Title: Just for One Night
Summary: Alison helps Carson cope with the stresses of being a doctor in the Pegasus galaxy. Wee bit of Carson whump..
Spoiler:Mainly for Whispers. AU from there, ending with Carson and Alison Porter dating.
Disclaimer:Not mine, just borrowing.
Author's Note: I got this itch to write a fic where someone gives Carson a foot massage and this is what came out. :/ Hope you like it. Please R&R
Carson collapsed onto his bed absolutely exhausted. Several off world teams had run into trouble while on the same training mission meaning he had spent the past several hours running around, attending patient, after patient, after patient. It probably wasn't the best idea considering he was still trying to nurse a sprained ankle but at the moment he hadn't seen an alternative. His patients had needed him and he wasn't about to let them – or himself – down.
Both of his feet ached, throbbing the minute he got off them and his ankle in particularly hurt worse. He knew he needed to eat and change but the thought of standing again was not appealing to him. He resigned himself to actually needing to stand and at the very least change into something other than standard Atlantis apparel then got up. His right foot grumbled about taking weight again but his left screamed at him as the weakened ankle threw a fit big enough to dwarf Rodney's ego.
He hissed and limped his way into the bathroom to splash some water on his face and get the feeling of the infirmary off him. Atlantis murmured something in the back of his mind, gently coaxing him in the direction of the shower that now looked incredibly appealing. Deciding a shower could only help by now, Carson gave a shrug and gently pushed Atlantis' urging away, assuring her that he would to as she suggest, and began stripping out of his clothes while the city turned the warm water on.
Steam from the heat greeted him as he opened the door, stepping gratefully into the relaxing warmth. For a good five minutes, Carson simply stood underneath the spray, allowing the gentle beating of the water to massage and soothe his aching back. Water dripped onto his bare shoulders, forming little bubbles before they gently slid down his back, arms and legs. He turned around, semi-hopping since his ankle wasn't too keen on supporting him fully at the moment, and allowed the spray to hit his chest, face and hair, watching as water dripped off his eyelids, down his face, arms and hands before landing upon the tiled shower floor.
All too soon it seemed Carson's ankle had begun demanding, via no longer tolerating much weight at all, that he get out and off his feet and he complied begrudgingly. Droplets of water splashed to the floor as he quickly dried off, leaving only his hair a sodden, spiky mess. He heavily limped out to the main room that served as his quarters and froze in the doorway.
Doctor Alison Porter, his girlfriend for the past year, stood in the middle of the room next to a table that had been set with a couple plates of food. Though she was modestly dressed, she had lit candles all around giving her a rather sensual look. The soft glow from the flames gave her dark hair a lighter tone making it almost look auburn as it framed her beautiful face. Her blue eyes greeted him with a smile but he didn't miss how they roamed over his body, scanning him for signs of something wrong before landing on his left leg with a look of sadness and concern.
"What's this then?" he asked her with a shocked smile. He slowly made is way into the room, sitting down in a chair when she pulled it out for him. He could have sworn the sigh of relief his feet let out could have been heard throughout the room but when he found Allison looking at him with concern Carson guessed that it had been him that had released the sigh.
"I heard about your busy day and thought you wouldn't want to go to the mess hall for some food so I brought the food to you," Alison answered watching with pleasure as he began to prepare to eat.
"Thank you Allison," he replied truly grateful that she knew him so well.
When they had first started dating it had been a war to get him used to eating without waiting for her to start first but eventually Allison had won. She sat now, enjoying the victory of that battle as she watched him steadily put food into his mouth. It wasn't until her stomach growled at her reminding her that it wanted food as well that she realized she had, once again, been lost in the dimples that appeared as he chewed.
