Round 1 // Challenge 8 - Entries
Show/Movie: Stargate: Atlantis
Story Title: My Lips Are Sealed
Character/Relationships: Team Sheppard, Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Jennifer Keller & OCs
Rating: PG
Warnings: Just the word that’s in the prompt :D Oh, and set during S4 when Carter’s in command.
Nothing said, “Mission gone awry,” like John Sheppard’s frown when he returned through the gate from Roshal, so, even with no other indication of trouble, Colonel Carter descended the steps to meet the team. They said nothing at first, which meant little where Teyla and Ronon - or even Sheppard - were concerned. The fourth member of the contingent, however, was another story.
Sam turned to look at Rodney, whose thin, white lips still had not parted. The phrase, “My lips are sealed,” sprang to mind along with childish “zipping” and “throw away the key” motions. She looked a little more closely, glanced back at the rest of the team and returned her gaze to her still-silent chief scientist.
“Yep, it’s sealed shut all right,” John finally volunteered.
“hnk-oo,” Rodney tried to say with a ta-dah gesture before rolling his eyes.
“Infirmary,” Sam ordered, turning away to hide a smile. Concerned? Yes. Amused? Definitely! Then Colonel Carter collected herself and followed them.
After completing her examination, Doctor Keller pronounced, “Yep, they’re sealed shut all right.” The other members of Team Sheppard looked anywhere but at Rodney.
“Is there anything you can do, Doctor?” asked Colonel Carter.
“Short of a scalpel or laser?” Jennifer responded, prompting Rodney to shake his head, his eyes wide in fright. “No. I can’t detect any adhesive, and even so, solvents could prove toxic.” Rodney shook his head even more forcefully.
“I see,” Carter said. Turning to Sheppard she added, “We’ll debrief immediately.” She left to Rodney’s indecipherable ramblings, again barely able to maintain a solemn demeanor. She did worry about Rodney; his circumstances merited concern. He seemed to be more bothered about the inability to eat than anything, though, so it was hard to take *him* seriously.
“Your early report indicated the Roshalan expressed interest in trading. What happened?” Carter asked in the briefing room.
“They did. They *do* want to trade. They just don’t like Rodney.”
“Imagine that,” Sam mumbled and then looked around. “Did I say that out loud?” When Teyla nodded, she grimaced, apologized and said, “Go on.”
“Well, he kept talking out of turn, as Rodney is wont to do.”
“No, really?” When no one returned her grin, Sam schooled her expression.
“They kinda…don’t like that. Especially the Elders,” Sheppard explained.
“The Roshalon are a proud people, with certain protocols,” Teyla added. “Rodney insulted them.”
“How so?” Carter asked but contradicted herself. “Never mind. I can guess. So they sealed his mouth shut?” When the others nodded, she mumbled, “I’ve wanted to do that on more than one occasion.” She looked up, and Teyla’s brow had risen considerably. “Said that aloud again, huh?” She winced. “Sorry. And where were you when this…closure took place?”
“Well, we were there,” Sheppard whined. “First they expelled Rodney from the meeting, but we stayed to continue negotiations. He was *supposed* to sit outside and wait, but you know Rodney. He came running in and interrupted again. Said it couldn’t wait. Before we could shut him up, the Chief Elder said a bunch of mumbo jumbo, threw a handful of powder at McKay and poof! He couldn’t get his lips apart.”
“They then invited us to leave,” Teyla finished. “Though, if I understood Elder Maka’an correctly, the rest of us would be welcome to return…without Rodney.”
“Did they offer no means of reversing the process?” Sam asked.
“Perhaps they thought we would appreciate his silence,” offered Teyla. Her pointed look at John Sheppard clued Colonel Carter in, and she waited for his confession.
“I might have, purely in jest, mind you, said something to the effect…”
“You told Inka’an that you wished you could shut him up all the time.” Ronon tattled.
Colonel Carter focused on the practicalities. “Did you bring any powder back to analyze?” Sheppard nodded. “Doctor Keller? Have you examined the powder Colonel Sheppard gave you?”
“Yes, Colonel, but I detect no properties in it capable of doing this, innocuous plant compounds.”
“Rodney said?” Carter asked, hoping he’d recovered.
“Wrote. On a tablet.”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor.” Turning back to Sheppard, Carter said, “Well, we need one of the Elders to fix McKay. What do you think it will take to convince them?”
“I don’t know,” Sheppard admitted.
“Well, find out, Colonel. Dismissed. Oh, wait, what did Rodney want to tell you that couldn’t wait?”
“We don’t know. They shut him up before he could get to the point,” answered Sheppard. Carter nodded, and the team left to gate back to Roshal.
Carter met Sheppard’s abridged team and Maka’an at the gate and escorted their guest to the infirmary where Rodney waited impatiently. The scientist may actually have cringed and leaned toward Doctor Keller upon Maka’an’s entrance.
“It’s okay, McKay. He’s here to fix you.” Sheppard leaned in and warned Rodney not to speak while Maka’an was present or the Elder would shut him up again. “Understand?” Rodney nodded. “Okay, Maka’an, he’s ready.”
Colonel Carter understood nothing of what Maka’an said, but she did start when he suddenly blew powder from his hand in McKay’s face. From Rodney’s notes to her in Sheppard’s absence, she gathered the Roshalon had a ZPM that powered ancient devices worn on the Elders’ person capable of some personal defense, including sealing McKay’s mouth - a useful tool she’d like to have some days. Sam saw the glow on Maka’an’s wrist even with his misdirection but said nothing.
Fortunately, Rodney’s lips parted with a pop. He coughed and, in typical McKay fashion, started to say something. Sheppard cleared his throat, though, and McKay closed his own mouth. He eyed Maka’an warily. As Carter escorted the Elder out of the room to proceed with trade negotiations, she caught the front end of McKay’s verbal diarrhea.
“How do you tolerate the man’s verbosity on a regular basis?” Maka’an asked.
“Not well usually,” Sam answered honestly. The last thing she heard was John Sheppard’s lament.
“What was I thinking, McKay? What the HELL was I thinking?”
SHOW/MOVIE: STARGATE ATLANTIS
STORY TITLE: SHORE LEAVE
CHARACTER/RELATIONSHIPS: JOHN SHEPPARD, RICHARD WOOLSEY
RATING: (PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) PG-13
WARNINGS: VERY MINOR LANGUAGE
“Woolsey, what were you thinking?”
Woolsey glanced up from his laptop to see Colonel John Sheppard striding into his office.
“You authorized off-world travel for four people, who have never been off-world. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Calm down, colonel. Three of them are military; you always tell me your military can handle anything.”
“My highly trained SO’s can handle anything; these three are not highly trained. It’s Sergeant Chuck Campbell, senior gate technician, Sergeant Niko Ballas, maintenance supervisor, and Sergeant Peter Price, chief baker.”
“Campbell and Price are Air Force.”
“Price bakes pies and corn muffins. Chuck is CanadianAir Force. What about the other one? Jeff Marks is one of McKay’s geeks, he fixes laptops all day. At least, Ballas is a Marine. Look, these guys shouldn’t have gone off-world without security. They don’t know how to deal with what can happen out there.”
“Precisely their argument, colonel, they have never been off-world. Besides, you signed their leave requests. I simply authorized their gate travel to the Pegasus Fair on Latira. They are going to Latira City, the site of the Pegasus Coalition government. It’s probably the most civilized place in the galaxy. They will be fine; you worry too much.”
Sheppard turned to leave, tossing his last comment over his shoulder, “I sure hope you’re right.”
