Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters nor anything Stargate related. I don't earn money by writing this.
The Chessboard and What Goes With It
It was one of these days. One of these days, where you instantly knew, that something bad was bound to happen. And before he took the first sip of his coffee, Rodney knew something was off. More than the last days, anyway.
But it took some time for him, to point out, what caused his feelings. It definitely wasn't Zelenka, trying to outdo his position as best scientist and his assistants weren't stupid enough to do anything without his blessing, not after that little accident.
Maybe it was – no.
He didn't want to go there. He – just couldn't. He had to stay strong. Have faith in whatever and hope for a good ending. He had to. Not only for himself, but for everyone else, too. Especially for her. And with this thought it struck him.
Hadn't he held a cup of coffee in the one, and his laptop in the other hand, he would have slapped himself. This was the off thing. Her. It just – couldn't be.
Greedily swallowing the last few drops of his favourite drink, he put the cup down and hurried away.
He didn't notice the stares by the people he passed by, nor the near crash with Major Lorne, not that he would've apologized, it clearly wasn't Rodney's fault, until he stopped at her door. Their door, he corrected himself mentally. It still was their door. He had to stay faithful. That's the least he could do.
Bracing himself for whatever he was about to see behind these doors, but failing poorly he chimed the doorbell and called, "Allison? Are you there?" Other than Atlantis' constant humming only a few heard everything stayed quiet. Anxiety overtook him. Clearly nothing had happened to her?
"Allison?" When still no one answered he swept the door open with a well aimed wave of his arm and entered the quarter. Rodney couldn't remember it being ever this chaotic. Clothes and books were splattered over the floor and, he didn't dare guessing, but it looked like a laptop was lying under a table next to a spilt cup of coffee.
"Allison?", he called again, hoping to get an answer. Rodney sent a silent prayer to whoever was up there as he heard muffled cursing behind the bedroom door.
Deciding that she had enough warning to make herself decent but preparing himself for the worst, he opened the door. To reveal a decent but franticly searching woman. Rodney sighed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, you know that, right?" But it went unimpressed by her, she kept searching.
Rodney whipped on his pads. This was so not her. Normally she was composed, friendly, paying attention to what was going on. Not today. Rodney wouldn't be surprised, if she hadn't noticed his entering. Now he was truly worried. He knew, that something was really off. Not mere apprehensions.
Great, he thought to himself, as if you'd be the right person to handle this. Why hadn't he spent more time with his sister? Or with any human at all? He was a social wreck.
"Allison?", he tried once again, composing himself for every possible and impossible reaction.
"What?", she nearly shouted at him and another stack of clothes were sent flying to the floor. Now the mess was explainable. Rodney stepped forward cautiously and asked in a low pitched voice, "What are you doing here, Allison?"
"I can't find it", was all she said and he was none the wiser. She continued to search for something in the drawer and Rodney was left standing in the doorway. He scratched his neck, before he went to pick up the laptop.
Obviously afraid to hurt her, if he spoke to loud, he nearly whispered, "What are you looking for?"
Two books lying on the floor later, she answered, "His wristband. He left it and I can't find it anymore." Now he understood where this was coming from. "Ahhh, yeah", Rodney voiced unintelligently, "Where have you looked for it?"
Allison stopped dead in her search and looked at him, questioningly. He wrung his hands and explained further, "I'm going to help you search for it."
"I don't know, Rodney." Her voice was barely audible and she looked like she was about to burst into tears. Not exactly something Rodney looked forward to. Like most men, he didn't know how to handle crying women. "You'll see, I'll help you and we'll find it in no time", he tried to reassure her, "You keep on digging through those drawers and I'll look around here, right."
It obviously took great effort, but she managed a wry smile. Rodney bent to pick up the mug under the table, and in doing so he managed to throw the carefully set up chessboard to the floor. As soon as he realized his mishap, he tried to catch the chess pieces, but he could only watch them scattering over the floor.
