A slightly longer chapter to make up for not posting yesterday. Some Rodney-whump and Shep-caring ahead.
Chapter Four
The next unfortunate victim of the seemingly unconnected accidents was one very vocal, totally pissed Doctor Meredith Rodney McKay, PhD, PhD, Astrophysicist and self-proclaimed Resident Genius.
John heard about the incident courtesy of his radio but really, Rodney had been making such a racket he'd hardly needed the assistance of telecommunication.
McKay had been working on some of the artefacts Lorne's mission had retrieved and the etched stones were proving heavier to move than he had expected.
Being the genius that he frequently reminded people he was, he quickly worked out that the solution to the problem was a matter of physics: stone too heavy for scientist to strain himself over, ergo, get a marine to do the donkey work. He had corralled the first marine he'd come across, one who just happened to be lurking outside his lab, or so it seemed.
For a moment he wondered why the man seemed vaguely familiar but he quickly dismissed the thought as unimportant. For all he knew or cared, the Military might have started to clone their grunts and they were all starting to look the same. After all, they shared one brain cell, so why not the same face, too?
He press-ganged the marine into being his mule for the next half hour, ordering him to move that piece, 'no, not there you idiot!' and lift that other piece, 'I'm surrounded by incompetent morons!' before the man seemed to simply move clumsily against the edge of the work counter, sending an as yet untested doodad heading towards the floor with consummate ease.
McKay yelped in surprise and a mixture of horror of unknown results pending, and showed an impressive display of speed as he lunged at the device, thinking 'no, no, don't break or turn on'. Sadly, by merely thinking on he had the same effect and actually activated it.
As he made contact with both the artefact and the floor, he rather disconcertingly found the room whirling and dipping dizzily and the edges of his vision greying out.
He came to some moments later to find himself clutching the doodad that was now red hot, searing his palms and humming alarmingly. The marine whose name he'd never bothered to ask was giving him a very strange look. He had to actually prompt the bone-head into doing something other than gawping at him.
"Don't just stand there with both arms the one length, you complete waste of space. Call for medical help, I'm in agony!"
If it hadn't been for what McKay later admitted was the timely arrival of Radek Zelenka and his cloud of hair Rodney might well have suffered irreparable burns to his hands.
Zelenka had taken in the scene in a nanosecond and grabbed a pair of heavy duty insulated gloves before retrieving the activated device from McKay's rigor mortis-like grip.
He set the device well away from accidental contact and turned his attention to the injured man.
"Rodney...Rodney, let me see your hands."
He had to take McKay's chin in his gentle grip to bring the man's attention away from the sight and pain of his burned hands.
Slowly McKay rolled his hands over to bring them palm upwards and both men winced at the angry marks. If Zelenka hadn't managed to remove the artefact when he had done, the damage would have been much worse.
Rodney's eyes were glazing over and his colour was fading fast.
Radek could see that his friend was in a great deal of pain. He looked up to see the same marine standing where he'd first seen him.
"Did you call the infirmary, Corporal?"
"Er...sorry, sir, I'll do it now." He moved off slightly to place the call for medical assistance to the science labs and the other men could hear the response and questions as to the nature of the medical emergency.
"Idiot!" Rodney muttered and Radek wasn't too sure who he was insulting.
However, the fact that Rodney was coherent enough to be hurling insults was, as far as Radek could assess, probably a good thing.
Rodney sat on the floor with his knees drawn towards his chest and rested his wrists on them, allowing his throbbing hands to dangle. He looked around him with a whimper of pain and more than a touch of asperity at the level of incompetence of the grunts they were dependent upon to keep them alive. Could that stupid marine not have seen the damage the device was doing and actually do something useful instead of standing staring at him?
Carson and his team made it to the lab before John and Ronon only because the two soldiers had been further away. They'd raced towards the nearest transporter as soon as the call had been broadcast.
Rodney was already having his hands daubed generously with burn salve and placed inside protective burns gloves by the time they arrived and John took time to inspect the room and note the people present: Rodney, Zelenka, Carson and his medical team and one of his own men.
He'd have to hear the report to know why a marine was in the science lab but for now he needed to see to his friend and team mate.
