Title: It Was Never Meant To Be This Way
Pairing: Rodney and Teyla, gen, but with large amounts of het UST
Rating: 15 (T)
Disclaimer: "Stargate" and all related characters are the property of MGM Television Entertainment.
Summary: Teyla is being targeted and Rodney's just trying to help. But he always ends up being the one on the receiving end. Who's doing it? And, more importantly, why do they keep on hurting Rodney? Hurt/comfort/angst/friendship. Set towards the end of Season 2.
Author's Note: Written for silver_galaxy in the SGA Secret Santa fic exchange last year. It's about 20k in six chapters. Enjoy!
-o-
Chapter One – Monday 5.45am, Atlantis
Teyla sat on the balcony with her eyes closed as she drew in a deep breath of salty sea air. She allowed the first rays of brilliant sunshine to kiss her eyelids and caress her face as she meditated on the day ahead.
It was pleasantly warm, even though it was dawn, and she knew it was going to be another beautiful day.
Once the sun was a little higher, she decided that she had collected her thoughts sufficiently to start the day. She opened her eyes and gathered up her tea set and placed it in a small bag. She still enjoyed the taste and rituals of her homeworld, even though she no longer lived with her people. The Athosians had never gone home since the Wraith attack; feeling safer on the Lantean mainland than they ever had done before. But instead of making Teyla sorrowful about the loss, she found it calmed her; that even in her absence, she knew her people were well protected.
She headed back to her quarters, seeing a few early morning joggers on the way. They were all military personnel and she nodded in acknowledgement to each one that passed by.
She decided that she may as well complete her chores before breakfast, as she did every day. After all, the machines the Ancestors had created for cleaning cloth only took a few minutes to complete their cycle.
A few minutes later, Teyla stepped into the room with the haphazard banner on one wall. She pinched her face at the slogan and the name the people of Earth had given this particular space: 'Lantis Laundromat.
Teyla remembered Sheppard attempting to discourage Dr McKay from the name. But it was already in fairly wide use around the city by then, what with certain Majors not doing their laundry frequently enough to notice the name until it was too late and it had stuck.
Teyla shook her head and found herself smiling at the memory of Rodney's expressive face beaming in happiness when one of his own devised names was finally allowed to be used.
She stepped up to one of the machines in the row of five. They were golden brown, like the rest of the walls and devices in the city, and were as tall as Teyla. She opened the round door at waist level and unwrapped her bundle of clothing, placing it inside the large space within the machine.
She closed the door and the machine started on its own. Bright light flooded the interior chamber and glowed through the opaque door. She had once asked Rodney how the machines worked, as she had only ever washed her clothing by hand in river water. He had been rather rude to her, interspersing his fast and extremely technical explanation with comments about 'primitives' and 'cavemen.' Teyla had not spoken against him at the time, but he may have had a few extra bruises at the end of their next sparring session.
But that had happened before she had really got to know and like him as she now did. She would never do such a thing now, as she had learnt that although his words were often hasty and ill thought out, they always revealed exactly what he was thinking. She found his honesty and openness refreshing after spending most of her life trading with men and women who made a living by deception for their own gain.
That also meant that Rodney was unable to lie to Teyla. She could always tell if he tried by the way his eyes would rove and dart and he would nervously wring his hands together.
The machine suddenly started to hiss and whine. It had never made a noise in the past and Teyla frowned. As usual, she was the only one there, none of the people from Earth ever did their washing at this time of day and she was alone. It had also been several minutes and the cycle had not yet finished.
She approached the machine and considered reaching out and attempting to stop it, but then acrid smoke began to pour from the edges of the door.
She stepped back, suddenly unsure whether it was safe or not. She swiftly decided that it would be better not to think on such a thing for too long so she left the room.
She stood out in the corridor by the door and tapped her radio, "Teyla to the Science Labs."
There was a brief pause before a startled voice asked, "Hmm, what? Oh, McKay here."
Teyla was a little taken aback as to why her team mate was working so early when most of the people from Earth liked to sleep later into the morning, unlike the Athosians. She had viewed them as lazy at first, until she noticed that many stayed up very late, none more so than Dr McKay.
"Dr McKay, I am sorry to trouble you, I was hoping to speak with the Maintenance Team."
There was a pause and the whine of the machine in the room increased in both pitch and volume. A heavy sigh blew into Teyla's earpiece and she flinched. "I've drawn the short straw to fix stuff today... lucky me!"
Teyla frowned and replied dangerously, "Are you saying that you are unable to assist?"
"No. No. What's up?"
"One of the laundry machines is malfunctioning."
Rodney huffed again and Teyla's frown deepened. "In what way?"
"I am unsure. It sounds like it may be building up to an overload."
There was a pause, but Teyla did not hear any more sighs due to the level of noise now filling the corridor. She only just caught his next words, "I'll get my gear and be there in a few."
Teyla raised her eyebrows, "A few what?"
But he had already cut the connection.
True to his word, Rodney appeared a short while later. He looked grumpy and dishevelled. His hair was pushed up on one side and there was a red mark on the side of his face. The darkness of stubble shadowed his chin and rings of bruising encircled his bloodshot eyes. His jacket was crumpled and the hem of his shirt was messy and uneven.
Teyla furrowed her brow at his appearance and before she could do anything to prevent it, she felt a jolt of sympathy for him. Unlike a lot of the other humans, Rodney was a man who spent a lot of his time and energy in a seemingly endless quest to find better technology to help everyone; not only on Earth, but in the Pegasus Galaxy too. Although he was often over eager to sacrifice his own health to do so. It was clear to Teyla that he had had very little sleep and any he had managed to catch, had probably been taken at his desk where he had once again worked himself to exhaustion the night before.
