Fic: Crossing Lines (1/2)
TITLE: Crossing Lines (1/2)
AUTHOR: tarlanx
RATING: NC-17 Slash
DISCLAIMER: Not mine!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: SGA Secret Santa Challenge. You are writing for:
LiveJournal: moonlettuce
Things I'd like: McShep. Or a McKay/Sheppard/Lorne threesome. Jealous!Sheppard. Oblivious!Rodney. All of them acting like guys and not twelve-year old girls.
Things I wouldn't like: Het. Kids. An unhappy ending.
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"What the hell happened here?" John ordered, his eyes moving from one marine to the next, lingering on none but making sure they knew he was talking to each of them. He wanted an answer and it had better be a good one. He caught the slight movement from the corner of his eye and turned to Sergeant Halston.
"Well?" John's eyes narrowed because Halston was already on his list of people to ship back to Earth on the Daedalus at the earliest opportunity. The marine was a misfit of the worst kind, someone who should never have made it through even the most basic of the stringent SGC security checks let alone through the entire selection process. The name dropping had given John his first inkling that the process was not quite as honest as it ought to be. Halston was some ranking officer's kid or nephew, or a favor for a friend. What he wasn't, was good SGC material. The man had little tolerance for the backward natives they met in the Pegasus galaxy and even less for the scientists on the expedition, who made far easier targets. Most likely, the man hated the fact that the majority of people in Atlantis were one hell of a lot smarter than he was, and he resented them for it.
Until recently, though, Halston had saved his attitude for the lower ranking scientists but, since Arcturus, he seemed to have set his sights on a much bigger fish - the geek king of Atlantis, Rodney McKay. John felt partly to blame for that because he had made his displeasure with McKay common knowledge. Their interaction had always suffered from sharp teasing but, since Doranda, he knew his comments had taken on a harsher edge. They did not sit down to eat together anymore, nor did they socialize outside of work situations. However, that did not give anyone else the right to treat McKay with disrespect, and certainly did not give anyone the right to haze the guy right into the infirmary.
Halston offered a snide grin. "McKay had been on my case all morning, sir. Perhaps someone figured it was time to show him exactly who was boss around here."
"And by someone, you mean you."
"No, Sir. I was on gate duty when the accident happened." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Permission to speak candidly?" John nodded. "I'm not condoning what happened but those geeks have gotta learn a little respect for the guys who stand between them and the Wraith."
John saw one or two nods and felt a sour taste in his mouth as he wondered how many more of his men felt that they had taken an unfair brunt of the action when facing the wraith. The ones who nodded had not been on Atlantis during the siege so perhaps he only needed to straighten them out but, in truth, he was disappointed that he even needed to consider it. His eyes slid to one side where Major Lorne stood stock-still with eyes revealing none of his inner feelings.
There was a time when Lorne had little respect for McKay but John thought that had changed over the past months. McKay might not be the first to jump into the battle but he could be relied upon to be there when the chips were down. After all, McKay could have stayed in the safety of Atlantis rather than follow Lorne and the others into an Iratus bug nest for there was no scientific need that warranted him placing his life into danger. Plus McKay had been right to moan about the radiation on that world where they found and then lost Ford again. Perhaps it had not been so damaging to others but Beckett had sworn heartily in front of Lorne and some of the marines when he discovered McKay had been on the planet surface during most of the strong daylight hours, and without the full suit, having left the helmet beside Lorne's stunned body. In fact, Beckett had forced everyone to take a turn under the Ancient's device for dealing with low-grade radiation poisoning after that day on 'radiation death world', with McKay returning for treatment every day for a week.
As usual, most people assumed McKay had been playing the hypochondriac but John knew better. McKay had moaned often enough about how much radiation he had been exposed to over his life and, as much as John hated to admit it, flying close to the corona of a sun and spending time with the Genii nuclear prototype bombs had not done the man any extra favors.
"I say again. What happened?"
"He fell, Sir."
John spun around to face the marine who had spoken up. "Corporal Ericsson?"
Ericsson swallowed and stood straighter. "Dr. McKay tripped and fell, sir."
"On what?"
"I don't know, Sir."
Halston piped up again. "Look, Sir. The geek took a tumble but he's obviously well enough to whine at you and Beckett so--"
John saw Lorne flinch but this time he recognized barely concealed anger.
"Exactly what did Dr. McKay trip on? And that's an order, soldier."
Silence.
John could see that most had no idea what had happened but the slightly smug look on Halston's face had not altered in the slightest. John felt the anger riding high within him because McKay could not recall anything just prior to his fall down a short flight of stairs. Beckett wanted to keep McKay in the infirmary overnight for observation but, other than the small memory loss, McKay did seem fine and was, in fact, bitching about his so-called incarceration already.
John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing he had no evidence to assume anything more sinister had occurred despite Halston's smugness. Perhaps McKay would recall something more after sleeping off the worst of his admittedly light concussion and the accompanying bad headache. John could only be grateful that his injuries were minimal. Considering the fall, he could have broken his stupid neck, and wouldn't that be a great day for Atlantis.
He pursed his lips, knowing he would get no more out of the men standing rigidly to attention before him. "Dismissed."
John watched as all but Lorne saluted, turned and walked away, his eyes narrowing questioningly. "Major?"
"Permission to speak freely."
"Yeah, go ahead."
"There was a series of similar hazing events back in the SGC, and Halston always seemed to be connected peripherally but nothing could ever be proved."
John nodded, not surprised in the slightest as Halston seemed pretty confident with whatever had happened. "Anyone badly hurt?"
Lorne shook his head. "Just annoyances, minor injuries and scares, which stopped after Dr. Jackson met with an unfortunate accident concerning glue and his glasses. Strangely enough, Halston left the SGC for one of the alpha sites shortly after the Jackson incident. I think General O'Neill might have had something to do with that."
"I can imagine," John drawled. O'Neill struck him as the kind of man who would look out for his friends and teammates. "Recommendation?"
Lorne's lips curled in slight distaste. "Halston's a good soldier to have at your back in a fight but, otherwise, the man's trouble...and if he's escalating..."
Lorne trailed off and John nodded, knowing it was already a big jump from a few harmless pranks on some of the Atlantis scientists to shoving the top geek down a flight of stairs.
"Then we don't want him around our geeks. Draw up the paperwork to get him sent back to Earth."
"Yes, sir." Lorne offered a basic salute even though John had made it pretty clear that it wasn't necessary when it was just the two of them but it showed Lorne had a lot of respect and agreement for the order given. John watched him until he turned the corner and then he walked to the closest transporter, hitting the destination closest to the infirmary. As the doors opened, John's lips twitched as McKay's less than 'dulcet tones' drifted along the corridor through the open doorway of the infirmary, followed by exasperation from Beckett.
"You took a wee knock on the head, Rodney."
"I fail to see how that should stop me from working on the power distribution equations--"
"You can barely focus on that tablet and, no, I'm not upping the painkillers just so you can work yourself into a coma."
"Colonel! Please kindly explain to our resident witchdoctor that I am perfectly--"
"I wouldn't insult the guy with access to enemas, McKay." John interrupted smoothly. Beckett's lips had tightened and he had crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance, ready to start his own tirade against McKay but those lips twitched at John's words. John noted that McKay had mirrored Beckett's cross-armed stance during their disagreement on his treatment but his blue eyes widened fractionally before false bravado overtook his motor-mouth again.
"I'm fine, Carson."
"No, you're not. You fell down a flight of stairs and can'nae recall what happened..."
"Four stairs," McKay interrupted.
"..and that's not bloody fine."
John felt a tiny surge of inexplicable annoyance when Beckett reached out and placed a hand on Rodney's rigid shoulder, leaning down to gaze intently at Rodney, looking him straight in the eye.
"I know you've a fair bit of a headache so why don't you just lie back, close your eyes and take a nap."
John heard Rodney sigh softly as some of the tension left him but, for some reason, the sight of Beckett's fingers curled over Rodney's shoulder was wrong, as was the way the fingertips caressed the bare flesh of his throat not covered by the infirmary scrub top. John narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips.
"I'm gonna go see if Zelenka has pulled up anything on the security cameras."
"Why?"
John felt astonishment at McKay's question. "You may be annoying and irritating..."
"Oh, a compliment. Not had many of those recently," he exclaimed sarcastically.
"...and get distracted by shiny... stuff and twinkling lights."
"As if you don't," he harrumphed.
John smirked. "...but you're not that clumsy on your feet, McKay."
"Gee thanks! Which means?" He made to roll his eyes in annoyance but winced instead.
"Maybe someone finally made good on a promise to sling your ass down a staircase."
McKay's half-smirk froze on his face and then slowly faded as he tensed up again despite Beckett's hand still lying on his shoulder in reassurance. "Someone tried to kill me?"
"It's a possibility."
Annoyance replaced fear. "Oh goody! Not only do I have to watch my back for the Wraith and the Genii but now for my own people too."
Beckett looked horrified. "Do you really think somebody tried to kill Rodney?"
John felt a little uncomfortable, knowing he had worried both doctors for no good reason other than a suspicion. "No. I think someone just went a little too far on a prank."
"Oh that's just great. I can imagine my epitaph now. Here lies Rodney McKay. He managed to escape having the life sucked out of him by space vampires only to slip and break his neck on a banana peel. Ha ha de ha."
"Now Rodney," Beckett admonished, squeezing his shoulder gently and gaining a grumpy but comforted response. John felt his muscles tense again, crushing a terrible urge to slap Beckett's hand away from Rodney's shoulder but, instead, he turned and walked away without another word. As he crossed the threshold, dodging around one of Rodney's minions who'd come to accost him even in the infirmary, John's sensitive hearing picked out Beckett's reassuring words to Rodney.
"I'm sure he'll come round soon."
McKay's response was lost as John carried on down the corridor but he did not need to be a genius to figure out what that was all about. After Arcturus, McKay had made his apology and John had told him he would have to re-earn his trust, except it was all a lie. McKay had never lost his trust in the first place because they all knew the stakes when they went into that project and John should have stepped in earlier when he realized that it was all going to hell. Instead, he had wanted to believe that McKay could fix it and complete something that even the Ancients had given up on. What had angered John was not McKay's insistence that he could do it, because McKay's arrogance and self-confidence in his mental acuity had never been an unknown factor. No, what had hurt was his own desperation to see this weapon work and to see the defeat of the Wraith. He had awoken them fifty years earlier than intended but, worse, he carried the guilt of not finding Sumner soon enough. If he had acted faster then perhaps they might have reached Sumner before he was forced to reveal the existence of a whole galaxy filled with tasty snacks on legs for the Wraith. Convinced that they had an endless food supply, the Wraith had fallen upon the worlds of Pegasus galaxy like a plague of locusts, leaving too little behind to restock those worlds, killing countless millions of human beings who might otherwise have escaped the cullings. The only consolation was that they had almost feasted themselves into extinction, unless they could find a way to reach Earth and the Milky Way galaxy.
Unfortunately, the Atlantis Stargate provided them with a gateway to the smorgasbord in the Milky Way and if not then the city held the technology needed to travel across the vast reaches of space between galaxies using its star drive engines buried deep within the city. Either way, the key to keeping their home galaxy safe lie in keeping Atlantis safe - or destroying Atlantis. As John had no intention of seeing the city blown into a trillion tiny pieces, the Arcturus weapon had seemed like a godsend until everything went wrong.
