AN:/ WARNING! Cute Illyria/John moment!
R&R's are always welcomed. Please let me know how much you liked it or what you'd like to see next.
"Alright, I'm about ready to call it. It doesn't look like there are any survivors." John was telling Illyria over the radio.
"It seems like the Wraith culling's are becoming more and more violent." Illyria responded. John and Illyria both were walking through the woods with an SGA team with them, searching for survivors. The only way Weir and John would let Illyria would come along was if Beckett came too, which the doctor insisted upon since Illyria's last off word fiasco that lead to Ford's capture and an temporary addition to the city.
"You said so yourself, too many Wraith woke up at the same time. Too many mouths to feed…or hands to feed."
"We're heading back to the gate, meet you there?" Lorne asked, shifting the bazooka strap on his shoulder and smiled down slightly at Illyria. Before they all went off in separate directions, John had pulled Lorne aside and told him very bad things would happen if Illyria didn't get back to him in one piece and that he was personally to escort her back to the gate and dial her home if there was any trouble.
"Sounds like a plan; McKay, Beckett, having any luck?"
"Negative, Colonel," Carson told him, running his hands over an open field of waist high daisies he, Rodney, and their 'escort' were walking through. "We haven't found anyone."
"Okay, make your way back to the gate."
"Will do, Beckett out." Carson tapped his chest to turn off his radio.
Their 'escort', a female with red hair French braided into a bun named Cadman, leaned down and picked up a daisy the dropped it. "So," She turned her head back to McKay, "you should pick some wild flowers from around here. Maybe she'll get a kick out of that?"
McKay looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"You got a date tomorrow night with Katie Brown, right?" She smiled. "She's a botanist; she doesn't get to go off world."
"What's this now?" Carson smiled at his friend.
"It's nothing, nothing." McKay hastily answered.
"You have a date, Rodney? With a woman?" Carson chuckled.
"It is simply two adults sharing some- Yes, it's with a woman!"
Cadman giggled at the face Rodney was giving Carson. "Well, she's excited about it. I'm not sure why, though….?"
"How would you know?" Rodney asked.
"Girl's poker night. We're trying to teach Illyria how to play," She turned her head back and smiled. "I know a lot of things, McKay."
"I'm pretty sure it is none of your business and this is inappropriate field conversation." Rodney pointed out.
"What? I'm just suggestion you might want to pick some flowers-"
"Yes, and maybe you should just do your job which is to protect us-"
"Shut up." The 'escort' halted.
"Shut up? Let me tell you something-"
"Stop. Speaking!" She waved her hand at him. In the distance, the three of them heard a faint buzzing sound. "Dart." She clicked on her radio and broadcasted on all channels, "We have a dart incoming."
John and Illyria's teams picked up their walk to a run, Lorne stepping in front of Illyria as a sort of line of defense.
Once Cadman got of the coms she turned to both men and thumbed to the gate. "Move it!" They ran off and she brought up the rear.
"See us and it'll blow Atlantis's cover." John spoke. "Anyone who has a clear shot takes it, understand!"
The dart descended over the field where Carson, Rodney, and the escort were running. "Scatter!" She yelled and pushed Carson away. He fell to the ground; he lifted his head up high enough to see her call out McKay's name before they both were sucked up in the dart's beam.
The gate activated by the time John's team had gotten there. His men spread out around the perimeter and John took his place in front of the gate. They dart was making another drive by over the daisy field when Illyria and Lorne entered the clearing. They stopped and Lorne mounted the huge gun onto his shoulder and took aim at the skies. Illyria and the airman next to her shot off rounds as Lorne tried to get a clean shot. He fired his gun and the round exploded from the barrel, zooming after the dart but hitting a tree a dart had flown over. He ducked his head and cursed under his breath.
"It is heading towards the gate!" Illyria warned. "We damaged it, but it is still on its way."
"Wait!" Carson was yelling at John as he ran to the gate. "McKay and Cadman have been beamed aboard that dart."
"We can't risk that dart making it back to the hive ship!" John yelled back. Just then the dart in question came into view, heading straight from the gate and John that was in between the two. He and his men opened fire, hitting the underside of the ship causing it to veer off course…..and straight to Carson.