That meant that no-one had roused him until her call this morning – were there not night teams who checked on the labs? Did they not think to wake him and make him return to his quarters for proper, much more restful sleep that he so desperately needed but always deprived himself of?
He shot her a lopsided smile in greeting and she tilted her head towards the room. The noise was now such that speech was impossible.
Rodney stepped past her and walked through the door. Teyla was alarmed that he did not seem to have considered his own safety and the potentially dangerous machine within. It was either bravery of foolhardiness, but she knew that there was probably no other way to prevent the imminent overload, and he was therefore being very valiant not to even hesitate to assist her.
She followed him inside, just in time to watch as he pressed a few controls on an open panel of the machine and the door sprung open. It smacked into his midsection and he staggered backwards and dropped the tool he was holding.
Teyla quickly ran over to him and caught him by the shoulders before he fell. The machine instantly wound down and the light turned out due to what Rodney had done to it.
"Dr McKay... Rodney, are you alright?" Teyla asked as he stopped moving back under her guidance, straightened up and fully bore his own weight once more without assistance. She considered calling for medical help, but she opted to wait for Rodney's response, as he was well enough to still be conscious.
He clutched his middle and winced, Teyla could feel how taut his muscles were against her hands as he hunched his shoulders in an innate reaction to curl around the pain.
He coughed and nodded, "I think I just broke about ten ribs and ruptured my spleen, as well as getting squirted with acid, but at least your washing's done I suppose."
Teyla did not take the comment about the extent of his injuries too seriously, as she knew by now that he was probably alright if he was still able to stand, and had enough breath to complain without any apparent difficulty. She let go of him and walked around to examine his front. There was a darkened stain on his jacket, which had also splotched through to the shirt underneath. In close proximity, she found that his scent was of sleep and coffee, but a new, far more unpleasant tang was beginning to overwhelm the mainly natural male aroma surrounding him.
He dabbed at the patch with his sleeve pulled down to protect his hand and Teyla said, "It would only take a minute for the liquid to be removed using one of the machines. You could wait while the cycle completes."
Rodney's face abruptly altered from an expression of tiredness and pain, to one of wide-eyed nervousness. He brushed his hand over his chest in a vain attempt to clean off the liquid, and cleared his throat with his eyes averted. He stuttered, "No no no, it's fine. I'll just head back to my quarters and get changed."
Teyla narrowed her eyes and frowned. She had never understood the strange modesty and self-consciousness which surrounded many of the people from Earth. Rodney appeared embarrassed at the prospect of removing any clothing in front of Teyla and it puzzled her. She said, "It is only me, Rodney."
He shrugged with a wince and mumbled, "Alright. But no peeking!" He stepped over to one of the other machines and peeled off his jacket.
Teyla went back to her machine and retrieved her clothing. She allowed herself a small indulgent smile when she was sure Rodney could no longer see her face.
It turned out that her clothing was clean, dry and smooth, as though nothing had gone wrong with the machine. She would have to ask Rodney to make sure he repaired the machine or placed a sign to prevent anyone else from using it. Perhaps he could do it while his own clothes were being cleaned?
She heard him hum behind her before he said, "That's odd. This machine would've exploded too, as it has the same component unplugged as the one you were using."
She and frowned as she turned to him and asked, "Do you know why that would be?"
She was greeted by a red-faced and very flustered, shirtless Rodney glaring at her. "I said no peeking!" He shouted as he quickly lifted his arms up to cover the humiliation of his bare chest and abdomen. She had already seen him though. His exposed skin was incredibly pale, except for the light dusting of hair, and the slightly indented and angry-looking red line running down his middle from where the door had struck him a moment ago. He was going to have painful swelling and bruising there very soon, which would no doubt make him more irritable than usual.
Teyla turned away and had the courtesy to blush. "I am sorry. I am also curious as to why the machine went wrong and yet my clothing is fine."
Rodney sighed sadly and replied, "I don't know yet. I couldn't tell from what I saw in the brief moment before it flew open and smashed all my insides up. I had a look at the circuitry, but there's nothing wrong with it apart from the unplugged component. I'll have to have a word with the useless, incompetent maintenance..."
He abruptly stopped talking, but Teyla did not look at him again to find out why, as she had no desire to make him feel uncomfortable again. She asked, "What is it?"
Teyla heard Rodney open the door, but there was no impact noise of it striking flesh this time. "Hmm, that's strange. Maybe there's something wrong with all of them?"
Teyla neatly folded her clothes and Rodney said, "Erm, you can look now."
She did so and nodded to him, where he now stood in a much crisper, freshly washed shirt and jacket. She said, "Thank you for your assistance, Rodney."
He gave her a small smile and indicated the machine he was using and the one next to it which had its panel hanging open too just as Teyla's did. "I'm going to stay here and check them all over."
She gestured towards his middle with her free hand and continued, "You may wish to delegate the repair work to one of your colleagues and perhaps take some time to visit the infirmary and have your injuries tended."
Rodney moved his arm up and held it against himself. The fingers of his other hand he held by his side twitched and he looked away as he shook his head, "I'll fix the machines first and then go."
Teyla doubted whether he was telling her the truth, but bade him farewell, knowing that if he was really hurt he would seek medical attention. She made a mental note to check on him every few hours to be sure that he was not suffering unnecessarily. She then retired back to her quarters to drop off her clothes before heading to the Mess Hall for breakfast.