John walked into Rodney's lab with a spring in his step. It had been three days since his discovery of McKay's true nature and so far he had been spending all of his free time with the scientist. Granted, with the bomb scare and finding out that Caldwell was a Goa'uld, it had not been much, but it had been every second that he could spare. He was aware that the relationship between the two of them had been very strained of late. But he was trying to change that. When he had decided that he would have Rodney, he had realised that the damage that had been done to their friendship would have to be repaired first.
The small private lab that McKay had claimed as his own was a tranquil pool of quiet in a little tucked-away corner on the edge of the scientist's territory. It was in exact contrast to the large main lab where he spent most of his time ruling over his domain. John stopped and leaned in the doorway, taking a moment to carefully observe the object of his desires.
Rodney was bent over the table in the middle of the room with his back to the door and thus to John. Unlike the tan and blue colours of the rest of the science department, Rodney had taken to wearing a black t-shirt and dark charcoal grey pants. The pants were stretched over McKay's ass giving John the perfect view.
Sheppard licked his lips as he watched the play of muscle across the scientist's back. Rodney had never been fat, but the very active lifestyle of the past two years had made him drop the little bit that he did have. He was in far better shape now than he had been.
Taking a deep breath, John had to bite his lip to keep control of himself. Rodney smelled like a blend of coffee, coco and scorched ozone with faint hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and something that defied recognition, but was unmistakably Rodney. It was almost all he could do to stop from draping himself over the scientist's back and licking the exposed part of his throat to see if he tasted as good as he smelled.
In these past three days he had began to focus all off his senses, that he could, on McKay. He still could not sense his energy signature, but he would figure a way around that; he was sure. Taking a deep breath, he walked softly up and stopped behind Rodney; just short of touching him. Leaning over he softly whispered in his ear.
"Hi, McKay, what are you up too?"
Rodney had been concentrating on the object in front of him and had not heard the Colonel enter the room. When he spoke right in his ear, the scientist had given a strangled scream and jumped backwards. This caused him to knock against the man who was almost leaning on him; nearly causing him to stumble backwards and fall. Fortunately Sheppard had great reflexes and managed to steady both of them before they went down in an undignified sprawl.
"Damn it Colonel, are you trying to kill me by inducing a hart attack?" Rodney demand when he finally managed to get his vocal cords working again. He stood with one hand pressed to his chest; trying to keep his breathing even. Sheppard still had a hand on his other arm, where he had gripped him to keep them from falling.
"Nope." The dark haired Ranger drawled as he slowly almost seductively slid his hand down Rodney's arm.
McKay had to use every ounce off his rather large amount of will power not to lean into the touch or allow Sheppard to see how it was affecting him. Clearing his throat, he took a step away from the man and wondered why it was suddenly so hot in the small lab.
John inwardly grinned, although he was careful not to allow it to show on his face. "I just came to tell you that Beckett finally released Colonel Caldwell from the infirmary."
"Oh, good." Rodney said faintly as he moved further away from John; placing the table between the two of them for the moment. "That's well. That is good." McKay babbled before taking a deep breath to settle his nerves. He berated himself silently for acting like a love stuck teenager for a moment. Dropping his eyes to the table, in an attempt to avoid looking at the Colonel, he spied the device he had been working on before he was so rudely interrupted.
Snapping his fingers, he pointed to the small device sitting in the middle of the table. There was a bunch of different cables connecting it to a laptop and two strange devices that Sheppard had never seen before. "Oh, I was going to call you to tell you what I found. But as usual you seem hell bent on scaring the life out of me. I mean, I know Rangers are all stealthy and stuff. And of course they teach sneaking in the military and all of you are always tip-toeing around the city; frightening unsuspecting people and..."
"McKay, breathe!" John ordered with a grin as the man in front of him continued to babble.
"Oh, ha-ha, Colonel." Rodney glared at the grinning Ranger.
Sheppard merely cocked his head to the side and smirked at McKay, enjoying the way the man's eyes seemed to glow with barely contained irritation.
Rodney narrowed his eyes before shaking his head and pointing to the object in the middle of the table. "As I was saying." He spoke in a voice that only held a faint trace of aggravation. "I found something truly interesting. I discovered the reason why none of you Rangers, either here or on earth, realised that Caldwell had a Goa'uld in him."
He leaned over and started to remove the cables connected to the small device. Removing the last cable, he held it up for John to look at.
Focusing on the device, Sheppard finally really looked at it. It was a small silver disk-like object, with almost microscopic metallic blue wires imbedded in it in a spiral form, that vaguely resembled something like a Celtic knot. He could smell Caldwell's blood on the device. It was giving of a strange kind of hum, that was causing an itch in the back of his head, now that it was no longer hooked up to the computers.
"What is it?" John asked, trying to swallow against the sudden surge of revulsion that washed over him.
"This," Rodney went on with a smug I-am-a-genius-grin firmly in place, "is a form of energy shield. It was implanted just under the skin at the base of Caldwell's skull." He looked at the small disk in his hand before looking at John with a peculiar expression on his face. Carefully he placed the energy shield in a small box of Ancient design that stood off to the side of the table. Closing the lid, he turned to look at John with a carefully neutral expression.
