Trust is Given

By Leesa Perrie

Sorry for the longish introduction, but I feel it is necessary to explain the following:

This is an AU based on the idea of the Sentinel/Guide bonding fics that occur in The Sentinel TV show's fandom (and are AU to the TV show itself). However, this downplays the bonding side of things, so there should be no scenes that could be considered as not-gen or even as smarm. Although the characters may change a little as the Sentinel/Guide thing develops, I'm trying to keep them in line with canon as much as possible. Explanations on my take of the Sentinel/Guide bond, as well as what a Sentinel/Guide is, will be given during the story. The characters from The Sentinel TV show do not appear in this story.

Up until and including Season 3's episode, 'Phantoms', things are pretty much as in the series. There are no Sentinels or Guides on Atlantis or onboard the Daedalus, so although this phenomenon is known, it does not impact greatly on the seasons as we know them until after 'Phantoms'. However, since Jack and Daniel are a Sentinel/Guide pair, the SGC side of things will be slightly different. For example, Jack is still in charge of the SGC (sorry to all General Landry fans).


Chapter One – Changing

Rodney had been working hard in the labs, trying to catch up after weeks of enforced convalescence by Carson, after Sheppard had shot him. And how weird did that still sound, that Sheppard had shot him?

He was only released to light duties, technically, and if Carson found out he was working late into the night, there'd be hell to pay. But right now, he wasn't too worried about that as he really needed to get back on top of things. Radek had done a good job keeping the science staff in line and on track, not that he would ever admit it to the Czech, and had kept him informed of any problems or exciting discoveries. Which had been frustrating, not being involved in working on any new technology that turned up. Not to mention not being involved in solving problems, either. So he was glad to finally be back at work.

The door opened, and he looked up to see Radek in the doorway.

"You should not be here," Zelenka said. "If Carson finds out…"

"And he won't, unless someone tells him," he frowned at Radek.

"Ah, perhaps I should, so as to keep on his good side."

Rodney sighed, returning to his laptop, rubbing his eyes as the screen blurred briefly.

"You are tired, maybe make mistakes," Radek continued. "Mistakes I will have to correct."

"I don't make mistakes," Rodney snapped.

"Of course, I forgot. You are infallible. Except when you are not."

"Oh, for goodness sake, go away. I'm fine," Rodney continued to read the latest report, stalling when the screen seemed to magnify so that he could see each pixel. "What the…"

"Rodney?"

"Nothing, nothing," Rodney said quickly, as the screen returned to normal. "You still here?"

"Yes, I am still here. I think I need to call Carson."

"No, you do not."

"Then you will rest?"

"Radek…" Rodney glared at him, startled when he heard a loud thump-thump noise coming from Radek. "What's that noise?"

"What noise? I hear nothing."

"That 'thump-thump' noise. You sure you can't hear it?"

"I hear nothing except tired physicist yapping," Radek looked concerned. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes, yes," Rodney scowled, "it's gone now anyway." Rodney returned his attention to the laptop, but felt unsettled. He heard Radek sigh.

"I will go," the Czech said, "and return with Carson."

"No, damn it, you will not!" Rodney got up, but stumbled when the room seemed to refocus so that he could see everything up close, as though he was looking through a microscope. Radek moved quickly, grabbing his arm and helping him to sit back down. "Oh crap," he put his head in his hands, closing his eyes.

He heard Radek call Carson to his lab. Well, that was just great, he thought to himself. First day back at work, and he was at least looking at a tongue lashing from the Scot, probably followed by being taken off duty again. He risked opening his eyes and looked up. Okay, sight was back to normal. What on Earth…well, Atlantis, had caused that? And what was that infernal noise coming from Radek again? The noise faded, but that smell…ack, too much deodorant or aftershave or something. The smell faded, but why was his shirt feeling scratchy all of a sudden, it was fine not long ago. And now, damn it, his head felt like it was going to explode.

Time seemed to speed up, because the next thing he was truly aware of was a Scottish voice trying to get his attention. He looked up into Carson's worried, and annoyed, face.

"Carson."

"At last, I've been trying to get a response form you for a good couple of minutes now."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Sure you are. I let you back to work on light duties, and you go and overdo it on your first day back!"

"I'm fine!"

