Word
Count: 4,693
Rating:
PG.
Category:
Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Action, Humour.
Story Status:
Complete
Summary:
Another planet with an Ancient outpost leads to hurt/comfort for two of
the team.
Written for the Fall 2008 Fic
Exchange on sgahcchallenges.
Author's Notes:
Set Season 4, after Spoils of War, before
Midway. Title comes from the description of the word
‘rescue’ from an online
thesaurus. Written for the Fall 2008 Fic Exchange on sgahcchallenges for
greyias – prompt at end of fic.
Beta:
Thank you to Jayne Perry for the beta-reading and to alyjude for the wonderful cover art.
To Extricate from an Undesirable
State
By Leesa Perrie
Artwork by alyjude. See more of her artwork here.
The gate was situated partway up a mountain, on a plateau that
contained a large lake. Fortunately the lake started a good
three
hundred feet away, but even so, John had to wonder why the Ancients had
placed the gate here. Surely there was a chance that the lake
could fill up and flood the area, unless there was a natural drain
somewhere, which he supposed could be possible. After all, he
wasn’t exactly a geologist. Shrugging, he decided
not to
worry about it. Although it was raining, sleeting actually,
it
wasn’t enough to make the lake a danger to them in the
immediate
future, and that was all that really mattered right now.
“Wonderful. No one said it would be
snowing,” McKay muttered in annoyance, before shivering.
“It’s not,” John replied.
“It’s rain with a bit of sleet here and there, not
snow.”
“Still cold,” Rodney complained, stamping his feet
to warm
them up, even though they’d only just arrived and they
couldn’t be all that
cold just yet. John rolled his eyes, sharing an amused look
with Ronon.
“So, any energy readings? I thought you said there
was an Ancient outpost somewhere around here.”
“I said that according to the Atlantis database, there was an
Ancient outpost here ten thousand years ago. A lot can happen
in
that time,” McKay corrected him as he dug out his
scanner.
“Hmm…”
“Is that a good ‘hmm’ or a bad
‘hmm’?” John couldn’t resist
asking.
“What? It’s a ‘there’s an
energy signal’
hmm. Looks like it’s coming from,” Rodney
looked up,
moving the scanner around before sighing, “All the way over
there.” He pointed to the ridge situated at the end of the
lake,
looking thoroughly disgusted at the distance.
“Great, just
great, why do we always have to walk? I know, let’s
go back
and get a jumper…”
“Nah, the walk will do us good,” John said, looking
at the
distance. A good twenty to thirty minutes walk, he figured,
before automatically factoring in the McKay element and making it forty
to fifty minutes instead. Forty to fifty minutes of
complaints
and non-stop whining no doubt, he thought to himself with a wry grin,
more than used to his team mate’s idiosyncrasies by
now.
“Besides, there might not be anywhere to park, it looks like
the
lake goes up to the plateau’s edges on two sides, possibly
also
at the end there.”
“Well, how are we supposed to get over there in that case?
Swim? Because I wouldn’t suggest that even on a
nice warm
day, that water looks freezing.”
“There’s steps,” Ronon stated, pointing
behind the gate. “Probably lead to a
track.”
“Oh goody,” McKay groused.
“Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner you can play
with
the cool Ancient tech,” John said, heading over to the steps,
aware of Ronon taking their six.
“Huh, right. Cool tech is only cool until it tries
to kill
you,” the disgruntled scientist moaned.
“The energy
signal’s not very strong, what’s the betting they
forgot to
turn off the heating when they left and the ZPM or whatever is on its
last legs? Which is highly inconsiderate of them.
You’d think they could power down their outposts before
leaving. You know, preserve the power source for those who
come
along later.” There was a brief pause.
“Are you sure
we can’t bring a jumper through? Surely we could find
somewhere
to land. Did I mention that I might be coming down with a
cold,
and even if I wasn’t, this weather will definitely give me
one. I can feel it my sinuses blocking up already, and my feet
hurt…”
John shook his head at the complaints. It was going to be a
long walk, he thought dryly.
----------------
They had finally
reached the
source of the energy readings after a long and gruelling trek up the
mountain. The ridge they’d seen from a distance
turned out
to be an Ancient building, camouflaged to look like part of the
mountain. It was very cleverly done, McKay thought to
himself,
the metal coloured and sculptured carefully to match the surrounding
rocks. It was also very disconcerting, as they were walking
on
the roof of the outpost, with a great view of the plateau below and
absolutely nothing
to
stop them from going over the edge if they should get too
close.
