Title: Unbroken
Author: Feral Geek
Rating: Pg-13
Summary: McShep, last installment in a series, death is the key to rebirth
A/N: Last installment in a four part series. The series originally started out as a one shot, but at the prodding of a certain someone (you know who you are) it became this. I hope ye liked it!
Slight...wee tiny spoiler for 'Epiphany' its really, really tiny...may not even matter.
ONWARDS!
---
There was nothing left to bury.
But a little thing like that wouldn't keep Atlantis from holding a ceremony in Rodney's memory.
The turnout was incredible, even those that detested the man were there to mourn his passing.
And for the most part, the people that spoke were honest, knowing that even if the words stung, that Rodney...for all he would deny it, would have wanted them to be honest.
Even so, those very qualities that made him...to be quite frank, irritating, were those qualities that had save Atlantis countless times.
Those people that spoke were obvious, Radek Zelenka, Elizabeth Weir, John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, Carson Beckett, and to the surprise of a few, Ronon Dex.
Each of them spoke of something different, like the first time they met Rodney, or of the times they had spent with him.
For the most part, the speeches were short, but John's was rather long, with a period of silence as he tried to gather his thoughts.
You can't really prepare a speech for someone you loved without letting it slip.
In the end it did slip, as he spoke of the times that he had argued with Rodney, how the other irritated him.
Instead of sounding insulting, the words were more touching...those were the things that John would miss most about Rodney, those irritating little quirks, and the way he could do anything under pressure.
The ending was rather abrupt, no good-bye, John's hands just gripped the podium's edges, before he backed away and nearly bolted.
He had never been good at this sort of thing.
---
So many years later and once again John Sheppard was wheeled into the infirmary, completely unconscious and covered in blood.
This time they had not let Kolya get away with it, they had lost far too many people to that man.
And they would loose another.
He was older now, obviously, there were a few more lines, and the tousled hair was shot with bits of grey.
All of them were older.
The infirmary was a madhouse as doctors swept about, trying to repair the damage that the Colonel had endured.
It was to no avail.
The monitors that the man was connected to
began to sound the alarm, and a nurse began to rush to his bedside,
about to try and save him.
But Carson held her back for a moment,
watching in a rather grim silence as the pilot's eyes opened one
last time, staring at something beside him.
A small smile, and he
exhaled, the words "I think I'm ready..." barley reaching the
ears of those around him.
The words faded with his breath, and slowly his body began to shimmer, pulling away from the bed and swirling up into the air.
The last impression of John Sheppard anyone would see would be one of pure joy, of bubbling happiness.
One of the doctors could have sworn that they saw another glowing figure join John's and rise with him from the city.
And he would swear that he had heard a quite greeting from John before he ascended.
"Hey, Rodney."
FIN
A/N: Hope you liked it...very short...but yeah ..