"You're not," Carson glared at him.

"He was complaining about a noise, one I could not hear," Radek put in.

"Hmm, that doesn't sound good. Any other problems?"

Rodney glared at Radek, and then turned his glare onto Carson. Carson merely stood back, folding his arms over against his chest, waiting. And then Rodney's eyes focused in, so that he could see the individual fibres that made up Carson's jacket. He closed his eyes, placing his throbbing head back into his hands with a groan.

"Rodney," Carson sounded worried. "What is it?" When Rodney didn't reply, he sighed in frustration. "Come on, there's no point in being stubborn. There's obviously something wrong, and the fact you're not whining about it is, frankly, worrying in itself."

"I don't whine…" Rodney heard Carson's snort quite clearly, too clearly. "Much," he amended, and sighed deeply. "It started with my eyes, it was like I could see each pixel on the laptop screen, and then later it was like I was looking at the room through a microscope. Probably just some weird tiredness thing, right?"

"Maybe," Carson said cautiously. "What about the sound you thought you heard?"

"It was like a thump-thump sound, and it came from Radek…" Rodney trailed off. "A thump-thump sound, like a heartbeat. Only that's not possible."

"You heard Radek's heartbeat?" Carson asked in surprise.

"No, I mean, I don't know. It sounded like it, okay? And my shirt started feeling scratchy for no reason, and I could smell someone's aftershave or deodorant or something, and it was overpowering. But it only lasted a few moments each time."

"Bloody hell," Carson said, "that's four out of five senses you've mentioned, all of them temporarily heightened."

"Sentinel," Radek breathed in astonishment, before turning to Carson. "Is it possible?"

"Aye, lad, it's possible. Not all Sentinels have their abilities appear during puberty. It can be delayed in rare cases into adulthood."

"What? You think…" Rodney stopped, stunned by what Carson and Radek obviously thought. "You think I could be a Sentinel? Someone with five enhanced senses?"

"Aye, it does sound that way. We need to get you down to the infirmary, do a few tests to find out."

Rodney was too shocked by this possibility to put up any protest when Carson guided him towards the infirmary. Unfortunately, he had only stepped out into the hallway when his sense of smell decided to play up; he couldn't breathe and started to gag. He was vaguely aware of Carson telling him to breathe slowly, but he couldn't, the air smelt so foul, and started to hyperventilate, until darkness took him.


When Rodney resurfaced, he was lying on an infirmary bed, with various monitors attached to him. He groaned as his head reminded him of its aching status, and he closed his eyes against the light in the room, moving one of his arms up to cover them.

"Hey, how you feeling, McKay?"

He recognised Sheppard's voice.

"Hurts," he whispered. "Need a new head, one that doesn't ache abominably."

"Let me get Beckett. I'm sure he can give you something to make that better."

"That would be good."

Sheppard moved off, and Rodney drifted. He wished someone would switch off the noisy monitors, they weren't helping his head any. He recognised the heart monitor, and felt his heart beating in time with it. Felt it, heard it, and then got lost in it.


When Sheppard returned with Carson, Rodney was still, completely and frighteningly still. Carson moved McKay's arm from over his eyes, and placed it back down beside him. Rodney's eyes were open and fixed, staring at nothing. Almost as if dead.

"Rodney," Carson called, rubbing a hand over McKay's arm. "Rodney, can you hear me? You need to come back now."

"What's happening, doc?" John asked. "He was complaining of a headache, but otherwise he seemed fine when I left him."

"It's okay, he's just fallen into a zone out. We just need to talk to him, encourage him to return. Physical contact helps as well."

"A zone out?"

"Aye. It's when a Sentinel focuses in on one sense too much, and loses himself in a kind of fugue state. It happens sometimes, especially with new Sentinels. Training will help to reduce the occurrence of them." Carson reassured him, turning his attention back to Rodney. "Come on, now. Come on back to us, Rodney."

John joined him in coaxing McKay back from wherever he had gone, taking one of Rodney's hands in his own, and rubbing it gently.

It took a good fifteen or so minutes before McKay responded, coming awake with a start, and looking round wildly. John placed the hand he was holding back onto the bed.

"Hey, there you are," he said quietly.

"What…what happened? And, oh crap, my head…" Rodney placed an arm back over his eyes again.

