Written for and thanks to RodneyIsGodney, who provided the plot bunny that started this one off.
Broken Wings
Rodney was waiting anxiously in the F302 bay on the Daedalus. He had been beamed aboard earlier so that he could get started with reconfiguring the sensors. They were due to investigate an anomaly detected by the ship's long range sensors in a system without a stargate.
The Jumper could not be beamed aboard though, so Sheppard was flying it up separately. Teyla and Ronon had also opted for the slower method.
Rodney remembered Teyla telling him about the unease she felt over being broken down and reassembled in a white light. Rodney had explained that the Stargate did the same thing, but Teyla had still been reluctant to agree when a more conventional way was available.
Rodney rolled his eyes where he was standing alone and mumbled, "Because flying in a Puddle Jumper is like driving a car!"
He had only come down to the bay to check on the equipment Zelenka was supposed to have installed in the craft. All the other upgrades on the Daedalus were ready, but he still needed to double check the Jumper before they broke orbit. They had a recon mission planned with the more advanced Ancient sensor array in the tiny ship.
Rodney tapped his foot impatiently and folded his arms over his chest while he waited. "I could've written out the entire formula for how the hyperdrive works by now!" he whined
He activated his radio, "McKay to Sheppard."
"I'm a little busy, McKay," came the strained reply.
Rodney missed the tone as he carried on, "Can't you hurry up? I could've eaten a four course dinner by now and be ready for more."
No reply came and Rodney sighed and pursed his lips. He glared at the open space beyond the bay door shield as Lantea came into view.
Rodney had no appreciation for the beauty of the planet below and how the bright hazy curve of the glowing orb blurred into black where space was visible behind. He just wanted a Puddle Jumper with its messy haired pilot and alien passengers to appear in front of him.
"Sheppard." He said in a low guttural tone. He shook his head and sighed, "Sheppard?"
Rodney was starting to get a little worried now, "We have a mission to carry out, Colonel, but we can't do it without that metal box you're supposed to be flying up to the Daedalus."
Static met Rodney's ear through the headset and he frowned.
He glanced at the empty F302s around him, but he was alone. He tapped his radio again, "McKay to Bridge."
"This is Caldwell, go ahead, Doctor."
"Where's Sheppard with the Puddle Jumper?"
There was a brief pause before he said, "They've run into some trouble courtesy of a large piece of debris left behind from a Wraith ship destroyed in orbit a while ago."
Rodney's heart clenched and he squeaked, "What kind of 'trouble?'"
"We're not sure yet, but they should be landing in a moment."
Rodney sighed, "Alright."
He started pacing. They probably did not know he was in the bay, but he wanted to be ready for them. He hoped the sensors had not been damaged by the debris or the mission would have to be put back yet again. He had already been waiting for months to get it green lit.
He had his back to the open door when the alarms started sounding. He stopped walking to watch as the Jumper came in at a terrifying speed and headed straight for him. The shield allowed its passage without depressurising the bay. A tremendous wave of air proceeded the craft and flames immediately started streaking out the back of one engine in the oxygenated atmosphere.
Rodney yelped in fear and dived out of the way as it flew by. The wake of the craft blasted him as he rolled and he was helped along even more.
The Jumper slammed into the deck, near where Rodney lay sprawled out and bruised, as it succumbed to the gravity plating in the bay. Waves rippled out through the metal like an unstoppable trampoline and threw Rodney up into the air. He reached the highest point of his new method of flying and then fell back down and was smacked against the deck.
His breath left him and he rolled onto his side with his eyes closed where it felt like half of his bones had been shattered. He flopped over onto his back and lay out flat and immobile on the buckled floor as a hideous scraping sound of metal on metal reached his ears.
He prayed that it was over and someone would find him soon before he bled to death, because he could not even contemplate moving his arm to try and get to his radio. He was too afraid that he would only make the pain worse, so he clenched his teeth and hissed.
He seemed to have been lying there an awfully long time without much needed medical attention, so much so that the pain had diminished from the bruises and broken bones until he could breathe a little easier.
He decided to open his eyes narrowly and find out what was keeping the medical team from finding him with their numbing drugs. He had a fleeting glimpse of the F302 looming over him where it had been upset by the Jumper crash and damaged deck plating, before a small jolt suddenly made it pitch over towards him.