"Oh, crap…" Carson sighed and ran in the other direction. John and his men kept shooting at the dart and it kept getting lower and lower to the point where Carson had to dive out of the way for it to crash land into a hill causing an explosion of dirt to rain down on Carson. The doctor lifted his hands off his head and slowly got up on his knees.
In front of him was the crashed dart; its wreckage engulfed in flames or shattered to pieces.
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Carson slowly walked over to the dart with his gun raised and watched as it's shielding failed. He maneuvered around the debris to where he was standing off to the side of the cockpit. Inside, there was a Wraith badly injured and having a seizure in his seat. Blood streamed from his mouth as he made these sickening wet gurgling noises. Carson lowered his gun, his doctoring instinct kicked in.
"I'm a doctor, I can help." He said, raising his hand in what he hoped was a nonthreatening motion. The Wraith was leaning forward, reaching out his hand to his dashboard when shots rang out and red wetness shot from the Wraith's body. Carson turned to his side to see John and three of his Marines flanking him. John shot out again as he stepped forward and Carson shielded his head with his arm. "What the hell do ya think you're doin'?"
"He was reaching for the self-destruct."
"He's the only one that could get Cadman and McKay out!"
"I seriously doubt he'd oblige!" John said, peering over the dart's edge.
From behind them Illyria, Lorne, and another SGA team member emerged from the forest path.
"Well, we'll never know that, will we?"
"Is everyone alright?" Illyria shouted, coming to a stop beside Carson.
"Fine," John told her. "Hanson, radio Atlantis. I want Zelenka here A.S.A.P; we've got a problem."
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There were a dozen or so scientists surrounding the dart, the same number of military men surrounding them, picking apart what they thought they needed and what was utterly useless. John slowly walked around the dart, faintly hearing Zelenka saying something to Carson in a low voice, pointing to his computer screen.
"Colonel," Zelenka called him over. Once john had stepped in the crevasse the dart's landing had made, the section of the dart that was open shocked making Zelenka stand up sort of at a crouch and look around skittishly.
"First time off world?" John asked.
"Yes," He answered and looked around some more.
"Well, if there were any more Wraith, they would have attacked us by now."
"Really?"
"If it makes you feel better," John leaned down, putting his hands on his thighs. "Did you find what we want?"
"Ah, well, yes," Zelenka pushed up his glasses and crouched back down to his computer. "It's very complex. This interface controls the machine." He pointed to a cylinder that was coming out of the end with a cord running from it to Zelenka's computer. "It de-materializes people; stores their information then rematerializes them again when commanded to."
"Great, command it to." John shoved his hands at the dart.
"Uh," he slapped his thighs and looked up at the Colonel. "I can't."
"From what we can tell, the materializer is storing two life signs." Carson said. Zelenka stood with his computer in his hands and pointed to the screen.
"That's good!" John said.
"Yes, but there is only enough power in the dart's energy cell to rematerialize one of them." He pulled up an image of two blue dots on the screen. "Power to the device has been completely severed. It's been running on back-up powers."
"Okay…"
"You have to decide which one we're going to beam out."
"That's a terrible choice to have to make." Illyria said from behind John.
"It's easy; we'll beam out McKay. He'll figure out how to get Cadman free-"
"No, no, sorry. I was unclear-"
"There's no way of telling which is which," Carson said for Zelenka.
"They just read as life signs."
"Perfect," John sighed and shook his head. "Alright, that one, go." As soon as he pointed to the one in the bottom left corner, Zelenka started to type like a speed daemon. "Stand aside." Everyone that was in the crevasse either moved to the far edge or hopped up on ground. Zelenka hit the enter button and a beam of light came from the dart. Once the light had cleared it revealed Rodney McKay.
"Rodney, you okay?" John gently asked.
"Hm," was all he said before falling over.
Carson hoped down and checked his pulse. "It's stable, but I need to get him back to Atlantis."
"Lorne, you and I'll help Beckett get McKay back to the city. Zinger, Zelenka, bring as much of the dart back as possible." John barked out his orders.
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"All of his vitals are stable." Carson said once he had finished Rodney's brain scan. He turned to Illyria and Weir. "His body's reacting like it's been stuck by a Wraith stunner."
"Do you think once the initial shock is over, we'll have our old McKay back?" Weir asked.
Carson rubbed his friend's shoulder. "I'm afraid so. Have they any luck with the wreckage?"