Once in the transporter, John reached out to select the destination that would take him to the control tower but slapped his hand down on the wall beside it instead. Why didn't he just admit the goddamned truth that he didn't care half as much about the wraith or either galaxy? What had pissed him off was his failure to protect Rodney. Elizabeth had warned him that Rodney could become so focused on his work that he failed to recognize when to stop, and John had promised that he would look out for him; he had almost failed in that duty. His desperation to see the weapon work had overshadowed his responsibility towards Rodney and he had almost left it too late. He'd almost killed both of them, and it galled that he was beholden to Caldwell for pulling their asses out of the firing line. The Daedalus had bought them the time they needed to reach the orbiting Stargate.
John rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes against the headache forming behind them. He knew it was unfair to blame McKay for all that had happened. Hell, even Zelenka had forgiven Rodney for his outburst denigrating the other scientist.
Unconsciously, he scratched at the small patch of discolored flesh from Ellia's feeding attempt. Despite John's coolness towards him, McKay had been there for him throughout the bug ordeal. John had not allowed him to come close but that had not stopped McKay from taking risks in order to help save him. Two of John's men had died on that first attempt to harvest Iratus embryos but it could easily have been all of them. It could have been Rodney left behind in the cave with bugs swarming all over him. John gave a shudder at the mental image. God but he hated bugs, and especially those bugs.
Three hours later, John had to give up. The security cameras showed McKay walking towards the stairs with his head buried in his tablet PC and then tripping near the top. All in all, John watched the footage four times, once in slow motion, and he flinched with every viewing; his fingers clenching with the urge to reach out and grab McKay, to haul him back from the edge. His lower lip felt raw from where he chewed on it upon seeing McKay's flailing arms and then unconscious body lying at the base of the stairs, the tablet PC in pieces around him. Yet, no matter how many times he looked, the angle was too steep to see what had toppled McKay and, for all John knew, the man could have tripped over his shoelaces. In exasperation, John filed his report as an accident even though his sixth sense was screaming at him that it was intentional. He could only be grateful that the flight had been one of the short ones consisting of only four steps, not wanting to imagine how much worse it could have been.
The following day, he watched from a distance as McKay left the infirmary, biting hard into his lower lip as self-punishment for not being the one to accompany him to his quarters. Instead, he watched as Beckett kept up a steady banter in his soft Scots accent, feeling that gnawing and seething inside his heart and gut as McKay walked away without ever noticing him standing at the far end of the corridor.
***
Rodney sighed as he dropped carefully onto his bed, half-glaring back at Carson's lopsided smirk but, once more, Carson seemed to know Rodney's body better than he did. The short walk from the infirmary had increased his headache and aggravated the muscle bruising from his fall. Carson reached into his pocket and withdrew a small bottle of pills. He shook out two, resealed the lid and placed the bottle on the bedside cabinet. As proof of how awful and tired he felt, Rodney had not even noticed Carson fetching a glass of water from the bathroom. He held out his hands and accepted both pills and the glass without a murmur, swallowing the pills quickly and setting the glass aside.
"Come on. Let's get you tucked up in bed. A wee nap will do you the world of good."
"I don't need a mother, Carson. I'm perfectly capable of getting myself undressed for bed."
Carson's grin widened and even Rodney had to admit that the bite was missing from his words and, if he wasn't so tired, he might even have cared. Instead, he grumbled some more as Carson ignored him and helped him strip to his boxers, though secretly appreciating the help to take off his t-shirt, before tucking him up in his bed. He must have drifted off the moment his head touched the pillow because he could not recall seeing Carson leave and the man was gone when he next opened his eyes.
Moving was an exercise in masochism, even worse than the morning following that night Cadman took his body for a spin around Atlantis without his permission; it killed his morning erection. The deep-seated ache in his bruised body and the thumping in his head made him wish he could lie in bed all day but his stomach had other ideas, rumbling loudly. He popped another couple of Tylenol and pushed off the bed, stripping off his boxers as he stumbled ungainly towards the shower. Setting it as hot as he could stand, Rodney let the heated spray massage his body, easing the aches and making him feel halfway human again. By the time he left the shower, he was a lot less stiff, though not even his fantasy of John Sheppard naked and wet in the shower with him was enough to bring a rise out of his body in that respect.
The commissary was empty when he reached it, having missed the breakfast crowd. Rodney slumped into a seat in the corner table, surprised when Kusanagi asked to join him moments later. Rodney waved to a seat, knowing he could always rely on Miko to tell him the latest gossip from the labs during his absence, whether offworld or off-duty - not that he would ever admit to listening to gossip. Still, it was always good to hear Miko's kind descriptions of incidents while he secretly read between the lines and silently chortled at the mess some of his minions were getting into. At times like this, he almost missed Kavanagh because the man had a way of causing the most hilarious upsets - and people thought *he* was socially stunted one!
"Colonel Sheppard spent many hours going through the security footage with Dr. Zelenka."
"Hours?"
"At least three hours. He seemed most upset that you were injured."
Rodney gave a noncommittal grunt because Sheppard had not made much of an effort to be seen with him recently, effectively ending their friendship even though he had promised he would let Rodney try to regain his trust. His single visit to the infirmary had been out of courtesy only because, despite Arcturus, Rodney was still the Chief Scientist on Atlantis. He had not even bothered to come by once Carson released him from the infirmary whereas, in the past, Sheppard would be the first on the scene. All civilian rank aside, he had not expected Sheppard to make much of a deal out of some misfired prank especially as the culprits were most likely military. After all, Sheppard had done nothing about the other incidences plaguing Rodney and his scientists since the new blood arrived on the Daedalus following the siege. Of course, all the scientists knew who was behind the pranks but, until recently, these were fairly harmless and his people had a way of getting back at the main culprits under the guise of failed environmental controls and the 'decrepitude' of a city lying unused at the bottom of an alien ocean for ten thousand years.
"Did he find anything?"
Miko shook her head quickly and sipped delicately at her tea.
The pranks had been minor irritations until now but tripping him down the stairs was another matter entirely, although from the sound of it, there was no proof that it was anything other than a stupid accident despite Sheppard's suspicions. Rodney had been tired and distracted at the time, spending too many long hours in the lab now there was no one to drag him away from his work. Stupidly, he never thought he would miss those interruptions and the cajoling as Sheppard slammed shut his laptop, often only just missing Rodney's fingers, before dragging him away to some inane activity. He never thought he would be desperate to watch that damn football game again either, so long as Sheppard was sitting right there beside him throwing popcorn at the screen as if he had not seen the game a dozen times over - or more.
"Are you going to eat that?" Rodney pointed at the piece of cake sitting untouched on her plate.
"No, no, no," she waved her hands, her eyes shining when Rodney slid the plate over and took a bite, as if she had never intended the cake for anyone but him. As he stuffed the final piece in and licked at his fingers, Rodney frowned as he realized that he had never seen her eat coffee cake before, or drink coffee even, so the cake probably had been for him. He harrumphed and offered her a tight smile of thanks that brightened her whole face, and then he rubbed his hands together.
"Back to work then."
Miko's face turned to horror. "No. You must rest. Dr. Beckett was most certain that you must not go back to work today."
"Oh was he? Well, I'm sure what Carson doesn't know won't hurt him."
Rodney strode out of the commissary with Miko chasing behind, his steps faltering only once as he passed by the familiar military table where Halston and two of his cronies must have dropped in after coming off duty.
"Look, it's the chief geek and his geisha. Been on any good trips recently?"
If his head had not started aching again, Rodney might have been tempted to stop but he knew from bitter experience that bullies like Halston needed actions rather than words to put them in their place. "Miko," he snapped when he noticed she had stopped, and then he carried on, hearing her quick footsteps following on behind him.
***
Two days later, McKay was back to terrorizing scientists and soldiers alike with all thoughts of being targeted by some disgruntled marine seemingly forgotten. Except John had not forgotten, and neither had someone else judging by the lines of pain etched into Halston's forehead.
"It's a bad break," Beckett murmured softly to John, just out of earshot of the injured soldier. "It's not something that can be fixed in a jiffy even with all this Ancient technology lying around the infirmary."
"Recommendation?"
"The Daedalus is due in less than a week. Halston should be sent home on it."
John licked his lips. Lorne had already drawn up the paperwork that would send Halston back on the Daedalus and it was ready to transmit to the SGC in the next data burst. Approval or denial would have come in next week's data burst but that was moot point now as Beckett would be drawing up a different set of orders that needed no approval as his medical jurisdiction overruled any military request. In some ways it was a relief to know Atlantis would be seeing the back of Halston but John's sixth sense was tingling. Halston had fallen down a flight of stairs. Once more, an investigation had found nothing untoward but the security cameras had suffered a unique malfunction just around the time of the fall, and the coincidence had left a bitter taste in John's mouth. If this was no accident then either it was revenge for McKay's tumble a few days earlier, or the original 'prankster' had not been Halston after all. Either way, John had a problem to deal with.
John spent the next week on tenterhooks, waiting to see if there was any retaliation but everything slipped back into what passed for normality with both the Halston and McKay incidents shrugged off as unfortunate accidents. Elizabeth even sent a memo to all personnel reminding them to take greater care while walking around the city in the belief that both of these accidents could have been avoided by a little vigilance. John did not believe it though, and he knew it was only a matter of time before another 'accident' occurred.
The next incident came sooner than John imagined.
***
Rodney relaxed against the shower wall, letting the water and the images of John flow over him as he slowly thrust into his own lathered hand. His breath caught in his throat at the subtle twist of his wrist and the flick of his thumb over the sensitive bundle of nerves, feeling the warm sensation unfold from deep inside as his cock pulsed in his hand, splattering his belly and fingers with his own come momentarily before the water rinsed him clean. He panted softly, tipping back his head to let the warm water flow over his face to cascade down his body as the last quivers of pleasure sang along his spine. Taking one last deep breath, he immersed his face completely and then shut off the water. His skin was tingling all over, nerve endings singing as he briskly rubbed down his wet body.
***
"I'm fine, Carson. See?"
John entered the infirmary to find his resident genius but estranged friend seated on one of Beckett's beds, scratching at the rash that covered all visible parts of his body. Beckett slapped the hand away and offered a small tub of medication.
"What happened?"
"Contact Urticaria. Rodney should know better than to borrow over people's shower gels without checking the list of possible irritants first."
"Except I didn't," McKay exclaimed in annoyance.
"So where did you get the gel, McKay?" John asked through gritted teeth, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"In my shower," he replied, giving them a withering look as if he thought they were both idiots. "Look...I got up, I took a shower. Twenty minutes later I'm covered in a rash, which Carson is going to treat before I go insane from the itching. Obviously, I've developed a new allergy to whatever the SGC are putting in the shower gel these days. Probably some fungicide or other antibiotic supposedly to kill alien..." McKay started to scratch again and Beckett grabbed his hand, holding on just a little too long for John's liking though it did, at least, put an end to the impending rant. John frowned down at the joined hands, only looking back up once Beckett had released McKay's hand to find McKay staring at him with an almost blank expression that did not quite hide the anguish in his eyes. Before John could question it, McKay looked away, his mouth a grim line.
John took this as his cue to go investigate what was niggling at the back of his mind. Atlantis let him into McKay's quarters without a murmur of disapproval and John went straight to the shower stall. He reached in and grabbed what McKay believed to be the offending shower gel and looked at it closely by holding it up to the light. The contents had started to separate into two distinct viscous liquids. Both were similar in coloring but John could see the differences. He licked his lips as he considered his next course of action, nodding to himself in the bathroom mirror as he came to a decision. As he left McKay's quarters, he thought he saw someone disappearing quickly around the far corner at the end of the corridor but knew there was no sense in trying to catch up as they would be long gone by the time he reached the junction.
Ten minutes later, one of the chemists was drawing off samples of both liquids. John waited with as much patience as he could muster as the chemical composition was analyzed.
