Title: Adapting
Chapter: Mistrust and Disbelief
Author: Gypsy Lupin-Black
A/N: Hello all! I'm going to be flying across the puddle back home to Alaska this week, so from Wednesday morning until probably Thursday night or Friday I'll be totally offline. I'm swinging back into my normal life and work schedules, so I wont be on nearly as much. Luckily, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm sure I'll be updating this fic at least every couple days until it's done, so fear not! I'm fairly certain I'll get one or two more chapters up before I go! As always, please review! Cheers!
Not long after Carson moved Rodney to a recovery bed, he heard Elizabeth and John arrive. They were talking about him again, but they were in Carson's office, just out of range for Rodney to be able to understand what they were saying. He knew he'd been acting strange toward Carson ever since he remembered what had happened, but he couldn't help it. Rodney didn't know if the entity was still with the doctor or not, but he figured it never hurt to be cautious.
As the door of Carson's office opened, Rodney caught the words, "I recommend holding him for observation."
He heard all three of them approaching. "Let's just talk to Rodney first," John was saying, "and see what he remembers."
"His heart stopped, Colonel-" Carson started, but John must have waved him off or something, because he didn't finish.
A moment later, the air currents shifted, and Rodney could smell John and Elizabeth standing over him. "Hey, guys," he said, trying to sound normal. He couldn't tell where Carson was, and for the first time since he'd met the man, it made him nervous.
"Rodney." John said.
Rodney didn't answer his unspoken question. Instead, he motioned at his ear, "any idea where my echolocator is, Carson?"
"Carson's gone to look over the scans," Elizabeth answered. She took his hand, and pressed something into it. Rodney felt it for a moment, then smiled.
Tucking the echolocator behind his ear, he looked up at the concerned expressions of his friends. He did a quick look around, but didn't see Carson anywhere. "Something's wrong," he said, turning back to John and Elizabeth.
"What do you mean, Rodney?" John asked. "There's kind of a lot of things wrong at the moment."
"There's something wrong with Carson. Some kind of, of, entity, creature, something, is with him," Rodney wasn't sure how to explain what had happened.
"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked, confused. "He seems perfectly normal to me."
"Look, all I know is that I came in here to tell him that my eyes were bugging me, and he was asleep at his desk. Before I could wake him, I heard this noise." He turned to directly face John. "It sounded like a Shadow. You know, those things the Wraith project? But it was different."
"Okay…" John replied, drawing out the word. "Different how?"
"Corporeal."
"What? Rodney, you're not making a lot of sense. Carson…"
Rodney held up a hand, "just let me finish, ok? I took off my echolocator so I could focus on listening to the noise. I moved closer to where Carson was, and reached out to put a hand on the back of his chair so I wouldn't, you know, crash into him or anything. My hand passed through a very cold piece of air. Almost like when it's the middle of winter, and you have a draft under your door or something."
"How does this turn into your heart stopping?" Elizabeth asked. Her voice sounded disbelieving.
"I'm not done!" Rodney insisted. "Anyway, suddenly I'm surrounded by this icy wind, and the whispering sound is overwhelmingly loud. I have no idea what it was saying, or even if it was actually talking, but I felt like I was caught in a hurricane or something. Then, I felt a hand on my chest, like I was about to be fed on by a Wraith." He looked around, then added, "And that's all I remember."
"So," John began, his voice slow, "you're saying that whatever entity you think was hanging around Carson attacked you?"
"I also think it may be behind our other problems to, John. I've been thinking about this, and nothing we've seen fits the behaviour of a Goa'uld or the Trust."
John and Elizabeth exchanged glances.
"What?" Rodney asked, and even to him, his voice sounded suspicious.
"Rodney, Carson's version of events are a little different," Elizabeth started. "He says that he was asleep at his desk, and woke up when he heard you scream and fall to the ground."
"He didn't say anything about a gale-force wind in his office," John added. "No voices or sudden temperature drops, either."
"You don't believe me?!" Rodney asked, incredulous. "It's not like I just had a heart attack! Something happened to me, I was attacked!"
"Carson should be done looking over the scans soon, Rodney, and then we'll know more," Elizabeth put her and on his arm, trying to calm him down. "It's not that we don't believe you, it's just…" she trailed off, and Rodney saw her glance at John.
"It's just that none of us, including you, have all the facts yet," John finished. "Let's just see what the good doctor says."