oOo
10.05 Recieved ear plugs. Declined to use them.
Sheppard was awake and looked... well, he looked sick.
He was gray faced, with dully, blinking eyes; propped against several pillows, he was dressed very much in the style 'du jour' of Rodney himself.
(McKay was clinging to the fantasy that their gowns had polka dots; but in fact he knew very well they were spring flowers.)
Their I.V.s also matched, but John had one up on McKay - he still had his oxygen line
"What gives, McKay?"
In answer, Rodney lifted a hand, wordlessly, to show him the scene of destruction that was their sick room. The three men had gone, but they had left a great mess of tools and equipment behind, not to mention a gaping hole. They would be back.
"Oh, " Sheppard said, sounding unimpressed. Then he looked about him, as if seeing their situation for the first time.
"We're... sharing a bed...?", he said slowly, somehow making it both a statement and a question simultaneously.
"Give that man a coconut.", replied a weary McKay.
"Can I ask... why?"
"No room at the inn, apparently. We're stuck with each other... for now, anyway."
Rodney continued, glad to at last have someone to moan at.
"It's humiliating... do you know how many people have been in here with cameras? You and me ... we're now wallpaper on all the Daedalus laptops. Sergeant ..Whats-his-name? - the Brit - he couldn't stop laughing when he saw us..."
He snapped his fingers, then pointed them at John.
"That reminds me... I must ask Carson, he'll know... Who are Morecambe and Wise?"
John just shrugged, looking bored.
"I'm thirsty..." said Sheppard, and he shifted himself, making to lean out over Rodney's space towards the night stand that they both shared.
"Woah, neighbour...! You sit in my lap and you're a dead man, Sheppard! I know what these gowns are like... I know their limits... and believe me, we don't want to go there. Keep to your own side..."
"I just need to reach across you... for the water? no biggie..."
"Oh, no... no, no, no... I'll get it - I insist.."
He scrabbled around, coming up with a clean beaker pretty quickly, and after filling it, he handed it over to Sheppard. Rodney noticed the colonel looking a little green as he slowly drank. He handed the beaker back to McKay, who took it without a word, watching carefully as John breathed steadily through his mouth...
"Don't you throw up on me...!"
Rodney saw John nod and then wince, touching a hand fleetingly to the dressing at his shoulder.
"Are you alright?", Rodney grimaced himself in sympathy. "Sorry about the whole... shooting you... thing..."
Sheppard's eyes were closed, and he breathed slowly, as if counting each breath.
"You already apologised... s'okay."
Rodney's eye brows raised, and he shook his head slowly.
"No... don't believe I did..."
"Oh...I think, maybe... I was dreaming..." and John yawned widely, showing all the signs of impending slumber.
"Really..? You too, eh? I've had some... interesting dreams myself..."
"...w's a beach... ice cream... nice day...", John sighed and wriggled back into his comfy pillows, yawning again.
"Hmm, sounds... nice." Even Rodney had that far away look.
"Yeah... 'til you... tri'...t'drown me...!" He had turned to face McKay, all thoughts of sleep forgotten, and was glaring accusingly at him, albeit drunkenly.
"Hey, now... come on, pal... not my fault, okay? Your dream, right?"
McKay was remembering his own flights of fancy, and he smiled when a certain little flower girl popped right back into his head.
But Sheppard was still wobbling on... and on...
"Yeah, yeah... but... w'so real... drowning... you w'laughing... 'n I... I w's drowning...", John looked fit to fall off the bed at any moment; waving his hands expansively and appearing ever more inebriated.
"Okay, okay, enough already with the drowning - What has Carson been giving you anyway? - just shut up and listen, okay?"
He cleared his throat, drew himself up as tall as he could whilst still sitting in bed, and turned to John, all serious...
"I'm very, very sorry, and I won't do it again... promise.", said McKay, with eyes closed but sounding like he was reading from a cue card.
Grinning his satisfaction, he opened his eyes to find Sheppard snoring gently beside him.
After a quiet moment he sighed and pulled up John's sheets, trying awkwardly to tuck him in.
As he turned back, he was startled to see one of the overalled workmen - the short one, McKay named him - slouching beside the bed, his hands in his pockets.
How the hell did he get there?
He regarded Rodney for a second or two, then brought out both grubby hands, and deposited two ear plugs on the bed. McKay lifted them with distaste, as the short one retreated as mysteriously as he had appeared.
"And just what are these for? You expec- wait a minute... these have been used, haven't they? Oh, gross!"
oOo
10.29 Worker A became verbally abusive.
They had coffee... he could smell it.
He sat up, sniffing the air like a bloodhound. Ah, there it was... on the floor, a steaming mug... he could see the tendrils of vapour rising and curling. Unconsciously, he willed them towards his nose.
Arnold and his entourage were standing around again, up to their ankles in dust and bits of shattered wall.
