Disclaimer – As much as I wish SGA were mine (and I really wish it were a whole lot!), it isn't. I am borrowing the characters, setting, and plot temporarily.
Summary – AU events following episodes "The Storm" and "The Eye." They've survived the hurricane and a Genii infiltration, the worst is over, right? Maybe not. The trouble's just beginning. Rodney's been tortured, he's exhausted, but Atlantis and its inhabitants are calling upon him to save them once again. Rodney whump abounds.
Rating – PG-13 for blood and violence, maybe some language later on.
Genres – Hurt/Comfort, Action & Adventure
Spoilers – Any episodes up through "The Storm" and "The Eye"
Author's notes – Well, this is my first Stargate Atlantis fan fiction. I actually arrived here in a backwards manner. I read a ton of fan fiction for SGA over the last year and am thoroughly spoiled, but finally decided it was time to start watching the series so that I could write for the fandom as well. I am currently about half way through Season 1 so this is set right after "The Storm" and "The Eye." The story starts in the gate room right after the tsunami hits the shield and diverges into an AU from there.
This story will be primarily Rodney whump, there will be no pairings. I tend to write longer fics and my goal is to finish this one around 50k words. This story is not beta-ed so all mistakes made are my own. Please bear with me, this is my first SGA fic but I am excited to finally be writing for SGA!
Reviews are nice if you feel inclined to do so, but either way, please enjoy the story!
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
After the Storm
Chapter One: No End in Sight
It felt like everyone had been holding their breath for the last twenty four hours. Most people had been worrying from afar, gated offworld to Menara where they had ridden out the storm. The Athosians had worried whether their settlement would be destroyed. City residents had worried whether the city would be destroyed in the coming storm. And all of these worries had been rolled up into a neat little ball and settled on the shoulders of one Rodney McKay. He'd done just what they had asked, had pulled another miracle out of thin air and once again saved the day.
He couldn't quite believe it. They'd survived a hurricane the size of a continent with the city intact. They'd survived a Genii invasion with minimal casualties. He had survived being held hostage by a hostile military commander. You would think that would be the difficult part. In the gate room he had pressed the button to raise the shield. No, he would never admit being nervous, he would never admit to his other blue shirts that under his breath he may have muttered a prayer to whoever might be listening. He was Rodney McKay, always supremely confident regardless of the odds. He had watched the tsunami split around their precious city and leave it largely intact. Relieved smiles had broken out across the faces of his friends, breathless smiles, the kind of shared intimacy that follows any calamity survived together.
Elizabeth pulled her eyes away from the window where water was running down from the shield and dripping back into the ocean in the wake of the tsunami. "Nice job Rodney."
"Did you ever doubt me?"
"Yes, several times."
"Well I pulled it off didn't I? The city's saved, no one died."
Sheppard chose that moment to jump in. "We get it McKay, you did good. We did lose two men, but that was the Genii, there was nothing you could have done there. You did well. I hate to cut this moment short but we have other things to worry about. Like all of our people on Menara. We need to get started on bringing them back. Teyla, how is Beckett doing? He looked a little dazed on the way in."
Beckett had slumped down in a chair, head resting against his hand, arm propped on the control panel. "I'm doin' alright. A little rough around the edges but doin' ok," he said, running his fingers over the bruising area on his forehead. "I should go set up in case there were any injuries in the evacuation."
Teyla raised an eyebrow, "With all due respect Dr., but you were unconscious for several minutes while my altercation with Sora elapsed. You yourself need to be examined by a medical officer for injuries."
"I wasn't unconscious, just a wee bit dazed! People will be needin' my help, I'm the only medical officer here right now-"
"Doc, you've been going in and out since you got up here and quite frankly I wouldn't trust you to walk a straight line right now without taking a nose dive."
"Ok, McKay, why don't you take Beckett here down to his infirmary? Keep him company until we get the gate open and I'll send a medical officer down. Ford, you and I will take Sora down to a holding cell until we can figure out what to do with her later. Elizabeth and Teyla, I'm putting you two on starting to bring people back to the city."
McKay raised his hand, "Sheppard-"
But he went on with his directions, "Get Menara dialed up, Teyla, you go through and tell everyone that it's safe to come back. Set up some chain of command on that side and then get back here so you can help Elizabeth with things here."
"What about the Athosians? They will want to go check the condition of their settlement."
"They'll have to stay put here for a little bit. I know it's not ideal, but hopefully it'll just be a few hours. Once we get all our people back here I can see about getting a scouting party shuttled back to the mainland to see how the settlement fared."
"SHEPPARD!" McKay moved forward a few steps from the column he had been leaning up against. "I know you have an endless energy reserve, but some of us need a few moments. We've all been running around for almost twenty-four hours-"
"McKay, for just one second can you put yourself second? There is no one else! It's us, we have to get this stuff done right now. You can take care of your personal business later."
McKay narrowed his eyes at this. "You think I haven't sacrificed for this? I-" He quickly closed his mouth and his eyes darted to the floor. He'd almost told Sheppard that what Kolya had done to him. His hand unconsciously moved over the slash in his arm. He quickly glanced over at Beckett to see if he had seen the gesture, thankfully he hadn't. The normally astute man would have been all over the wound if he hadn't been so dazed.
Refocusing, he thought to himself that Sheppard didn't need to know any more details about how he'd gone ahead and blabbed their plan, how weak Rodney McKay couldn't even withstand a bit of pain.
