John POV
I watched Evelyn leave, feeling a little disappointed. I knew she'd need time, I was still reeling over what I'd done, so I couldn't imagine how she was feeling. I wish she'd spoken to me, earlier over how she was feeling, maybe things could have played out differently. But at least I was forgiven. Although what she'd said about knowing her, surely I'd remember her face. It was a face I never wanted to forget, so how could I have met her before?
"Forget huh?" I smirked, grinning down at the cheeky blonde in a very relaxed version of her formal uniform. She had a set of aviators, which would be virtually useless this time of night, slotted around her neck, white collar popped wide open and tie MIA. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows and she had her jacket draped over the stool beside her so I had no idea her name or rank.
"A damn site better than this crap," she said, waving her now empty glass at me.
"You know what," I said. "Maybe you can."
"Oh honey I know I can," she replied confidently.
Evelyn POV
I pulled my head away to suck in deep breaths of air, lips dropped to my neck leaving hot kisses in their wake. My back hit the hard wood of the door frame as I heard keys scratching up against the door, jingling as my mystery stranger tried to unlock their front door. With the keys safely in the lock two hands gripped my thighs and I gave a little jump as I was hoisted up in the air. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist and felt him hold me with one hand while he twisted the key in the lock, finally allowing us inside.
"What's your name," he breathed into my neck.
"Does it matter?" I asked, grabbing the hair at the scruff of his neck, pulling his mouth back up to mine.
"I guess not," he replied and kicked the door closed behind him.
We were headed for the stairs and I kicked off my shoes along the way, each boot hitting the floor with a clunk. I pulled each of his buttons open with a pop as he made equally as quick work with mine. His head moved to between my breasts, killing hot wet trails across the soft flesh. His nose brushed across my left one as his mouth slipped under the cup of my bra and wrapped around my nipple. I let go of his hair to reach around behind me and unclasp my bra.
This really wasn't where I saw my night going.
"You know we have Civil Engineers for this," Rodney said. I rolled my eyes, double and triple checking my harness. Zelenka was beside him holding a tablet and going over the diagram one more time. "This is literally the reason we brought them out here."
"Would you relax," I shoved his shoulder lightly. "No one is going to make you go down there with me."
"He gets vertigo if he stares over the edge of the building too long," Zelenka told me, not looking up from the tablet. I walked over to check the winch and my safety lines one more time.
"Good thing this will be quick then," I replied. I walked back over to the edge of the roof and perched with my legs hanging over the side.
"You ready?" Zelenka asked, and I nodded.
He handed me my toolkit and the first part I was to install on the ledge on the side of the building. Just as I was about to push off from the roof and climb down the exterior door opened with a loud metallic whine and someone stepped onto the roof with us. I looked up to see John making his way over and jumped off the edge in a panic.
I climbed the rest of the way as fast as I could and started up work. Hopefully he hadn't seen me yet and if I just got to work down here he'd leave before I had to climb back up for the next part. I'd been avoiding him for weeks now since our conversation in the gym and I think he was beginning to notice. I'd told him I needed space, he'd said he understood but we'd gone from being so close to radio silence. I found myself missing him, but I also wanted to be very far away. I still wasn't capable of separating John from the Iratus incident.
John POV
"Hey Rodney, Raddek," I greeted when I reached the two scientists. Just as Weir had said they were out here, installing the first test of Evelyn's power project. The two of them were here, but no Evelyn. I put my hands on my hips and stared out over the horizon.
"Colonel Sheppard," Zelenka greeted.
"Did I just see Captain O'Neill?" I asked.
"No," Rodney answered too quickly. I raised an eyebrow as he looked around awkwardly. I frowned and stepped closer to the edge, following the ropes down the side of the building. Halfway between the roof and the next floor down hung my subordinate working away with a blowtorch.
"Right," I agreed. "She's not here."
"So she's still hung up on the retrovirus thing.." Rodney said softly. "John I.."
"Save it," I sighed, feeling the heavy breeze blow through my hair. "She'll come back when she's ready."
"What exactly happened?" Rodney asked. "She told me nothing happened between the two of you. She was at your bedside the entire time you were in the med unit and as soon as you woke up it was like you had the plague. What gives?"
"Don't worry about it," I clapped him on the shoulder. "I just need to give her her space."