Illyria shook her head. "No, Lt. Cadman is still in there somewhere." Once they had gotten back to Atlantis, Illyria had changed out of her off-worlding gear and into her more comfortable workout clothes: A long layering royal blue tank, grey French terry sweatpants, and a green Jersey fleece zip-up hoody. All the closet filling, drawer stuffing clothing she had she'd bought with Carson on Earth. He was very good when it came to retailing. "Did you know her well?"
"No, not really." Carson said, looking down at Rodney. "She was with the new batch that came aboard the Daedalus. She seemed quite lovely though. She saved my life," He looked over his shoulder at the two women next to him.
"Well, you'll be the first person I call when we find her." Weir smiled and left with Illyria.
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"UH," a female Russian scientist said as she pulled out the beaming device from the dart. The tech next to her covered his nostrils as a pungent smell filled the air.
"How's it coming?" John looked up and asked Zelenka. "Well, the very good news is that we've stabilized her life sign signature." He said as he was coming down the steel steps from the cockpit. "Now it's just a question of getting the machine online again."
"Great, how do we power it up?"
"That's the bad news. The machine uses a very special life signs formula to convert raw power in a very unstable, very specific stream of power." John followed Zelenka to a table where the scientist picked up a tray. "Now the transformer is a very crucial in using the machine safely and…it's been damaged." He picked up a chuck of it an handed it to John.
"Don't suppose there's any spares in the trunk?"
"We're working on reverse engineering one."
"Good," John put the transformer piece back into the tray. "Let me know the second you have something."
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John had swung by the control room to pick up Illyria for their lunch date in the mess hall while both of them had free time. They had their trays in hand and were searching for a place to sit Illyria spotted a Marine standing behind a large man with brown dreadlocks eating with his fingers. She looked up at John and nudged him towards Ronan. John was the first to put his plate down in front of Ronan, Illyria next to him (John). Ronan was busy shoveling lettuce and/or mashed potatoes into his mouth with his fingers.
"Not bad, huh?" John asked.
Ronan licked something off of his knuckles and picked up a piece of bread. "It's fine."
"So what do you think of Atlantis?" Illyria asked, peeling off the top of her Jell-O and scooping a spoonful into her mouth.
Ronan slurped some more food into his mouth. "It's fine."
"Have you thought about what you want to do after you're done here?" John asked, leaning forward on the table with his forearms.
That got Ronan to stop eating for a moment. "Want me to leave?"
"John!" Illyria snapped her head to John, a look of confusion coloring her face.
"No, no, stay as long as you like." John told him, stealthy sliding one hand under the table to lightly squeeze Illyria's knee. "Just saying, uh, you know your way around, you can take care of yourself in a fight, you hate the Wraith as much as we do-" Ronan shot him a look through his hair. "Okay, as much as Illyria does. The point is, we could use a guy like you around here and it looks like you could use a place to stay." Ronan picked up the nearly empty pitcher of water beside him and drank, his fingers covered in mashed potatoes.
Ronan looked over his shoulder at the guard. "I'm not sure I fit in here," he said before putting the rest of his bread in his mouth.
"There's only one way to find out," Illyria said.
"Do I need to decide now or can I finish eating?"
"Take your time," Illyria smiled and took another bite of her Jell-O.
"And," John picked up a knife and fork and held it out to him, "uh, try these. They work great."
Ronan slowly took them from his hands and after a second, he shovel more food into his mouth.
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Rodney held the transformer box in his hand and picked up one of the pieces. "Oh, nice work."
"We were running out of power. I knew hardly anything about the machine; who would have thought this could be one of the side effects?"
"So, instead of waiting to understand what it was that you were doing, you just sort of mashed on the keyboard hoping soothing would happen."
John, Illyria, Weir, and Beckett were all watching as McKay yelled at Zelenka for saving his life but getting Cadman stuck inside his head. Only Rodney was able to hear her and from he's told them, Cadman was seeing and hearing everything from his eyes and ears.
"You're alive, aren't you?"
He doesn't know how to fix it!" McKay suddenly yelled.
"What?"
McKay put down the tray. "I'm talking to her!" He pointed to his head.
"You can hear her thoughts?" Weir asked.
"No, not her thoughts, thank God. I can hear when she's speaking…trying to speak."