"Well, the heavier liquid is ordinary fragrance-free shower gel. The lighter liquid has a different chemical make-up. If you take a sniff of the more concentrated extract from the bottle, you can pick up the scent. It's subtle but it's there. Nasty stuff in greater concentration. Could strip the skin off a man."
"So what was this doing in McKay's shower?"
"McKay? Someone tampered with McKay's shower gel?"
"Obviously not enough to cause more than an annoying skin rash."
"Colonel, these pranks have got to stop. Only last week, Mitters found itching powder in his socks and before that Sarkovski had a bruised shoulder after a cabinet door slammed back because someone had messed with the spring-loaded hinges."
"Mitters and Sarkovski?" John recognized the names. "Anyone else?"
"Yeah, plenty. This has been going on for months. Someone even mingled leaves from the mainland in with Kusanagi's tea and made her sick for a couple of days. Beckett thought she'd been trying some of the Athosian teas and she was too meek to argue with him."
John recalled mention of Miko's illness from the daily briefing some weeks back but never thought more of it at the time. Now he could see a pattern emerging that fitted with Lorne's suspicions regarding Halston, except Halston was in the infirmary with a broken leg so he could not be responsible for this latest nasty prank on McKay.
"Can you write me up a report about this...stuff," he asked, indicating towards the shower gel. The chemist agreed and John nodded his thanks before leaving.
As he walked back towards his office, John thought about Halston and the marines - mostly fresh off the Daedalus - that seemed to always be at Halston's beck and call. In particular, Ericsson and Saunders hovered around him, sharing meals with Halston and joining him on work-outs. They would commandeer a corner of the commissary at every meal break, along with several other marines. Sometimes they were a little loud and raucous, mildly intimidating the junior scientists who passed by but John wondered if they were only keeping it down whenever he was in the vicinity. He knew Lorne had sat with the group once or twice in the beginning after the incident on 'radiation death world' but not much since, preferring to spend the time with his own gate team instead, just as John used to do before Arcturus.
Technically, John did still sit with most of his team though, recently, he found an excuse to be elsewhere if McKay turned up and joined them. He knew it was petty and he had seen the hurt in McKay's eyes, quickly covered, but that had not stopped McKay from trying again and again, making John feel a little guilty because he had promised to give him a chance to 'earn back his trust'. Mostly, though, McKay sat with Zelenka and Beckett and occasionally with other scientists. John had nothing against Zelenka and, before Arcturus, he would even join him and McKay, listening in on all the technobabble with half his attention while the other half roamed around the commissary checking out the new faces, especially after visits from the Daedalus. He got to know the faces of the new marines quick enough as they had to report to him but not the scientists because they reported directly to McKay and Beckett. Of course, the hard part was trying to not make it look too obvious, otherwise he ended up with either an annoyed McKay or the unwanted attentions of some new scientist who thought he was making a play for them - and sometimes both.
Before the incident with Cadman and the body sharing, John had kind of liked Beckett too but seeing McKay kiss Beckett, even if it was Cadman in control, had opened up a whole load of issues that John would prefer to keep closed. He knew he liked men as well as women but flying fast planes and helicopters had been his childhood dream, one that he refused to let go of as he moved into adulthood. He had always figured women would be enough for him and losing out on the pleasure of having another man in his bed was a small price to pay to fulfill his dream. Now, he was beginning to understand that the price had only seemed small while there was no one of consequence to dream about. In those days, he had never met Rodney McKay. He had never shared in the childlike joy of discovery or watched a self-confessed coward step between a lunatic with a gun and a friend, or walk into an energy-sucking darkness.
McKay surprised him often, revealing another facet of a complex person just when John believed he knew everything he needed to know about the man.
Intellectually, McKay was a perfect match with his quicksilver mind and sharp tongue. Physically, McKay should not have been his type at all. Not with his soft belly and with skin that rarely saw the sunlight unless dragged out on missions but then John recalled the broad shoulders and surprisingly muscular arms and thighs, glimpsed while washing while off-world and, most recently in the infirmary. Enforced work-outs with the team, and with Teyla in particular, had turned most of that geek fat to muscle, sculpturing his body but leaving just enough softness behind to remind John of McKay's vulnerability in the field.
He snorted in annoyance at how easily his thoughts strayed to McKay, forcing his mind back on the problem at hand. Switching on his laptop, John settled behind his desk and began checking through Beckett's daily reports. He tightened his lips as a pattern emerged of minor incidences and accidents that could not be explained satisfactorily. Looking through the reports, the incidences had started following the influx of military and scientists fresh off the Daedalus on its second run. Saunders had arrived with Everett but Halston and Ericsson had been onboard the Daedalus during the wraith virus incident. They had to have known what McKay had done to save the whole damned ship and everyone on it, and how he had nearly been killed on at least three separate occasions while he and Hermiod flushed the virus out of the Daedalus's systems. Two scientists had died on that trip, murdered by the virus as it sought to protect itself and complete its programming to deliver them to the Wraith, dead or alive. If either of those men were behind this spate of suspicious incidences then there was something definitely wrong with them. Admittedly, McKay did manage to annoy most everyone he met but even if they had no liking for the man, they respected his abilities and that was enough to make them tolerate him.
His mailbox pinged and John checked the new message, finding the report detailing the chemical substance used to harm McKay. A report from Beckett on McKay's condition arrived soon after and John could see that, once again, this was a prank gone a little too far. The concentration of the irritant would have been just a minor annoyance to ninety-five percent of the people on Atlantis but McKay, with his fair skin and allergies, had fallen into the remaining five percent. Still, McKay's unusual reaction was not just cause for letting this incident slide with a general warning broadcast across the city. John needed to catch the culprit before he or she started an all-out war between the soldiers and scientists.
***
Damn but it itched like crazy and Rodney was certain he'd be insane long before Carson's medication took any effect. At least Carson had not embarrassed Rodney by letting Sheppard know that it was, quite literally all over. In particular, his dick itched so much that he'd even consider castration just to be free of the sensory overload that had stepped across the boundary between pleasure and pain. Almost as bad was the rash under his arms and on his nipples, and he couldn't reach the middle of his back to alleviate the terrible itching there either.
With a ragged sigh of misery, Rodney clicked on his radio and called for Carson - again.
***
Another two days passed with no progress and John was beginning to think he ought to install security cameras at every junction on Atlantis, or at least figure out how to get those systems online now that Atlantis had a ZPM. Instead, he watched as Beckett bandaged up Ericsson's hands, knowing the chemical burns would ease in time but, for now, the injury had earned Ericsson a one way ticket back to the Milky Way. John looked across as the infirmary door opened and was surprised to see McKay bluster his way in. He narrowed his eyes as McKay showed no interest in Ericsson's injuries, barely acknowledging the marine except with a twitch of his crooked mouth, as if he had expected to see him seated there with his hands completely bandaged from fingers to elbows.
"Rodney! What can I do for you?" Beckett finished with Ericsson and wandered across the infirmary.
"Carson, I need more of this cream and..." he rolled his wrist several times in lieu of words, head giving a slight flick backward.
"You need my help... again? I thought Dr. Kusanagi had offered..."
McKay mumbled something that even John could not make out with his sharper hearing but, whatever it was, it made Beckett snigger and offer McKay a teasing grin that had Rodney flushing pink with embarrassment. Once more, John felt his blood pressure rise when Beckett reached out and laid a hand on Rodney's bare arm, drawing Rodney's eyes to Beckett's for several seconds too long as far as John was concerned. Without being consciously aware, John drifted closer to the two doctors, overhearing more of their conversation.
"Is it all right if I drop by later tonight then? Around eight?"
Rodney murmured something back; his face still flushed high on his cheeks, long lashes fluttering sinfully, almost coyly as if flirting with Beckett. In response, Beckett smirked and patted Rodney's arm once more before adding quietly, "Make sure you're undressed and ready for me when I get there...and can we do it on the bed tonight as it fair killed my back bending over that chair?"
Images of Beckett's hands framing Rodney's face filled John's mind. He visualized Beckett drawing Rodney in to lavish gentle kisses that built in intensity, hands roaming beneath the blue shirt to tease an already erect nipple, swallowing Rodney's soft moans and tiny whines of need. Hands would creep south, cupping the hard cock straining against the front of Rodney's pants, circling with just the right amount of pressure to tease mercilessly. Their moans would get louder only their heavy panting betraying their lust as they locked the door behind them before Beckett slowly stripped the clothes from Rodney's body, the gentle doctor's hands knowing exactly where to touch and caress to elicit moans of pleasure as he slipped a well-practiced finger deep into Rodney's generous ass.
He groaned softly as the image of Rodney kissing Beckett filled his head, fueled by the reality forced upon McKay by Cadman. He imagined the supple fingers carding through Beckett's short, spiky hair while that flexible tongue delved and licked as they kissed, wet and open-mouthed like randy teenagers. His legs would wrap around Beckett's waist, the little needy sounds and babbling increasing as Beckett pushed inside or, judging from Beckett's comments, maybe Rodney would be the one stretching and filling Beckett.
John swallowed hard, feeling the sudden tightness in his chest and the heat in his groin as his body reacted to the illusion. The mere thought of seeing the reality had John stalking from the infirmary, and not because he had any problems with two men engaged in heavy petting. It was the thought of watching Beckett get to home base with Rodney that was the deciding factor and John knew he needed to work off a little steam before he turned around and punched Beckett for stealing...
"Wait just a goddamn moment," he hissed to himself. Beckett could only be stealing if Rodney had been John's in the first place and that was clearly not the case. Then another thought struck him at how he was compartmentalizing Rodney in his mind. All the anger was directed at McKay, using his surname even mentally to distance himself from the hurt and the pain of both their actions but whenever he thought of the other man in a needful way, it was always 'Rodney'. Then it occurred to him that, before Cadman used Rodney to kiss Beckett, John had called him 'Carson' and had considered him a friend too.
He stepped out onto the closest balcony and commanded the door to close and lock behind him. It was not often that he was slapped so hard by a revelation and it shocked him because he had never considered himself to be the jealous type before. Except he was jealous, though thankfully, not insanely jealous even if this was Beckett...no, *Carson* stealing Rodney away from him. Yet he had no right to be jealous because he was the one who had pulled away from Rodney. He was the one who had made glib remarks about re-earning trust and then refused to allow Rodney the opportunity to put things right between them by avoiding him even when he was hurt and in pain. At least Carson had been there for Rodney, tending to his injuries and consoling him in his mental anguish following Arcturus.
John clenched the balcony railing and stared hard out over the churning blue ocean. Following the Arcturus incident, Rodney had needed to repair a number of broken bridges and, in that first week before Zelenka forgave him, only Carson, Miko and Teyla would share a meal with him. If none of them was around then he sat alone in the commissary eating his meal with grim determination and an obstinate refusal to allow the estrangement to force him to run away and hide.
Of course, John had no such problems as he played the injured party, almost taking pleasure on seeing Rodney cut off and alone, believing he deserved a little fallout from the disaster that had nearly killed them both. Some part of him had wanted to see that arrogance ripped away but all John could see now was his own pettiness in leaving Rodney vulnerable and alone as the vultures circled around him, with only Carson and Teyla fending them off in those first few days. Hell, he had even glibly told Rodney he no longer trusted him when they went in after the crew of the Aurora and, even if no one else noticed, John had seen the stab of pain flicker in Rodney's too expressive eyes.
If Rodney had found a small measure of happiness with Carson then who was he to argue and act like the jealous boyfriend? It's not like he'd been much of any kind of friend lately and it was not like he had been there when Rodney had needed him over these past weeks. His attitude towards Rodney had been the example for all his men to follow. His disrespect and snide comments had left Rodney an open target for the likes of Halston and the others, and that had to change immediately because, like it or not, he did give more than just a damn about Rodney.