He knelt before McKay whose forehead was beaded with sweat, face pale and pinched in pain.
"Hey buddy, you'll be fine. Take it easy and let the doc get you sorted."
Rodney wanted to fire back a witty retort that Sheppard knew next to nothing about medicine apart from the far-too-frequent occasions he was a recipient of it. But all of his replies had been consumed with the fire in his hands. He made do with a grimace and small nod as he tried to focus on Sheppard's face looming over him.
Someone else was there, and he squinted to see who it was...oh, yes...Ronon, good old dependable man-mountain Conan.
Then Ronon shifted slightly to the right and Rodney caught a glimpse of the other soldier in the room, the one who'd been so damned slow in realising he was in danger. His breath caught in his throat as he watched the face of the marine change rapidly back from smug satisfaction to bland impassiveness. He could come up with absolutely no explanation for the man's actions.
He wanted to tell Sheppard and the others what he'd seen but Carson had obviously slipped him something for the pain. His head was feeling extremely heavy and thick, which couldn't be good for the neck. So he thought it best to rest his chin on his chest to ease the work of holding up his already massive brain.
He was going to tell Sheppard something, though, wasn't he? If only he could remember what...
"Let's get him moved now that he's more comfortable," Carson murmured.
His team swung into action and had the injured man rolling towards the infirmary in double time.
Zelenka stayed behind to lock the artefact away and mark it as hazardous, and tutted and muttered to himself in Czech over the recent catalogue of misfortune the expedition was facing. Being around some people was proving hazardous to one's health.
He'd have to make a list of groups to avoid.
00oo00
John and Ronon followed the medical pageant to the infirmary and waited impatiently for Carson to assess McKay's condition. Teyla and Elizabeth joined them shortly after their own arrival.
After what seemed like days Carson reappeared and beckoned them to McKay's bedside. Rodney was pale but asleep with both arms in high elevation. A drip infused into the crook of his right arm and a morphine pump was piggy-backed into it.
Carson checked the readings from his monitors before moving slightly away so as to not disturb his patient.
"Well, it could have been worse, but only just. He's got second degree burns tae both hands and they'll take a while to heal. He was very lucky, I don't have tae tell ye. If Radek hadn't got that thing out of his hands when he did Rodney would be looking at permanent disability. The skin would have scarred and tightened and lost its elasticity."
He stopped to flex his own hand as he continued the explanation.
"The hand is one of the most flexible sets of joints in the body. If it loses that flexibility it's as intractable as a claw. Rodney's career could have been seriously jeopardised, if not over. As it stands he faces weeks of physical therapy before he's out of the woods. That is, providing he has nae setbacks before then."
John swore under his breath. He didn't know what had happened in the lab but something told him this couldn't have been Rodney's fault. The man was always harping on at him to be more careful around the artefacts until they'd been catalogued for hazards. There was no way McKay was going to just pick something up that hadn't yet been cleared, even with a gene that was sometimes reluctant to operate as efficiently as John's.
"Let me know when he's awake, Doc. I need to know his side of this. In the meantime there's someone I have to talk to. Thanks for looking out for him."
He patted Beckett tiredly on the shoulder as he and Ronon headed out of the infirmary.
Beckett followed their heavy tread and pondered the colonel. Given the choice he knew the man would have preferred to wait by his friend's bedside to offer reassurance as soon as he wakened, but getting to the bottom of the accident was clearly too important to ignore.
"Carson, thank you, again. We're really lucky to have you. I don't like to think what life out here would be like if you weren't here with us," Elizabeth smiled tiredly at him.
"Aye, well, lass, I'm not going anywhere any time soon," he reassured the two women.
Teyla smiled that lovely warm smile at him that made his legs go all wobbly, and settled into the empty chair by Rodney's bedside to wait for her friend and team mate to waken. It made Carson more than a little envious of the camaraderie the team had developed, but he knew, too, that they'd be there for him if the need ever arose. He just hoped that need would never arise. Like most doctors, he made for a lousy patient.
He adjusted the flow of the morphine and snuggled the blankets under his friend's slack chin and regarded him fondly. The man was an annoying bugger at times but life without him wouldn't be quite the same.