I took one last look over the edge before I sighed and headed back for the door, shaking my head as I went. I couldn't apologise again, even if I could get a moment with her, I doubted it would help. And hunting her down probably wasn't helping either. But I didn't just want to cast her off either. She was important to me and I didn't want her to slip through my fingers like Nancy had. Especially since I cared arguably more about Evelyn than my ex wife.
I headed down to the mess where I found Ronon and Teyla already eating lunch and slumped down across from them. I rested my elbows on the table and rubbed my temples. I had to figure out how to fix this.
"Still avoiding you then?" Ronon asked and I groaned.
"I am confused, why is Evelyn avoiding you?" Teyla asked.
"Does it matter?" I asked and Teyla raised an eyebrow at me. "I was bit… out of character during one of the times she stopped by my quarters to check on me. I scared her. I got the opportunity to apologise when I got out of the infirmary, but sorry isn't going to make it better."
"You should confront her about it," Ronon told me. Teyla slapped him quickly and he turned to glare at her.
"No he should not," Teyla argued. "If you scared her then you need to be patient and wait for her to come to you. Seeking her out will only make her more frightened, push her further away."
"How do I fix this?" I asked. "I feel like I've ruined our friendship."
"You were very close before," Teyla agreed. "I am not sure all is lost, John, perhaps I could speak with her, on your behalf?"
"I don't know…" I sighed. Ordinarily, I'd relish in having a friend putting in a good word for me, but I didn't really want O'Neill filling Teyla in on everything that had gone down. It wouldn't look good, me seducing one of my subordinates. Worse what that bug John did to her.
"Maybe we should stay out of this one," Ronon told her.
Evelyn POV
"Okay," I said into my radio. "I'm coming up for the next piece."
I grabbed the top of the roof and pulled myself over the ledge, crawling over to McKay and Zelenka. The two of them exchanged a glance and looked back at me. I stood and folded my arm over my chest. I raised a brow.
"What?"
"We think you'd been avoiding Colonel Sheppard too long," Zelenka blurted out and McKay glared at him, smacking him over the top of the head. "Well you didn't say anything!"
"You have your reasons," McKay said to me. "And you don't have to be his friend anymore if you don't want, but there isn't always going to be a roof to throw yourself off of when he's around."
"I know," I said, sighing. Zelenka walked over to the box of half put together parts to begin collecting the next stage of the installation and gave us some privacy. "Believe me I know."
"I wish you'd talk to me," he said. "Tell me what happened."
"It's nothing, really," I assured him. He didn't look convinced. I felt the wind pick up, blowing through me enough to make me shiver. I'd picked one hell of a day to work on this. "I can get past this, I just need more time."
"Alright," he said frustratedly. "But I miss the way things used to be."
"So do I," I replied and accepted the next part and swung my leg back over the side of the roof. I did, I missed our old team dynamic. I missed going out on missions with Alpha team. I'd transferred temporarily to Major Lorne's team and when he'd asked why I didn't want to be on team Alpha anymore I'd said I just wasn't coping with the guilt of putting my superior through that and that was enough. He'd accepted the response without question and we'd moved on. In a way, it wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the real reason.
Rodney POV
I stood shivering on the rooftop, huddled by Zelenka as we tried to stay close for warmth. The wind had been steadily picking up since we started working this morning and the clouds in the sky did nothing but darken. It would rain soon and this high up the drops would feel like bullets.
I looked up to the sound of Zelenka yelling at me but I couldn't hear him clearly. I shuffled closer and leaned in. "What?"
"How much longer do you think we'll have to stay out here?" Zelenka yelled.
"Hopefully not long," I screamed back. "You know what she's like when she gets a project."
"I tried convincing her to come up for lunch while you went on your break earlier but there was no point, it was like talking to wall," he told me. He yelled something else but I didn't make it out.
"I don't know how much longer we should be out here," I told him. The storm was closely approaching.
"That's what I said!" he yelled. "We should try to get Dr O'Neill to give up for the day."
"Dr McKay, please respond," I heard Chuck say through my radio.
"McKay," I said, touching my ice cold ear.
"Dr Weir would like to see you in her office," he told me.