Taking another deep and calming breath, John pushed away from the balcony. Zelenka had pulled another set of security footage from the area surrounding the latest incident with Ericsson in the hope that the perpetrator had not considered tampering with those. He walked back into the city, determined to put an end to this series of nasty pranks before he lost more men or, worse still, before he lost Rodney.
With some trepidation, John called up the footage of the main science laboratory from several hours before the incident with Ericsson. Rodney was a self-confessed genius so it was not beyond the realms of possibility that he might have doctored the laboratory footage to show his continued presence, perhaps looping the feed so he could slip away and set up the 'accident'. If that was the case then perhaps John would spot the fake cuts.
He felt his stomach flip as he caught sight of Rodney moving around the laboratory, animatedly debating ideas before settling down in front of his own laptop. He had missed seeing him at work, seeing all that amazing energy firing up those around him. Other scientists interrupted him constantly and it made John appreciate how patient Rodney was in reality, for John knew he would be tearing his hair out if his own work was disrupted that often. Rodney's expressive face revealed how he felt about each interruption. There was always an initial irritation that quickly slipped away as the innate curiosity that made him such a good scientist took over. After that, it depended on the scientist presenting his or her work. Some strode off in anger as Rodney ripped their work to shreds, some left looking crestfallen but far more left with either a bounce in their step or a purposeful stride, enlightenment or excitement suffusing their faces.
John recalled a conversation he had once overheard between a group of scientists discussing Rodney.
"He's a goddamn ogre. He ripped my theory on Puddlejumper aerodynamics to pieces--"
"Your theory was crap and you know it."
"Doesn't matter--"
"What? He's supposed to pat you on the back and tell you nice try?"
"Personally, I prefer it when he rips into someone over shoddy work. It makes the praise all the sweeter."
John smiled, recalling the reluctant nods of agreement, even from the Puddlejumper theorist. His smile faded as his thoughts returned to the task at hand.
If Rodney was responsible for the retaliations then rebuilding trust between them would have to go both ways as it was obvious that Rodney had not trusted him enough to come to him with his grievances or trust him to deal with the pranksters. Perhaps he thought John was encouraging them or consenting to the bullying by his inaction. He took a shaky breath, only now realizing how it felt to lose a friend's trust and knowing Rodney had lived with this feeling for weeks now.
Of course, that also left the problem of what to do if he discovered that it was Rodney behind Halston's fall and Ericsson's burns. Atlantis needed Rodney far more than it needed Halston and Ericsson, in fact, far more than it needed anyone else on the expedition but the SGC would not see it that way. Everyone knew the adage that there was a thin line between genius and insanity, and the SGC might consider that Rodney had crossed that line and demand he return to Earth. Certainly, elements of the SGC and other international committees had no love for the irascible scientist. Few people could claim to be Rodney's intellectual equal, and most hated the fact that he was so much smarter than them - and that he knew it.
It left John with only one option. He had failed to protect Rodney from himself on Doranda but he could protect him now. He had to find out if Rodney was responsible for the incidences and then erase any lingering evidence if that was the case.
***
Saunders stood between the two infirmary beds holding his best men. The Daedalus was due to arrive any time now and he knew that both men would be leaving Atlantis when it returned to Earth. In both cases, they had fallen foul of retaliation by the scientists but, until a few moments earlier, Saunders had no idea which of the damn geeks was responsible. McKay's half smirk when he saw Ericsson's bandaged hands had left no doubt in his mind that McKay was the one to blame for their current condition. In each case, the retaliation had been short and brutal, intended to cause sufficient harm to give them a one way ticket out of the Pegasus galaxy but without maiming them permanently. It was the sort of underhanded gesture that he ought to have expected from a coward like McKay and it made Saunders wonder what nasty prank McKay had in store for him.
As far as he could see, the only way around this was to get McKay first, and to get him good and proper, making sure he was on the next ship home to the Milky Way with no chance of returning. It would serve the cold-hearted bastard right to have a taste of his own medicine. All he had to do was figure out a way to get the chief scientist alone, aware that no one else would give a damn what happened to him. Certainly not Colonel Sheppard, who had made his disdain for McKay pretty obvious since the scientist almost got him killed through his arrogance and negligence. Hell, the man had got one of his own people cooked and that had still not stopped him from nearly killing the Colonel too. It was little wonder that few people had anything decent to say about McKay. All Saunders ever heard was moans and disgruntled words from scientists and soldier alike as they suffered caustic comments and verbal abuse from McKay. He spared no one the lash of his sharp tongue, not even that pathetic Japanese doctor who hung on his every word like a panting dog.
No, as far as Saunders was concerned, he would be doing them all a favor by getting rid of McKay.
***
After two hours John had to admit that either Rodney was an exceptionally talented video editor, or he really was accounted for during those hours before Ericsson returned to his quarters and had acid rather than water flow out of his wash basin taps. The coincidence was not lost on John. Rodney had fallen down some stairs and then so did Halston, though far worse. Rodney had suffered a nasty, itchy rash from a chemical irritant in his bathroom and now Ericsson had suffered chemical burns from his wash basin.
Without a means of washing off the acid quickly, Ericsson had raced to the infirmary where Carson had quickly applied a solution to neutralize the acid, though not quickly enough to prevent the burns that had damaged Ericsson's hands. According to Carson, they would heal in time but it would take months of skin grafts and physical therapy before he had full dexterity once more, and that was best accomplished on Earth.
Whether intentional or not, the two most likely candidates for causing Rodney's accidents had been removed from the city permanently as John could not imagine them ever being reassigned to Atlantis, not even once their injuries had healed. At least, not if he had a say in it. But John had to be certain that no blame would ever fall back on Rodney before he could rest easy once again.
***
"Major!"
Lorne turned around, his brow furrowing in unease as McKay strode towards him with that determined look on his face that always meant trouble. "McKay?"
"I need one of your men to accompany me to Grounding Station Three."
"That area was damaged during the wraith attack."
"Yes...although, technically, it was damaged worse during the storm when Kolya's men opened fire on it. This is why I need one of your men."
"You're expecting an attack?"
"No, I'm expecting nothing but a broken grounding station but, as you so carefully pointed out, that area was further damaged during the wraith siege, bringing down sensors and communications in that part of the city."
Enlightenment struck. "And... you're following Colonel Sheppard's directive not to enter damaged sectors of the city without an escort." Which meant McKay must have cleared this with Weir also as he had been especially careful to follow protocol since Arcturus. Lorne knew it couldn't last indefinitely but... his thoughts were interrupted.
"See! I knew there was a brain in there somewhere."
Lorne gave a wry smile, knowing that could almost be taken as a compliment coming from McKay, what with him admitting that Lorne had a brain and that he could use it.
"When do you want to head out?"
McKay shrugged lazily, studying his nails while the corner of his mouth drooped into a sour line. "Oh, anytime in the next century will do."
Lorne narrowed his eyes in irritation at the obvious sarcasm and clicked his headset radio twice. "Eichmann. Report to Dr. McKay in Sector 3 in..." he eyed McKay who simply raised a tool kit and his eyebrows to indicate that he was already prepared to go. "...ten minutes. You're on escort duty. Half hour check-ins."
Lorne heard Corporal Eichmann's affirmative, noting the blandness of his response that indicated that he was less than happy with the duty. If he was not already committed to other duties, Lorne might have offered to go with McKay instead. Over the past few months he had come to see beyond the egotistical, loud-mouthed scientist to the caring and dedicated person beneath the sarcasm and arrogance. He had walked into an Iratus bug nest with the terrified scientist, knowing the man had no place there except out of loyalty towards his friends. He had read the report from the Aurora where McKay had followed Sheppard into the virtual environment when Sheppard had shown signs of being in danger, knowing he might get trapped in there as well. Lorne knew from older reports that the man had shown tremendous bravery more times than most would care to recount because that courage was often hidden behind arrogance and ego. Yet Lorne knew it took a brave man to step into the line of fire especially when he could visualize, in glorious Technicolor, the consequences should it all go to hell, which it frequently did. McKay might be a pain in the ass but he was loyal and dedicated, and Lorne felt it was about time Sheppard remembered that.
Since the disaster of the Arcturus project, Sheppard had made it pretty clear that he wanted nothing more to do with McKay but Lorne could not see the problem. Okay, so the project had failed on a massive scale, taking out most of an uninhabited solar system but, from what Lorne had gleaned from the reports, no one had voiced any objections until it was almost too late anyway. At the very least, the risk was nothing compared to the potential benefit to Earth and the Pegasus galaxy had the weapon worked and even Caldwell had argued for a continuation of the test firing. Every soldier knew that there was no such thing as a perfect mission, and that mistakes happened. Things went wrong under even the best of circumstances and you just had to think quickly to save the day and try to get out of there alive, just as Sheppard had on Arcturus that day. So why Sheppard had taken it all so personally was beyond him.
McKay made some noncommittal noise as Lorne signed off, which Lorne had learned to translate as 'thanks'. He watched the scientist stride purposefully back down the corridor before making another report, this time to his commanding officer. At the very least, it might ingratiate McKay with Sheppard a little just from the Colonel learning that he was attempting to follow security protocols.
"Major?"
"McKay asked for an escort to Grounding Station Three. I've assigned Corporal Eichmann."
"Isn't that the one damaged by the Genii?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm. Figured McKay would have had that fixed by now."
"I believe it took on more damage during the wraith attack."
"Yeah. Okay. Keep me posted and let me know when he gets back."
"Yes, Sir."
Lorne signed off, frowning a little at the audible change in Sheppard's attitude towards McKay whereas before Sheppard had bristled whenever McKay's name was even casually mentioned. Perhaps Sheppard was finally coming around after all. With a soft huff, thinking it was about time, Lorne turned back to his own duties once more.
***
John pulled up the security feed for the corridors surrounding the laboratories, playing three of them side-by-side. He wasn't certain exactly what had caught his eye but he found himself pausing the playback and rewinding all three by several minutes. His hand darted out to pause the playback the moment the anomaly made itself known, his sharp eyes having caught something - or rather someone - who could not be in two places at one time. With open-mouthed disbelief, he watched as a second Miko Kusanagi slipped around the corner of a corridor. She was only seen for a split second but John's 'fighter pilot' eyes were used to working at that level of detail.
In hindsight it all made sense because, of all people, she was Rodney's staunchest supporter, almost worshipping the ground he walked upon. Where most of the scientists sided with Zelenka over the Arcturus debacle, Miko had stayed loyal to Rodney; sitting with him at meal times to keep him company and reminding others of all the good Rodney had done to save them.
She was one of the few scientists that Rodney tolerated on a day-to-day basis, hard working and conscientious, and providing the support Rodney needed in the daily management of the ever-increasing science department. Zelenka relied on her too, finding her assistance and natural ability with the ATA gene essential when John refused to play guinea pig for him.
If only for personal reasons, John hated the idea of exposing Miko as one of the main contributors to both Halston and Ericsson's injuries. Certainly he did not want her having to face charges back on Earth. She was one of the original expedition members, fighting right alongside them during the siege even though Rodney had ordered her to the alpha site during the main battle. He gave a wry smile. Where Kavanagh and others had needed no second request to flee through the Stargate, Miko had simply stayed behind, keeping so quiet that no one realized she was still traipsing around after Rodney and Zelenka, bringing them meals and coffee, until long after the dust had settled from the nuclear explosion detonated over the city to fool the Wraith.
Knowing he had at least an hour and maybe more before Rodney returned from Grounding Station Three, John decided he would use this time to speak with Dr. Kusanagi alone. Hopefully, he would be able to convince her to stop the retaliations once she knew that John would be watching out for Rodney... and the others.