"I'm sorry, Allison. Look, I collect these, and you keep searching, right?" He didn't wait for, nor expected an answer and started fetching the pieces. No, he didn't feel ridiculous, trying to at least tidy up the Rodney made mess, in this more than chaotic quarter.
After looking for the queen for what felt like ages, he spotted it sitting on a pile of neatly folded clothes. In the moment he reached for it, he spotted something else. There was a unnaturally shaped fold under the topmost shirt. Rodney glanced at Allison, relieved, that she still occupied herself with her frantic search and with a shaky hand reached for whatever was under the shirt.
As he realized what it was, Rodney wanted nothing more than to vanish into thin air. His best friend had hidden a jewellery case in his clothes, and Allison's desperate search brought it to the surface.
Contemplating whether or not to tell her he sat back, twisting the case nervously in his hands – and he dropped it. This caused Allison to look at him, following his own stare, down to the jewellery case.
"Rodney?" Her voice shaky. So faith decided to make this decision for him, but Rodney had to explain this. At least as far as he could. "Ah, Allison, look, I…", he trailed of.
Forgotten the missing wristband. "Don't tell me that it is what it lookes like." She was near tears and her shoulders started shaking. Rodney could easily have negated, but she wouldn't have believed it anyways.
As Allison started hyperventilating panic started to take over Rodney as well. Reaching for it she told Rodney, "Give it to me. Please."
It seemed as if the weight of everything he left behind for her was to much to bear and she sank to the ground.
This was the exact moment, Rodney knew they were in for the worse. Allison didn't collapse. She just hadn't before. No matter how bad the situation was. As begrudgingly as he admitted it: it frightened him to no end.
To make matters worse, Allison's silent sitting on the floor didn't last long, and what came next, was nothing better.
Getting to her feet in a rush she started smashing everything within hear reach in a fury. Rodney tried to get her to come to her senses, but he realized, that it was nearly impossible.
Not knowing what to do he tapped his radio and said, "McKay to Ronon. Ronon, you have, ah, to come to Sheppard's quarter. We have a bit of a situation here." An understatement, he knew it, as he watched Allison throwing whatever came was in her grasp through the air.
Maybe he shouldn't have given the ring to her. She could seriously injure herself, or … Rodney daren't to think further. Whatever happened to stay positive, Rodney couldn't tell and he breathed a sigh of relieve, as Ronan entered the quarters, mere moments later.
"Whoa. McKay, what happened here?", the man asked as he took in the mess surrounding them.
"The short version? She's going crazy", mumbled Rodney and earned an irritated look. "Ok, ok. I had this really, really bad feeling, and went to look after Allison. I was shocked when I came her 'cause everything is strewn around. She said she was looking for his wristband, so I helped her and kind of stumbled over an engagement ring?"
Having waited for long enough Ronon stepped forward and tried to stop Allison. Had it been someone else, Allison would probably have made him back off, but Ronon was persistent. And he didn't mind the punches he had to endure as he hugged Allison and held her close to his body.
From where he stood, Rodney could see, that her resistance faded and Ronon sat down on the ground, all the while hugging her close to him.
"You have to keep going Allison. You are not alone anymore. You have someone other to take care of." With this words, she nodded, leaned her had against his shoulder and let the silent tears roll down her cheeks.
Out of her vision, Rodney picked up the piece of paper she had abandoned prior Ronon's arrival.
Allison, In love, John.
If you found this letter, I'm most definitely not there to give this to you. I was never good at expressing my feelings, so I really hope you forgive me. Obviously I never got the chance to ask you to marry me, but I want you to have this ring. We both knew what we were in for, but I'm truly sorry about how this ended.
Please keep an eye on Rodney, because I don't know how he'll cope with this, after all that happened to our people.
The End
First of all: I really don't know in which category to put this.
This was also my first attempt to write a fanfiction in English. You probably noticed, that it's not my native language, which is German by the way. But I really hope it isn't too full of grammar mistakes. Let me know what you think.