Not to mention the thousands of years worth of dirt that had built up,
making the roof slippery with mud.
Rodney surveyed it gloomily. It was also, just to add insult
to
injury, perfectly adequate in size for a jumper to land and still have
room to spare, though when he muttered the same to a certain messy
haired colonel, it had been met with a nonchalant shrug.
Damned
military masochist.
Just to make it matters even
worse, there was no sign of a door into the outpost.
Presumably
it was also camouflaged, but there were no pillars or rock formations
nearby that might be it.
“So, where’s the door?” Sheppard asked,
earning himself a glare.
“Oh right, of course I know where it is, I just thought
we’d wait out here for a while, enjoy the lovely weather, the
scenic view…” he sniped, before the colonel
interrupted
him with a drawn out, “McKay”. He huffed
in
annoyance. “I don’t know - yet.”
“Well, it’s got to be here somewhere.”
“Yes, thank you, very helpful, Colonel. I hadn’t
realised
that. Perhaps your ATA gene could magic it
open?” He
ignored the rolled eyes, using the scanner to try and pinpoint the
door’s location. There should be energy going to
the door,
but his scanner wasn’t picking it up. Maybe the
Ancients
had shut down the power to it, but that didn’t make
sense.
Why leave whatever was inside running and not the door to get into it?
“Over here,” Ronon said.
“What?”
“The door.”
Slowly making his way over, he stalled when he realised that Ronon was
pointing to something situated virtually on the edge of the roof,
giving Sheppard time beat him to it.
“Come on, McKay, it’s safe enough.” The
colonel beckoned him over.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Just stay on this side of it and
you’ll be
fine,” Sheppard said, indicating the side furthest from the
‘fall to certain doom’ side of whatever they were
looking
at.
“Okay,” he said, nervously edging his way
over. Sure
enough, there was a vague oblong shaped outline in the dirt.
“Hmm, the mud’s covered it. Maybe a
hatch?
We’re lucky the shape is still discernable with all this muck
on
top of it.”
“So, we dig?” Ronon asked.
“I guess so,” he replied with a sigh, looking at
the mud in
distaste. “Maybe we should take it in
turns. You go
first,” he suggested hopefully. Ronon
snorted.
“What? There’s not enough room for us all
to dig at
the same time…”
Sheppard shared a look with Ronon that clearly stated that they both
knew his game, but he ignored it, busying himself with the
scanner.
“I’ll see if there is something we can use to dig
with, for
some reason we didn’t think to pack shovels,”
Sheppard
said, dryly. “There might be a handy shaped rock on
the
path up, or maybe one of those spindly trees…”
“I’ll go,” Ronon said, making his way off
the roof. The colonel shrugged and let him.
----------------
Twenty minutes later, Ronon returned with a small slab of rock and
started to scrape the dirt away from the hatch. John took
over
after fifteen minutes and managed to expose the hatch before it was
Rodney’s turn, much to the scientist’s obvious
relief.
“Okay, over to you,” he told McKay when his
attempts to
open the hatch failed. “Maybe there’s a
lock.”
“Or it could just be fused shut after all this
time,” came
the muttered reply, but Rodney knelt down and started checking for a
lock with only the slightest grimace and complaint about the mud.
John was just beginning to think that they’d have to go back
to
Atlantis and return with a blow torch when the hatch suddenly started
to open. Unfortunately, McKay had ended up on the side of the
hatch closest to the roof edge, something he should have seen and
pointed out to the distracted physicist, but now it was too
late.
As the hatch opened, it hit Rodney with just enough force for him to
fall backwards. His feet hit the edge of the roof, and for a
moment he thought that McKay had caught his balance and that Ronon, who
was already moving towards the hapless Canadian, would be able to pull
him back, when the mud beneath Rodney’s feet suddenly
crumbled
and he fell, screaming.
Carefully, not wishing to join Rodney in his descent despite the
urgency of the situation, John moved to the edge of the roof, spreading
his weight and looking over, fully expecting to see the physicist in
the lake approximately fifty feet below, but there was no sign of
him.
“McKay,” he shouted, and then switched to his comm.
“McKay!” Receiving no reply, and still
seeing no
sign, he wondered if Rodney had sunk too deep or had gotten mixed up
about up and down, as he’d heard could happen, and was
drowning. Then he noticed that the lake didn’t come
all the
way to the rock face below him and that there was a small square shaped
rock formation with a hollow middle protruding into the lake
surface. Maybe Rodney had fallen into that?
