Chap 17: Non Slashy-
They were almost to the lab when the Carson's strident voice stopped them in their tracks.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Carson asked, hands on his hips.
Sheppard pasted his most ingratiating smile on his face and turned.
"We were just headed up to the lab to…"
Carson cut him off, "To put my reluctantly released patient under an untested machine that, last time, took TWO MONTHS to repair?!"
"Well, when you put it that way…" Sheppard mumbled, Rodney's voice overriding him.
"I'm NOT staying like this! Not when I have a choice!" Rodney cried, rising up from her wheelchair to wobble weakly in a stance of defiance.
Carson's face softened, "Rodney, look at you. You can hardly stand. We don't know how that machine works. You're hurt. What if it changes you back exactly the way you are now? Do you want to end up permanently disabled?"
Rodney stood there stubbornly for a moment longer before sagging back into her seat with a sigh.
"Now, now," Carson said, "it's not that bad. You'll heal quickly and by then I'll have had a chance to make sure that machine works as promised, okay?"
Rodney made a face but nodded.
"And, since you feel well enough to go to the lab, I must insist that you pay a visit to Dr. Heightmeyer."
Rodney's head shot up and she glared at Carson.
"Don't give me that look," Carson said, hands raised, "Elizabeth ordered it! I'm just the messenger."
"I'll make sure he gets there, Doc," Sheppard said, wheeling Rodney in the direction of the nearest transporter.
"Hey! Don't I get a say here?!" Rodney asked loudly.
"No," both Sheppard and Carson chorused.
Sheppard continued to push a protesting Rodney towards the transporter, ignoring her verbal barbs on the intelligence of doctors and flyboys.
-000-
Once they had reached the transporter, Rodney's protests had quieted and she sat, arms crossed, a petulant expression on her face.
Entering the transporter, Sheppard mentally locked the doors and turned Rodney's chair so that she faced him.
"Look," Sheppard said, "I know you don't want to visit the doc."
"I'm fine! I'd be finer if Carson would let me get back to normal!"
"Don't lie to me Rodney! I was there when you woke up screaming! I know that Kolya did a number on you! Whether or not you were…"
"I wasn't!" Rodney shouted, "I'm fine!"
"You're not fine!"
"How do you know?! How do any of you know how I feel?! You've never…" Rodney stopped.
"Maybe not, but I have been a prisoner of Kolya's before. I know. And, more than that, I sat there helpless when he was about to…"
"He didn't. I stopped him. Like I stopped him before," Rodney said, her mouth snapping shut as she realized she had just revealed that there was a 'before'.
"Before?" Sheppard asked, voice tense, "He tried to… before this?!"
"Of course!" Rodney said, deciding not to deny what she had already revealed, "And I stopped him!"
"How?" Sheppard asked, his voice a mix of curious and confrontational.
"None of your business," Rodney said, crossing her arms once again and sliding down in her chair.
"I saw the rope, Rodney," Sheppard said softly, squatting down to Rodney's level.
Rodney swallowed and paled, remembering.
"You didn't have a gun. You were tied to the bed. How did you stop him?"
"I didn't tell him anything," Rodney whispered, "Not even my real name."
"I know," Sheppard said.
"I… I threw him off me. I was so scared. I just fought."
"Then what?"
"He laughed," Rodney said, her voice small.
Rodney looked up into Sheppard's eyes, "I didn't stop him, did I?"
Sheppard didn't respond, holding her gaze.
"Maybe… Maybe talking to Heightmeyer isn't such a bad idea," Rodney said quietly.
"Do you…" Sheppard cleared his throat before continuing, "Do you want me to come with you?"
Rodney thought for a moment, "Yah… that'd be good."
"'Kay," Sheppard said. He stood and hit the transporter screen.
"Thanks," Rodney mumbled.
"Anytime," Sheppard responded as he turned towards the opening doors.
-000-
"Hello Rodney, Colonel," Heightmeyer greeted warmly as they entered her office.
"Doc," Sheppard said politely, "Rodney requested that I stay for the session, if that's alright?"
Heightmeyer frowned. "Are you sure, Rodney?" she asked, "There may be some private things that come up."
Rodney snorted, "You'd be surprised what Sheppard already knows."
"Okay…" Heightmeyer said, confused, "Well, take a seat, Colonel, and let's get started."
Sheppard eyed the chair in the corner, but finally chose to sit next to Rodney, who had made herself comfortable on the couch.
Heightmeyer scribbled something in her journal, to which Sheppard and Rodney shared an eye-roll of exasperation.
"Let's start at the beginning…"
"A very good place to start," Sheppard mumbled, causing Rodney to snicker and Heightmeyer to purse her lips.
"You and your team were on P4X-329…" Heightmeyer started, gesturing for Rodney to complete the thought.
Rodney sighed, "Typical backwater hamlet. Nothing interesting. I wandered off," Rodney said.
"Without telling me!" Sheppard interjected, still a bit miffed.
"Yes," Rodney said, glaring, "Without notifying him. I ran across an unusual energy reading, which I tried to report…"
Sheppard rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as Rodney glared at him once again. Heightmeyer took notes.
"We ate and I took first watch."
"Do you usually take first watch?" Heightmeyer asked.
Rodney shrugged, "it depends. I'm a night owl, so I don't mind."
"Is that when you were… taken?" she asked.
Sheppard leaned forward, anxious to hear just how Rodney had disappeared from under their noses.
"I was walking away from the fire… the whole night-vision-thing, you know? All of a sudden it got really quiet. And, before you ask, yes, Colonel, I did reach for my gun. There were about four of them. They came out of the dark and grabbed me before I could get a shot off, gagged me before I could call for help."
"There were four?" Heightmeyer asked.