~~~~~
The door chime woke him with a start. Disoriented, he thought the bedside lamp on; glancing at his watch, he saw that it was 0337 hours. He opened the door to find Richard Woolsey, dressed in pajamas, his uniform pants pulled on over them.
“Richard? Wha....?”
“What the hell was I thinking, colonel?”
Sheppard swallowed, “Tell me they’re OK.”
“They are fine; just in, well, they are in custody.”
“Custody; you mean they’re in jail?”
Woolsey nodded yes.
Grabbing his radio, Sheppard contacted the Officer of the Day, “Deiks, who’s assigned call duty?” He paused, then said, “Tell them to gear-up and meet me in the gate room in fifteen minutes.”
Grabbing his BDU' pants, he told Woolsey gruffly, “I’ll go get them.”
~~~~~
The gate was engaged and SGA-3, Captain Stackhouse’s team, was waiting when Sheppard bounded off the transporter.
Stackhouse grinned, “Been quite a while, since I’ve impersonated an MP, sir.”
Sheppard shook his head, “I hear you, captain.” Looking up at Woolsey, standing on the balcony, he yelled, “If we need bail money, we’ll call.”
Sheppard led the team through the event horizon. Exiting in Latira City, they discovered a government vehicle waiting to take them to the detention center where Constable Traenor greeted them.
“Colonel Sheppard, I was looking forward to meeting you. I imagine you would have preferred different circumstances.”
“Yes, I definitely would have. What happen?”
“Your guys had a good time, colonel. What landed them here, wasn’t exactly their fault. Some disgruntled card players started a fight in a local bar. These guys ended up caught in the melee. However, from the looks of them, they need to return to Atlantis.”
“That bad?”
Traenor nodded. Sheppard sighed, “Thanks.”
The four detainees were sitting in a holding cell. As Sheppard caught his first glimpse of them, he struggled to stifle a laugh. Chuck was sporting a black eye, split lip, his shirt torn nearly in half. Barras was holding an ice pack to his head, Marks appeared in shock, and Price was suffering from dry heaves.
Sheppard was silent as Chuck walked toward him. Barras attempted to get up, but was apparently too dizzy. Sheppard waved him down.
Chuck looked sheepish, “Uh, colonel, uh, yeah, well, we had a little trouble, sir.”
“I see that, sergeant. Would you care to elaborate?”
“Well, we went to the fair and had a great time, sir…played games, ate, you know, fair stuff.” He paused as Price was sick again. “Then we found a place to s-stay, had dinner, then went to a b-bar across the street.” He paused again, swaying slightly.
“We drank a bit, then we heard about a card game similar to p-poker going on. So Barras and I decided to play. Price was talking to some former Genii solder, and they got into a “drink until you drop’ contest.”
“I take it Price lost?”
“Uh, n-no sir; well, technically, he won, uh, Price started getting sick. The Genii kept drinking, then sort of passed out with his eyes open.” Sheppard heard one of SGA-3 team members snicker.
“What about Marks? He looks shell-shocked.”
“Uh, well, uh, he started talking to this girl and well, she was from Verdna.”
Sheppard sputtered, “Verdna, Marks and one of the Verdna dancing girls?”
As Chuck nodded yes, the snickers became louder. Sheppard turned, flashing his steeliest glare at Corporal Rodriquez, “You got something to say, Rodriguez?”
“No, sir, I…”
“You know about Verdna dancing girls, corporal?” From the vibrant shade of red that Rodriquez flushed, Sheppard decided there must be an interesting story behind the embarrassment. He turned back to Chuck.
“How did you and Barras get hurt?”
“A buddy of the Genii’s was cheating, someone caught him. Since Price was drinking with him, they thought we were in on the scam. We were l-losing badly, the others thought it was a con. They attacked us, and w-well, I decked one of them, Barras took out two others. Then I woke up here.” Chuck was turning slightly green, weaving on his feet.
Sheppard motioned to Stackhouse to assist the four to the transport. They had to carry Price, but they made it back to Atlantis. Woolsey was watching from his office as they came through the gate.
Sheppard laughed to himself. These four guys just had a night they would never forget. Woolsey had been thinking correctly; everyone should have the chance to go off-world to safe areas like Latira. But for the moment, he decided to let Woolsey continue to wonder ‘what the hell he was thinking’. Meanwhile, he intended to have a chat with Rodriguez about Verdna dancing girls.
Show/Movie: Stargate SG-1
Story Title: Unexpected Consequences
Character/Relationships: Team
Rating: (PG)
Warnings: None
Bat-like creatures flew at them from all directions, swooping low like aircrafts in the training missions Jack knew so well. He and his team were trapped, at least until morning, and he worried about having enough ammunition. There were thousands of those things, or so it seemed.
"Some picnic," Daniel said, stopping to reload. "That's the last time I listen to you."
Jack didn't bother to respond, there were too many of the creatures swarming around. He shot another one that came too close for comfort, then grabbed his P-90 and watched with satisfaction as the rapid gunfire sent the creatures flying in all directions.
High pitched shrieks still filled the air, although the bats kept their distance, for awhile anyway. The lull wouldn't last, but it was a good time to make an assessment on what's left of their ammo. Jack looked over to see Carter checking her gun, while Teal'c scanned the treetops.
"Carter," he said as he rammed the clip into his gun.
"Sir?"
"Any ideas on how to get rid of these things?"
"No sir." She aimed and fired a shot at one of the braver bats that came in close. "I don't even know what they are."
"Well, whatever they are, they're not afraid of anything," Daniel said, then ducked when another creature swooped down toward him. Teal'c shot that one out of the sky, prompting Jack to ready his gun for the next onslaught. They only had about four hours of daylight left by his reckoning, and he knew they'd be in even bigger trouble when it got dark.
"Piece of cake," Daniel said sarcastically.
"I know what I said, Daniel," Jack told him while shooting the creature that was heading straight for him. Gunshots blazed around him as his team fought off the birds coming back in full force. "Looks like a great planet," he continued while spraying the skies with bullets, determined to kill as many as he could. "Sandy beaches, blue skies." He pulled out his pistol and shot a creature that was within seconds of landing on Daniel's head, then stopped long enough to slam another clip into his P-90. "People seem friendly. What's the worst that could happen?" Three more dead and Jack was just getting started. "Famous last words," he said sarcastically while killing at least four more with a spray of bullets. "What the HELL was I thinking?"
"Advanced weaponry and technology," Teal'c reminded him.
"Yeah? Well that was before I knew about these freaking bats."
They continued to shoot even though they were dangerously low on ammunition. The creatures had backed off from attacking again, but were currently flying over their prey and Jack was getting desperate.
"Carter," he said. "It'll be dark soon. See if you can get a fire going."
She nodded, but before she could take more than a few steps, the sound of a loud horn echoed through the woods and Jack watched in amazement as the creatures scattered to the winds, their shrieks drowned out by the blaring noise that seemed to go on forever and growing louder by the minute. Jack and his team were back on the defensive, their guns now aimed at the trees. Something was heading their way and they were not about to let their guard down now.
The silence, when it came, was deafening. Between the high-pitched screeches of the bats, the rattle of gunshots, and the blaring sound of a trumpet heralding safety for the time being, the noise level had to be over 100 decibels. And while Jack had no idea what a decibel really was, he did understand that the silence now meant a new kind of danger.
He and this team formed a tighter circle so that their weapons were now aimed in all directions. Leaves rustled to the right of him, which was a big concern, but so were the sounds of the wind in the trees. Was that the wind, or was it bats hiding up there waiting for another chance?
