Title: Getting To Know You

Author: Ellex

Disclaimer: Stargate:Atlantis does not belong to me. (Sob)

Spoilers: The Storm

Reviews: I love feedback and constructive criticism. Please no flaming, it's just rude.

Summary: Rodney gets hurt, Rodney saves the day, we learn the details of his unhappy childhood.

A/N: This is an AU sequel to "The Storm". Could be McShep preslash, if you want to interpret it that way. I'm not saying one way or the other yet. I've only seen "The Storm" once, and I don't remember all the details, so any mistakes are mine. Any medical mistakes are also mine.

Chapter One: Hurricane Atlantis

Kolya moved toward Weir, grinning. Rodney stepped in front of her and held out his good hand.

"Leave her alone!" he commanded, sounding more confident than he felt.

Elizabeth was surprised and gratified by his show of bravura. Kolya, however, was not. He punched the scientist in the stomach, then smashed the butt of his gun against McKay's right temple. She tried to catch him as he collapsed, but missed. To her horror, Rodney's head hit the edge of the control console as he fell. He landed in a limp heap on the floor, half under the console, blood flowing freely from both sides of his head. She watched, suddenly feeling numb, as the thick dark blood collected in a spreading pool around him.

Elizabeth Weir couldn't think of anything else to do. She sat on the floor of the Command Center beside the unconscious Rodney McKay. She had done what she could: straightened his outflung limbs; placed her folded jacket under his head, tried to staunch the bleeding. All she had to use was her handkerchief. It hadn't been long before the scrap of cloth was soaked, but after a while the flow of blood from the awful gashes on both sides had slowed, though not stopped completely. His breathing was shallow, his pulse weak and thready, but what frightened her most was how horribly still he was. Rodney had not moved at all - even his eyes were motionless under heavy, bruised-looking lids. When she pulled up his eyelids, she was appalled to find the right eye full of blood, and the pupil of his left eye was so dilated she could hardly see the light blue ring of the iris.

Now all she could do was kneel beside him, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest, and hold his hand.

Elizabeth had marveled at the strength and delicacy of touch in his long, graceful fingers, so much at odds with the slight clumsiness of the rest of him. You only really saw it when he was working: the swift sure touch of a surgeon's or musician's hands, dancing across a computer keyboard, an Ancient control panel, or assembling some incredible contraption out of wires and crystals and computer chips. Now his hands were cold to the touch, limp and unmoving.

Major Sheppard tried to run as quietly as he could through the darkened halls of Atlantis. He mentally cursed himself for not having taken the time to better familiarize himself with the layout of the city's outer areas. There was an almost organic pattern to the many levels, rooms and corridors that got him all turned around if he didn't concentrate.

He had managed to fix the controls of the power station - or at least, had moved crystals around until, to his surprise, he actually got it to lift up and break the connection to the water. Now, if only McKay's plan worked - if only he could get back to the Command Center without getting caught - if only he could figure out a way to free McKay and Weir and stop Kolya - if only, if only!

He began to see signs of occupied areas of the city and slowed his steps. The only thing he could do now was try to draw out Kolya's people - or, if he was really lucky, Kolya himself - and pick them off, one by one. It wasn't much of a plan, but frankly it was the only one he could come up with. Unfortunately, now that the third power station had been taken off-line, Kolya had no real use for Elizabeth or McKay, and he wouldn't put it past that sick bastard to kill them just to get them out of the way.

John was just a corridor away from the Command Center now. He peered around a corner and was pleased to see exactly what he expected: two young Genii soldiers, on guard outside the main door to the Command Center. Now if he could just come up with a way to separate them...

Elizabeth hardly dared to hope they could get out of this. Kolya's people were agitated because it seemed Major Sheppard had managed to kill several of them. She herself was watching and waiting for some chance to do something - anything - to aid him.

She had even begun to hold out some hope for McKay. A few minutes ago his eyes had opened, though he hadn't spoken or made any indication that he was aware of his surroundings. His unfocussed gaze had merely wandered around before the heavy lids closed again. But when she squeezed his hand gently, his fingers had twitched, then closed weakly around hers. Now his hand was limp again, but she held on to it anyways.

Stupid. He was so stupid. His plan had worked well enough, and the two guards outside the door of the Command Center had been dealt with: one dead, one tied up to use as a hostage. But Sheppard hadn't anticipated the ruthlessness of the young Genii. The hostage was dead, shot by his own people, and Sheppard had had no choice but to surrender and hope to find another chance to rescue not only McKay and Weir, but himself.

Elizabeth's face fell as Sheppard was marched into the Command Center at gunpoint. He felt awful to see the hope die in her eyes, but the sight of McKay's still, bloodied form was even worse. The Canadian's face was almost unrecognizable: skin white as paper; the eye sockets sunken and dark; hair matted with blood from two lacerations, one in the middle of a purpling bruise on his right temple, the other, deep and ugly, over his left ear. Sheppard felt like his stomach had suddenly dropped out of his body. That sensation was the simple explanation for why he loved flying so much, but in this instance it was distinctly unpleasant.

