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Title: Unspoken
Author: Chaps1870
Pairing: Rodney/Carson Sheppard Friendship
Rating: R for language
Summary: After finding out about Rodney and Carson’s relationship, John’s friendship with Rodney is threatened.
Disclaimer: They belong to someone else, I’ll return them when I’m done….maybe. No infringement of copyright is intended.
A/N:Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kamashimi for the special icon. Too cool.
Chapter 18
They eased down the corridor, if ease was the proper term for McKay’s stumbling gait and their labored breathing. Sheppard’s head was pounding from the added blood from having his head upside down, and his ribs throbbed with every breath, crushed against McKay’s shoulders as they were. A fireman’s carry was not the ideal form of transportation when one was sporting bruised ribs. Rodney’s shoulder was digging viciously into those ribs and the pain was getting harder and harder to just ignore.
They’d been wandering through the underground labyrinth for close to an hour, going in the same direction and steadily upward when stairs presented themselves. They tried the transport only once, but ending up god knows where, they took off on foot. It was only semi-comforting to know that at least they where making progress if they were going up. Rodney shifted him on his shoulder for the hundredth time and John finally called a halt.
His own ribs and back needed a break, and McKay looked ready to drop. The bandage on his head was stained with blood and the man was looking noticeably pale. More worrisome was the shaking whenever he wiped away the new layer of sweat that accumulated on his face. They were going to need water soon before they both became dehydrated, if they weren’t already.
Unable to take any more of the screaming pain in his ribs he murmured, “You ready to stop?”
Rodney’s shoulders slumped, almost dropping Sheppard in the process, “God, yes! Tell me where to go.”
John lifted his head, difficult hanging as he was on Rodney’s shoulders, and scanned the hall ahead of them. His voice was strained on as he gave directions, “Up ahead about ten paces, then left. Looks like another alcove.”
“Right,” sighed Rodney, the weariness he was feeling clear in his voice. “Tell me when to stop.”
Moving ahead slowly, his footsteps measured, he followed the Major’s directions. Stopping in the recessed area, Rodney eased him to the floor then sank to his butt, letting the wall hold him up. Not moving and having nothing to distract him, the complete darkness crept in on Rodney and he tried not to panic. He unconsciously reached out for something familiar to ground him. Brushing the Major’s leg the panic receded to a manageable level and if Sheppard noticed, he didn’t mention it. They sat in the shadows breathing harshly through new pains before Rodney finally spoke, “If I ever comment on your skinny ass again, remind me about this would you?”
Smiling in spite of himself John winced at the pain in his back as he shifted closer to Rodney until they sat shoulder to shoulder. Rodney visibly relaxed and John joked back, “Good thing you stayed in shape, huh?”
“Oh yes, who knew I’d be required to carry you out of the bowels of some alien planet where hallways go on forever.”
“Well they can’t go on forever. We’ve been making steady progress up too.”
Dropping his head on his forearm as it rested on his bent knee, Rodney said tiredly, “Wake me when you’re ready to go again.”
Concerned, John talked to keep him awake, “How you doing?”
Lifting his head only slightly, he turned to Sheppard, “If I ignore the jackhammer in my head, the aching numbness in my shoulders and the overwhelming need to puke, I’m fine. You?”
“Ribs hurt like a mother.” He didn’t mention the unrelenting throbbing in his back. He sat, keeping his eyes on the hallway and listening for any sound of the inhabitants. “Don’t you find it odd that we haven’t seen a soul and no one seems to care that we escaped?”
“What, you miss the blaring klaxons and gunfire? Maybe they decided to let us go and this is some sort of amusement for them. Put the rats in a cage and see if they can get out.”
“Nah, no monitors. What fun would it be if they couldn’t see them scurrying about, bumping into walls.”
Rodney sat up, swaying for second before steadying. “Maybe they haven’t discovered we’re missing yet.”
“Still doesn’t account for the empty hallways. It’s like the place is deserted.”
“I’d love to discuss the possible theories with you, but… I’m gonna be sick.” Rodney’s stomach convulsed, nothing coming up but bile as he dry heaved and groaned, “Oh god.”