"Yo!" Jack yelled out, hoping that a friendly banter would help in staying alive. "Thanks for the help."
No response. He tightened his grip on his weapon, while continually scanning the trees. He didn't like this at all.
"Colonel," Carter said to draw his attention to her side of the battlefield. A large mechanical... something rolled out from the brush, followed by a man who was dressed in what looked like a jumpsuit.
"Now what," he muttered as the man casually waved at them.
"Do not worry," the man said. "You are safe from the beasts that plague our village." He stopped in front of Teal'c and said, "You are strangers to our land, are you not?"
"We are," Teal'c replied warily.
"Was it you that helped us?" Daniel wanted to know.
The man smiled, then nodded before reaching out to push a button. Jack's gun came up almost automatically, but an earsplitting blare of noise trumpeted through the air and he instinctively reached up one hand to block his ear while hunching his shoulder to protect the other one.
The man shut it off, then gave them a smug look. "Very effective."
"I guess so!" Jack said in agreement. His ears were still ringing.
"Come," the man said. He held up a dead creature as if trying to entice his guests. "Thanks to you we will have roasted trensmer tonight. The meat must be soaked in branweed oil for a few hours first, roasted until almost burned in order to eliminate the poison within, then we can enjoy a feast!"
"Poison," Jack said, forcing a smile and nodding in mock agreement. "Sounds great." He looked over to see Daniel thinking the same thing, judging by the look on his face.
Times like this, Jack thought as he shrugged his shoulders. "You mentioned something about a picnic, Daniel?" Daniel gave him a 'let's get this over with look' and Jack sighed. "After you," he told his team.
Show/Movie: Stargate Atlantis
Story Title: The Beauty Of Nature
Character/Relationships: Rodney McKay/Carson Beckett
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
The sun was shining, bathing the clearing with its warmth and light. The lush green of the surrounding trees and the grass was proof of a healthy, untouched environment. Birds were singing, their voices strong enough to be heard over the sound of the small waterfall which was gathering water coming from the near mountains in a lake surrounded by rocks. All of nature's beauty didn't register with the man sitting on the highest rock.
Rodney was perching close to the edge on a pillow, his feet dangling above the water. Holding a fishing rod, he stared at the lake, miserable beyond belief. He didn't like nature. It was dirty and unhygienic. He was stubbornly refusing to have fun.
Unlike the maniac sitting next to him, his feet hanging over the edge of the rock next to Rodney's. ”Gorgeous, isn't it?” Carson asked and Rodney pulled a face. His lover didn't seem to notice. ”Nature at its best.”
Rodney felt a sting in his neck and rubbed his hand over the spot. ”I think something bit me.”
”Aw, don't be like that,” Carson said with a grin. He leaned over and kissed Rodney's cheek. ”You'd love this if you'd only allow yourself to have fun sometimes.”
”I have plenty of fun.”
”Really?”
”Yes. I'm a very fun person.” He yelped and slapped a hand on his cheek. ”It bit me again!” Carson didn't answer, apparently he'd decided to let Rodney whine. Rodney muttered, ”What the hell was I thinking?” He waved the rod in the air, causing Carson to wince and duck away when it came dangerously close to his head. ”Fishing. I hate fishing.”
Carson grabbed the rod and said, ”Hold it still. Or they won't bite.” Then he looked at Rodney. ”And you agreed to come with me.”
”You forced me.”
”I didn't.”
”Yes, you did. You threatened me to deprive me of your mom's muffins … and sex.”
Carson rolled his eyes. ”Good to know that my mom's muffins come first.”
Rodney groaned. ”There's so much to do for me in Atlantis. To think that I'm essentially wasting my time here ...”
”Wasting your time?” Carson echoed and he looked a bit miffed. Rodney noticed that he might have just gone a bit too far with that last remark. It wasn't easy to make Carson mad. His lover stared at him with narrowed eyes and Rodney swallowed. Yep, he was definitely on his way to 'sleep alone in your own quarters'-Ville.
Carson spoke calmly but firmly, a sure sign that he was angry. ”This is the first time in weeks we get to spend together, alone, away from Atlantis. It's not a waste of time.”
”But I hate fish-”
”Forget fishing!” Carson interrupted him. ”Fishing was the reason for coming here, I'll give you that. It's something I enjoy doing, and when I think about all the times I did something you like, you could at least pretend to have fun. But this really is about spending time together, Rodney. It's our day off. Why didn't you find some weird excuse if you didn't want to come in the first place?”
Rodney avoided Carson's eyes, instead staring at the waterfall. ”Because I wanted to do you a favor.” When he risked a glance at Carson, one of his lover's eyebrows was raised. A clear sign that he wasn't believing him. Rodney rolled his eyes. ”Alright, I didn't find an excuse that was good enough.”
”That's more like it,” Carson said. He sighed and turned his head away. Rodney assumed that he was disappointed and felt guilty. He wanted to make things right again. He couldn't bear making Carson sad or angry, but he couldn't help himself.
He hesitated for a moment, then he laid his hand on Carson's thigh, near the knee, and squeezed gently. ”I'm sorry. I'm an idiot … again.”
Carson looked at him. ”You are,” he said. Rodney moved closer, their hips and thighs touching now, and slid his arm around Carson's waist. He placed a kiss on Carson's lips. Carson smiled and put first his rod aside and then Rodney's, before leaning towards him and engaging him in a deeper kiss that sent Rodney sprawling on his back on the rock, Carson's warm weight on him.
Carson said, ”So, fishing wasn't such a good idea, obviously. Let's see what else I can do to convince you of the beauty of nature.” He slid between Rodney's legs and kissed him again.
Rodney thought that nature wasn't as bad as he'd believed.
Show/Movie: Stargate Atlantis
Story Title: Action Painting
Character/Relationships: John, Lorne, most of the Atlantis folks from season five.
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
It all started when Rodney picked Lorne for his team.
John had been planning on picking Zelenka anyway, but he thought Rodney and Lorne's mutual dislike would keep them apart long enough for John to choose Lorne in the first few rounds. Lorne glared at John as he put a little green dot next to his name on the roster.
It ended up being a surprising mix of teams. Rodney chose a fair amount of marines, and John got as many scientists as he could until he realized Rodney was exclusively picking people with the ATA gene. Then he got more strategic in a hurry.
It was just a game of paintball assassin. It should have been over in no time, based on how preoccupied everyone was. Things like off-world missions and repairs on the jumpers and Rodney's pet project of using Wraith technology to grow drones should have been a priority, but the contest quickly devolved into nasty tactics when he found out Rodney had made full-body shields for his team. Well, for the ATA members of his team.
That's when things got really messy.
John immediately found someone on Rodney's team he figured was trusting enough to take the shield off so he could shower. He snuck into Parrish's room the next morning.
With Parrish out of the picture and John in one of Rodney's shields, he figured they'd whittle it down to a stalemate in a couple of days and call it good.
Instead, it became all out war. Woolsey stopped off-world missions when it became clear that they were screwing up diplomatic opportunities to off one another with paintballs. Woolsey also had to call a moratorium on deadly tactics when three of his scientists tricked one of Rodney's marines into a desalination tank and only let him out when he took off his shield.
Radek lasted quite a while for a guy without a shield. He was fast and wily, carrying a lifesigns detector everywhere. Unfortunately he fell for Rodney's faked emergency (and after that, Woolsey made the emergency channel on comms off limits too) and that was the end of John's number two.