I sighed and looked over the edge of the roof, feeling a wave of nausea as soon as I spotted O'Neill's head of blonde hair. I'd tried to make her wear a helmet but she'd said at this height a helmet wouldn't make much difference. Zelenka looked like he was swearing in Czech again but I couldn't hear him.
"I need to move the gear, it's getting blown away and damaged in the storm," Zelenka told me. I glanced over at the crates of equipment being bashed around in the wind.
"Weir wants to see me," I yelled. "I'll be back."
I headed inside, glad to be out of the freezing cold for a moment, warming up instantly to the point where my skin almost felt like it was burning. I hurried towards Weir's office, hoping to get this over quickly. I didn't exactly want to go back out there but I needed to keep an eye on her, otherwise she'd work through the storm.
"You're freezing," Weir commented. "I felt the air temperature drop as you entered the room."
"I was just on the roof," I reminded her and sat down in the chair across from her. I rubbed my hands together to get the feeling back into them.
"Still? I thought you would have given up by now for the weather," she said. "The weather was supposed to be good today, which was why I approved the install but this freak storm carries on much longer and I'll have to call it off. I'm surprised you haven't already."
"I would if I could," I replied. "O'Neill needs to be doing something, all the time."
"I can't help but wonder if something happened between her and John," Weir commented and I could feel myself getting annoyed. Why was everyone in Atlantis so invested in their relationship? And according to Evelyn, they didn't have one.
"Was there a reason you called me here or was it just to gossip, because I have a couple subordinates on the roof I need to manage," I replied sullenly.
"I did actually," she shrugged her head to the side. "I wouldn't say gossip, but I wanted to ask you how the Alpha Team has been since John's come back to full duties again."
"Well, we've essentially lost a team member," I bit back. "Evelyn's been going out on missions with Major Lorne since we gave John the antidote."
"I see," Weir said thoughtfully, leaning her elbows on the desk. "And the others?"
"Teyla and Ronon have gone back to normal, they know something isn't right with John and Evelyn, and I think they want to know what but they're fine. Sheppard's moody as hell."
"I had noticed he was more short than usual," Weir agreed. "I think some time speaking with Heightmeyer would be useful here but I didn't want to force anyone into it. I figured since Evelyn already saw Heightmeyer occasionally she would have no issue."
"If this goes on any longer… I just wish she'd talk to me, we're friends," I replied.
"Much longer and I'll make it an order, rather than a suggestion," Weir assured me and I nodded, exiting her office. My stomach rumbled. Zelenka should be fine for a little longer…
John POV
I found myself staring out over the city as Evelyn often did when she was in here with me. I understood why it was soothing. Even with the wind howling and dark clouds swirling around outside it seemed to put things in perspective. In the blink of an eye the rain began pelting down, bouncing off the glass window and signalling the start of the storm.I shook my head. I shouldn't be getting this distracted.
It was dinner, maybe I could sit at the same side of the table as Evelyn and work my way from there. I walked down the hallway and headed for the transporter and stepped inside. My radio crackled to life and I sighed. What now?
"John, are you near the roof?" McKay said urgently.
"I'm in the transporter, do I need to be?" I asked, pressing the button to take me as close as I could be to where they had been working today.
"I've lost contact with Zelenka and O'Neill and they're not inside," he answered. "I stepped inside to speak with Weir and he stayed to watch over her and no one has seen them. They should be finished by now.."
"Don't worry, I'm on my way," I assured him and ran down the hallway. I rounded a corner and saw a stack of equipment crates and by the exterior door. They must have started packing up when the storm hit.
Even with the noise of the wind and the rain I could hear banging against the door. I tried to open it but it seemed fixed shut. I slammed my shoulder into it, no use. I sighed, I could try kicking it in, but it would probably be no use.
"Control, this is Colonel Sheppard," I said.
"Go ahead Colonel Sheppard," I heard someone respond.
"I need an emergency team to the exterior door of the south tower's rooftop, the door's jammed shut and Dr Zelenka and Captain O'Neill are trapped outside," I replied.
"Copy that, sending a team now," control told me. "Do you need anything else?"
"I'm not sure for now, still no luck getting a hold of either of them?" I asked.
"Unfortunately the storm's causing too much interference," control told me.
"Well that's just perfect," I sighed. "Alright, I'll radio if I need anything else. Maybe have Beckett on standby to check them for hypothermia."