He covered his head with his arms, ignoring the flares of pain which stabbed through his limbs and chest and screamed.
He felt a heavy and unrelenting weight impact and crush his unprotected midsection and his breath choked out in a fountain of forcefully spurted blood from his mouth.
The true extent of the agony did not quite reach his brain before he blacked out and in that instant of sharpness, he thought, "This has to be what they mean by, 'the pain of death.' I'm about to die…"
And then he did.
Sheppard brought the Jumper out of the bay on Atlantis and tilted its nose up lazily until he was pointing it almost vertically up towards the deep blue cloudless sky above.
Teyla was sitting next to him and Ronon was behind her. He was surprised that they had not opted to get beamed up onto the Daedalus, but had let it pass.
Rodney had been almost totally unmanageable recently in his obsession and excitement over the mission he had had authorised. He spent most of his time pouring over schematics on his laptop and telling everyone in earshot how wonderful he was for coming up with such a brilliant plan.
Even Sheppard had found the scientist's manner more grating than usual. He was glad for a short reprieve while McKay worked on the Daedalus to plot the course and upgrade the sensors to his pernickety need.
He sighed and looked across at Teyla. She glanced back at him and smiled sweetly. He said, "Should only take us a few minutes to get there."
Ronon leant forwards and rested his arms on the back of Teyla's chair as he said, "What does McKay want us for on this mission?"
Teyla nodded, "It is purely scientific. There will be very little danger, so I am also unsure why we have been asked to come."
Sheppard shook his head, "You know McKay. He can attract trouble even when he's on his own on an uninhabited planet."
Teyla said, "That is true, but we are not visiting any planets in the system."
"No," Sheppard agreed, "But we're his team and we stick together. He comes with us on the trade missions, so we go with him on the science ones."
Teyla blinked slowly and nodded with the same smile as earlier.
Ronon huffed and sat back in his seat heavily.
The Jumper broke through the upper atmosphere and the sky turned black as the stars came out. Sheppard was still looking across at Teyla when a sudden jolt rocked the ship and a frantic bleeping noise started.
Sheppard spun back to the front and brought up the HUD. They had flown straight into a small piece of debris and it had become lodged in the engine. He had not bothered to raise the shields and the proximity sensors had not picked it up, probably due to McKay tweaking them to such an extent that Sheppard was having trouble locating the Daedalus in amongst all the highly detailed radiation readings playing across the HUD and console in front of him.
"McKay to Sheppard."
"I'm a little busy, McKay," Sheppard ground out as he wrestled the spinning ship back under control.
"Can't you hurry up? I could've eaten a four course dinner by now and be ready for more."
Although it pained John, he had to change the channel and cut Rodney off, "Sheppard to Daedalus."
"Go ahead."
"We've sustained some damage from what is probably a piece of old Hive ship still in orbit. We're coming in hot."
"Acknowledged."
Sheppard did not fancy his chances during orbital re-entry not to crash somewhere on Lantea. There was an awful lot of ocean to splashdown in as Rodney had once discovered.
He tried to cut power to the engine, but it remained active where some of the relays were damaged. He wished Rodney was with them and could dash into the rear compartment to fix everything, but he was on the Daedalus and clearly running short on patience.
Teyla held her seat as John weaved the Jumper unsteadily towards the rather small looking open bay of the ship ahead of them.
Sheppard sighed in relief as he managed to guide the damaged Jumper right into the bay, but the artificial gravity made it crash and scrape along the deck rather than hover into land like it usually did.
John gripped the controls and glared at the speed and warnings flashing across the HUD so he did not see the man in front of them until Teyla cried, "Rodney!"
Sheppard's eyes widened and he turned the sticks, but he no longer had any control. He watched as Rodney flung himself to the side and quickly switched the HUD and watched the life sign as it only seemed to miss being clipped by the Jumper by mere inches.
He could not allow himself any respite though as the Jumper was still moving towards the looming rear of the hanger bay. He changed the HUD again and it gradually slowed until it stopped and John tapped his radio, "Sheppard to McKay. Rodney, please come in."
He was met by silence, which meant one of two things, both of them unpleasant; Rodney had either lost his radio, or he was unable to call for help because he was injured.