The major was pushed forward to stand beside Elizabeth. Kolya grinned as he pointed his gun at them.

Then Sheppard felt a fumbling hand at his ankle, and resisted the almost overwhelming temptation to look down. The hand found the little .22 caliber pistol he wore in a hidden ankle holster. Kolya was watching their faces and never saw the gun being aimed at him from floor level.

When the shot rang out, Sheppard went into action. He knelt, grabbed the .22 from McKay's unresisting hand, and loosed off several rapid shots at the remaining Genii. He dropped three of them before aiming at Kolya, but it wasn't necessary. McKay's shot had caught him square in the throat, tearing out his windpipe, and the Genii commander was swiftly choking to death on his own blood.

The few remaining Genii commandos seemed to be in shock. Without their leader and with the majority of their fellows dead or incapacitated, they didn't seem to know how to react. Elizabeth snatched up Kolya's gun and she and Sheppard quickly disarmed them and locked them in a disused room off the Command Center.

When they returned to McKay, they found him still awake, but disoriented.

"You did it, McKay," said Sheppard, gripping the scientist's shoulder. "You saved the day."

"What?" he said, his voice slow and weak. "I don't - head hurts...tired..."

"I'm sorry, Rodney. The storm is in full force over the city right now. Just hang in there until it's over. Doctor Beckett will be back and he'll fix you up good as new." Elizabeth was trying to sound reassuring, but her voice was shaking. It didn't really matter, because Rodney's eyes had closed again.

Sheppard shook his shoulder gently. "McKay! You've got to stay awake. C'mon, open your eyes and talk to me, man."

"...wha...where...where am I?"

"In the Command Center on Atlantis." Sheppard looked over at Elizabeth and saw that she was pale and shaking. "Lizzie. Hey Lizzie! I think there's a fist aid kit in the conference room." She started away to fetch it and he yelled after her, "Wouldja get me a Big Mac while you're out?"

She shot him a startled look, then smiled and nodded.

"Sheppard..." McKay licked his lips. "...don' let 'im...hurt 'lizbeth...can't...can't stop him, oh God, I can't stop him-" Rodney suddenly clutched Sheppard's sleeve in panic and tried to raise his head, but fell back as his injuries overcame him. John found himself holding McKay's hands to keep the scientist from touching the wounds on his head. McKay was panting, almost sobbing with pain and panic. In a little while it seemed to subside, and he was calmer, though no more lucid. Sheppard had to reassure him over and over that Doctor Weir was safe and unharmed. By the time she returned, looking a little more composed if a bit white around the mouth, Rodney had begun asking where Salieri was, which worried John even more that his earlier ravings.

When Elizabeth heard him, she laughed weakly. "No, it's okay, John. He's talking about his cat."

Sheppard looked at her in amazement. "I knew you'd read everyone's files, but I had no idea they were THAT detailed."

"They're not," Elizabeth smiled as she applied disinfectant to McKay's injuries. "Rodney and I got to talking once about what we'd left behind. I told him about my dog, and he told me about his cat. He said it was the one thing that made him hesitate when he was asked to join the Atlantis team - the hardest thing to leave behind."

"He should've brought it along," John said firmly. Their voices - or maybe even just their presence - seemed to make McKay calmer. His eyes were still open, but he had stopped rambling. Elizabeth taped a gauze pad to the largest laceration on his head, then cut away his sleeve so she could bind the stab wound on his arm.

"Really? I would have taken you for a dog person, Major."

"I like dogs. I like cats, too."

Their conversation continued off and on while they watched the storm raging outside. McKay's plan seemed to be working - although rain and wind lashed at the city and multiple lighting strikes hit the towers, the interior lights never even flickered. Elizabeth checked the power readings frequently, and they remained steady.

McKay, on the other hand, did not. They didn't dare move him - for one thing, the Command Center was the safest place in the city while the storm continued in full force; for another, there was nothing more they could do for him in the infirmary that they could not do on the spot. In fact, all they could really do for Rodney was try to make him comfortable. But he constantly threatened to go into shock, once had convulsions - which Elizabeth thought scared Sheppard even more then herself - and finally lost consciousness. He was so still and unresponsive that she began to wonder if he had slipped into a coma.

Hours later, she was sitting at the control console, watching the readout that showed the passage of the storm over the city. John was sitting on the floor beside McKay, resting his forehead on his drawn-up knees, one arm wrapped around his legs, the other stretched out to grasp McKay's wrist to feel the weak flutter of his pulse.

"John," he heard Weir as if from a long way away. "John, it's over."

He slowly lifted his head to stare uncomprehendingly at her.

"The storm, John. It's over."

He looked over at the windows, where the sky was slowly brightening and the rain had stopped.

Just a few minutes later, the Puddle Jumper flew into the hangar bay for a slightly unsteady landing.

Within half an hour, Rodney was in the infirmary and Atlantis was bustling with activity as the Athosians and the SGA personnel began returning. Weir and Sheppard gratefully threw themselves into the work despite their exhaustion.

TBC…if you like it

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