“Ronon, I can’t see him in the water, but
there’s a
sort of hole or…or…drain, maybe? I
can’t tell
from here, but he may have fallen into that. Go back to the
gate,
we need climbing equipment…”
“On it,” Ronon said, already turning to go.
“Bring a jumper back, it’ll save time getting
here,”
he called after the retreating Satedan, a wave of acknowledgment his
only reply.
Telling himself that he was most likely being stupid, he checked the
rock face below him for handholds, knowing that if Rodney was in that
structure he could be in urgent need of medical attention.
Having
assessed it as being climbable, he started down, having to move over to
one side about a quarter of the way down due to a lack of handholds, so
that he was no longer over the possibly-a-drain feature. He
just
hoped he could move back on course further down. It was hard
going and taking far longer than it should, and he was acutely aware of
time passing.
He was over halfway down when his handhold gave way unexpectedly at the
same time that his foot slipped on the wet surface. He only
had a
moment to think ‘oh shit,’ before he was falling
into the
freezing water below.
----------------
He was falling. Panic coursed through his veins as he
plummeted,
flailing, looking for any kind of purchase, and then suddenly his hands
hit rock, not long enough to grab hold, but enough to slow his descent,
just a little.
Then he hit rock with an oomph and a scream, sliding on his side as the
rock angled away from him, down and down until he came to a sudden
stop, pale light above him and darkness looming below.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” he moaned, amazed that he was
still
alive. He took a few moments to collect his scattered
thoughts
and took stock of his injuries, carefully testing for pain.
Even
more amazingly, there seemed to be no broken bones or sprains, though
he could have internal injuries for all he knew. Certainly,
he
could feel many, many bruises, with the bruising aching deeply across
his stomach and left side. His hands felt scraped, but in the
dim
light it was hard to see for certain.
He was alive and relatively unharmed. A few more moments
passed
as he marvelled at his aliveness, and then he activated his comm - and
got no reply.
Crap, crap, crap. Something in the rock must be interfering
somehow, and Sheppard and Ronon would be worried. Maybe they
would think he’d drowned in the lake…and why
hadn’t
he? He’d thought the lake came up to the foot of
the ridge.
Pushing that aside, he realised they might think he was dead and panic
gripped him again at the thought of being left behind. Left
behind, hurt (okay, not badly, unless he was bleeding internally) and
alone in a small, dark place.
And cold.
Damn it.
There was no choice, he had to try and climb out of here.
Great, just…great.
Reaching up he was startled to find metal. A rung?
Feeling
about himself, he felt more rungs, some buried in dirt, but
there. A ladder!
Climbing wasn’t as easy as it sounded; his hands hurt, his
body
hurt and every so often there were rungs missing, making him have to
find other hand and footholds, but he was surprised at how relatively
quickly he managed to reach the top of the...whatever it was.
He pushed himself out of the tunnel just in time to see the
idiot-also-known-as-Sheppard fall from the rock face and into the lake.
The idiot-also-known-as-Sheppard who presumably had been climbing down
to rescue him.
Crap, crap, crap. Damned macho, heroic,
has-to-rescue-everyone-himself, Mensa-his-ass, blockhead.
He watched as Sheppard came to the surface and started treading water.
“Sheppard, over here,” he shouted, and was pleased
to see John turn towards him and start swimming.
He was only about ten feet away when he went down…
…and didn’t surface.
“Damn it, what the…” he started to say,
when a fin
cut through the surface in front of him. “Oh
crap.” He grabbed his 9mil and hoped beyond hope
that it
hadn’t jammed or something equally as catastrophic and fired,
over and over again at the creature.
Blood poured from it as it swam away from him, only to be attacked by
another shark-fish-creature moments later.
Sheppard resurfaced further out, about twenty feet away.
Battered and barely conscious, he started to sink again.
Before he knew what he was doing, he’d stripped off his tac
vest
and was in the freezing cold-how-could-anything-live-in-this water,
glad to see John surface again but dismayed as he again slipped beneath
the surface just as Rodney had almost reached him.
“Oh no, you’re not dying on me now, not when
I’ve
jumped into shark infested waters for you,” he grumbled,
before
taking a deep breath and diving after his asinine team leader - and
friend.