"You had a zone out," Carson said calmly. "What do you remember last?"

"I…the heart monitor. I was listening to it, and could feel my heart beating in time with it. And then I could hear my own heart…and then I woke up just now."

"Well, it seems you zoned out on your own heartbeat. Concentrated on your hearing too much, got lost in it, for want of a better explanation. You'll get used to this, learn how to avoid them."

"So…I am a Sentinel?" Sheppard could hear the fear in McKay's voice.

"Yes. I did some tests. We're able to recognise the Sentinel/Guide gene after the person has, in essence, come online. We can't detect it prior to that as yet. Anyway, you now have the altered gene, so there can be no doubt about it."

"Oh."

"Hey, I think it's cool," Sheppard said with a grin. "Just think how useful this will be on missions. You'll have hearing to rival Ronon's, in fact, he might be jealous of you. And to be able to see danger…"

"Yeah, I guess." Rodney still looked freaked out though. "Of course, if I zone out on a mission, I'd be a liability."

"So, we find a way to protect you from that," John nudged him. "Come on, think of the plus side."

"Not really in my nature, that, is it? You know, a glass half empty type of guy."

Sheppard shook his head in exasperation.

"Do I need a Guide?" McKay asked Carson. "Because, I really don't think I'm a good candidate for that."

"Well, Sentinels don't need a Guide, that is, they can survive without one quite well. But with a Guide, the ability to control the senses is increased as is the range and sensitivity of them. Zone outs are far less likely with a Guide than without, and a Guide can pull you out of one within one to six minutes. It takes non-Guides between ten and forty minutes to do that."

"In other words, I'll manage okay without one, but would manage a lot better with one?"

"Aye."

"There aren't any Guides on Atlantis. If I remember right, don't they have to be compatible or something? I would have to go to Earth, take part in 'mixers', you know, get-togethers, to try and find my Guide," Rodney scowled at the thought.

"Well, you might not. In fact, I think there's a good chance you won't."

"You think we can find a Guide here?" Sheppard asked, confused.

"Most likely. With latent Sentinels, in ninety percent of cases a latent Guide lives within about two miles of said Sentinel, and comes online within one to four weeks of the Sentinel doing so. It assumed that there is some instinctual knowledge that draws them together before they come online. Often, about eighty percent of the time, the Sentinel and Guide already know each other, and are usually friends. So there's a very good chance that someone here will become a Guide within a month, and he or she will be compatible with you."

"Oh," Rodney's brow was furrowed as he took this all in. "But will they want to bond with me? Even if I wanted to bond with them, and I'm far from sure about that. I mean, this whole bonding thing…it sounds…"

"There's a lot of rubbish talked about it," Carson said sternly. "It's perfectly natural, and completely platonic. No bonded Sentinel and Guide have ever been more than very good friends. There is never any hint of sexual interest or tension between them, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The bond causes them to be like siblings, very close siblings, but nothing more."

"Oh, well, that's a relief. Though I'm not sure about that whole close family thing. It seems…difficult."

"Ach, lad, it's probably no more close than your team and you are, and don't tell me they're not like family to you. You said as much when we went to Sateda after Ronon," Carson said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh great! I knew I should have kept my mouth shut!"

"You said that?" John said, with a teasing grin. "Aww, that's nice."

"Oh, shut up."

"Look, there's little point in worrying yourself about it. The more important thing is to give you some training on how to control your enhanced senses," Carson stated. "I have some information on that, and I believe Major Lorne has some experience with it. He's stood in for Dr Jackson a few times."

"Of course! General O'Neill's a Sentinel, isn't he? And if I remember right, he and Jackson were both latent until a few years ago," John smiled. "I'll talk to Lorne."

"Oh, just wonderful. I'm sure he'll be overjoyed when you ask him to help me out, just like I am," Rodney rolled his eyes, and then winced. "Damn, this headache's not getting any better, Carson."

"I know, but I'm going to have to be careful what I give you. Now that you're a Sentinel, I need to check you for drug sensitivity, and for any new allergies."

"Oh, great, another side benefit. More allergies, just what I need!"

"You'll be fine, Rodney," Carson sighed. Rodney narrowed his eyes, not feeling very reassured.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I need to find Lorne and give him the good news," Sheppard said with a grin as he left.

