A/N: Massive spoilers for Adrift and Lifeline
Two Rules to Live By
As a career military man, John had changed circumstances as often as he had changed socks. Standing on the balcony gazing at two of five moons over a different ocean with strangely scented air, he knew he would adapt quickly. He had new constellations to name and a new gate address to memorize, minor adjustments to his way of thinking. But the glass crunching under his boots as he shifted his weight reminded him of an act he could not accept.
He had been prepared to lose Weir from the moment Keller had pulled him aside. In his mind, she was already dead when Rodney suggested activating the nanites. Drawing his sidearm when she first awakened had been instinct. But she was so… Elizabeth that he had relented on his order for an EM generator, insisting instead that McKay include a kill switch in the programming.
John had known he could trust Rodney to watch her during the mission and to activate the switch if necessary; the scientist may have reacted emotionally to Keller's request, but manipulating the nanites on Atlantis was entirely different to controlling them on Asuras. Giving the order to hit the switch was the hardest thing Sheppard had ever done.
Or so he had thought. Staring into her eyes as he allowed Ronon to pull him down that corridor, following her last order…. He swallowed hard against the memory.
He had two rules that he lived by. He had broken one. He would die before breaking the other.
The End.
While writing a ficlet for a drabble fun meme, this idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down too. And this is probably as close to a drabble as I'll ever get.