John was holding him up so he didn’t fall over, rubbing his neck as it passed. Helping Rodney sit back up, he sat next to him watching the scientist anxiously, “We need to find some water.” Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a very mushy chocolate bar and carefully tore away half and handed it to McKay. “Here.”
“What?” asked Rodney, as he held out his hand. Bringing the item to his nose, he cautiously smelled it. He glared at John, “You had chocolate and you didn’t tell me?!”
Squeezing the messy sweetness into his mouth, he carefully unfolded the wrapper and licked the remaining chocolate of the paper. John stared at him in awe, not missing a single speck. “Do you have like chocolate radar or what?”
“No point in wasting it.” He folded the wrapper and stuck it in his pocket. “Thanks.” Seeing some of the color return to McKay’s face was enough reassurance that it wasn’t wasted. Hesitating, Rodney asked, “Why do you carry it?”
“What, the chocolate?”
“Yeah. It’s not like I ever see you eating while we’re on missions.”
Knowing McKay couldn’t see his face or his concern made the conversation easier and he answered, “I carry them just in case. Can’t have you fainting on me.”
Smirking, Rodney said indignantly, “Passing out and I thought you didn’t believe me.”
“I wouldn’t carry it if I didn’t believe you,” countered Sheppard, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
Rodney sat quietly, seemingly in thought. “So on Kinoban, that was you that gave me the chocolate, not Teyla.”
John shrugged. “Well, you didn’t look so good.”
“Yes, well hypoglycemia does that. The point is, I’m just surprised you’d go to such lengths when you had such a loathing for me.”
Huffing, the Major sighed, “I don’t loathe you, McKay.”
“Hello…you did then if I recall correctly.”
“Yeah well that was before and I was wrong. Can we just drop it?”
Rodney snorted, “You were the one that wanted to do all the touchy, feely psychoanalysis earlier, not me.”
“Fine. I carry the chocolate because I don’t want you ‘passing out’ and I talked to Carson about it. He thought it would be a good idea.”
“You talked to Carson?”
“Well, if it was serious enough for you to rant on it all the time, I figured it was important.” Rolling his head to ease the tension he was feeling, John finally sighed in frustration, “Look, you’re my friend and I was trying to do the right thing. Shoot me.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Rodney said sarcastically, although the effect was lost as he yawned and started to drift off.
“No sleeping.” John was afraid more than ever what would happen if McKay fell asleep. The head wound had him worried more than he would admit, especially with the nausea and lightheadedness the scientist was showing. He was looking only slightly better after the candy but still…
Rodney reached behind him as he used the wall at his back to leverage himself to his feet. His eyes clenched tight, he let the wall hold him up as the dizziness passed. Taking a deep breath he let it out slowly.
Staring up at McKay, John asked, “What are you doing?”
“It’s either keep moving or fall asleep and you have a vicious streak in you regarding my sleep habits as of late so let’s just try and find our way out of here.” Rodney reached out his hand waiting for John to take it. When he did, he bent over and maneuvered the Major over his shoulders.
“Wait!” hissed John, his ribs on fire. “Can you shift me a bit so your shoulder isn’t gouging a hole in my ribs?” Rodney hefted him up and changed the balance enough to where John let out of sigh of relief, “Thanks.”
“Where to?”
“Left.”
********
The sun was heating up the small confines of their prison cell, making tempers short. The scientists had all found their own private space to sit and stew. It didn’t help that they’d been left without any food or and only a small amount of water. With the guards gone there was no one to complain to. There was no hope for any sort of rescue before nightfall, since they’d reported back to Atlantis the night before that all was well. Another check-in wasn’t scheduled until the evening and it would still be a couple hours after that before any type of rescue was mounted.
Dr. Zelenka got to his feet and went to the door. Standing on his toes, he looked out the small port and still there were no guards. Unfortunately, even without guards they were hopelessly imprisoned. The door was solidly mounted in the thick rock walls and nothing short of the key or some explosive device was going to free them. The natives obviously weren’t worried either since they hadn’t been around since the sunup. His eyes brightened and he turned to his colleagues, a finger in the air as he startled them, “That is it!”