It was Keller who got Rodney. Sly, she was - making her his second round draft choice was the smartest thing he'd ever done - getting him to take off his shield so they could make out and shooting him in the back. They didn't speak for a day and a half while Rodney plotted his revenge. Lorne took her out in the infirmary during a surgery.
She was the last of the infirmary staff still on the active list, but Woolsey declared the infirmary a neutral zone anyway. A week after SGA-5 got hit with paintballs on their way in from M3C-2X9, the gate room became a neutral zone too.
By the end of day five, the only people left alive were himself, Lorne, Simpson, and Mehra. All four of them had shields and all four of them were smart enough never to take them off outside the infirmary. He had Simpson researching a substance that could eat through the shield (without harming the human inside it, except to get them painty) and Dusty looking into testing the shields for possible chinks in the armor.
They all showered and took their meals in the infirmary, and it was Lorne that found the chink in the armor first. He found some kind of disruption field that shut down the shields briefly, and he set it up just outside the infirmary door and got Simpson and Mehra as they walked out after lunch.
John called that cheating, but it didn't keep him from asking Atlantis where there might be another disruptor and making paintball grenades.
He called in one last favor from Zelenka, having him call Lorne to one of the out of the way labs in the sub-level on the southwest pier.
Lorne came strolling in, apparently thinking Zelenka would never betray him, because John's paintball grenade hit him square in the chest. The disruption emitter didn't work, though, so while there was a nice splotch of blue paint dripping down his shield, but it was completely intact.
John got another shot off while Lorne was too stunned to move. The emitter worked - he could see the ripple in the shield - but he missed and hit the wall to Lorne's left.
Lorne got smart and ducked, but that wouldn't be enough to beat John. He had a stack of paintball grenades and all he had to do was get one little drop of paint on Lorne's head to win this thing, and oh, he was going to win.
He hadn't counted on Lorne sliding under the consoles and knocking his grenade pile all over the place, though. Baseball-sized paintballs bounced all around the tiny lab. Lorne shot right past him and behind another console, grabbing at least one of the grenades on the way.
John snapped up as many as he could reach, turning on their emitters and lobbing them Lorne's way. He could only hope Lorne would have lousy aim. That hope was shot down mercilessly when Lorne managed a bulls-eye on the top of his head. The emitter didn't work, so he was dry, but the paint sliding down his shield meant he couldn't see. He wiped at it furiously but by the time he cleared it, Lorne was right in front of him, chucking paintball grenades like they were going out of style. The emitter on at least one of them worked, and suddenly John was covered in blue, purple, green, and pink paint.
He wiped the paint out of his eyes, admitting defeat. "What the hell was I thinking?"
Lorne grinned smugly at him. "That I'd be on your team."
"C'mere," John said, chasing Lorne with his arms open wide. "I need a hug."
Show/Movie: Stargate SG-1
Story Title: Speechless
Character/Relationships: Daniel/Sha're, Jack, Daniel
Rating: PG
Warnings: Some talk of canon character death
Jack watched Daniel lean back into the couch, his hand lightly cradling a beer bottle. It had been an interesting day. Jack knew the date Daniel's wife Sha're had died, but until now -- barely one year after her death -- Jack hadn't known that her birthday had been mere weeks later.
Daniel had said he wanted to spend the day celebrating her life, not mourning her passing, and it was with that in mind that SG-1 -- Daniel, Jack, Carter and Teal'c -- had gathered for an evening of food and friendship. Teal'c had been reluctant at first, and Jack couldn't blame him. After all, if he'd been the one to kill the object of celebration, Jack knew he wouldn't feel particularly welcome.
It was a measure of the man that Daniel had insisted.
"You saved me," he said when Teal'c balked. "It hurt, but you saved me. And in all reality, you probably saved her, too."
And so today they all gathered at Jack's house. Daniel cooked traditional Abydonian food -- well, as traditional as you could get with Earth ingredients -- and told so many stories about Sha're, Skaara, Kasuf and the rest of his adopted people that Jack kept expecting him to accidentally repeat one. But he never did, and each new tale lit up his face more than the one that had come before it.
But night had fallen now. Teal'c and Carter had left, there were no new stories to tell and a sense of melancholy was beginning to fill the void. Jack sat down next to him.
"Great party," he said. Daniel nodded, but said nothing.
Jack sat there for a few moments before turning his attention to the empty bottles and plates littering the room. He had just reached for the first dish when Daniel spoke.
"I really loved her, you know. More than anything."
"Yeah, I know."
"And she loved me, too. She didn't care that-" he stopped, seemed to recompose his thoughts and tried again. "Even when she knew I wasn't 100 percent...honest. I thought for sure she'd leave me, and I'd be stuck on that planet alone."
"What?" Jack said. "I know I've been drinking tonight but....what?"
Daniel leaned forward and bowed his head before cocking it slightly to look at him. Jack noticed an almost imperceptible shake to his fingers. Finally, Daniel took a breath as if to speak, but whatever words he was going to say died in his throat.
"This is insane," he said instead. "I should go."
"Oh, no no no," Jack said as he placed a firm hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I know I'm not Mr. Talks-a-Lot, but you always have been, so give it. Spill. Talk."
Daniel coughed as he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes and the bridge of his nose. "All right," he said. "Come here." He beckoned for Jack to move closer.
"You do know that there's no one else here, right?
"Jack," Daniel said in that exasperated tone of his.
"All right, okay," Jack said as he leaned closer.
When Jack could feel Daniel's breath on his neck, he waited for him to speak, to whisper something in his ear that by the light of day would seem wholly inconsequential but in the fog of the evening felt like anything but.
Words never came. Instead, Daniel turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to Jack's cheek. His eyelashes tickled Jack's skin as eyes closed and Jack felt a gentle warmth as Daniel rested a hand on the opposite side of his neck.
It was perhaps the most chaste and yet most intimate kiss Jack had received in a long time....and he froze.
The tension in the room was palpable, and before Jack could even process what had happened, let alone form thoughts about it, Daniel was pulling away and putting his glasses back on as he muttered an awkward apology and goodbye before crossing the room and disappearing out the front door.
Jack sat, unmoving. The room seemed to disappear as thoughts whizzed through his brain, trying to make sense of the last few minutes and the years that had come before them. Finally, his focus returned and his eyes settled on on Daniel's car keys, gleaming on the coffee table. He picked them up and walked out the door.
Daniel was sitting on the steps, his back to Jack.
"I forgot my keys," he said.
Jack sat down next to him.
"You know, Daniel," he finally said. "I don't really care if you're...you know...or in-between or whatever. But the thing is, I'm not...I can't be-"
"Jack, don't be ridiculous," Daniel said. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking in there. I know that you and I are so not the same. But I just..." Daniel paused again.
"When I came back from Abydos," he continued, "after Apophis had taken Sha're, you were quite literally my only friend in the world. And I was just thinking awhile back, when you and Teal'c were trapped in that glider..."
Jack remembered it well -- the first time Earth had tried to repurpose a Goa'uld death glider had left the two of them near death halfway across the solar system. It was only through the combined effort of Carter, her father and Daniel that they had survived.
"I realized then that I had been lying to you," Daniel said. "And with the work that we do...anything can happen at any second, and I just...wanted you to know who I am. I didn't want our friendship to be tainted with a lie. But I didn't know how to say it."
They lapsed into silence again. It was Jack who spoke first.
"Just so you know," he said, "What I'm hearing is that I'm so amazing I left a guy who speaks 27 languages speechless." Jack grinned and nudged him with his shoulder as Daniel burst into laughter.