( Continued in 2/2)
AUTHOR: tarlanx
RATING: NC-17 Slash
DISCLAIMER: Not mine!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: SGA Secret Santa Challenge. You are writing for:
LiveJournal: moonlettuce
Things I'd like: McShep. Or a McKay/Sheppard/Lorne threesome. Jealous!Sheppard. Oblivious!Rodney. All of them acting like guys and not twelve-year old girls.
Things I wouldn't like: Het. Kids. An unhappy ending.
**********************************************************************
"What the hell happened here?" John ordered, his eyes moving from one marine to the next, lingering on none but making sure they knew he was talking to each of them. He wanted an answer and it had better be a good one. He caught the slight movement from the corner of his eye and turned to Sergeant Halston.
"Well?" John's eyes narrowed because Halston was already on his list of people to ship back to Earth on the Daedalus at the earliest opportunity. The marine was a misfit of the worst kind, someone who should never have made it through even the most basic of the stringent SGC security checks let alone through the entire selection process. The name dropping had given John his first inkling that the process was not quite as honest as it ought to be. Halston was some ranking officer's kid or nephew, or a favor for a friend. What he wasn't, was good SGC material. The man had little tolerance for the backward natives they met in the Pegasus galaxy and even less for the scientists on the expedition, who made far easier targets. Most likely, the man hated the fact that the majority of people in Atlantis were one hell of a lot smarter than he was, and he resented them for it.
Until recently, though, Halston had saved his attitude for the lower ranking scientists but, since Arcturus, he seemed to have set his sights on a much bigger fish - the geek king of Atlantis, Rodney McKay. John felt partly to blame for that because he had made his displeasure with McKay common knowledge. Their interaction had always suffered from sharp teasing but, since Doranda, he knew his comments had taken on a harsher edge. They did not sit down to eat together anymore, nor did they socialize outside of work situations. However, that did not give anyone else the right to treat McKay with disrespect, and certainly did not give anyone the right to haze the guy right into the infirmary.
Halston offered a snide grin. "McKay had been on my case all morning, sir. Perhaps someone figured it was time to show him exactly who was boss around here."
"And by someone, you mean you."
"No, Sir. I was on gate duty when the accident happened." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Permission to speak candidly?" John nodded. "I'm not condoning what happened but those geeks have gotta learn a little respect for the guys who stand between them and the Wraith."
John saw one or two nods and felt a sour taste in his mouth as he wondered how many more of his men felt that they had taken an unfair brunt of the action when facing the wraith. The ones who nodded had not been on Atlantis during the siege so perhaps he only needed to straighten them out but, in truth, he was disappointed that he even needed to consider it. His eyes slid to one side where Major Lorne stood stock-still with eyes revealing none of his inner feelings.
There was a time when Lorne had little respect for McKay but John thought that had changed over the past months. McKay might not be the first to jump into the battle but he could be relied upon to be there when the chips were down. After all, McKay could have stayed in the safety of Atlantis rather than follow Lorne and the others into an Iratus bug nest for there was no scientific need that warranted him placing his life into danger. Plus McKay had been right to moan about the radiation on that world where they found and then lost Ford again. Perhaps it had not been so damaging to others but Beckett had sworn heartily in front of Lorne and some of the marines when he discovered McKay had been on the planet surface during most of the strong daylight hours, and without the full suit, having left the helmet beside Lorne's stunned body. In fact, Beckett had forced everyone to take a turn under the Ancient's device for dealing with low-grade radiation poisoning after that day on 'radiation death world', with McKay returning for treatment every day for a week.
As usual, most people assumed McKay had been playing the hypochondriac but John knew better. McKay had moaned often enough about how much radiation he had been exposed to over his life and, as much as John hated to admit it, flying close to the corona of a sun and spending time with the Genii nuclear prototype bombs had not done the man any extra favors.
"I say again. What happened?"
"He fell, Sir."
John spun around to face the marine who had spoken up. "Corporal Ericsson?"
Ericsson swallowed and stood straighter. "Dr. McKay tripped and fell, sir."
"On what?"
"I don't know, Sir."
Halston piped up again. "Look, Sir. The geek took a tumble but he's obviously well enough to whine at you and Beckett so--"
John saw Lorne flinch but this time he recognized barely concealed anger.
"Exactly what did Dr. McKay trip on? And that's an order, soldier."
Silence.
John could see that most had no idea what had happened but the slightly smug look on Halston's face had not altered in the slightest. John felt the anger riding high within him because McKay could not recall anything just prior to his fall down a short flight of stairs. Beckett wanted to keep McKay in the infirmary overnight for observation but, other than the small memory loss, McKay did seem fine and was, in fact, bitching about his so-called incarceration already.
John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing he had no evidence to assume anything more sinister had occurred despite Halston's smugness. Perhaps McKay would recall something more after sleeping off the worst of his admittedly light concussion and the accompanying bad headache. John could only be grateful that his injuries were minimal. Considering the fall, he could have broken his stupid neck, and wouldn't that be a great day for Atlantis.
He pursed his lips, knowing he would get no more out of the men standing rigidly to attention before him. "Dismissed."
John watched as all but Lorne saluted, turned and walked away, his eyes narrowing questioningly. "Major?"
"Permission to speak freely."
"Yeah, go ahead."
"There was a series of similar hazing events back in the SGC, and Halston always seemed to be connected peripherally but nothing could ever be proved."
John nodded, not surprised in the slightest as Halston seemed pretty confident with whatever had happened. "Anyone badly hurt?"
Lorne shook his head. "Just annoyances, minor injuries and scares, which stopped after Dr. Jackson met with an unfortunate accident concerning glue and his glasses. Strangely enough, Halston left the SGC for one of the alpha sites shortly after the Jackson incident. I think General O'Neill might have had something to do with that."
"I can imagine," John drawled. O'Neill struck him as the kind of man who would look out for his friends and teammates. "Recommendation?"
Lorne's lips curled in slight distaste. "Halston's a good soldier to have at your back in a fight but, otherwise, the man's trouble...and if he's escalating..."
Lorne trailed off and John nodded, knowing it was already a big jump from a few harmless pranks on some of the Atlantis scientists to shoving the top geek down a flight of stairs.
"Then we don't want him around our geeks. Draw up the paperwork to get him sent back to Earth."
"Yes, sir." Lorne offered a basic salute even though John had made it pretty clear that it wasn't necessary when it was just the two of them but it showed Lorne had a lot of respect and agreement for the order given. John watched him until he turned the corner and then he walked to the closest transporter, hitting the destination closest to the infirmary. As the doors opened, John's lips twitched as McKay's less than 'dulcet tones' drifted along the corridor through the open doorway of the infirmary, followed by exasperation from Beckett.
"You took a wee knock on the head, Rodney."
"I fail to see how that should stop me from working on the power distribution equations--"
"You can barely focus on that tablet and, no, I'm not upping the painkillers just so you can work yourself into a coma."
"Colonel! Please kindly explain to our resident witchdoctor that I am perfectly--"
"I wouldn't insult the guy with access to enemas, McKay." John interrupted smoothly. Beckett's lips had tightened and he had crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance, ready to start his own tirade against McKay but those lips twitched at John's words. John noted that McKay had mirrored Beckett's cross-armed stance during their disagreement on his treatment but his blue eyes widened fractionally before false bravado overtook his motor-mouth again.
"I'm fine, Carson."
"No, you're not. You fell down a flight of stairs and can'nae recall what happened..."
"Four stairs," McKay interrupted.
"..and that's not bloody fine."
John felt a tiny surge of inexplicable annoyance when Beckett reached out and placed a hand on Rodney's rigid shoulder, leaning down to gaze intently at Rodney, looking him straight in the eye.
"I know you've a fair bit of a headache so why don't you just lie back, close your eyes and take a nap."
John heard Rodney sigh softly as some of the tension left him but, for some reason, the sight of Beckett's fingers curled over Rodney's shoulder was wrong, as was the way the fingertips caressed the bare flesh of his throat not covered by the infirmary scrub top. John narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips.
"I'm gonna go see if Zelenka has pulled up anything on the security cameras."
"Why?"
John felt astonishment at McKay's question. "You may be annoying and irritating..."
"Oh, a compliment. Not had many of those recently," he exclaimed sarcastically.
"...and get distracted by shiny... stuff and twinkling lights."
"As if you don't," he harrumphed.
John smirked. "...but you're not that clumsy on your feet, McKay."
"Gee thanks! Which means?" He made to roll his eyes in annoyance but winced instead.
"Maybe someone finally made good on a promise to sling your ass down a staircase."
McKay's half-smirk froze on his face and then slowly faded as he tensed up again despite Beckett's hand still lying on his shoulder in reassurance. "Someone tried to kill me?"
"It's a possibility."
Annoyance replaced fear. "Oh goody! Not only do I have to watch my back for the Wraith and the Genii but now for my own people too."
Beckett looked horrified. "Do you really think somebody tried to kill Rodney?"
John felt a little uncomfortable, knowing he had worried both doctors for no good reason other than a suspicion. "No. I think someone just went a little too far on a prank."
"Oh that's just great. I can imagine my epitaph now. Here lies Rodney McKay. He managed to escape having the life sucked out of him by space vampires only to slip and break his neck on a banana peel. Ha ha de ha."
"Now Rodney," Beckett admonished, squeezing his shoulder gently and gaining a grumpy but comforted response. John felt his muscles tense again, crushing a terrible urge to slap Beckett's hand away from Rodney's shoulder but, instead, he turned and walked away without another word. As he crossed the threshold, dodging around one of Rodney's minions who'd come to accost him even in the infirmary, John's sensitive hearing picked out Beckett's reassuring words to Rodney.
"I'm sure he'll come round soon."
McKay's response was lost as John carried on down the corridor but he did not need to be a genius to figure out what that was all about. After Arcturus, McKay had made his apology and John had told him he would have to re-earn his trust, except it was all a lie. McKay had never lost his trust in the first place because they all knew the stakes when they went into that project and John should have stepped in earlier when he realized that it was all going to hell. Instead, he had wanted to believe that McKay could fix it and complete something that even the Ancients had given up on. What had angered John was not McKay's insistence that he could do it, because McKay's arrogance and self-confidence in his mental acuity had never been an unknown factor. No, what had hurt was his own desperation to see this weapon work and to see the defeat of the Wraith. He had awoken them fifty years earlier than intended but, worse, he carried the guilt of not finding Sumner soon enough. If he had acted faster then perhaps they might have reached Sumner before he was forced to reveal the existence of a whole galaxy filled with tasty snacks on legs for the Wraith. Convinced that they had an endless food supply, the Wraith had fallen upon the worlds of Pegasus galaxy like a plague of locusts, leaving too little behind to restock those worlds, killing countless millions of human beings who might otherwise have escaped the cullings. The only consolation was that they had almost feasted themselves into extinction, unless they could find a way to reach Earth and the Milky Way galaxy.
Unfortunately, the Atlantis Stargate provided them with a gateway to the smorgasbord in the Milky Way and if not then the city held the technology needed to travel across the vast reaches of space between galaxies using its star drive engines buried deep within the city. Either way, the key to keeping their home galaxy safe lie in keeping Atlantis safe - or destroying Atlantis. As John had no intention of seeing the city blown into a trillion tiny pieces, the Arcturus weapon had seemed like a godsend until everything went wrong.