Simpson looked at him as if he were crazy. Well, so did the others but she was the first to speak, “What are you talking about?”
“I think they do not like the daylight, that is why they leave. We spent most of yesterday at the temple but they did not appear until dark. Why wait so long if such a thing is forbidden. I am thinking it is because of daylight. It would also account for why we did not pick them up on the first visit.”
Hayes picked up on his line of thought, “They looked like albinos, white hair, pale skin, red-eyes. If they are like the albinos on Earth the sun could be harmful. Skin cancer. Cataracts . They could live underground as a means of survival. The scanners would have missed them.”
Radek shook his head. “No, scanners still would pick them up.” He thought for a moment, pushing up his glasses before speaking, “Unless they have some sort of shield to protect them.”
Borung, the geologist, finally spoke up, “Or a natural barrier. We have found minerals that even the Ancient scanners can’t penetrate. If they live under such a layer of solid rock, we could have missed them.”
“It would also protect them from Wraith,” said Zelenka off hand.
Simpson put in her two cents worth. “So even if they do live underground, why isn’t their more evidence of them on the surface? Wouldn’t you see at least trails of some sort? They have to eat and we know they come out at night.”
“Well, I suppose they could have hydroponics or something equivalent. Or they stay on existing game trails so they don’t give themselves away,” suggested Hayes.
Finally, a disgruntled Muro spoke up, “What is the point of this conversation? We are stuck on a planet, in a jail with no food or water. Does it really matter where the natives live? We are going to die here because someone didn’t check out the planet as well as they should have.”
Zelenka snorted, “We will not die. When we do not check in this evening, they will send someone.” He slide down the wall, “Is easy. We just wait.” Glaring at the whiny scientist, he added, “Besides, you have anything better to do? ”
Dvorsky spoke up, defending his friend, “I think what he is saying it that McKay should have made sure this planet was safe before he sent us on this stupid mission. He takes the word of some grunt and what happens? We’re the ones paying the price.”
The others stared at the two young scientists in surprise. Radek snapped, “I think you forget that they are the ones paying the price for our indiscretion on to holy ground.”
The last hour was wearing on both men’s nerves as Rodney moved as quietly as possible through the long hallway. On either side of him were open rooms, holding sleeping occupants. John had whispered the problem and was leading McKay by tugging on the hand wrapped around his wrist. It wasn’t as effective but it kept them from being detected. Most of the rooms held at least one person, sometimes two and privacy obviously wasn’t an issue, considering the open doors and occasional entanglement of occupants.
Not one of the natives stirred as they’d tiptoed past. Approaching the end of the hallway, it was disheartening to see that it neither went left nor right, but dead ended at a door, that Rodney was presently standing in front of as John tried to peer in the window. He whispered, “It looks empty. There’s a bar at three feet just to your right. Looks like you can lift it.”
Rodney used his free hand and they entered the room cautiously. It looked like a small lab, and was rather barren but for a counter and a few stools. The opposite wall had another door that led into a much bigger cavern. John led Rodney to the other door, “Counter on your right, set me there so I can see what’s inside. A stool to your right. Have a seat.”
Doing as he was told without comment, Rodney rested his aching head on his arm as slumped over the counter. Both men were quiet, exhausted and sore. The fact that McKay wasn’t complaining meant he was too tired to speak or he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on. Judging by the way he was scowling and rubbing his head he still had a headache. He looked terrible with the haphazard bandage wrapping his head, blood and dirt streaks marring his face. John let him rest as he peered through the door to see where they were headed.
They could either hope there was escape through the next room, or risk going back the way they’d come, which included the agonizing return past the sleeping natives. Squinting in the limited light, he tried to make out what the next room held in store for them. It looked like natural light filtering in at the far upper stretches of the room, but scanning the area between them and their freedom, it wouldn’t be easy to reach. The final test lay between where they were and where they needed to be. Even then they still had to make the final trek through the jungle.