"Are you sure he should be discharged from the infirmary, Carson?" Illyria asked.
"According to the MRI, he's healthy as he ever was."
"Now we can't all be track stars, can we?" McKay blurted. He looked at the group and pointed to his head. "It was her again."
"Maybe there's something wrong an MRI wouldn't pick up, if you know what I mean." John muttered to Carson.
"I'm not crazy, I just have another consciousness inside my brain." McKay whispered.
"Sure does look crazy-"
"I'm sure I do, but only because Dr. Fumbles McStupid over here," he yelled, gesturing to Zelenka, "got in way over his head!"
"Yes," He sighed, "Yes, I made a mistake trying to save your life. Now, do you want to try to fix it or do you want to barite me some more?"
"I am perfectly capable of doing both at the same time, now, I assue you tried to run one of our generators through-"
"It's not as simple as that. The trick is having an interface with the Wraith machine in real time. The power fluxuations are huge, if we over soot just a little….we're screwed up."
"uh, I'm sure if we, um, build an interface program with, um…" Rodney paused and closed his eyes. "Uh, here's what I want you to do…try-take a um…n-naquada generator…and um….and um- YES! WHAT?" he yelled into a nearly silent room.
Everyone stopped doing whatever it was that they were doing and looked over at Rodney.
"Well stop asking stupid questions!"
"Rodney…"Carson said.
"I will get you out of here, okay? So just be a good little girly and keep quite-….Do you have a degree in Physics? What about Mechanical engineering? Alright, huh-"
"Rodney-"
"YES!" He yelled at Weir. They both look taken aback. "Sorry, I'm sorry. W-What were you saying?"
Weir stepped forward, her arms crossed. "Why don't we let Zelenka handle this?"
"I-I'm-"
"No," John said, "you're not."
"And I'd like you to talk to Dr. Heightmeir." Weir added.
"I'd think I'd be more useful-"
"Rodney," Weir pulled his attention back to her. "I'm not asking you."
Rodney looked behind him at his science team and then back to Weir. "Fine."
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Illyria was standing in the back of the gym/dojo, leaning against the dummy John like to call 'Henry', watching Ronan beat up some highly trained Marines. He was surrounded on all sides and he swung his arm around, connecting with two jaws. He jumped up and punch downward on the final guy. He grabbed his ankle, picked him up and flipped him. When the other two came at him, swinging high, Ronan ducked and punched both in the stomachs. While they were leaning on their thighs with their hands, he reached for the other side of their faces and spun them into a sort of flip. They landed on their back and didn't quite get up right away.
"Alight, let's try that again." Illyria smiled and shrugged.
"Let's see you try that again," one of the men said, rubbing his leg. Ronan turned on him and decked him.
"She's the Queen; respect her." He growled. Shortly after Ronan saw his home world destroyed on the screen, Illyria went to him and told him all about her, leaving nothing out.
"Maybe that's enough for today," She nodded.
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John was in the armory with Ronan showing and demonstrating some of their weapons. Illyria sat on a stool beside John and watched.
"This is a P-90. Compact, light weight, incredibly sturdy-"
Ronan cocked the gun and fired at the paper target.
"Good, that's…good." Illyria smiled up at John.
"UH, alright," John bent down and picked up the next weapon off the table. "This is a 9mm. Semi-automatic-"
Ronan fired that gun too at the paper target, not missing.
"That's good, too." Illyria's smile got bigger.
"I prefer this," Ronan said and pulled out his gun from its holster and fired, taking the entire center out of the target. He twirled the gun around his finger before putting it back. John leaned into frame and said,
"I see why you would."
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It was night when John ran into McKay in the corridor.
"You're up late."
"Uh, couldn't sleep, trying to clear my head." Rodney said, stopping and turning to face John. "What're you doing up?"
"Illyria wanted some Jell-O. Look, I heard the transformer test didn't go so well."
"Well, you heard right."
John nodded. "UH, listen, I wanted you to know that I gave the command to take the dart down."
"AS much as I'd like to pretend this is remotely your fault, the thought of what would happen if you hadn't shot the dart down…."
"So, we're cool?"
"No, you're cool. I'm fine." Rodney clarified.
"You should get some sleep." John nodded as he said it.
He paused for a moment before pointing to his head. "She says she's tired."