"Hey, Arnie... got some more of that?", he was licking his lips already, in anticipation, eyes glued to the mug.
"Sorry, Dr McKay, but we already have our orders... no coffee."
Rodney snorted.
"I suppose that's from the "highland laddie" himself, is it? Well, he's not your superior - I am, so... coffee, please.", he demanded, waving his hands towards himself.
"You don't scare us, doctor...", said Arnold with a sly grin, "'Specially when you're wearing a dress...", and Rodney was horrified to see them nudge each other and giggle.
Glancing quickly down and up again, he gathered his sheets around him, pulling them to his chin, suddenly outraged.
"How dare you... I won't stand..."
Then Arnold added in a hesitant whisper,
"You'd best be quiet... or you'll wake the missus.", this last comment had the three men guffawing, slapping their knees and each other's dusty backs.
McKay turned his head and saw Sheppard dozing, his head nodding and snoring softly.
"Alright... that's it! I'm putting that down... Look... see... "verbally abusive"..."
Grabbing his lap top he stabbed at the keys, his hands shaking with rage. He was aware of the men leaving - probably to get more coffee, he thought, testily.
He felt over heated and worn out, desperately thirsty too, he realised. He dropped the lap top onto the bed where it bounced slightly. Then he reached across for the water on his nightstand, and gulped greedily.
oOo
10.54 Request to medical staff: move to balcony for duration: denied.
Request for names of workmen: denied.
Request for clothing: denied.
"Just let me go...", he begged, but the nurse checking his line only smiled sadly and shook her head.
"You can put me out on the balcony - I don't care, but get me out of here!"
Something moved in his peripheral vision, and his head whipped round. Arnold and his men were gathering around the hole in the wall. Rodney almost expected them to start praying; their mood, he thought, was positively funereal.
"Him!", and he pointed at Arnold, "Him and his... henchmen, they're making my life hell."
He sat further up in bed, slightly out of breath, trying in vain to raise his voice.
"I want all your names, pal...", he squeaked, pointing an unsteady finger Arnie's way.
"And - and - they won't give me a drink..", he whined and indicated Arnie's steaming mug.
Patiently, the nurse raised both the full water jug and his glass, from the night stand.
"You do have this, doctor..."
But Rodney was trying to shoot sparks at Arnold just by staring at him, and wasn't listening.
Arnold cleared his throat loudly, glancing briefly inRodney's direction before addressing his helpers, loudly.
"It's not here.", he announced.
"What's not here?", Rodney asked, unperturbed that the statement was not directed at him.
"The problem. It's not in this wall", declared the man with the hammer, his moustache twitching.
"You mean all this... was for nothing?", McKay spluttered.
He didn't wait for a reply, but threw back the bed covers, sending the ear plugs flying.
"Okay... that's it... I'm out of here... get me my clothes.."
Arnie shot McKay a withering look as he followed the nurse out.
oOo
(continued on paper)
approx. 11.00 Forcibly drugged against my will, in contravention of basic civil and human rights.
Lap top confiscated.
In breezed Carson, a minion in tow. Oh, now... now I'll have my way...
Rodney was still half in and half out of bed, his bare legs swinging.
"Carson, I want this man removed. I have it all down here, you'll support me of course... "09.00 Informed that construction..." "
As Rodney blustered and trembled through his long condemnation of Arnold and all workmen in general, he didn't notice Carson's interest in his pulse rate and temperature. Not until the doctor was sticking something in his ear.
"Oy! What's that for? Have you even been listening to me?" he asked accusingly, rubbing at his ear.
"You have a small fever, Rodney... it happens sometimes during recovery. This, of course, hasn't helped," and he held up the laptop.
He pushed Rodney back into bed, flipping his legs up and under the covers with practiced ease.
Crossing to the nurse, Beckett took something from her and turned back to a dazed-looking Rodney.
"I, for one, have heard enough. Thankyou for coming to me, Arnold, you were quite right...", and only now Rodney noticed the shadowy figure at the door, "Dr McKay is not too well at the moment."
"I'm sedating you for a few hours... giving you some fever reducing meds, and when you wake up you'll be a new man.", said Beckett pulling away the computer, and tucking it under his arm.
"What? I won't allow it...", Rodney stated, indignantly.
Carson waved two empty syringes at him, and said,
"It's already done, lad. Sweet dreams, now."
And as McKay felt drug-induced lethargy creep over him, there in the doorway, he saw Arnold - his nemesis. As McKay watched, his eyes growing heavier, Arnold raised his coffee mug, as if in salute, a smile of triumph quivering beneath his very-black moustache.
oOo
TBC and thanks if you're still with me!
I'm having a lot of fun writing this... and you guys encourage me so much! Thanks!
Just one more to go now - probably not 'til the wk.end... x