Author: Chaps1870
Pairing: Rodney/Carson Sheppard Friendship
Rating: R for language
Summary: After finding out about Rodney and Carson’s relationship, John’s friendship with Rodney is threatened.
Disclaimer: They belong to someone else, I’ll return them when I’m done….maybe. No infringement of copyright is intended.
A/N:Thanks to
kamashimi for the special icon. Too cool.Chapter 18
They eased down the corridor, if ease was the proper term for McKay’s stumbling gait and their labored breathing. Sheppard’s head was pounding from the added blood from having his head upside down, and his ribs throbbed with every breath, crushed against McKay’s shoulders as they were. A fireman’s carry was not the ideal form of transportation when one was sporting bruised ribs. Rodney’s shoulder was digging viciously into those ribs and the pain was getting harder and harder to just ignore.
They’d been wandering through the underground labyrinth for close to an hour, going in the same direction and steadily upward when stairs presented themselves. They tried the transport only once, but ending up god knows where, they took off on foot. It was only semi-comforting to know that at least they where making progress if they were going up. Rodney shifted him on his shoulder for the hundredth time and John finally called a halt.
His own ribs and back needed a break, and McKay looked ready to drop. The bandage on his head was stained with blood and the man was looking noticeably pale. More worrisome was the shaking whenever he wiped away the new layer of sweat that accumulated on his face. They were going to need water soon before they both became dehydrated, if they weren’t already.
Unable to take any more of the screaming pain in his ribs he murmured, “You ready to stop?”
Rodney’s shoulders slumped, almost dropping Sheppard in the process, “God, yes! Tell me where to go.”
John lifted his head, difficult hanging as he was on Rodney’s shoulders, and scanned the hall ahead of them. His voice was strained on as he gave directions, “Up ahead about ten paces, then left. Looks like another alcove.”
“Right,” sighed Rodney, the weariness he was feeling clear in his voice. “Tell me when to stop.”
Moving ahead slowly, his footsteps measured, he followed the Major’s directions. Stopping in the recessed area, Rodney eased him to the floor then sank to his butt, letting the wall hold him up. Not moving and having nothing to distract him, the complete darkness crept in on Rodney and he tried not to panic. He unconsciously reached out for something familiar to ground him. Brushing the Major’s leg the panic receded to a manageable level and if Sheppard noticed, he didn’t mention it. They sat in the shadows breathing harshly through new pains before Rodney finally spoke, “If I ever comment on your skinny ass again, remind me about this would you?”
Smiling in spite of himself John winced at the pain in his back as he shifted closer to Rodney until they sat shoulder to shoulder. Rodney visibly relaxed and John joked back, “Good thing you stayed in shape, huh?”
“Oh yes, who knew I’d be required to carry you out of the bowels of some alien planet where hallways go on forever.”
“Well they can’t go on forever. We’ve been making steady progress up too.”
Dropping his head on his forearm as it rested on his bent knee, Rodney said tiredly, “Wake me when you’re ready to go again.”
Concerned, John talked to keep him awake, “How you doing?”
Lifting his head only slightly, he turned to Sheppard, “If I ignore the jackhammer in my head, the aching numbness in my shoulders and the overwhelming need to puke, I’m fine. You?”
“Ribs hurt like a mother.” He didn’t mention the unrelenting throbbing in his back. He sat, keeping his eyes on the hallway and listening for any sound of the inhabitants. “Don’t you find it odd that we haven’t seen a soul and no one seems to care that we escaped?”
“What, you miss the blaring klaxons and gunfire? Maybe they decided to let us go and this is some sort of amusement for them. Put the rats in a cage and see if they can get out.”
“Nah, no monitors. What fun would it be if they couldn’t see them scurrying about, bumping into walls.”
Rodney sat up, swaying for second before steadying. “Maybe they haven’t discovered we’re missing yet.”
“Still doesn’t account for the empty hallways. It’s like the place is deserted.”
“I’d love to discuss the possible theories with you, but… I’m gonna be sick.” Rodney’s stomach convulsed, nothing coming up but bile as he dry heaved and groaned, “Oh god.”