The water was remarkably clear and he was able to make out
Sheppard’s form below him. He swam down, struggling
against
the water and wishing he was a better swimmer, wishing he
wasn’t
hurting so much and hoping he didn’t run out of breath.
Damn, it would really help if Sheppard tried to swim back up instead of
just sinking like some cold but not dead, no way was he dead,
body. If the shark-thing had finished with the other one, or
if
there were more nearby… He mentally shook his head, he
couldn’t think about that, he just had to grab John and get
him
back to the surface.
Lungs straining against the lack of air, finally, after what must have
been seconds but seemed like hours, he grasped sodden clothing and was
able to get behind Sheppard, pulling him against his chest with an arm
hooked around the colonel tightly, and pushed upwards.
His clothes and the dead weight of his friend tried to pull him, pull
them, back down. His lungs were burning fiercely and for a
moment
he thought he wasn’t going to make it. The surface
seemed
so very far away, but he kept pushing upwards, kept going despite the
pain, and slowly, so slowly, the surface approached.
Air, sweet, sweet air, and he was gasping and spluttering, but clinging
to Sheppard with all of his might.
When his breathing settled enough, he spotted the structure
he’d
dived from, and started swimming towards it. So far, so very
far… Was John breathing? Was he dead?
No, no, he
couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t
be. How long had
the colonel been under? Had he taken too long to find his
friend?
His thoughts were interrupted as he banged into the
structure. He
looked up and realised that the walls were at least six feet high and
smooth and, oh crap, he couldn’t get up there, not on his own
and
certainly not with a not-dead-please-don’t-be-dead Sheppard
in
tow.
Panicked, he swam along the front wall, looking for something,
anything, that would help, and there, on the side wall, he spotted
another ladder. Relief washed through him as he swam over to
it,
before despair quickly replaced it. How was he supposed the
get
John up there?
Shaking from the cold, he shook Sheppard sharply.
“Sheppard, wake up! You’ve got to wake
up!” But if Sheppard wasn’t
breathing…
He shook him again, pressing his own back to the wall, a foot on a
submerged rung, anchoring himself so that he could get a good grip on
John. Nothing, nothing, nothing. He braced himself
again
and moved his arm lower, across the stomach, and pushed,
hard.
“Come on, John, come on, breathe, damn
it.” He did it
again, and suddenly there was life. Water coughed up and
spluttering and breathing. Breathing.
“Sheppard, wake up. Come on, you’ve got
the whole
breathing thing going, now try the whole conscious thing too.
We’ve got a ladder to climb here, you know, and sharks
circling
and we really, really
need to get out of this freezing cold water, and you so
owe me for this. You’re giving me your chocolate
stash for
a start, and don’t think I don’t know you have one,
and
maybe your beer too… Hey, if you wake up and climb this
damned
ladder, I might even share it with you.”
“You? Share?” came the terribly weak and
disbelieving answer.
“Yes, share. I am capable of it, I’ll
have you know. Can you climb?”
“No.
Can…hardly…breathe…”
“Well, tough. We’ve got sharks in the
water and the only way out is a ladder.”
“Go…”
“Oh no, no, no, no, no. If you think I’m
leaving you
to die after what I’ve just been through to save you then
you’ve got another think coming. And
you’re not
getting out of owing me your life and giving me your stash, no
way. Not happening.”
“Rodney…”
“Not happening. So shut it and start
climbing.”
He turned Sheppard round and grabbed one of his hands, pushing it onto
the nearest rung. “Grip it, damn you, I know you
can do
this.”
“Pushy…” Sheppard replied breathlessly,
but his hand
gripped the rung nevertheless, and so did the other one when Rodney
placed in on the same rung.
Slowly, laboriously, they climbed, with Sheppard trapped between the
ladder and Rodney’s chest, because he didn’t want
to risk
John falling off. Once they reached the top, he clambered
carefully up over Sheppard and helped pull the colonel’s
exhausted body onto the surface of the structure.
Looking round, he realised that there were three walls, all about seven
to eight feet across and about twelve feet in length, the fake rock
face of the outpost making the structure into a rough square.
The
water of the lake was several feet below…and suddenly it
made
sense. It was a drain, so that the lake never rose too high
and
flooded the gate.
Epiphany about the structure over, he checked Sheppard over for
injuries.
“How on Earth, or not Earth in this case, do you get mauled
by a damned shark and yet not be bleeding?”
“Don’t…know…
Not…complaining…” John said, coughing
again and
bringing up bile and more water.