00oo00
Flynn could hardly keep from grinning as he recalled the simple accident in the lab. He'd hovered so long outside McKay's domain that he was in danger of being suspected of loitering should the colonel or Major Lorne happen by, so it was a fluke that the scientist had stormed out and demanded his assistance in moving the heavy equipment about.
He had put up with the orders and insults by biting his tongue and looking for the first opportunity to do this pompous windbag some serious damage.
Too bad that the colonel thought so highly of the obnoxious Canadian. Flynn had an agenda to keep to and if the colonel got in his way that would just be his bad luck.
If that stupid Czech hadn't arrived when he did, Dr McKay's days of ordering foot soldiers about would have been numbered. Maybe Dr Zelenka would have to be added to his grand scheme, but he'd have to think about it. That might introduce another element to things and he liked how his original plan sat with him.
He was making his way back to the squad room where he was meant to have been all along, but he doubted he would have been missed. He certainly hadn't gone out of his way to forge too many friendships and the others seemed more than content to leave it like that.
A shout behind him raised the hairs on the back of his neck as he realised his commanding officer was calling him. Now there'd be some answering to be done. He'd have to think fast on his feet to keep Sheppard from getting suspicious.
His heart sank when he saw the towering Satedan beside Sheppard.
"Colonel, Specialist Dex," he nodded respectfully. "Can I help you, sir?"
The colonel was looking him over in a cool, calculating manner that raised his neck hairs even further. This would have to be good.
"You can start by telling me why you're here, wandering the corridors and what exactly you were doing in the science labs this afternoon?"
00oo00
"So, he says he was making his way back to the squad room and you corralled him into moving the stuff about. The accident took him as much by surprise as it obviously did you."
Sheppard had quizzed Flynn for a long thirty minutes but hadn't been able to get the man to waver in his story. The explanation was limp at best but short of accusing the man of outright lies there was little John could do. He'd sent the man off to write a full report and pull double shift on gate room guard duty, followed by a week in inventory for not being where he should have been, and had missed the look of resentment fired his way as he strode off.
He now sat at McKay's bedside in the infirmary, calmly feeding his friend blue Jell-O but inwardly bristling at the thought of how much worse McKay's injury could have been.
Rodney's eyes were glazed enough for John to know that his friend was on the good stuff, and Carson had only recently been by to check on his patient.
"So, how ya doin', buddy? Ya need anything?"
Rodney rolled his too-heavy head on the pillow to cast a benign smile on his good buddy. How many people could he truly count on two hands, his two burned hands, who would sit and feed him one of his favourite puddings because he couldn't do it himself?
Another thought crossed his mind, along with a look of discomfort and a degree of physical jiggling.
Sheppard noticed the contortions.
"Rodney, what's up? Do you want me to get Carson?"
Rodney looked at his heavily bandaged hands and back at his friend, suddenly blushed bright red and squirmed as if there were ants in the bed with him
John wasn't too long in working out what McKay's sudden awkwardness was all about.
"Ah...do you need help visiting the...er...bathroom, Rodney?" he grinned.
"Er, yeah, would you..."
"No!"
"Come on, we're buddies, I'd help you out." Rodney whined and pouted.
"Hell, no! And you would not because there's no way I'd ask you. There's being friends and there's that! That's way beyond friendship." John held his hands up as if to ward off an attack. "I'll go get Carson, or a nurse. What type do you want? Female, male or battleaxe?"
He rose to his feet but Rodney had moved on to other thoughts.
"Never mind, I'll hold it in. Stupid grunt!" he growled.
Sheppard's eyebrows disappeared and Rodney giggled at the sight of the hirsute acrobatics.
"Nononono, not you! Although, come to think of it..."
"Hey! You want any more of this," he held aloft the almost finished Jell-O, "you'll can the insults!"
He took his seat again since Rodney had stopped wriggling about like a worm on a line, for now, at least. Although, he suspected that with the amount of fluids dripping into Rodney's arm the delicate subject would raise again, soon.
Rodney grinned oafishly at him and opened his mouth like a starving chick. John sighed as he shovelled in another heaped spoonful and watched his friend's blissed-out expression. It was like feeding a child, one with a very short attention span.