"Let's go inside," Jack said. "It's freezing out here."
Story Title: My Lips Are Sealed
Character/Relationships: Team Sheppard, Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Jennifer Keller & OCs
Rating: PG
Warnings: Just the word that’s in the prompt :D Oh, and set during S4 when Carter’s in command.
Nothing said, “Mission gone awry,” like John Sheppard’s frown when he returned through the gate from Roshal, so, even with no other indication of trouble, Colonel Carter descended the steps to meet the team. They said nothing at first, which meant little where Teyla and Ronon - or even Sheppard - were concerned. The fourth member of the contingent, however, was another story.
Sam turned to look at Rodney, whose thin, white lips still had not parted. The phrase, “My lips are sealed,” sprang to mind along with childish “zipping” and “throw away the key” motions. She looked a little more closely, glanced back at the rest of the team and returned her gaze to her still-silent chief scientist.
“Yep, it’s sealed shut all right,” John finally volunteered.
“hnk-oo,” Rodney tried to say with a ta-dah gesture before rolling his eyes.
“Infirmary,” Sam ordered, turning away to hide a smile. Concerned? Yes. Amused? Definitely! Then Colonel Carter collected herself and followed them.
After completing her examination, Doctor Keller pronounced, “Yep, they’re sealed shut all right.” The other members of Team Sheppard looked anywhere but at Rodney.
“Is there anything you can do, Doctor?” asked Colonel Carter.
“Short of a scalpel or laser?” Jennifer responded, prompting Rodney to shake his head, his eyes wide in fright. “No. I can’t detect any adhesive, and even so, solvents could prove toxic.” Rodney shook his head even more forcefully.
“I see,” Carter said. Turning to Sheppard she added, “We’ll debrief immediately.” She left to Rodney’s indecipherable ramblings, again barely able to maintain a solemn demeanor. She did worry about Rodney; his circumstances merited concern. He seemed to be more bothered about the inability to eat than anything, though, so it was hard to take *him* seriously.
“Your early report indicated the Roshalan expressed interest in trading. What happened?” Carter asked in the briefing room.
“They did. They *do* want to trade. They just don’t like Rodney.”
“Imagine that,” Sam mumbled and then looked around. “Did I say that out loud?” When Teyla nodded, she grimaced, apologized and said, “Go on.”
“Well, he kept talking out of turn, as Rodney is wont to do.”
“No, really?” When no one returned her grin, Sam schooled her expression.
“They kinda…don’t like that. Especially the Elders,” Sheppard explained.
“The Roshalon are a proud people, with certain protocols,” Teyla added. “Rodney insulted them.”
“How so?” Carter asked but contradicted herself. “Never mind. I can guess. So they sealed his mouth shut?” When the others nodded, she mumbled, “I’ve wanted to do that on more than one occasion.” She looked up, and Teyla’s brow had risen considerably. “Said that aloud again, huh?” She winced. “Sorry. And where were you when this…closure took place?”
“Well, we were there,” Sheppard whined. “First they expelled Rodney from the meeting, but we stayed to continue negotiations. He was *supposed* to sit outside and wait, but you know Rodney. He came running in and interrupted again. Said it couldn’t wait. Before we could shut him up, the Chief Elder said a bunch of mumbo jumbo, threw a handful of powder at McKay and poof! He couldn’t get his lips apart.”
“They then invited us to leave,” Teyla finished. “Though, if I understood Elder Maka’an correctly, the rest of us would be welcome to return…without Rodney.”
“Did they offer no means of reversing the process?” Sam asked.
“Perhaps they thought we would appreciate his silence,” offered Teyla. Her pointed look at John Sheppard clued Colonel Carter in, and she waited for his confession.
“I might have, purely in jest, mind you, said something to the effect…”
“You told Inka’an that you wished you could shut him up all the time.” Ronon tattled.
Colonel Carter focused on the practicalities. “Did you bring any powder back to analyze?” Sheppard nodded. “Doctor Keller? Have you examined the powder Colonel Sheppard gave you?”
“Yes, Colonel, but I detect no properties in it capable of doing this, innocuous plant compounds.”
“Rodney said?” Carter asked, hoping he’d recovered.
“Wrote. On a tablet.”
“Okay, thank you, Doctor.” Turning back to Sheppard, Carter said, “Well, we need one of the Elders to fix McKay. What do you think it will take to convince them?”
“I don’t know,” Sheppard admitted.
“Well, find out, Colonel. Dismissed. Oh, wait, what did Rodney want to tell you that couldn’t wait?”
“We don’t know. They shut him up before he could get to the point,” answered Sheppard. Carter nodded, and the team left to gate back to Roshal.
Carter met Sheppard’s abridged team and Maka’an at the gate and escorted their guest to the infirmary where Rodney waited impatiently. The scientist may actually have cringed and leaned toward Doctor Keller upon Maka’an’s entrance.
“It’s okay, McKay. He’s here to fix you.” Sheppard leaned in and warned Rodney not to speak while Maka’an was present or the Elder would shut him up again. “Understand?” Rodney nodded. “Okay, Maka’an, he’s ready.”
Colonel Carter understood nothing of what Maka’an said, but she did start when he suddenly blew powder from his hand in McKay’s face. From Rodney’s notes to her in Sheppard’s absence, she gathered the Roshalon had a ZPM that powered ancient devices worn on the Elders’ person capable of some personal defense, including sealing McKay’s mouth - a useful tool she’d like to have some days. Sam saw the glow on Maka’an’s wrist even with his misdirection but said nothing.
Fortunately, Rodney’s lips parted with a pop. He coughed and, in typical McKay fashion, started to say something. Sheppard cleared his throat, though, and McKay closed his own mouth. He eyed Maka’an warily. As Carter escorted the Elder out of the room to proceed with trade negotiations, she caught the front end of McKay’s verbal diarrhea.
“How do you tolerate the man’s verbosity on a regular basis?” Maka’an asked.
“Not well usually,” Sam answered honestly. The last thing she heard was John Sheppard’s lament.
“What was I thinking, McKay? What the HELL was I thinking?”
SHOW/MOVIE: STARGATE ATLANTIS
STORY TITLE: SHORE LEAVE
CHARACTER/RELATIONSHIPS: JOHN SHEPPARD, RICHARD WOOLSEY
RATING: (PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) PG-13
WARNINGS: VERY MINOR LANGUAGE
“Woolsey, what were you thinking?”
Woolsey glanced up from his laptop to see Colonel John Sheppard striding into his office.
“You authorized off-world travel for four people, who have never been off-world. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Calm down, colonel. Three of them are military; you always tell me your military can handle anything.”
“My highly trained SO’s can handle anything; these three are not highly trained. It’s Sergeant Chuck Campbell, senior gate technician, Sergeant Niko Ballas, maintenance supervisor, and Sergeant Peter Price, chief baker.”
“Campbell and Price are Air Force.”
“Price bakes pies and corn muffins. Chuck is CanadianAir Force. What about the other one? Jeff Marks is one of McKay’s geeks, he fixes laptops all day. At least, Ballas is a Marine. Look, these guys shouldn’t have gone off-world without security. They don’t know how to deal with what can happen out there.”
“Precisely their argument, colonel, they have never been off-world. Besides, you signed their leave requests. I simply authorized their gate travel to the Pegasus Fair on Latira. They are going to Latira City, the site of the Pegasus Coalition government. It’s probably the most civilized place in the galaxy. They will be fine; you worry too much.”
Sheppard turned to leave, tossing his last comment over his shoulder, “I sure hope you’re right.”