John was holding him up so he didn’t fall over, rubbing his neck as it passed. Helping Rodney sit back up, he sat next to him watching the scientist anxiously, “We need to find some water.” Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket, he pulled out a very mushy chocolate bar and carefully tore away half and handed it to McKay. “Here.”
“What?” asked Rodney, as he held out his hand. Bringing the item to his nose, he cautiously smelled it. He glared at John, “You had chocolate and you didn’t tell me?!”
Squeezing the messy sweetness into his mouth, he carefully unfolded the wrapper and licked the remaining chocolate of the paper. John stared at him in awe, not missing a single speck. “Do you have like chocolate radar or what?”
“No point in wasting it.” He folded the wrapper and stuck it in his pocket. “Thanks.” Seeing some of the color return to McKay’s face was enough reassurance that it wasn’t wasted. Hesitating, Rodney asked, “Why do you carry it?”
“What, the chocolate?”
“Yeah. It’s not like I ever see you eating while we’re on missions.”
Knowing McKay couldn’t see his face or his concern made the conversation easier and he answered, “I carry them just in case. Can’t have you fainting on me.”
Smirking, Rodney said indignantly, “Passing out and I thought you didn’t believe me.”
“I wouldn’t carry it if I didn’t believe you,” countered Sheppard, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
Rodney sat quietly, seemingly in thought. “So on Kinoban, that was you that gave me the chocolate, not Teyla.”
John shrugged. “Well, you didn’t look so good.”
“Yes, well hypoglycemia does that. The point is, I’m just surprised you’d go to such lengths when you had such a loathing for me.”
Huffing, the Major sighed, “I don’t loathe you, McKay.”
“Hello…you did then if I recall correctly.”
“Yeah well that was before and I was wrong. Can we just drop it?”
Rodney snorted, “You were the one that wanted to do all the touchy, feely psychoanalysis earlier, not me.”
“Fine. I carry the chocolate because I don’t want you ‘passing out’ and I talked to Carson about it. He thought it would be a good idea.”
“You talked to Carson?”
“Well, if it was serious enough for you to rant on it all the time, I figured it was important.” Rolling his head to ease the tension he was feeling, John finally sighed in frustration, “Look, you’re my friend and I was trying to do the right thing. Shoot me.”
“Don’t tempt me,” Rodney said sarcastically, although the effect was lost as he yawned and started to drift off.
“No sleeping.” John was afraid more than ever what would happen if McKay fell asleep. The head wound had him worried more than he would admit, especially with the nausea and lightheadedness the scientist was showing. He was looking only slightly better after the candy but still…
Rodney reached behind him as he used the wall at his back to leverage himself to his feet. His eyes clenched tight, he let the wall hold him up as the dizziness passed. Taking a deep breath he let it out slowly.
Staring up at McKay, John asked, “What are you doing?”
“It’s either keep moving or fall asleep and you have a vicious streak in you regarding my sleep habits as of late so let’s just try and find our way out of here.” Rodney reached out his hand waiting for John to take it. When he did, he bent over and maneuvered the Major over his shoulders.
“Wait!” hissed John, his ribs on fire. “Can you shift me a bit so your shoulder isn’t gouging a hole in my ribs?” Rodney hefted him up and changed the balance enough to where John let out of sigh of relief, “Thanks.”
“Where to?”
“Left.”
********
The sun was heating up the small confines of their prison cell, making tempers short. The scientists had all found their own private space to sit and stew. It didn’t help that they’d been left without any food or and only a small amount of water. With the guards gone there was no one to complain to. There was no hope for any sort of rescue before nightfall, since they’d reported back to Atlantis the night before that all was well. Another check-in wasn’t scheduled until the evening and it would still be a couple hours after that before any type of rescue was mounted.
Dr. Zelenka got to his feet and went to the door. Standing on his toes, he looked out the small port and still there were no guards. Unfortunately, even without guards they were hopelessly imprisoned. The door was solidly mounted in the thick rock walls and nothing short of the key or some explosive device was going to free them. The natives obviously weren’t worried either since they hadn’t been around since the sunup. His eyes brightened and he turned to his colleagues, a finger in the air as he startled them, “That is it!”