John took a step back, "goodnight," he said and left to got bring Illyria he Jell-O. When He had gotten back to his room some minutes later, the lights were off. Once Carson had released her from his medical care, the doctor himself offered up his room to her but she declined saying she needed not special treatment. Her original room from ten thousand years ago had been in the flooding so that was lost. They didn't have time to sort out a room for her once it was time to leave for Earth, that's when things for her and John started to blossom. On the Daedalus, their rooms were right across from each other, but often he'd waking in the middle of the night to the sound of Illyria opening his door. He'd feel her pull back the covers, silently to not wake him, and then he'd feel her warmth. Unable to resist, he'd always either snuggle up against her back or pull her onto his chest. It didn't matter as long as she was touching him. Once they had gotten back to Atlantis and the whole rooming situation, they talked it over and decided to move in together, but keeping a separate room next to this one in case.
John smiled as he turned on the lights, keeping it low so as to not wake her. He shed his clothing, pulled out a pair of sleeping short, and crawled into bed next to his beautiful Queen, putting her Jell-O beside her on the night table before turning off the lights.
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In the morning, Illyria woke immediately aware of the decidedly male presence snuggled against her back. She smiled over her shoulder and kept still, loving the feel of his warm hand on her bare hip. She had been married once, to a wonderful man whose child now grew inside her, but she had never felt this way about him. He had even brought her Jell-O, she thought as she spotted the red on the nightstand table. The way she felt for John was unimaginable against anything she has ever or will ever feel again. Now John stirred behind her, and with his touch, she was lost…
Illyria waited a moment to before turning over to make sure he was awake. He was still sleeping, a small smiled curled on his lips. His body was like a fine work of art. Da Vinci could not have drawn a more exquisite figure, so beautifully proportioned, a perfect scattering of dark hairs covering his muscular torso. She kissed his eyelids as he slept; his strong arms were flung carelessly above his head and she ran her fingertips over his silken skin. He stirred a little in his sleep but did not wake. She kissed his chest, the wiry hairs there tickling her lip. She allowed her tongue to dart out and tenderly lick his nipple. The tiny dark rose puckered slightly and she smiled. She pulled the sheet down further to reveal more of his superb body. Softly she caressed his thighs over the fabric, kissing his stomach. She gently pulled down the tops of his pants and ran the tip of her tongue across the tender skin at the top of his thigh, feeling a stirring at her cheek as his hand rose to touch her face. She looked up into his incredible blue eyes and she felt as though her heart were melting. Such love she beheld there, surprise at the tender attention she had paid to his sleeping form and longing. His hand found its way into her tangled hair, and he pulled her up towards him. This was not a moment for smiles. His face was filled with raw passion, laced with love as his eyes gazed up at her. Her light hair fell softly around his face and within this sweetly scented cave he kissed her, his arms stealing around her to hold her close, as close as he dare. She knew he'd never let her go.
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Illyria and Ronan were sparring with the sticks in the gym. One of the men on base called it Eskrima, a form of stick fighting from the Philippines, which emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives and other bladed weapons, and various improvised weapons. Usually when Illyria sparred, she hardly broke a sweat, but with Ronan….
Behind her the doors opened and someone said, "I thought we were supposed to be sparring today?"
Illyria shook the hair out of her face. "You were late," She looked over her shoulder, "so Ronan and I-"
Ronan hit both sticks out of her hands lightning fast and grabbed her by the throat. He held his hand steady as he kicked out her legs with his stick and throwing her onto her back. John threw his bag and knelt down beside her, gripping Ronan's arms as hard as he could.
"The hell do you think you're doing?"
They both stood, John somewhat protectively over Illyria. "I wouldn't have hurt her." Ronan said.
Illyria picked herself off the mat as John stepped towards Ronan. "Sure as hell looked like you were going to."
Ronan pushed hair out of his face and walked over by the window seal and grabbed his stuff. John turned to Illyria. "You okay?"
"I am fine," She said, holding her right shoulder. Ronan flipped a hand towel over his shoulder and looked at Illyria before leaving the gym with his guard's in tow. Illyria rubbed her neck. "I told him he did not have to go easy on me."
"You've got to be careful about what you say to this guy," John said, pointing after Ronan. "Let's go see Carson."