"Copy that."
I tried the door again, moving to kick it open but then I remembered it opened internally and started cursing. There was more banging on the door and I sighed. I moved closer to the door.
"Guys, it's me John," I yelled through the metal. "I know it's bad out there but we're doing everything we can to get you inside. You just need to be patient."
"O'Neill is still harnessed to the side of the building!" Zelenka screamed through the metal.
"What?" I couldn't believe this. Why hadn't he pulled her up?
"I said O'Neill is still harnessed to the side of the building," he called.
"Yeah yeah I heard you right the first time," I said, more to myself than anything. "WHY?"
"The winch is broken! It jammed in the rain and she can't climb back up one handed," he told me and I pressed my radio.
"Command, I need a second winch, the one up on the roof is broken," I explained.
"Understood Colonel Sheppard, sending someone up now," they told me. Things in the pegasus were never easy.
Evelyn POV
"Must you smite me God?" I screamed, kicking the glass window my foot was near in anger.
I didn't want to be hanging off the side of a building in a freak thunderstorm as lightning flashed in the distance, but I guess this is what I get for jumping off a ledge to avoid my CO.
I gripped tightly to the ledge I'd been fixing the wind generator to, puddles of wanted making it difficult to get any real security from it. The wind battered me from all sides and the rain soaked me through to my bones. My skin burned with each drop hitting me and my fingers felt numb as they grasped the wet metal. I'd long since dropped my blowtorch in the swing of being thrown about. I'd be dead by now if not for the safety harness and rope.
I hadn't actually heard what Zelenka had been yelling at me earlier, but I gathered there was a reason he hadn't simply pulled me up when the rain first started. I also assured myself he hadn't just left me hanging here to die, because it had been a while since I'd seen him.
I let out a shiver, it was almost pitch black outside, I couldn't see anything more than five feet from me and my eyes stung with the water dripping into them. I wanted to cry, but I was much too exhausted to even try. I knew I should have gone with the wave generators this morning. Think of how much power they'd be generating right about now. At at least then I'd be less likely to fall to my death.
John POV
The rooftop door fell to the ground with a clank and I sighed in relief, finally we were through. We'd been at it for over half an hour before eventually the emergency team was left with no other option but to saw the door open. Zelenka came into view instantly, dripping wet from head to toe and leaving puddles of water as he hurried into the building.
"The winch is jammed and there's no way to pull the cables back up and get Captain O'Neill on the roof," Zelenka said. "We will need to get a second winch to pull her up."
"That means we'd have to fully disconnect her from the one she's currently attached to, sir," one of the combat engineers told me. I nodded, waiting for them to tell me why this was a problem. "To do this safely we need to send someone else down, attached to the good winch to hold on to her while we move her over. The weather conditions are too extreme to do it any other way.
"Send me down," I replied.
"Sir.."
"That wasn't a question," I yelled and there was some frantic movement beside me as someone rummaged around for another harness.
"Yes sir," they replied and I stepped into the harness when it was handed to me.
I was quickly suited up and had my cables attached before heading out into the thick of it. I walked straight over to the edge of the building. I breathed a sigh of relief when my torchlight illuminated the top of her dripping blonde hair. I was soaked through already, I could only imagine how she was feeling, having been out in this for hours.
I looked over to check on the emergency team. They'd anchored the winch to the roof and were almost done fixing my ropes to it. I looked up and they gave me the signal. I leaned over the edge and screamed down to Evelyn. She didn't hear me at first. I made sure I had seedy footing and made my way over the side.
Evelyn POV
I shivered aggressively in the icy cold. No matter how hard my body tried, I couldn't keep any heat. The wind swung me around on the ropes holding me to the building and I slammed into the side again. I let out a pained groan, cursing whatever God I'd pissed off enough to keep ending up in these situations.
Just above the howl of the wind I could hear screaming. I wondered if it was Zelenka, and contemplated just taking off my harness and killing myself. I was starting to see why McKay was always yelling at the man. He was not good in a crisis.
"EVELYN!" I heard and looked up at the voice. It was john. Despite everything I'd done trying to avoid the man, I'd never been happier to see him in my life. "Bad news!"
"Please explain to me how this could get worse!" I yelled back, feeling the momentary joy dissipate.
