lorne laughed. John had mentioned to Lorne more than once how Rodney's attempts at anything approaching intimacy had lead to some interesting results. John still cringed when Teyla mentioned baking homemade Athosian cakes and what passed for icing. He told Lorne it took him three days to really get it out of his hair. "Oh I believe you. I just..." Lorne trailed off.
"Just what?" Rodney started to get agitated when Lorne seemed to be lost in thought. "What?"
Lorne started backing up, about to run out of Rodney's lab. "Can you get me snowboards? And weren't you mentioning something the other day about how one of the anthropologists had found something that looked a hell of a lot like a portable Ancient teepee?"
"Yeah, but..." Lorne was gone before Rodney could finish his thought. Rodney hated when people did that to him. *He* was the one who was supposed to do that. "Snowboards?"
***
Lorne's idea was brilliant in it's simplicity.
Take John on a vacation.
He remembered Sergeant Smithson had mentioned something about seeing mountains that were perfect for skiing when they had first started surveying the planet way back when. And after a quick recon with the man before he started shift, a snowboarding trip was sounding more and more likely. Smithson, a marine who loved skiing almost as much as Sheppard loved flying, had gone out for a weekend almost immediately after finding the mountain and had gone almost every time he had free since then. The only problem was that there was no clear place to land any of the jumpers… which was hopefully where the teepee would come in. If Rodney could get it.
The other obstacle in Evan's way was Woolsey. Allowing your First and Second IC to go on a vacation, together, wasn't exactly protocol. But one of the unwritten rules of Atlantis was that normal protocol didn’t exist. Elizabeth didn’t believe military protocol had ever been logical, and after being on SG-1 for so long, Carter knew that as long as she didn’t outright see it, she didn’t have to report it. Woolsey tried to bring everyone in line, but even he was starting to bow to the pressure that was Atlantis. Lorne knew just what to tell the former IOA bureaucrat to get him to yield. There was a reason after all that Lorne had been handling all military protocols since coming to Atlantis. Sheppard had no will to do it at all.
Woolsey had given in to the request rather willingly though, which surprised Lorne. But even Woolsey had been acting a little less like a stuffed shirt since he'd gotten that visit from the other member of the IOA.
Which was how Lorne found himself carrying two snowboards under his arm and a pack on his back, while Rodney struggled with something that looked like a large, hard backpack as they walked towards the jumper bay. “You sure you don’t need help Rodney?” Lorne turned around and started walking backwards.
Rodney grunted. “I’m… fine.” He said as he readjusted his grip on the pack. Lorne turned back around to pass his hand over the sensor to open the door that granted access to the jumper bay.
Lorne made his way over to the jumper that already contained a pair of skis, “I’m Canadian, I don’t *snowboard*.” Rodney had insisted, and two other packs containing winter weather gear and some food from the kitchens that could be reheated; a special order from one of the cooks that had figured out a way to make what they had in Atlantis a bit something more than the mess hall food they had day in and day out.
Rodney exhaled when he put the pack down on the padded bench on the right hand side of the jumper. He collapsed on the bench next to it.
Lorne let the pack on his back fall to the floor and put the snowboards upright against the wall. “Are you sure that thing’s going to work?” He said as he sat down opposite Rodney and inclined his head towards the pack Rodney had been carrying.
“The insta-teepee? It’ll be fine. How…”
Lorne smiled as he tapped his comm link and said, “Sheppard, McKay’s dealing with a… glitchy puddle jumper interface and he’s wondering if he could get your magic touch for a moment.”
“McKay doesn’t need my help.”
McKay tapped his own comm link. “He does when my third work around to get to the kernel to improve the interface on one of the damaged jumpers is met with yet another force out and *another* electric burn. Do you know that the human body can only take so much electric shock before it permanently damages the heart and I go into cardiac arrest? The amps…”
Sheppard laughed. “I’m coming.” The two of them heard John start running before he cut the link.
Lorne smiled at Rodney. “You take fake freaking out to a whole new level.”
Rodney gave Lorne a Look. “With the amount of times I’ve been shocked in this place? It only takes .05 amps to kill a person, and with the electricity required to run some of the stuff in this place? I’m surprised I haven’t been killed already.”
“And there’s the McKay we know and love.” Lorne said sarcastically.
“Lorne, McKay, where’s the fi…re.” Sheppard poked his head around the opening of the jumper and stopped when he noticed the two of them sitting comfortably in the back of the jumper surrounded by all the bags. “Okay guys, what’s going on?”
Both Evan and Rodney had wry smiles on their faces. “Surprise?”
Then Sheppard noticed the snowboards in the corner. “Snowboards?”
Lorne looked at John. “You know that mountain Smithson keeps raving about? Figured we’d try it ourselves.”
“Skis?” John noticed the slim sticks standing up just out of sight.
“I *don’t* snowboard.” Rodney said vehemently. “Don’t even ski really, but snowboarding is for insane people.”
“Are you calling me insane?” John stepped into Rodney’s personal space.
Rodney looked up. “On a good day.” He smiled slightly.
John cupped Rodney’s face. “I can handle that.”
*~*~*
The jumper trip took them a little over half a day; so they were forced to camp in the jumper on their first night. John asked what the hard case was, but Rodney wouldn’t tell him. Apparently he wanted it to be a surprise.
The next day started way too early for Rodney’s taste. “But Rodney, we actually slept in.” Sheppard smiled.
Rodney scoffed. “Getting up with the sunrise when you usually get up *before* the sunrise is not actually sleeping in.” Rodney rolled his eyes. “You know that right?”
Lorne poked his head in. “Let’s get going guys. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.”
The three of them split the load in the jumper. Rodney took the pack containing most of the food and his skis, while Sheppard took on the task of carrying the pack containing the insta-teepee, as well as one of the snowboards. Lorne took the last bag and snugged the second snowboard under his arm before enabling the cloak on the jumper.
Thankfully, the path to the base of the mountain was relatively clear. They made good time, even with Rodney moaning about hiking. The sun was just about to set when they decided to set up camp.
“So let’s see your magic teepee Rodney.” Lorne said as Rodney pressed a sequence of Ancient symbols that circled the seam of the pack.
John sniggered. “Magic Teepee?”
“Lyons found this in one of the Ancient crates down in the storage unit.” Rodney said as the pack started to unfold on it’s own. In minutes, what passed for a small pup tent had been created. “Well that’s smaller than what I expected.”
“Oh come on Rodney, it’s not that bad.” Lorne hid a smile.
John shrugged. “We need to conserve body heat anyway. I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing.” He said as he dove into the tent.
Rodney and Lorne shared a look as they dove in after him.