It was ridiculous, she supposed, to find a man so attractive that the dimples that appeared in his cheeks when he was eating were cute but she couldn't help herself. There was such spirit in Carson that she had immediately found herself drawn to him and if she were honest with herself she didn't fight it too hard. His crystal blue eyes, warm, inviting smile and adorable dimples had begun the slow tug, gently pulling her in. At first she had tried to remain professional but the more she talked to him during that nightmare of a mission, the more she found that she couldn't. It was obvious he was a gentle soul, tenderhearted and flawlessly caring but there was also a fire within him that he only let show when the situation became dangerous and lives – including her own – were at risk.
The meal passed in comfortable silence. Allison knew enough about the man before her by now to know when he desired the quiet. It wasn't often for he loved to listen to her talk about her day and vice versa but when the days had been long and/or trying, the Scot preferred the quiet. She assumed that it was to allow himself time to relax from the hard day but sometimes she could see traces of a headache that he never wanted to let on that he had and so willingly obliged.
Tonight she saw no signs of a headache but she could see signs of pain and she didn't like it. When he'd come out of the bathroom, she'd noticed how he'd been trying to put as little weight on his ankle as possible but she hadn't commented on it knowing that he wouldn't appreciate it. She wasn't altogether sure that he should be walking around on the injured joint but he had been adamant that he would be fine.
It had only been two weeks since he'd sprained the ankle pretty badly while off world but he seemed to be able to handle more weight on the leg with each passing day. The planet he'd been on had been very friendly to them with villagers who were more than willing to help wherever they could in exchange for medical supplies and help from the Lanteans when needed. They had noticed Carson's limping and were more than willing to help when they discovered he was injured. According to Carson at first the injury seemed to have been a very bad sprain, bad enough to make most doctors contemplate a fracture in the bone.
The healer of the village had explained to him what they used for treatment of injuries such as his and he said that he'd been extremely reluctant to allow them to attempt to help but the look Colonel Sheppard had given him had made him give in to their ministrations. Allison had become very angry at Colonel Sheppard at this point in his story. What if the villagers had, unintentionally of course, made things worse and hurt him more? Didn't he care about that? Carson had given her a pat on the hand as some form of assurance though she could tell that that had been his first thought as well then continued.
Once he'd been seated, a jar had been brought out and set next to him while the healer's assistant brought a chair for the man to sit on as he stripped Carson's foot bare. The substance inside the jar, he'd explained, was a liniment that they made from one of the plants on the planet. It was very useful in helping injuries such as sprains to heal faster than was normal. The healer had been as gentle as he could as he gingerly rubbed the balm into the badly swollen limb but it still caused considerable pain. By the time he'd finished however, the pain had diminished exponentially as had a small portion of the swelling.
The healer had wanted to wrap a simple cloth around the ankle but at that point in time Colonel Sheppard had felt the need to intercede and handed the villager a couple of compression bandages the team often kept on hand. Allison had scoffed at the Colonel's timing in showing that he cared but otherwise she kept her opinions to herself. Carson had finished his story by explaining that the villagers had sent a decent sized jar of the liniment home with him for his own personal use as well as to study. He'd been using the balm daily, often before bed, and she had to admit that his ankle had been healing quite well.
As they finished eating, Allison gently nudged Carson over to the bed where he collapsed onto the mattress with a long sigh of relief and a wince of pain. She cleaned up quickly, giving him some time to himself while she took the trays back to the mess hall. When she returned she found Carson in almost the exact same place as when she left; the only difference being there was now a pillow beneath his ankle and an ice pack that they kept on hand on top.
Deep lines of pain engraved themselves into his face, focusing on his forehead, mouth and eyes. His right hand lay across his face in an attempt to hide the pain from her and a move of exhaustion. Her heart gave a jolt at seeing him hurting and she all of the sudden felt the need to do something about it.
Carson wasn't normally the one injured so it was odd for her to be caring for him but she was in no way unwilling to do it. There was something about Carson Beckett that made her want to protect him from all the evil in the world though she knew that he'd personally experienced true evil in the form of a Wraith named Michael. While he wasn't normally physically injured there were more than a few times when he'd come back from work and simply break down as his heart broke for one ravaged planet, for many lives lost, or for the families that were left grieving and his own inability to heal everything. He was a kind soul and it always seemed like a cruel twist of fate whenever he was left hurting in some form or another. If there was one person in two galaxies who did not deserve to suffer – it would be him.