“Ugh. Nice.”
“Screw…you…”
“Hey, is that anyway to talk to your noble rescuer?
I’ll have you know that I jumped into shark infested waters
to save your ungrateful ass.”
“Mmm… Think it…was…trying
to…drown me…”
“What? The shark? I’m sure it was.”
“Like…alli..gators…”
“Oh, you mean it was trying to drown you before eating
you?
Hmm. And considering that the blood it shed when I shot it
attracted another one that fed on it, perhaps it wanted you blood free
until it was ready to chow down on you…”
“Maybe… Don’t…really
care…”
“No, no I guess not.” Rodney sighed.
“Okay, so
we’re stuck here until rescue comes, and I don’t
know about
you, but I’m cold and wet and probably hypothermic,
so…” he trailed off.
“So…we get…warm…”
“Oh, and how are we supposed to do that, Colonel
Ever-Optimistic? No dry clothes, no pack, no blankets,
nothing to
make a fire with…”
“Body heat…”
“Oh, no! No way! Surely Ronon has got
back to the
gate by now, the jumper won’t be long, we can manage until
then
I’m sure…”
“You might…I don’t…think
I…can…wait.”
“Oh crap.”
“Yeah.”
John didn’t look any happier about the idea than he did,
which was a comfort at least.
“I hope you’re not suggesting skin to skin
contact…”
“Just…” Sheppard coughed
again.
“No…no…skin contact.
Not…right
now.”
“Okay. Okay, I guess this is no worse than being
hugged by
that man mountain. Damn, what is it with Ronon? Do
all
Satedans males hug?”
“Rod…ney…”
“Okay, okay, I know, prevaricating, sorry.”
He lay next to Sheppard, face to face, and tentatively put his arms
around him, feeling the colonel do the same for him.
“We’re never, ever speaking of this,
ever,” Rodney said emphatically.
“Never,” John agreed.
“And just what were you thinking anyway, climbing and falling
off the cliff?”
“Was…trying to…save
your…sorry ass.”
“Oh right. Well, I was fine. Okay, not
fine as such,
I have bruises upon bruises and I’m probably bleeding
internally,
but fine enough to climb out of there with the help of a
ladder.”
“Wish…I’d…known…”
“Yeah, well the radios weren’t working, but even so
that was a stupid, idiotic, dangerous thing to do…”
“Like
jumping…into…shark…water,”
Sheppard countered.
“That was different,” he said gruffly, ignoring the
huff of disbelief. “And just so you know,
you so
owe me for that. I saved your sorry ass,
and don’t you forget it.”
“I’m sure…you
won’t…let me.”
“Ha, you can bet on that. I want your puddings for
the next week, at least…”
“Sleepy…”
“Don’t you dare go to sleep.”
Sheppard’s
eyes closed, so he jostled him awake. “Hey, no
sleeping.”
“Bully…”
“Well it makes a change for me to be the one doing the
bullying,” he groused. Damn, he was
feeling sleepy as
well, not to mention the pain on his left side was getting worse
now. Maybe the fall really had
caused some internal damage? It’d just be his
rotten luck
to save Sheppard’s life and then bleed to death while waiting
for
rescue.
“Okay, we really need to try and stay awake here,”
he told
an unresponsive colonel. “You really
aren’t trying,
are you? Damn it.” He tried shaking him
awake, but it
wasn’t working. “Just don’t you
dare die on
me,” he muttered sourly, before drifting into sleep himself.
----------------
John stirred, a slight humming sound making its way into his sleep
fuddled mind. Huh, that was annoying. Opening his
eyes
seemed like a marathon, but somehow he managed it. Looking
around
without moving his head didn’t give him the greatest of
views,
but still he made out a box-like object slowly manoeuvring down towards
the water.
A jumper.
Rescue.
That was nice.
He drifted off again, only awakening briefly to grunt at his rescuers
and disobey Keller’s orders to stay awake.
But then, he’d never been good at following orders.
----------------
He awoke to the scent of the infirmary and the sound of quiet
conversation. Mmm, warmth, and ow, pain, but muted, kind of
fluffy in fact, now he thought of it.
Okay, pain meds, check. Hence the slightly floaty feeling.
“…you had us worried, John.”
Teyla. Sheppard had worried her. Why?
Oh, right. Sharks, water, huddling for warmth… He
felt his
cheeks flame red at the latter image, envisioning the reactions of
finding John and him like that must have provoked from their
rescuers.
