Title: There For Him
Pairing: Carson/Rodney
Word Count: 347
Rating: G
Disclaimer: They aren’t mine.
Summary: Rodney tries to figure out how to help Carson.
AN: From the
mcbeckchallenge prompt table ‘missing scenes’. Prompt is the episode “Poisoning the Well”. My table can be found
here.
Rodney had seen Carson cry before. It had been at the Ancient Outpost, months before they even knew the Gate address for Atlantis. Someone - Rodney suspected Grodin - had asked Carson if his mother was still alive. The question seemed to trigger something, and Carson started to sob, saying his mother was alive when he had called her three days before.
And all Rodney did was watch.
He was never good at calming emotional people. When he was younger, and Jeannie would come to him in tears because of something their parents had said, he would just stare at her, unable to find the words to help.
But he was an adult now, and the man he loved - he loved Carson - was currently sitting in his office, his hand pressed against his eyes.
This time it was a different kind of crying. Carson wasn’t sobbing. Instead, he was trying to hide it from everyone around him. Rodney knew why he was upset, and as he watched Carson through the window of his office, he grappled with what he needed to say. And, Rodney knew couldn’t stroll in there, slap Carson on the back, and say it wasn’t his fault, even if it were true. What had happened with the Hoffan Drug wasn’t Carson’s fault, but Rodney was his lover; his partner, and he needed to do something - say something more..
With his lips pursed, Rodney watched Carson as he pulled his hand away from his face, and used the back of his it to wipe his eyes dry. It broke Rodney’s heart to see him like that, so without even thinking, he went in, and dropped beside Carson’s chair.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
Carson looked at him, his eyes red and brimming with tears. “Rodney...” he whispered, his voice strained with emotion.
Without hesitation, Rodney wrapped his arms around Carson, and allowed him to bury his face against the crook of his neck. “I’m here,” he said.
“Thank you.”
It wasn’t much, Rodney knew, but it was a start.