Once in the transporter, John reached out to select the destination that would take him to the control tower but slapped his hand down on the wall beside it instead. Why didn't he just admit the goddamned truth that he didn't care half as much about the wraith or either galaxy? What had pissed him off was his failure to protect Rodney. Elizabeth had warned him that Rodney could become so focused on his work that he failed to recognize when to stop, and John had promised that he would look out for him; he had almost failed in that duty. His desperation to see the weapon work had overshadowed his responsibility towards Rodney and he had almost left it too late. He'd almost killed both of them, and it galled that he was beholden to Caldwell for pulling their asses out of the firing line. The Daedalus had bought them the time they needed to reach the orbiting Stargate.
John rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes against the headache forming behind them. He knew it was unfair to blame McKay for all that had happened. Hell, even Zelenka had forgiven Rodney for his outburst denigrating the other scientist.
Unconsciously, he scratched at the small patch of discolored flesh from Ellia's feeding attempt. Despite John's coolness towards him, McKay had been there for him throughout the bug ordeal. John had not allowed him to come close but that had not stopped McKay from taking risks in order to help save him. Two of John's men had died on that first attempt to harvest Iratus embryos but it could easily have been all of them. It could have been Rodney left behind in the cave with bugs swarming all over him. John gave a shudder at the mental image. God but he hated bugs, and especially those bugs.
Three hours later, John had to give up. The security cameras showed McKay walking towards the stairs with his head buried in his tablet PC and then tripping near the top. All in all, John watched the footage four times, once in slow motion, and he flinched with every viewing; his fingers clenching with the urge to reach out and grab McKay, to haul him back from the edge. His lower lip felt raw from where he chewed on it upon seeing McKay's flailing arms and then unconscious body lying at the base of the stairs, the tablet PC in pieces around him. Yet, no matter how many times he looked, the angle was too steep to see what had toppled McKay and, for all John knew, the man could have tripped over his shoelaces. In exasperation, John filed his report as an accident even though his sixth sense was screaming at him that it was intentional. He could only be grateful that the flight had been one of the short ones consisting of only four steps, not wanting to imagine how much worse it could have been.
The following day, he watched from a distance as McKay left the infirmary, biting hard into his lower lip as self-punishment for not being the one to accompany him to his quarters. Instead, he watched as Beckett kept up a steady banter in his soft Scots accent, feeling that gnawing and seething inside his heart and gut as McKay walked away without ever noticing him standing at the far end of the corridor.
***
Rodney sighed as he dropped carefully onto his bed, half-glaring back at Carson's lopsided smirk but, once more, Carson seemed to know Rodney's body better than he did. The short walk from the infirmary had increased his headache and aggravated the muscle bruising from his fall. Carson reached into his pocket and withdrew a small bottle of pills. He shook out two, resealed the lid and placed the bottle on the bedside cabinet. As proof of how awful and tired he felt, Rodney had not even noticed Carson fetching a glass of water from the bathroom. He held out his hands and accepted both pills and the glass without a murmur, swallowing the pills quickly and setting the glass aside.
"Come on. Let's get you tucked up in bed. A wee nap will do you the world of good."
"I don't need a mother, Carson. I'm perfectly capable of getting myself undressed for bed."
Carson's grin widened and even Rodney had to admit that the bite was missing from his words and, if he wasn't so tired, he might even have cared. Instead, he grumbled some more as Carson ignored him and helped him strip to his boxers, though secretly appreciating the help to take off his t-shirt, before tucking him up in his bed. He must have drifted off the moment his head touched the pillow because he could not recall seeing Carson leave and the man was gone when he next opened his eyes.
Moving was an exercise in masochism, even worse than the morning following that night Cadman took his body for a spin around Atlantis without his permission; it killed his morning erection. The deep-seated ache in his bruised body and the thumping in his head made him wish he could lie in bed all day but his stomach had other ideas, rumbling loudly. He popped another couple of Tylenol and pushed off the bed, stripping off his boxers as he stumbled ungainly towards the shower. Setting it as hot as he could stand, Rodney let the heated spray massage his body, easing the aches and making him feel halfway human again. By the time he left the shower, he was a lot less stiff, though not even his fantasy of John Sheppard naked and wet in the shower with him was enough to bring a rise out of his body in that respect.
The commissary was empty when he reached it, having missed the breakfast crowd. Rodney slumped into a seat in the corner table, surprised when Kusanagi asked to join him moments later. Rodney waved to a seat, knowing he could always rely on Miko to tell him the latest gossip from the labs during his absence, whether offworld or off-duty - not that he would ever admit to listening to gossip. Still, it was always good to hear Miko's kind descriptions of incidents while he secretly read between the lines and silently chortled at the mess some of his minions were getting into. At times like this, he almost missed Kavanagh because the man had a way of causing the most hilarious upsets - and people thought *he* was socially stunted one!
"Colonel Sheppard spent many hours going through the security footage with Dr. Zelenka."
"Hours?"
"At least three hours. He seemed most upset that you were injured."
Rodney gave a noncommittal grunt because Sheppard had not made much of an effort to be seen with him recently, effectively ending their friendship even though he had promised he would let Rodney try to regain his trust. His single visit to the infirmary had been out of courtesy only because, despite Arcturus, Rodney was still the Chief Scientist on Atlantis. He had not even bothered to come by once Carson released him from the infirmary whereas, in the past, Sheppard would be the first on the scene. All civilian rank aside, he had not expected Sheppard to make much of a deal out of some misfired prank especially as the culprits were most likely military. After all, Sheppard had done nothing about the other incidences plaguing Rodney and his scientists since the new blood arrived on the Daedalus following the siege. Of course, all the scientists knew who was behind the pranks but, until recently, these were fairly harmless and his people had a way of getting back at the main culprits under the guise of failed environmental controls and the 'decrepitude' of a city lying unused at the bottom of an alien ocean for ten thousand years.
"Did he find anything?"
Miko shook her head quickly and sipped delicately at her tea.
The pranks had been minor irritations until now but tripping him down the stairs was another matter entirely, although from the sound of it, there was no proof that it was anything other than a stupid accident despite Sheppard's suspicions. Rodney had been tired and distracted at the time, spending too many long hours in the lab now there was no one to drag him away from his work. Stupidly, he never thought he would miss those interruptions and the cajoling as Sheppard slammed shut his laptop, often only just missing Rodney's fingers, before dragging him away to some inane activity. He never thought he would be desperate to watch that damn football game again either, so long as Sheppard was sitting right there beside him throwing popcorn at the screen as if he had not seen the game a dozen times over - or more.
"Are you going to eat that?" Rodney pointed at the piece of cake sitting untouched on her plate.
"No, no, no," she waved her hands, her eyes shining when Rodney slid the plate over and took a bite, as if she had never intended the cake for anyone but him. As he stuffed the final piece in and licked at his fingers, Rodney frowned as he realized that he had never seen her eat coffee cake before, or drink coffee even, so the cake probably had been for him. He harrumphed and offered her a tight smile of thanks that brightened her whole face, and then he rubbed his hands together.
"Back to work then."
Miko's face turned to horror. "No. You must rest. Dr. Beckett was most certain that you must not go back to work today."
"Oh was he? Well, I'm sure what Carson doesn't know won't hurt him."
Rodney strode out of the commissary with Miko chasing behind, his steps faltering only once as he passed by the familiar military table where Halston and two of his cronies must have dropped in after coming off duty.
"Look, it's the chief geek and his geisha. Been on any good trips recently?"
If his head had not started aching again, Rodney might have been tempted to stop but he knew from bitter experience that bullies like Halston needed actions rather than words to put them in their place. "Miko," he snapped when he noticed she had stopped, and then he carried on, hearing her quick footsteps following on behind him.
***
Two days later, McKay was back to terrorizing scientists and soldiers alike with all thoughts of being targeted by some disgruntled marine seemingly forgotten. Except John had not forgotten, and neither had someone else judging by the lines of pain etched into Halston's forehead.
"It's a bad break," Beckett murmured softly to John, just out of earshot of the injured soldier. "It's not something that can be fixed in a jiffy even with all this Ancient technology lying around the infirmary."
"Recommendation?"
"The Daedalus is due in less than a week. Halston should be sent home on it."
John licked his lips. Lorne had already drawn up the paperwork that would send Halston back on the Daedalus and it was ready to transmit to the SGC in the next data burst. Approval or denial would have come in next week's data burst but that was moot point now as Beckett would be drawing up a different set of orders that needed no approval as his medical jurisdiction overruled any military request. In some ways it was a relief to know Atlantis would be seeing the back of Halston but John's sixth sense was tingling. Halston had fallen down a flight of stairs. Once more, an investigation had found nothing untoward but the security cameras had suffered a unique malfunction just around the time of the fall, and the coincidence had left a bitter taste in John's mouth. If this was no accident then either it was revenge for McKay's tumble a few days earlier, or the original 'prankster' had not been Halston after all. Either way, John had a problem to deal with.
John spent the next week on tenterhooks, waiting to see if there was any retaliation but everything slipped back into what passed for normality with both the Halston and McKay incidents shrugged off as unfortunate accidents. Elizabeth even sent a memo to all personnel reminding them to take greater care while walking around the city in the belief that both of these accidents could have been avoided by a little vigilance. John did not believe it though, and he knew it was only a matter of time before another 'accident' occurred.
The next incident came sooner than John imagined.
***
Rodney relaxed against the shower wall, letting the water and the images of John flow over him as he slowly thrust into his own lathered hand. His breath caught in his throat at the subtle twist of his wrist and the flick of his thumb over the sensitive bundle of nerves, feeling the warm sensation unfold from deep inside as his cock pulsed in his hand, splattering his belly and fingers with his own come momentarily before the water rinsed him clean. He panted softly, tipping back his head to let the warm water flow over his face to cascade down his body as the last quivers of pleasure sang along his spine. Taking one last deep breath, he immersed his face completely and then shut off the water. His skin was tingling all over, nerve endings singing as he briskly rubbed down his wet body.
***
"I'm fine, Carson. See?"
John entered the infirmary to find his resident genius but estranged friend seated on one of Beckett's beds, scratching at the rash that covered all visible parts of his body. Beckett slapped the hand away and offered a small tub of medication.
"What happened?"
"Contact Urticaria. Rodney should know better than to borrow over people's shower gels without checking the list of possible irritants first."
"Except I didn't," McKay exclaimed in annoyance.
"So where did you get the gel, McKay?" John asked through gritted teeth, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"In my shower," he replied, giving them a withering look as if he thought they were both idiots. "Look...I got up, I took a shower. Twenty minutes later I'm covered in a rash, which Carson is going to treat before I go insane from the itching. Obviously, I've developed a new allergy to whatever the SGC are putting in the shower gel these days. Probably some fungicide or other antibiotic supposedly to kill alien..." McKay started to scratch again and Beckett grabbed his hand, holding on just a little too long for John's liking though it did, at least, put an end to the impending rant. John frowned down at the joined hands, only looking back up once Beckett had released McKay's hand to find McKay staring at him with an almost blank expression that did not quite hide the anguish in his eyes. Before John could question it, McKay looked away, his mouth a grim line.
John took this as his cue to go investigate what was niggling at the back of his mind. Atlantis let him into McKay's quarters without a murmur of disapproval and John went straight to the shower stall. He reached in and grabbed what McKay believed to be the offending shower gel and looked at it closely by holding it up to the light. The contents had started to separate into two distinct viscous liquids. Both were similar in coloring but John could see the differences. He licked his lips as he considered his next course of action, nodding to himself in the bathroom mirror as he came to a decision. As he left McKay's quarters, he thought he saw someone disappearing quickly around the far corner at the end of the corridor but knew there was no sense in trying to catch up as they would be long gone by the time he reached the junction.
Ten minutes later, one of the chemists was drawing off samples of both liquids. John waited with as much patience as he could muster as the chemical composition was analyzed.