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After John recounted the sparring to Carson, over exaggerating it, the doctor told her to take it easy. That meant no physical exertion and no distractions. So, that night John was going to stay in the briefing room until all his paper work was done, giving Illyria plenty of time to relax. Which was what she was doing, stretching (yoga) on the bed, surrounded by beautifully smelling candles when the doors opened.
She looked up from her stretch to see Ronan bracing himself against the door frame. Illyria straightened immediately.
"I wanted to apologize." Ronan said.
Illyria nodded and gestured him in. "Come in." he walked in slowly. "Do not worry, Ronan, it was….impressive." He stopped at the foot of her bed. She shook her head and gestured to the chair beside her bed table. "How are you finding your training?"
"You mean my test?" Ronan asked as he sat, leaning his forearms on his thighs.
"Is that what you think?"
"Am I wrong?"
"John- Colonel Sheppard believes you could be of great help to us."
"Why did you join them?"
Illyria sighed. "My people were string and proud, but Atlantis is the best hope for us all. I suspect you see it too or you would have already left."
He ducked his head and looked around. "I was told the Colonel lived here?"
Illyria nodded. "He does- I mean, we both do."
"You and he….?" Illyria nodded. "I thought he was like that because you were the Queen."
"Well…" Illyria smiled and picked at the covers. "It's like that…sometimes. Other times, I'm just another person."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"Honestly, no. When I was a girl, I was always being told what to do and how to do it for one day I would be Queen and all my friends, family, and subjects would look to me for guidance and council. All I've ever wanted for the longest time-"
"Was to be human." Ronan finished. Illyria smiled.
"To be human."
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It was dawn the next morning and Illyria barely had time to put on a pair of jeans and a blue/white button up shirt when John said they had to talk to Weir and it couldn't wait. Illyria was braiding her hair into pigtails while Weir thought what John had said over.
"I don't think it's a good idea, John." She said and walked past him.
"Elizabeth, you've got to see this guy in action, he's an incredible shot. None of my guys can beat him in a fight and he's ex-military."
"Yeah, not a military on Earth." Weir said, checking consoles and tapping away on her tablet.
"Ronan has no place to go," Illyria added.
"You both are not just being charitable." Weir threw over her shoulder.
"No, we're not. And I'd think he'd make a great addition to my team." John told her once she'd stopped and faced him.
"We don't know anything about him."
"What's there to know?"
"Well, anything would be helpful. He's not very forthcoming." Weir turned and headed to her office.
"He's been on the run from the Wraith the past seven years, what do you expect?" Illyria asked.
"Listen, just….talk to the guy. You owe him that at least."
Weir sighed, looked over her shoulder at the people waiting in her office and said the magic word, "Okay."
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Ronan took away the fake knife from a grunt's neck when Illyria and Weir walked through the gym doors. There was no way Illyria was letting Weir do this without her.
"Ronan," Weir called from the door. Ronan stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at the two women. "Can I have a word?" Ronan handed the fake knife to one of the grunts and told them to practice. "I understand Colonel Sheppard has offered you an invitation to join his team."
"Yeah, he did."
"Well, he was supposed to speak to me about that first." Weir smiled.
"Okay."
"Look, it's not that I don't trust you or value any contributions you may have to make or that you will make if you do join us, it's just a rather big decision….."
"So how do you feel?" Illyria asked.
"I'll think about it."
"Good, well, I'm thinking about it too. So I guess we'll just keep in touch then?"
"Okay," Ronan nodded and went back to his group.
"Okay…" Weir sighed and Illyria smiled.
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McKay was brought to sickbay after he collapsed in Dr. Heightmeir's office. He was just now waking up. "What happened?"
Carson placed a hand on his shoulder. "You had a seizer."
"Why?"
"From what we can tell, the constant fighting over the dominance of your brain is having a detritus effect on its lower functions. Heart rate, breathing, respirations, organ function."
"That's not good-"
"Of course it's not good!" McKay interrupted himself who was permeably controlled by Cadman.
"I'm not sure how long you can go on like this." Carson said.
"What do you mean?"
"The seizures will increase in severity over time."
"Okay, tell Cadman to stop trying to take control of my body-"
Carson pushed Rodney back down onto the pillows. "It's not as simple as that, Rodney!"
"One of you has to release control. One of you has to let go completely." Dr. Heightmeir explained.