"Now, let's see how you respond to simple Tylenol…"

Sheppard shook his head at the groan Carson's comment elicited from McKay. He didn't envy the doc his job right now. Nor did he envy his team-mate's position that much either.


John decided to see Elizabeth before finding Lorne, and found her in her office.

"Come in, John. How's Rodney?"

"He's okay considering. Just had a zone out, which was…weird."

"I saw Jack have a zone out once, it was quite scary. I take it Rodney came out of it alright?"

"It took a while, but yes, Carson and I were able to call him back from whatever place he went to," John frowned. "And as usual, he's zeroing in on all the negatives rather than the positives. He's pretty freaked out by it all, which at least is a normal McKay reaction."

Elizabeth nodded.

"His natural pessimism's running high, then?"

"Oh, yeah, I'd say so. But he'll get over it, I'm sure. I left him in Beckett's capable hands," John smiled at that. "I think we should tell Teyla and Ronon about this, and Major Lorne as well. I was wondering if we could have a meeting here?"

"That sounds a good idea. Major Lorne has had experience with guiding a Sentinel before. He can help explain things to Teyla and Ronon."

"Yeah, and help McKay, which could be…interesting."

"John," Elizabeth admonished, "they have been getting on better these last few months."

"Mainly because I try to keep them apart as much as possible. But you're right, I think Lorne has found a greater tolerance, and respect even, for McKay. Of course, this is going to stretch that tolerance to its limits."

"I'm sure it will be alright," Elizabeth said, before asking the gate tech to call Teyla, Ronon and Major Lorne to her office.

They waited for the others to arrive, discussing further Rodney's reaction to the situation.

Once everyone was assembled, Elizabeth explained the basics about Sentinels and Guides, and what had happened to Rodney. Major Lorne was able to help out with some of the questions from Teyla and Ronon.

"Major, you have some experience as a temporary guide," Elizabeth prompted.

"Yeah, when O'Neill was promoted to General and took over the SGC, I stepped in whenever Jackson was off world with SG-1," he sighed. "I'm guessing, ma'am, that you'd like me to step in as a temporary guide for Dr McKay?"

"Yes."

Lorne didn't quite hide his wince at that.

"If I'm to guide him, then he's going to need to listen to me, otherwise this won't work. He's going to have to trust me to know what I'm doing, ma'am."

"I'll talk to McKay," Sheppard said, "and make sure that he listens. Just try to go easy on him, this whole thing's pretty scary for him."

"Yes, sir. I'll do my best."

"That's all we can ask," Elizabeth said with a smile.

"Dr Beckett believes that Rodney has a Guide here, on Atlantis?" Teyla asked.

"Yes," Sheppard replied. "One that isn't online yet."

"What happens when the Guide comes online?"

"A Guide is an empath, someone who can sense the emotions of others, but not read their thoughts," Elizabeth explained. "When bonded, the empathy strengthens, and a limited form of telepathy also occurs. Outside of a bond, a Guide has a low level empathy, and is able to block out the feelings of the people around him or her. Occasionally the Guide will experience a form of zone out, when the feelings of the people around him are particularly strong and he is tired or ill, but it is rare and usually only lasts for a few minutes at most. A bonded Guide doesn't suffer from zone outs, and the empathy is stronger, but more controlled.

"The telepathy, the ability to send thoughts to another person's mind is limited. The Guide can communicate with the Sentinel over large distances, somewhere in the region of two to three hundred miles, depending on circumstances. He or she can also communicate via telepathy with a set group of others, over a far shorter distance of around two to three miles. This set group of people, a tribe, or Clan as it is normally referred to, is usually between five and eight people. Once a person is part of the Clan, they remain so until either he or the Guide dies. If the Guide outlives a member of the Clan, then he can choose someone to take that place."

"A Guide that is bonded can communicate this way with others?" Ronon asked in clarification.

"Yes. So long as the Guide has chosen them."

"Could be useful. As well as knowing if someone is lying."

"This is common amongst your people?" Teyla asked Elizabeth.

"No, not common. I think it's about one Sentinel/Guide pair per nine hundred thousand people, or thereabouts. You haven't heard about this before?"

"No," Teyla said.