"Well, the heavier liquid is ordinary fragrance-free shower gel. The lighter liquid has a different chemical make-up. If you take a sniff of the more concentrated extract from the bottle, you can pick up the scent. It's subtle but it's there. Nasty stuff in greater concentration. Could strip the skin off a man."
"So what was this doing in McKay's shower?"
"McKay? Someone tampered with McKay's shower gel?"
"Obviously not enough to cause more than an annoying skin rash."
"Colonel, these pranks have got to stop. Only last week, Mitters found itching powder in his socks and before that Sarkovski had a bruised shoulder after a cabinet door slammed back because someone had messed with the spring-loaded hinges."
"Mitters and Sarkovski?" John recognized the names. "Anyone else?"
"Yeah, plenty. This has been going on for months. Someone even mingled leaves from the mainland in with Kusanagi's tea and made her sick for a couple of days. Beckett thought she'd been trying some of the Athosian teas and she was too meek to argue with him."
John recalled mention of Miko's illness from the daily briefing some weeks back but never thought more of it at the time. Now he could see a pattern emerging that fitted with Lorne's suspicions regarding Halston, except Halston was in the infirmary with a broken leg so he could not be responsible for this latest nasty prank on McKay.
"Can you write me up a report about this...stuff," he asked, indicating towards the shower gel. The chemist agreed and John nodded his thanks before leaving.
As he walked back towards his office, John thought about Halston and the marines - mostly fresh off the Daedalus - that seemed to always be at Halston's beck and call. In particular, Ericsson and Saunders hovered around him, sharing meals with Halston and joining him on work-outs. They would commandeer a corner of the commissary at every meal break, along with several other marines. Sometimes they were a little loud and raucous, mildly intimidating the junior scientists who passed by but John wondered if they were only keeping it down whenever he was in the vicinity. He knew Lorne had sat with the group once or twice in the beginning after the incident on 'radiation death world' but not much since, preferring to spend the time with his own gate team instead, just as John used to do before Arcturus.
Technically, John did still sit with most of his team though, recently, he found an excuse to be elsewhere if McKay turned up and joined them. He knew it was petty and he had seen the hurt in McKay's eyes, quickly covered, but that had not stopped McKay from trying again and again, making John feel a little guilty because he had promised to give him a chance to 'earn back his trust'. Mostly, though, McKay sat with Zelenka and Beckett and occasionally with other scientists. John had nothing against Zelenka and, before Arcturus, he would even join him and McKay, listening in on all the technobabble with half his attention while the other half roamed around the commissary checking out the new faces, especially after visits from the Daedalus. He got to know the faces of the new marines quick enough as they had to report to him but not the scientists because they reported directly to McKay and Beckett. Of course, the hard part was trying to not make it look too obvious, otherwise he ended up with either an annoyed McKay or the unwanted attentions of some new scientist who thought he was making a play for them - and sometimes both.
Before the incident with Cadman and the body sharing, John had kind of liked Beckett too but seeing McKay kiss Beckett, even if it was Cadman in control, had opened up a whole load of issues that John would prefer to keep closed. He knew he liked men as well as women but flying fast planes and helicopters had been his childhood dream, one that he refused to let go of as he moved into adulthood. He had always figured women would be enough for him and losing out on the pleasure of having another man in his bed was a small price to pay to fulfill his dream. Now, he was beginning to understand that the price had only seemed small while there was no one of consequence to dream about. In those days, he had never met Rodney McKay. He had never shared in the childlike joy of discovery or watched a self-confessed coward step between a lunatic with a gun and a friend, or walk into an energy-sucking darkness.
McKay surprised him often, revealing another facet of a complex person just when John believed he knew everything he needed to know about the man.
Intellectually, McKay was a perfect match with his quicksilver mind and sharp tongue. Physically, McKay should not have been his type at all. Not with his soft belly and with skin that rarely saw the sunlight unless dragged out on missions but then John recalled the broad shoulders and surprisingly muscular arms and thighs, glimpsed while washing while off-world and, most recently in the infirmary. Enforced work-outs with the team, and with Teyla in particular, had turned most of that geek fat to muscle, sculpturing his body but leaving just enough softness behind to remind John of McKay's vulnerability in the field.
He snorted in annoyance at how easily his thoughts strayed to McKay, forcing his mind back on the problem at hand. Switching on his laptop, John settled behind his desk and began checking through Beckett's daily reports. He tightened his lips as a pattern emerged of minor incidences and accidents that could not be explained satisfactorily. Looking through the reports, the incidences had started following the influx of military and scientists fresh off the Daedalus on its second run. Saunders had arrived with Everett but Halston and Ericsson had been onboard the Daedalus during the wraith virus incident. They had to have known what McKay had done to save the whole damned ship and everyone on it, and how he had nearly been killed on at least three separate occasions while he and Hermiod flushed the virus out of the Daedalus's systems. Two scientists had died on that trip, murdered by the virus as it sought to protect itself and complete its programming to deliver them to the Wraith, dead or alive. If either of those men were behind this spate of suspicious incidences then there was something definitely wrong with them. Admittedly, McKay did manage to annoy most everyone he met but even if they had no liking for the man, they respected his abilities and that was enough to make them tolerate him.
His mailbox pinged and John checked the new message, finding the report detailing the chemical substance used to harm McKay. A report from Beckett on McKay's condition arrived soon after and John could see that, once again, this was a prank gone a little too far. The concentration of the irritant would have been just a minor annoyance to ninety-five percent of the people on Atlantis but McKay, with his fair skin and allergies, had fallen into the remaining five percent. Still, McKay's unusual reaction was not just cause for letting this incident slide with a general warning broadcast across the city. John needed to catch the culprit before he or she started an all-out war between the soldiers and scientists.
***
Damn but it itched like crazy and Rodney was certain he'd be insane long before Carson's medication took any effect. At least Carson had not embarrassed Rodney by letting Sheppard know that it was, quite literally all over. In particular, his dick itched so much that he'd even consider castration just to be free of the sensory overload that had stepped across the boundary between pleasure and pain. Almost as bad was the rash under his arms and on his nipples, and he couldn't reach the middle of his back to alleviate the terrible itching there either.
With a ragged sigh of misery, Rodney clicked on his radio and called for Carson - again.
***
Another two days passed with no progress and John was beginning to think he ought to install security cameras at every junction on Atlantis, or at least figure out how to get those systems online now that Atlantis had a ZPM. Instead, he watched as Beckett bandaged up Ericsson's hands, knowing the chemical burns would ease in time but, for now, the injury had earned Ericsson a one way ticket back to the Milky Way. John looked across as the infirmary door opened and was surprised to see McKay bluster his way in. He narrowed his eyes as McKay showed no interest in Ericsson's injuries, barely acknowledging the marine except with a twitch of his crooked mouth, as if he had expected to see him seated there with his hands completely bandaged from fingers to elbows.
"Rodney! What can I do for you?" Beckett finished with Ericsson and wandered across the infirmary.
"Carson, I need more of this cream and..." he rolled his wrist several times in lieu of words, head giving a slight flick backward.
"You need my help... again? I thought Dr. Kusanagi had offered..."
McKay mumbled something that even John could not make out with his sharper hearing but, whatever it was, it made Beckett snigger and offer McKay a teasing grin that had Rodney flushing pink with embarrassment. Once more, John felt his blood pressure rise when Beckett reached out and laid a hand on Rodney's bare arm, drawing Rodney's eyes to Beckett's for several seconds too long as far as John was concerned. Without being consciously aware, John drifted closer to the two doctors, overhearing more of their conversation.
"Is it all right if I drop by later tonight then? Around eight?"
Rodney murmured something back; his face still flushed high on his cheeks, long lashes fluttering sinfully, almost coyly as if flirting with Beckett. In response, Beckett smirked and patted Rodney's arm once more before adding quietly, "Make sure you're undressed and ready for me when I get there...and can we do it on the bed tonight as it fair killed my back bending over that chair?"
Images of Beckett's hands framing Rodney's face filled John's mind. He visualized Beckett drawing Rodney in to lavish gentle kisses that built in intensity, hands roaming beneath the blue shirt to tease an already erect nipple, swallowing Rodney's soft moans and tiny whines of need. Hands would creep south, cupping the hard cock straining against the front of Rodney's pants, circling with just the right amount of pressure to tease mercilessly. Their moans would get louder only their heavy panting betraying their lust as they locked the door behind them before Beckett slowly stripped the clothes from Rodney's body, the gentle doctor's hands knowing exactly where to touch and caress to elicit moans of pleasure as he slipped a well-practiced finger deep into Rodney's generous ass.
He groaned softly as the image of Rodney kissing Beckett filled his head, fueled by the reality forced upon McKay by Cadman. He imagined the supple fingers carding through Beckett's short, spiky hair while that flexible tongue delved and licked as they kissed, wet and open-mouthed like randy teenagers. His legs would wrap around Beckett's waist, the little needy sounds and babbling increasing as Beckett pushed inside or, judging from Beckett's comments, maybe Rodney would be the one stretching and filling Beckett.
John swallowed hard, feeling the sudden tightness in his chest and the heat in his groin as his body reacted to the illusion. The mere thought of seeing the reality had John stalking from the infirmary, and not because he had any problems with two men engaged in heavy petting. It was the thought of watching Beckett get to home base with Rodney that was the deciding factor and John knew he needed to work off a little steam before he turned around and punched Beckett for stealing...
"Wait just a goddamn moment," he hissed to himself. Beckett could only be stealing if Rodney had been John's in the first place and that was clearly not the case. Then another thought struck him at how he was compartmentalizing Rodney in his mind. All the anger was directed at McKay, using his surname even mentally to distance himself from the hurt and the pain of both their actions but whenever he thought of the other man in a needful way, it was always 'Rodney'. Then it occurred to him that, before Cadman used Rodney to kiss Beckett, John had called him 'Carson' and had considered him a friend too.
He stepped out onto the closest balcony and commanded the door to close and lock behind him. It was not often that he was slapped so hard by a revelation and it shocked him because he had never considered himself to be the jealous type before. Except he was jealous, though thankfully, not insanely jealous even if this was Beckett...no, *Carson* stealing Rodney away from him. Yet he had no right to be jealous because he was the one who had pulled away from Rodney. He was the one who had made glib remarks about re-earning trust and then refused to allow Rodney the opportunity to put things right between them by avoiding him even when he was hurt and in pain. At least Carson had been there for Rodney, tending to his injuries and consoling him in his mental anguish following Arcturus.
John clenched the balcony railing and stared hard out over the churning blue ocean. Following the Arcturus incident, Rodney had needed to repair a number of broken bridges and, in that first week before Zelenka forgave him, only Carson, Miko and Teyla would share a meal with him. If none of them was around then he sat alone in the commissary eating his meal with grim determination and an obstinate refusal to allow the estrangement to force him to run away and hide.
Of course, John had no such problems as he played the injured party, almost taking pleasure on seeing Rodney cut off and alone, believing he deserved a little fallout from the disaster that had nearly killed them both. Some part of him had wanted to see that arrogance ripped away but all John could see now was his own pettiness in leaving Rodney vulnerable and alone as the vultures circled around him, with only Carson and Teyla fending them off in those first few days. Hell, he had even glibly told Rodney he no longer trusted him when they went in after the crew of the Aurora and, even if no one else noticed, John had seen the stab of pain flicker in Rodney's too expressive eyes.
If Rodney had found a small measure of happiness with Carson then who was he to argue and act like the jealous boyfriend? It's not like he'd been much of any kind of friend lately and it was not like he had been there when Rodney had needed him over these past weeks. His attitude towards Rodney had been the example for all his men to follow. His disrespect and snide comments had left Rodney an open target for the likes of Halston and the others, and that had to change immediately because, like it or not, he did give more than just a damn about Rodney.