Rodney glared at her, "Well, they didn't exactly give me time to count. They had on Genii uniforms. One of them tied me up and slung me over his shoulder like a slab of meat! That hurts!"
"I know," Sheppard mumbled, rubbing his stomach in sympathetic pain.
"And how did that make you feel?" Heightmeyer asked.
"Angry," Rodney said dryly.
Heightmeyer smiled tightly, ignoring Rodney's eye roll.
"So I assume they…"
"Took me to their base, I guess. I don't know, I didn't exactly have a bird's eye view. All I know is that they dumped me in this little room. Oh, and they took all my equipment! Did you ever get my stuff back?" Rodney asked, directing the question to Sheppard.
Sheppard shrugged, "Wasn't really on my mind at the moment, Rodney."
Rodney sighed, "Oh well, there goes another perfectly good…"
Heightmeyer cleared her throat, refocusing the conversation.
"Yes, well, there was an uncomfortable moment when one of the guards decided to let me loose," Rodney said, not knowing if he should share it, but it had come out before his brain could filter his tale.
Sheppard frowned, his hands clenching as he leaned forward.
Rodney shifted, "When the guard pulled out the knife… Well, I don't like knives. But it was okay. He just cut my bonds and left."
Sheppard had tensed at the word knife, but now he leaned back and his hands unclenched.
"So you were alone? Can you describe the room for me?" Heightmeyer asked.
"It was a room," Rodney snarked, "I didn't memorize the dimensions, forgive me. Think cement and wood. That's about it."
"Then what?" Heightmeyer asked, not letting Rodney's attitude or Sheppard's grin faze her.
Rodney fell silent then, the silence lingering so long that Sheppard began to fidget nervously at Rodney's stillness.
"Rodney?" he asked softly, touching her on the shoulder.
Rodney flinched away with a gasp. Sheppard dropped his hand and shared a startled look with Heightmeyer.
"S-sorry," Rodney mumbled, "I was alone for a while. Then Kolya came."
Sheppard tensed at Kolya's name, but remained silent at the sharp look Heightmeyer sent his way.
"He didn't recognize me. He asked me who I was."
"What did you tell him?" Heightmeyer asked.
Rodney smiled slightly, glancing toward Sheppard, "I remembered what you told me," she said- talking to Sheppard, "Never give the enemy information they don't already have." Rodney switched back to Heightmeyer and answered her question, "I told him my name, just not the one he knew. I told him my name was Meredith," Rodney said, saying the name with a faint distaste.
"Then what?"
"Oh, he did the usual bad guy monologue. How he had this grand plan, how he was using me as bait to kill Sheppard, and, if I cooperated, I might live. Usual stuff," Rodney said, trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably.
"What was Kolya doing while he was talking?"
Rodney frowned, "Circling. I hate it when they circle! Makes them look like vultures. And the way he looked at me! Like he was… checking me out, and he wanted me to know it!" Rodney shook herself, as if throwing off a bad feeling. Sheppard was frowning intensely.
"Did you respond?" Heightmeyer asked, her voice level.
"Of course!" Rodney exclaimed, "I told him just what I thought of his little plan!"
"Uh oh," Sheppard said under his breath.
"Yah," Rodney said, rubbing his cheek in remembered pain, "He wasn't pleased. He slapped me. It hurt," Rodney mumbled, blushing. Stupid to make a big deal out of such a little thing.
Heightmeyer nodded sympathetically, "I'm sure that it did hurt. What was your response?"
Rodney smiled smugly, "I told him it was still a stupid plan."
Sheppard snickered. Only Rodney would tell Kolya he was stupid… twice.
"How did he react the second time?"
Rodney frowned, "he told me I was pretty."
"What?!" Sheppard exclaimed.
Rodney winced, "It wasn't exactly a complement. He said that his men were… lonely."
Sheppard's face flushed in anger.
"He threatened you," Heightmeyer stated.
"Yes. It took me a second to get it, but when I did, I was LIVID!" Rodney said, "Can you IMAGINE?! He wouldn't have come up with something like that if I had been a man!"
"You'd be surprised," Sheppard muttered, but Rodney didn't hear it, in full rant mode now.
Heightmeyer finally cut him off, "Rodney! What happened after he threatened you?"
"Oh… oh, yah. Well, to be honest… I ranted for a while. I'm not really sure what he was doing."
Heightmeyer raised an eyebrow, prodding him to continue.
"Then it got weird," Rodney said, falling abruptly silent once again.
"Weird? Can you elaborate?" Heightmeyer asked.
"No, no. I think we're done for today! Yes, I'm sure our time's up. Let's go! Can we go?" Rodney said quickly, starting to rise.
Sheppard's firm hand pressed her back down to the couch.
"Rodney," Sheppard said simply.
"Sheppard?" Rodney said, feigning ignorance.
"Rodney," Sheppard said warningly.
"Sheppard," Rodney said tightly, pulling against his firm grip.
"You need to tell us what happened," Sheppard said.
"I don't have to," Rodney responded belligerently.
Sheppard released his grip, "No. You don't have to. But you need to."
Rodney sighed and looked at the floor.
"Get out a fresh notepad, Doctor. You're going to need it," Rodney said to Heightmeyer, continuing with his story.
Heightmeyer set down her paper and focused solely on Rodney, aware that whatever was going to be revealed was troubling to her patient.
Rodney sighed, "Kolya… I'm not sure just what happened, but all of a sudden I was pressed back into the wall. Kolya was pressing me into the wall…"
TBC
AN: My mom and I have a running joke about psychiatrists- "So how does that make you feel?" "Bad." "So how does that make you feel?" "Worse?" LOL.
Today was my birthday! 23… whee. I ate 4 pieces of the chocolate raspberry cake my mom made me… I'm ill… lol.