"I have," Ronon stated, "my grandfather was a watchman. He had a companion, a brother not of blood."

"Hey, maybe that explains your really good hearing," John wondered out loud.

"That's what I've always thought."

"How will we recognise a Guide who is coming online?" Teyla asked.

"I'm not sure that we would. The Guide would be aware of it, but I doubt we would be, at least not at first. If someone suddenly seems to know what everyone is feeling, that would be a dead giveaway, otherwise…" John trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then we should ask people to be inform us if this happens to them," she suggested.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to let too many people know about McKay just yet. He's going to be struggling to get a handle on this as it is, without everyone knowing. He doesn't need an audience, and he certainly doesn't need the curiosity either," Sheppard looked to Elizabeth. "Can we keep this to as few people as possible for now? Just until he's more comfortable with the whole thing himself?"

"Alright. We'll keep this to as few as possible, for the time being. Outside of us, only Radek, Carson and a few of Carson's staff are aware of what is happening with Rodney. If you feel you need to tell anyone else, check with me first. As for the Guide, there's no hurry with that. We'll keep an eye out for anyone who appears to be developing empathy, but otherwise, for now, we'll just hope that whoever it is will go to Carson for help."

That decision made, the meeting was finished after a few more minor queries were answered, and Sheppard and Lorne headed down to the infirmary. Teyla and Ronon would visit later, giving Lorne time to talk to Rodney and give him some basic tips first.


Rodney was in a foul mood. Carson had given him a small dosage of Tylenol, which hadn't made any real impact on his horrendous headache, and was refusing to give him anymore until he was sure he wouldn't react to it, the sadist. Added to that was the constant need to watch that he didn't concentrate on one sense too much, as he really didn't want another zone out. In fact, he was trying to ignore his senses, even though they kept 'spiking' on him, as Carson put it. It was beyond disconcerting to be looking at the ceiling one moment and then for it to come into focus so that he could see every tiny bump in the metal. Or for the antiseptic hospital smell to suddenly become overwhelming, leaving him gasping. Not to mention all the other little tricks his other senses were pulling on him. It was painful at times, and downright annoying at others.

So when Sheppard returned with Major Lorne in tow, he wasn't feeling very charitable towards them.

"McKay, how're you feeling?" Sheppard asked in an overly bright tone. Rodney scowled at him. "Oh, that good, then?"

"I feel like crap, and Carson refuses to give me anything but a measly bit of Tylenol, which is doing nothing for this headache. Oh, and my senses keep spiking, and when they're not doing that, they're threatening to zone out on me. So I'm feeling just… peachy."

"Well, maybe Lorne here can help with some of that, as our resident expert on Sentinels."

"Hardly an expert, sir."

"If O'Neill thought you were good enough to step in for Jackson on occasions, then you must be pretty good at this guiding thing."

"I guess so, sir."

"McKay, listen to the man. He's got the experience that will help you to gain control."

"Fine. Though I'd much rather this whole senses thing just went away," Rodney muttered.

"That's one thing it won't do," Lorne said.

"I know that," McKay snapped. "Doesn't stop me wishing though."

"Be nice to the kind man with the answers, Rodney," John said with a look that brooked no arguments. Not that the look worked on McKay very often.

"You try to be nice when your head feels like it's splitting open," Rodney snarled back, this being one of those many times that Sheppard's look didn't work.

"Rodney," John said warningly. "You are not going to step through the stargate until you have reasonable control over your enhanced senses. Even then, Major Lorne will be accompanying us on our missions," he turned to look at Lorne. "Sorry about that, Major, but I'll need to assign you to my team temporarily."

"Yes, sir," Lorne nodded his understanding.

"So, behave. Do what he says. And get control. The sooner you do that, the sooner you'll feel better, and the sooner we can go back on missions. Okay?"

"Not okay," Rodney muttered with a glare, "but I guess I don't have much choice, do I?"

"Nope. Not unless you want to stay in the infirmary indefinitely."

"Great," Rodney said sarcastically.

Lorne approached Rodney's bed, and sat in the chair next to it.

"So, your senses are spiking? Describe exactly what is happening, and I'll see how I can help."

"Fine," Rodney scowled at him.

"I'll leave you to it…" Sheppard started to say.