Taking another deep and calming breath, John pushed away from the balcony. Zelenka had pulled another set of security footage from the area surrounding the latest incident with Ericsson in the hope that the perpetrator had not considered tampering with those. He walked back into the city, determined to put an end to this series of nasty pranks before he lost more men or, worse still, before he lost Rodney.
With some trepidation, John called up the footage of the main science laboratory from several hours before the incident with Ericsson. Rodney was a self-confessed genius so it was not beyond the realms of possibility that he might have doctored the laboratory footage to show his continued presence, perhaps looping the feed so he could slip away and set up the 'accident'. If that was the case then perhaps John would spot the fake cuts.
He felt his stomach flip as he caught sight of Rodney moving around the laboratory, animatedly debating ideas before settling down in front of his own laptop. He had missed seeing him at work, seeing all that amazing energy firing up those around him. Other scientists interrupted him constantly and it made John appreciate how patient Rodney was in reality, for John knew he would be tearing his hair out if his own work was disrupted that often. Rodney's expressive face revealed how he felt about each interruption. There was always an initial irritation that quickly slipped away as the innate curiosity that made him such a good scientist took over. After that, it depended on the scientist presenting his or her work. Some strode off in anger as Rodney ripped their work to shreds, some left looking crestfallen but far more left with either a bounce in their step or a purposeful stride, enlightenment or excitement suffusing their faces.
John recalled a conversation he had once overheard between a group of scientists discussing Rodney.
"He's a goddamn ogre. He ripped my theory on Puddlejumper aerodynamics to pieces--"
"Your theory was crap and you know it."
"Doesn't matter--"
"What? He's supposed to pat you on the back and tell you nice try?"
"Personally, I prefer it when he rips into someone over shoddy work. It makes the praise all the sweeter."
John smiled, recalling the reluctant nods of agreement, even from the Puddlejumper theorist. His smile faded as his thoughts returned to the task at hand.
If Rodney was responsible for the retaliations then rebuilding trust between them would have to go both ways as it was obvious that Rodney had not trusted him enough to come to him with his grievances or trust him to deal with the pranksters. Perhaps he thought John was encouraging them or consenting to the bullying by his inaction. He took a shaky breath, only now realizing how it felt to lose a friend's trust and knowing Rodney had lived with this feeling for weeks now.
Of course, that also left the problem of what to do if he discovered that it was Rodney behind Halston's fall and Ericsson's burns. Atlantis needed Rodney far more than it needed Halston and Ericsson, in fact, far more than it needed anyone else on the expedition but the SGC would not see it that way. Everyone knew the adage that there was a thin line between genius and insanity, and the SGC might consider that Rodney had crossed that line and demand he return to Earth. Certainly, elements of the SGC and other international committees had no love for the irascible scientist. Few people could claim to be Rodney's intellectual equal, and most hated the fact that he was so much smarter than them - and that he knew it.
It left John with only one option. He had failed to protect Rodney from himself on Doranda but he could protect him now. He had to find out if Rodney was responsible for the incidences and then erase any lingering evidence if that was the case.
***
Saunders stood between the two infirmary beds holding his best men. The Daedalus was due to arrive any time now and he knew that both men would be leaving Atlantis when it returned to Earth. In both cases, they had fallen foul of retaliation by the scientists but, until a few moments earlier, Saunders had no idea which of the damn geeks was responsible. McKay's half smirk when he saw Ericsson's bandaged hands had left no doubt in his mind that McKay was the one to blame for their current condition. In each case, the retaliation had been short and brutal, intended to cause sufficient harm to give them a one way ticket out of the Pegasus galaxy but without maiming them permanently. It was the sort of underhanded gesture that he ought to have expected from a coward like McKay and it made Saunders wonder what nasty prank McKay had in store for him.
As far as he could see, the only way around this was to get McKay first, and to get him good and proper, making sure he was on the next ship home to the Milky Way with no chance of returning. It would serve the cold-hearted bastard right to have a taste of his own medicine. All he had to do was figure out a way to get the chief scientist alone, aware that no one else would give a damn what happened to him. Certainly not Colonel Sheppard, who had made his disdain for McKay pretty obvious since the scientist almost got him killed through his arrogance and negligence. Hell, the man had got one of his own people cooked and that had still not stopped him from nearly killing the Colonel too. It was little wonder that few people had anything decent to say about McKay. All Saunders ever heard was moans and disgruntled words from scientists and soldier alike as they suffered caustic comments and verbal abuse from McKay. He spared no one the lash of his sharp tongue, not even that pathetic Japanese doctor who hung on his every word like a panting dog.
No, as far as Saunders was concerned, he would be doing them all a favor by getting rid of McKay.
***
After two hours John had to admit that either Rodney was an exceptionally talented video editor, or he really was accounted for during those hours before Ericsson returned to his quarters and had acid rather than water flow out of his wash basin taps. The coincidence was not lost on John. Rodney had fallen down some stairs and then so did Halston, though far worse. Rodney had suffered a nasty, itchy rash from a chemical irritant in his bathroom and now Ericsson had suffered chemical burns from his wash basin.
Without a means of washing off the acid quickly, Ericsson had raced to the infirmary where Carson had quickly applied a solution to neutralize the acid, though not quickly enough to prevent the burns that had damaged Ericsson's hands. According to Carson, they would heal in time but it would take months of skin grafts and physical therapy before he had full dexterity once more, and that was best accomplished on Earth.
Whether intentional or not, the two most likely candidates for causing Rodney's accidents had been removed from the city permanently as John could not imagine them ever being reassigned to Atlantis, not even once their injuries had healed. At least, not if he had a say in it. But John had to be certain that no blame would ever fall back on Rodney before he could rest easy once again.
***
"Major!"
Lorne turned around, his brow furrowing in unease as McKay strode towards him with that determined look on his face that always meant trouble. "McKay?"
"I need one of your men to accompany me to Grounding Station Three."
"That area was damaged during the wraith attack."
"Yes...although, technically, it was damaged worse during the storm when Kolya's men opened fire on it. This is why I need one of your men."
"You're expecting an attack?"
"No, I'm expecting nothing but a broken grounding station but, as you so carefully pointed out, that area was further damaged during the wraith siege, bringing down sensors and communications in that part of the city."
Enlightenment struck. "And... you're following Colonel Sheppard's directive not to enter damaged sectors of the city without an escort." Which meant McKay must have cleared this with Weir also as he had been especially careful to follow protocol since Arcturus. Lorne knew it couldn't last indefinitely but... his thoughts were interrupted.
"See! I knew there was a brain in there somewhere."
Lorne gave a wry smile, knowing that could almost be taken as a compliment coming from McKay, what with him admitting that Lorne had a brain and that he could use it.
"When do you want to head out?"
McKay shrugged lazily, studying his nails while the corner of his mouth drooped into a sour line. "Oh, anytime in the next century will do."
Lorne narrowed his eyes in irritation at the obvious sarcasm and clicked his headset radio twice. "Eichmann. Report to Dr. McKay in Sector 3 in..." he eyed McKay who simply raised a tool kit and his eyebrows to indicate that he was already prepared to go. "...ten minutes. You're on escort duty. Half hour check-ins."
Lorne heard Corporal Eichmann's affirmative, noting the blandness of his response that indicated that he was less than happy with the duty. If he was not already committed to other duties, Lorne might have offered to go with McKay instead. Over the past few months he had come to see beyond the egotistical, loud-mouthed scientist to the caring and dedicated person beneath the sarcasm and arrogance. He had walked into an Iratus bug nest with the terrified scientist, knowing the man had no place there except out of loyalty towards his friends. He had read the report from the Aurora where McKay had followed Sheppard into the virtual environment when Sheppard had shown signs of being in danger, knowing he might get trapped in there as well. Lorne knew from older reports that the man had shown tremendous bravery more times than most would care to recount because that courage was often hidden behind arrogance and ego. Yet Lorne knew it took a brave man to step into the line of fire especially when he could visualize, in glorious Technicolor, the consequences should it all go to hell, which it frequently did. McKay might be a pain in the ass but he was loyal and dedicated, and Lorne felt it was about time Sheppard remembered that.
Since the disaster of the Arcturus project, Sheppard had made it pretty clear that he wanted nothing more to do with McKay but Lorne could not see the problem. Okay, so the project had failed on a massive scale, taking out most of an uninhabited solar system but, from what Lorne had gleaned from the reports, no one had voiced any objections until it was almost too late anyway. At the very least, the risk was nothing compared to the potential benefit to Earth and the Pegasus galaxy had the weapon worked and even Caldwell had argued for a continuation of the test firing. Every soldier knew that there was no such thing as a perfect mission, and that mistakes happened. Things went wrong under even the best of circumstances and you just had to think quickly to save the day and try to get out of there alive, just as Sheppard had on Arcturus that day. So why Sheppard had taken it all so personally was beyond him.
McKay made some noncommittal noise as Lorne signed off, which Lorne had learned to translate as 'thanks'. He watched the scientist stride purposefully back down the corridor before making another report, this time to his commanding officer. At the very least, it might ingratiate McKay with Sheppard a little just from the Colonel learning that he was attempting to follow security protocols.
"Major?"
"McKay asked for an escort to Grounding Station Three. I've assigned Corporal Eichmann."
"Isn't that the one damaged by the Genii?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm. Figured McKay would have had that fixed by now."
"I believe it took on more damage during the wraith attack."
"Yeah. Okay. Keep me posted and let me know when he gets back."
"Yes, Sir."
Lorne signed off, frowning a little at the audible change in Sheppard's attitude towards McKay whereas before Sheppard had bristled whenever McKay's name was even casually mentioned. Perhaps Sheppard was finally coming around after all. With a soft huff, thinking it was about time, Lorne turned back to his own duties once more.
***
John pulled up the security feed for the corridors surrounding the laboratories, playing three of them side-by-side. He wasn't certain exactly what had caught his eye but he found himself pausing the playback and rewinding all three by several minutes. His hand darted out to pause the playback the moment the anomaly made itself known, his sharp eyes having caught something - or rather someone - who could not be in two places at one time. With open-mouthed disbelief, he watched as a second Miko Kusanagi slipped around the corner of a corridor. She was only seen for a split second but John's 'fighter pilot' eyes were used to working at that level of detail.
In hindsight it all made sense because, of all people, she was Rodney's staunchest supporter, almost worshipping the ground he walked upon. Where most of the scientists sided with Zelenka over the Arcturus debacle, Miko had stayed loyal to Rodney; sitting with him at meal times to keep him company and reminding others of all the good Rodney had done to save them.
She was one of the few scientists that Rodney tolerated on a day-to-day basis, hard working and conscientious, and providing the support Rodney needed in the daily management of the ever-increasing science department. Zelenka relied on her too, finding her assistance and natural ability with the ATA gene essential when John refused to play guinea pig for him.
If only for personal reasons, John hated the idea of exposing Miko as one of the main contributors to both Halston and Ericsson's injuries. Certainly he did not want her having to face charges back on Earth. She was one of the original expedition members, fighting right alongside them during the siege even though Rodney had ordered her to the alpha site during the main battle. He gave a wry smile. Where Kavanagh and others had needed no second request to flee through the Stargate, Miko had simply stayed behind, keeping so quiet that no one realized she was still traipsing around after Rodney and Zelenka, bringing them meals and coffee, until long after the dust had settled from the nuclear explosion detonated over the city to fool the Wraith.
Knowing he had at least an hour and maybe more before Rodney returned from Grounding Station Three, John decided he would use this time to speak with Dr. Kusanagi alone. Hopefully, he would be able to convince her to stop the retaliations once she knew that John would be watching out for Rodney... and the others.
( Continued in 2/2)