Simpson looked at him as if he were crazy. Well, so did the others but she was the first to speak, “What are you talking about?”
“I think they do not like the daylight, that is why they leave. We spent most of yesterday at the temple but they did not appear until dark. Why wait so long if such a thing is forbidden. I am thinking it is because of daylight. It would also account for why we did not pick them up on the first visit.”
Hayes picked up on his line of thought, “They looked like albinos, white hair, pale skin, red-eyes. If they are like the albinos on Earth the sun could be harmful. Skin cancer. Cataracts . They could live underground as a means of survival. The scanners would have missed them.”
Radek shook his head. “No, scanners still would pick them up.” He thought for a moment, pushing up his glasses before speaking, “Unless they have some sort of shield to protect them.”
Borung, the geologist, finally spoke up, “Or a natural barrier. We have found minerals that even the Ancient scanners can’t penetrate. If they live under such a layer of solid rock, we could have missed them.”
“It would also protect them from Wraith,” said Zelenka off hand.
Simpson put in her two cents worth. “So even if they do live underground, why isn’t their more evidence of them on the surface? Wouldn’t you see at least trails of some sort? They have to eat and we know they come out at night.”
“Well, I suppose they could have hydroponics or something equivalent. Or they stay on existing game trails so they don’t give themselves away,” suggested Hayes.
Finally, a disgruntled Muro spoke up, “What is the point of this conversation? We are stuck on a planet, in a jail with no food or water. Does it really matter where the natives live? We are going to die here because someone didn’t check out the planet as well as they should have.”
Zelenka snorted, “We will not die. When we do not check in this evening, they will send someone.” He slide down the wall, “Is easy. We just wait.” Glaring at the whiny scientist, he added, “Besides, you have anything better to do? ”
Dvorsky spoke up, defending his friend, “I think what he is saying it that McKay should have made sure this planet was safe before he sent us on this stupid mission. He takes the word of some grunt and what happens? We’re the ones paying the price.”
The others stared at the two young scientists in surprise. Radek snapped, “I think you forget that they are the ones paying the price for our indiscretion on to holy ground.”
The last hour was wearing on both men’s nerves as Rodney moved as quietly as possible through the long hallway. On either side of him were open rooms, holding sleeping occupants. John had whispered the problem and was leading McKay by tugging on the hand wrapped around his wrist. It wasn’t as effective but it kept them from being detected. Most of the rooms held at least one person, sometimes two and privacy obviously wasn’t an issue, considering the open doors and occasional entanglement of occupants.
Not one of the natives stirred as they’d tiptoed past. Approaching the end of the hallway, it was disheartening to see that it neither went left nor right, but dead ended at a door, that Rodney was presently standing in front of as John tried to peer in the window. He whispered, “It looks empty. There’s a bar at three feet just to your right. Looks like you can lift it.”
Rodney used his free hand and they entered the room cautiously. It looked like a small lab, and was rather barren but for a counter and a few stools. The opposite wall had another door that led into a much bigger cavern. John led Rodney to the other door, “Counter on your right, set me there so I can see what’s inside. A stool to your right. Have a seat.”
Doing as he was told without comment, Rodney rested his aching head on his arm as slumped over the counter. Both men were quiet, exhausted and sore. The fact that McKay wasn’t complaining meant he was too tired to speak or he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on. Judging by the way he was scowling and rubbing his head he still had a headache. He looked terrible with the haphazard bandage wrapping his head, blood and dirt streaks marring his face. John let him rest as he peered through the door to see where they were headed.
They could either hope there was escape through the next room, or risk going back the way they’d come, which included the agonizing return past the sleeping natives. Squinting in the limited light, he tried to make out what the next room held in store for them. It looked like natural light filtering in at the far upper stretches of the room, but scanning the area between them and their freedom, it wouldn’t be easy to reach. The final test lay between where they were and where they needed to be. Even then they still had to make the final trek through the jungle.
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You are evil, and I love you. *huggles*
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