"Well, maybe if someone, say you, hadn't told her to try and take control in the first place, none of this would have happened." Rodney yelled.
"I was just trying to help both of you."
"What happens to the person, the one who…lets go?"
Carson sighed. "Well, we're not certain. I've never run into one of these situations before."
"They would disappear," Rodney sounded dreamy. (Cadman) "I know they would, because I can feel it already happening to me. It's getting harder to be in here. It's taking more of an effort."
Rodney turned his head to the side. "Has it always been like that?"
He turned his head back. "Past few hours, you haven't felt it too?"
Back to the right. "Of course I have, I just thought I was fighting with you!" Rodney turned his head back to Carson. "Look, where're we at?"
"Oh, well, we've successfully re-materialized the pair of mice. They were hole and correctly put together-" Zelenka tried to explain.
"But?"
"They didn't survive." Illyria shook her head.
"I'm afraid if you of you doesn't let go," Carson was explaining, "both of you will die."
Rodney raised his hand. "I'll do it."
"Which one of you said that?" Carson asked after a moment.
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John yanked Illyria out of bed that night and told her that McKay had an idea. A crazy, but brilliant idea. So they both ran down the corridors, her in her teal wide-legged maternity pants and him in his uniform, down to the labs. They were met with Carson and Weir at the door.
"McKay, I thought all the mice died in testing?" John asked.
"Yeah, well, mice or men?" He smiled and clapped his hands.
"Are you sure about this?" Weir asked. McKay was going to interface the gate and the Wraith beam and hopefully that was going to create enough stable energy to separate Cadman from McKay.
"Absolutely, yes."
"Okay," Weir nodded after a few tense moments of everyone looking around.
"Just…give me a second." McKay said and backed up into the firing zone. "Well, uh, it's been…unique. UH, good luck to us both."
"Alright," Zelenka muttered and pounded away on his keyboard. "Steady…uh, I suggest you guys step back….alright-" He was about to hit 'enter' when McKay held up his finger and placed a hand on his hip.
Cadman.
Rodney turned to Carson, walked over to him, grabbed him by his lab coat and kissed him deeply. Carson just stood there in confusion as McKay (Cadman) had his (her) way with him. Finally, they parted with a smack and Rodney said, "Just in case this doesn't work." Then Cadman released control and Rodney was back, gripping Carson's shirt. He walked back to the firing spot with a look of disgust and horror on his face. "J-Just hit it…"
Zelenka fired it up and hit the enter, absorbing McKay into the device through a beam of blinding white light.
"Okay, I'm reading two life signs. Power levels are stable-"
"Get them out of there!" Illyria yelled.
Again, Zelenka hit 'enter' and the beam of light reappeared, this time depositing both McKay and Cadman. They fell on the floor as soon as they were spotted.
҉
The next morning, Weir, John, and Illyria were on their way to the gate room when John said, "Oh, did you get the chance to see Ronan?"
"Yes, I did." Weir said, turning around. "Chatty fellow, isn't he?"
"And?"
"He would be your responsibility."
"I knew you'd say yes-"
"I haven't said yes."
"Well, you were about to!"
Weir narrowed her eyes and said, "Yes," before walking off.
"There you go!"
҉
McKay slowly opened his eyes to the site of Illyria, John, and Zelenka's worried faces.
"Feeling Better?" Rodney heard Cadman's voice and looked to the left to see any empty bed.
"Oh, no…" Rodney sighed.
"Over here…." The voice called. Rodney slowly moved his head to the right to see Cadman's smiling face and her waving.
"Well, um, a little less crowed. You?"
"Same." Cadman sighed and leaned back against her pillows. "It feels nice to have my own body back."
"You're doing supremely well." Carson said.
"Good to hear." Rodney stretched and looked up at Zelenka. "Nice work."
"Well, it was your idea-"
"Of course it was, but you…you were there."
"Lieutenant, way to survive what would have been my worst nightmare."
"Thank you, sir." Cadman chuckled.
"Yes, thank you." Rodney said.
"I imagine you too might want a moment?" Weir asked.
"Uh, actually, ma'am, I think I'd like some time alone." Cadman said.
"Same here, it's been, uh, awhile."
"Alright, release them as soon as you can." Weir patted Carson on the back and they all soon left.
҉