“Rodney will be fine. He is badly bruised and
Jennifer says
there is an internal bleed, but fortunately only a slow one that is
responding to treatment, so he should not require surgery.
You
are bruised and swallowed some water, which has caused a chest
infection. However, Jennifer believes we have caught it early
and
it should not turn into anything nasty. You will both be
fine, so
long as you rest.”
He noticed the emphasis on the word ‘rest’ and
rolled his
eyes. Sheppard and rest didn’t belong in the same
sentence. Not really.
There was further murmuring, but he missed the words as he drifted in
and out of sleep.
“We will leave you to sleep.”
“Yeah, see you later.”
Oh, Teyla and Ronon were leaving. Huh, he hadn’t
even
realised Ronon had been there. Oh well, he’d talk
to them
later. When he was more awake.
Sleep beckoned, and he didn’t resist its warm invite.
----------------
John was bored. Sure, he’d only been in the
infirmary for a
few hours, well, a few hours since waking up properly, but he was
already totally and utterly bored. Teyla and Ronon had
abandoned
him so that he could rest, and Rodney was still out of it, snoring
loudly and drooling gently onto his pillow.
A lovely sight, he thought sarcastically, before the voice of Major
Lorne interrupted him.
“Colonel.”
“Major. Thanks for the rescue.”
“No problem,” Lorne replied with a shrug.
“I hear it took some fancy flying to get the jumper down and
to hold it in place while we were dragged on board.”
“Nothing you couldn’t have done, sir,”
Lorne said with a grin.
“True,” he replied, ignoring the rolled eyes of his
XO. “Still, I wished I’d been more awake
to see it,
must have been pretty impressive.”
“Yeah.”
There was a glint of amusement in Lorne’s eyes that set
John’s alarm bells ringing. “You got
something to
say, Major?”
“Well, looked like a shame to break up your slumber party
down
there. I believe Doc said something about ‘two cute
puppies
all snuggled up together’,” Lorne said teasingly.
“Oh crap, she didn’t?” a voice from the
other bed
said, and John turned to look into Rodney’s appalled eyes.
“She did,” Lorne confirmed.
“You know it was just survival, right?” John said
to Lorne, firmly.
“I know, sir, standard survival technique.
I’m sure
the Doc knows that too, even if she did think you looked
cute.”
“Agh, cute,”
Rodney spluttered. “It was not cute!”
“And it’s not going into the report,”
John said,
giving the major a look. “I’ll deal with
Keller, make
sure she agrees to that too.”
“Ah, well, you might want to talk to Ronon then,
sir,” Lorne said, a definite hint of mischief on his face.
“What? What did that Neanderthal do?” Rodney
squawked,
trying to sit up but grimacing in pain and giving up on the idea.
“Well, I was busy manoeuvring the jumper into place, but I
believe he ‘borrowed’ Sergeant Wilson’s
camera…”
“Oh crap, he didn’t. Please tell me he
didn’t,” Rodney begged weakly, as Lorne smirked at
them
both. “Oh crap, he did.”
“You didn’t confiscate the camera?” John
asked pointedly.
“Well, this is Ronon we’re talking about
here. I thought it unwise to try.”
“Coward,” Rodney muttered.
“Sure, McKay, and if the situation had been reversed,
you’d
have wrangled the camera out of Ronon’s hands,
right?”
Lorne said archly.
“Point,” Rodney conceded.
“Well, I’d better get back to the
paperwork. Just wanted to make sure you were fine,
sir.”
“Right, of course you did,” John said
disbelievingly as Lorne left.
“Oh crap, that damned caveman took a photo of, you
know…”
“Yes, Rodney, I know.
Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him.”
“Right, like that’ll make a
difference…”
“I’ll talk to him, okay? I’m
sure he’ll
be open to reason…or bartering…or
something.”
“Blackmail! Who would have thought it? Damn
Judas…”
John sighed and closed his eyes, listening to McKay’s rant
about traitorous team mates.
Well, it was better than being bored.
Just.
The End
Author's
Notes: Written for the Fall
2008 Fic Exchange on sgahcchallenges for
greyias, whose prompt was:
“Rodney has to
rescue John, much to Sheppard's consternation.
Do Not Want: Character
bashing, extreme Shep whump (lesser than or
equal to Rodney whump
<3)”.
I also worked in some results from a story poll I ran on my
LiveJournal, here
and here.