Silently she walked about the room, going to where he stored the liniment and grabbing the jar before she went to the foot of the bed. She placed the jar on the mattress so she could crawl on top of the bed and snuggle close to him like a cat wanting attention.
"Think you can summon the energy to remain sitting for a bit or should we move you to a chair?" she quietly asked in his ear.
"Why do I need to move at all?" he asked tiredly though not harshly.
"I want to put some more of that liniment on your ankle while you rest. It's kinda hard to do that while you're laying down."
One bright blue eye peeked out from under his arm, focusing on her in study. The sharp note in the orb softened when he saw her concern and he brought his spare arm around her shoulders, engulfing her in a cuddling hug. "I appreciate the offer love but 'tis not necessary."
"Well," Allison answered, slightly drawing out the word as she did so, "I may not be an M.D. but I happen to think it is so why don't you humor me huh?" She loosed herself from his comforting grip, giving him a peck on the cheek before she got up and grabbed the jar while she waited for him to move from the lying down position to sitting upright. He swung his legs off the bed and sat almost wearily, waiting for her to begin.
He watched with a mixture of desire and exhaustion as Allison knelt before him, placing herself just in front of his feet with her legs tucked under her as though she were getting ready to bow in prayer. The sound of metal upon glass echoed through the quiet of the room as she opened the jar the scooped a generous helping onto her hands. When he felt her hands tenderly caressing his hurting ankle, gently rubbing the balm into the swollen joint, he closed his eyes intent on allowing himself to revel in the feel of her touch.
Allison watched Carson close his eyes as she began working the healing ointment into his injured ankle and accepted the action as a sign that she was doing something right. She was doing her best to keep her touch as light as a feather floating in the breeze as her fingers massaged the tender skin. The whole point of this exercise was to help relieve pain; it wouldn't do any good for her to cause more.
His leg jerked as she applied a little too much pressure and his whole body tensed but still he remained unmoving, fully giving himself into her care. It was a vote of confidence that she dearly loved and wanted. For the best healer in two galaxies to trust her with himself – it meant that he trusted her more than he did anyone else in his life. It was a trust that wasn't taken lightly and was willingly returned ten-fold.
When she finished with the injured leg, Allison grabbed the compression bandage that he kept in the bedside table and carefully wrapped it around the ankle. She moved the leg back onto the bed, wanting to allow the limb to be elevated while she worked on the other foot.
She applied more pressure to his right foot since it wasn't injured. Though she wasn't trained in the art of massage, she felt the tenseness in the muscles as she worked. She held on to his foot with her thumbs on the sole, kneading the soft tissue and muscles on the bottom. Slowly working from the middle of his foot to the pad by his toes then stroked her way down to his heel, making sure to keep the pressure aggressive and constant as she went.
A sigh escaped from his open mouth and she could have sworn she heard all the stress from the past few weeks leaving in that one breath. She moved from his heel to his ankle, flexing and stretching joint before she began kneading the soft tissue around it. It seemed almost normal for her to move from his ankle to his calf and she had to stop herself before she gave him an all-out full body massage. While it was incredibly tempting, she knew that what he needed – and more than likely wanted – right now was sleep. She finished with his leg and moved it to join the other atop the bed, struggling to support his torso when it appeared that he was barely awake.
His head hit the pillow about the same time a snore escaped and she smiled indulgently as she settled him, fully dressed, into bed, placing a throw blanket over his prone form. She gave his forehead a kiss then cleaned her hands free from the liniment. It smelled of peppermint but there was a stickiness to the ointment that wasn't appreciated.
She returned to room and crawled in bed with Carson, carefully wrapping herself around him as he gently snoozed. She knew that tomorrow he would be up and about, moving at one hundred miles per hour with the next crisis but for tonight she took solace in the fact that she had helped ease his pain – even if it was just for one night.
~fin~