John quickly changed tack as he assumed the worst. Teyla peered back at him in fright and Ronon frowned, "Sheppard to Daedalus."
"Caldwell."
"I need you to lock the transporter onto the life sign outside the Jumper in the hanger bay and beam him directly to the Atlantis infirmary."
There was a pause and in that time, Sheppard held his breath and his heart skipped a beat. "We're only reading three life signs in the hanger bay, Colonel. And they're all on the Jumper."
Sheppard thought his heart had stopped permanently, but it let him know it was still going by palpitating in his chest.
He leapt out of his seat and Ronon and Teyla followed closely on his heels as he opened the Jumper's rear hatch and sprinted out into the bay.
"Rodney?" He called out in fear, but there was no reply.
The hanger was a complete mess. Several F302's had skittered back into the walls where the deck was buckled and a long furrow of twisted metal marked the path of the Jumper. John did not have time to marvel at the destruction he had caused. He pointed at Teyla and she nodded and separated from them as she searched the area just behind the Jumper and the F302s on the side where they had seen Rodney moving out of the way.
Ronon left him at the next F302 and nimbly climbed over the sharp edges of metal and hills and furrows of the twisted deck.
That left John with the last F302 and he could see it had sustained the most damage. One of the supports holding it up had been dislodged and it was tilted at a crazy angle where its wing rested on the deck.
He suddenly spotted Rodney and ran over to him. His face was covered in blood and the tip of the wing appeared to be imbedded in him as he lay there. The furrow he had rolled into held most of the weight and was the only thing preventing it from completely cutting him in half, but it still looked like it was crushing him as it disappeared where it was buried into his abdomen.
Sheppard grabbed Rodney's arm and hit his radio again. He had trouble keeping his voice even as he said, "Bridge, lock onto my life sign and beam me to Atlantis' infirmary!"
John held Rodney tightly and they both dematerialised in white and he was then crouching in the middle of the infirmary many miles from where he had been a moment ago.
Rodney's chest did not rise or fall as he lay there after the pressure on him had been removed. Blood poured from his mouth, but he was as dead as the life sign detector had confirmed and he did not move.
Carson pulled John away and asked, "What happened to him?" as he and his staff quickly checked Rodney's vitals, but finding none, they slit his shirt open and did not even try lifting him up onto the bed as Carson started chest compressions where he still lay on the floor.
Someone had attached a heart monitor to him and it rang out in a steady monotone which cut through Sheppard's head and set his teeth on edge unpleasantly.
The team worked methodically and efficiently, but no-one seemed to have noticed that Sheppard was standing there in shock as he looked on. He felt totally lost even as horror and bile rose in his throat when he saw the black indentation in Rodney's pale midsection.
Numerous other purple bruises covered him and he felt helplessness and the need to do something overwhelming him. He watched as each compression seemed to crush Rodney's ribs down flat and almost called out for them to stop when he saw a particularly nasty bruise being pressed under Carson's hands.
Rodney's face was covered by a mask as another member of the team forced air into him. They did not even clean the blood off his face and it quickly made a mess of all their nice sterile equipment as they tried to revive him.
"Had it been too long?" Sheppard asked himself. "Would he be brain damaged if he ever allowed them to get his heart to start beating again on its own?"
John dreaded to think what his life would be like without Rodney by his side with his constant grating, but honest, put downs.
Suddenly there was a small hitch in the high-pitched whine of the heart monitor where the lead had been clipped to Rodney's finger. Carson started calling out commands which John could not understand. The bleeps continued until they got faster, but they were uneven and faltering and John was worried as he did not understand what was happening.
The medical team wrapped all manner of supports around Rodney's head and neck and kept him completely still as they slid a backboard under him. They stuck tape across his forehead and Carson quickly inserted a nasty looking tube into Rodney's mouth when the staff member with the air bag moved away briefly.
They lifted him up onto a gurney, and wheeled him out of the main infirmary into surgery.
No-one looked at Sheppard or said anything that he could understand. He glanced down at his shaking and bloody hands. There were spots of red on the floor in front of him, surrounded by discarded equipment and packaging where they had not had time to clean up yet.
"John?"