~~~~~
The door chime woke him with a start. Disoriented, he thought the bedside lamp on; glancing at his watch, he saw that it was 0337 hours. He opened the door to find Richard Woolsey, dressed in pajamas, his uniform pants pulled on over them.
“Richard? Wha....?”
“What the hell was I thinking, colonel?”
Sheppard swallowed, “Tell me they’re OK.”
“They are fine; just in, well, they are in custody.”
“Custody; you mean they’re in jail?”
Woolsey nodded yes.
Grabbing his radio, Sheppard contacted the Officer of the Day, “Deiks, who’s assigned call duty?” He paused, then said, “Tell them to gear-up and meet me in the gate room in fifteen minutes.”
Grabbing his BDU' pants, he told Woolsey gruffly, “I’ll go get them.”
~~~~~
The gate was engaged and SGA-3, Captain Stackhouse’s team, was waiting when Sheppard bounded off the transporter.
Stackhouse grinned, “Been quite a while, since I’ve impersonated an MP, sir.”
Sheppard shook his head, “I hear you, captain.” Looking up at Woolsey, standing on the balcony, he yelled, “If we need bail money, we’ll call.”
Sheppard led the team through the event horizon. Exiting in Latira City, they discovered a government vehicle waiting to take them to the detention center where Constable Traenor greeted them.
“Colonel Sheppard, I was looking forward to meeting you. I imagine you would have preferred different circumstances.”
“Yes, I definitely would have. What happen?”
“Your guys had a good time, colonel. What landed them here, wasn’t exactly their fault. Some disgruntled card players started a fight in a local bar. These guys ended up caught in the melee. However, from the looks of them, they need to return to Atlantis.”
“That bad?”
Traenor nodded. Sheppard sighed, “Thanks.”
The four detainees were sitting in a holding cell. As Sheppard caught his first glimpse of them, he struggled to stifle a laugh. Chuck was sporting a black eye, split lip, his shirt torn nearly in half. Barras was holding an ice pack to his head, Marks appeared in shock, and Price was suffering from dry heaves.
Sheppard was silent as Chuck walked toward him. Barras attempted to get up, but was apparently too dizzy. Sheppard waved him down.
Chuck looked sheepish, “Uh, colonel, uh, yeah, well, we had a little trouble, sir.”
“I see that, sergeant. Would you care to elaborate?”
“Well, we went to the fair and had a great time, sir…played games, ate, you know, fair stuff.” He paused as Price was sick again. “Then we found a place to s-stay, had dinner, then went to a b-bar across the street.” He paused again, swaying slightly.
“We drank a bit, then we heard about a card game similar to p-poker going on. So Barras and I decided to play. Price was talking to some former Genii solder, and they got into a “drink until you drop’ contest.”
“I take it Price lost?”
“Uh, n-no sir; well, technically, he won, uh, Price started getting sick. The Genii kept drinking, then sort of passed out with his eyes open.” Sheppard heard one of SGA-3 team members snicker.
“What about Marks? He looks shell-shocked.”
“Uh, well, uh, he started talking to this girl and well, she was from Verdna.”
Sheppard sputtered, “Verdna, Marks and one of the Verdna dancing girls?”
As Chuck nodded yes, the snickers became louder. Sheppard turned, flashing his steeliest glare at Corporal Rodriquez, “You got something to say, Rodriguez?”
“No, sir, I…”
“You know about Verdna dancing girls, corporal?” From the vibrant shade of red that Rodriquez flushed, Sheppard decided there must be an interesting story behind the embarrassment. He turned back to Chuck.
“How did you and Barras get hurt?”
“A buddy of the Genii’s was cheating, someone caught him. Since Price was drinking with him, they thought we were in on the scam. We were l-losing badly, the others thought it was a con. They attacked us, and w-well, I decked one of them, Barras took out two others. Then I woke up here.” Chuck was turning slightly green, weaving on his feet.
Sheppard motioned to Stackhouse to assist the four to the transport. They had to carry Price, but they made it back to Atlantis. Woolsey was watching from his office as they came through the gate.
Sheppard laughed to himself. These four guys just had a night they would never forget. Woolsey had been thinking correctly; everyone should have the chance to go off-world to safe areas like Latira. But for the moment, he decided to let Woolsey continue to wonder ‘what the hell he was thinking’. Meanwhile, he intended to have a chat with Rodriguez about Verdna dancing girls.
Show/Movie: Stargate SG-1
Story Title: Unexpected Consequences
Character/Relationships: Team
Rating: (PG)
Warnings: None
Bat-like creatures flew at them from all directions, swooping low like aircrafts in the training missions Jack knew so well. He and his team were trapped, at least until morning, and he worried about having enough ammunition. There were thousands of those things, or so it seemed.
"Some picnic," Daniel said, stopping to reload. "That's the last time I listen to you."
Jack didn't bother to respond, there were too many of the creatures swarming around. He shot another one that came too close for comfort, then grabbed his P-90 and watched with satisfaction as the rapid gunfire sent the creatures flying in all directions.
High pitched shrieks still filled the air, although the bats kept their distance, for awhile anyway. The lull wouldn't last, but it was a good time to make an assessment on what's left of their ammo. Jack looked over to see Carter checking her gun, while Teal'c scanned the treetops.
"Carter," he said as he rammed the clip into his gun.
"Sir?"
"Any ideas on how to get rid of these things?"
"No sir." She aimed and fired a shot at one of the braver bats that came in close. "I don't even know what they are."
"Well, whatever they are, they're not afraid of anything," Daniel said, then ducked when another creature swooped down toward him. Teal'c shot that one out of the sky, prompting Jack to ready his gun for the next onslaught. They only had about four hours of daylight left by his reckoning, and he knew they'd be in even bigger trouble when it got dark.
"Piece of cake," Daniel said sarcastically.
"I know what I said, Daniel," Jack told him while shooting the creature that was heading straight for him. Gunshots blazed around him as his team fought off the birds coming back in full force. "Looks like a great planet," he continued while spraying the skies with bullets, determined to kill as many as he could. "Sandy beaches, blue skies." He pulled out his pistol and shot a creature that was within seconds of landing on Daniel's head, then stopped long enough to slam another clip into his P-90. "People seem friendly. What's the worst that could happen?" Three more dead and Jack was just getting started. "Famous last words," he said sarcastically while killing at least four more with a spray of bullets. "What the HELL was I thinking?"
"Advanced weaponry and technology," Teal'c reminded him.
"Yeah? Well that was before I knew about these freaking bats."
They continued to shoot even though they were dangerously low on ammunition. The creatures had backed off from attacking again, but were currently flying over their prey and Jack was getting desperate.
"Carter," he said. "It'll be dark soon. See if you can get a fire going."
She nodded, but before she could take more than a few steps, the sound of a loud horn echoed through the woods and Jack watched in amazement as the creatures scattered to the winds, their shrieks drowned out by the blaring noise that seemed to go on forever and growing louder by the minute. Jack and his team were back on the defensive, their guns now aimed at the trees. Something was heading their way and they were not about to let their guard down now.
The silence, when it came, was deafening. Between the high-pitched screeches of the bats, the rattle of gunshots, and the blaring sound of a trumpet heralding safety for the time being, the noise level had to be over 100 decibels. And while Jack had no idea what a decibel really was, he did understand that the silence now meant a new kind of danger.
He and this team formed a tighter circle so that their weapons were now aimed in all directions. Leaves rustled to the right of him, which was a big concern, but so were the sounds of the wind in the trees. Was that the wind, or was it bats hiding up there waiting for another chance?
