No Time for Talk
By: Athrun Yuy
Summary: Rodney gets called away to the SGC for an emergency and while he's gone John does some soul searching.
Disclaimers: I don't own these guys but life just sucks that way. Special thanks to River Jackson for editing.
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The moment John and the rest of SGA1 stepped through the gate onto Atlantis his eyes caught sight of Sam waiting at the top of the stairs. Not needing to ask the question, having already started up a routine of a simple shake of her head to answer whether or not Rodney had returned from his unexpected urgent recall back to Earth. For the past week now the answer remained the same leaving John perplexed by his own worry about the situation. It was so sudden literally minutes before going on their assigned mission that Rodney couldn't even wait up long enough to talk to John before his departure. Apparently, the gate had already been dialed back to Earth before he had even reached the gate room wanting not to waste any time. Sam was of no help. John had demanded to know why the urgency, but even she didn't know of the cause. Today to his great surprise, she gave him a nod with a trace of a relieved smile upon her lips before walking back into her office.
Without hesitation, John took off towards Rodney's room. All he knew for certain was that the knot in his stomach would not loosen its tight hold until he saw Rodney in the flesh. He tried to convince himself that he was angry because of the brush off before Rodney had left, but the way his stomach did flip flops on the way to the living quarters section of Atlantis argued against that point. He had a whole week to ponder the possibilities for his leaving not liking at all what he had come up with. Now he could get some answers.
He didn't slow in his pace until he reached the hallway, didn't even slow down as he quickly passed his hand over the locking mechanism and walked right in calling Rodney's name. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the man slouched over his desk resting his head in his arms fast asleep. From the looks of it, he was barely able to make it to that point, only sitting half way on the chair still in full off-world uniform right down to the gun. From just inside the door John could see the dark circles around the man's eyes and the week old beard that had grown since he had last saw him. He looked scruffy with his spiky hair and newly grown beard. John kind of liked it.
Seeing his normally well groomed friend in such a condition made his heart flutter in ways he could barley understand. The whole time Rodney had been gone all John could think about was his best friend. Whether he was ok? Or needed help? The fact that without Rodney in the city, the place John had begun to think of as home, felt empty and lonely without the cranky scientist. John had found himself wondering the halls, when he wasn't on a mission, listless and daydreaming. It donned on him during one of his late night walks through the empty halls of Atlantis that Rodney's disappearance made him fear that he would never see the man again and with no answers as to why, dug up long buried fears and desires he had ignored for his best friend and partner.
Now upon seeing Rodney's obviously exhausted form he felt his barriers crumble into dust. Taking the few steps to where the man lye he gently brushed his hand on his shoulder in reassurance that he was indeed there. John called his name again but received no response in return. With a sigh at his predicament John crouched down to untie Rodney's boots laces. Once he had removed them along with his socks, he carefully unbuckled the holster attached to his waist and thigh, Setting them aside, John observed him a moment longer before pushing the hair from the sleeping mans eyes and placing a gentle kiss to his temple, thankful that he hadn't woken to witness it. He stood leaving his side for a short moment to pull the blankets back on his bed. With some coaxing he got Rodney moving enough to get him sitting on the side of the bed without him even opening his eyes in acknowledgment. After removing his vest and jacket, John gently helped Rodney lie down. Placing his legs up on the bed, he covered him before gathering their joined gear and leaving the room in search of food. He didn't want to have Rodney leave his sight even for a minute, but he was positive that Rodney would be hungry when he awoke.
After a quick change into his comfiest civis and a run to the mess, John returned to take up his normal seat at Rodney's desk and settle down the duration with a book he had yet to open since he had gotten to Atlantis. Not too long after returning, he too succumbed to sleep with his legs propped up on the foot of the bed and book only opened to the first page of chapter one.
Rodney came back unwillingly from his sleep barely opening his eyes. He felt tons heavier than he thought a human body had any right to feel. In sight was a small plate of food. A sandwich and some form of grapes they had traded for. Rolling his unwilling head to the other side he spotted John sleeping in the most uncomfortable position, a book seconds from falling from his lax fingers. Smiling at the sight, he couldn't help to think how cute he looked in his sleep. Deciding that he couldn't get up under his own power, Rodney reached for a grape and promptly chucked it at his sleeping friend. He wanted to laugh at his accuracy as the round fruit smacked John against his forehead. John's book finally met its destiny by falling to the floor, as John jolted awake. "Rodney?"
And oh yes, even his confused look was cute. The bastard. There was just no ugly on the man. "Help me up." Rodney slowly managed to say extending a hand in Johns direction. John pulled Rodney to his feet still feeling groggy himself having just been woken so rudely. He had to keep a steady hand on Rodney's arm as John's eyebrow rose in confusion as Rodney's free hand tried to get the top button of his uniform pants off. "Hot." Rodney answered his question before he could ask. "And before you ask your other question; not till I sleep. Then I'll tell you anything you want." He managed to say, eyes still closed and body shaking from fatigue. Once his pants were undone, he let gravity do the rest of the work for him as he flopped back down on the bed, legs finally having had enough. With a kick his legs were free from the hot confining pants and he was able to pull them back up onto the bed.
John watched for a minute before picking up the discarded pants from the floor to go into the basket Rodney had for his dirty cloths. He had thought that Rodney had fallen back to sleep until his sleepy words interrupted the heavy silence in the room. "If you insist on staying at lease come get some sleep." Rodney patted the sheets beside him. "I don't want to hear that your back hurts because you were too stubborn to lay down."
Johns heart jumped at the invitation debating whether he should dare to. Then deciding that Rodney was too sleepy to probably even know what he was doing, and without knowing whether Rodney would return his feelings he decided to steal this little moment. He moved to the other side of the bed curling up behind Rodney, but careful not to touch the tired man. He thought he would feel awkward; his face close to Rodney's neck but there was no awkwardness about it. Closing his eyes he tried to silence the suddenly loud beating of his heart. A movement in front of him made him stiffen as Rodney reached out behind him to touch John's hip searching for his arm. Once found, he pulled it across him, hugging it to his chest with interlaced fingers. John inched closer holding him tight against his body the way he had always wanted to. "We'll talk about this too, later." Rodney muffled. He felt the curving of Johns lips at the base of his neck before the gentle kiss. After that, they both slept for hours straight with no worried now that they had each other again.
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