Sheppard continued to stare and stare. He heard echoes of the events which had just played out before him as he focused his eyes on the blood until the rest of the room seemed to fade away. All that he saw was red, where Rodney had given up his life blood, just as he gave up his time and risked his life every day for the humans not only on Atlantis or in the Pegasus Galaxy, but on Earth too.
"John?"
The quiet female voice was accompanied by a light pressure on his upper arm, gently tugging him away from the evidence of the horror in front of him.
He turned around and saw Teyla and Ronon standing there.
Ronon said, "They beamed us down soon after," he gestured at the floor and frowned.
John said, "The F302… it was… Oh, Rodney!"
Teyla furrowed her brow and guided him away from the infirmary and out into the corridor. She asked, "How is he?"
"He died. Carson's with him, they only just managed to revive him."
"How long?" Ronon asked.
"I don't know."
Teyla squeezed his arm and said, "He is in good hands, perhaps we should speak with Dr Weir? She will not know what happened yet."
John was dreading that confrontation. If only he had been paying more attention, Rodney would not be lying on the operating table having just been crushed to death. He wondered if his friend had felt anything or if he had been unconscious the whole time after he hit the deck.
Caldwell would also want to know what just happened to his ship so no doubt he would be on Sheppard's case before Rodney was even out of surgery. That was, if he survived it at all…
"It wasn't your fault," Rodney whispered and winced.
John was leaning in as he sat right next to McKay in the infirmary so that he could hear every single quiet word that left his friend's lips.
John took in each uttered syllable in gratitude as he had been so convinced that Rodney was not going to make it having spent such a long time in surgery a few days before. He had been unsure whether he would ever hear anything leave McKay's mouth again, so every hissing whisper was weighed and remembered in John's mind and he vowed never to take anything for granted again, where Rodney was concerned.
Rodney's face was pale and his eyelids drooped down tiredly as a combination of the drugs used to suppress the pain and the weakness left from his injuries drew him closer to sleep.
"Of course it was, McKay! I should've kept my eyes on the road."
Rodney blinked slowly and pried his eyes open with great difficulty. His hands shifted slightly as he tried to gesture as he spoke, but he flinched and stopped moving. "No, it wasn't. You wouldn't have seen it. Even on normal sensors."
John furrowed his brow as Rodney closed his eyes again and fell asleep. He looked along the scientist as he lay there and was still shocked and horrified by the shear number of leads connected to him. Bandages covered him under the sheet pulled up to his chest.
The science mission on the Daedalus had been postponed while repairs were carried out. The ship was due to leave for the return trip to Earth and would not be back for at least another month. Plenty of time, Carson had said, for Rodney to be able to supervise the next attempt.
Carson came over and noted down some readings from Rodney's softly beeping monitors.
John asked quietly, "How's he doing?"
Carson sighed and adjusted one of the many leads which was threaded under the sheet. "He nearly died." John raised his eyebrows, "I mean permanently. Several of his internal organs were badly damaged and he has severe bruising to much of his body. We only just managed to save him and it was touch and go for a while."
John nodded and looked at the white sheet covering evidence of the horrendous bleeding Rodney had had inside him when he was found. Carson said, "I'll need you to leave now, Colonel, so that he can rest. He's still very weak."
"But…" John started, as he turned and glanced up at Beckett. Carson was looking at him kindly and he turned to face Rodney again. John waved his hand across to indicate Rodney and said, "I can't. I did this to him, I won't make a sound, but I'm not leaving him alone again."
Carson furrowed his brow and shook his head, "Nae, it wasn't you. Like most things we hear in the Pegasus Galaxy, it was the Wraith who did this to him."
John frowned at Carson's wisdom and the doctor rested a hand on John's shoulder briefly before walking away.
John leant in again and before he knew what he was doing, he took Rodney's hand in his own. He was mildly embarrassed by his need for the contact and hoped that Rodney did not wake up. He felt the cool, but certainly not cold, warmth of the skin on his own and was satisfied that, yes, Rodney was alive and would soon be berating him about anything from his hairstyle to his command structure. He quickly laid the limp hand down and then sat back in the chair.
Teyla and Ronon joined him a few minutes later and they remained silently watchful over their friend while he got better.
A/N - Yup, I had yet another really bad day in RL... It's all good from a Rodney whumping perspective though :D I hope you enjoyed it :)