"Yo!" Jack yelled out, hoping that a friendly banter would help in staying alive. "Thanks for the help."
No response. He tightened his grip on his weapon, while continually scanning the trees. He didn't like this at all.
"Colonel," Carter said to draw his attention to her side of the battlefield. A large mechanical... something rolled out from the brush, followed by a man who was dressed in what looked like a jumpsuit.
"Now what," he muttered as the man casually waved at them.
"Do not worry," the man said. "You are safe from the beasts that plague our village." He stopped in front of Teal'c and said, "You are strangers to our land, are you not?"
"We are," Teal'c replied warily.
"Was it you that helped us?" Daniel wanted to know.
The man smiled, then nodded before reaching out to push a button. Jack's gun came up almost automatically, but an earsplitting blare of noise trumpeted through the air and he instinctively reached up one hand to block his ear while hunching his shoulder to protect the other one.
The man shut it off, then gave them a smug look. "Very effective."
"I guess so!" Jack said in agreement. His ears were still ringing.
"Come," the man said. He held up a dead creature as if trying to entice his guests. "Thanks to you we will have roasted trensmer tonight. The meat must be soaked in branweed oil for a few hours first, roasted until almost burned in order to eliminate the poison within, then we can enjoy a feast!"
"Poison," Jack said, forcing a smile and nodding in mock agreement. "Sounds great." He looked over to see Daniel thinking the same thing, judging by the look on his face.
Times like this, Jack thought as he shrugged his shoulders. "You mentioned something about a picnic, Daniel?" Daniel gave him a 'let's get this over with look' and Jack sighed. "After you," he told his team.
Show/Movie: Stargate Atlantis
Story Title: The Beauty Of Nature
Character/Relationships: Rodney McKay/Carson Beckett
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
The sun was shining, bathing the clearing with its warmth and light. The lush green of the surrounding trees and the grass was proof of a healthy, untouched environment. Birds were singing, their voices strong enough to be heard over the sound of the small waterfall which was gathering water coming from the near mountains in a lake surrounded by rocks. All of nature's beauty didn't register with the man sitting on the highest rock.
Rodney was perching close to the edge on a pillow, his feet dangling above the water. Holding a fishing rod, he stared at the lake, miserable beyond belief. He didn't like nature. It was dirty and unhygienic. He was stubbornly refusing to have fun.
Unlike the maniac sitting next to him, his feet hanging over the edge of the rock next to Rodney's. ”Gorgeous, isn't it?” Carson asked and Rodney pulled a face. His lover didn't seem to notice. ”Nature at its best.”
Rodney felt a sting in his neck and rubbed his hand over the spot. ”I think something bit me.”
”Aw, don't be like that,” Carson said with a grin. He leaned over and kissed Rodney's cheek. ”You'd love this if you'd only allow yourself to have fun sometimes.”
”I have plenty of fun.”
”Really?”
”Yes. I'm a very fun person.” He yelped and slapped a hand on his cheek. ”It bit me again!” Carson didn't answer, apparently he'd decided to let Rodney whine. Rodney muttered, ”What the hell was I thinking?” He waved the rod in the air, causing Carson to wince and duck away when it came dangerously close to his head. ”Fishing. I hate fishing.”
Carson grabbed the rod and said, ”Hold it still. Or they won't bite.” Then he looked at Rodney. ”And you agreed to come with me.”
”You forced me.”
”I didn't.”
”Yes, you did. You threatened me to deprive me of your mom's muffins … and sex.”
Carson rolled his eyes. ”Good to know that my mom's muffins come first.”
Rodney groaned. ”There's so much to do for me in Atlantis. To think that I'm essentially wasting my time here ...”
”Wasting your time?” Carson echoed and he looked a bit miffed. Rodney noticed that he might have just gone a bit too far with that last remark. It wasn't easy to make Carson mad. His lover stared at him with narrowed eyes and Rodney swallowed. Yep, he was definitely on his way to 'sleep alone in your own quarters'-Ville.
Carson spoke calmly but firmly, a sure sign that he was angry. ”This is the first time in weeks we get to spend together, alone, away from Atlantis. It's not a waste of time.”
”But I hate fish-”
”Forget fishing!” Carson interrupted him. ”Fishing was the reason for coming here, I'll give you that. It's something I enjoy doing, and when I think about all the times I did something you like, you could at least pretend to have fun. But this really is about spending time together, Rodney. It's our day off. Why didn't you find some weird excuse if you didn't want to come in the first place?”
Rodney avoided Carson's eyes, instead staring at the waterfall. ”Because I wanted to do you a favor.” When he risked a glance at Carson, one of his lover's eyebrows was raised. A clear sign that he wasn't believing him. Rodney rolled his eyes. ”Alright, I didn't find an excuse that was good enough.”
”That's more like it,” Carson said. He sighed and turned his head away. Rodney assumed that he was disappointed and felt guilty. He wanted to make things right again. He couldn't bear making Carson sad or angry, but he couldn't help himself.
He hesitated for a moment, then he laid his hand on Carson's thigh, near the knee, and squeezed gently. ”I'm sorry. I'm an idiot … again.”
Carson looked at him. ”You are,” he said. Rodney moved closer, their hips and thighs touching now, and slid his arm around Carson's waist. He placed a kiss on Carson's lips. Carson smiled and put first his rod aside and then Rodney's, before leaning towards him and engaging him in a deeper kiss that sent Rodney sprawling on his back on the rock, Carson's warm weight on him.
Carson said, ”So, fishing wasn't such a good idea, obviously. Let's see what else I can do to convince you of the beauty of nature.” He slid between Rodney's legs and kissed him again.
Rodney thought that nature wasn't as bad as he'd believed.
Show/Movie: Stargate Atlantis
Story Title: Action Painting
Character/Relationships: John, Lorne, most of the Atlantis folks from season five.
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
It all started when Rodney picked Lorne for his team.
John had been planning on picking Zelenka anyway, but he thought Rodney and Lorne's mutual dislike would keep them apart long enough for John to choose Lorne in the first few rounds. Lorne glared at John as he put a little green dot next to his name on the roster.
It ended up being a surprising mix of teams. Rodney chose a fair amount of marines, and John got as many scientists as he could until he realized Rodney was exclusively picking people with the ATA gene. Then he got more strategic in a hurry.
It was just a game of paintball assassin. It should have been over in no time, based on how preoccupied everyone was. Things like off-world missions and repairs on the jumpers and Rodney's pet project of using Wraith technology to grow drones should have been a priority, but the contest quickly devolved into nasty tactics when he found out Rodney had made full-body shields for his team. Well, for the ATA members of his team.
That's when things got really messy.
John immediately found someone on Rodney's team he figured was trusting enough to take the shield off so he could shower. He snuck into Parrish's room the next morning.
With Parrish out of the picture and John in one of Rodney's shields, he figured they'd whittle it down to a stalemate in a couple of days and call it good.
Instead, it became all out war. Woolsey stopped off-world missions when it became clear that they were screwing up diplomatic opportunities to off one another with paintballs. Woolsey also had to call a moratorium on deadly tactics when three of his scientists tricked one of Rodney's marines into a desalination tank and only let him out when he took off his shield.
Radek lasted quite a while for a guy without a shield. He was fast and wily, carrying a lifesigns detector everywhere. Unfortunately he fell for Rodney's faked emergency (and after that, Woolsey made the emergency channel on comms off limits too) and that was the end of John's number two.
