Sheppard woke up to his door swishing open, it was knew who it was because it had been the same person every night sometimes twice a night for the past week. "Mckay, Why are you here?" He had asked before and never got a reply.
Rodney's breathing seemed to calm at his voice and he mumbled " Sorry." and turned to leave.
"Mckay wait." John said sighing and getting out of bed. He went over to the door and turn Mckay around. " You look like crap." He said after getting his first good look at him.
"Thanks." he muttered before yawning a yawn that looked like it was about to break his jaw.
John led Mckay into the room and sat him on the bed, determined to get to the bottom of this." Mckay it has been a week and every night you come here then leave without a word. Why?"
Mckay sighed "You'll laugh."
"Rodney you haven't slept in a week. At this point I just want to know what is going on so you can sleep. I promise not to laugh." John said looking Mckay right in the eye so he would see he was telling him the truth."
"It's...well....it's a nightmare and yes I know I have nightmares all the time but this one is ....different.. I feels so real."Rodney said looking away.
"Alright." John said "Tell me what it's about." He figured he might be able to help if he knew what it was about.
Mckay was quiet for a moment before he yawned again and said" It's the same one every night. I'm off world and I hear gunfire. I run towards it and find a load of dead Genii. I look around and I see you dying on the ground. I try to stop the bleeding but there just so much blood and you can't breathe and then...and then you die and I check for your heart beat but there isn't one. it's just gone." Mckay took in a shaky breath " And when I wake up I can still smell all the blood and I can feel it on my hands."
They sat in silence for a moment before John said " So you have been coming here to check if I'm alive." It was more of a statment then a question but Mckay nodded anyway.
" So if you knew I was alive at all times while you slept. You would be able to sleep maybe even not have the nightmare at all." John said quietly a plan forming in his mind.
Rodney thought for a moment " Yes. That seems plausible." he said wondering were this was going.
"Alright." John said getting into bed." Get in."
"What?!?" Mckay said looking at him like he had gone mad.
"I said get in then I will explain." John said pulling back the covers.
Mckay hesitated for a moment wondering if it was some sort of trick but then his fatigued won out and he staggered to the head of the bed and lay down.
" Ok, I do have a more long term plan then this but for tonight you are going to sleep with you hand right here." John said grabbing Mckay's hand and holding it in place just over his heart." That way you'll know I'm still here."
Mckay still looked a little nerves so he continued on " You don't need to worry. I'm not going to tell anyone but I do know for a fact we are not the first people who needed to do this."
"Really?" when John nodded he said " Huh" and squirmed a little to get comfy before closing his eyes.
Mckay fell asleep to the feel of Johns heart gently thumping against his hand.
The Next Day
Mckay was eating lunch in the mess hall when an Ipod was tossed onto his table. He looked up and found John taking a seat opposite him.
"Sleep well?" He asked taking a bite out of his food.
"Actually yes as a matter of fact I did." Mckay replied eating some of his own food.
"Good." John said " That." He added pointing at the ipod" Is you long term solution."
McKay picked it up and asked " Really? How?"
" It has my heart beat on it. You listen to it when you are asleep and no more nightmares." John replied.
"Ok 2 things . One how did you get the sound of your heart beat on here?"
"Well Carson has the heart beats of most of the staff on file from the phyicals he's done on people and varies other ways and he says that even though each heart beat sounds alike it helps the person to know that it's the person they need it to be heart beat."
" Alright that makes sense. So onto two. How are you so sure that this works?" Mckay questioned
"Because it worked for Lorne, Dr Parrish, Carson himself, Cadman, Miko, Zelenka, Markham, Stackhouse, me and a few others." John said as he flattened his mash.
" Wait you? Who's heartbeat did you need?" Mckay asked surprised.
John was quiet for a moment before looking at him and saying " Yours."
"Mine!."
"Yep yours. According to Carson it seems to happen in pairs but that is mostly because they are either best friends or dating. I pretty sure the only reason I didn't need to come to your room was because I already knew about it from Lorne." John said with a shrug. "You should only have to listen to it for about a week before the nightmares aren't there anymore. Athough some people keep them in case they can't sleep."
"Hm. Well thank god it will be over soon and I can get back to my regular run of the mill nightmares."Mckay said as he pocketed the ipod and getting up to leave."Thanks."
"No problem." John replied as Mckay left.