"So...you were explaining..." he prompted after another swallow.
"Oh, yeah. Stupid grunts...that idiot in the lab...he bumped against the bench and the artefact fell. I caught it in case it did more damage in dropping. Shoulda seen my dive." He grinned at his own exalted memories of the incident before returning to the narrative. "Teach me to expect them to have even half a brain. After all, if they sign on the dotted line to serve your stupid country that should tell me enough to avoid them like the plague."
"Play nice, McKay. You were only too happy to have him help up to that point, and anyway, what you say corroborates his story. He says he lost his balance and jarred the worktop and the device just fell. He was just behind you in reaching for it and I must say he was very complimentary about how quickly you got to it."
McKay brightened momentarily at the unexpected praise before his natural bristly nature resurrected.
"Why should he be surprised? Does he not know that you have us regularly dodging stunners and bullets and running for our lives and that I have the finely tuned body of an Olympic athlete as a result?"
"Aye, and that finely tuned body needs some rest, now." Carson had sneaked up on the friends unnoticed. "Colonel, I'll have tae ask ye tae let Rodney get some sleep. He's got a busy day ahead of him. I'll need tae snip away at the dead skin on his hands tae let the new skin grow and it won't be pleasant. Rodney, do ye need something tae help ye get over?"
"He fills my head with horrific images and asks me can I sleep! Sheppard, contact the SGC and ask them are there any other quacks available that they can send out, experience not essential, medical degree optional!"
Sheppard patted his friend's shoulder comfortingly. "Get some shut-eye, Rodney. I'll see you tomorrow. Carson, don't let him bully you. If he's too much trouble, just threaten him some more. It always works for me."
He made to move off, grinning hugely at the look of abandonment on McKay's face, and grinned some more at the wolfish expression on the medic's face.
"Oh, and Carson, I do believe he needs to go to the little scientists' room," John fired as he scurried towards the door.
"HEY! Less of the little scientist if you don't mind," Rodney retorted, his manhood under attack. "I'll have you know..."
"Rodney! I wouldnae go there, lad. Don't forget I've had ye both in here, stripped of your clothes more times than I care for, and I wouldnae go rushing into making boastful statements."
"Yeah, well, I do kinda need to...er...go, you know?" He blushed some more and John grinned his own wolfish grin.
"Aye, Rodney, I'm sure ye do. Now, I can always get ye a commode at the side of the bed, or will ye accept a wheelchair and Nurse Smart's assistance?"
Rodney couldn't place Nurse Smart and just hoped she wasn't the cute redhead who'd arrived with the latest contingent off the Daedalus. He made it his duty to check out all new arrivals in person and she'd caught his eye immediately.
"Your luck's changing, McKay," John gloated. "Maybe she's into little scientists." He laughed again at the expression on his friend's face and Carson's appreciative grin. "See you later, big guy!"
His laughter could be heard drifting through the closing doors and Rodney scowled after him, but really, full bladder here!
Once business had been taken care of, and that was something Rodney chose not to dwell on since his face had taken on the hue of a hypertensive alcoholic, and perfectly matched the colour of Carole Smart's lovely hair, he settled back into his bed with a woe-is-me expression.
Carson fussed over him for a moment, making sure his friend was as comfortable as possible. He could see by the way Rodney's face was contorting that the man was brewing up to a question so he took his time making that final check.
"Carson?"
"Hmm?"
"So...given how much he's prone to Kirking around, is he...you know...better endow..."
"RODNEY! I'll put this conversation down entirely tae the fact that you're on strong medication but I never want tae be having it again. D'yen ken?"
Rodney nodded contritely and a thought suddenly struck his big brain.
"You won't mention this to Sheppard, will you? I mean, patient confidentiality and all that, because he'd never let me live it down."
"Aye, you're lucky I've as many secrets as a priest. Now get some SLEEP or I'll change my mind."
As McKay drifted off something else was nagging at the back of his mind, something he'd wanted...no, needed to tell Sheppard, something very important. Something that had happened at the time of the accident but for the life of him he just couldn't recall what it might be.
Oh, well, it can't have been that important if he'd managed to forget it.
TBC – reviews would be appreciated.