It was Keller who got Rodney. Sly, she was - making her his second round draft choice was the smartest thing he'd ever done - getting him to take off his shield so they could make out and shooting him in the back. They didn't speak for a day and a half while Rodney plotted his revenge. Lorne took her out in the infirmary during a surgery.
She was the last of the infirmary staff still on the active list, but Woolsey declared the infirmary a neutral zone anyway. A week after SGA-5 got hit with paintballs on their way in from M3C-2X9, the gate room became a neutral zone too.
By the end of day five, the only people left alive were himself, Lorne, Simpson, and Mehra. All four of them had shields and all four of them were smart enough never to take them off outside the infirmary. He had Simpson researching a substance that could eat through the shield (without harming the human inside it, except to get them painty) and Dusty looking into testing the shields for possible chinks in the armor.
They all showered and took their meals in the infirmary, and it was Lorne that found the chink in the armor first. He found some kind of disruption field that shut down the shields briefly, and he set it up just outside the infirmary door and got Simpson and Mehra as they walked out after lunch.
John called that cheating, but it didn't keep him from asking Atlantis where there might be another disruptor and making paintball grenades.
He called in one last favor from Zelenka, having him call Lorne to one of the out of the way labs in the sub-level on the southwest pier.
Lorne came strolling in, apparently thinking Zelenka would never betray him, because John's paintball grenade hit him square in the chest. The disruption emitter didn't work, though, so while there was a nice splotch of blue paint dripping down his shield, but it was completely intact.
John got another shot off while Lorne was too stunned to move. The emitter worked - he could see the ripple in the shield - but he missed and hit the wall to Lorne's left.
Lorne got smart and ducked, but that wouldn't be enough to beat John. He had a stack of paintball grenades and all he had to do was get one little drop of paint on Lorne's head to win this thing, and oh, he was going to win.
He hadn't counted on Lorne sliding under the consoles and knocking his grenade pile all over the place, though. Baseball-sized paintballs bounced all around the tiny lab. Lorne shot right past him and behind another console, grabbing at least one of the grenades on the way.
John snapped up as many as he could reach, turning on their emitters and lobbing them Lorne's way. He could only hope Lorne would have lousy aim. That hope was shot down mercilessly when Lorne managed a bulls-eye on the top of his head. The emitter didn't work, so he was dry, but the paint sliding down his shield meant he couldn't see. He wiped at it furiously but by the time he cleared it, Lorne was right in front of him, chucking paintball grenades like they were going out of style. The emitter on at least one of them worked, and suddenly John was covered in blue, purple, green, and pink paint.
He wiped the paint out of his eyes, admitting defeat. "What the hell was I thinking?"
Lorne grinned smugly at him. "That I'd be on your team."
"C'mere," John said, chasing Lorne with his arms open wide. "I need a hug."
Show/Movie: Stargate SG-1
Story Title: Speechless
Character/Relationships: Daniel/Sha're, Jack, Daniel
Rating: PG
Warnings: Some talk of canon character death
Jack watched Daniel lean back into the couch, his hand lightly cradling a beer bottle. It had been an interesting day. Jack knew the date Daniel's wife Sha're had died, but until now -- barely one year after her death -- Jack hadn't known that her birthday had been mere weeks later.
Daniel had said he wanted to spend the day celebrating her life, not mourning her passing, and it was with that in mind that SG-1 -- Daniel, Jack, Carter and Teal'c -- had gathered for an evening of food and friendship. Teal'c had been reluctant at first, and Jack couldn't blame him. After all, if he'd been the one to kill the object of celebration, Jack knew he wouldn't feel particularly welcome.
It was a measure of the man that Daniel had insisted.
"You saved me," he said when Teal'c balked. "It hurt, but you saved me. And in all reality, you probably saved her, too."
And so today they all gathered at Jack's house. Daniel cooked traditional Abydonian food -- well, as traditional as you could get with Earth ingredients -- and told so many stories about Sha're, Skaara, Kasuf and the rest of his adopted people that Jack kept expecting him to accidentally repeat one. But he never did, and each new tale lit up his face more than the one that had come before it.
But night had fallen now. Teal'c and Carter had left, there were no new stories to tell and a sense of melancholy was beginning to fill the void. Jack sat down next to him.
"Great party," he said. Daniel nodded, but said nothing.
Jack sat there for a few moments before turning his attention to the empty bottles and plates littering the room. He had just reached for the first dish when Daniel spoke.
"I really loved her, you know. More than anything."
"Yeah, I know."
"And she loved me, too. She didn't care that-" he stopped, seemed to recompose his thoughts and tried again. "Even when she knew I wasn't 100 percent...honest. I thought for sure she'd leave me, and I'd be stuck on that planet alone."
"What?" Jack said. "I know I've been drinking tonight but....what?"
Daniel leaned forward and bowed his head before cocking it slightly to look at him. Jack noticed an almost imperceptible shake to his fingers. Finally, Daniel took a breath as if to speak, but whatever words he was going to say died in his throat.
"This is insane," he said instead. "I should go."
"Oh, no no no," Jack said as he placed a firm hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I know I'm not Mr. Talks-a-Lot, but you always have been, so give it. Spill. Talk."
Daniel coughed as he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes and the bridge of his nose. "All right," he said. "Come here." He beckoned for Jack to move closer.
"You do know that there's no one else here, right?
"Jack," Daniel said in that exasperated tone of his.
"All right, okay," Jack said as he leaned closer.
When Jack could feel Daniel's breath on his neck, he waited for him to speak, to whisper something in his ear that by the light of day would seem wholly inconsequential but in the fog of the evening felt like anything but.
Words never came. Instead, Daniel turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to Jack's cheek. His eyelashes tickled Jack's skin as eyes closed and Jack felt a gentle warmth as Daniel rested a hand on the opposite side of his neck.
It was perhaps the most chaste and yet most intimate kiss Jack had received in a long time....and he froze.
The tension in the room was palpable, and before Jack could even process what had happened, let alone form thoughts about it, Daniel was pulling away and putting his glasses back on as he muttered an awkward apology and goodbye before crossing the room and disappearing out the front door.
Jack sat, unmoving. The room seemed to disappear as thoughts whizzed through his brain, trying to make sense of the last few minutes and the years that had come before them. Finally, his focus returned and his eyes settled on on Daniel's car keys, gleaming on the coffee table. He picked them up and walked out the door.
Daniel was sitting on the steps, his back to Jack.
"I forgot my keys," he said.
Jack sat down next to him.
"You know, Daniel," he finally said. "I don't really care if you're...you know...or in-between or whatever. But the thing is, I'm not...I can't be-"
"Jack, don't be ridiculous," Daniel said. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking in there. I know that you and I are so not the same. But I just..." Daniel paused again.
"When I came back from Abydos," he continued, "after Apophis had taken Sha're, you were quite literally my only friend in the world. And I was just thinking awhile back, when you and Teal'c were trapped in that glider..."
Jack remembered it well -- the first time Earth had tried to repurpose a Goa'uld death glider had left the two of them near death halfway across the solar system. It was only through the combined effort of Carter, her father and Daniel that they had survived.
"I realized then that I had been lying to you," Daniel said. "And with the work that we do...anything can happen at any second, and I just...wanted you to know who I am. I didn't want our friendship to be tainted with a lie. But I didn't know how to say it."
They lapsed into silence again. It was Jack who spoke first.
"Just so you know," he said, "What I'm hearing is that I'm so amazing I left a guy who speaks 27 languages speechless." Jack grinned and nudged him with his shoulder as Daniel burst into laughter.
"Let's go inside," Jack said. "It's freezing out here."