Elizabeth opened her mouth to jump in and fill in the details that Sheppard was missing but McKay beat her to it, shaking his head at her.
He took a deep breath and met Sheppard's gaze. "Look Sheppard, I haven't eaten anything more than a powerbar in the last twenty four hours. I need to snag a couple more and a cup of coffee if you want me on my feet. That and a dry change of clothes and I'll be good. I suggest you at least let Elizabeth go change as well. I know you were running around and getting shot at in here playing Rambo, but we were outside in that mess for a couple hours. I'm cold and I'm wet. Let me take care of that and then I'll get to work on organizing my scientists. There are a lot of repairs to be done."
Sheppard cocked his head slightly as if thinking about it and then gave a slight nod. "Fine, do it fast and get to work. Ford, you're with Beckett. I'll take Sora. Elizabeth, go change and then you and Teyla contact our people."
Ford's back straightened at this one. He'd had quite enough of Beckett today thank you very much. Him and his whining and complaining. "But sir, Beckett's not a military concern, prisoners," he said motioning at Sora, "on the other hand, are our business. McKay can suck it up and take Beckett for now. He's not the only one who's been out in this mess."
Beckett went from closed eyes to half hooded eyes, trying his hardest to freeze the spinning room and focus in on Rodney. Even if he was at slightly less than his best, Rodney was still a patient and a friend. He couldn't quite get the room to stop rocking, but even through blurred vision he could see McKay's creased brow. Something was bothering the man. "Rodney, if you aren't feelin' well perhaps you should come with me. I'll see if I can fix ya' up, maybe check your blood sugar, and we can wait for the rest of my staff to get back."
McKay visibly bristled at the suggestion. "Beckett, you know me, you're always complaining that I come running to you over a splinter. I need a bit of food and a change of clothes and I'll be ready to go."
Sheppard looked over at Ford while McKay and Beckett were bickering. He wasn't in the mood to argue with one of his soldiers. He was in charge and sometimes, just sometimes, he wished that people would just listen to him. "Ford, as a military officer, your primary responsibility is ensuring the safety and well-being of all residents of Atlantis, especially civilians. Is Beckett not a civilian? Has he not stitched up your bleeding hide on multiple occasions? Do it and don't complain." He grabbed Sora's arm, "I'm taking her and leaving. Let's get moving."
Ford scowled, mumbling something under his breath, having the intelligence to not complain loudly enough for Sheppard to hear. McKay chose that moment to slip out before Beckett managed to put together a coherent rebuttal or anyone else found something he needed to take care of.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
McKay arrived at his room, mentally commanding the door to open as he buzzed through, locking them behind him as he headed straight to the bathroom, stripping out of his coat and dropping the soaking wet article onto his floor on the way.
He grabbed his small first aid kit from under the sink, setting it on the closed toilet and popping the lid as he rifled through it for the items he wanted.
Standing at the sink he turned the faucet on, playing with the temperature and periodically testing it with a finger until it was at hot as he could stand it, steam rising from the sink.
He dipped his arm under the water, biting his lip as he did so. He grabbed a washcloth and gently washed the cut the best he could although it was still bleeding slightly. He pulled the wound open slightly, peering in to see how deep it went. He saw down past the muscle and caught a tinge of white. Bone. Kolya hadn't been kind. That knife hadn't been small. He was glad Elizabeth hadn't been there to see him.
"Dr. McKay. I'll ask you once more politely. You didn't expect this city to survive the storm on its own. What's the plan?"
"There is no plan Kolya! Why do you think there's no one here? We were evacuating! I needed to run a few subprograms and then shut down all unnecessary power drains and I was leaving too."
"I said I would ask once and I did. Deans, pass me your knife. You and Sherden hold him."
The two soldiers grabbed him, one on each arm even as he tried to shake them off.
"Come on Kolya! This isn't funny! I would tell you if there was a plan, there isn't! Just let up!"
He had closed his eyes. He couldn't watch this.
And then his world had lit on fire with pain, starting in his arm and racing along his nerve endings through the rest of his body. He held out for a moment longer, but then Kolya started spinning the knife around in the wound, shredding the edges, boring down deeper into his arm.
"AAAHHH! Ok! I'll tell you! Stop! I'll tell you!"
"What was that Dr. McKay? I couldn't quite hear you; you kind of garbled your words when you screamed there."
"I'll tell you! Just stop…"
Yes. He'd given in. Weak Rodney McKay couldn't last a minute under pressure. Some soldier he was. But science he could do, for now. Get his mind off it, fix the city. Deal with this baggage later.
He winced as he poured iodine into the wound, letting it bubble white foam over the edges of his skin before dabbing it out with a few bits of cotton and moving on to dressing it. He closed it the best he could with butterfly bandages which did a pitiful job of closing the wound, but it was the best he could do with the supplies he had. He threw a few gauze pads over the cut and wrapped an ace bandage around his arm. He finished by dry swallowing four Tylenol.
He put his medical case back, carefully slipping out of his soaked shirt and leaving it on the bathroom floor. He grabbed the towel off its hook with his good arm, toweling as dry as he could get before he left the bathroom for the closet in his room.
He snatched a long sleeved shirt off a shelf and threw it on. His jacket was wet and bloody, there would be no salvaging that one. He reached for his spare and threw that on as well before grabbing new pants and a pair of shoes that didn't slosh with every step. On his way out he stopped at the desk for a pair of power bars. Fifteen minutes after entering his room Rodney McKay exited, laptop tucked under his good arm as he made his way back to the control room to assess the damage to the city.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