The moment McKay closed the lid of the box, Sheppard took a deep breath, the uncomfortable ill feeling vanishing almost immediately.
"That, Rodney continued as he pointed to the now-closed box, "creates small pulses of power that shielded the Goa'uld's energy signature. It is also most likely the reason for your, and the rest of the Rangers', sudden dislike of Caldwell."
John rubbed his hand over his face and groaned. "Jesus McKay. Do you know what that means?" He demanded in a miserable tone.
Rodney swiftly moved around the table and placed a hand on the Colonel's shoulder. He understood his friend's sudden despair. He had felt the exact same way when he had figured out the device. In fact, he had spent a very wretched half hour in the bathroom throwing up. "Yes it means that we now have a way to detect if someone is being forced to host a Goa'uld." He answered, hoping he could distract the distraught Ranger from the cruel truth that he was focusing on.
Sheppard barked a short laugh devoid of any humour. "It means that Caldwell had been trapped as a prisoner in his own body for the last five months and nobody even realised."
Rodney turned so that he was facing the Prime Ranger standing next to him. Leaning on the table he sighed tiredly. "That's not all the devices does." He went on ignoring Sheppard's comment as the Colonel focused on him once again. "The device also prevents a Shift from shifting into his Alternate." Rodney swallowed and closed his eyes. That was every Shift's worst nightmare. That was what had caused the panic attack right after the gut wrenching puking session.
The colour drained out of Sheppard's face as what Rodney said registered. He swallowed; suddenly feeling ill again and this time there was no device to blame the nausea on. The device was not just cruel, but evil in the extreme.
"The reason why no-one ever thought to check Colonel Caldwell for a Goa'uld, is that before this, it was thought that it was impossible for one of those parasites to infect a Shift." McKay continued ignoring John's expression, giving the man a moment to pull himself together.
John nodded. "Yes, because the body's chemistry becomes toxic during the shift period. Or something like that."
"Or something like that?" Rodney asked, the corner of his mouth twitching as a small smile tried to show itself.
"Yeah, well, I didn't pay all that much attention during the lecture that Carson gave." John grinned while rubbing the back of his neck.
Snorting, McKay shook his head. "Yes, well, a change in chemistry is one reason. But the biggest reason is that Goa'ulds simply can't survive in most animal bodies. There is either not enough space for them or the brain structure isn't compatible." Turning back to the table, he leaned over and picked up the box and a small flash drive lying next to it. "A third reason is also given, but has never been proven." He said as he turned back to face the Ranger standing next to him. He held out a hand to the door to show the Ranger to walk in front of him.
"Third reason?" The Colonel asked as he proceeded to leave the room a step or two ahead of the scientist.
Giving a quick two-step to bring him along side Sheppard, McKay nodded. "Now, mind you, this had never been proven, so it is just pure speculation."
"McKay." John interrupted again.
"Oh fine," Rodney groused. "It is believed that one of a bonded pair can't be taken over because of the mental bond that exists between a Ranger and Shift. It is alleged, and remember: this is just conjecture, that the bond increases the mental strength; thus making it impossible for a snake to take control of its victim."
John stopped dead and stared at McKay, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. "Are you serious?" he demanded in a shocked voice.
"What, no! Like I said: it's just a theory. An unproven one, at that." McKay turned and continued walking again.
John sprinted to catch up to Rodney. "Hi, where are we going?" He asked.
Holding up the box and the flash drive, McKay entered a transporter and waited for John to join him before he replied. "To gives this to Elizabeth." Touching the location of the gate room and command centre, he waited until they had materialized before continuing. "She is going to send the shield device and my data, and recommendation on how to detect and counter-act it, through the gate."
John nodded: that made sense. Earth needed to know about it as soon as possible. He took a moment to observe the man walking beside him. Rodney looked exhausted. "Hi when was the last time you ate?" He asked. In truth, he knew exactly when Rodney last ate and also exactly what it had been, but there was no way he could admit it without raising a lot of questions. Holding up a hand when the scientist opened his mouth to answer, he said. "And a power bar doesn't count."
McKay looked at Sheppard for along moment in much the same way he would look at a piece of technology that was being difficult to figure out. He opened his mouth again to answer, but before he could say anything the Ranger interrupted again.
"Okay, so let's give your report to Dr. Weir. Then we hit the commissary and get something to eat. I heard that there were chocolate brownies for desert today."
Rodney stopped dead in his tracks and glared at the dark haired man standing in front of him. "Brownies! And no-one told me!" He demanded.
"Yip, real chocolate brownies with real chocolate." John drawled; enjoying the way Rodney's eyes slightly glazed over at the thought of chocolate. He wondered for a second if McKay would have that same glazed look when he finally got him into his bed.
Nodding to Sheppard, McKay turned and started again for Elizabeth's office. "Sure, that would be great."
John felt like grinning, but he was careful to keep the size of his smile in check. So far so good.