"The winch is broken," he told me. "And we're going to have to move you over to the new one."
I let out a scream. "What?" I demanded. The weather was too bad. Protocol would normally have someone come down here and attach me to their safety line so I wouldn't fall to my death while they were doing this but even if there was someone to do that, I wasn't sure the weather conditions would allow, even if someone was around to override the safety protocols. If it was too dangerous to perform the rescue…
"I'm coming down, don't worry!" he yelled and swung his leg over the edge.
I gripped the ledge tighter. I was still worried. I watched him through my soaking wet hair, eyes stinging as the rain burned them. He made quick, steady work of climbing down to me slipping only once against the sleek metal and glass.
"I'm still worried," I told him when he was within earshot and he chuckled. He grabbed me tightly as soon as he could and immediately started attaching my harness to his with the clips and ropes.
"OKAY!" He barked up at the emergency workers.
I wrapped my arm around him, locking my legs around his waist and letting go of the ledge now he was here. All worry and fear and anxiety of the past melted away as I clung to him. Now they only worry, fear and anxiety I had was for our lives as we hung out here in this weather. Forget Iratus John and the guilt and the CO/Relationship drama. I needed him, and I needed him to hold me here as our lives hung quite literally in the balance.
"It's okay, it's okay," he repeated over and over as he held me back just as tightly. "I got you, I got you."
"John," I gasped desperately.
"You're freezing," he commented, rubbing my arms to try and warm me up.
"It's no use out here," I called out. "Between the rain and the wind all heat gets stolen away as quickly as you can generate it."
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I am now," I told him honestly. "John I'm sorry."
"What for?" he yelled back. His usually messy hair was plastered to his forehead, dripping water down his face and making him squint as it poured into his eyes.
"For avoiding you for so long," I replied and he shook his head.
"Really? You wanna talk about this now?" he laughed. "I keep telling you, there's nothing to apologise for. You asked for time, I gave you time. You asked for space, I gave you space. The only question I have is do you want more?"
"I tried so hard to figure this out," I replied. "I can't. I have no idea what to do. But, since I've been hanging off this building I realised it's not something I can figure out on my own."
"You wanna talk it out with me?" he asked. I wanted to laugh at the situation. It had literally taken an unpredicted storm, an accident and the two of us hanging off the side of a building to get us to this point. And we were screaming it at each other to be heard over the noise.
"Later, when we're not about to die," I replied.
I felt us being tugged slightly higher and looked up. There was a combat engineer leaning over the edge of the roof. He gave us the signal he was going to start bringing us back up now, that tugging I'd felt before having been a test.
"We're not gonna die," John said. "We're almost at the top."
"We still might die of hypothermia," I said. "Or I might have PTSD induced heart attack."
"You're gonna be fine," he told me, and leant in to hold me a bit tighter.
Eventually I had to untangle my legs from his waist so we could get over the slight lip around the edge of the roof. Once we were up we staggered a bit, joined together with clips and rope. John made quick work of separating us and I headed inside as quickly as possible. I started shimmying out of my harness and handed it over to someone else so I could work on getting warm and dry.
"Oh there you are love," Beckett said, rushing towards me with towels and blankets. He wrapped a towel around me and then handed one to John. I started drying myself off with the towel until it was too wet to do anything and then ditched it in favour of the blanket.
"She was freezing earlier," John told him.
"Aye, well let's get you two the infirmary and check you out properly," Beckett said and I felt John follow along behind me.
Once we were in the infirmary I saw Rodney look up and breathe a sigh of relief. He had been sitting beside Zelenka who was looking only a little drier than we were. He looked absolutely miserable and I almost wanted to chuckle. McKay moved from where he'd stood instinctively when he'd seen us and rushed over.
"You're okay," he said and I nodded, smiling and then pulled him in for a wet hug.
"Thanks for sending John after us," I said.
"I hope you don't mind, I just," he said. "I knew he would know what to do."
"I would hope so," I laughed. "It is his job. He wrote most of the protocols. But thanks, I was worried when our radios didn't work. More worried when Raddik didn't pull me up and instead screamed unintelligibly at me and then disappeared for the rest of the night."
"He's really not good in a crisis, is he?" John said, amazed, and I laughed, shaking my head.
"No," I smiled.