"With respect, sir, I think you need to be here as well. The more who know how to help McKay until he finds a Guide, the better it will be for him. If something was to happen…"

"Okay, I get the picture."

Sheppard grabbed another chair and brought it up to McKay's bed.

"So, what's happening with your senses?" Lorne prompted again.

With a deep sigh, Rodney organised his thoughts.

"Hmm, well, I'll be looking at something, like the curtain," he pointed to the curtain drawn part way around his bed, "and then I can see every fibre in it, in minute detail. Or the smells in here will suddenly become too strong, and I find it hard to breathe. My hearing will zero in on something, or someone, without warning. Touch will suddenly get bad as well," he gave a embarrassed laugh. "I just want to rip off my clothes, the bed sheets, everything…and then there's the times that everything tastes too strong and makes me want to throw up."

"But always one sense at a time, never two or more?"

"Oh crap, you mean they could act up more than one at a time?" Rodney exclaimed in genuine horror.

"It could happen, but it's rare. Usually, only one sense will spike at a time, occasionally two or three, but not often," Lorne reassured, seeing just how freaked out McKay was at the thought.

"Oh, good, good. Well, just one at a time, I guess that doesn't seem quite as bad, considering the alternative…"

"So, how does he stop it happening, Major?"

"Okay. Spikes are usually caused by either a negative reaction to something in the environment, something the Sentinel has eaten, or by an overloading of the area of the brain that controls the heightened senses. I suspect the latter, as a sudden onset of heightened senses usually cause problems. Basically, we have to wait for that area of the brain to…become used to the new levels of input. Though there is something the doc could give you to help settle things down until then. It'll take a day or two, from what I remember, for it to settle down on its own. I'll get the doc in a minute. The Colonel told me about the zone out you had. You need to learn to ground yourself to stop those happening."

"How?"

"If you start to concentrate on one sense, you need to add another one into the mix to avoid a zone out. For example, if you're concentrating on hearing, then try to ground yourself by seeing what you are hearing, or if that's not possible, try touching something rough, or cold. Something that will help you to split your concentration between two or more senses."

"Okay, I can do that."

"I'll get the doc, ask him to give you something to help with the spikes."

Lorne left to find Beckett.

"See? Not so bad," John said with a smile.

"Sure. But I have a feeling this is only the start, and it's going to get worse before it gets better."

"Now, don't be like that, McKay. Positive thinking…"

"…merely raises hopes to be dashed later."

"Ach, I see someone's in a cheery mood," Beckett said brightly, as he approached Rodney, with Lorne close behind.

"That was quick," Sheppard said.

"I was on my way to see Rodney anyway," he said, preparing an injection and turning his attention to McKay. "This will help stop the sensory spikes until your brain readjusts to things. Sorry it took so long, but the information I have is mainly about the genetics of Sentinels and Guides rather than the treatment of them. Had to wade through a whole heap of data before getting to anything that's useful right now."

"You sure it won't hurt me? I mean, you said something about drug sensitivity," Rodney watched Carson with worried eyes.

"This drug is perfectly safe for Sentinels and it'll probably help ease that headache as well. I'll have to be careful with a lot of drugs until I get a new baseline for you. In some cases you will need more than normal, in others far less. I'll also have to arrange some allergy tests."

Carson gave him the injection, ignoring Rodney's hiss when the needle went in.

"So, I get to play guinea pig for the mad Scottish doctor for a while? Wonderful, just… wonderful!"

"Aye, that you do, lad," Carson teased. Rodney frowned at him.

"So, this will stop the spikes?" John asked.

"Yes," Carson answered him.

"Good."

"I know some exercises that will help you with your senses," Lorne started, but was interrupted by Beckett.

"Aye, but that can wait. Let the man get some rest first."

"Okay," Sheppard said, looking to the Major. "We'll pick things up later."

"Yes, sir," Lorne said, and walked out, knowing a dismissal when he heard one.

"You too, Colonel," Carson ordered.

"Okay, I'll let you get some rest, McKay. Teyla and Ronon will probably be here when you wake up," John rose from his seat, and patted Rodney on the hand briefly. "Get some sleep."

Rodney just sighed heavily, and then nodded reluctantly, closing his eyes as Sheppard left the infirmary, and Carson went about his business. Amazingly, he fell asleep within minutes.