A/N: One of my friend's Beckett-y stories. This switches back and forth from the perspectives of different characters during "Misbegotten". I think there is a tense change (from past to present) when Rodney comes in, so…just sayin'.
You Can Choose Your Family
John:
You can choose your family, I've learned. I hadn't really thought about it until my team and I went in to rescue Ronan. Of course I thought about it, but not in those terms, not as a family.
You don't really understand who is in your family until you think you've lost them.
I found out that Ronan and Rodney were part of it when they were in the Hive Ship speeding towards earth.
I found out that Elizabeth was part of my family when she was losing the battle against nanites, and when I thought she was dead during the storm.
I found out Teyla was part of my family when she was attacked by Ellia.
I found out Carson was a part of my family when … when he was trapped on a planet with a Hive ship speeding towards him. And then when we found Wraith life-signs on the planet. And when …
Carson. He was our family's baby, the one who can help you when you're hurt but that you never want to see get hurt. The one who still has an innocence that the older ones have lost. That mission to rescue Carson still hurts me, when I remember seeing him tied up, pale … thinking he had died in the worst way possible.
Our little brother should never be hurt.
Elizabeth and I were discussing Woolsey the wolf in her office when our radios turned on with Rodney (my obnoxious little brother) calling nervously:
"John? Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth answered for the both of us, "Yes, Rodney?"
"We've got a problem, big big problem. Can you come? Now?"
"We're on our way." Elizabeth nodded towards me and we walked quickly into the control room to find McKay typing on his laptop. A sense of unease had made its way into my stomach.
"What've we got, Rodney?" Elizabeth asked quickly in a very efficient manner.
Rodney didn't even look up but continued to tap the keyboard, "Long range sensors just picked up a hive ship."
I felt the hair on my neck starting to stand up … had Michael given us away? "It's coming this way?" I asked, calming my voice.
Rodney shook his head, "No." he paused and suddenly looked confused, "Wait a minute -- this doesn't make any sense." Rodney jumped up and stood in front of the long range sensor screen.
Elizabeth frowned, "What?" The ill feeling in my stomach was back as I watched him.
Rodney pointed towards the screen then turned to look at us, pale, with his voice quivering, "On its current course, it's headed straight for the planet where we left Beckett and the prisoners."
My heart dropped into my stomach and started to dissolve and at that moment I saw Elizabeth start to fall.
—
Elizabeth:
For that horrible instant all I could see was a picture in my mind of a Wraith feeding on Carson. The Wraith must have reverted, they had to. Little red speckles clouded my vision and the world spun.
We had left Carson to die all alone in the company of hundreds of Wraith, and a Wraith with a vendetta against him too.
The next instant I was sitting on the floor with Rodney looking at me with the expression that was hidden in my heart evident on his face. John stood above us, already pacing and looking a tad green.
"What have we done," I whispered to myself.
Rodney looked up at John, "Why did you leave him there, Sheppard? He's probably …" he paused looking at me uncertainly, "You know … because of you." He might just as well have said that he had his life sucked out of him.
John was shaking his head, "He said he'd be fine, he told me to go. He'd be 'perfectly safe,' he said."
Rodney looked incredulous, "And you believed him?"
John stared at us for a minute, then looked at me and asked, "Are you okay, Elizabeth?"
Somehow I found my voice and forced a smile, "Yes, John. I'm fine."
Rodney snorted but helped me stand up and gave me a self-conscious little pat on the shoulder … Rodney never was a very open individual but he has a good heart.
John looked at me again, "Call a meeting, Elizabeth, and we'll try to get there and bring our men back."
I nodded and reached for my radio.
—
Rodney:
John suddenly grins at me as we stand aboard the wraith hive ship looking over systems while orbiting around the planet. "You're a genius, Rodney."
I roll my eyes, "True –" and then frown. "But I didn't do it. It's like they just woke up by themselves." I walk over and tap the appropriate buttons to see what happened, "It looks like they're all keyed into the sensors. The ship must have detected something and turned them on."
John blinks at me, "Detected what?"
I groan as I realize something. I quickly press two buttons on the console and watch as the screen changes to something like a life-signs detector. I look up with dismay, "Wraith life signs."
Suddenly Teyla blanches, "From the planet?" John looks at me with that I'm about to act stupidly look and asks, "How many?"
Quickly counting I guess, "There's, uh," Dang it. "Twenty or thirty."
Ronan sizes up the screen like a regular macho Neanderthal and asks, "What about human?"
I look at all of the other blinking dots, "Still well over a hundred." My stomach feels completely twisted. Are any of them Carson?
John nods slowly and I can tell he understands how bad this is too. "So some of them reverted."
Ronan looked at us with a knowing expression, "They'll be feeding on each other." Somehow behind his caveman exterior I could see he was worried too. Had Carson found his way even into our large friend's heart?
Teyla looked disgruntled by Ronan's comment for a minute, then her brow furrowed again, "What about Doctor Beckett and Lieutenant Morrison's team?"
I groaned softly, my chest constricting and I felt more useless than I had in a long time, "I have no way to distinguish them from the other human life signs." I paused looking at her, "I can't say for sure either way."
—
Teyla:
My heart thumps in my chest as we walk quietly through the dark forest, and wonder about the fate of Dr. Beckett … Carson. He prefers it when I call him that. Or did.
I shake my head hard to clear it of thoughts like those; they ultimately lead to discouragement, and make failure more imminent. I must believe he is alive and well and that he has not been harmed.
Ronan and I wait for John's signal before running off into the camp. Sitting behind a bush in front of the medical tent before lunging I quickly dispose of the Wraith nearest to me before jumping up and running into the tent.
Inside I stop when I see Carson after all of these hours lying strapped to the gurney. His face is bloodless and his body appears lifeless.
"Carson!" I cry. My heart thumps again and I feel like I've been stabbed. Not Carson, with his handsome blue eyes and his charming smile. Never have I met a man who was so polite that did not want something from me. He can't be dead.
I run across to him and check his pulse as I hear John bursting into the tent. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in and say:
"He's barely conscious," acting as if I had known the entire time that he was alive.
John walks over and starts to undo the straps binding Carson's wrists when Ronan stalks in.
John looks up quickly, "Did you find the others?"
Ronan holds up a hand-full of dog tags while shaking his head. "They were fed on." He shrugged slightly, "There's not much of them left."
John looks at him for a moment with an unhappy nod before looking towards me again, "Help me get him up." He says softly.
We each put a hand behind his back and sit him upright, as Ronan walks over to give us a hand. Carson is as limp as my little cloth doll was when I was little. Ronan lays a hand on John's shoulder to signal him to move, and then Ronan hefts Carson up in his arms as if he were a mere child.
Seeing Carson like that, he looks like a child. What have the Wraith done to him? What did Michael do to him?
Ah, my friend is not only the queen of Beckett-y Atlantis stories, but the queen of odd stopping places. She wasn't expecting to post them, I suppose…'twas my idea. So, please review! We really appreciate it!